WO2024128909A1

WO2024128909A1 - Assembly for grabbing, picking up and releasing objects

Info

Publication number: WO2024128909A1
Application number: PCT/MY2023/050073
Authority: WO
Inventors: Devanand VASU; Erman Shah ABDUL RAZAK
Original assignee: Sime Darby Plantation Intellectual Property Sdn Bhd
Priority date: 2022-12-16
Filing date: 2023-09-06
Publication date: 2024-06-20

Abstract

The present invention provides an assembly for grabbing, picking and releasing objects, comprising at least one grabber arm (101) and a grabbing mechanism (103) whereby the grabbing mechanism (103) comprises at least one first linkage (104), at least one second linkage (106) and at least one grabbing claw (105) for grabbing, picking and releasing the objects.

Description

ASSEMBLY FOR GRABBING, PICKING UP AND RELEASING OBJECTS FIELD OF INVENTION The present invention relates to an assembly for grabbing, picking and releasing of objects. More particularly, this present invention relates to a mechanized means for transporting polybags containing germinated oil palm seedlings from an oil palm nursery to an oil palm field. BACKGROUND The list of prior arts or published information in this specification should not be taken as an acknowledgement that this present invention is common general knowledge or is part of the state of the art. The oil palm industry is very dependent on labour and requires many workers for its operations. Complete reliance on foreign workers is not an ultimate solution but only a temporary measure. In the face of raising labour issues such as labour costs, mechanisation and automation programmes are being ramped up by industry players to tackle the associated labour issues. The mechanisation of the oil palm sector is not considered as a luxury, but an imperative and is vital for industrial players to pursue further as the oil palm sector could be helped with more efficient use of labour and reduced dependence on foreign workers. [Source: theedgemarkets.com] ^{The labour shortfall is adding urgency to longstanding plans for industry mechanisation.} Sime Darby Plantation (SDP), the world's biggest palm oil company by land size, is hastening development and trials to deploy light machines that will aid in field upkeep, removing harvested crops and applying fertiliser. It is also turning to remote sensing and artificial intelligence to drive precision farming, making the most efficient use of farm inputs and field workers. IOI said it has a revitalised mechanisation plan, and aims to mechanise fertilising and pesticide spraying as well as automate mill operations, while FGV Holdings plans to mechanise an extra 30,000ha over the next three years. Malaysia on average allots one worker for every 8ha, but the Malaysian Palm Oil Association (MPOA) wants a "quantum leap" in technology that would double the land area for each worker to 16ha. This would reduce reliance on labour, which accounts for around 30 per cent of production costs. [Source: Malaysia's palm oil industry trying to hire local workers, 19 August 2020] The labour shortage issue faced by the domestic plantation industry is expected to reduce productivity and harvesting even further during the peak cycle season at the end of the year 2020. MPOA states that local planters have already lost up to about 25% of potential yield throughout the series of Movement Control Orders (MCOs) right to the current Recovery MCO (RMCO) in the year 2020, without the services of some 37,000 foreign workers who had been sent home during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic. [Source: Labour shortage heightens losses in palm oil yield, 14 September 2020] Agricultural activities have always been associated with hazards and injuries. Most common injuries experienced by workers are health, safety and ergonomic injuries. It stems from many causes, such as the use of manual tools, incorrect working position, inadequate rest and overloading. This paper aims to reveal the daily hazardous work task of oil palm plantation workers with highlighting the ergonomics problems and risk of injury they faced. Observations of work tasks and distribution of Modified Nordic Questionnaire (MNQ) were performed for every work unit. Worker's activities and posture while ^{performing work tasks were recorded extensively using camera and video recordings for} ergonomics analysis. Results from the observation and questionnaire survey conducted, showed that oil palm plantation workers are exposed to the risk of dangerous work every day. Fresh fruit bunches cutter and loose fruit collectors were having highest body pain complaints and almost from them are having low back pain problems. Therefore, it is necessary for an immediate action from the management in order to determine the current prevalence of ergonomic injuries. Using of manual tools should be avoided and plantation workers should be provided with ergonomics machines that can help them reduce their workload and injuries. [Source: Malaysian oil palm workers are in pain: Hazards identification and ergonomics related problems, January 2016 – https://www.researchgate.net/publication/297765530_Malaysian_oil_palm_workers_are _in_pain_Hazards_identification_and_ergonomics_related_problems] This study was an investigation conducted at two oil palm plantations in Slim River District, Perak, Malaysia on the prevalence of back pain among workers in the Malaysian oil palm industry. Many manual handling activities and tasks performed were not designed ergonomically, thus a high prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders was found among oil palm fresh fruit bunches (FFBs) manual workers. The three main objectives of this study were to determine the level of employee awareness on health and safety of manual handling tasks; to recognize the musculoskeletal symptom on the workers body parts; and to analyze their working postures and identify the relevant risk factors. Modified Nordic questionnaire was used to collect data in 2012 at two oil palm plantations located in Slim River District, Perak, Malaysia. Later, Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA) analysis was conducted for high risk working postures. Seventy workers participated in the study. Results: 81.4% of workers were aware on the correct methods to perform the manual handling tasks. The upper back and lower back pain were experienced by 87.1% and 94.3% of the workers respectively. Manual workers have high level (81.4%) health and safety awareness on manual handling tasks but failed to practice it. As a result, 87.1% of them are suffering from lower back and 94.3% from upper back pain. FFBs loading activity ^{into the lorry is a high risk and changes needed to be done immediately. The two major} risk factors identified were awkward lifting postures and repetitive lifting of FFBs. [Source: Ergonomic Risk Assessment on Oil Palm Industry Workers, March 2016 - https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301728774_Ergonomic_Risk_Assessment_on_ Oil_Palm_Industry_Workers] SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an assembly for grabbing, picking and releasing of objects. More particularly, this present invention relates to a mechanized means for transporting polybags containing germinated oil palm seedlings from an oil palm nursery to an oil palm field. The present invention relates to an assembly for grabbing, picking and releasing objects, comprising at least one grabber arm and a grabbing mechanism, whereby the grabbing mechanism comprises at least one first linkage, at least one second linkage and at least one grabbing claw for grabbing, picking and releasing the objects.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 illustrates the assembly of the present invention. Figure 2 illustrates the second linkage and two wheels aligned in a straight line to a longitudinal central axis A and the two wheels are at an angle of between 20° to 60° relative to a longitudinal central axis B. Figure 3 illustrates the assembly of the present invention grabbing an oil palm polybag at the vicinity of an oil palm nursery. Figure 4 illustrates the assembly of the present invention in operations in an oil palm field. The assembly comprises the following components: • grabber arm (101); • movable vehicle (102); • grabbing mechanism (103); • first linkage (104); • grabbing claw (105); and • second linkage (106).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE PRESENT INVENTION The present invention relates to an assembly for grabbing, picking and releasing of objects. More particularly, this present invention relates to a mechanized means for transporting polybags containing germinated oil palm seedlings from an oil palm nursery to an oil palm field. It can be appreciated that the parameters for the present invention are not obvious for a person skilled in the art and have been tested and determined by the inventors based on numerous trials conducted, observations, discussions and combined expertise, which would not be able to be determined without much efforts and analysis. Germinated oil palm seedlings must be properly managed in an oil palm nursery to ensure healthy and strong oil palm seedlings are obtained before transporting the seedlings to the oil palm fields for field planting. Germinated oil palm seedlings with soil mixture are planted into polybags and kept at the oil palm nurseries till the seedlings are ready for field planting. The size of the polybags most commonly used in the industry are approximately 38cm by 45cm. The polybags are usually watered one day before being tranported to the oil palm fields for field planting in order to keep the soil mixture moist. The weight of a polybag after being watered and ready for field planting is in a range of between 10kg to 15kg with the age range of seedlings in the polybags between 10 to 12 months. Conventionally, at least four workers or more are required to handle at least 200 polybags per day for an 8-hour working period. The loading and unloading of the polybags from the oil palm nursery to the movable vehicle to the oil palm fields are all currently completely done manually by the oil palm field workers. Objectives of the present invention are as follows: The first object of the present invention is to provide a mechanised means for transporting oil palm polybags containing germinated oil palm seedlings from an oil palm nursery to an oil palm field for field planting. The second object of the present invention is to provide an assembly for grabbing, picking and releasing objects comprising at least one grabber arm and a grabbing mechanism. The third object of the present invention is to provide a mechanised means for effective and efficient means of transporting the polybags from an oil palm nursery to the oil palm field by reducing manual activities and taks for the workers in order to improve ergonomics issues (reduce risk of injuries and body pain / aches) for workers in the oil palm plantation. The repetitive tasks of lifting the polybags for an 8-hour period per day and awkward or bad lifting postures could result in ergonomics issues for the workers. The fourth object of the present invention is to provide a simple and cost-effective assembly to manufacture for use in the oil palm fields to mechanised the transporting and releasing of the oil palm polybags directly into the planting holes which comprises a grabber arm (101) coupled to a movable vehicle (102) and other end of the at least one grabber arm (102) consists of a grabbing mechanism (103, whereby the grabbing mechanism is a grabbing claw (105) consisting of two rotatable wheels. The fifth object of the present invention is to provide an assembly which can be used in ^{coastal and inland estates and on any types of soil conditions.} The sixth object of the present invention is to reduce workers from at least four workers to one or two (maximum) workers to handle at least 240 polybags seedlings per day for an 8-hour working period as opposed to at least four workers or more per manual means for handling 200 polybags (or less) per day. While the present invention is described herein by way of example using illustrative drawings and embodiments, it should be understood that the detailed description are not intended to limit the invention to embodiments of drawing or drawings described and are not intended to limit the invention to the particular form disclosed but in contrary the invention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the scope of the present invention. The present invention is described herein by various embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawing wherein reference numerals used in the accompanying drawing correspond to the features through the description. However, the present invention may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to embodiments set forth herein. Therefore, embodiments are provided so that this disclosure would be thorough and complete and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Numeric values and ranges and materials as provided in the detailed description are to be treated as examples only and are not intended to limit the scope of the claims of the present invention. Terminology and phraseology used herein is solely used for descriptive purposes and is not intended as limiting in scope. The words such as “including”, “comprising”, “having”, “containing” or “involving” and other variations is intended to be broad and cover the subject matter as described including equivalents and additional subject matter not recited ^{such as other components or steps.} The parameters for the present invention have been determined by the inventors based on numerous trials conducted, observations, discussions with combined expertise and experience in this field which parameters and/or combination could not be determined without much efforts, testing and/or analysis or by just reviewing prior art documents in this field. Based on the expertise, observation and testing by the inventors to operate the assembly of the present invention in the most efficient way possible based on intended results, practicality of ground conditions and cost effectiveness, the following benefits were observed:- • the assembly of the present invention was tested and found to operate effectively and efficiently in inland and coastal estates and on any soil conditions; • able to contribute towards solving labour shortages in the oil palm fields; • the assembly of the present invention aims to mitigate ergonomics issues associated with risk injuries and body aches / pain with respect to awkward or bad lifting postures of the oil palm workers; • able to overcome lifting of heavy polybags which also ensures good handling of young germinated seedlings; • an effective and efficient means to increase productivity; • easy, simple and cost effective to manufacture the assembly of the present invention; and • any type of movable vehicles can be used for the assembly of this present invention depending on individual estates’ requirements, preference and needs. The details of the present invention will now be described in relation to the accompanying Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4. According to Figures 1 and 2, the present invention provides an assembly for grabbing, picking and releasing objects, comprising at least one grabber arm (101) and a grabbing mechanism (103), whereby the grabbing mechanism (103) comprises at least one first linkage (104), at least one second linkage (106) and at least one grabbing claw (105) for grabbing, picking and releasing the objects. The at least one grabber arm (101) is on left side, right side or both sides of the movable vehicle (102). One end of the at least one grabber arm (101) is detachably coupled to a movable vehicle (102) and other end of the at least one grabber arm (101) is coupled to the grabbing mechanism (103). The at least one first linkage (104) is coupled to the at least one grabber arm (101) on one end and to the at least one second linkage (106) on other end. The at least one second linkage (106) is coupled to the at least one grabbing claw (105) on other end. The at least one grabbing claw (105) consists of at least two wheels. The at least two wheels are rotatable. The diameter of the at least two wheels is in a range of between 0.25m to 0.45m. The at least one second linkage (106) and the at least two wheels are aligned in a straight line to a longitudinal central axis A. The at least one second linkage (106) and the at least ^{two wheels are at an angle of between 20° to 60° relative to a longitudinal central axis B,} preferably at an angle of between 30° to 45° relative to a longitudinal central axis B. The length of the at least one first linkage (104) is in a range of between 0.2m to 0.4m. The length of the at least one second linkage (106) is in a range of between 0.2m to 0.4m. The objects are polybags containing soil mixture with germinated oil palm seedlings. The present invention provides a mechanised means for transporting oil palm polybags containing germinated oil palm seedlings to transport the polybags from an oil palm nursery to an oil palm field for field planting. The grabbing claw (105) which consists of the two rotatable wheels is to firstly grab and pick up the polybags from the oil palm nursery or surrounding area of the oil palm nursery per Figure 3 to be loaded onto a movable vehicle (102). The movable vehicle (102) driven by the operator of the present invention will then transport the polybags to the field for field planting per Figure 4. A single operator with one assistant worker is sufficient to operate the assembly of the present invention to transplant at least 240 polybags per day (8-hour working period). The assistant is required to cut the polybags before the polybags are unloaded or released directly into the planting holes in the oil palm fields per Figure 4. The polybags need to be removed before or after being planted into the planting holes. For the purposes of this present invention, the cutting of the polybag is done by the assistant worker to the operator of the present invention while the grabbing claw (105) is grabbing and holding on to the polybag. Once the polybag has been cut, the polybag will be released directly into the planting hole in the oil palm field. The cut polybag will then be removed by the assistant worker from the planting hole. A single operator is sufficient if the purpose is to transport the polybags as soon as possible to the oil palm fields, to be placed right beside or close by to the planting holes without the need to wait for another worker to cut the bags for planting. Any type of grabber arm (101) can be used for the purposes of the present invention. The at least one grabber arm (101) is on left side, right side or both sides of the movable vehicle (102). Any type of movable vehicle (102) can be used for the present invention. The movable vehicle (102) of the present invention can be a three-wheeler or four-wheeler, preferably a four wheeler and can be selected based on ground conditions, accessibility and affordability of individual estates based on needs and preference, such as the mini tractor grabber, mechanical buffalo and others. The movable vehicles are chosen based on the terrains of the oil palm estates as long the movable vehicle does not cause any damage at the travelling path and also safe and stable for us at the intended areas. The assembly of the present invention have been determined by the inventors based on numerous trials / testing conducted, observations and discussions with combined expertise and experience in this field, which parameters and/or combination could not be determined without much efforts, testing and/or analysis or by just reviewing prior art documents in this field of interest. Hence, there remains a need in the art to provide an assembly per present invention. To the best of the knowledge of the inventors of the present invention and based on prior arts available, there is no known assembly per present invention available or used in the oil palm industry currently. The parameters for the present invention have been determined by the inventors based on numerous trials conducted, observations, discussions with combined expertise and experience in this field which parameters and/or ^{combination could not be determined without much efforts, testing and/or analysis or by} just reviewing prior art documents in this field. Hence, to the best of knowledge of the inventors, the present invention is novel and inventive. Various modifications to these embodiments as described herein are apparent to those skilled in the art from the description and the accompanying drawings. The description is not intended to be limited to these embodiments as shown with the accompanying drawings but is to provide the broadest scope possible as consistent with the novel and inventive features disclosed. Accordingly, the invention is anticipated to hold on to all other such alternatives, modifications and variations that fall within the scope of the present invention and appended claims.

Claims

CLAIMS 1. An assembly for grabbing, picking and releasing objects, comprising: • at least one grabber arm (101); and • a grabbing mechanism (103), whereby the grabbing mechanism (103) comprises at least one first linkage (104), at least one second linkage (106) and at least one grabbing claw (105) for grabbing, picking and releasing the objects.

2. The assembly of Claim 1, wherein one end of the at least one grabber arm (101) is detachably coupled to a movable vehicle (102) and other end of the at least one grabber arm (101) is coupled to the grabbing mechanism (103).

3. The assembly of Claim 1, wherein the at least one first linkage (104) is coupled to the at least one grabber arm (101) on one end and to the at least one second linkage (106) on other end.

4. The assembly of Claim 3, wherein the at least one second linkage (106) is coupled to the at least one grabbing claw (105) on other end.

5. The assembly of Claim 1, wherein the at least one grabbing claw (105) consists of at least two wheels.

6. The assembly of Claim 5, wherein the at least two wheels are rotatable.

7. The assembly of Claim 1, wherein diameter of the at least two wheels is in a range of between 0.25m to 0.45m.

8. The assembly of Claim 5, wherein the at least one second linkage (106) and the at least two wheels are aligned in a straight line to a longitudinal central axis A.

9. The assembly of Claim 8, wherein the at least one second linkage (106) and the at least two wheels are at an angle of between 20° to 60° relative to a longitudinal central axis B.

10. The assembly of Claim 1, wherein length of the at least one first linkage (104) is in a range of between 0.2m to 0.4m 11. The assembly of Claim 1, wherein length of the at least one second linkage (106) is in a range of between 0.2m to 0.4m. 12. The assembly of Claim 1, wherein the at least one grabber arm (101) is on left side, right side or both sides of the movable vehicle (102). 13. The assembly of Claim 1, wherein the objects are polybags.