Application of Soft Grippers in the Field of Agricultural Harvesting: A Review
This review summarizes the important properties required for applying soft grippers to agricultural harvesting, focusing on their actuation methods and structural types. The purpose of the review is to address the challenges of limited load capacity and stiffness, which significantly hinder the broa...
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MDPI AG
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Machines |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1702/13/1/55 |
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| author | Daode Zhang Wei Zhang Hualin Yang Haibing Yang |
| author_facet | Daode Zhang Wei Zhang Hualin Yang Haibing Yang |
| author_sort | Daode Zhang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This review summarizes the important properties required for applying soft grippers to agricultural harvesting, focusing on their actuation methods and structural types. The purpose of the review is to address the challenges of limited load capacity and stiffness, which significantly hinder the broader application of soft grippers in agriculture. This paper examines the research progress on variable stiffness methods for soft grippers over the past five years. We categorize various variable stiffness techniques and analyze their advantages and disadvantages in enhancing load capacity, stiffness, dexterity, degree of integration, responsiveness, and energy consumption of soft grippers. The applicability and limitations of these techniques in the context of agricultural harvesting are also discussed. This paper concludes that combined material variable stiffness technology with a motor actuation claw structure in soft grippers is better suited for agricultural harvesting operations of woody crops (e.g., apples, citrus) and herbaceous crops (e.g., tomatoes, cucumbers) in unstructured environments. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-03874313a0a84c1ca9992920ddbb06af |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2075-1702 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Machines |
| spelling | doaj-art-03874313a0a84c1ca9992920ddbb06af2025-01-24T13:39:17ZengMDPI AGMachines2075-17022025-01-011315510.3390/machines13010055Application of Soft Grippers in the Field of Agricultural Harvesting: A ReviewDaode Zhang0Wei Zhang1Hualin Yang2Haibing Yang3School of Mechanical Engineering, Hubei University of Technology, Wuhan 430068, ChinaSchool of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266061, ChinaSchool of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266061, ChinaSchool of Mechanical Engineering, Hubei University of Technology, Wuhan 430068, ChinaThis review summarizes the important properties required for applying soft grippers to agricultural harvesting, focusing on their actuation methods and structural types. The purpose of the review is to address the challenges of limited load capacity and stiffness, which significantly hinder the broader application of soft grippers in agriculture. This paper examines the research progress on variable stiffness methods for soft grippers over the past five years. We categorize various variable stiffness techniques and analyze their advantages and disadvantages in enhancing load capacity, stiffness, dexterity, degree of integration, responsiveness, and energy consumption of soft grippers. The applicability and limitations of these techniques in the context of agricultural harvesting are also discussed. This paper concludes that combined material variable stiffness technology with a motor actuation claw structure in soft grippers is better suited for agricultural harvesting operations of woody crops (e.g., apples, citrus) and herbaceous crops (e.g., tomatoes, cucumbers) in unstructured environments.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1702/13/1/55soft grippersstructure designactuationvariable stiffnessagricultural harvesting |
| spellingShingle | Daode Zhang Wei Zhang Hualin Yang Haibing Yang Application of Soft Grippers in the Field of Agricultural Harvesting: A Review Machines soft grippers structure design actuation variable stiffness agricultural harvesting |
| title | Application of Soft Grippers in the Field of Agricultural Harvesting: A Review |
| title_full | Application of Soft Grippers in the Field of Agricultural Harvesting: A Review |
| title_fullStr | Application of Soft Grippers in the Field of Agricultural Harvesting: A Review |
| title_full_unstemmed | Application of Soft Grippers in the Field of Agricultural Harvesting: A Review |
| title_short | Application of Soft Grippers in the Field of Agricultural Harvesting: A Review |
| title_sort | application of soft grippers in the field of agricultural harvesting a review |
| topic | soft grippers structure design actuation variable stiffness agricultural harvesting |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1702/13/1/55 |
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