Abstract
The aim of this study was to develop an automatic production system for grafted seedlings on the basis of the “Plug-in Method” which is a new grafting method based on physiological principles. We previously reported the efficiencies of the “Plug-in method” based on the shaping, joining, ac climatizing and growing of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) seedlings. In this paper we describe a fabricated semiautomatic grafting robot system that performs the “Plug-in Method”, and report its performance and some problems of robotization. Its performance was 90% successful and 1.4 times processing speed as fast as cutting grafting by hand process. It had some problems concerning gripper performance, cutting resistance, cutting tips removal, aligning, and insertion force in joining scion and stock.
