JPH0430715A - Carrier in fruit harvester - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the damage of fruits by lowering the bottom plate of a carrier for receiving the harvested fruits in response to the amount of the fruits. CONSTITUTION:Harvested fruits are released into a carrier 15 and the fruits are successively put on a bottom plate 19 positioned at the upper portion of an enclosing frame to form an uniform fruit layer. The bottom plate 19 is subsequently lowered only the width of one fruit row by the rotation of a screw shaft 21 caused by the driving of a motor 22 outputted from a controller, thereby maintaining the dropping distance of the fruits suitably.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a carrier device in a fruit harvesting machine,
It can be used to harvest apples, etc.

[Prior art]

In conventional fruit harvesting machines of this kind, for example,
As shown in Publication No. 65725, a plurality of work ranges are set in advance in front of a work hand that captures fruits and vegetables, and the direction in which the fruits and vegetables within one work range are located is set in advance. an image processing means for calculating the amount of fruit, a hand guiding means for guiding the working hand in the direction in which the fruits and vegetables are located based on the information of the image processing means, and a hand guiding means for guiding the working hand in the direction in which the fruit and vegetables are located based on the information of the image processing means; There is a guidance device for a fruit and vegetable harvesting machine that is provided with a working range changing means for changing the imaging field of view of the imaging means to the next working range when there are no fruits and vegetables within the working range to be imaged. .

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

Fruits harvested using this type of fruit harvesting machine are released from a fruit harvesting hand onto a carrier and collected. At this time,
When the fruit was dropped from the top of the carrier, it was susceptible to damage and its commercial value was lost.

As described above, some fruits are easily damaged depending on the type of fruit, and it is difficult to take countermeasures against this.

Therefore, this invention has a configuration in which the bottom plate of the carrier that collects fruits harvested by a harvesting hand can be moved up and down, and the bottom plate is lowered according to the amount of fruits placed on the bottom plate to prevent the fruits from falling from a high position. The aim is to prevent damage in this way.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention takes the following technical measures. That is, (1) a harvesting link device 5 having an imaging means 3 and a fruit harvesting hand 4 at its tip is provided on the chassis 2 having the traveling gear M1, and the harvesting link device 5 connects the fruit harvesting hand 4 to the fruit harvesting hand 4. It is composed of a plurality of arms 6 that can be guided in a direction and a joint part 7, and when a fruit is present within its imaging range, the imaging means 3 is configured to send the fruit as an imaging signal to a control device 9, and the arm 6 A harvesting link device 5 consisting of a joint portion 7 and a joint portion 7 rotates based on a control signal from the control device 9 to allow the fruit harvesting hand 4 to approach and harvest fruits, and
A carrier device for a fruit harvesting machine is provided with a carrier 15 surrounded by a surrounding frame 18 and a bottom plate 19 that can be moved up and down freely, and the bottom plate 19 is controlled to move downward according to the amount of loaded fruit. be.

[Action/Effect]

First, in the configuration of the embodiment, one bag 8 is colored red and placed over fruits in the early stages of growth, and grown while fully controlling the fertilization.

Then, when it is the right time to harvest the fruit, the operator operates a fruit harvesting machine and begins harvesting.

At that time, the fruit harvesting machine starts harvesting work by extending each arm 6 of the harvesting link device 5 to about the height of the fruit on the tree and moving it forward while driving the traveling gear W1.

Then, the fruit on the tree is detected by an image sensor, which is the imaging means 3 attached to the upper front part of the harvesting link device 5.
When the image sensor 10 comes within the range of 111 images, the image sensor 10 captures the image.

At this time, since the color of the bag placed over the fruit is different from that of the background, the position of the fruit (bag) can be imaged relatively easily.

In this way, the image sensor 10 transmits the captured image to the control device 9 as an image signal.

Next, the control device 9 calculates the distance between the fruit harvesting hand 4 and the fruit, and calculates the distance between the fruit harvesting hand 4 and the fruit, and then calculates the distance between the fruit harvesting hand 4 and the fruit, and then calculates the distance between the fruit harvesting hand 4 and the fruit, and calculates the distance between the fruit harvesting hand 4 and the fruit, and then calculates the distance between the fruit harvesting hand 4 and the fruit, and calculates the distance between the fruit harvesting hand 4 and the fruit, and then calculates the distance between the fruit harvesting hand 4 and the fruit, and calculates the distance between the fruit harvesting hand 4 and the fruit, and calculates the distance between the fruit harvesting hand 4 and the fruit, and then calculates the distance between the fruit harvesting hand 4 and the fruit, and calculates the distance between the fruit harvesting hand 4 and the fruit, and then calculates the distance between the fruit harvesting hand 4 and the fruit, and controls
1 as a signal.

Then, each arm 6 approaches the fruit while expanding and contracting in the vertical direction and moving in the front-back direction due to the rotation of the joint, and moves in a plane centered on the vertical axis of the upper part of the harvesting link device 5. Rotation is added to bring the fruit harvesting hand 4 closer to the fruit.

In the fruit harvesting hunt 4, the hook 13 is inserted into the locking hole 12 of the bag 8 hung on the fruit and locked therein, and in this state, the knife 14 protrudes to cut and harvest the fruit.

In this way, when the fruit harvesting hand device 4 locks a fruit, the arm 6 reaches the carrier 15 on the opposite side by rotation of each joint 7 and releases the fruit therein.

As described above, the fruits are initially placed one after another on the bottom plate 19 located at the upper part of the surrounding frame 18 and are distributed in a uniform layer over the whole. Then, the lift motor 22 is driven based on the output from the control device 9, and the bottom plate 19 is lowered by one row of fruits via the lift link 20 by turning the screw shaft 21.

In this way, according to the invention, the fruit harvesting hand 4
Since the bottom plate 19 in the surrounding frame 18 is located at a high position and the distance below the candy is shortened, the fruit supplied to the carrier 15 from the fruit is less likely to be damaged by falling, and the fruit is delivered to the carrier 15 without losing product value. It has the characteristic that it can be harvested within.

〔Example〕

The chassis 1 has a traveling device 1 provided with a drive motor 16, and is configured to be able to move forward and backward by rotating the drive motor 16 in forward and reverse directions.

Note that this drive motor 16 is configured to be controlled based on information from a direction sensor 26.

The harvesting link device 5 is attached to a mounting frame 1 provided on the chassis 2.
7, a first arm 6a, a second arm 6b, and a third arm 6c.
, the electric motor 11a, and the fourth arm 6d, respectively.
They are pivotally connected via llb, llc, lid, lie, llf, and 11g to form a joint 7.

Note that the electric motor lid is configured to be driven with a vertical axis as a rotation axis.

And each of these electric motors 11a, llb, 11c
, lid, 11e, llf, and 11g are configured to be able to rotate in forward and reverse directions and control each arm 6 by receiving a signal from a control bag M9, which will be described later.

In addition, each joint 7 is configured to include either a potentiometer 27 or an encoder 28 together with the above-mentioned electric motor 11 to send the operating amount to the control bag M9.

The fruit harvesting hand 4 is configured to have an image sensor 10 as an imaging means 3 on the upper part to take an image of the front, a knife 14 is provided nearby, and a hook 13 is attached below the knife 14. It is a proximity sensor.

The image sensor 10 is configured to take an image of an object that has come within the imaging range according to its color and send it to the control device 9 as an image signal.

As shown in FIG. 1, the carrier 15 has a structure in which a bottom plate 19, which is vertically movable within an enclosure frame 18, is supported by an elevating link 20. The lower part of the elevating link 20 is screwed onto a screw shaft 21 connected to an elevating motor 22, and the bottom plate 19 is lowered depending on the amount of fruit thrown in. Fall prevention equipment! Reference numeral 23 is configured such that an overturn prevention plate 25 supported by an operating link 24 below the chassis 2 can be grounded.

That is, the fall prevention plate 25 is configured to be able to touch the ground in order to ensure the stability of the vehicle body 2 when the harvesting link device g5 having the fruit harvesting hand 4 at its tip rises.

Next, the bag 8 is a bag that has been used conventionally for hanging fruits in the early stages of growth, and is colored, for example, red, so that it can be distinguished from the background when imaged by the image sensor 10 at the appropriate harvest time. 8 has a structure in which a spring material is used in the upper opening part so that when it is attached to the fruit, it can be attached by spring pressure, and a locking hole 12 is provided in the side part.

It should be noted that the image sensor 1o is configured with a filter to cut out natural light so that only the reflected light from the strobe can be recognized, which is convenient for detecting the position of the locking hole 12 of the bag 8. .

Furthermore, if the image sensor 1o is filtered as described above and provided with a slit-shaped light emitting mechanism, it becomes possible to recognize the three-dimensional shape of the object to be imaged.

In other words, if you use a configuration that uses slit light, when the slit light hits the object to be imaged, it will be divided into flat parts and spherical (three-dimensional) parts.
The difference between the leaves and the fruit becomes easy to distinguish between the leaves and the fruit.

Next, we will explain the harvesting work.

First, during the bagging process in the early stages of fruit growth, -
The fruit is cultivated by covering the fruit with the bag 8 colored red.

Then, when the fruit grows and reaches the appropriate time for harvesting, the harvesting process begins, and the process will be explained below.

The chassis 2 drives the drive motor 16 to transmit the driving device 1, and moves forward in the orchard.

At this time, in the harvesting link device 5, the joints 7 of each arm 6 are actuated by a control signal from the control device 9 in order to adjust the height of the image sensor 10 provided in the upper fruit harvesting hand 4 to the fruit level. and rise.

In this way, the image sensor 1o advances while capturing the target position within the screen, and when it picks up an image of the bag 8 on the fruit, it sends it to the control device 9 as an image signal.

This image signal allows the image sensor 1o to distinguish the red color of the colored bag from the background color and recognize it as described above, thereby indirectly knowing the position of the fruit.

In this way, when the position of the fruit is recognized by the control device 9, the control device 9 calculates the distance between the fruit and the fruit harvesting hand 4, and issues a control signal to each of the electric motors 118 to 11g6. At the same time, each arm 68 to lid is changed in angle and rotated in a plane by the electric motor lid to bring the fruit harvesting hand 4 closer to the fruit.

When the fruit harvesting hand 4 approaches the fruit at a predetermined distance in this manner, an image is input using strobe light in order to detect the locking hole (O-ring) as shown in the flowchart.

Then, the fruit harvesting hand 4 approaches the locking hole 12 (0 ring) based on a control signal from the control device 9.

Then, at the same time as the hook 13 is inserted into the locking hole 12 of the bag 8, the knife 14 protrudes to cut the fruit stalk and hold the fruit in the hand 4.

In this way, the fruit is cut and carried upwards in a retained state and released into the carrier 15.

At this time, since the bottom plate 19 of the carrier 15 is located above the surrounding frame 18, the fruit falls over a short distance and is not damaged.

As shown in FIG. 7, when the auxiliary carrier 30 is attached to the harvesting link device 5, the fruit harvested by the fruit harvesting hand 4 is first stored in a carrier atmosphere near the hand 4 to a predetermined amount. It is convenient to store them together in the carrier 15 together with the 3θ.

Note that the auxiliary carrier 15 has an open bottom portion.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of the present invention, in which Fig. 1 is a partially sectional side view, Fig. 2 is a block diagram of the control configuration, Fig. 3 is a broach yard for control operation, and Fig. 5 is a working view of another embodiment, FIG. 6 is an overall perspective view, and FIG. 7 is a perspective view. Explanation of symbols 2・Car chassis 4・・Fruit harvest hunt 6・・Arm 6b・・2nd arm 6d・・4th arm 8・Bag 10・・Image sensor 11a・・・Electric motor 11c・・・Electric Motor lie...Electric motor 11g...Electric motor 13...Hook 15...Carrier 17...Mounting frame 19...Bottom plate 21...Screw shaft 23...Fall prevention device 1...Travel Device 3 Imaging means 5 Harvesting link device 6a - First arm 6c Third arm 7 Joint part 9 Control device 11 Electric motor 11b Electric motor lid Electric motor 11f Electric motor 12 - Locking hole 14... Knife 16... Drive motor 18... Surrounding frame 20 - Elevating link 22... Elevating motor operating link 25 Fall prevention plate direction sensor 2
7. Potentiometer encoder 29. Proximity sensor auxiliary carrier

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A harvesting link device 5 having an imaging means 3 and a fruit harvesting hand 4 at the tip thereof is provided on the chassis 2 having the traveling device 1, and the harvesting link device 5 directs the fruit harvesting hand 4 in the direction of the fruit. It is composed of a plurality of arms 6 that can be guided and a joint section 7, and when a fruit is present within its imaging range, the imaging means 3 is configured to send the fruit as an imaging signal to the control device 9, and the arm 6 and the joint section The harvesting link device 5 consisting of a section 7 rotates based on a control signal from the control device 9 to allow the fruit harvesting hand 4 to approach and harvest the fruit, and the chassis 2 is provided with a surrounding frame 18. A carrier device in a fruit harvesting machine is provided with a carrier 15 in which an enclosure bottom plate 19 can be moved up and down freely, and the bottom plate 19 is controlled to move downward according to the amount of loaded fruit.