Design and Experiment of an Intelligent Elevating Electric Marigold Picking Machine
Marigold is an important medicinal herb with wide demand and huge annual cultivation.However,due to the high harvesting requirements and the large vertical distribution range of flowers,its harvesting can still only be done manually,which is labor-intensive and has a low cost-effectiveness ratio,and has seriously restricted the de-velopment of its industry.To this end,this study designs a new marigold picking machine,which mainly consists of a high-throughput frame,electric drive wheels,intelligent lift picking system,laser radar,flower storage bag and con-trol system,and a lithium battery pack provides power for the whole machine.Firstly,the comb-type picking table of the machine is designed according to the physiological parameters and structural characteristics of marigolds,and is removed in a plucking manner,which is characterized by a high rate of flower entry and a low rate of mistakenly picking buds that do not meet the picking requirements.Secondly,the control system can obtain the average height of marigolds according to the LiDAR data and decide the position of the picking table accordingly,so as to improve the flower picking rate,reduce the labor intensity and achieve the best harvest.The field test shows that the picker runs smoothly and the measurement error of the average height of marigold is within lcm.When the comb spacing is 12 mm,the comb length is 250 mm,and the forward speed is 0.3 m/s,the picking effect is the best,the picking rate is not less than 91.55%,and the mispicking rate is not more than 8.82%.The result is a useful attempt of intelligent detection and control system in the field of herbal harvesting,which provides a new reference for the deeper populari-zation and application of the concept of precision agriculture.