Design and Optimization of a Boat-Bottom-Shaped Transplanting Device for Sweet Potato (Ipomoea batatas) with Low Seedling Damage Rate
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Please see the attachment.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
Please see the attachment
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Very good design work for Appl. Sci. Solves a specific construction task in an innovative way using modern tools - computer programs supporting design works.
In a research paper, we always give a Latin name (eg Ipomoea batatas) for the subject of study, in this case sweet potatoes (in line 33). The European reader does not know whether it is sweet potatoes or there is a special variety of sweet potato in China.
New planting techniques are designed to increase the cultivation efficiency of a given plant, but also to maintain (or increase) the reliability of the machine at a good level. This is missing at work as well as the economic effect which is the most important for the farmer (more than ecology).
If the design is innovative and meets the authors' opinions, what is the interest of producers? Many good designs remained as prototypes.
SI rules apply. Thus, there is a space between the numeric value and the unit (eg, lines 418, 419,…), one way to write the unit in the entire job (eg, rpm and RPM - lines 448 and 438).
Providing the QRNDSM, QRSRD, and QRSLS indices with an accuracy of 0.01 may indicate that the obtained numbers do not differ much, and thus there is no big qualitative leap.
It is unnecessary and impossible to obtain in agricultural practice. It is necessary to round these values ​​to one.
In the 21st century, agricultural technology is already fully automated and digitized (Agriculture 4.0), thus the work of human hands should be abandoned (Fig. 10b).
Too general conclusions. The interest of farmers and producers should be stated and plans for the future should be indicated.
Author Response
Please see the attachment
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
It is not clear "As shown in Figure 1c, ..." 122 line. Please, review one more time.
The titles in the pictures should be the same size. For example 2 a, b, and c.
The section “2.3. Kinematic analysis of the four-bar mechanism“ is very important, but the information is presented in very detail. The four-bar mechanism is one of the simplest mechanisms, its Kinematic analysis is known in the Theory of Mechanisms and Machines. I would suggest reviewing this section again.
I would suggest non-author formulas to cite by references.
Author Response
Please see the attachment
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
