The authors investigated a whole-crop rice-harvesting system that makes round bales in paddy fields and that makes them at feed bases with bulk transport by truck. It was estimated that the latter has a low cost for 20 min or less transportation time between the paddy field and the feed base. We also investigated using a clamp silo to reduce cost.

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The objective of this research was to develop a robotic harvesting system for tomato clusters with low-node-order pinching and high-density planting. First, we installed a square pipe to fix the position of the peduncles on both sides of the cultivation bed. Then, we developed a harvesting robot prototype that can travel along a magnetic tape on the greenhouse floor. The robot’s harvesting unit was composed of a manipulator with three degrees of freedom and an end-effector. The scissors of the end-effector can simultaneously grasp and cut the peduncle. In our experiment, the harvesting success rate was 76.9 %.

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In this paper, we improved the variable-bale-diameter-type chamber for TMR (Total Mixed Ration). TMR forming capacity was 10-16t/h. We confirmed that the prototype could form TMR roll-bales varied in the range of 0.8-1.0m in diameter, with different materials and combination, in order to supply TMR with mass of 300-500kg. The densities of each roll-bales were over 300kg/m³. Standard deviations of roll-bales mass were improved to 0-4kg by weighing the materials before feeding to the prototype chamber. The maximum PTO power was 11kW, while forming TMR roll-bale. The average loss rate was 1% during forming and wrapping. We were not able to form higher density TMR roll-bale by doubling the force of the gas-springs which presses the bar-chain.

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