Robotic Fruit Tube Packing for Stack Height and Damage Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Packing fruit in tubes is inefficient and labor-intensive due to the need for precise placement to minimize damage and empty headspace, and existing solutions do not effectively address the variability in fruit size and shape.
Innovation Solution
A produce packing device with a robot positioning apparatus and end effector that provides three degrees of freedom for precise placement of fruit, combined with sensors to determine fruit size and a controller to optimize the selection and placement of fruit to achieve an acceptable stack height within the tube.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If fruit is packed one at a time into tubes to minimize damage, then fruit damage is reduced, but packing time and labor intensity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the fruit packing process into individual picking operations, with each robot arm equipped with sensors and control systems to independently select and place fruit. This segmentation allows precise control over each placement action, minimizing damage while maintaining throughput through parallel processing of multiple tubes simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual mechanical packing with an automated robotic system that uses sensors to detect fruit characteristics and control systems to precisely position and place fruit. This substitution eliminates the labor-intensive nature of manual packing while maintaining gentle handling through controlled mechanical motion, thereby improving both productivity and reducing fruit damage.
2Productivity
If tube length is increased to accommodate more fruit, then packing efficiency improves, but empty headspace increases causing fruit movement and damage
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts tube selection and fruit placement based on real-time measurements of fruit size and tube capacity. The control system calculates optimal tube lengths and selects appropriate tubes from a supply, ensuring each tube is filled to an optimal level that minimizes empty headspace while accommodating natural fruit size variability. This dynamic adjustment prevents excessive fruit movement during transport.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent incorporates sensors that measure fruit dimensions and provide feedback to the control system. This feedback enables real-time calculation of stack height requirements and optimal tube selection. The system continuously monitors and adjusts packing parameters to ensure tubes are filled appropriately, minimizing empty space that would allow fruit movement and damage during handling and transport.
3Adaptability or versatility
If natural variability in fruit size is accommodated, then packaging flexibility is maintained, but empty headspace variance increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary measurement of each fruit's size using sensors before packing decisions are made. Based on these pre-measurements, the control system calculates the required stack height and selects appropriate tube lengths in advance. This preliminary action allows the system to accommodate natural fruit size variability while optimizing tube utilization and minimizing empty headspace in the final packed product.
Data Source
AI summary
A produce packing device comprising: a robot positioning apparatus with an end effector, wherein the robot positioning apparatus provides at least three degrees of freedom to move the end effector in three axial (x, y and z) directions or combination of at least two of these directions with respect to items of produce to be packaged, wherein the end effector is adapted in use for individually picking up an item of produce; a sensor to determine a size of each item of produce in a plurality of items of produce presented to the robot positioning apparatus and end effector; and a controller configured to receive one or more outputs from the sensor and: determine a selection of items of produce to be picked from the plurality of items of produce based on the one or more outputs from the sensor to achieve an acceptable stack height of items of produce within a package; and cause the robot positioning apparatus and end effector to move and pick up the selection of items of produce and place within said package.