JPH0241293B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application No. 57-140021
The present invention relates to a completely new fruit-harvesting robot hand that is installed in a fruit-harvesting device such as that already proposed by the applicant in No. 59-31614.

This type of robot hand requires a fruit trap large enough to take in the fruit to be harvested, but at the same time, it must be able to sneak through branches, leaves, or fruits other than the fruit to be harvested. There are contradictory requirements, such as the need to make the whole structure as compact as possible so that it can be approached sufficiently.

An object of the present invention is to provide a fruit harvesting robot hand that can satisfy both of these contradictory demands.

In order to achieve the above object, the robot hand for fruit harvesting according to the present invention is provided with a fruit catching section consisting of a plurality of fingers that can be swung open and closed. A fruit detection sensor is provided at the bottom of the fruit trapping part, and when the sensor at the tip of the finger detects a fruit, the finger is opened, and when the sensor at the bottom of the fruit trap detects fruit, the finger is opened. and an automatic control device that stops the closing movement of the fingers when a sensor on the inner side surface of the fingers detects a fruit, and when the fingers are in the closed state, the tips of each finger are close to each other, and , is characterized in that at least its distal end portion is formed so as to become tapered toward the distal end.

Due to the above-mentioned characteristic structure, when approaching the fruit to be harvested, the fingers can be closed and the fruit catching section can approach the fruit in a compact state, so not only is it less likely to be disturbed by branches, leaves, etc., but the fingers can be closed In this state, the distal end portion is tapered toward the distal end, so that the hand can be smoothly pushed while suppressing foreign objects such as branches and leaves from entering the hand. I can,
In addition, the risk of damaging fruits other than the target fruit by coming into contact with them can be reduced.

As a result, it is possible to have a fruit trap large enough to take in the fruit to be harvested, but to be able to get close enough to the target fruit by passing through branches, leaves, or other objects other than the fruit to be harvested. Efficiency has been improved and fruit harvesting has become smoother.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the fruit harvesting device of this embodiment has an arm 1 that can extend, contract, bend and extend freely attached to a movable main body (not shown), and has a fruit catching arm that can freely change direction at its tip. It is constructed by attaching a hand 2 and a cutter 3 for cutting the fruit stem.

To explain this grasping hand 2, 4 is a hand base end that is connected to the arm 1 so that the direction can be changed freely, and 5... is a hand base end that is rotatably connected to the hand base end 4 by a shaft 6... A finger forming a fruit catching part A with a curved part 5', 7 a gear part formed at the base end of the finger 5, 8 meshing with these gear parts 7 and connected to an air cylinder 9. The rack gear 8 is reciprocated by the driving force of the air cylinder 9 to swing the fingers 5 open and close.

Reference numerals 10 to 13 are contact sensors for detecting contact with an object, and are used as described later when capturing fruit.

The cutter 3 is constructed so that it is protruded forward by an air cylinder 15 in which a blade 14 facing forward is installed to perform a stem cutting action. figure)
, it is biased toward the retreating side.

The fruit catching robot hand is constructed as described above and is moved by a control device (not shown) as shown in the flowchart of FIG. That is, when the position and direction of the fruit detected by an appropriate means (not shown) as proposed in the above-mentioned earlier application is given to the control device, the control device moves the hand 2 to that position. The arm 1 is moved, and at the start of this movement, the direction of the hand 2 is adjusted so that the tip of the hand 2 faces the direction of movement, and the fingers 5...
...is closed. During this movement, if a fruit hits the contact sensor 10 provided at the tip of any finger 5, the movement of the arm 1 is temporarily stopped and the finger 5 is moved.
..., and then move the arm 1 until the fruit hits the sensor 13 provided at the bottom of the fruit trapping section to open the fruit trapping section A formed by the fingers 5 of the hand 2.
Introducing fruit to.

The control device stops the movement of the hand 2 when the sensor 13 at the bottom of the fruit catcher detects fruit;
The fruit is captured by closing fingers 5... This action of closing the fingers 5... stops when the fruit comes into contact with any of the contact sensors 11..., 12... provided inside the fingers 5..., and then the cutter 3 is operated to close the fruit stems. The fruit is harvested by cutting the fruit.

FIG. 4 shows the structure of a hand according to another embodiment, in which the opening/closing mechanism for the fingers 5'' is configured with a link mechanism 16 instead of the rack and pinion gear mechanism. That is, the fingers 5''... It is attached to the hand base end 4 by a shaft 18 so as to swing open and close by an auxiliary link 17 connected to an air cylinder 9.

In the above embodiment, the three fingers forming the fruit trap A are arranged at right angles to each other as shown in the figure, but in another embodiment, the three fingers are arranged at equal intervals from each other. It may be arranged so that the fruit can be grasped by arranging them apart from each other.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of the fruit harvesting robot hand according to the present invention, FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the arm of the fruit harvesting device, FIG. 2 is a plan view of the hand, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the control device. , FIG. 4 is a plan view of a hand according to another embodiment. A...Fruit catching part, 5...Finger, 10-13...
Sensor for fruit detection.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A fruit catching section A consisting of a plurality of swinging open/closeable fingers 5 is provided, and fruit detection sensors 10 and 11 are provided at the tips and inner surfaces of each finger 5 and at the bottom of the fruit catching section A, respectively. ,12,13
and when the sensor 10 at the tip of the finger 5 detects a fruit, the finger 5... is opened, and when the sensor 13 at the bottom of the fruit trap A detects a fruit, the finger 5... is opened. An automatic control device is provided which stops the closing movement of the fingers 5 when the sensors 11 and 12 on the inner surface of the fingers 5 detect fruit. The robot hand for fruit harvesting is formed such that the distal ends thereof are close to each other and at least the distal end portion thereof is tapered toward the distal end.