Studies on Automation of Root Vegetable Thinning (Part 1)

Investigation of Cultivation for Radish Production

Abstract

Harvesting, preparing and thinning are time-consuming and labor-intensive components of the radish production. The automated operation of vegetable harvesting and preparing have been improved by the development of commercial machines. However, the vegetable thinning continues to be a manual effort except using the precision sowing machines. The objective of the research is to develop a robotic system for thinning of radish seedling. In this paper, a new cultivation method was proposed. In the new method it was suggested what sowing way is suitable to robotics and when it is best time to thin seedling. Radish growth was also investigated by using the new method to thin seedling, compared with traditional cultivation. The result showed that the new method had no adverse effect on radish growth.