A design of an ergonomic rice transplanter

• Main Authors: Casiño, Jerome Carlo M., Octavo, Riccardi Stasia O., Santiago, Anna Katrina O.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2008
• Subjects: Rice > Transplanting > Machinery; Transplanting machines; Rice > Planting; Human engineering
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/9958
• Institution: De La Salle University

Rice transplanting is the most common rice planting method in the Philippines. In practicing the said method however, farmers are exposed to musculosketal disorders as well as back problems due to the repetitive bending as well as the awkward posture needed in performing the task. Observations were made and it was concluded that the general rice transplanting process could not be changed and therefore the awkward posture as well as repetitive motion could not be eliminated nor minimized unless mechanization was introduced. Rice transplanters, instead of farmers manually driving the seedlings into the soil will do the task by having pickers that can simulate the farmer's seedling driving process. More than its ergonomic benefits, engineers from Philippine Rice Research Institute confirmed the important role of rice transplanters in alleviating the problem of scarcity in manual labor as well as its contribution to a probable increase in the farmer's harvested yield. The country has several existing transplanters under two general categories: engine driven and manual, both of which are limitedly accepted in the country due to acceptability issues that the existing transplanter was not able to deliver through its design. The major concerns of the farmers on the engine driven machines were its expensive value (Php 180,000) and the difficulty in its maintenance since these are all imported. Under the manual transplanter however, farmers were concerned about its low output capacity of 0.30 ha/day, the picker efficiency of 80% and the drudgery brought about by the manner of operating the manual transplanter. The design for an ergonomic rice transplanter that could cater to the needs of the customer (farm owners) as well as the user (farmers) was then sought after and was formed by incorporating the functional requirements of a rice transplanter with ergonomics as well as usability principles. Three design iterations that were based on the customer needs were made before the prototype was fabricated and was later on validated by allowing farmers operate it on rice fields. In order to improve the picker efficiency, the picker assembly is now spring loaded with a seedling pusher. For capacity, the authors mounted an engine to increase the planting speed and reduce ergonomic hazards since the repetitive push and pull motion is eliminated. The picker assembly can be disengaged so that the transplanter can run while the picker assembly, seedling feeder assembly, and the tray indexing assembly are on hold. The number of the seedling tray compartments was changed from 6 to 4 to adapt to the standard size of seedling mats which is 30 cm in width. The authors adapted the standard size tray to eliminate the time required in cutting seedbeds before transplanting. Under the ergonomic evaluation, the drudgery felt was reduced as the manner of operating the transplanter was modified from push and pull to minimal pushing, as engines were incorporated in the design. For the performance test however, the evaluation conducted on the prototype unit showed an output capacity rate of 0.84 ha/day and an increased planting efficiency by 12% from the 80% efficiency of the current 6-row manual paddy transplanter. A cost and benefit was further made and it was verified that upon acceptance of the mechanization, farmers can save a significant amount of more than Php 1,000 per hectare.