Design of the locomotion switching mechanism of a grape transporting robot

抄録

The use of heavy machinery in agriculture has led to a progressive soil degradation and the consequent crop yield reduction and increase of maintenance costs. The soil damage is of two types: soil compaction (volume reduction) and distortion (shearing and deformation). Because this damage is affected by the state of the soil and by the contact area between soil and running gear, the design of a vehicle able to change its contact area is here considered. The vehicle is intended to transport the grape in the vineyards and replace the use of heavy tractors during the harvesting period. The proposed system can pass from a wheeled vehicle, suited for hard dry soil, to a half-tracked vehicle, suited for more soft and deformable soil. In this work, we provide the overview of the entire vehicle, and we show the design of the mechanism for switching between the two types of locomotion systems.