AUTONOMOUS, ROBOTIC HARVESTING SYSTEM FOR VERTICAL FARMING (ARHSVF)

Abstract

The project goal is to design a system that will automate the labor-intensive process of harvesting produce in vertical farms. The system is designed to be fed full, ready to harvest rafts of produce, specifically lettuce and microgreens, and have it separate the edible portions, from their roots and rockwool media. Then return the empty raft ready to be reused. The final report covers the preliminary details of the design, with early conceptual analysis of the systems and subsystems to be developed. The bulk of the content is the Technical Data Package, which envelopes all specifications and details of the physical design. Additionally, the modeling and analysis section contains all CAD models and drawings made for the project. Acceptance Test Sheets shows the specific state of the requirements testing, and outline of the planned requirement tests and their status. Outline of the budget and costs of the design follow after. Concluding notes after the budget can be found, explaining the lessons learned from the course. All additional project elements are located in the appendix. The appendix includes the actual drawings from the modeling phase, software design documentation, user’s manual, and design requirements. References and acknowledgements can be found at the end of the report.