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Indexed abstracts and some full text for journals from the social
sciences, humanities and general sciences.
ACAD presents information on a wide array of topics including
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foreign relations, women's studies, economics and many more. All
documentshave indepth indexing, most have abstracts and some have
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Sources:
The Gale Group indexes and abstracts about 1500 US and some
international English language journals from sciences, social
sciences and humanities. Full text is provided for 350 of these
publications.
Accession number & update
14156282 931105.
Occurrences
Accession number & update (1)
Title
Robot gets a handle on pruning vines.
Author(s)
Beard-J.
Source
New-Scientist, VOL: v138, ISS: n1878, DATE: June 19 1993,
PAGE: p18(1), ISSN: 0262-4079.
Publication date
930619.
Length
49 Lines
6,625 Characters, approximately 4 PC screens.
Special features
illustration; photograph.
US SIC codes
US SIC Codes:
0172 Grapes.
Descriptors
Grape-industry: Automation;
Pruning: Automation.
Abstract
Cornell University agriculture and biological engineering
professor Wesly Gunkel and colleagues have developed a robotic
grape pruner with computer vision. Grape vine pruning usually
takes 20 man-hours per acre in harsh winter conditions. The
robot pruner is made of two adjustable perpendicular metal
frames linked to a mast on a cart. Three cutters each with two
blades can move back and forth to prune the grape vine. Computer
software and two video cameras assist in visualizing the shoots
to be pruned. The robotic grape pruner may be mounted on a
harvester.
Availability of full text
FULL TEXT.
Copyright statement
COPYRIGHT IPC Magazines Ltd. (UK) 1993.
Lead paragraph
A ROBOTIC grape pruner with computer vision may soon be
mechanising the most labour-intensive task in the production of
grapes--pruning the young shoots in winter.
Text
1 OF 2. Wesley Gunkel, professor emeritus of agricultural and
biological engineering at Cornell University in New York state,
is developing the robot system together with research associate
James Throop and graduate Elke Ochs. Pruning is a slow,
selective process in which workers remove shoots to maximise
production of high-quality grapes. Manually pruning an acre
(0.41 hectares) of grapes usually takes 20 hour' work and is
done when the vines are "dormant", between November and April,
in harsh winter conditions of rain, snow and cold. "We would
like to mechanise the pruning operation to reduce the
dependence on human labourers who are willing to endure these
uncomfortable conditions, " Gunkeo says. His estimates also
suggest that the robot would be cheaper. Gunkel calls pruning
"the last labour-intensive task in the grape industry yet to
be successfully mechanised". He played a small part when
Cornell scientists developed a grape harvester more than twenty
years ago; similar machines are now used worldwide. Several
laboratories around the world are applying robotics to fruit
harvesting, Throop says. "Florida is working on an orange
picker, France and Hungary on apple pickers. But our pruner--
and a melon picker in development at another US university--
are the only ones where the robot works as it moves through the
field." With all the other systems, the robot must be moved to
the individual plant or tree to do the work. The laboratory
prototype of the Cornell robot pruner consists of two
adjustable perpendicular metal frames linked to a mast on the
side of a cart. Mounted on the robot are three cutters, like
those of a power hedge trimmer, each with two jagged blades
that move-back and forth to prune the vine. The movable frames
and the cutters are operated by a computer and a hydraulic
pump, both held in the cart.
2 OF 2. The robot uses computer vision to "see" where to prune,
via computer software and two video cameras--one attached to
the mast, where it provides a horizontal view of the vine, and
one on a beam perpendicular to the pole, where it provides a
top view of the vine. These cameras search vertically and
horizontally to follow the main vine, or "cordon". The computer
calculates the cordon's location every 0.7 seconds and updates
the coordinates to move the robot's arm to new positions on the
vine. In the laboratory, the robot can follow a cordon on a
trellis and even move out of the way when it encounters a
trellis post at up to 12 centimetres per second, or about 7
metres per minute. A typical cordon is 50 metres long. The
"pruning module" (robot, cameras, computer and cutters) will
be mounted on an over-the-row-harvester, says Gunkel, who
estimates that the first models could be in vineyards within
five years.
Label/description Example
AN Accession number 1_: 14156282.AN.
& update --- see Limit options ---
OC Occurrences --- display only ---
TI Title 2_: ROBOT$3 WITH VINES.TI.
AU Author(s) 3_: BEARD-J$.AU.
SO Source 4_: NEW-SCIENTIST.SO.
DT Publication date
DATE= Publication date 5_: DATE=19980726
MONTH= Publication month 6_: MONTH=199807
YEAR= Publication year 7_: YEAR=1998
LE Length --- see Limit options ---
SF Special features 8_: ILLUSTRATION.SF.
For letter grade 9_: GR=F
AT Article type 10_: EDITORIAL.AT.
PE Named persons 11_: ROBERT.PE.
CN Country names 12_: FRANCE.CN.
& codes 13_: EWFR
CS Legal case 14_: UNITED ADJ STATES.CS.
LW Legislation 15_: CRIMINAL WITH ACT.LW.
CC US SIC codes & description 16_: 0172.CC.
or # at 1 or 2 or 3 digits 17_: 017#
or use the quick code 18_: SC=AERO
CO Company names 19_: MESSERSCHMITT.CO.
TN Product tradenames 20_: JAS-39-AIRCRAFT.TN.
DE Descriptors 21_: GRAPE-INDUSTRY.DE.
KW Keyword superlabel (AT AU CC 22_: AUTOMATION.KW.
CN CO DE LE LW PE SO TI TN)
AB Abstract 23_: ROBOTIC WITH PRUNER.AB.
AV Availablity of full text 24_: FULL ADJ TEXT.AV.
or use the quick code 25_: FT=Y
CP Copyright statement 26_: IPC ADJ MAGAZINES.CP.
LP Lead paragraph 27_: LABOUR ADJ INTENSIVE.LP.
TX Text 28_: GRAPE WITH HARVESTER.
1_: DRIVING
DATE Publication date YYYYMMDD 2_: ..L 1 DATE=19980726
MONTH Publication month YYYYMM 3_: ..L 1 MONTH GT 199807
YEAR Publication year YYYY 4_: ..L 1 YEAR WL 1998,1999
LN Number of lines 5_: ..L 1 LN>100
CI Column inches 6_: ..L 1 CI>5
UDATE Update date YYYYMMDD 7_: ..L 1 UDATE<19980929
UMONTH Update month YYYYMM 8_: ..L 1 UMONTH GT 199903.
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AB AV CP LP TX
HITS All paragraphs where search terms occur
KWIC Context of search terms in TX paragraph
FREE AN OC TI LE AV
_: ..P LONG 1-5,12.
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