UNIVERSITI PUTRA MALAYSIA

HAMED SHOKRIPOUR

FK 2010 46

DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF SELF- BALANCING CLIMBING MACHINE FOR OIL PALM HARVESTING

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DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF SELF- BALANCING CLIMBING MACHINE FOR OIL PALM HARVESTING

HAMED SHOKRIPOUR

MASTER OF SCIENCE

UNIVERSITI PUTRA MALAYSIA

September 2010

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DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF SELF- BALANCING CLIMBING MACHINE FOR OIL PALM HARVESTING

By

HAMED SHOKRIPOUR

Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia, in Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science

September 2010

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Dedicated to my family, special my parents for their love and support

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Abstract of thesis presented to the Senate of Univesiti Putra Malaysia in fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Science.

DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF SELF-BALANCING CLIMBING MACHINE FOR OIL PALM HARVESTING

By

HAMED SHOKRIPOUR

September 2010

Chairman: Professor Wan Ishak Wan Ismail, PhD

Faculty: Engineering

Oil palm is a major plantation crop in Malaysia. The country successfully developed

the oil palm plantation industry during the past three decades and it is now one of the

largest palm oil producers in the world. However, due to the lack of specific

machinery for harvesting oil palm fruits, the harvesting operation is still done using

the traditional method of a sharp knife that is attached to the head of a long pole.

This traditional method of harvesting requires strong workers with special experience

and skills. In the face of a decreasing number of these skilled workers, their salaries

have increased, which has added to the cost of harvesting. Furthermore, using the

traditional method, workers cannot harvest fruits from trees which are too tall.

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The project was to design, fabricate and test a new self-balancing and remote-

controlled four wheeled climbing robot for oil palm trees and a special cutting

system for cleaning the fronds. A control system was designed and fabricated for the

climbing robot to keep the robot’s balance during the climbing process by

individually controlling the speed of each wheel. A dual axis tilt sensor was used to

simultaneously measure the angle of tilt for both X and Y axes. In addition, a carrier

machine was designed and fabricated to bear different equipment – such as the

cutting system, digital camera and sprayer – and carry these around the tree trunk to

enable them to undertake different processes. The operator controls the climbing

robot and carrier machine via a specific remote control. The speeds of the DC motors

are controlled by a Pulse-width modulation (PWM). A specific program was written

with Bascome software in Basic language for an ATmega64 microcontroller as the

Arithmetic and Logic Unit of the robot.

All parts of the robot were successfully tested in laboratory and field conditions. The

time and motion study was carried out on several trees. The average time required to

place the robot around the tree, then have it climb up, cut a frond, and descend, was

about eight (8) minutes for each tree. The maximum angle of tilt around X and Y

axes were eight (8) and six (6) degrees respectively. The robot successfully

negotiated the irregularities of the tree trunk’s surface and automatically set its size

relative to changes in the diameter of the tree trunk. The carrier machine carried the

cutting machine and moved smoothly around the tree trunk. Both the climbing robot

and carrier machine responded successfully to the commands sent from the remote

control by the operator.

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Key words: Climbing Robot, Cutting System, Oil Palm, Self Balancing, PWM.

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Abstrak tesis yang dikemukakan kepada Senat Universiti Putra Malaysia sebagai memenuhi keperluan untuk ijazah Master Sience.

MEREKAKABENTUK DAN MEMBORGUNKAN MESIN MEMANJAT SWA-IMBANG UNTUK PENUAIAN KELAPA SAWIT

Oleh

HAMED SHOKRIPOUR

September 2010

Pengerusi: Professor Wan Ishak Wan Ismail, PhD

Faculty: Kejuruteraan

Kelapa sawit merupakan perladangan utama di jalankan di Malaysia. Untuk selama

tiga dekad, Malaysia telah menjalani pembangunan dalam industri ini dan sekarang

ia merupakan pengeluar terbesar untuk industri minyak kelapa sawit.

Walaubagaimanapun, kekurangan dalam penggunaan mesin yang sesuai

mengakibatkan pemetikan buah secara tradisional menggunakan mata pisau

bersama-sama batang galah masih lagi digunakan.Pelaksanaan pemetikan buah

secara tradisional ini memerlukan kepakaran buruh kasar.Masalah kekurangan

pekerja mahir yang dihadapi kini mengakibatkan pembayaran upah yang meningkat

dan mengakibatkan kos pemetikan yang tinggi.Begitujuga, buah kelapa sawit pada

pokok yang tinggi tidak dapat di petik melalui kaedah tradisional ini.Dalam projek

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ini, rekabentuk dan pembuatan serta pengujian telah dijalankan untuk robot

pemanjat empat roda dan berupaya dalam penimbangan sendiri serta dikawal secara

jauh. Ia juga mempunyai system pemotongan canggih untuk pembersihan pelepah

pokok kelapa sawit secara automatik. Sistem kawalan telah di rekabentuk dalam

pembuatan robot pemanjat bagi membolehkan penimbangan robot dapat dikawal

melalui pengawalan secara individu untuk setiap roda pemanjatan sewaktu

pengoperasian dijalankan. Penderian pedua paksi keserongan telah digunakan secara

serentak bagi mengukur sudut kedua-dua paksi X dan Y robot.Sebagai tambahan,

mesin pengangkut telah direkabentuk dan dibangunkan bagi penggunan peralatan

yang berbeza seperti sistem pemotongan, kamera digital serta penyembur dan

peralatan ini diangkut bersama-sama sewaktu pengoperasian yang pelbagai ketika

pemanjatan pokok.Operator akan mengawal robot pemanjat serta mesin pengangkut

ini menggunakan sistem kawalan jauh. Kelajuan motor DC dikawal secara Pulse-

width modulation (PWM).Perisian Bascome telah digunakan sebagai Arithmetic dan

Logic Unit untuk robot bagi membangunkan program komputer untuk ATmega64

microcontroller .Robot telah diuji didalam makmal dan dilapangan. Kajian masa dan

pergerakan robot telah diambil untuk beberapa pokok. Masa purata selama 8 minit

adalah diperlukan bagi robot mengelilingi pokok, memanjat, memotong pelepah dan

turun dari pokok tersebut.Sudut maksimum untuk kecondongan diantara paksi X dan

Y adalah sebanyak 8 dan 6 darjah.Mesin pengangkut telah membawa alat pemotong

serta didapati bergerak secara lancar mengelilingi batang pokok. Kedua-dua robot

pemanjat dan mesin pengangkut telah berjaya beroperasi dan di kawal selia dari jauh

oleh operator.

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Kata Kunci: Pemanjat Robot, Sistem Pemotongan, Oil palm, Keseimbangan Diri,

PWM

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This research project would not have been possible without the support of many

people. I wish to express my love and gratitude to my beloved parents; for their

understanding and endless love, through the duration of my studies.

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my project supervisor, Professor Wan

Ishak Wan Ismail who had presently giving me guidance and support throughout the

entire project. It would be difficult to complete this project without his guidance and

support especially in the project resources, references and material.

I am deeply grateful to my supervisory committee, Professor Desa B. Ahmad, Head

of the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering of University Putra

Malaysia, for his detailed and constructive comments, and for his important support

throughout this work.

I would like to thank my brother Ramin who has offered continuous help in my

project. I would like to express my gratitude to my friends who had given me help

technically and mentally during the journey to accomplish this project. Thank you all

for giving me technical advice, moral support and idea to enhance my project. Thank

you.

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I certify that a thesis Examination Committee has met on………. to conduct the final examination of Hamed Shokripour on his Master of science thesis entitled “Design And Development of Self- Balancing Climbing Machine for Oil Palm Harvesting Operation” in accordance of the Universities and University Colleges Act 1971 and the Constitution of the Universiti Putra Malaysia [P.U.(A)106]15 March 1998.The Committee recommends that the student be awarded the Master of Science.

Members of the Thesis Examination Committee were as follows:

Norhisam b. Misron, Ph.D Associate Professor Faculty of Engineering Universiti Putra Malaysia (Chairman) Muhammad Salih b.Hj. Ja’afar, Ph.D Associate Professor Faculty of Engineering Universiti Putra Malaysia Internal examiner Samsuzana bt. Abd Aziz , Ph.D Faculty of Engineering Universiti Putra Malaysia Internal examiner Scott A. Shearer, Ph.D Professor Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering University of Kentucky External examiner _________________________ BUJANG KIM HUAT, Ph.D Professor and Deputy Dean School of Graduate Studies Universiti Putra Malaysia Date:

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This thesis was submitted to the Senate of Universiti Putra Malaysia and has been accepted as fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. The members of the Supervisory Committee were as follows: Ir.Wan Ishak Wan Ismail, PhD Professor Faculty of Engineering Universiti Putra Malaysia. (Chairman)

Ir. Desa b. Ahmad, PhD Professor Faculty of Engineering Universiti Putra Malaysia (Member) ________________________________ HASANAH MOHD GHAZALI, Ph.D Professor and Dean School of Graduate Studies Universiti Putra Malaysia Date: December 2010

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DECLARATION

I declare that the thesis is my original work except for quotations and citations which have been duly acknowledged. I also declare that it has not been previously, and is not concurrently, submitted for any other degree at University Putra Malaysia or at any other institutions.

_______________________ HAMED SHOKRIPOUR Date: September 2010

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page ABSTRACT III ABSTRAK v AcknowledgEments ix Declaration xii List of Tables xv List of Figures xvi List of Appendices xix List of Abbreviations xxi 1 Introduction 1

1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 Background 2 1.3 Problem Statement 3 1.4 Objectives 6 1.5 Significant of the Study 7 1.6 Limitations: 8

2 Literature Review 9 2.1 Introduction 9 2.2 History of Palm Oil Harvesting 10 2.3 Mechanical Harvester 13

2.3.1 Hydraulic 13 2.3.2 Pneumatic 14 2.3.3 Electrically 15

2.4 Robot Design 16 2.4.1 Control System 17 2.4.2 Mechanical System 19 2.4.3 Oil Palm Climbing Robot or Harvester 19 2.4.4 Climbing and Harvester Robots 27

3 Materials and Methods 39 3.1 39 3.2 Introduction 39 3.3 Mechanical Design 39

3.3.1 Main Frame 40 3.3.1 Gripping system 43 3.3.2 DC Motors 45 3.3.3 Robot Wheels 45 3.3.4 Adjuster System 46

3.4 Carrier Machine 47 3.4.1 Cutting Machine 48 3.4.2 Carrier Robot 50

3.5 Electronic System 51 3.5.1 Hardware Design 53

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3.5.2 Software Design 61

4 Results and Discussions 64 4.1 Main Frame 64 4.2 Size and Selection of Climbing DC Motors 67 4.3 Wheels and Shafts 70 4.4 Gripping System 75 4.5 Tilt Sensor 79

4.5.1 Sensor Software 80 4.6 Motor Speed and Tilt Sensor 82 4.7 Type and Selection of Remote Control 86

4.7.1 Remote Control Software 88 4.8 Cutting System 89

4.8.1 Main Plate 90 4.8.2 Carrier Robot Rail 91 4.8.3 Forward- Backward Movement of Cutting Machine 92 4.8.4 Limit Switches 94

4.9 Time and Motion Study for Cutting System 94 4.10 Time and Motion Study for Climbing Robot 96 4.11 Discussions: 101 4.12 Main Board of Control System 105

5 Conclusions 113 5.1 Conclusions 113 5.2 Suggestion for Future Development 114

REFERENCES 116 APPENDICES 120 BIODATA OF STUDENT 150