Design of an Automated Asparagus Picker

ME450 Capstone Design and Manufacturing Experience: Winter 2008Oceana County is feeling the negative impacts of the poor Michigan economy, including scarce labor and low prices which lead to leaving up to 25% of asparagus crops unpicked. An automated robotic picker will help tot harvest all the asparagus crop. The picker will work in unison with a vision system that will identify the asparagus stalks that are ready for harvest. The ME 450 project will focus on the design and fabrication of the robotic picking mechanism which must be able to navigate through the asparagus clusters, as well as cut and retrieve the asparagus.Frode Maaseidvaag David Roseman Carl Fuehring John Bakker Norm Meyershttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/58667/1/me450w08project34_report.pd