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arXiv · 2507.04240

Optimal Scheduling of a Dual-Arm Robot for Efficient Strawberry Harvesting in Plant Factories

Yuankai Zhu·Wenwu Lu·Guoqiang Ren·Yibin Ying·Stavros Vougioukas·Chen Peng
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Abstract

Plant factory cultivation is widely recognized for its ability to optimize resource use and boost crop yields. To further increase the efficiency in these environments, we propose a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) framework that systematically schedules and coordinates dual-arm harvesting tasks, minimizing the overall harvesting makespan based on pre-mapped fruit locations. Specifically, we focus on a specialized dual-arm harvesting robot and employ pose coverage analysis of its end effector to maximize picking reachability. Additionally, we compare the performance of the dual-arm configuration with that of a single-arm vehicle, demonstrating that the dual-arm system can nearly double efficiency when fruit densities are roughly equal on both sides. Extensive simulations show a 10-20% increase in throughput and a significant reduction in the number of stops compared to non-optimized methods. These results underscore the advantages of an optimal scheduling approach in improving the scalability and efficiency of robotic harvesting in plant factories.

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Yuankai Zhu, Wenwu Lu, Guoqiang Ren, Yibin Ying, Stavros Vougioukas, Chen Peng. 2025-07-06. Optimal Scheduling of a Dual-Arm Robot for Efficient Strawberry Harvesting in Plant Factories. https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.04240

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