{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,20]],"date-time":"2026-04-20T03:04:21Z","timestamp":1776654261655,"version":"3.51.2"},"reference-count":29,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2017,5,22]],"date-time":"2017-05-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1495411200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Robotics"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Bin management during apple harvest season is an important activity for orchards. Typically, empty and full bins are handled by tractor-mounted forklifts or bin trailers in two separate trips. In order to simplify this work process and improve work efficiency of bin management, the concept of a robotic bin-dog system is proposed in this study. This system is designed with a \u201cgo-over-the-bin\u201d feature, which allows it to drive over bins between tree rows and complete the above process in one trip. To validate this system concept, a prototype and its control and navigation system were designed and built. Field tests were conducted in a commercial orchard to validate its key functionalities in three tasks including headland turning, straight-line tracking between tree rows, and \u201cgo-over-the-bin.\u201d Tests of the headland turning showed that bin-dog followed a predefined path to align with an alleyway with lateral and orientation errors of 0.02 m and 1.5\u00b0. Tests of straight-line tracking showed that bin-dog could successfully track the alleyway centerline at speeds up to 1.00 m\u00b7s\u22121 with a RMSE offset of 0.07 m. The navigation system also successfully guided the bin-dog to complete the task of go-over-the-bin at a speed of 0.60 m\u00b7s\u22121. The successful validation tests proved that the prototype can achieve all desired functionality.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/robotics6020012","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2017,5,23]],"date-time":"2017-05-23T01:47:33Z","timestamp":1495504053000},"page":"12","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":32,"title":["Bin-Dog: A Robotic Platform for Bin Management in Orchards"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"6","author":[{"given":"Yunxiang","family":"Ye","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Precision &amp; Automated Agricultural Systems, Washington State University, Prosser, WA 99350, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Zhaodong","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Electrical Engineering &amp; Computer Science, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99163, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Dylan","family":"Jones","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Mechanical, Industrial &amp; Manufacturing Engineering, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Long","family":"He","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Precision &amp; Automated Agricultural Systems, Washington State University, Prosser, WA 99350, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8946-0211","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Matthew","family":"Taylor","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Electrical Engineering &amp; Computer Science, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99163, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Geoffrey","family":"Hollinger","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Mechanical, Industrial &amp; Manufacturing Engineering, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Qin","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Precision &amp; Automated Agricultural Systems, Washington State University, Prosser, WA 99350, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2017,5,22]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service (2017, May 01). 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