Structural Design and Analysis of Robotic Arm of an Automated Mango Harvesting and Packaging Vehicle

ZHANG Chunzhi; YAN Yuqing; LIU Shihao

doi:10.19554/j.cnki.1001-3563.2025.23.020

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Packaging Engineering ›› 2025, Vol. 46 ›› Issue (23) : 189-196. DOI: 10.19554/j.cnki.1001-3563.2025.23.020

Agro-products Preservationand Food Packaging

Structural Design and Analysis of Robotic Arm of an Automated Mango Harvesting and Packaging Vehicle

ZHANG Chunzhi¹, YAN Yuqing², LIU Shihao^2,*

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Abstract

The work aims to address the challenges posed by the complex terrain of mango cultivation areas and the presence of corrosive latex in fruit stems by designing a crawler-type automated mango harvesting and packaging vehicle. The system consisted of a crawler chassis, a three-degree-of-freedom electric cylinder leveling platform, a five-degree-of-freedom robotic arm, and an end effector. The leveling platform of the harvesting and packaging vehicle was equipped with an inclination sensor to maintain the base of the robotic arm in a horizontal position in real-time. The end effector integrated a flexible grasping mechanism featuring a fin effect, incorporated pressure sensor for non-destructive grabbing, and employed a shear-type latex adsorption structure. The kinematic model of the robotic arm was established with the Denavit-Hartenberg (D-H) method, and the dynamic analysis was performed to optimize the drive parameters. Additionally, structural lightweight optimization was conducted with ANSYS software. The five-degree-of-freedom robotic arm realized the lightweight structure and reduced the mass by 13.8%. The maximum deformation was 1.978 mm, and the maximum equivalent stress was 35.638 MPa, which met the requirements of stiffness and strength. The robotic arm had good adaptability in mango picking and packaging, and had a positive effect on reducing labor costs and improving work efficiency. The harvesting and packaging vehicle is demonstrating capabilities for flexible grasping, efficient latex handling, and preliminary fruit classification, thus providing an effective technological solution for addressing the challenges of automated mango harvesting and packaging.

Key words

mango harvesting and packaging vehicle / crawler chassis / robotic arm / structural optimization / bionic design

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ZHANG Chunzhi, YAN Yuqing, LIU Shihao. Structural Design and Analysis of Robotic Arm of an Automated Mango Harvesting and Packaging Vehicle[J]. Packaging Engineering. 2025, 46(23): 189-196 https://doi.org/10.19554/j.cnki.1001-3563.2025.23.020

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