Development of seedling production robot and automated transplanter system
1996
Sakaue, O. (Tohoku National Agricultural Experiment Station, Morioka (Japan))
This study focuses on vegetable production which plays an important role in Japanese agriculture next to livestock and rice production. For labor-saving and automatic operations of seedling production and transplanting, a robotic farm work system using modern electronics technology was developed. For the automation of seedling operations, development of an effective seedling production operation method was attempted based on the characteristics of the seedlings in relation to crop ecology and physiology, and based on a comparative analysis of various operations involved in conventional seedling production. For the automated seedling production system, a programmable controller-based robot and 8 types of attachment devices were adopted for achieving the automation of the seeding, cultivation and control as well as transportation operations. For the transplanting system, 4 types of transplanting machines were developed to automate feeding and insertion operations of seedlings suitable for transplants in the field which had hitherto been performed manually. Based on the results obtained, it is concluded that automated operations for seedling growth and transplanting using robotics technology could be realized in the near future
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