JP2005066809A - Farm work assisting robot and farm work supporting system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a farm work assisting robot and a farm work supporting system, capable of being inexpensively manufactured as compared with conventional agricultural machinery, assisting work that is especially a burden for a farm worker while making the best use of an advantage by manual operation, and efficiently and impartially operating a robot. <P>SOLUTION: The farm work assisting robot 1 is composed of a main body portion 10 having a control portion inside thereof, a crops placing portion 9 attached on an upper side of the main body portion 10, and the moving means 20 attached on a lower side of the main body. The size in a width direction of the whole in a traveling direction is made to be equal or not more than the with of shoulders of an adult. On a side surface of the main body portion, an obstacle detecting sensor 12 is provided at a position including a traveling direction front surface side and both side surfaces in a width direction. Therefore, the farm work assisting robot 1 can self-travel on the basis of a signal from a transmitter carried by the farm worker, while avoiding a ridge or roots of crops. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a robot used to assist farm work in a farm field and a system that supports farm work by operating this robot.

  In recent years, with the merger and enlargement of farmland and the aging of farmers, the demand for reducing the burden of farm work, which has been done manually by humans, is increasing more and more with the aging of farmers. ing. In response to this, development of multifunctional and large-scale agricultural machines is progressing as a recent technical trend related to farm work, such as automatically performing various farm work by machines. For example, as shown in FIG. 9, an arm mechanism 47 formed to be foldable and extendable using a parallel link mechanism or the like is attached to a carriage 43 formed so as to be movable along the ground 41 or rail 42. -Standing in a freely swingable and undulating manner at the base side of the arm structure, and suspending and supporting a work machine 44 for performing various farming operations at the tip of the tip side arm 47b in the arm mechanism 47. An agricultural robot characterized by doing this is known (Patent Document 1). In addition, the working machine 44 that performs various farming works is a working machine for soil formation mainly composed of tillage and leveling, a working machine for sowing and transplanting, or a working machine for intermediate management such as fertilization, weeding, and middle plowing. And, various working machines for harvesting such as digging and mowing.

However, there are many farm workers who cannot introduce these multifunctional and large-scale agricultural machines because they are expensive. Especially for farmers with small farmland area, when large-scale agricultural machines are introduced, the productivity increases with respect to the ratio of capital investment. I can not expect. In addition, especially in seedling transplanting and harvesting operations, seedlings and harvested products (hereinafter referred to as crops, etc.) require delicate handling, while technology that allows machines to perform more detailed and detailed operations than manual operations. It has not been put into practical use yet. In the market, there is a widespread need for high-quality crops that can be obtained by careful and detailed farming that is impossible with machines by hand. However, it is also true that these workloads are increasing due to the aging of farmers.For example, transporting heavy crops harvested on farmland to trucks outside the farmland is a significant burden for the elderly. It has become.
JP-A-6-246656

  In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a robot that can be manufactured at a relatively low cost and assists a work that is particularly burdensome for agricultural workers while taking advantage of manual work. It is another object of the present invention to provide a system for efficiently and fairly operating this robot.

  The present invention includes a crop placing unit for placing crops and the like, and a signal receiving unit that receives a worker side signal from a transmitter carried by a farm worker, and a signal received by the signal receiving unit. A main body including an input control unit, and a power supply unit that supplies power to the control unit and the signal receiving unit, and is located below the crop placement unit and the main body unit, And a moving means for moving the crop placement part and the main body part, and the overall width direction size relative to the advancing direction is equal to or less than the shoulder width of the adult, and at least the progress of the side surface of the main body part Obstacle detection sensors that detect obstacles such as straw and crop stock and transmit an obstacle detection signal to the control unit are provided on both sides in the width direction with respect to the front direction and the traveling direction, and the control unit includes: Avoiding the obstacle based on the obstacle detection signal One, on the basis of the operator's side signals, propose agricultural auxiliary robot, characterized by drive control to move the moving unit in the direction of the farmers.

  In this way, since it has a simple configuration in which the mounting unit for placing crops and the moving means are combined on the main body unit equipped with a communication / control system, it is less expensive than the introduction of a conventional agricultural machine. Capital investment can be facilitated. And since it assists only the transportation of crops, etc., which has been particularly burdensome for farmers, the handling, sorting, and harvesting of seedlings that require careful consideration can be performed manually. In addition, the overall width of the robot is about the same as or less than the shoulder width of a person, and the robot moves following the farmer while avoiding obstacles such as straw and crop stock, so it is narrow with the farmer. It is possible to enter farms, etc., and always assist farming by the farmer.

  In the agricultural work assistance robot according to the present invention, the main body unit has communication means for communicating between the robots and inputting the obtained communication information to the control unit. When using, when the signal receiving unit receives the worker side signal and detects the distance between the worker and the worker, the communication unit transmits and receives the distance information to and from the other robot, When the control unit of the robot other than the robot closest to the farmer determines that his / her position is n + 1 from the farmer based on the distance information, the farmer of the nth robot is located. The moving means is driven and controlled so as to be located on the opposite side of the side.

  As described above, when using a plurality of the robots according to the present invention to increase the efficiency of farm work, the robots are automatically aligned according to certain rules. Even if the robots are not controlled, the group of robots does not interfere with the farm work by surrounding the farm workers.

  In the agricultural work assistance robot according to the present invention, the crop is a harvested product, and the main body is located below the crop placing unit and is placed on the crop placing unit. Weight detecting means for transmitting a detection value obtained by detecting the weight of the object to the control unit, and the control unit collects the harvest when the detection value reaches a predetermined upper limit value; The signal receiving unit receives a signal at the collection site from a transmitter provided at the harvest collection point, and drives the moving means to move toward the harvest collection point based on the signal at the collection site. It is characterized by controlling. Furthermore, in the agricultural work assistance robot according to the present invention, when the control unit recovers the crop from the crop placement unit at the crop collection point, the detected value becomes equal to or less than the upper limit value. Preferably, the drive control is switched so that the moving means is moved again in the direction of the farm worker.

  This means that once the harvested crops are loaded onto the robot, no more crops can be loaded, so it will automatically stop following the farmer and stop at the designated harvest collection point (for example, a truck) ) To move the harvested product efficiently. In addition, the work efficiency is further improved by automatically moving autonomously not only on the forward path but also on the return path.

In the agricultural work assistance robot according to the present invention, the main body section acquires its own position information and inputs the position information to the control section, and the farm worker is connected to the control section to perform the work. A storage unit in which position information of the field to be performed is stored in advance, and the control unit acquires its own position information at each point of the field and associates it with the position information of the field, and the moving unit The harvest amount at each point is calculated based on the amount of movement and the change amount of the detected value, and the harvest amount is stored in the storage unit in association with the position information of the field.
In addition, as a method of acquiring self position information, a weak high frequency radio wave transmitted by pseudo-noise encoding from a satellite orbiting the earth is received, the arrival time of the signal to the ground, Since GPS (Global Positioning System) that accurately locates position information on the earth by decoding the included time information and navigation message is widely used, it is easy to use it. preferable.

  Since the data relating to the yield obtained in this way is related to the position information of the field, it can be used to check the harvest unevenness of the field. This data can be linked to other types of data using the geographical location as a clue, and can be managed, processed and used in a comprehensive manner. Therefore, it is not necessary to perform a separate operation for collecting data relating to the harvest amount, and data can be accumulated in a normal harvest operation.

  In the agricultural work assistance robot according to the present invention, the main body portion is located below the crop placement portion, and when a crop or the like is placed on the crop placement portion, it detects it and a detection signal Weight detection means for transmitting to the control section, the crop is a seedling of the crop, and the control section replenishes the crop seedling when the detection signal does not come from the weight detection means. Drive signal is received by the signal receiving unit from the transmitter provided at the seedling replenishment point to be driven, and the moving means is moved in the direction of the seedling replenishment point based on the replenishment site side signal. It is characterized by doing. Further, when the detection signal is sent from the weight detection unit when the seedling of the crop is placed on the crop placement unit at the seedling replenishment point, the control unit again moves the moving unit to the moving unit. It is preferable to switch the drive control to move in the direction of the farm worker.

  In this way, the present invention can also be used for seedling planting work, and in this case, if the placed seedling disappears from the crop placement section, the seedling planting work can no longer be continued. It automatically stops following the farmer and moves toward a predetermined seedling replenishment point (for example, a truck), so that the seedling can be transported and replenished efficiently. In addition, the work efficiency is further improved by automatically moving autonomously not only on the forward path but also on the return path.

  Further, in the agricultural work assistance robot according to the present invention, a plurality of types of the crop placement unit are prepared in accordance with the type of the crop to be placed, and the moving means is a size of a undulation or a wetland in a farm field where the farm work is performed. A plurality of types are prepared in accordance with the state of the ground such as whether or not, and the main body portion is detachably connected to the plurality of types of crop placing units and the plurality of types of moving means, and the main body portion and the moving means Is characterized by being connected by an interface.

  In farm work, it is necessary to handle various agricultural crops, and it is also necessary to deal with undulations on the ground and wet fields (mudder). Due to these various geographical factors and work factors, crop placement and movement There is a need to prepare multiple types of means, but by making each part detachable, it can be used in combination with moving means and crop placement parts according to the purpose, and the number of robots for each purpose As a result, capital investment becomes easier.

  Further, the present invention provides a member information database for registering a farmer who borrows the farming assistance robot as a member, a reservation information database for registering a desired borrowing number, lending time and period of the robot that the farmer desires to borrow. A farm information database for storing the area of the field where each farm worker performs farm work, the cultivated crop, and the content and timing of the farm work performed in the field, and an evaluation index of the type of crop and the work load for each farm work performed on the crop And an inventory information database for storing the inventory information of the robot, and predicting the inventory at a specific time from the inventory information and the number of robots returned from the farmer and the scheduled return date. Based on the planned stock quantity calculating means for calculating the number of units and the reservation information database. And calculating the total of the desired number of borrowers of the farmer at the specific time, and comparing the predicted number with the expected number of borrowers if the predicted number is greater than the desired number of borrowers, the robot to each of the farm workers Lending schedule such as lending number, lending time and lending period, etc., and if the predicted number is less than the desired borrowing number, the farmer who has a large work load based on the farm work information database and the evaluation index database Schedule calculation means for preferentially allocating the robot to calculate the lending schedule, and when the specific period is a busy period, the lending period is divided into a plurality of times and a short-term lending is performed a plurality of times. And a plan correction means for correcting the lending schedule so that the number of lending subjects for a certain period is maximized, and And notification means for notifying the lending planned contents of the serial robot, be made of the proposed farm work support system according to claim.

  In this way, the above-described robots are collectively managed at the headquarters, and the economic burden on each farmer can be reduced by using the robots among a plurality of farmers in a rental manner. In addition, in agriculture, a specific work must be performed for each crop at a specific time (season), resulting in a busy season, where every farmer is busy, and a specific work can be quickly performed at a specific time. However, by lending the lending period short as described above and allowing more farmers to use the robot fairly, lending the robot to a small number of farmers for a long time and The system operation can be performed fairly by preventing the situation where the farmer's work is completely stopped and the optimum time of work is missed.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it can be manufactured at a lower cost than a conventional multifunctional and large-scale agricultural machine with a simple configuration, and it is easy for a farmer to introduce and invest in a facility. For the part that needs to be performed, there is an effect that a farming assistance robot can be obtained that can assist in the transportation of crops and the like that have been particularly burdensome for the farmer, while taking advantage of the advantages. In addition, by reducing the economic burden on the farmer by operating the robot, a farm work support system that can rent and operate the robot efficiently and fairly even when reservations are busy or during busy periods is obtained. It is done.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. However, the dimensions, materials, shapes, relative arrangements, and the like of the component parts described in this embodiment are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention only to the description unless otherwise specified. It is just an example.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a whole image of an example of a farm work assistance robot according to the present invention. The farm work auxiliary robot 1 includes a main body unit 10 having a control unit therein, a crop placement unit 9 mounted on the upper side of the main body unit 10, and a moving unit 20 attached to the lower side of the main body unit. Yes. Further, the side of the main body has an obstacle detection sensor 12 composed of an ultrasonic sensor and an infrared sensor at a position including the front side in the traveling direction and both side surfaces in the width direction. Therefore, the obstacle detection sensor 12 is provided at the corner of each side surface so as to cover all the side surfaces. In addition, the sensitivity of the obstacle detection sensor 12 is such that it can be detected at a certain interval so as to detect a large rise such as a cocoon or a plant with a certain height such as a crop stock and to avoid hitting it. .

  Next, referring to FIG. 2 showing the configuration of the main body unit 10, the main body unit 10 includes a control unit 13 made of a control board, to which an obstacle detection sensor 12 is connected. Power is supplied to each of these parts from a power supply unit (not shown) such as a rechargeable or non-rechargeable battery built in the main body unit 10. In addition, a signal receiving unit 15 that receives a signal from a signal transmitter carried by the farmer is also connected to the control unit 13. When the signal receiving unit 15 receives a signal from a signal transmitter carried by the farm worker and the signal is transmitted to the control unit 13, the control unit 13 moves so as to move in the direction of the signal emitted from the farm worker side. Is controlled. Thereby, as shown in FIG. 6, the farm work auxiliary robot 1 moves in the direction of the farm worker 2 (transmitter 2 a), that is, the direction indicated by the arrow A. If the farm worker 2 moves while carrying out the farm work, the farm work assisting robot 1 also moves following that, and the work can always be assisted by the farm worker 2.

  In addition, since it is necessary to handle various agricultural crops in the agricultural work, and it is necessary to cope with undulations on the ground and wet fields (mudder), the agricultural product placement unit 9, the main body unit 10, and the moving means 20 are respectively By making it detachable, as shown in FIG. 3, by preparing a plurality of types of crop placement units 9 and moving means 20 according to these various geographical factors and work factors, by making each part detachable The moving means and the crop placement unit can be used in combination according to the purpose. For example, as shown in FIG. 3 (a), a top-opening box-type crop placement unit 9a is suitable for storing crops one after another. On the other hand, when planting a crop seedling, If seedlings are placed on the crop placement unit 9b, the seedlings are easily separated. Further, as shown in FIG. 3C, various types of moving means 20 can be prepared such as a crawler type 20a suitable for farm fields with a lot of muddyness and unevenness, and a wheel type 20b with a small turn.

  In this case, the main body 10 and the moving means 20 are connected as follows. Referring again to FIG. 1, the moving means 20 includes a base portion 21 connected to the main body portion and a moving portion 22 provided below the base portion 21. A signal for driving and controlling the moving means 20 is transmitted by connecting the main body portion 10 and the base portion 21 with an interface, and this interface type is unique to the joint surface between the main body portion 10 and the base portion 21. An interface may be provided, or a general-purpose interface such as RS-232C or USB may be used. However, if a general-purpose interface is used in particular, product development is promoted in many companies. The possibility that a new option is created is further expanded. In FIG. 1 and FIG. 3, the main body 10 and the base 21 are connected by a USB cable 11, and power for obtaining power for driving the moving means 20 is supplied from the power supply unit built in the main body 10 to the USB cable 11. Is supplied through. As shown in FIG. 3C, a USB terminal 23 is provided in the various moving means 20 created, and a USB terminal 18 is also provided on the main body 10 side as shown in FIG. 3B. Various compatible moving means 20 can be connected to the main body 10.

  Referring to FIG. 3C, for example, the upper surface of the base portion 21 is formed of an elastic body such as rubber, and the body portion mounting recess 24 having the same shape as the bottom surface of the body portion 10 is provided at the center portion. Then, the main body 10 can be fixedly attached to the base 21 by fitting the bottom surface of the main body 10 into the recess 24. Further, for example, a convex engaging portion 8 is provided on the upper surface side of the main body portion 10, and an engaging concave portion (not shown) is provided on the bottom surface of the crop placing portion 9 so as to match the convex shape. For example, the crop placement unit 9 can be fixedly mounted on the main body unit 10.

  Next, a case where a plurality of agricultural work assistance robots 1 are used simultaneously will be described. Referring to FIG. 2, the main body 10 of the agricultural work assistance robot 1 is provided with a communication unit 16 for communicating with other agricultural work assistance robots, and the communication unit 16 is connected to the control unit. With reference also to FIG. 4, for example, a case where three farm work assistance robots 1 are used simultaneously will be described. Initially, the robots 1a, 1b, and 1c exist at different positions as shown in FIG. 4A, but the distance between the farm worker 2 and herself is based on a signal from a transmitter carried by the farm worker 2. It is found that the distances are a1, a2, and a3, respectively. Next, each of the robots 1a, 1b, and 1c transmits / receives the distance information to / from each other by communication means, and it is determined that a1 <a2 <a3 by determining the magnitude relationship of the distances. Then, the robot 1a having the smallest distance to the farm worker 2 moves as it follows the farm worker 2, but the control unit of the robot 1b having the smallest distance to the farm worker 2 next to the robot 1a is directed to the robot 1a. It is determined to move so as to be located on the side opposite to the side where the farm worker 2 is located, and the moving means 20 is driven and controlled as such. The same processing as described above is performed in the control unit of the robot 1c, and the robots 1a, 1b, and 1c are aligned in a line and follow the farm worker 2. (See Fig. 4 (b))

  As described above, when there are a plurality of farm work assisting robots 1, each farm work assisting robot 1 determines that its own position is n + 1 from the farm worker based on information on the distance between itself and the farm worker 2. The moving means is driven and controlled so as to be located on the opposite side of the n-th robot where the farm worker is located. Here, n is an integer of 1 or more. As described above, when a plurality of farm work assistance robots 1 are used simultaneously, the farm work assistance robots 1 are automatically aligned in a line and moved following the farm worker 2. Without being surrounded, you can continue working without reducing efficiency.

  In addition, a weight detection unit that senses the weight of the crops and the like placed on the crop placement unit 9 is provided below the crop placement unit 9 of the agricultural work assistance robot 1. With reference to FIG.3 (b), the weight detection means (weighing scale) 14 is provided in the upper surface side of the main-body part 10, and crop placement is carried out by attaching the crop placement part 9 on it. The weigh scale 14 detects the weight of the crops and the like placed on the unit 9, and the detected signal is transmitted to the control unit 13 as shown in FIG.

  Here, the case where crops and the like are harvested products will be described with reference to FIG. When the farmer 2 starts harvesting work and places the harvested product on the crop placing unit 9, the weight is detected and sent to the control unit 13. The control unit 13 determines whether or not the detected weight is greater than or equal to a preset upper limit value of weight (step S1). The upper limit value is a limit value of the weight of the crop that can be placed on the crop placement unit 9. If an amount of crop that exceeds this value is placed, the crop is placed on the crop placement unit 9. The value is set as a value that may spill out or prevent the farm work auxiliary robot 1 from moving stably. If the controller 13 determines that the detected weight is not greater than or equal to the upper limit value, the farm work auxiliary robot 1 continues to move following the farm worker 2 (step S2).

  On the other hand, when the crop placement unit 9 is filled with the harvested product and the control unit 13 determines that the detected weight is equal to or greater than the upper limit value, the farm work auxiliary robot 1 follows the farm worker 2. As shown in FIG. 6, the drive control is switched so as to move in the direction of the track 3 based on the signal from the transmitter 3a provided in the track 3 which is the harvest collection point (step S3). Thereby, the agricultural work auxiliary robot 1 moves in the direction of arrow B. Then, the truck reaches the truck 3 and the harvested product placed on the crop placement unit 9 is collected (step S4), whereby the control unit 13 determines that the detected weight is no more than the upper limit value. Then, the drive control is switched so that the farm work auxiliary robot 1 moves following the farm worker 2 again (step S5).

  When using the agricultural work assistance robot 1 for assistance in planting seedlings, the detection value in a state where there is no seedling on the crop placement unit 9 and the weight is lost is set as a limit value. While there is a seedling on the placement unit 9, the farmer 2 may be followed. However, when the farming assistance robot 1 is set to be used exclusively for seedling planting, the control unit 13 determines whether or not the weight is detected by the weigh scale 14, and when the weight is not detected, as shown in FIG. 6, a signal from the transmitter 3a provided in the truck 3 which is a seedling replenishment point is displayed. Based on this, the drive control is switched to move in the direction of the track 3.

  Next, referring again to FIG. 2, a GPS signal receiving unit (position information acquiring unit) that acquires its own position information by receiving a GPS signal and inputs the position information to the control unit 13 inside the main body unit 10. ) 19, and further includes a storage unit (information storage unit) 17 in which the position information of the field associated with the GPS position information is stored in advance. Referring to FIG. 7, when performing the harvesting work using this farming work assisting robot 1, the control unit 13 uses the position information acquisition unit 19 to assist in the harvesting work while assisting the harvesting work. The information is acquired, correlated with the field position information 4, and the yield at each point is calculated based on the amount of movement of the moving means 20 and the amount of change in the weight detection value of the harvest. By associating the harvest amount information thus obtained with the position information 4 of the field, as shown in FIG. 7, it is possible to obtain information that can grasp the magnitude of the yield at each point on the field. This information is stored in the storage unit 17 and can be used for elucidating the cause of the variation in the yield, for example, if it is extracted and analyzed by a recording medium or communication.

With reference to FIG. 8, an example of the farm work support system according to the present invention will be described.
The farm work support system according to the present invention includes a member information database for registering a farm worker who borrows the above-described farm work assist robot 1 as a member, a desired number of borrowed farm work assist robots 1 that the farm worker desires to borrow, a lending time, and a period. A farming information database that stores the area of the field where each farmer performs the farming work, the cultivated crop, and the contents and timing of the farming work performed in the field, and the type of the crop and each farm work performed on the crop An evaluation index database storing work load evaluation indexes and an inventory information database storing inventory information of the agricultural work assistance robot 1 are provided.

  Then, in order to lend the farm work assistance robot 1 in accordance with the contents desired by the farmer to borrow, the farm work support system determines the specific time from the inventory information, the number of farm work assistance robots 1 returned from the farm worker and the scheduled return date. The predicted number of stocks is calculated by the planned stock number calculation means (step T1). Thereafter, in the schedule calculation means of the farm work support system, based on the reservation information database, the total number of borrowers desired by the farmer at a specific time is calculated and compared with the predicted number calculated in step T1 (step T2 ), It is determined whether or not the desired number of borrowers from the farmer is satisfied (step T3). If the predicted number is equal to or greater than the desired borrowed number, the schedule calculation means calculates the rental schedule such as the number of rental of the agricultural work assistance robot 1 to each farm worker, the rental period, and the rental period (step T4). On the other hand, if the predicted number is less than the desired borrowed number, the schedule calculation means preferentially distributes the farm work assistance robot 1 to the farmer with a large work load based on the farm work information database and the evaluation index database (step T7). The rental schedule is calculated (step T4). That is, in the process of calculating the rental schedule, the distribution is performed in consideration of the work load of each farmer rather than simply proportional to the number of borrowers desired by the farmer, so that a fair system can be operated.

  Further, when determining the distribution of lending for the busy season, the borrowing requests of the agricultural work auxiliary robot 1 are concentrated, and the busy season is a time when a specific work needs to be completed quickly at a specific time. Therefore, it is necessary not only to prevent unfairness but also to ensure that as many agricultural workers as possible can smoothly proceed with farming. Therefore, in the schedule correction means of the farm work support system, it is confirmed whether or not the loan is distributed during the busy season (step T5). If it is the busy season, the rental period desired by each farm worker is divided into a plurality of times. Then, short-term lending is performed a plurality of times, and the lending schedule is corrected so that the number of lending subjects for a certain period is maximized (step T8).

  When the lending schedule is determined in this way, the notification means notifies each farmer of the details of the lending schedule of the farm work auxiliary robot 1 (step T6). Thereby, even during the busy season, more farm workers can use the farm work assisting robot 1, and a fair and smooth system operation is possible.

  By using the agricultural work assistance robot according to the present invention and the agricultural work support system according to the present invention, since it has been manual work so far, the load on the farm worker is large, and the price of the harvest increases accordingly, despite the demand. The crops that were difficult to reach the consumers were reduced in price by reducing the workload of farmers, the supply and demand balance became appropriate, the agricultural products were distributed to the consumers and the overall sales increased, activating the industry Connected.

It is a perspective view of the whole picture of one example of the agricultural work auxiliary robot concerning the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the main-body part of the agricultural-work assistance robot of FIG. It is a perspective view which illustrates the variation of each part of the agricultural-work assistance robot of FIG. It is the conceptual diagram which looked at the whole from the top, in order to demonstrate the case where two or more farm work assistance robots of FIG. 1 are used simultaneously. It is a flowchart for demonstrating operation | movement of the agricultural-work assistance robot of FIG. It is the conceptual diagram which looked at the whole from the side surface in order to demonstrate operation | movement of the agricultural-work assistance robot of FIG. It is a conceptual diagram for demonstrating the relationship between the information of the yield obtained by the agricultural work auxiliary | assistant robot of FIG. 1, and the positional information on an agricultural field. It is a flowchart for demonstrating an example of the agricultural-work assistance system which concerns on this invention. It is a schematic diagram of the machine used in the conventional farm work.

Explanation of symbols

1 Agricultural work assistance robot 2 Farmer 3 Truck (Crop collection point, seedling replenishment point)
4 Field Position Information 9 Agricultural Product Placement Unit 10 Main Body 11 USB Cable 12 Obstacle Detection Sensor 13 Control Unit 14 Weight Detection Unit 15 Signal Reception Unit 16 Communication Unit 17 Storage Unit 19 Position Information Acquisition Unit 20 Movement Unit

Claims (9)

A crop placement section for placing crops, etc. is provided,
A signal receiving unit that receives a worker-side signal from a transmitter carried by a farm worker, a control unit that receives a signal received by the signal receiving unit, and supplies power to the control unit and the signal receiving unit A main body having a power supply unit;
Located below the crop placement section and the main body section, and includes a moving means for moving the crop placement section and the main body section,
The overall width direction size relative to the direction of travel is equal to or less than the shoulder width of an adult,
An obstacle detection sensor that detects obstacles such as straw and crop stocks on at least the front side in the traveling direction and both sides in the width direction with respect to the traveling direction among the side surfaces of the main body and transmits an obstacle detection signal to the control unit Is provided,
The control unit drives and controls the moving means to move in the direction of the farm worker based on the worker side signal while avoiding the obstacle based on the obstacle detection signal. Agricultural work assist robot. The main body has communication means for communicating between the robots and inputting the obtained communication information to the controller.
When using a plurality of the farm work assistance robots at the same time, when the signal receiving unit receives the worker side signal and detects the distance between the worker and the worker, the communication unit obtains the distance information from the other Send to and receive from the robot,
When the control unit of the robot other than the robot closest to the farmer determines that his / her position is n + 1 from the farmer based on the distance information, the farmer of the nth robot is located. The farm work auxiliary robot according to claim 1, wherein the moving means is driven and controlled so as to be located on the opposite side of the side. The crop is a harvested product, and the main body is located below the crop placing unit and is a detection value obtained by detecting the weight of the crop placed on the crop placing unit. Having a weight detection means for transmitting to the control unit,
When the detected value reaches a predetermined upper limit value, the control unit receives a collection site side signal from a transmitter provided at a harvest collection point for collecting the harvest by the signal receiving unit, and collects the collected data. The farm work assistance robot according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the movement means is controlled to move in the direction of the harvest collection point based on a ground side signal.   When the detected value is less than or equal to the upper limit value due to the harvest being collected from the crop placement unit at the harvest collection point, the control unit again moves the moving means toward the farm worker. 4. The agricultural work auxiliary robot according to claim 3, wherein the drive control is switched so as to move. The main body is pre-stored with position information acquisition means for acquiring its own position information and inputting the position information to the control unit, and position information of a farm field connected to the control unit and operated by the farm worker. A storage unit,
The control unit obtains its own position information at each point of the field and associates it with the position information of the field, and determines the harvest amount at each point based on the amount of movement of the moving means and the amount of change in the detected value. The farm work assistance robot according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the farm work assisting robot calculates and stores the harvest amount in the storage unit in association with the position information of the field. The main body part is located below the crop placing part, and when a crop or the like is placed on the crop placing part, it detects it and transmits a detection signal to the control part. The crops are crop seedlings,
When the control signal is not received from the weight detection means, the control unit receives a replenishment ground side signal from a transmitter provided at a seedling replenishment point for replenishing the crop seedling, and the signal receiving unit receives the signal. The farm work assistance robot according to claim 1 or 2, wherein drive control is performed so that the moving means moves in the direction of the seedling replenishment point based on a replenishment site side signal.   When the detection signal is sent from the weight detection unit by placing the crop seedling on the crop placement unit at the seedling replenishment point, the control unit again sets the moving unit to the farm worker. The farm work auxiliary robot according to claim 6, wherein the drive control is switched so as to move in the direction of. A plurality of types of the crop placement unit are prepared in accordance with the type of the crop to be placed, and a plurality of the moving means are provided in accordance with the ground condition such as whether the field is undulating or whether it is a wet field. Seeds are prepared,
2. The main body is detachably connected to a plurality of types of crop placement units and a plurality of types of moving means, and the main body and the moving means are connected by an interface. The agricultural work auxiliary robot according to any one of claims 7 to 7. A member information database for registering as a member a farm worker who borrows the agricultural work auxiliary robot according to any one of claims 1 to 8, a desired borrowing number of the robot that the farm worker desires to borrow, and a lending time And a reservation information database for registering the period, an agricultural field information database for storing the area of the field on which each farmer performs the farming work, the cultivated crop, and the contents and timing of the farm work performed on the field, and the type of the crop and the farm An evaluation index database that stores an evaluation index of a work burden for each farm work, and an inventory information database that stores inventory information of the robot,
Scheduled inventory quantity calculating means for calculating the estimated number of inventory at a specific time from the inventory information and the number of robots returned from the farmer and the scheduled return date;
Based on the reservation information database, the sum of the desired number of borrowers of the farm worker at the specific time is calculated, and if the predicted number is equal to or more than the desired borrowed number compared to the predicted number, Calculate the rental schedule of the robot to be rented to the farmer, such as the rental period, rental period, and rental period, and if the predicted number is less than the desired borrowing number, the work load is based on the agricultural work information database and the evaluation index database. A plan calculation means for preferentially allocating the robot to the farm worker having a large size and calculating the lending schedule;
When the specific period is a busy period, the lending period is divided into a plurality of times, the short-term lending is performed a plurality of times, and the lending schedule is set so that the number of lenders for a certain period is maximized. Scheduled correction means for correcting,
A notification means for notifying the farmer of the planned rental of the robot;
An agricultural work support system characterized by comprising:

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