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License and use

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Citations

172

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Grant support

The research leading to these results has received funding from (i) FEDER/Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades-Agencia Estatal de Investigacion/Proyecto ROBOCROP (DPI2017-84253-C2-1-R), (ii) RoboCity2030-DIH-CM, Madrid Robotics Digital Innovation Hub, S2018/NMT-4331, funded by Programas de Actividades I+D en la Comunidad de Madrid and cofunded by Structural Funds of the EU, and (iii) CSIC under Grant 202050E099, Proyecto Intramural IAMC-ROBI (Inteligencia Artificial y Mecatronica Cognitiva para la Manipulacion Robotica Bimanual).

Analysis of institutional authors

Fernandez, RCorresponding AuthorSepulveda, DAuthorArmada, MAuthor

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Review

Soft Grippers for Automatic Crop Harvesting: A Review

Publicated to:Sensors. 21 (8): 2689- - 2021-04-01 21(8), DOI: 10.3390/s21082689

Authors: Navas, Eduardo; Fernandez, Roemi; Sepulveda, Delia; Armada, Manuel; Gonzalez-de-Santos, Pablo

Affiliations

Abstract

Agriculture 4.0 is transforming farming livelihoods thanks to the development and adoption of technologies such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and robotics, traditionally used in other productive sectors. Soft robotics and soft grippers in particular are promising approaches to lead to new solutions in this field due to the need to meet hygiene and manipulation requirements in unstructured environments and in operation with delicate products. This review aims to provide an in-depth look at soft end-effectors for agricultural applications, with a special emphasis on robotic harvesting. To that end, the current state of automatic picking tasks for several crops is analysed, identifying which of them lack automatic solutions, and which methods are commonly used based on the botanical characteristics of the fruits. The latest advances in the design and implementation of soft grippers are also presented and discussed, studying the properties of their materials, their manufacturing processes, the gripping technologies and the proposed control methods. Finally, the challenges that have to be overcome to boost its definitive implementation in the real world are highlighted. Therefore, this review intends to serve as a guide for those researchers working in the field of soft robotics for Agriculture 4.0, and more specifically, in the design of soft grippers for fruit harvesting robots.

Keywords

0AdoptionAgricultural robotsAgricultural workerAgriculture 4Agriculture 4.0Artificial intelligenceAutomatic pickingControl methodsCropCrop harvestingCropsDesign and implementationsEnd effectorsEnd-effectorsFruitFruit harvestingFruitsGrippersHarvestingHarvesting processHumanHygieneInternet of thingsMachine designManufacturing processNew solutionsNonhumanReviewRoboticsSoft grippersSoft roboticsUnstructured environments

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Sensors due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency Scopus (SJR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2021, it was in position , thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Analytical Chemistry.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from World Citations provided by WoS (ESI, Clarivate), it yields a value for the citation normalization relative to the expected citation rate of: 1.73. This indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: ESI Nov 14, 2024)

This information is reinforced by other indicators of the same type, which, although dynamic over time and dependent on the set of average global citations at the time of their calculation, consistently position the work at some point among the top 50% most cited in its field:

  • Weighted Average of Normalized Impact by the Scopus agency: 8.11 (source consulted: FECYT Feb 2024)
  • Field Citation Ratio (FCR) from Dimensions: 46.73 (source consulted: Dimensions Jun 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-06-05, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 26
  • Scopus: 146
  • OpenCitations: 125

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-06-05:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 306.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 299 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 1.6.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 3 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (Navas, E) and Last Author (Gonzalez-de-Santos, P).

the authors responsible for correspondence tasks have been Navas, E and FERNANDEZ MARTIN, RAFAEL.