Intelligent equipment Human-machine auxiliary equipment

In response to today's aging population structure, and at the same time the development of industry, commerce and services attracts a large number of manpower jobs, resulting in insufficient agricultural population and the problem of labor shortages, it is no longer possible to introduce smart agricultural machinery into agricultural operations in a timely manner to solve the above problems. Future trends to avoid.

The Sun Yat-sen University team in this research group has developed labor-saving and labor-saving equipment such as "wearable upper arm and waist labor-saving equipment", "wearable labor-saving clothing" and "self-propelled spraying and spraying vehicle" to provide support and auxiliary force. Help reduce the muscle strength consumption of agricultural workers and relieve fatigue after work. National Taichung University of Science and Technology developed a semi-automatic longan peeling machine, which replaces manpower with machines to reduce costs and improve production efficiency and quality. Kaohsiung District Agricultural Improvement Station developed onion stem, leaf and root cutting machines to solve the problem of lack of labor during onion harvesting. Taito District Agricultural Improvement Station develops a smart solar unmanned automatic seeder for cereals to use solar energy to replace the chemical engine to achieve carbon reduction goals. The Hualien District Agricultural Improvement Station has developed an attached-type cultivator weeder. Taichung District Agricultural Improvement Station has developed an attached double-row taro seedling planter, a bellflower seedling transplanting device, a Phalaenopsis planting pot mechanism, and a buckwheat centrifugal shelling machine. Taoyuan Distric agricultural improvement Station in t developed the research above the vegetable seedling transplanting mechanism for paper plug cultivation, and all the results have entered the commercialization stage, with the goal of replacing manpower and overcoming the problem of lack of labor.

Development of labor-saving machinery for agricultural works - a new and smart agricultural model	Our team developed two labor-saving types of machinery, which are the wearable labor-saving exoskeleton and autonomous guiding vehicles for spraying tasks, to improve work efficiency and reduce the fatigue of farmers after agricultural work. The developed wearable upper-limb exoskeleton is suitable and powerful for utilizing in the farm works of trellising, such as grape thinning, cherry tomato trimming, bitter gourd bagging, guava bagging, and other operations. It can reduce the muscle power consumption of the latissimus dorsi muscle by 77%, the erector spinae by 60%, and the anterior deltoid muscle by 40%. We also developed the autonomous guiding vehicles with the functions of the remote controllable and route self-arrangement for use in the crops of the greenhouse facilities and outdoor orchards, such as cherry tomatoes, cantaloupe, and gherkins, etc., for spraying tasks. Experimental data revealed that the GV performs the similar density and uniformity of the sprayed droplets as manual spraying operations.
Title	Introduction
Dried Longan Peeling and Deseeding Machine	Our team developed a special knife for cutting the dried longan pulp. After the cutting is completed, the dried longan pulp and seed are separated by a special peeling silicone plate. At present, manual peeling can produce about 0.72kg/person of pulp per hour, and the processing process is time-consuming and labor-intensive. In contrast, the machine can produce about 4.32kg/unit of pulp per hour. The amount of pulp produced by a dried longan pulp peeling machine per hour is approximately equal to the production of 6 people. If the manual peeling is about NT$1200 per person per day, and each machine uses two operators, it can save about NT$ 5 thousand per day (eight hours), and one month (22 days) can save NT$ 110 thousand. While the longan production season in Taiwan is about four months, and the one season (four months) can save NT$ 440 thousand.
Smart agriculture robot with spraying function	It takes time and effort to spray pesticides in the field, and the sprayers have the risk of pesticide residues. Use the smart agriculture robot with spraying function on the scaffolding crops, such as melons and tomatoes, the same row can be sprayed on both sides at the same time. Compared with conventional equipment, it can reduce more than 60% of working time, 50% of labor and 10% of spraying volume. Moreover, the clothes of the sprayers have almost no residue of pesticide droplets, which greatly increases the safety risk of the working environment.
Development of an electric transport platform for vegetable and fruit containers	This system can be used as an unmanned dispatching type small-batch automatic back-and-forth operation of agricultural products harvesting, collecting, transporting, storing, and transporting agricultural products to the storage yard after harvesting in the field. The operation mode of the truck reduces the demand and dependence of manpower input in handling, stacking, unloading and conveying operations, achieving the purpose of saving time and labor and improving operation efficiency, and reducing production costs and solving the problem of lack of labor.
Real-time weed detection and selective spraying module for field application	Weed control in crop cultivation is a common task in the field, which often requires a lot of manpower and chemicals. Spraying herbicides is one of the usually used control methods. In order to ensure the effectiveness of the application and the precise spraying to the position of the weeds, this study carried out the development of real-time weed AI sensing and spraying modules in the field that can reduces the use amount of herbicides and environmental pollution.
Traction machine with tea planting machine	The renewal of tea gardens requires deep plowing, loosening, ditching and planting. Moreover, the traditional planting operations require the most workers, and planting operations are still done manually. In order to solve the problem of lack of labor in planting, we have developed a "traction machine attached to the tea planting machine", which is 5-6 times more efficient than traditional artificial planting. The manpower required for mechanical planting is 20% of that for manual planting, and planting operations are greatly reduced burden.
Research and development of self-propelled pineapple intelligent spray (irrigation) injection accelerator	At present, the pineapple flower forcing operation is still mainly manual, which is not only time-consuming but also labor-intensive. In this research, a self-propelled pineapple intelligent spraying flower-forcing machine is developed to solve the problem of manual flower-forcing operation. The developed machine combined with an intelligent visual recognition system to locate the center of the pineapple plant and guide the nozzle to accurately spray the pineapple flower forcing operation. The image to identify the center of the pineapple plant adopts the integration of image vision technology and artificial intelligence technology.
The Eustoma seedling transplanting device	It is hoped that through the development of the eustoma plug seedling transplanting device, the effect of labor-saving cultivation can be achieved, and the problems of aging and labor shortage of flower farmers can be solved. The relevant seedling transplanting device can also be used for the application of hydroponic cultivation of leafy vegetable seedlings, thereby enhancing the scale of mechanization and automation of the industry.
Phalaenopsis Potting Machine	This research designs and develops a potting machine for Phalaenopsis seedlings, which is suitable for filling 2.5” Phalaenopsis seedlings to 3.5” plastic soft pots. The mechanical potting of Phalaenopsis has the same utility as the traditional manual potting. Reducing the labor load of operators and the risk of occupational injury, also, relieving the labor shortage of the industry.The operation mode of mechanized pot filling is designed as vertical feeding and horizontal extrusion. Personnel are used to fill sphagnum moss and place orchid seedlings. Machines are used to cover, squeeze and pot. The operating time of the machine is 19.6 sec/pot, and the operating time of the manual operation with machine is 40 sec/pot.
Grains intelligent solar unmanned automated seeder	The attached cross-border cultivator weeder adopts a combination of a ground breaking plow, a disc plow and an elastic weeding claw, and two weeding modules are designed for weed control. The principle of weeding is to loosen the soil first to loosen the base of the weeds, and then use the weeding claw to rake or turn it up with a disc plow. A two-stage treatment can increase the chances of ploughing and letting the weeds die to improve control rates. The machine completely covers the space of the border surface, border side and border bottom, and can avoid plants to achieve a delicate and three-dimensional cultivating and weeding effect.
Attached furrow cultivator weeder	The attached cross-border cultivator weeder adopts a combination of a ground breaking plow, a disc plow and an elastic weeding claw, and two weeding modules are designed for weed control. The principle of weeding is to loosen the soil first to loosen the base of the weeds, and then use the weeding claw to rake or turn it up with a disc plow. A two-stage treatment can increase the chances of ploughing and letting the weeds die to improve control rates. The machine completely covers the space of the border surface, border side and border bottom, and can avoid plants to achieve a delicate and three-dimensional cultivating and weeding effect.
Attached double row taro seedling planter	The attached double-row taro seedling planter uses a traction machine to carry 2 groups of planting institutions and seedling racks. Each group of planting institutions is responsible for supplying seedlings, and mechanically performs soil breaking, ditching, seedling clamping, seedling placement, suppression and soil covering. Other actions, together with before and after planting and trimming, completes the mechanical cutting and planting process of taro seedlings; 2,000 taro seedlings can be placed on the seedling rack, which is about 0.05 ha of taro field. The operation efficiency is 23.1% higher than that of artificial planting, and farmers no longer need to endure the labor of bending over for a long time.
Wearable labor-saving exoskeleton for agricultural applications	The wearable upper-limb exoskeleton is suitable and powerful for utilizing in the farm works of trellising, the muscle power consumptions of women are approximately 52%, 65%, and 21%, respectively. In addition, the developed lower-limb exoskeleton is tested for 4 hours for carrying heavy goods on the farms. It can reduce the muscle power consumption of the latissimus dorsi muscle by 77%, the erector spinae by 60%, and the anterior deltoid muscle by 40% with the assistance of the motor power source.
Folding machine	Taichung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station dveloped a folding machine for the flat board cartons, a piece of flat board carton can be automatically folded into a carton, its contents include 2 patents of " Folding and standing structure of flat-type carton" and " Infeed and outfeed structure for flat board carton", provides for oncidium cut flowers post-harvest packing operations, about 360 cartons are folded every hour, it can save more than 80% of actions, on the shoulders, necks, fingers and wrists of the upper body, the application of muscle strength can be reduced by 60%. Using the folding machines can reduce overwork injuries caused by continuous folding of boxes after a busy farming season, and at the same time avoid the hoarding of cartons in the workplace, and the automation of agricultural industries also improves productivity and maintains competitiveness.

Projects

Intelligent equipment Human-machine auxiliary equipment

Title

Introduction