Towards Damage-Less Robotic Fragile Fruit Grasping: A Systematic Review on System Design, End Effector, and Visual and Tactile Feedback

Abstract

For fragile and delicate fruit in agricultural production, damageless robotic grasping is still an open problem. In this review, we aim to synthesize existing studies and provide insights on this issue. Compared with other related reviews, we focus on fragile fruit and damage problems, and cover more complete stages and technical aspects. The referenced studies were divided into two categories according to their stages, including picking and harvesting in the preharvest stage, and uploading and packaging in the postharvest stage. In this context, the systematic literature review method was adopted for literature collection and selection. The references were classified into four categories according to their technical aspects: system design, end effector, visual feedback, and tactile feedback. Additionally, recent progress in commercial products and companies was also investigated. In summary, techniques such as a dedicated end effector for fragile fruit, advanced tactile sensing, and control strategy are supposed to be further studied to achieve damageless robotic fragile fruit grasping. Furthermore, other advanced perspectives are potentially becoming future trends, such as in-hand sensing of fruit quality and dexterous manipulation for complex tasks. We hope this review can provide insights in both academia and industry to promote robotization in fruit production.