Evaluation of fruit yield in automatic harvesting systems using mechanical vibration analysis.

The article proposes an assessment of the quantitative parameters of the crop using the analysis of mechanical vibrations. A demonstration of the investigation is shown for a situation where a support system in the field helps cucumbers grow vertically. The study was carried out by modeling the yield of cucumbers. The greatest attention was paid to the frequencies of natural oscillations. A developed numerical model of the support design is proposed and its natural oscillation frequencies are calculated using the finite element method (FEM). The results were confirmed by a physical experiment that actually simulates a numerical model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]