ROBOGRAPES: A FULLY AUTOMATED MACHINE FOR GRAFTING VINE CUTTINGS

In this paper, an innovative vision-based solution for the automation of vegetable varieties grafting operations is presented. Thanks to the integrated design of mechanical system, artificial vision system, and distributed real-time control system, the grafting process has been fully automated. The solution has been applied to the problem of grafting vine cuttings. Grafts and vines are loaded, inspected and selected, in order to obtain the optimal conditions for grafting, in a fully automated manner and thus revolutionizing the current practice. An important enhancement of the production quality is indeed achieved with respect to state of the art systems, which typically employ human experts for such operations. The system, by guaranteeing continuous functioning and high productivity (more than 1500 graftings/hour), provides an effective and reliable solution to the pressing problem of substituting expert human operators during the grafting season.