Study on a Stem Removal Method for Cherry Tomatoes Capable of Avoiding Dehiscence Using an Iris Mechanism

Currently, stem removal of cherry tomatoes for food processing is manually performed and time-consuming. Toward automation of the operation, in this paper, we propose a stem removal method for cherry tomatoes that can avoid their dehiscence by using an iris mechanism. We find an appropriate pulling force, the effectiveness of rotating a stem, and the importance of aligning the axes of the stem and the rotation through a prior experiment. Based on the findings, we develop an iris mechanism for grasping a stem and experimentally verify the feasibility of stem removal for cherry tomatoes without their dehiscence.