In the meanwhile in Thailand, they have innovated differently https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnnucgquEZ0
Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts
31–40 of 180 posts
Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts
#32This is good as a learning exercise and may be result in something useful in future. So for sake of learning and advancement good. As far as claims to replace coconut harvesters, a bit of a stretch to probably attract funding with marketing. Why not built a mechanical crane with a platform to help the worker to do better job with safety at heights to harvest a coconut and than apply the same for multiple tasks like r…
There wouldn't be much space for a crane to move around the trees which would be spaced around 20 feet each I guess. Even a small crane takes up lot of real estate and also crush everything under its weight.
Maybe a flying drone cutter might work too.
Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts
#33I enjoy the conversation here. So many people are assuming there is true thought in OPEX, CAPEX, and employer rights and employer safety in these operations. As others mentioned, Thailand used Monkeys. There is so much of a disconnect between this crowd and the farmers and the people this robot will actually replace. What is the average annual income of a farm hand in Thailand, Philippines, or any country that has co…
I don't think you should interpret the article as saying they have solved automated coconut harvesting. This is a prototype which could eventually be integrated with other components to form a system which, at some point in the future, could replace manual labor.
Of course there are many situations where automation may never make sense. Then again, an automated solution may enable more growing scenarios to be profitable. It is good people are working on things that may not bear fruit for decades.
Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
That’s where the innovation comes up, use materials and structure to bring down the costs. Even if initially it costs higher, it can pay back by it’s multi-use, maintenance, energy efficiency by using mechanical energy applied by human muscle with creative use of hydraulics and mechanical designs. Usually multi-purpose robots cost way higher and requires more maintenance and costs. Given the average labour costs in I…
Along those lines, seems you could design a far simpler, non-electric frame that could be rolled up a trunk with a mechanical cable/waldo cutter for the coconuts.
Yes agree with you there are more than one solution, crane was just one thought. This is thinking out of the box and a cornerstone of innovation. My concern with robotics is sometimes it's much easier to use humans and with application of sufficient amount of technology can be much better. In some cases robots are essential where humans are too difficult to operate. So we need both, but in this specific article they mentioned coconut harvester in India and here there isn't a need for this robot except as learning exercise.
Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts
#35I grew up in a remote village in south India. We had over two dozen coconut trees in our yard. I made a long loop in the mud that went around all these trees. I'd pull water out of the well using a rope & pulley & pour it down the loop. The water would wind its way until it reached all the two dozen trees. About an hour of this water pulling & the loop would stay wet for a few hours. This sort of manual work was stan…
> Even then, in the 1970s, there was a shortage of coconut harvesters.
What's the problem with letting the coconuts fall off naturally? Danger?
Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts
#36There recently was a huge controversy in Thailand about using monkey labor for coconut harvesting which resulted in many shops and even countries considering banning thai coconut milk. [1] Since then I've been thinking: why is it so difficult to harvest coconuts? Surely a pair of long clipper or some sort of stick-like device ought to do it? I've popped a few coconuts myself of trees, it's not that complicated, right…
> There recently was a huge controversy in Thailand about using monkey labor for coconut harvesting
Well, I read the article. Why exactly is this supposed to be a problem? By all accounts, it's a good idea that works well.
Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts
#37I grew up in a remote village in south India. We had over two dozen coconut trees in our yard. I made a long loop in the mud that went around all these trees. I'd pull water out of the well using a rope & pulley & pour it down the loop. The water would wind its way until it reached all the two dozen trees. About an hour of this water pulling & the loop would stay wet for a few hours. This sort of manual work was stan…
> Even then, in the 1970s, there was a shortage of coconut harvesters. What's the problem with letting the coconuts fall off naturally? Danger?
Ripeness I presume. Different coconut products require different age of the coconut.
Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts
#38I grew up in a remote village in south India. We had over two dozen coconut trees in our yard. I made a long loop in the mud that went around all these trees. I'd pull water out of the well using a rope & pulley & pour it down the loop. The water would wind its way until it reached all the two dozen trees. About an hour of this water pulling & the loop would stay wet for a few hours. This sort of manual work was stan…
> Even then, in the 1970s, there was a shortage of coconut harvesters. What's the problem with letting the coconuts fall off naturally? Danger?
Coconuts fall off when they dry. If you want coconut water and the rather tasty wet flesh, you need to go up there and bring them down.
Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts
#39I don't know that much about coconuts, but I grew up in an agricultural region of the US. Practically everything than can be easily mechanized has been, or people are working on it. Coconuts are large and hard, so they're much easier to mechanically harvest than something like berries. The big difference is coconuts aren't produced in rich countries where labor is expensive.
Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts
#40I grew up in a remote village in south India. We had over two dozen coconut trees in our yard. I made a long loop in the mud that went around all these trees. I'd pull water out of the well using a rope & pulley & pour it down the loop. The water would wind its way until it reached all the two dozen trees. About an hour of this water pulling & the loop would stay wet for a few hours. This sort of manual work was stan…
> Even then, in the 1970s, there was a shortage of coconut harvesters. What's the problem with letting the coconuts fall off naturally? Danger?
Mature coconuts fall off naturally, but they taste yucky. All the water dries up & becomes milky. If you don't harvest young coconuts during the prescribed interval, the water becomes undrinkable. But we use mature coconuts for oil. You crush it & set it out to dry in the hot sun, make coconut flakes etc. Also, its dangerous to let coconuts stay up like that. In every village there's always 1-2 stories of kid who died when playing in the orchard because dried coconut dropped on him.