Motion planning and control system for apple picking manipulator

Aiming at the problems encountered on picking robot such as ponderous mechanism, high price, and low intelligence, an articulated manipulator with four degree-of-freedom was developed. The horizontal grasping motion planning algorithm of two combined cycloidal motion was proposed according to the characteristics of apple picking operation. The distributed control structure of the picking manipulator was constructed with CAN bus and DSP joint controllers, and the hardware platform were constructed and the software is designed. In order to verify the performances of the manipulator and its control system, the positioning accuracy experiments were carried out. The results show that positioning accuracy of the manipulator can reach 6.9 mm, which basically meets the requirements of the apple picking operation.