Robotics Plus Summer Internship

Objective: Robotics Plus Ltd designs and manufactures a range of cutting-edge horticultural robots, including the Hydra Robotic Apple Packer, and Robotic Kiwifruit Harvester.

Contribution: Working as an intern assisting the engineering team, I had a range of duties across several different projects. I was heavily involved in the manufacture and assembly of the Robotics Plus Hydra apple packers. The large robotic apple packers in production consisted of over 5000 individual components; many required post-fabrication processing, including drilling, tapping, deburring, sanding, filing, polishing, and cleaning. I helped to assemble the large steel packer frames, the in-feed conveyor belts, and the paneling and bodywork. I also assembled, soldered, and installed several surface-mounted circuit boards. Another project I assisted on was the construction of a test rig for a pollination robot prototype. A cart-like movable frame was required as a platform to mount an array of computer vision sensors to detect flowers in the kiwifruit canopy. I aided in designing the test rig and was responsible for the sourcing of parts and subsequent construction.

Skills:

• Fabrication and post-processing of robot components

• Hand tools and machining

• Design for manufacture

• Surface mount assembly

• CAD (Solidworks)

• Component procurement

Takeaways: Working in the robotics laboratory with the engineers helped me to gain valuable insight into the process of designing and manufacturing complex mechatronic systems. I also got to experience day to-day engineering struggles not covered in school – such as dealing with componentry suppliers, shipping times, and manufacturing errors. All are common issues in the design and production of any commercial engineering product, and although frustrating, experience with these difficulties was invaluable. I enjoyed the hands-on work, as it provided a nice contrast with the research-based work and an opportunity to further hone my technical skills – and I still enjoy anything involving hands-on technical work!