Advancement and field evaluation of a dual-arm apple harvesting robot

作者：Keyi Zhu, Kyle Lammers, Kaixiang Zhang, Chaaran Arunachalam, Siddhartha Bhattacharya, Jiajia Li, Renfu Lu, Zhaojian Li · 发表于：Smart Agricultural Technology · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1016/j.atech.2025.101343 · 被引用次数：4 · 研究领域：Smart Agriculture and AI

Apples are among the most widely consumed fruits worldwide. Currently, apple harvesting fully relies on manual labor. Recently, robotic harvesting technology has attracted increasing attention. However, existing systems still fall short in terms of robust perception, harvesting efficiency, and reliability for operating in complex orchard environments. In this work, we present the development and evaluation of a dual-arm apple harvesting robot. The system integrates a Time-of-Flight (ToF) camera, two 4-degree-of-freedom robotic arms, a centralized vacuum system, and a fruit post-harvest handling module. During harvesting, suction force is dynamically assigned to either arm via the centralized vacuum system, enabling efficient apple detachment while significantly reducing power consumption and noise. Compared to our previous design, we incorporated a platform movement mechanism that enables both in-out and up-down adjustments, enhancing the robot's dexterity and adaptability to varying canopy structures. We developed a robust apple localization pipeline that combines a foundation-model-based detector, pixel-wise segmentation, and clustering-based depth estimation, which improves performance in outdoor conditions. Additionally, a novel dual-arm coordination strategy was introduced to respond to harvest failures based on sensor feedback, further improving picking efficiency. Field demonstrations were conducted in two commercial orchards in Michigan, USA, with different canopy str...