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Development of a control system for a grafting machine

azienda Thesis in external company    


Reference persons FABRIZIO DABBENE

Description Grafting of vegetable seedlings is a horticultural practice adopted in order to counteract huge crop losses due to infection of soil-borne diseases in intensive cultivation. The grafting process consists in attaching scions of the crop to be reared onto more vigorous. The use of disease resistant grafted plants is strongly increasing. However, the grafting of herbaceous crops is a labour-intensive technique, with consequent costs. These aspects have encouraged the development of automated machines able to increase productivity and rooting success rate.
This thesis is aimed to the development of a control system for an innovative grafting machines, in particular concerning the supply unit which provides rootstocks and scions, sorted by diameter, to a grafting unit.
The supply unit is based on a number of independent single-axis robotic modules (slider), which move on a single rail. Each slider is equipped with a stand with several holding cavities (slots), allowing to simultaneously host several shoots during the slider deployment along the guide During the machine operations, each slot can host a scion, a rootstock or a grafted plant.
The candidate will have to complete and optimize the existing control system, integrating an artificial vision system to measure seedlings stems diameter. The developed control will be directly tested on machine prototype, and a number of tests will be carried out in order to assess the machine performance in a real operating context.

See also  cnr - thesis proposal on precision agriculture.pdf 

Required skills Good coding skills in MATLAB.


Deadline 07/02/2020      PROPONI LA TUA CANDIDATURA




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