Agriculture and Food Sciences Research

In the mechanized operations of tea gardens, components like cutting blades and suspension systems frequently interact with the tea tree canopy, resulting in complex push, squeeze, and pressure interactions. This makes it challenging to accurately measure the distribution characteristics of the forces involved. The uncertainty in these mechanical properties complicates mechanical design, posture adjustment, and positioning control. To address this, this study designed and developed a testing platform for pressure measurement in the tea tree canopy, aiming to systematically investigate the force characteristics and structural changes of the canopy under different penetration depths. The platform enabling high-precision recording of canopy responses under varying pressure conditions. The experimental results indicated significant differences in pressure values at different depths and locations. At a penetration depth of 1.0 cm, the minimum pressure value was 3.0 N, while the maximum pressure at a depth of 4.0 cm reached 60.0 N. Moreover, the pressure exhibited a clear hierarchical distribution with changes in depth and position. The study observed a hierarchical structure within the tea tree canopy, comprise tender leaves, mature leaves, and branches. These findings provide important evidence and data support for the optimization of tea garden management and harvesting machinery design.