Design and Test of the Tree Stump Excavation Robot

Tree stumps can be very useful but they are difficult to dig out. A tree stump excavation robot was developed in order to improve the efficiency of stump removal and to reduce damage to ground surface. The robot mainly consists of the walking mechanism of a caterpillar excavator, a manipulator with 6 freedoms and a numerical program control system of a single chip computer. The side roots of the stump can be removed by the rotary blades at the end of the executive body of the manipulator; then the stump can be clipped and pulled out by the mechanical arm. The operating radius of the manipulator is 4～8 m, and the maximum diameter of stump which can be excavated is 550 mm. The practical test shows that the robot can excavate about 100 stumps per day (6 hours), and that the diameter of stump is over 500 mm. In contrast, a worker can only dig 4～5 similar stumps out by hand in the same time. The efficiency of the robot is about 20～25 times than that of a worker.