JPH0555088B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Field of Application] The present invention provides a fruit-taking case connected to the tip of an arm, which presses and supports the fruit stalk in a predetermined position as the fruit is protruded. The member is provided so as to be freely driven forward and backward, and the stalk cutting cutter, which is provided with a pair of blades that are moved relative to each other to perform a cutting operation, is provided so as to be freely driven forward and backward in order to operate the cutter to protrude to a cutting position for the stalk at the predetermined position. The present invention relates to a robot hand for fruit harvesting provided on the case side, and more particularly relates to an improvement in the drive structure for cutting the stem of a vine.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, the drive for cutting the stem cutting cutter has generally been performed by a dedicated drive device.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

In addition, in the above robot hand, the structure of the arm tip tends to become complicated because the stem pressing member is attached to the fruit intake case at the end of the arm in a retractable manner, and the cutter for cutting the stem is also attached in a detachable manner. ,
It also tends to be heavier. Therefore, it has been desired to improve the tip of the arm from the perspective of reducing the number of parts.

In addition, electric motors, air cylinders, etc. have traditionally been used for cutting drive devices attached to stem cutting cutters, but cutting the stems requires a relatively large driving force. There was a problem that the electric motor, air cylinder, etc. became larger.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and is an improvement of the drive structure for cutting the stem of a vine, and provides a drive structure that is simple in structure, light in weight, and capable of cutting the stem. have a purpose.

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention is characterized in that a driving device for moving the cutter in and out is linked to the cutter through a flexible part so that additional operation can be performed while the cutter is maintained in a protruding state, and A mechanism is provided for linking the driving device to the blade bodies so that the pair of blade bodies can be moved relative to each other by the additional operation, and its functions and effects are as follows.

[Effect]

In other words, as mentioned above, since the flexible part is provided so that additional operation can be performed while the cutter remains in the protruding state, even after the cutter is driven in the protruding direction until the cutter is in the protruding state, the drive device can maintain the protruding state of the cutter. can be driven.

Furthermore, by driving the drive device while maintaining the protruding state of the cutter, the pair of blades can be moved relative to each other, so the drive device for moving the cutter in and out can move the cutter in and out. Can cut the stem of katsuta.

In particular, when harvesting fruit stems, the drive device is activated to cut the stems of the cutters following the protrusion of the cutters. A malfunction in which the operation is performed becomes danashi.

〔Effect of the invention〕

Therefore, a flexible portion is provided between the cutter and the drive device for moving the cutter in and out, and a structure is provided in which the cutter can be operated to cut the stem by driving the drive device within the range of the flexibility. With a relatively simple configuration, a single drive device can move the cutter in and out and cut the cutter without causing malfunction, and since only one drive device is required, the number of parts and weight are reduced. Furthermore, a drive structure for cutting fruit stems has been provided which has a simple structure and can reduce costs.

Furthermore, since the weight can be reduced, the weight of the arm tip of the robot hand can be easily balanced, and the robot hand can be operated easily.

〔Example〕

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

As shown in FIG. 7, a pair of left and right propulsion wheels 1,
A swivel base 5 that is driven and rotatable by an electric motor 4 is attached to a vehicle body equipped with a pair of front and rear idle wheels 2 and a plurality of outriggers 3 that can be raised and lowered, and a lift device A that can be raised and lowered is installed. The robot hand B for fruit harvesting is attached to the upper end of the lift device A to constitute a fruit harvesting machine.

The lift device A includes a screw member 7 that is rotationally driven by an electric motor or the like and drives the base end of the arm 6 up and down, and guide members 8 and 8 for a lifting locus, and is driven by the forward and reverse rotation of the screw member 7. The arm is configured to move up and down.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 17, the robot hand B for harvesting fruit stems is composed of a multi-joint arm 6 attached to a lift device A and a cylindrical case 9 for taking in fruits attached to the tip of the multi-joint arm 6. , the multi-joint arm 6 is composed of a first arm 6a whose base end is attached to the lift device A, a second arm 6b, and a third arm 6c connected to this, each arm 6a, 6b, 6c.
is driven by the control device C, and a television camera 10 is attached to the upper surface of the third arm 6c, and images captured by this camera 10 are also input to the control device C and displayed on the monitor 11. It is configured like this.

A forked support frame 12 is attached to the tip of the third arm 6c so as to be rotatable around an axis Y along the arm's longitudinal direction. The fruit intake cylindrical case 9 is attached so as to be rotatable around the axis X, and the rotation around the axis Y is performed by an electric motor 13 whose drive is controlled by the control device C, and , this motor 13
is equipped with an encoder (not shown) that detects the rotation angle, and the detection result is input to the control device C, and the rotation around the axis X is also controlled by the control device C. It is configured to be performed by an electric motor 14 via a chain 15.

The cylindrical case 9 for fruit harvesting has a bottom wall 9c and an opening facing upward, and the periphery of the opening has an extended state standing approximately vertically and a state bent toward the inside of the opening. Seven finger-like members 16 are erected in an operable manner, and at the tips of the finger-like members 16 are sensors 17 that electrically detect contact with the fruit.
...is installed. Each of the finger-like members 16 is made of a flexible rubber material, and is bent by supplying pressurized air.

At the inner edge of the opening of the case 9, six pedestal pressing members 18 are arranged side by side and can be switched freely between a state in which they are retracted toward the case 9 and a state in which they protrude from above so as to cover the fruit introduced into the case. , furthermore, a handle-shaped part that connects the fruit introduced into the case and the branch;
A so-called arc-shaped cutter 19 for cutting the fruit stem is movable in and out of the case around fulcrums at both ends thereof, and a member 18 for pressing the fruit stem is used during fruit harvesting.
It is located outside of...

Each of the pedestal pressing members 18 is made of an elastic plate shaped into a smooth arc shape from the tip end to the base end so as to follow the inner edge of the opening of the case 9 when the case 9 is retracted.

Then, the stalk pressing member 18... is moved in and out by swinging around the lower swing axis P, and when protruding, the stalk is pressed between the tips of the stalk pressing member 18... The insertion opening S is formed small, and its form is similar to that of an aperture used in an optical lens such as a camera, which projects three-dimensionally. The operation is performed as follows using a drive device K composed of an electric motor 23 and an electric motor 23.

That is, the fruit intake cylindrical case 9 includes an outer case portion 9a attached to the forked support frame 12,
It consists of an inner case 9b that is disposed inside and below the case part 9a and is rotatable about the opening center of the case 9. gear mechanism 22
It is configured to be reciprocated and rotated by an electric motor 23 whose drive is controlled by a control device C. The kerat pressing member 18 is attached to the outer case portion 9 by means of a pin 20 so as to be able to swing about the axis P.
a, and a long hole 18 in the proximal end 18c.
h is bored, and the inner case 9b is inserted into this elongated hole 18h.
A pin 24 protruding from the inner surface of the case 9b is engaged, and the projecting or retracting operation is performed by rotating the inner case 9b.

Further, the operation of moving the arc-shaped cutter 19 in and out is also performed by rotating the inner case 9b in the same manner as the pedestal pressing member, and when the cutter 19 is extended, the pedestal pressing member 18... A cutter 19 is inserted into the opening formed.
A configuration is adopted that does not overlap. In other words, the pivot axis of the arc-shaped cutter 19 is also
One of the oscillating axes P... coincides with the pin 20.
is commonly used as the pivot shaft of the cutter 19, and is also used as a pin 24 for moving in and out. When the longitudinal inclination angle of the elongated hole 18h is compared with the inclination angle of the elongated hole 19h drilled in the cutter 19, the protrusion speed of the stalk pressing member 18 is set to be faster than the protrusion speed of the cutter 19, In addition, it is designed to allow the protruding drive of the cutter 19 to end later than the end of the protruding drive of the stalk pressing member 18, and to allow rotation of the inner case 9b even after the protruding drive is finished. The shape of the elongated hole 18h is formed in the shape of a dogleg, and the end of the elongated hole 19h of the cutter 19 is also connected with a flexible portion 19s that allows rotation of the inner case 9b even after the protruding drive of the cutter 19 is completed. It is set up.

Further, the arc-shaped cutter 19 has two blade bodies 19a, 1
9b are stacked one on top of the other, and are pressed against each other by guide pins 25, 25 so as not to separate from each other, and are configured to be slidable in the longitudinal direction. A cutting recess 19c into which the fruit stalk can enter is formed in the center of the cutter 19, and by pulling the upper blade 19a, the cutting recess 19c acts in the shearing direction to cut the fruit stalk. It will be done.

As shown in FIG. 5, the inner edge of the cutting recess 19c is formed to be larger than the opening S formed when the protruding drive of the stem pressing member 18 is completed, so that the cutting recess 19c is formed between the members 18 and the cutter 19 in the recess. The two pedestal pressing members 18' that are substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the cutter 19 in the protruding posture as shown in FIG. , 18' so that the elongated holes 18h, 1 are faster than the other pedestal pressing members 18...
An inclination angle of 8h is set, and the pedestal pressing member 18...
This is intended to reduce the possibility of getting caught between the cutter 19 and the cutter 19.

Next, the above-mentioned pulling operation of the upper blade body 19a will be explained based on FIGS. 8 to 13. The upper blade body 19a is a stem pressing member 18... and a cutter 1.
In order to be operated by pulling following the protruding drive of 9,
The contact member 26 protruding from the inner case 9b presses the lower end of the arm 27 pivotally supported on the outer case 9a by the rotation of the inner case 9b, and the other end of the arm 27 touches the upper blade 9a. This is done by pressing the protrusion 28 at the end along the longitudinal direction of the cutter 19, and these abutting members 26, arms 27, and protrusions 28
are collectively referred to as the linkage mechanism R.

In this case, in order to perform the cutting operation of the cutter 18 following the protrusion driving of the fruit stem pressing member 18... and the cutter 19, the pins 20...
..., 24... are inserted into long holes 18h..., 19h
. . . are each formed in a “dog” shape, and the cutter 19 is formed with a flexible portion 19s. After the cutting operation of the cutter 19, the cutting recesses 19c of the upper and lower blade bodies 19a are adjusted to the lower blade body 19b.
A coil spring 29 is provided on the upper blade body 19a at the end opposite to the protrusion 28 so that the upper blade body 19a returns to the position of the cutting recess 19c.

A case 9 is installed on the bottom wall 9c of the fruit intake case 9.
A contact sensor 30 is provided so as to be movable in the direction of the opening of the case 9 and detect when the fruit M to be harvested is introduced into the case. It is constructed to ensure space. The contact sensor 30 includes a rod 30a that can be moved in and out, a detector 30b that is built into the upper end of the rod 30a and that electrically detects bending of the rod 30a, and a circle that is attached to the upper end of the rod 30a and that the fruit touches. It is composed of a plate 30c.

A contact sensor 17 at the tip of the finger-like member 16...
...and the detection results of the contact sensor 30 in the case 9 are input to the control device C, and the finger-like members 16...
drive for the refraction of the contact sensor 3 in the case 9
The drive for moving in and out of 0 is done by air.

The robot hand B operates the arm 6 to pick up the fruit M by artificially selecting the fruit M to be harvested.
A control device C is provided for controlling the movement of the arm 6 to harvest the following.

That is, as shown in FIG.
to be copied. Next, the control device C selects the fruit displayed on the monitor 11 with the light pen 31.
recognizes the fruit M to be harvested and positions the camera 10 or the arm 6 so that the fruit M is located in the center of the screen of the monitor 11.

Thereafter, the control device C drives the arm 6 to move the camera 10 forward so that the distance l between the camera 10 and the fruit M to be harvested is reduced.
This movement is performed so that the fruit M does not come off the center of the screen of the monitor 11, and the distance between the camera 10 and the fruit M and the maximum diameter of the fruit M are calculated, and the fruit is accurately placed in the cylindrical case 9 for fruit intake. This is a preliminary action to incorporate. The process of calculating this distance will be described below in detail with reference to FIGS. 16 and 7.

That is, when the object to be measured M located at an unknown distance L from the lens F is viewed through the lens F while keeping the distance l ₀ between the captured image I and the lens F constant, the captured image In I, the object M is an image d ₁
The elevation angle α between this image d ₁ and the object M with respect to the center of the lens F is a predetermined angle α ₁ .

Next, when the lens F and the captured image I are brought closer to the object A by a known predetermined distance l without changing the direction of the lens F with respect to the object A, the captured image I is exposed to the object A. The image d ₂ is larger than the image d ₁
and the elevation angle α becomes a predetermined angle α ₂ which is larger than the angle α ₁ .

The following relationships (i) and (ii) hold between the images d ₁ and d ₂ and the elevation angles α ₁ and α ₂ .

l ₀ tanα ₁ = d ₁ ...(i) l ₀ tanα ₂ = d ₂ ...(ii) Therefore, the image increase rate β is β = d ₂ /d ₁ =l ₀ tanα ₂ /l ₀ tanα ₁ = tanα ₂ /tanα ₁ …
...(iii) On the other hand, the remaining distance obtained by subtracting the movement distance l of the lens F from the unknown distance L, that is, the distance l _x from the current measurement point to the measurement target M is calculated based on the following equation (iv)
(v) Defined by formula.

(l+l _x ) tanα ₁ = l _x tanα ₂ ...(iv) ∴l _x = ltanα ₁ /tanα ₂ −tanα ₁ = l/tanα ₂ /tanα
₁ ...(v) Therefore, by substituting the above equation (iii) into the above equation (v), we get the following
The distance l _x is determined by equation (iv).

l _x = l / d ₂ / d ₁ -1 ...(vi) In other words, the orientation of the imaging means is determined so that the object to be measured falls within the field of view of the imaging means, and then the position (coordinates) of the object to be measured on the screen is determined. ) so that it does not change.
Without changing the direction of the imaging means, the object to be measured is approached in a certain direction, and the distance is calculated from the approach distance and the rate of increase in the image of the object to be measured, which increases with the approach.

Further, at the same time as calculating this distance, the maximum diameter of the fruit M is also calculated by the control device C, and based on these results, the control device C drives the arm 6 to move the fruit intake cylindrical case 9 to the fruit to be harvested. Position it directly under M,
In addition, the opening of the case 9 is set upward, and then the fruit intake case 9 is moved upward.

As a result, when a fruit M to be harvested is introduced into the case 9 without contacting the sensor 17 of the finger member 16, the contact sensor 30 in the case 9 detects the introduction of the fruit M. Therefore, the control device C causes the contact sensor 30 to move downward, and
The finger-like member 16 is bent to lightly pull the fruit M into the case 9 to prevent branches, leaves and other fruit from entering the case 9, and then the stalk pressing members 18... project to cover the fruit M. The stem of the fruit M is introduced into the cutting recess 19c of the arc-shaped cutter 19 as described above, and then the control device C cuts the stem and transfers the fruit M into the cylindrical case 9 for fruit intake. The intake has come to an end.

Furthermore, when introducing the fruit M to be harvested into the fruit intake cylindrical case 9, the fruit M is not accurately introduced into the openings formed at the tips of the finger-like members 16... The sensor 17 at the tip may come into contact with the sensor 1, and in this case, the sensor 1 that the fruit M has touched
After slightly moving the fruit intake cylindrical case 9 in seven directions, a control pattern is set in the control device C so that the fruit intake cylindrical case 9 is moved upward and the fruit M can be introduced into the case 9. It is set.

Further, the fruit M taken into the fruit taking cylindrical case 9 is transferred to a harvesting box (not shown) by driving an arm 16 or the like according to a certain pattern set in the control device C.
It is transported to and stored.

[Another example]

In this embodiment, the protruding operation of the cutter 19 is performed by rotating the cylinder body 9, but instead of this, it may be performed by moving the cylinder body in the direction of the cylinder axis.
Also, wires, gears, etc. may be used for the ejection operation,
Furthermore, the protrusion operation structure may be flexible such as a spring so that the cutter 19 can be operated for cutting.

Further, the linkage mechanism R may also be implemented using a cam, a gear, or the like.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of the robot hand for fruit harvesting according to the present invention, and FIGS. 1 to 3 are cross-sectional views of the cylindrical fruit-taking case at different angles, and FIGS. 4 to 6 are cross-sectional views of the fruit harvesting robot hand. FIG. 7 is an overall side view of the robot hand; FIGS. 8 to 11 are views sequentially showing the protrusion drive state of the cutter; FIG. 13 and 13 are developed views of the cutter, FIG. 14 is a plan view showing the member for pressing the stem and the cutter in the middle of being driven to protrude, and FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram showing the control system of the robot hand.
FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram showing the positional relationship of the object lens etc. during distance measurement of fruit, and FIG. 17 is a flowchart during distance measurement of fruit. 6...Arm, 9...Fruit intake case, 18
...Member for pressing the fruit stem, 19... Fruit stem cutting cutter,
19a...blade body, 19b...blade body, 19s...flexibility section, K...drive device, R...linkage mechanism.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A fruit intake case 9 connected to the tip of the arm 6 is provided with a fruit stalk pressing member 18 that presses and supports the fruit stalk in a predetermined position as the protruding operation is performed, and is movable in and out. A stem cutting cutter 19 equipped with a pair of cutting blades 19a and 19b
A robot hand for fruit harvesting is provided on the case side so as to be able to move forward and backward to project into a cutting position for cutting the fruit stem at the predetermined position, and a drive device K for moving in and out of the cutter 19 is provided on the case side. The pair of blade bodies 19a,
The robot hand for fruit harvesting is provided with a mechanism R that links the drive device K to the drive unit 19b so that the pair of blade bodies 19a and 19b can be moved relative to each other by the additional operation.