Precised Equipment
Hojat Hejazipoor; Jafar Massah; Keyvan Asefpour Vakilian; Mohsen Soryani; Gholamreza Chegini
Abstract
One of the most important issues in spraying fields and greenhouses is reducing the use of pesticides, reducing the dangerous effects of spraying, protecting the environment, improving the quality of spraying and increasing people's health. Children have weaker immune systems and are unable to detoxify ...
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One of the most important issues in spraying fields and greenhouses is reducing the use of pesticides, reducing the dangerous effects of spraying, protecting the environment, improving the quality of spraying and increasing people's health. Children have weaker immune systems and are unable to detoxify toxic and harmful compounds. For this reason, the adverse effects of poisons on children's health are more important than adults, and the need to reduce the use of poisons and follow the principles of spraying to prevent children from developing cancer is twofold. In this study, the robot sprays by measuring the volume of plant mass and in order to reduce the consumption of poisons. The robot is mechanically designed to be able to move between rows of products and open its manipulator step by step and take deep pictures of each plant in front of it, then analyze the image of each section and observe the plant volume. Detect and spray the same section based on the calculated volume. The process of imaging, volume detection and spraying of the solution based on the estimated volume is repeated at each stage of manipulator opening until the height of the plant is completed and at the end the whole manipulator is retracted.Robot acts intelligently in detecting plant height and closes in the last section after imaging and spraying the solution. The manipulator is able to assess and spray plants up to 270 cm in height. The above robot consists of different parts including camera chamber and nozzle, nozzle and Kinect American camera version 1, manipulator and manipulator actuator mechanism, pump and solution tank, processor, Arduino and relay boards, cart and robot actuator system. To design the above robot, first the static forces applied to the manipulators were examined and then the kinematic calculations of the manipulator were performed. The result of the calculations showed the accuracy of the kinematic equations. After performing calculations to design the robot, examining the environmental conditions and considering the construction cost, the three-dimensional model of the robot was designed in Solidworks 2016 software and based on the above model, the construction work was done step by step. The robot is controlled by Matlab 2010 software. The entire robot working algorithm is coded in Matlab software. For this reason, the main part of controlling the robot is the laptop processor. The laptop controlled by the robot is located in the built-in place behind the robot and transmits all the robot commands to the set of operators through the Arduino board and the relay board. The input information is transmitted to the processor by the Kinect camera, and the processor makes the necessary decisions according to the coded program. Finally, the output commands from the processor are transferred to Arduino board and the relay board to start the actuators. ADM A10-4655M APU processor was used. Developer Toolkit Browser v1.8.0, KinectExplorer-D2D, and Kinect for Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) were used to connect the Kinect camera to a Windows laptop. Two coefficients α and β are needed to determine the plant volume in each section. α is the average plant volume of several plants that has been calculated manually and β is the correction factor multiplied by the amount of plant volume estimated by the robot so that the actual volume of sprayed solution is more in line with the plant needs and the opinion of relevant experts. The volume estimated by the robot in each section is the product of the volume factor multiplied by the average plant volume of the plant (α). The volume factor is the average observed plant width (M) divided by the distance between two consecutive plants in pixels (D). Multiply the volume of the plant observed in the section by multiplying the volume factor by the calculated volume (α) using the Scale Invariant method (independent of the distance from the camera to the object).To calculate the average plant volume manually, several plants should be selected randomly and the plant volume should be calculated by computational methods or flooding method. Then introduced the average volume of these few plants as α to the program. Therefore, the more accurately the manual volume is calculated, and the greater the number of selected plants, Finally, the value of α and the final volume of the plant will be calculated more accurately. The robot should be able to spray the right amount of solution depending on the type of plant and its conditions. Spraying the solution to the plant may not be scientifically justified by experts and specialists according to the type of plant, time of spraying, poison concentration and plant needs. Therefore, the correction factor β should be multiplied by the volume estimated by the robot to the actual volume. Spray the solution to the plant according to the needs of the plant and the opinion of experts. The results of the evaluation show that the robot is able to spray different amounts of solution in the detection of plants with different volumes and the amount of solution sprayed by the robot was proportional to the volume of plants. The average volume of solution sprayed by the robot is 27.1 cc and the average volume of solution sprayed by the worker is 33.1 cc. Also, the standard deviation of the average volume of solution sprayed by the robot and the worker is 2.94 and 3.11, respectively. In other words, the robot is able to spray more accurately and the amount of poison consumption in the robot is estimated less than the worker. It was mentioned that the evaluation of the robot is reported in order to reduce the consumption of acceptable poisons. The feature of being online includes collecting plant information and spraying the solution moments after data processing is one of the important features of the above research. Also, the ability of the robot in online and scale invariant (independent of the distance from the camera to the object) evaluation of the robot was considered acceptable and useful.
Somayeh Torktaz; Ali Mohammad Borghaee; Jafar Massah
Abstract
Introduction :Robots are suitable for doing things that are tedious, difficult or dangerous to humans. One of the recent applications of robots is to perform various operations in the agricultural sector. The limitations in human resources and the demand for higher efficiency per unit area has made it ...
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Introduction :Robots are suitable for doing things that are tedious, difficult or dangerous to humans. One of the recent applications of robots is to perform various operations in the agricultural sector. The limitations in human resources and the demand for higher efficiency per unit area has made it necessary to use robots in agriculture. In the study, a robot spraying manipulator based on the Stewart mechanism was designed and constructed to perform spraying operations inside the greenhouse with the help of a manual end effector (mechanical robotic arm). In general, manually applied spraying does not spread evenly on all plants, resulting in increased toxic waste, there are also spraying labor costs in this method, so it is not economically viable. Hand spraying is a problem caused by direct contact with the toxin, which puts people in direct contact with chemicals at greater risk for a variety of diseases. Therefore, most of the toxic chemicals used to overcome weeds are a threat to humans and the environment. By poisoning the skin, mouth or breathing can be highly toxic.Materials and Methods: The end effector sprayer is based on Stewart's mechanism and by using six degrees of freedom, allowing nozzles to spray at different angles on plants. For this purpose, six step motors were used to provide the rotational force of the operator's end effectors, which was launched with the Arduino system. In order to supply electrical energy, operator's end effectors and Arduino devices utilized a 500-watt computer power supply, calculating the dynamics and reverse kinematics of the Stewart platform, we specified unique codes for its rotation. In this study, inverse kinematics was used to obtain the position of the joints by knowing the position of the center the moving platform and connecting the connectors to the moving platform by the hinge joints, and to the actuators arm by the spherical joint. The dynamics of the actuator, the movement of the moving platform by the actuators was calculated. In this method, the direction of the moving platform the step motors are driven a time by the microcontroller in pairwise manner. Using arms and linkers, stepper motors could move the platform in three different angles. Due to the angle and radius of the arm's, the moving platform has an angle of 18 degrees to the horizon, which makes it able to spray directly into the target plant and make a same coating. Also the velocity and acceleration of the moving platform movement were calculated according to the rotational speed of the stepper motors the maximum velocity and linear acceleration of the moving platform are calculated 141 mm / s and 244mm/s2 respectively. Results and Discussion: In order to accurately evaluate the performance of the sprayer, laboratory experiments were carried out to verify the performance of the control system and determine the height of spraying at different intervals. The end effector nozzle height was 117 cm above the ground, and the moving platform end effector with zero degree angle, and 18 degree spraying. It was determined that at a distance of 0.5 m 1 m and 1.5 m from the nozzle, the spraying heights were 100 cm, 57.7 cm and 12 cm accordingly. Based on this evaluation, spraying operation which was carried out at a distance of 0.5 m from the nozzle could reach highest level of spraying height. Finally, after modeling the end effector with solidworks software, it was simulated in the Adams software environment and by transferring the model to Adams, the force applied to the moving platform by the actuators, the velocity and acceleration of the moving platform were investigated. In the simulation, the applied force was evaluated by a pair of actuators on the moving platform, with the software output predicting the applied force correctly. In examining the linear velocity of the moving platform, the software output was about 5 cm/s more than the actual value and also in the simulation of linear platform moving acceleration, the software output was equal to the calculated value.Conclusion: According to studies, this is the first time that the platform has been used in robotic sprinklers, and could be a reference for further research in the field due to its innovation. This end effector had no singularity at an angle of 0 to 18 degrees and in both directions, spraying had a 10% difference in spraying. According to the simulation results performed with Adams software, the amount of force applied by the propellers was linear on the moving platform. Moreover, according to the simulation results with the aforementioned software, the acceleration changes of the moving platform were also linear.
M. R. Kamandar; J. Masah; M. Khanali
Abstract
Introduction Now cities are not comparable to the past for many problems such as air and sound pollution of factories and vehicles. Some natural systems such as parks help to keep the stability of cities and improve the life quality of urbanites. Privet with the scientific name of Ligustrum Ovalifolium ...
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Introduction Now cities are not comparable to the past for many problems such as air and sound pollution of factories and vehicles. Some natural systems such as parks help to keep the stability of cities and improve the life quality of urbanites. Privet with the scientific name of Ligustrum Ovalifolium is the evergreen plant, and widely cultivated at all of the parks in Iran. Privet stems are pruned by manual or gasoline -powered hedge trimmer. The knowing of the cutting properties of privet stalk have important role in the design and fabricate of privet pruning machine. A series of laboratory test was conducted to measure the shear force, shear consumption energy and shear strength of stem internodes of privet stalk under quasi-static and impact cutting at different loading rate, different internode position and moisture level 58% wet base. In the quasi-static cutting test, the stalk specimens were cut in the quasi-static process by using a computer aided cutting test apparatus at four loading rates: 5, 10, 15 and 20mm/min and three internode positions: fifth, tenth and fifteenth downward from the terminal bud. In impact test, the stalk specimens were served in impact process by using a cutting test apparatus was designed, fabricated, and calibrated at four loading rates: 1, 2, 3 and 4m/s and three internodes: fifth, tenth and fifteenth. Materials and Methods The study was performed to investigate the effect of quasi-static and impact shear on shear force, shear consumption energy and shear strength. The measured initial moisture content of the samples was 58% on wet base. The privet stalk diameter decreases towards to the top of the plant stalks. Thus, the stalks equally was divided into three regions downward from the terminal bud: (a) fifth internode, (b) tenth internode and (c) fifteenth internode. The quasi-static tests were conducted using the universal testing machine (SMT-5, SANTAM Co, Iran). The shear tests were carried out at four rates of speeds 5, 10, 15 and 20 mm/min. To determine the shear force of privet stalk, an impact cutting tester was designed, fabricated and calibrated. It was similar to an Izod impact cutting tester for metals. A cutting blade with sharpened angel of 23 degree and oblique angle of 60 degree was attached to end of pendulum's arm. The shear tests were carried out at four rates of blade speeds 1, 2, 3 and 4 m/s. A data acquisition system was attached to pendulum arm and it includes 4 strain gages and a digital indicator to show the real-time shear force. Four strain gages were contacted to each other by Wheatstone bridge circuit and were mounted on two sides of pendulum. After calibration, the impact shear force was applied to the privet samples by releasing the pendulum arm in the testing machine up to the sample failure. The real-time applied force and cutting time were measured by data acquisition system and chronometer.Results and Discussion In quasi -static cutting of the stalk specimens, the analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated that the loading rate and interaction of loading rateinternode position have significant effect on the shear consumption energy and shear strength in probability level of 5% and 1% respectively. However, the effect of internode position on shear force, shear strength and shear consumption energy was significant in 1% probability levels. In impact cutting of the stalk specimens, the analysis of variance showed that, the effect of the loading rate and their interaction of loading rateinternode position on the mentioned parameters were significant (P<0.01) but the effect of internode position on shear force and shear consumption energy was significant in 1% probability levels. The average values of shear force, shear strength and shear consumption energy were deeply decreased with increase in loading rate level from 1 to 4 m/s and internode position from fifteenth internode to fifth internode.Conclusion In quasi-static cutting, the increment proportion of energy consumption at blade velocity of 20mm/min to 5mm/min is about 2.2 at fifth internode, 2.6 at tenth internode and 2.9 at fifteenth internode respectively. Also in quasi-static cutting process, the increment proportion of shear strength at blade velocity of 20 mm/min to 5mm/min is about 1.5 at fifth internode, 1.4 at tenth internode and 1.2 at fifteenth internode respectively.In impact cutting, the reduction proportion of energy consumption at blade velocity of 1m/s to 4m/s is about 1.44 at fifth internode, 1.6 at tenth internode and 3 at fifteenth internode respectively. Also in impact cutting process, the reduction proportion of shear strength at blade velocity of 1m/s to 4m/s is about 5.2 at fifth internode, 29.4 at tenth internode and 53.8 at fifteenth internode respectively.
Y. Ghasemi; M.H. Kianmehr; M. Mohseni Monfared; B. Azadegan; J. Massah
Volume 37, Issue 2 , March 2015, , Pages 47-57
Abstract
Today the chemical fertilizers are replaced with organic fertilizers due to the bad effects on human health and agricultural soils. There are barriers against useful utilization of organic fertilizers such as transportation (high volume), high moisture content, uneven distribution of fertilizers, dust ...
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Today the chemical fertilizers are replaced with organic fertilizers due to the bad effects on human health and agricultural soils. There are barriers against useful utilization of organic fertilizers such as transportation (high volume), high moisture content, uneven distribution of fertilizers, dust production and storage. One of the solutions is densification of manure as pellet or granule. The effects of process parameters were evaluated in laboratory scale rotating drum. The effects of parameters such as drum rotational speed, granulation time, filling percentage of drum and percentage of molasses were investigated on the fracture force of granules. The results showed that all parameters and also interaction of drum rotational speed and granulation time have significant effect on the fracture force. Also, the results showed that with enhancement of granulation time, percentage of drum filling and percentage of molasses, resistance to failure of the granules increased.
