Design of a Cross Ridge Tobacco Harvester with Wheel-Legged Structure

The manual harvesting of tobacco leaves has low efficiency and high labor intensity. In addition to the shortage of tobacco farmers, there is a lack of specialized tobacco harvesting machines for hilly areas, which seriously hinders the development of the tobacco industry. Therefore, the research and development of tobacco harvesting machines suitable for hilly areas is urgent. To this end, the overall scheme of the tobacco harvesting machine was studied from the aspects of structural design and motion control. A cross ridge tobacco harvester with wheel-legged structure was designed, and a control scheme based on ROS system was proposed. Experiments were conducted both indoors and in tobacco fields. Indoor experiments tested the relevant parameters of the harvester, while field experiments verified the feasibility of the proposed scheme. The method of harvesting using semi-circular cutting tools meets the agronomic requirements for tobacco harvesting. Finally, the shortcomings of the current tobacco harvester were summarized, and directions for improvement in the next generation were proposed.