Title: Innovations in fruit packing: a slow kiwifruit packing line and a robotic apple packer

Authors: Rory C. Flemmer, Claire L. Flemmer

Addresses: School of Engineering and Advanced Technology, Massey University, Private Bag 11 222, Palmerston North, New Zealand. ' School of Engineering and Advanced Technology, Massey University, Private Bag 11 222, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Abstract: We briefly review the published advances which have been made in the fruit packing process and present two innovations; firstly, a novel packing line for kiwifruit and secondly, an automated apple packing system. The underlying principle of the novel packing line is to run it slowly enough that each stage of the packing process can operate optimally while minimising damage to the fruit. Adequate throughput is achieved by designing the packing line around a small footprint. The automated apple packing system comprises computer vision to manage the flow of apples and to orient the apples |sunny side| up and two custom-built robots capable of packing 3,600 apples per hour. The robots have soft suction cups to hold the apples and the apples are packed with their axes aligned in the tray. The robotic packing system fits on a standard tray conveyor on an existing packing line conveyor and replaces manual packing.

Keywords: postharvest inspection; impact measurement; automation; robot packing; labelling; fruit damage; fruit packing; kiwifruit packing; apple packing; automated packing; slow packing lines; computer vision; packing robots.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPTI.2011.041035

International Journal of Postharvest Technology and Innovation, 2011 Vol.2 No.2, pp.120 - 130

Received: 15 Apr 2010
Accepted: 19 Jan 2011
Published online: 18 Feb 2015 *

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