Development of battery-operated automated sugarcane single bud sett cutter with image processing technology

Sugarcane is a vital commercial crop in India. In conventional sugarcane cultivation, around 6 to 8 tonnes of sugarcane setts are used as planting seeds. The substantial planting material creates significant transportation, handling and storage challenges, leading to quick deterioration. Additionally, it requires significant labour and negatively impacts germination rates. To overcome this problem, a battery-operated automated sugarcane bud sett cutter was developed with the components of key components of the main frame, sugarcane stacker, conveyors, serrated disc, cam, battery, DC motors, Raspberry Pi board, Arduino board, ultrasonic sensor, infrared sensor, relay and web camera. The developed machine is designed to reduce the mass of sugarcane setts, with the leftover material being utilized for producing juice, sugar and jaggery. The performance of the sugarcane sett cutter was tested by varying the rotational speeds of two rotary blades, which were mounted on a single shaft with adjustable spacers. The machine could cut 2670 setts per hour at 7000 rpm. The cost of cutting whole sugarcane into setts for planting using the automatic single- bud sugarcane sett cutter is ? 115 per 1000 setts, compared to Rs. 150 per 1000 setts for manual cutting with chopper knives. Using the sett cutter gives a 35 % savings in labour costs and doubled efficiency, with no fissures in the setts. The machine is priced at ? 42000/-.