Most public housing estates have palm trees, some of which grow as tall as 20 meters. For palm trees taller than approximately 8 meters, a lifting platform is required to prune withered fronds. However, due to densely populated public housing estates' space constraints, it may not always be possible to position the platform near the trees.

To minimize the risk of falling withered fronds due to the inability to prune them using a lifting platform, and to better utilize human resources, this project aims to develop a Climbing Robot ("Robot") equipped with electric saws, capable of cutting withered fronds at a height of 18 meters.

Key challenges include:

1. cutting withered fronds without damaging the young buds and apical buds,
2. diameter variations within individual trunks,
3. integration of safety and fail-safe mechanisms including the unintentional fall of the Robot from the tree,
4. maintaining the Robot's operation stability even when climbing on an inclined tree trunk, and so on.

1. The overall size and weight shall be suitable for operation on palm trees (Roystonea regia) with trunk diameters of 350 – 450 mm and withered frond heights of 8 – 18 m.
2. The Robot shall complete the mission in a single climbing operation using the electric saw, which is capable of cutting all the withered fronds at one time, meaning that it can cut 360 degrees around the tree trunk horizontally (Note: Withered fronds are usually located at the lowest layer of the canopy.)
3. Safety design and fail-safe mechanisms shall be incorporated into the Robot's design especially for saw operation and the prevention of the Robot's unintentional fall.
4. The frond cutting shall not damage the young buds under the withered fronds and the apical bud at the tip of the palm trees.
5. The climbing and cutting actions shall not damage the tree surface and the healthy fronds.
6. The climbing operation should be automatic or semi-automatic in order to facilitate use by site staff.
7. A remote control with an LCD screen shall be provided to allow staff to control the entire frond pruning process. A camera module shall be mounted on the Robot.
8. The whole operation of climbing up/down and frond cutting shall be as user-friendly and simple as possible in order to enable regular use by current non-technical staff.
9. Both the Robot and remote control shall be battery-powered.
10. The batteries and saw(s), as consumables, shall be easily replaceable.
11. The Robot is intended for outdoor use, and its materials shall be UV-resistant.
12. Charging procedures and transportation of the Robot to and from the pruning site shall be simple and easy to perform.