Design and kinematic analysis of the separation mechanism for feeding safflower ball

Abstract

In order to address the issue of inaccurate positioning caused by the small dispersion distance and mutual shielding after the red flower ball is gathered together during the picking process of the safflower picking robot’s end effector,a method for simultaneous evacuation separation of fruit balls during the feeding stage of safflower plants was proposed.A mechanism for separating red flower balls during feeding was designed,with careful consideration given to its main structure,structural parameters,and kinematic analysis.The analysis reveals that there are no sudden changes in speed or acceleration throughout the entire movement,ensuring stable and reliable motion that meets design requirements.A test bed was constructed to evaluate the performance of fruit ball separation during feeding.Results showed a separation rate of 92.33%,a shielding rate of 3.15% for fruit balls,and damage rates of 0.64% for plants and 1.05% for fruit balls respectively.The separation mechanism effectively increases spacing between adjacent red fruits and fruit balls after clamping operations,resulting in a planar arrangement that reduces picking difficulty.This research provides a theoretical basis for mechanized safflower picking.

Keywords

safflower balls / feeding / splitting distance / mechanism design / kinematic analysis