Patent ID: 11968928
Assignee: OCTIVA BELGIUM BV
Field: Other special machines (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC A  B | IPC A  B

Claim 0:
1. A device for picking fruit, provided with:
an optical detection means, configured to detect and spatially locate a piece of fruit to be picked and hanging from a plant;
a robot arm, fitted with a gripper mechanism provided with at least two fingers; and
a processing unit, operatively connected to the optical detection means, the robot arm, and the gripper mechanism;
in which the processing unit is configured such that it actuates the robot arm to make the gripper mechanism move at least partly about the piece of fruit to be picked in an upward movement from below after a piece of fruit to be picked has been located by the optical detection means, the upward movement from below being defined with an angle which diverts less than 10 degrees from a substantially vertical first axis, wherein the fingers of the gripper mechanism are directed upwards during the upward movement from below of the gripper mechanism;
and in which the processing unit is configured such that it actuates the gripper mechanism, when it has been positioned around the piece of fruit to be picked, in order to:
grasp the piece of fruit to be picked between the at least two fingers, wherein the fingers of the gripper mechanism are directed upwards; and
rotate the gripper mechanism through a rotation angle in a range 70 and 110 degrees, independently from the robot arm, about a substantially horizontal axis such that the piece of fruit to be picked is rotated in such a way about the substantially horizontal axis or about a second axis situated in a plane which is at right angles to the direction of the stalk of the piece of fruit that it comes away from the plant.