TALK    [MERL Seminar Series 2024] Zhaojian Li presents talk titled A Multi-Arm Robotic System for Robotic Apple Harvesting

Date & Time:

Wednesday, October 2, 2024; 1:00 PM

Abstract:

Harvesting labor is the single largest cost in apple production in the U.S. Surging cost and growing shortage of labor has forced the apple industry to seek automated harvesting solutions. Despite considerable progress in recent years, the existing robotic harvesting systems still fall short of performance expectations, lacking robustness and proving inefficient or overly complex for practical commercial deployment. In this talk, I will present the development and evaluation of a new dual-arm robotic apple harvesting system. This work is a result of a continuous collaboration between Michigan State University and U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Speaker:

Zhaojian Li
Mivchigan State University

Dr. Zhaojian Li is currently a Red Cedar Distinguished Associate Professor with the department of Mechanical Engineering at Michigan State University. He obtained M.S. (2013) and Ph.D. (2015) in Aerospace Engineering (flight dynamics and control) at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. His research interests include Learning-based Control, Nonlinear and Complex Systems, and Robotics and Automated Vehicles. He is a senior member of IEEE and a recipient of the NSF CAREER Award. His robotic apple harvesting technology was the recipient of the 2023 ASABE Engineering Concept of the Year award.

MERL Host:

Yebin Wang

Research Areas:

Artificial Intelligence, Computer Vision, Control, Robotics