Amaran:An Unmanned Robotic Coconut Tree Climber and Harvester

There is an acute shortage of human coconut tree climbers to harvest coconuts in India and other developing countries. The consequential diminished availability of skilled tree climbers, to pass along the trade secrets to the succeeding generations, highlights the exigent need for an unmanned coconut-tree-climber as an alternative solution. This article presents Amaran, a novel robotic coconut tree climber and harvester. Amaran is comprised of a harvester with a distinctive robotic arm (RA) and a cutter, which can be attached to a ring-shaped frame that can be fastened to a coconut tree. Amaran can be controlled, through a wireless interface, either by an operator on the ground or via a smartphone-based app. Once dispositioned in the vicinity of the coconut bunch, the cutter is commanded to harvest the coconuts by cutting the stem of the bunch attached to the tree. Verification of the Amaran robot's viability was confirmed by tests conducted on a coconut tree set up in the design lab. Subsequently, the design of the Amaran robot was validated by field tests on a coconut farm. In this article, we discuss the design of the Amaran body and harvester. Amaran's dexterity in climbing and harvesting coconuts can be challenged by height, circumference, and inclination of the tree. Experimental results show that Amaran can successfully climb trees up to 15.2 m tall, circumferences ranging from 0.66 to 0.92 m, and tree trunk inclinations of up to 30°.