Design and Evaluation of a Stem-cutting Device Using an Iris Mechanism

In this paper, the stem-cutting device using an iris mechanism was proposed. This cutting device was designed to cut the stem of tomato on the cinch bag-typed robotic gripper. The required motor speed and torque for the proposed stem-cutting device were determined based on the gear ratio and the rigid body dynamics. In stem-cutting experiments, the device successfully cuts the given stems in 1.3s by folding three circular blades. The obstacle-overcoming performance demonstrated with actual fruits indicated that the expanded cover components could effectively push away surrounding fruits while avoiding damage to both the target fruit and its surroundings.