Design and evaluation of a gripper for bunches of bananas in a supermarket environment

In this paper the first gripper that can grasp bunches of bananas is presented. Bunches of bananas are difficult to grasp by a mechanical gripper, as they vary in size and shape and are sensitive to damage caused by mechanical impact. In former research, single bananas have been grasped with pinching- or granular grippers. The gripper proposed...

Controlled reefers in the banana supply chain: energy reduction and quality preservation

Bananas are the fourth most eaten product in the world. In Europe almost 4 million tonnes of bananas are consumed every year. These bananas need to be imported from plantations in, among others, Latin America. Due to the perishable nature of bananas the transport from plantation to Europe is done in cooled reefer containers. During transport the...

The "Blue Banana" Revisited

This essay is about the “Blue Banana”. Banana is the name given subsequently by others to a Dorsale européenne (European backbone) identified empirically by Roger Brunet. In a background study to the Communication of the European Commission ‘Europe 2000’, Klaus Kunzmann and Michael Wegener put forward the allegedly radical alternative called the...