Automated Suckering of Vines with a Mobile Robot and a Torque-controlled Suckering Tool

The research presented in this paper focuses on the development of fully automated and autonomous vine suckering, a seasonal viticulture activity required to remove all unwanted shoots from the vine trunks. This requires human workers to do a lot of strenuous work, often using only their hands or tools such as clippers or shears. The suckering is done during the early growing season (usually April-May) to provide more energy, water, and nutrients to the main shoots. Commercially available suckering machines appear to be a large-scale solution. However, their performance varies between 10% and 85% and their purely mechanical nature can easily cause damage to the vines. In this paper, we present a concept for autonomous suckering using a mobile robot equipped with a special suckering tool driven by a torque-controlled DC motor that protects the vine from damage. The proposed suckering system was designed, analysed and experimentally validated in a real vineyard. The results showed that the system was able to remove about two thirds of the unwanted shoots, reaching a suckering rate of more than 86 vines per hour.