On the automation of plant reproduction by cuttings

The tedious and repetitive manual work is one of the activities in which we try to facilitate the operator through the use of assistive devices or through automation, which can replace it in the most repetitive operations. The reproduction of plants by cuttings is one of the most widespread techniques for obtaining new plants and it is an activity carried out in manual way also in manufacturing companies that produce young plants. Automation is also important in these applications for safety purposes, because repetitive and tedious activities tend to keep the operator's attention low and therefore increase the likelihood of accidents. This paper presents the development of a prototype to automate some stages of the reproduction of young plants by cuttings. Preliminary analyses to measure some characteristics of the selected ornamental plants, the prototype design work and the experimentation phase, both in the laboratory and in the field, which gave satisfactory results are illustrated.