Robotic workcell for flexibly automated handling of young transplants
1991
Ting, K.C.
Automated handling of young transplants in the form of plugs has become an important process in meeting their increasing market demand. The research team at Rutgers University has been studying the implementation of robots for plug transplanting. The objective is to develop a flexibly automated plug transplanting workcell which will handle a wide range of plug species and container sizes. In this workcell, the plugs are extracted from one container, and transported and planted into another container. The end-effector used to manipulate individual plugs is equipped with a capacitive proximity sensor. The function of the sensor is to detect the presence of a plug, after extraction and before planting by the end-effector, to insure that the finished container is filled with plugs. The source and destination plug containers are transported by two overpassing conveyor belts. The belts are capable of making indexed advancement so that the distance for plug transportation between the containers may be minimized. The characteristics and parameters associated with the workcell are systematically analyzed.
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