Automatic tomato picking robot system with human interface using image processing

A robot system to pick a tomatoes automatically using an easy-to-operate user interface is proposed in this paper A 3D-movement robotic arm with a hand system is used as the mechanical system. The hand system is composed of a scissor device and a CCD camera. The user can monitor the operation using the CCD camera linked to a personal computer, and can operate the robot system using only the user interface of a personal computer display. It is possible to implement remote control operations using the proposed system. The operational flow is as follows. A user searches for a tomato using the velocity operation mode. After the user has found the tomato on the display, he clicks on it. The computer system recognizes the red color of the tomato, and then calculates the position of the tomato on the display. Next, the calculated position moves to the center of the operation window. The movement means that the robot hand moves to the corresponding position of the tomato. Finally, the robot hand picks the tomato automatically. The validity of the proposed robot system was confirmed by experimental results.