Visvesvaraya Technological University

BELAGAVI, KARNATAKA

A PROJECT REPORT ON

“FABRICATION OF ROLLER ACTUATED ARECNUT

REAPER”

Submitted by
Adithya Hegde, Department of Manufacturing Science and Engineering,
(Mechanical Engineering, M.Tech), BMS College of Engineering, Bangalore

Under the guidance of

Dr. K Sabeel Ahmed, B.E., M.E, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Dept. of Mechanical engineering,
JNNCE, Shivamogga.

Department of Mechanical Engineering

BMS College of Engineering, Bull Temple Road,
Basavanagudi, Bangalore - 560019
 Abstract

The people in rural areas of Karnataka mainly depend on agriculture for their livelihood.

One of the main crops grown is Arecanut. For harvesting the Arecanut, and for spraying

and applying insecticides on the crown, skilled laborers have to climb manually up the

tree. It requires skill to climb an Arecanut tree. Skilled Arecanut tree climbers have

become scarce and farmers are finding it difficult to harvest the nuts. There are many

equipment machines in the market to help the farmers in this regard. But they are not

successful as the input for them is muscular power of the labour and it requires a person

to physically climb the tree. There is no 100% safe Arecanut harvesting device currently

in the market. There is a need to invent a machine to address both efficiency and safety.

The design of this device has to be simple enough for villagers to operate, yet work

efficiently to appeal to the majority.

Here we are designing and fabricating roller actuated Arecanut reaper. The machine has a

base on which the drive system is mounted. The power is given from the motor to the

rollers. The machine is placed around the tree and clamped to it using a locking

mechanism opening on one side of the base. Due to friction between rollers and tree stem

the machine attaches itself firmly to the tree without damaging it. Now the motor is

switched ON to drive the rollers. When the rollers rotate gripping the tree, the whole

setup is lifted along the length of the tree. After reaching the required height the motor is

switched OFF. By having suitable auxiliary equipment for reaping the nuts, suitable

controlling methods for those equipment the required job can be performed . Once the job

is done the motor is made to rotate in the reverse direction to descend down the tree.

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 Acknowledgement

On presenting the report on Roller Actuated Arecanut Reaper, we humbly

express our gratitude to everyone who have helped us in this project directly or indirectly.

We are grateful to our institute Jawaharlal Nehru National College of

Engineering and Department of Mechanical Engineering, Shivamogga for providing
us with opportunity and all the facilities.

We would like to extend our sincere thanks to our beloved guide Dr. K. Sabeel.
Ahmed, Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, JNNCE,
Shivamogga, who has helped us a lot in fabricating this project and for his encouragement
towards conducting this project.

We would like to thank Dr. Y. J. Suresh, Head of the Department, Mechanical

Engineering, and Dr. H. R. Mahadevaswamy, Principal of JNNCE, Shivamogga for
their constant support.

Finally we would like to thank all lecturers of Department of Mechanical

Engineering, all our friends who with their constant criticism, made us maintain standards
through our endeavor to complete this project work.

Adithya Hegde

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 Table of Contents

Content Page No

Chapter I
Introduction
Chapter II
Objectives
Chapter III
Literature Review
Chapter IV
Competitive Technology
Chapter V
Field Research
Chapter VI
Challenges
Chapter VII
Working Principles
Chapter VIII
Design
Chapter IX
Description of Parts
1.0 General
1.1 Frame
1.2 Wheel Assembly
1.2.1 Bracket
1.2.2 Wheel
1.2.3 Motor
1.3 Arm
1.3.1 Servo Motors
1.4 Controller
1.5 Battery
Chapter X
Prototype testing and Results
Chapter XI
Advantages and Disadvantages
Chapter XII
Conclusion
Chapter XIII
Future Enhancements
Chapter XIV
Summary
Chapter XV
References

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Chapter I

Introduction

Arecanut is an erect, unbranched palm reaching heights of 12 to 30 meters,

depending upon the environmental conditions. The stem is marked with scars of fallen

leaves in a regular annulated form. Arecanut almost always exist in cultivation; therefore,

conditions of its natural habitat are difficult to assess. It however thrives in areas of high

rainfall. Being a shade loving species, Arecanut always does well when grown as a mixed

crop with fruit trees. Raising a banana shade crop is even better as this supplements

farmer’s income. The majority of Arecanut are harvested by climbing the tree and

cutting the nuts down by hand. This process may seem simple; however, it is actually

quite dangerous. In response, there is a genuine need to develop a device.

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Chapter II
Objectives of the project
In an attempt to assist the climbers, an Arecanut tree climbing device has been designed

to meet the following goals.

 It will be controlled from the ground.

 Anyone will be able to operate the device.

 The Arecanut tree climber will be able to harvest faster than present methods.

Mechanization of conventional methods used in harvesting the crops is very much

essential to assist the farmer. The aim is to build a prototype that can successfully climb

an Arecanut tree of variable diameters and height.

Here we are designing and fabricating roller actuated Arecanut reaper. The reaper has a

base on which the rollers are fitted using self-adjusting brackets at a distance as the

diameter of a standard areca tree. On one extreme end of the base, aurdino controllers and

four motors at side of the frame from inside are mounted. The machine is placed around

the tree and clamped to it using a locking mechanism opening on one side of the base.

Due to friction between rollers and tree stem the machine locks itself to the tree. Now the

motor is switched ON to drive the rollers. When the rollers rotate gripping the tree, the

whole setup is lifted along the length of the tree. After reaching the required height the

motor is switched OFF. By having suitable auxiliary equipment for reaping the Arecanut

and suitable controlling methods for those equipment the required job can be performed.

Once the job is done the motor is made to rotate in the reverse direction to descend down

the tree.

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Chapter III
Literature Review
Primitive methods of harvesting the areca crop need for a new device. An

experienced climber takes about 2 to 3 minutes alone just to climb the tree (this doesn’t

include cutting the coconuts and the return trip. In more developed areas, methods of

harvest and Arecanut removal involving rope-climbing gears and spiked shoes are used,

but are impractical and inefficient for use in large scale plantation harvesting. In the

Indian state of Karnataka, a climber makes about rupees 300 per day. A climber climbs

about 30-40 trees in one day. In addition to pitiable wages, harvesters are looked down

upon for doing the country’s “unwanted” jobs. Hardly anyone aspires to become a

Arecanut harvester because of the unsafe conditions, low income, and social stigma,

resulting in a virtual vacuum in the job market. Furthermore, most Arecanut harvesters

are currently men. This is because of the traditional idea of it being a “man’s job” as

Arecanut harvesting is extremely strenuous. The goal is to create a device that would also

allow operation by anyone (as no hard labor would be necessary), thus creating an

additional income opportunity for poor families.

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Chapter IV
Competitive technology
Although there are many existing robots that can climb walls or trees, there are currently

no robotic devices for climbing and harvesting Arecanut trees in specific. One drawback

of these robots is they take much longer to climb a tree than humans.

One of the few specifically related devices we have found in our research is a climbing

and harvesting device that aids in climbing a palm or coconut tree. The inventor asserts

that his device ensures the user’s safety and quickens the climbing process . However, the

device still requires a person to physically climb the tree and therefore does not properly

address the society’s needs.

Coconut tree climber where a person has to climb the tree himself with machine aid.

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Chapter V
Field research
Since the best way to understand real problems is to interact directly with people. We

visited some nearby areca farms and consulted farmers about the present methods of

harvesting the crop. We also had a demonstration of present climbing method and

insecticide spraying techniques and equipment. From their method of climbing to their

way of dressing, has given our team a helpful insight to tree climbing in villages.

When current harvesters were asked if they would welcome some sort of climbing device

that would aid their work and not require them to continue climbing towering palms. The

answer they got was a definite “yes.”

Arecanut harvesting in conventional manner

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Chapter VI
Challenges
The current invention comes with many challenges. The device must attach to the base of

the tree and be easily removable, the wheels must maintain adequate contact with the tree
as the tree diameter decreases during ascension, and a single user must remotely control it

to a height of approximately 30m. However, the ultimate goal is to easily harvest

Arecanut. Once the basic tree climber is completed and it can ascend and descend a tree

successfully, we will face three more major challenges as we embark on the harvester
design: the lack of vision as the device climbs upwards, the development of a multi-axis

robotic arm for harvesting, and finding an actual fruit-bearing Arecanut tree. The lack of

vision requires the human operator on the ground to have live video signal from a camera

to be mounted on the device. Further, developing the robotic arm to harvest the Arecanut

is a difficult engineering task and will require a great deal of time. Finally, testing the

prototype on actual Arecanut trees will be difficult.

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Chapter VII
Working Principle:
Basic Working principle is the friction generated between the wheels and the tree.
Due to this friction grip is developed and by the application of high torque motors the
whole assembly is lifted along the tree length vertically.
Compressive action of spring due to larger tree diameter at the bottom and spring
tendency to come back to original position helps the machine to bind tightly to the tree
trunk as the tree diameter decreases as the height increases.
Thus using these two basic principles our machine operates against gravity and
carries its own mass up the tree trunk.

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Chapter VIII
Design

Main Frame containing controller, wheel assembly, and motor.

Material – Mild Steel
Dimensions:
a- d-
b- e-
c- f-

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Wheel Assembly which has a motor attached to the bracket and wheel attached to the
motor.
Material – Mild Steel Bracket, Wheel – ABS Plastic
Dimensions:
a–
b–
c–
d–
e–
f–

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Arm made of composite material along with two servo motors and a rotor blade.
Material – Glass Fiber Fabric Composite material
Dimensions:
a–
b–
c–
d–

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Chapter IX
Description of the Parts
1.0 General
The main parts of the roller actuated Arecanut reaper are:
 Frame
 Wheel assembly
 Arm
 Controller (AURDINO board)
 Battery

1.1 Frame:

Frame is a main rectangular part on which all the parts are mounted. It is made up

of mild steel and is hollow from inside. The frame is welded on two diagonally opposite

ends. Two sides are welded in exact 90deg angle and a perfect L shaped part is obtained.

Two of these L shaped parts are hinged at one end. Hence there is two degrees of

freedom for the movement of the frame. There are four holes on each part where the

brackets are mounted. The holes are made using 7.5mm drill bit. A locking system is

made on the other end of the frame. The wires are passed through the hollow part of the

frame. The base and rollers are manufactured using mild steel. Mild steel is the most

common form of steel because its price is relatively low while it provides material

properties that are acceptable for many applications. Low carbon steel contains

approximately 0.05–0.15% carbon and mild steel contains 0.16–0.29% carbon, therefore

it is neither brittle nor ductile. Mild steel has a relatively low tensile strength, but it is

cheap and malleable; surface hardness can be increased through carburizing.

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Specifications:

Length: 45*45cm

Height: 5.5cm

Thickness: 2.5cm

Fig 1.1.1 Frame

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1.2 Wheel Assembly:

This is the part which will be in direct contact with the tree. While these rollers are

rotated by supplying power, the whole device ascends to the required height to perform

required job. By rotating the rollers in reverse direction the device is made to descend.

Fig 1.2.1 Wheel Assembly

Parts in the wheel assembly:
1.2.1. Bracket:
This is the part which holds the motor and wheel connected to wirings along with

springs and rods attached to the frame. Four rods along with springs are attached to the

frame. These springs which are compressed at the beginning because of larger tree

diameter compresses gradually as the tree diameter decreases as the machine climbs the

tree. Made out of Mild Steel, total of five mild steel plates of given specifications are

welded into a 'U' shaped bracket with auxiliary fins. Holes are made to the fins to attach

the rod along with spring with a simple removable bolt-nut arrangement.

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Dimensions of 'U' shaped Bracket -

Width - 90mm
Height- 70mm
Fins width - 55mm on each side

Mild steel sheet of 2mm thickness.

Fig 1.2.1.1 Bracket made of Mild Steel

Specifications of the spring -
* 95mm in length and 7.5mm in diameter

* 24 windings * K (Spring Constant) - 0.981 N/mm

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1.2.2 Wheel:
Wheel is the important part of this assembly. Material of the wheel is 'Acrylonitrile

Butadiene Styrene (ABS) plastic. It is a common thermoplastic polymer. Formula (C8H8

C4H6 C3H3N) n. It has a tensile strength of 46MPa. Thus chosen to be a perfect material to

withstand the weight of the machine and stress developed, this wheel is a suitable choice.

To create friction between the rollers and the tree, the roller wheels are rubberized.

Generally for gripping purpose natural rubber is used. For special purpose and working in

very hot and working in very hot temperatures Nitryle rubber is used. The Rollers are

made from natural rubber. The Natural Rubber is having high carbon contents which will

give the rollers tight bonding nature and having the ability of high resistance to wear and

tear. This roller is has flexibility also to take over the friction. Moreover it is having a

hardness of 60 to 65 degree so it can with stand high resistance to wear and tear.

Specifications:
Diameter - 95mm and Thickness – 25mm
Hole in the center - 10mm

Fig 1.2.2.1 Wheel

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1.2.3 Motor:
This is the driving source of the machine. This is a geared DC motor which has an

exclusive high torque, best suitable for taking the weight of the machine and make it

climb to a required height of average 30 to 60 meter. Gear box is built to handle the stall

torque produced by the motor, the motor Shaft comes with a metal bushing for wear

resistance. An aluminum sleeve is attached over the motor shaft and attached to the wheel

to create a strong gripping between the wheel and the shaft. Using small screws motor is

attached to the bracket firmly. Six accurate holes are drilled on the bracket to match the

holes provided on the motor body to mount it along with the bracket.
Fig 1.2.3.1 Motor

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Specifications of the motor:

* 150 RPM 12V DC Motor with gear box.

* 18000 RPM base motor.

* Shaft - 6mm

* Gear box diameter - 37mm

* Gear: metal spur gear assembly

* Motor diameter - 28.5mm

* Length: 63mm without the shaft.

* Shaft length - 25mm

* Weight - 165gm

* Torque - 25kgcm

* No load current - 800mA (max), Load Current = up to 9.5 A (Max)

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1.3 Arm
Arm is used to reap the Arecanut bunch from the tree top. It mainly divided into three

parts. The arm assembly consists of two arms. The first arm is bolted to a servo of 360

degree which is fixed to the frame. The weight of the whole arm is supported by this

servo. There is another servo motor fixed at the top of the first arm. The second arm is

connected to the second servo motor which has 2 degree of freedom.

Arm material:

Arm is made up of composite material. GLASS FIBER is the main fabric used to

make the composite material. The glass fiber is cut into long strips of width more than the

arm width required. The length of the strips is also kept longer than the arm length

required to compensate for the losses. Thick plastic sheet is kept as the base for the

production of the composite material. Two different liquids are used to prepare it. Those

liquids are EPOXY RESIN & HARDNER. They are mixed together in the ratio of 1:0.1

to 0.15. Exactly 400gm of epoxy resin is taken and weighed. 15% of the epoxy resin that

is 60gm of hardener is weighed and mixed to the epoxy resin. The mixture is stirred well

so that good mixing of epoxy resin and hardener takes place.

A strip of glass fiber is placed on the plastic sheet which is fixed to the ground using

cello tape. The liquid mixture is spread evenly over the glass fiber strip using a suitable

brush. Another glass strip is placed over it and roller is rolled to make good bonding

between the two strips. Again the liquid mixture is spread over the second strip and the

process is continued for 15 to 17 strips. A plastic sheet is covered from the top and

weight is placed over it. It is left to dry for 24hrs. During this time heat is liberated and a

good bonding between the fabric strips takes place. A composite material of thickness

5mm is obtained. It is cut to the required dimension using hacksaw blade. Care is to be

taken while cutting the material so that no splitting of fibers take place, also proper gloves
and protective measures are to be taken while cutting the material because as glass fabric
is used fine glass powder is produced while cutting which is very abrasive and creates

itching sensation on the skin.

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Fig 1.3.1 Arm made of Glass Fiber Composite Material

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1.3.1 Servo motor:

Servo motor is a device made by connecting proper gears to the conventional

motor. This gives the motor the ability to carry high loads. It can turn in 360 degree

angle. The first arm is connected to the first servo motor which is fixed to the frame. It

has got the degree of freedom in two axis X and Y.

Fig 1.3.1.1 Servo Motors

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1.4 Controller:
This is an important part of the machine which controls all the motors involved in

the machine. There are total four motors for actuation of the machine up and down the

tree. There are 2 servo motors for the arm actuation. There is a motor for the rotation of

the cutter blade. Unlike conventional controllers our controller uses Bluetooth signals

from a mobile to remotely control the model. There is an app developed specially for this

controlling purpose. Range of 80ft can be easily accessed through this controller.

Aurdino is used to control the signals of Bluetooth and process them to control the model.

Details about Aurdino:

Aurdino is an open source, computer hardware and software company, project, and
user community that designs and manufactures single-board microcontrollers and
microcontroller kits for building digital devices and interactive objects that can sense and
control objects in the physical world. The project's products are distributed as open-
source hardware and software, which are licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public
License (LGPL) or the GNU General Public License (GPL) permitting the manufacture of
Arduino boards and software distribution by anyone. Arduino boards are available
commercially in preassembled form, or as do-it-yourself kits.

Arduino board designs use a variety of microprocessors and controllers. The boards
are equipped with sets of digital and analog input/output (I/O) pins that may be interfaced
to various expansion boards (shields) and other circuits. The boards feature serial
communications interfaces, including Universal Serial Bus (USB) on some models, which
are also used for loading programs from personal computers. The microcontrollers are
typically programmed using a dialect of features from the programming languages C and
C++. In addition to using traditional compiler tool chains, the Arduino project provides an
integrated development environment (IDE) based on the Processing language project.

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 Aurdino used in this model is Aurdino Mega:

The MEGA 2560 is designed for more complex projects. With 54 digital I/O pins,

16 analog inputs and a larger space for your sketch it is the recommended board for 3D

printers and robotics projects. This gives your projects plenty of room and opportunities.

The Arduino Mega 2560 is a microcontroller board based on the ATmega2560. It has 54

digital input/output pins (of which 15 can be used as PWM outputs), 16 analog inputs, 4
UARTs (hardware serial ports), a 16 MHz crystal oscillator, a USB connection, a power

jack, an ICSP header, and a reset button. It contains everything needed to support the

microcontroller; simply connect it to a computer with a USB cable or power it with a AC-

to-DC adapter or battery to get started. The Mega 2560 board is compatible with most

shields designed for the Uno and the former boards Duemilanove or Diecimila. The Mega

2560 is an update to the Arduino Mega, which it replaces.

Fig 1.4.1 Aurdino Mega Circuit Board

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Specifications:

Microcontroller ATmega2560

Operating Voltage 5V

Input Voltage (recommended) 7-12V

Input Voltage (limit) 6-20V

Digital I/O Pins 54 (of which 15 provide PWM output)

Analogue Input Pins 16

DC Current per I/O Pin 20 mA

DC Current for 3.3V Pin 50 mA

Flash Memory 256 KB of which 8 KB used by boot loader

SRAM 8 KB

EEPROM 4 KB

Clock Speed 16 MHz

LED_BUILTIN 13

Length 101.52 mm

Width 53.3 mm

Weight 37 gm.

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1.4.1 Bluetooth Module HC-05

HC‐05 module is an easy to use Bluetooth SPP (Serial Port Protocol) module,
designed for transparent wireless serial connection setup. The HC-05 Bluetooth Module
can be used in a Master or Slave configuration, making it a great solution for wireless
communication. This serial port Bluetooth module is fully qualified Bluetooth
V2.0+EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) 3Mbps Modulation with complete 2.4GHz radio
transceiver and baseband. It uses CSR Bluecore 04‐External single chip Bluetooth
system with CMOS technology and with AFH (Adaptive Frequency Hopping Feature).

The Bluetooth module HC-05 is a MASTER/SLAVE module. By default the factory

setting is SLAVE. The Role of the module (Master or Slave) can be configured only by

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AT COMMANDS. The slave modules cannot initiate a connection to another Bluetooth

device, but can accept connections. Master module can initiate a connection to other
devices. The user can use it simply for a serial port replacement to establish connection
between MCU and GPS, PC to your embedded project, etc. Just go through the datasheet
for more details File:Datasheet.pdf

Hardware Features

 Typical ‐ 80dBm sensitivity.

 Up to +4dBm RF transmit power.
 3.3 to 5 V I/O.
 PIO (Programmable Input/Output) control.
 UART interface with programmable baud rate.
 With integrated antenna.
 With edge connector.

Software Features

 Slave default Baud rate: 9600, Data bits: 8, Stop bit1 Parity: No parity.
 Auto‐ connect to the last device on power as default.
 Permit pairing device to connect as default.
 Auto‐ pairing PINCODE:”1234” as default.

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1.5 Battery:
The power output requirement for the motors provided in the model is 12V, 30Amp. The
main challenge was to convert available conventional AC power supply to DC required.
Conventional acid batteries if connected externally, were big and lots of wirings were
required to be sent along the machine along the tree. Thus small high capacity battery is
included with the model and sent along the tree. Thus there will be no wire connection
between the ground controller and the model.
Battery Specifications:
Manufacturer - Turnigy Power Systems, it is a high discharge Li-Po battery.
2200mAh, 25C discharge. 12V DC power output.

Fig 1.5.1 Battery used.

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Chapter XI
Advantages and Disadvantages
General
The advantages and disadvantages of this project are discussed in this chapter.

Advantages
 It can be controlled from the ground.

 Both men and women will be able to operate the device.

 The Arecanut climber will be almost able to harvest at same speed than present
methods.

 It eliminates the risk involved in manual climbing of the areca tree.

Disadvantages
 The lack of vision as the device climbs upwards.
 The development of a multi-axis robotic arm for harvesting is the major design
challenge.

 Grip is a problem at very wet surfaces at the peak of rainy season.

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Chapter XII
Conclusion
After testing the prototype on an Arecanut tree we found that:

 The design is efficient in climbing the tree very smoothly without damaging the tree.
 The tree climber doesn’t require a human to physically climb the tree, hence reducing
the danger to the climber.

 The design is simple and appealing to the majority. An unskilled labour can operate

the machine safely and efficiently.

 It is able to properly cut the bunch of Arecanut without damaging any other parts of
the tree.

So, we conclude that the Arecanut tree climber and reaper designed is a safe, reliable,
efficient and automatic tree climber which reduces the problems in climbing the Arecanut

tree to a good extent.

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Chapter XIII
Future Enhancements
General
The shortcomings of the project which came to notice while testing the prototype on a

tree can be overcome by going through following suggestions mentioned in this chapter.

Suggestions for future work

* Weight of the device can be reduced by manufacturing the base using strong light
weight material.

* Development of Multi Axis robot which can actuate in different methods and can aid
multiple trees at the same time.
* Visual aid such as a camera should be included and direct live feed must be provided to

the controller so as to easily control the machine.

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Chapter XIV
Summary
The base model of the Arecanut tree reaper can be further developed to obtain
greater efficiency and success, by following the above mentioned suggestions for future
work. The farmer will be definitely benefited by this device and this can also be used to
spray pesticides and removal of extra waste leaf from the tree top. This will greatly
decrease mortality rate among tree climbing laborers. With the development of Multi
Axis robot with Actuation methods like copter actuations this will be a revolutionary
idea for reaching tree tops and spraying pesticides or crop harvesting.

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Chapter XV
References
[1] K.R.Gopalakrishna, Sudhir Gopalakrishna and S.C.Sharma, A text book of

Elements of Mechanical Engineering, Subhas Stores, 26th Edition.

[2] K.Mahadevan and K.Balaveera Reddy, Design Data Hand Book (In SI and Metric

Units) For Mechanical Engineers, CBS Publishers and Distributors, 3rd Edition.

[3] J.B.K.Das and P.L.Srinivasa Murthy, Design of Machine Elements 1, Sapna

Book House and 3rd Edition.

[4] R.S. Khurmi and J.K. Gupta, a Text Book of Machine Design, Eurasia Publishing

House Pvt. Ltd. Ramnagar, New Delhi, 2005 Edition.

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