The minimal exoskeleton, a passive exoskeleton to simplify pruning and fruit collection

Terracing allows cultivation even in hilly regions but does not permit the use of conventional heavy machinery. Olive trees, grown on terraced lands, are harvested with a handheld long-shafted harvester that shakes the branches of the trees and makes olives fall over nets arranged around the trees....

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Engineering in Agriculture, Environment and Food Environment and Food, 2023, Vol.16(1), pp.37-42
Main Authors: REVERBERI, Gabriele, CEPOLINA, Francesco, PIETRONAVE, Giorgio, TESTA, Marco, RAMADOSS, Vishal, ZOPPI, Matteo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
agriculture
exoskeleton
olive trees
outdoor
service automation
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Terracing allows cultivation even in hilly regions but does not permit the use of conventional heavy machinery. Olive trees, grown on terraced lands, are harvested with a handheld long-shafted harvester that shakes the branches of the trees and makes olives fall over nets arranged around the trees. This relatively heavy and unbalanced hand-hold tool causes fatigue and articular-muscular disease to the operators. This paper presents a lightweight exoskeleton developed to help in the carrying and operating of such tools, reducing human effort and the incidence of long-term pathologies to the operators. This work describes the kinematics and design of the proposed exoskeleton, which is passive and “minimal”. A prototype of the exoskeleton has been produced and tested in the field.
ISSN:1881-8366
1881-8366
DOI:10.37221/eaef.16.1_37