Mechanical Properties of Bell Pepper Fruits, as Related to the Development of its Harvesting Robot

Abstract

Adequate knowledge of the mechanical properties of fruits is required for the optimization of fruits harvesting robots. This study was carried out to evaluate some physical and mechanical properties of bell pepper fruits, which will be useful for the design and utilization of bell pepper fruits harvesting robots. Some mechanical properties (failure force, failure energy and compressibility) of matured bell pepper fruits were evaluated at three different dimension sizes and two fruit orientations, according to the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) approved procedure. Results obtained from this study revealed that the fruit size and orientation had significant (p ≤ 0.05) effect on the mechanical properties of the bell pepper fruits. The failure force and failure energy of the fruit increased significantly (p ≤ 0.05) as the fruit locule number increases from 3 to 4. Relatively, the results revealed that the failure force and failure energy of the fruit increased significantly (p ≤ 0.05) as the fruit size increased from small to large size. As portrayed by this study results, the failure force and failure energy of the fruit when loaded in the natural position was higher than values obtained, when the fruit was compressed at the vertical position; irrespective of the fruit size. This revealed that the fruit at the natural position absorbed higher compressive force (pressure) and compressive energy, regardless of the fruit locule number. Results obtained from this study will present useful information for the design, programming and optimization of bell pepper harvesting and handling robots.

Keywords

• Bell pepper
• Compression test
• Fruit harvesting robot
• Locule number
• Optimization

References

1. ASABE Standard S368.4: (2008) Compression test of food materials of convex shape. In ASAE Standards; American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers: Chicago, IL.
2. Barth R, IJsselmuiden J, Hemming J and Van Henten EJ. (2018). Data synthesis methods for semantic segmentation in agriculture: A Capsicum annuum dataset. Comput Electron Agric. 144: 284-296.
3. Britannica (2020). Capsicum, garden pepper. Available online at: https://www.britannica.com/plant/pepper-plant-Capsicum-genus. (01/06/2020).
4. CABI (2017). Capsicum annuum (bell pepper). Available online at: https://www.cabi.org/isc/datasheet/15784 (01/06/2020).
5. FAO (2011). Global food losses and food waste – Extent, causes and prevention. Rome.
6. FAOSTAT (2019). Pepper production. Available online at: http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QC (01/06/2020).
7. Fennimore SA and Doohan DJ (2008). The challenges of specialty crop weed control, future directions. Weed Technology, 22(2): 364–372.
8. Gallardo RK, Taylor MR and Hinman H (2010). Cost Estimates of Establishing and Producing Gala Apples in Washington. Extension Fact Sheet FS005E, University of Washington, School of Economic Sciences, Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center, Wenatchee, WA.

9. Gongal A, Amatya S, Karkee M, Zhang Q and Lewis K (2015). Sensors and systems for fruit detection and localization: A review. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 116: 8-19.
10. Grubben GJH and Denton OA. (2004). Plant resources of tropical Africa 2. Vegetables. leider Wageningen, Backhuys Publishers.
11. Hua Y, Zhang N, Yuan X, Quan L, Yang J, Nagasaka K and Zhou X. (2019). Recent advances in intelligent automated fruit harvesting robots. The Open Agriculture Journal. 13: 101-106.
12. Ibeawuchi II, Okoli NA, Alagba RA, Ofor MO, Emma-Okafor LC, Peter-Onoh CA and Obiefuna JC (2015). Fruit and vegetable crop production in Nigeria: The gains, challenges and the way forward. Journal of Biology, Agriculture and Healthcare, 5(2): 194-208.
13. Idama O and Uguru H. (2021). Robotization of tomato fruits production to enhance food security. Journal of Engineering Research and Reports. 20(1): 67-75.
14. Ince A, Ugurluay S, Güzel E and Özcan MT (2009). Mechanical behavior of hulled peanut and its kernel during the shelling process. The Philippine Agricultural Scientist, 92(1): 92-99.
15. Iweka C and Uguru H (2019). Environmental Factors on the physical characteristics and physiological maturity of okra (Abelmoschus esculentus, cv. Kirikou) pods and seeds. Direct Research Journal of Agriculture and Food Science (DRJAFS), 7(5): 99-109.
16. Khazaei J, RajabiPour A, Mohtasebi S and Behroozilar M (2004). Required force and energy for chickpea grain fracture under compressive quasi-static loading. Iranian Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 35(3): 765-776.
17. Kilickan A and Guner M (2008). Physical properties and mechanical behavior of olive fruits under compression loading. Journal of Food Engineering 87 (2): 222–228.
18. Kurtulmus F, Lee WS and Vardar A (2011). Green citrus detection using ‘EigenFruit’, color and circular Gabor texture features under natural outdoor conditions. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 78(2): 140–149.
19. Lehnert C, English A, McCool C, Tow AW and Perez T (2017). Autonomous sweet pepper harvesting for protected cropping systems. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 2(2): 1-8.
20. Li Z, Li P and Liu J (2011). Physical and mechanical properties of tomato fruits as related to robot’s harvesting. Journal of Food Engineering 103: 170–178
21. Li Z, Yang H, Li P, Liu J, Wang J, and Xu Y (2013). Fruit biomechanics based on anatomy: a review. International Agrophysics, 27(1): 97-106.
22. Madagascar Catalogue, 2014. Catalogue of the Vascular Plants of Madagascar., St. Louis, Missouri and Antananarivo, USA, Madagascar: Missouri Botanical Garden. http://www.tropicos.org/project/mada (01/06/2020).
23. Młotek M, Kuta Ł, Stopa R and Komarnicki P (2015). The effect of manual harvesting of fruit on the health of workers and the quality of the obtained produce. Procedia Manufacturing, 3: 1712–1719.
24. Myhan R, Białobrzewski I, Markowski M. (2012). An approach to modeling the rheological properties of food materials. Journal of Food Engineering.111(2): 351–359.
25. Nyorere O and Uguru H (2018). Effect of Seed Size on The Mechanical Properties of Gmelina Seed. International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, 9(8): 853 – 856
26. Oghenerukevwe PO and Uguru H (2018). Effect of Fruit Size and Orientation on Mechanical Properties of Gmelina Fruit (Gmelina arborea) Under Quasi-Static Loading. International Journal of Engineering and Technical Research (IJETR). 8(4): 45-51
27. Onishi Y, Yoshida T, Kurita H, Fukao T, Arihara H, Iwai A. (2019). An automated fruit harvesting robot by using deep learning. ROBOMECH Journal, 6(13): 1-8.
28. Saiedirad MH, Tabatabaeefar A, Borghei A, Mirsalehi M, Badii F, Ghasemi Varnamkhasti M. (2008). Effects of moisture content, seed size, loading rate and seed orientation on force and energy required for fracturing cumin seed (Cuminum cyminum Linn.) under quasi-static loading. Journal of Food Engineering. 86: 565–572.
29. Sistler F (1987). Robotics and intelligent machines in agriculture. IEEE Journal on Robotics and Automation, 3(1): 3-6.
30. Tanigaki K, Fujiura T, Akase A and Imagawa J. (2008). Cherry harvesting tomato. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture. 63(1): 65-72.