Autonomous Harvesting Robot for Oil Palm Plantation: A Review

Abstract

Due to the continuous labour crisis, the oil palm industry in Malaysia has lost an estimated worth of RM10.46 billion unharvested fruit in the first five months of the year 2022. A robotic system in automating the harvesting process of the oil palm fresh fruit bunches (FFB) is proposed to solve the existing problems related to oil palm harvesting and further enhances the development of oil palm harvesting technologies. This article aims to review the six identified key technologies for solving the technological challenges in the development of this robotic system. The key technologies are as follows: (1) oil palm ripeness detection;(2) oil palm cutting mechanism; (3) tree climbing mechanism; (4) motion trajectory planning for fruit harvesting manipulator; (5) localisation; (6) navigation and obstacle avoidance. Six criteria for successful implementation of the proposed harvesting robot are discussed followed by recommendations on the type of technology used. The integration of these technologies as a complete robotic system is analysed. Prediction on the trend of technological development in oil palm harvesting is discussed.