Performance Evaluation of an Off-road Light Aerial Platform for Date Palm Cultivation

The objective of this study is the evaluation of this self-moving aerial platform, named Xiraffe, in terms of timing, effectiveness and general attitude to work along the date palm cultivation process. This analysis is based on observations done and data collected in 2017, during harvesting field trials on Medjool date palms in the Jordan Valley. These trials, carried out on palms of different height and characteristics, aimed at comparing mechanized and traditional manual harvesting, which is still the most common method in the study area. The results showed that this small sized and agile machine proves to be effective while capable of improving work safety and timing when used to harvest palms between 6.0 and 9.4 meters high. However, the manual harvest is still more effective for medium and small farms in the test environment, but some technical improvement to the platform, such as modifying the bucket shape or providing it with specific tools for other operations (e.g. pruning, bagging or pollination), can reduce the gap, opening a completely new scenario in date palm cultivation.