Project

Amaran- A Robotic Coconut tree Climber

India got the tag as the second largest coconut producer in the world. Until recently coconut plucking job conventionally was taken up by socially and economically backward people in these areas. Due to various government welfare programs and increase in literacy, the number of people taking up this job has dwindled a lot which is one of the main reasons resulting in increase in the price of coconuts. Another reason is that the risk involved in coconut tree climbing. These factors led to the increase in the rise of coconut and coconut based products. First version we developed is the wired climber with one DOF arm for cutting coconuts. The second version is wireless smart phone based control with 3 DOF arm for cutting coconuts. This version has a camera attached to the climber which can send the live video of the coconuts at the top of the tree, which helps the user in positioning the cutter precisely to cut the coconuts. A patent has been filed for this innovation and is expected approval any time this year.