مشخصات پژوهش

An autonomous hedge trimmer robot was developed to reduce the harmful effects of traditional hedge trimming method (gasoline-powered hedge trimmer) on operators' bodies and increase the speed and quality of the operation. The robot had five degrees of freedom (PRRRR) structure and was geometrically optimized to simplify the control strategy, enabling it to trim simple, stepped, and circular forms. The control system, consisting of a host computer, servo motors and servo drivers, and controller, guided the robot platform, manipulator, and end-effector as it approached and trimmed the hedge. By using a recognition algorithm and vision-based navigation system, the robot was able to detect the path and trim the hedge automatically. Experimental tests showed the vision-based system is accurate and fast enough to control the robot. The accuracy of hedge detection performance under various conditions was about 96% and the success rate of trimming was 88%. The results showed that the hedge trimmer robot is more flexible than traditional system and shift to the hedge trimmer robot would decrease the total cost to about 40% and decrease the operation cost to about 25%.