Design and Experiments of a Vision-Guided Integrated Cavity Tray Seedling Culling and Replanting System

Greenhouse seedling facilities have become a major method for modern vegetable production. In the process of raising seedlings, culling and replanting of cavity seedlings are essential to ensure the quality of the cavity seedling output. However, the process of culling and replanting is complex, traditional manual work is intensive and inefficient, and existing mechanized equipment is relatively homogeneous and low in intelligence. In this study, an integrated culling-replanting system based on visual guidance was developed to address these issues. It allows for real-time feedback of equipment operation information through the human-machine interface, culling and replanting of unqualified holes, and detection of culled seedling growth information. Further prototypes were built and culling and replanting trials were conducted. The results of the trials showed that the average success rates of culling and replanting were 93.00%, 83.07%, and 76.95% for culling and replanting with hole sizes of 21, 32, and 50, respectively. The average survival rates after surgery were all above 95.00%. The designed vision-guided integrated culling and replanting system is stable in operation, compact, has a strong human-machine interaction, and has a high transplanting success rate, which can effectively solve the problems of high intensity and low efficiency of culling and replanting operations in the culling and replanting processes, improve the intelligence level of the replanting equipment, and meet the actual operational requirements of the seedling breeding process.