JPH0491705A - Working machine for fruit tree - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a working machine for fruit trees, highly contributing to operation efficiency by stopping a traveling body in every traveling of given distance, moving a working part until distance between a fruit tree and the working part becomes a set distance based on information of a detection sensor and actuating. CONSTITUTION:A working machine for fruit trees is equipped with a working part 4 movable in the width direction of a traveling body V and with a detection sensor S1 of discovering distance between the working part 4 and a fruit tree. The traveling body V is stopped at every traveling of given distance by a controlling means, the working part 4 is moved until distance between the fruit tree and the working part 4 becomes a set distance based on information of a detection sensor S1 and the working part 4 is actuated at the working position. Then, a base part 3 is horizontally rocked against the traveling body V to move the working part 4 in the width direction of the traveling body. The controlling means is constituted to make the given distance into a small value as a rocking angle of the base part 3 against the longitudinal direction in the operation position is enlarged.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a fruit tree working machine that is equipped with a traveling vehicle body and a working section that is movable in the width direction of the traveling vehicle body.

[Conventional technology]

The above-mentioned fruit tree working machine is used to perform work such as fruit harvesting while traveling between fruit trees in an orchard or the like in order to save labor.

Conventionally, the position of the working part relative to the fruit tree had to be set artificially. In other words, the moving vehicle body and the working parts had to be moved manually.

[Invention or problem to be solved]

In the above-mentioned conventional technology, since the moving vehicle body and the working part must be moved manually, the working efficiency decreases and it is not possible to improve the effect of labor saving.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks and to obtain a fruit tree working machine that has high working efficiency and contributes to labor saving.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve this object, the first characteristic configuration of the fruit tree working machine according to the present invention is that a detection sensor is provided to detect the distance of the working part to the fruit tree, and the traveling vehicle body is stopped every time it travels a predetermined distance. and moving the working part to a working position where the distance between the fruit tree and the working part is a set distance based on the information of the detection sensor while the traveling vehicle body is stopped; A control means for operating the working part is provided.

A second characteristic configuration is that by horizontally swinging the base part that supports the working part at the tip with respect to the traveling vehicle body,
The working part is configured to be movable in the width direction of the traveling vehicle, and the control means sets the predetermined distance to a smaller value as the swing angle of the base part with respect to the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body at the working position increases. It is structured as follows.

[For production]

The effects of the first characteristic configuration are as follows.

First, in a stopped state, the working section is moved to a working position to perform work such as fruit harvesting. After completing the work, the vehicle runs parallel to the row of fruit trees for a predetermined distance. The above operations are automatically repeated.

By the way, the above-mentioned working position is an appropriate position for the work in which the working part is neither too close nor too far from the fruit trees. Further, the predetermined distance is set depending on the working range that can be covered when the working parts are at the same position.

The operation of the second characteristic configuration will be explained with reference to FIG.

The range of work that can be covered by a working section is considered to be approximately constant. Therefore, basically, if the coverage range of the working section and the predetermined distance are the same, no work will be missed. but,
For example, move the vehicle body (V) every certain distance (PI),
When stopped in the order of (P, t) and (P4), the working positions are (Q1), (Q3), and (Q4), respectively. Here, the swing angle (α) changed from large to small (Q1),
The interval between (Q3) is larger than the interval between (Q1) and (Q4), where the swing angle (α) has changed from small to large.
There is a risk of exceeding the coverage range.

In other words, work may be missed. Therefore,(
As shown in Pl) to (P3), when the swing angle (α) is large, the predetermined distance is made small (P3).

As shown in (P4), when the swing angle (α) is small, the predetermined distance is increased so that the predetermined distance does not exceed the coverage range of the working section.

〔Effect of the invention〕

In the first characteristic configuration, since the work can be performed without automatically traveling or moving the working part, it is possible to obtain a fruit tree working machine with high work efficiency and a high labor-saving effect.

In the second characteristic configuration, by setting the predetermined distance according to the swing angle, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of omissions in work while suppressing a decrease in work efficiency.

〔Example〕

Embodiments in which the present invention is applied to a fruit harvesting machine will be described below with reference to the drawings.

As shown in Fig. 5, a boom (2) is attached to a traveling vehicle body (V) equipped with a pair of left and right wheels (1) at the front and rear so that it can be driven up and down, and a base is attached to the tip of the boom (2). An auxiliary boom (3) as a section is attached to be able to swing freely in the horizontal direction, and a working manipulator (4) as a working section is attached to the tip of the auxiliary boom (3).

In the figure, (5) is a hydraulic cylinder for raising and lowering the boom, and (6) is a hydraulic cylinder for raising and lowering the boom.
) is a hydraulic cylinder for swinging the auxiliary boom.

The work manipulator (4) has a multi-joint telescopic arm (
8) and a working hand (7) for fruit harvesting attached to the tip of the telescoping arm (8).

The telescoping arm (8) is rotated around the vertical axis (Y) by the electric motor (9a), and is rotated by the electric motor (9a).
9b) to swing around the horizontal axis (X), and further to be extended and contracted by an electric motor (9C).

In the figure, (S3) is a lifting sensor that detects the lifting angle of the boom (2), and (S4) is a swinging sensor that detects the swinging angle (α) of the auxiliary boom (3).

As shown in Fig. 4, the working hand (7) has a vacuum pad (lO) at its tip for suctioning the fruit to be worked with, and a suction port of the vacuum pad (10). (1,0a1) Delivery time: A trap case (12) that covers the fruit adsorbed to the tray, and a handle of the fruit taken into the trap case (12), which is cut while being sandwiched vertically. A disconnection device (13) is provided.

A proximity sensor (S1) is provided as a detection sensor for detecting the distance of the working manipulator (4) to the fruit tree. Further, (S2) in FIG. 4 is an image sensor.

Then, as shown in FIG. 4, the trapping part case (12)
Retire the hand to the rear side and remove the vacuum pad (1).
0) in a state where the suction port (LOA) of the work hand (7) protrudes further forward than the catching part case (12).
is located at the approach start position as a preset initial position, and facing the direction in which the fruit to be harvested is located, the image sensor (S2) processes the image and converts the captured image information into an image. The approach direction as the guiding direction of the working hand (a) is determined based on the processed information.

After determining the approach direction, use the work hand (7).
), each of the electric motors (9a), (9b),
(9c), and the proximity sensor (S1
) senses the fruit, the vacuum pad (
10) is actuated to attract the fruit to be harvested, the catching part case (12) is made to protrude, and after taking the fruit into its inside, the handle is cut and the fruit is harvested.

However, if there are multiple fruits within the field of view of the image sensor (S2), which fruit should be approached first is determined based on the brightness information of the image captured by the image sensor (S2). I'm going to let it decide automatically.

To explain, by image processing the captured image information, a specific color area corresponding to the color of the fruit, a highlight area whose brightness is greater than a set value within that specific color area, and the center of gravity of that highlight area are determined. and seek.

Then, the approach order is set in order of the size of the highlight area. The brightness of image information is inversely proportional to the distance, and the closer the image information is, the brighter it becomes, so the size of the highlight area becomes larger when the image information is located at a closer distance. In other words, the fruit that is located closer to the operator's hand (7) and is easier to harvest is approached first.

Next, a control configuration for harvesting fruit from a plurality of parallel fruit trees will be described.

As shown in FIG. 1, a control device (H) using a microcomputer is provided, and its control device (11) includes a distance sensor (S5) for detecting the distance traveled, and a proximity sensor (
Sl), the image sensor (S2), the lifting sensor (S3), and the swinging sensor (S4) are connected to each other. Based on the human power information of each sensor, the running of the vehicle body (V), the lifting and lowering of the boom (2), the swinging of the auxiliary boom (3), and the work manipulator (
4). In the figure, (15
) is a traveling transmission, (16) is a lifting cylinder (15)
), (17) is the swing hydraulic cylinder (6
), (18) is a suction pump.

In other words, the control means (100) uses the control device (H).
or configured.

Next, the operation of the control device (H) will be explained based on the flowchart shown in FIG. 2 (() and ([+)).

When starting up the control, first perform initial settings. That is, the boom (2) is moved to the lower limit position, and the auxiliary boom (3) is moved to the basic position. Here, the basic position refers to a position that coincides with the direction of the auxiliary boom (3) or the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body.

Next, based on the information from the proximity sensor (Sl), the auxiliary boom (3) is horizontally swung to a working position where the distance between the fruit tree and the working manipulator (4) is the set distance. Then, the swing angle of the working manipulator (4) is memorized. In addition, when swinging the auxiliary boom (3), use the work hand (
7) is controlled so that its tip always faces outward from the vehicle body and is maintained at right angles to the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body. Also, even if the auxiliary boom (3) is rotated, the fruit trees and the work manipulator (
4), if the distance is not equal to the set distance, the vehicle will turn to the maximum turning angle (for example, 80°).

When the working position is reached, the electric motor (9a) moves the vertical axis (
Y) Harvest the fruit by operating the work manipulator (4) while scanning the fruit at a predetermined angle. This operation is repeated until the scanning around the vertical axis (Y) is completed.

To explain the operation of the manipulator (4), as shown in Fig. 2 (U), the elevation angle (
The above-mentioned rocking angle (αn)
Check whether the angle exceeds the previous swing angle (αn-1), and if it does, set the initial elevation angle (θ) to -20°.
If the angle of elevation (θ0) is not exceeded, the initial elevation angle (θ0) is set to -10'. Then, based on the brightness as described above, the approach order for the fruit is determined from the captured image information, and the work hand (7) approaches the fruit with the highest order to perform the harvesting operation. Repeat these actions until no fruit is detected on the screen.

After the proximity sensor (Sl) is activated when the working hand (7) approaches the fruit, the vacuum installed in the suction pump (18) is activated while the working hand (7) is moved forward by a set distance. If the pressure sensor does not operate, it is determined that the harvest has failed, and the next fruit is harvested.

In addition, if fruit is no longer detected on the bottom screen,
Scanning starts from the screen one screen above that screen until the harvesting operation at that work position is completed.

The above operation is repeated until the boom (2) is raised by a set amount and reaches the upper limit position.

When the boom (2) reaches the upper limit position, the average value of the swing angle of the boom (2) at each working position is determined, and the boom (2)
) to the lower limit position. Next, a predetermined distance is set based on the average value. In other words, when the average value exceeds 45°, it is 400 (mu), and when it is below 45°, it is 800 (mu).
m) respectively move the traveling vehicle body (V) forward. That is, when the swing angle is large, the predetermined distance is set small.

The above operation will be repeated until the work is completed.

[Another example]

In the above embodiment, the predetermined distance is changed in two steps, or may be changed in more steps, or may be constant.

In the above embodiment, the proximity sensor (S1) is used as the detection sensor.
The specific configuration of each part can be changed in various ways, such as whether the system uses an ultrasonic sensor or an ultrasonic sensor.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the structure of the attached drawings by adding reference numerals in the claims for convenient comparison with the drawings.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of the fruit tree working machine according to the present invention.
The figure is a block diagram of the control configuration, Figure 2 (A), ([+)
3 is a flowchart of the control operation, FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the fruit tree working machine, FIG. 4 is a cutaway side view showing the schematic structure of the hand, and FIG. 5 is a schematic side view of the fruit tree working machine. (3)...Pace section, (4)...Working section, (100)...Control means, (S+)...
... Detection sensor, (V) ... Running vehicle body.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A fruit tree working machine equipped with a traveling vehicle body (V) and a working section (4) movable in the width direction of the traveling vehicle body, wherein the fruit tree in the working section (4) A detection sensor (S_1) is provided to detect the distance to the traveling vehicle body (V), and stops the traveling vehicle body (V) every time it travels a predetermined distance.
) is stopped, and the working part (4) is moved to a working position where the distance between the fruit tree and the working part (4) is a set distance based on the information of the detection sensor (S_1), and A working machine for fruit trees, which is provided with a control means (100) for operating the working part (4) in a working position. 2. A base portion (3) that supports the working portion (4) at its tip.
The working section (4) is configured to be able to move in the width direction of the traveling vehicle body by horizontally swinging the vehicle body (V), and the control means (100) controls the The fruit tree working machine according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined distance is set to a smaller value as the swing angle of the base portion (3) with respect to the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body becomes larger.