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Tree fruit growers around the world are facing labor shortages for criticaloperations, including harvest and pruning. There is a great interest indeveloping robotic solutions for these labor-intensive tasks, but currentefforts have been prohibitively costly, slow, or require a reconfiguration ofthe orchard in order to function. In this paper, we introduce an alternativeapproach to robotics using a novel and low-cost soft-growing robotic platform.Our platform features the ability to extend up to 1.2 m linearly at a maximumspeed of 0.27 m/s. The soft-growing robotic arm can operate with a terminalpayload of up to 1.4 kg (4.4 N), more than sufficient for carrying an apple.This platform decouples linear and steering motions to simplify path planningand the controller design for targeting. We anticipate our platform beingrelatively simple to maintain compared to rigid robotic arms. Herein we alsodescribe and experimentally verify the platform's kinematic model, includingthe prediction of the relationship between the steering angle and the angularpositions of the three steering motors. Information from the model enables theposition controller to guide the end effector to the targeted positions fasterand with higher stability than without this information. Overall, our researchshow promise for using soft-growing robotic platforms in orchard operations.

Design, Modeling, and Control of a Low-Cost and Rapid Response Soft-Growing Manipulator for Orchard Operations