The scope of this project focuses mainly on developing an electromechanical device to harvest oil palm fruit. In order to construct such a device, the group will research oil palm trees and fruit, as well as current oil palm fruit harvesting methods. Once this research is completed, the team will brainstorm electromechanical design ideas that are consistent with the sponsor’s requirements. Once a design is selected that meets all of the sponsor’s criteria, the group will build a prototype and analyze its functionality. Based on the results of our analysis, the prototype will be optimized to harvest fruit in the shortest possible amount of time. Finally, documentation will be created that will instruct workers how to operate the device. However, there are several items that are outside the scope of this project. The team is not required to market the product to potential buyers, but only design a device that could be sold by the sponsor. Furthermore, optimizing the production of the designed device is also outside the scope of this project. Finally, the team is not required to obtain feedback from harvesters using the device, because the team will be unable to transport the device to any potential users.
The team is going to develop an electromechanical device that can harvest oil palm fruit safely and effectively. The device’s design had to account for several constraints. Any device must be able to reach oil palm trees that are 12 meters tall. Furthermore, the trees have fibrous trunks that make a device that attaches to the tree difficult to develop. The device must also require no more than one operator to utilize and must be portable from tree to tree.
The team consists of seven members: two Mechanical Engineers (MEs), two Electrical Engineers (EEs), and three Industrial Engineers (IEs).