JPH06209652A - Grafting robot - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide highly operable holding mechanism for scion seedlings and stock seedlings in a grafting robot. CONSTITUTION:The hypocotyl of the upper root portion of a scion is held with a scion root fixing hand 84, the scion is then pulled down through a weight 84d provided on the hand 84 and the cotyledon evolving base of the scion is supported in a neck-hanged state with another hand to fix the cutting point of the hypocotyl based on the cotyledon evolving base. As the hypocotyl is pulled down through the weight 84d by its own weight, the force applied on the root of the scion gets nearly constant, the seedlings being not put under compulsion, and there occurs no connection through a single thin skin. In addition, as the hand to pull down stock root is also provided with such a mechanism as to grip and pull down the hypocotyl at the upper part of the stock root, the positions of the respective hypocotyls, along the vertical direction, of the stock and scion can accurately be determined, thus stabilizing the cutting operation and improving grafting accuracy.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a grafted seedling producing robot for automatically supplying and grafting rootstock seedlings and scion seedlings, and more particularly to a scion gripping portion thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventional robots for producing grafted seedlings are known, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 3-27933 and Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 4-49935. The grafting robot described in the above publication has three seedling seedlings arranged in advance in seedling support holes radially provided on the outer periphery of the disk stand and three scion seedlings arranged in the disk stand having the same structure.
While rotating it by 60 degrees, adjoin the disk stand and
The seedlings are transferred to fixed hands provided on the rootstock processing disk portion and the scion processing disk portion that rotate by 60 degrees one by one, and the cutting devices are placed at positions where each seedling processing disk portion is rotated by a predetermined angle. It is a device that cuts rootstock seedlings and scion seedlings with each other, rotates these seedlings by a predetermined angle to rotate and convey them to a position where the rootstock and the scion can be joined, and joins the rootstock and the scion with a clip. . The present inventors have previously improved the conventional grafting robot and invented a grafting robot that is easy to use, and filed a patent application (Japanese Patent Application No. 4-
161512, etc.).

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to further improve the grafting robot developed by the present inventors to provide a grafting robot that is easier to use. More specifically, an object of the present invention is to improve the operability of the gripping mechanism for the scion and rootstock seedlings of the grafting robot.

[0004]

The above objects of the present invention can be achieved by the following constitutions. That is, a retractable scion transport arm that sequentially transports scion received from the scion feeder to a cutting position and a joining position with the rootstock, and at least two gripping hands for gripping the scion are the scoops. A scion transport device having a scion gripping portion provided at the transport arm tip, and an extendable scoop transfer arm for sequentially transporting the scoop received from the scoop supply device to a cutting position and a joining position with the scion. , A root carrier having at least two gripping hands for gripping the root stock and a root gripping portion provided at the tip of the root carrier arm, and after cutting the rootstock seedling and the spikelet seedling, In the grafting robot to be joined, the scion gripping hand and the rootstock gripping hand are provided with a mechanism for gripping the scion and the rootstock, respectively, and then sandwiching the hypocotyl on the root upper part of the scion and the rootstock and pushing down the hypocotyl. It is a grafting robot.

[0005]

According to the present invention, the scion (rootstock) is held by the scion (rootstock) gripping hand provided at the tip of the scion (rootstock) transfer arm.
After gripping the stem, the hypocotyl above the root of the scion (rootstock) is clamped by one of the scooping (rootstock) gripping hands, and the weight of the sandwiched hand (for example, the scoop (rootstock)) When the scoop (rootstock) is pulled down with a gripping hand (providing a weight on the gripping hand), another hand of the scoop (rootstock) hands moves the hypocotyl part immediately below the cotyledon expansion base of the scrub (rootstock). Since it supports, the cutting position of the hypocotyl of the scion (rootstock) is fixed based on the cotyledon expansion base of the scion (rootstock).

[0006] The hand holding the hypocotyl of the scion (rootstock) is
For example, if a mechanism to pull the hypocotyl by supporting the root part of the scion (rootstock) by its own weight by sandwiching the hypocotyl by placing a weight on the arm part, it will be applied to the root part of the scion (rootstock). The force is almost constant, the seedlings are not overpowered, and the thin skin of the hypocotyl is not connected. Further, since the vertical position of the scion (rootstock) is accurately determined, the cutting is stable, and the joining of the scion (rootstock) can be performed reliably.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. A top view of the grafting robot of the present embodiment is shown in FIG. 1 (a view with the top plate removed), an enlarged view of that part (a graft part) is shown in FIG. 2, a front view is shown in FIG. 3 (a view without a front cover), Figure 4 is a side view
(Side view of the rootstock side with the side cover removed). The grafting robot comprises a clip feeder section 1 and a grafting section 2, and the grafting section 2 has a root section 3, a scion section 5 and a joint section 6.
It consists of A clip guide rail 9 is provided from the outer periphery of the clip bowl 7 of the clip feeder portion 1, and the graft portion 2 is adjacent to the tip portion thereof. Further, the robot manipulators 10 and 11 and the seedling supply plates 13 and 14 for gripping and transporting the rootstock and the scion respectively are suspended on the top plate 15 (FIG. 3) of the graft part 2. Since all the movements are assembled to one top plate 15, the dimensional accuracy is improved. Further, the top plate 15 plays a role of a cover and a strength member of the grafting robot and prevents scattering of cutting scraps of the rootstock and the scion. An enlarged view of the grafted portion 2 portion of FIG. 1 is shown in FIG. The rootstock section 3 is composed of a rootstock seedling supply device 17, a rootstock transport device 18 and a rootstock cutting device 19, and the scion part 5 is also a scion seedling supply device 21, a scion carrier device 22, and a scion. Cutting device 23
It consists of

The rootstock seedlings manually supplied to the rootstock seedling supply device 17 are transferred to the position (cutting position) of the rootstock cutting device 19 by the rootstock transfer device 18 rotating in the direction of arrow (a) in FIG. Then, the cutting device 19 rotates (see FIG. 4) to leave one cotyledon of the rootstock seedling by the cutting blade and cut off the other cotyledon portions. The rootstock cutting device 19 is a rotary cutter having a cutting blade attached to its tip, and rotates in the direction of arrow (c) in FIG. The rootstock, which has been cut and left one cotyledon, is conveyed in the direction of the arrow (B), and is joined to the scion by the joining device 25 at the grafting unit 2. Similarly, the scion seedlings manually supplied to the scion seedling supply device 21 are conveyed in the arrow (d) direction by the scion conveying device 22 and rotate in the arrow (f) direction at the cutting position. 23, part of the hypocotyl part and the root part are cut off, leaving the tissue above the hypocotyl part. Then, the scion having the cotyledon portion is conveyed in the direction of the arrow (e), is joined to the rootstock and the grafting section 2 by the clip supplied from the clip feeder section 1, the grafting operation is completed, and the lower side of the grafting section 2 is joined. Are dropped and collected.

Next, the rootstock seedling supply device 17 and the carrier device 1
8 will be described. First, the rootstock seedling supply device 17 will be described mainly with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. The rootstock seedling supply plate 13 is composed of a holding portion 13b having a structure for receiving the rootstock at an angle that comes into contact with the rear surfaces of both cotyledons that are open in the direction opposite to the receiving groove 13a larger than the rootstock seedling embryo axis diameter. ing. Since the diameter of the receiving groove 13a is larger than the diameter of the cotyledon expansion base of the rootstock seedling, the cotyledon of the rootstock seedling is stably held by the holding portion 13b. Further, since the holding portion 13b is provided at an angle to contact the back surface of the cotyledon, the seedlings are placed on the feeding plate 13 in substantially the same direction without accurately setting the direction of the cotyledons when feeding the rootstock seedlings. You can put it.

The rootstock seedlings set on the rootstock seedling supply plate 13 are gripped by the rootstock transfer device 18 and are sequentially transferred to the cutting position and the joining position. A detailed view of the stock transporter 18 is shown in FIG. 5 (a) is a top view, FIG. 5 (b) is a side view, and FIG. 5 (c) is a bottom view of the leading end of the transport device. A root transporting rotary actuator 29 of the stock transporting device 18 is supported by the top plate 15, and a stock transporting arm support 30 is provided below the actuator 29 to support the rotary shaft 3 of the actuator.
It is rotatably supported around 1. The stock transfer arm support 30 includes a stock transfer arm pushing cylinder 33 supported by the support 30, a stock transfer arm 34 fixed to the cylinder 33, and a stock gripping portion 35 at the tip of the transfer arm 34. (Rootstock hypocotyl hand 37, rootstock fixing hand 38, rootstock hanging piece 39, and cylindrical roller 41) are provided. The both hands 37, 38 are controlled to be opened and closed by an air cylinder (not shown) provided in the box 42 of the stock carrying arm 34 so as to grip the stock. As shown in FIG. 5 (c), which is a bottom view of the hand 37 portion of FIG. 5 (b), the rootstock hypocotyl hand 37 is made of rubber so as not to damage the hypocotyl of the rootstock. ing. Further, the rootstock fixing hand 38 is made of a curved plate that grips the cylindrical side surface of the rootstock pot 43 (see FIG. 5B).

Further, the rootstock lowering hand 36, which is a characteristic part of this embodiment, has a tip portion 36a for sandwiching the hypocotyl above the rootstock. The root lowering hand 36 has a weight 36d on a hand base 36c which is rotatably supported around a fulcrum 36b supported by the root carrier arm 30.
Is attached. This weight 36d is the base 3 of the hand.
The mounting position can be freely changed by sliding on 6c. Further, a motor 32a swinging by air and a lever 32c attached to a rotary shaft 32b of the motor are provided on the rootstock transport arm support 30. The hand 36 can be moved up and down by bringing the tip of the lever 32c into contact with one end of the base of the root lowering hand 36c.

The root root lowering hand 36 is an addition of the root gripping portion of the above-mentioned patent application of the inventors of the present invention, which will be described later. Further, the stock transport arm 34 has a stock neck suspension 39 for holding the stock cotyledon deployment base 40 (see FIG. 8), a cylindrical roller 41, and a stock neck suspension support arm 45 and a base for supporting these. There is provided a stock neck hanging device 47 including a neck hanging piece rotation actuator 46 attached to the lower surface of the support arm 45 for rotating the wood hanging piece 39 in the horizontal direction. Further, the rootstock transport arm support 30 is provided with the rootstock neck suspension 4 when joining the rootstock.
There is also provided a rootstock cotyledon lifting rotary actuator 49 for lifting the rootstock cotyledons by rotating 7 in the vertical direction.

The operation air cylinder of the rootstock hypocotyl hand 37 at the tip of the rootstock transport arm 34 pushed to the position for setting the rootstock seedlings on the rootstock seedling supply plate 13 operates to grip the rootstock seedlings (see FIG. 8). At this time, the cotyledon deployment base 40 is located above the hand 37 at a distance. At the same time as the operation of the hand 37, the rotary actuator 29 for the stock transfer arm also operates,
The rootstock seedling grasped by the hand 37 is conveyed to the cutting position. In the cutting position, the hand 37 is opened for a predetermined time, but at this time, the rootstock neck suspension piece 39 (when the seedling is received by the rootstock seedling supply plate 13 is at the broken line position in FIG. 5A) is shown in FIG.
Since it comes to the solid line position in (a), the cotyledon deployment base 40 of the rootstock seedling is in a state of being supported by the neck suspension piece 39 (FIG. 5).
(B)). Immediately after this, the rootstock hypocotyl hand 37 grips the hypocotyl again, and the rootstock is gripped at the set cutting position in the hypocotyl direction. This root neck suspension 47 supports the cotyledon deployment base 40 of the root with the neck suspension piece 39 to suspend the root and position the root cutting position, and the hypocotyl diameter changes. Also, the cutting position in the embryo axis direction of the rootstock can be made constant for each type of plant by the rootstock neck suspension 47.

At the time of cutting, the rootstock cotyledon presser 50 located above the rootstock cutting position on the front side of the rootstock transport rotary actuator 29 shown in FIG. 4 comes down and presses the cotyledons as shown in FIG. In this way, the cotyledon is sandwiched by the cylindrical roller 41 and the cotyledon presser 50, and the rootstock with one cotyledon left easily can be obtained by the cutting blade of the cutting device 19. In addition, when joining with the spike, Fig. 7
As shown in, the root neck hanging device 47 is rotated in the vertical direction to lift the cotyledon left on the root stock so that the clip can hold the root axis of the root stock.

Next, the brush section will be described in detail. First, the scion seedling supply device 21 will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, the scion seedling supply device 21 is provided with a scion seedling supply plate 14 having a scion receiving groove 14c opened at the front surface so as to have a horizontal plane. The hypocotyl of each scion seedling is manually inserted into the groove 14c to support the scion seedling. The scion seedlings supported by the scion seedling supply plate 14 are grasped by the scion conveying device 22 and sequentially conveyed to the cutting position and the joining position. FIG. 9 shows a detailed view of the scion transport device 22. FIG. 9A is a top view (illustration of the rotation actuator 73 for transporting scion described later is omitted), and FIG. 9B is a side view. In the scion conveying device 22, a scoop conveying rotary actuator 73 and a scion conveying arm support 75 below the actuator 73 are rotatably supported around the actuator rotating shaft 76. Hogi transport arm support 75
In addition, the scion conveying arm pushing cylinder 77 supported by the support 75, the scion conveying arm 79 which is expanded and contracted by the cylinder 77, and the scoop grasping portion 80 at the tip of the conveying arm 79.
Which is a part of the hob cotyledon presser hand 81 and the hob hypocotyl hand 8
3 is provided. The scion root fixing hand 84 is directly attached to the scion transport arm support 75.

The both hands 81 and 83 are controlled to be opened and closed by an air cylinder 89 provided in a hand support member 85 at the tip of the scion conveying arm 79 so as to grip the scion.
The inside of the hog cotyledon presser hand 81 is made of rubber so as not to damage the hog cotyledon. At the scion feeding position, only the scion hypocotyl hand 83 supports the scion, and at the cutting position, the scion cotyledon pressing hand 81 holds the cotyledon so that it does not interfere with the cutting of the hypocotyl part. Further, the scion root fixing hand 84 has a tip part 84a that sandwiches the hypocotyl above the scion root (see FIG. 9A). The scoop root fixing hand 84 has a weight 84d attached to a hand base portion 84c which is rotatably supported around a fulcrum 84b supported by a scion transport arm support 75. This weight 84d is the hand base 84c
You can slide it up and change its mounting position freely. Further, a motor 74a that swings with air and a lever 74c attached to a rotation shaft 74b of the motor 74a are provided on the scion transport arm support 75. The hand 84 can be moved up and down by contacting the tip of the lever 74c with one end on the side of the scoop root fixing hand base 84c.

The spike root fixing hand 84 is an improvement of the spike holding portion described in the above patent application by the present inventors and will be described later. In this manner, the scion gripping portion is constituted by the scion cotyling hand 81, scion hypocotyl hand 83, scion root fixing hand 84, and the like. The spike transporting arm 79 is pushed out by the transporting arm pushing cylinder 77, and the pushing amount is adjusted by the pushing amount adjusting shim 91. Further, the backing guide 92 is fixed to the lower part of the scooping cylinder push-out cylinder 77, and when the scooping transport arm 79 comes to the retracted position, the guide piece 92a at the tip of the scooping guide 92 causes the scion embryo to emerge. The hypocotyl is backed during axial cutting (see Figure 10). When the backing guide 92 cuts the scion, the guide piece 92a supports the hypocotyl backing so that the cutting can be reliably performed by the cutter. The rotation direction of the scion cutting device is as shown in FIGS. 1 and 10, and the scion cutting device is rotated in the opposite direction to the root cutting device 19. The reason is that it is more advantageous to cut from the hypocotyl side to the cotyledon side when cutting a single cotyledon while leaving the hypocotyl at the time of rootstock cutting, whereas cutting the hypocotyl hypocotyl is This is for the purpose of effectively holding down the guide piece 92a at the tip of the contact guide 92, and for preventing the shape of the acute-angled portion at the tip formed by cutting the hypocotyl from collapsing.

Further, in the present embodiment, the hypocotyl hand 83 holds the scion, but the cotyledon pressing hand 81 may hold the scion. Although not shown in this case, when cutting the scion hypocotyl, the hypocotyl hand 83 is retracted, that is, it is movable in the direction normal to the scion transport circumference of the scion transport arm 79. It is necessary to make the composition.
In this case, since the hypocotyl is not gripped, the hypocotyl length after cutting can be shortened. Hogiko leaf press hand 81
As shown in FIG. 9A, a rubber contact piece 81a is attached to the inside of each hand 81 so as not to damage the cotyledon.

A backing guide 92 is fixed to the scion conveying arm 79. Therefore, the hypocotyl can be supported by the backing guide 92 when cutting the scion. That is, the arm 79 is in the pushing position (Fig. 9 (b)) while the scion transport arm 79 is transporting the spike from the supply position to the cutting position, and the arm 79 is lowered to the retracted position (Fig. 10) during cutting. However, by supporting the upper part of the hypocotyl with the backing guide 92, the cutting can be reliably performed (see FIG. 10). Further, although the backing guide 92 is an obstacle when joining the scion and the rootstock, the backing guide 92 is pushed out by pushing the transport arm 79 to the position shown in FIG. 9B and projecting the hypocotyl hand 83 and the like. And the other hand 8
Interference with 1, 83, 84 can be prevented.

When the scion gripping portion 80 such as the hypocotyl hand 83 is not stretchable and is fixed when the scion and the rootstock are joined,
A gap must be provided between the rootstock and the scion to prevent them from interfering with each other, but in order to perform clip joining, a mechanism for attracting each seedling separately is required when this gap is present. In addition, if the scion gripping portion 80 is fixed,
Since the seedling supply direction was limited to the tangential direction of the transportation circumference, left-handed people had difficulty supplying seedlings when supplying scion.
However, in the case of the present embodiment, since the scion gripping portion 80 is capable of expanding and contracting, the seedling pulling mechanism is not necessary and at the same time workability is improved regardless of the difference in dominant arm.

In this way, by expanding and contracting the transfer arm 79,
By making the scion gripping portion 80 movable, the degree of freedom in the method of receiving scion seedlings from the supply plate 14 is increased. Further, as described above, the shim 91 of the scion seedling transfer arm 79 adjusts the pushing amount of the scion gripping portion 80. This is because the cut surface of the rootstock and the scion must be inside the opening at the tip of the clip at the time of joining by the clip, but due to the assembly error and the difference in the hypocotyl diameter due to the difference in the variety, etc. This is because the amount of extrusion needs to be finely adjusted. In the present embodiment, the shim 91 is provided in the scion transport device 22, but it may be provided in the root transport device 18. In addition, since the scion root fixing hand 84 is provided in the present embodiment, the scion root portion is swung during conveyance in the rotation direction by the two-point support of the scion root fixing hand 84 and the hypocotyl hand 83 (see FIG. 10). It became possible to increase the transport speed without any problems. In addition, the position of the scion root part changes depending on the length of the scion seedling hypocotyl, but it is necessary to adjust the position of the scion root fixing tool depending on the growth stage of the scion and the difference in the variety due to the two-point support. lost.

Next, the cutting device will be described with reference to FIG. Although the cutting device is provided in each of the root part 3 and the spike part 5, it has a mechanism common to both. FIG. 13 shows a cutting device on the base 3 side. FIG. 13A is a top view thereof (direction viewed from the top of the grafting robot),
FIG. 13B is a side view seen from the direction of arrow A in FIG. 13A (direction viewed from the side wall side of the grafting robot side of the grafting robot). The cutter driving motor 111 is supported by a column 112 oriented in the vertical direction, and a cutter arm 115 is attached to a rotary shaft 113 of the motor 111. A cutting blade 117 is attached to a cutting blade supporting piece 116 provided at the tip of the cutter arm 115 in a direction orthogonal to the arm 115.
Is attached. The attachment position of the cutting blade support piece 116 to the cutter arm 115 is adjusted by an adjusting tool such as an adjusting screw 119 provided on the cutter arm 115. In addition, the mounting height of the cutter driving motor 111 is adjusted by the support 11
It is performed with an adjusting tool such as the adjusting screw 120 provided on the No. 2. In addition, the cutting arm 117 does not interfere with the cutting of the hypocotyl so that the cutting arm 117 does not hit the hypocotyl before
A cotyledon lifting guide 122 for lifting the cotyledons (cotyledons to be cut off) of the seedling within the rotation locus of No. 7 is provided. 2 shows a state in which the cutting blade 117 of the scion cutting device 23 of the scion part is on the same vertical plane as the support 112.

Next, improvements of the rootstock lowering hand 36 and the scion root fixing hand 84, which are the improved parts of the above-mentioned patent applications of the present inventors, will be described. As shown in FIG. 5, the rootstock conveying arm 34 retracts at the time of cutting, so that the rootstock lowering hand tip end portion 36a can fix the rootstock in a state of sandwiching the rootstock hypocotyl. Motor 3 at this time
The rotation of 2a is stopped and the hand tip portion 36a is kept horizontal. After the rootstock is fixed, the motor 32a is rotated to bring the rootstock lowering hand 36 into a free state, and the weight 36d of the hand 36 allows the rootstock lowering hand 36 to lower the rootstock. That is, the weight 36d causes the hand tip 36
“A” descends around the fulcrum 36b in the direction of pushing down the hypocotyl. Then, the rootstock hypocotyl hand 37 supports the cotyledon deployment base of the rootstock in a hanging state, and the cutting position of the hypocotyl is determined. The weight 36d is slidably attached to the arm portion of the hand base portion 36c and is fixed by the set screw 36e, whereby the attachment position can be selectively adjusted.

Further, as shown in FIG. 11, similarly to the rootstock cotyledon presser 50 described in FIG. 6, a rootstock depressing tool 51 is used to hang the root of the rootstock cotyledon on the rootstock hypocotyl hand 37. It may be supported by the state. That is, this is a method of lowering the rootstock push-down tool 51, pushing down the cotyledon expansion base of the rootstock by the cushioning material 51a at its tip, and returning the rootstock push-down tool 51 to its original position before cutting. Since the improvement of the scion root fixing hand 84 is exactly the same as that of the rootstock fixing hand 38,
Detailed description is omitted. As shown in FIG. 10, since the outer peripheral portion of the guide 122 at the tip of the cutter arm 115 of the cutting device 23 for cutting the scion hypocotyl is made of rubber, this pushes down the hand tip 84a of the scion root fixing hand 84. Therefore, the cutting blade 117 does not hit the hand tip portion 84a. To stop the cutting blade 117 slightly above the bottom edge of the backing plate,
As shown in FIG. 12, a stopper 112 a is provided on the support 112 so that the cutting blade 117 can move the tip 8 of the scion root fixing hand 84.
It is also possible not to hit 4a.

In this way, by lowering both the rootstock and the scion by the weights 36d and 84d provided on the hands 36 and 84, the force applied to these roots becomes almost constant, and the seedlings are not overpowered. Also, there is no possibility that a thin skin of the hypocotyl will be connected. Further, the vertical positions of the rootstock and the scion are accurately determined, so that the cutting is stable and the joining accuracy is improved. When the seedling for grafting is a pumpkin or a sardine, the shape of the hypocotyl is elliptical, so the posture is stabilized especially when the hands 36 and 84 are pulled down.

In addition, in the grafting robot of the above-mentioned patent application by the present inventors, the cutting waste of the rootstock seedlings accumulated on the rootstock neck suspension 47 sometimes interferes with the joining error. In this example, the following improvements were made as compared with the previous patent application. 1 and 5 of the grafting robot shown in FIG.
An air outlet 1c for blowing off the accumulated scraps is provided on 7 and air is intermittently blown out by a timer or a sequencer. In this way, the cutting waste of the seedling accumulated on the rootstock neck hanging tool 47 can be blown out by the air, and the joining error due to the cutting waste of the seedling is eliminated.

Next, the clip supply device and the clip joining device are shown in FIGS. As shown in FIG. 1, the clip feeder 1 of the clip feeder is a clip bowl 7
On the vibration type parts feeder (vibration system NB-300: Mortron Co., Ltd.) having a spiral ascending path along the inner surface of the clip, the handle portion 1 of the clip 123 (see FIGS. 14 to 16).
A clip guide rail 9 made of a vibrating trough having grooves for guiding both ends of 23a is connected, and a tip of the guide rail is connected to a clip hooking device 124 facing the graft part 2.

FIG. 14 shows a clip hooking device 124 (= clip joining device 2) connected to the clip guide rail 9.
5) is a top view of a main part, and FIGS. 15 and 16 are side views thereof. As shown in FIG. 14, the tip end of the guide rail 9 narrows the guide interval between both ends of the handle portion 123a of the clip 123 immediately before the joining of the rootstock and the scion of the graft portion 2 to hold the grip portion of the clip 123. A constriction guide rail 125 for opening 123b is connected. Here, when the clip 123 (FIG. 14A) that has advanced with the grip portion 123b open reaches the joining position of the rootstock and the scion, the clip opening / closing tool 126 releases the bias of the handle portion 123a of the clip 123. (FIG. 14 (b)), and the holding part 123b keeps the rootstock and the scion in a joined state.

The advance of the clip 123 is performed as follows in the procedure shown in FIGS. First, when the clip 123 supplied from the clip feeder unit 1 via the guide rail 9 comes to the position of the narrow guide rail 125 (FIG. 15).
(A)), the clip push-out cylinder 127 starts to operate, the metal clip push-out tool 128 fixedly supported by the cylinder 127 moves forward, and the clip 123 is placed on the constriction guide rail 125 (FIG. 15 (b)). ). At this time, the grip portion 123b of the clip 123 is opened, but since the clip opening / closing tool 126 operates here as shown in FIG. 14 (b), the clip 123 can tighten the graft.
At the same time, the clip pusher 128 advances to drop the graft (FIG. 16 (a)). As shown in the figure, the tip of the clip push-out tool 128 has the same shape as the upper corner of the clip gripping portion 123b, and since it has an inclined shape from this tip to the base, when the clip push-out cylinder 127 retracts, it is next narrowed. It is possible to get over the clip gripping portion 123b of the clip 123 supplied to the guide rail 125 (FIG. 16B). It should be noted that the sensor 1 for detecting the presence or absence of a clip is provided above the clip hanging device 124.
29 is provided, and when the clip 123 is no longer supplied, the operation is automatically stopped.

Here, FIG. 17 ((a) is a plan view, (b))
Is a side view) as shown in FIG.
When a reflection type optical sensor is used as 9, the light is emitted from the sensor in an oblique direction with respect to the clip transport trough in the middle of the clip transport trough. In the arrangement of the clip presence / absence detection sensor 129 proposed in the previous patent application, as shown in FIG. 18B, since the sensor 129 that emits the emitted light in the direction perpendicular to the clip guide rail 9 is provided, this method The sensor 129 sensed the bottom surface of the guide rail 9 and could not accurately sense the presence or absence of the clip 123. Since the bottom surface of the clip guide rail 9 is made of stainless steel and has a large area, it is easily reflected and easily detected by the sensor, while the clip 123 is difficult to detect due to the opposite. However, in the improved method shown in FIG. 18A, the light receiving output is turned on when the clip is present, and the light receiving output is turned off when the clip is not present, so that the presence or absence of the clip 123 can be detected.

When the clip presence / absence detection sensor (reflection sensor) 129 is provided at a position for sensing a plurality of clip gripping portions 123b aligned in the clip guide rail 9, the sensor 129 is compared with the clip handle portion 123a. Therefore, if a timer mechanism that can detect the clip 123 more reliably and that does not stop for a few seconds after being sensed by the sensor 129 is provided, there is no risk of malfunction. Thus, the conventional clip presence / absence detection sensor 12
When 9 detected that there was no clip, the robot stopped at the same time, so the problem that the time to fix the problem was lost was solved.

When the clip presence / absence detection sensor 129 detects that there is no clip at the timing shown in FIG. 19, the buzzer warns that there is no clip, and a few seconds after that, the clip guide rail 9 completely clips the clip. It is also possible to adopt a mechanism in which the operation of the robot is stopped before 123 is exhausted. In addition, a mechanism for stopping the buzzer when the clip presence / absence detection sensor 129 detects that the clip is present again may be added. By providing such a notification buzzer, the clip presence / absence detection sensor 129
There is time until the robot stops after detecting that there is no clip and the buzzer sounds, so if you fix the problem in the meantime, the robot will not stop and the loss time will be further reduced.

Next, the procedure for operating the grafting robot of this embodiment will be described. First, the operation sequence of the grafting robot will be described with reference to FIG. The rootstock seedlings set on the rootstock seedling supply plate 13 are grasped by the rootstock hypocotyl hand 37 and the rootstock fixing hand 38 at the tip of the rootstock transport arm 34 that has been extruded, and this is rotated and transported by 90 degrees, and in the meantime. After supporting the cotyledon deployment base 50 of the rootstock with the neck suspension piece 39, the rootstock is suspended, and then the rootstock is replaced by the rootstock hypocotyl hand 37, leaving one cotyledon at the cutting position. Cut other cotyledons.

At the same time as the transfer of the rootstock seedlings from the supply position to the cutting position, the scion set on the scion seedling supply plate 14 is also extruded, and the scion transfer arm 79 has a scoop cotyledon holding hand 81 at the tip thereof. It is grasped by the scion hypocotyl hand 83 and conveyed to the cutting position. Here, the scion root is fixed outside the locus of the cutting blade by the root fixing hand 84 so that the hypocotyl can be easily cut. The rootstock and the scion that have been respectively cut are rotated and conveyed by 90 degrees to the joining position, where they are joined by the clip 123. At this time, the cotyledons left on the rootstock and the pair of cotyledons in the opposite direction of the scion are joined in a direction orthogonal to each other. Then, the root transport arm 34 and the spike transport arm 79 return to the root feed position and the spike feed position, which are the initial positions, by rotating backward by 180 degrees.

At this time, the cutting devices 19 and 23 of this embodiment are machines that rotate and use the cutting blade 117, and therefore have the following safety devices. First, foot switches (not shown) are provided on the rootstock side and the scion side. In this way, rootstock seedlings and scion seedlings are supplied by different people.
It is necessary to set to 3 and 14, and when any one of the two people wants to stop the robot, the robot can be stopped at any time. Further, since the front surface of the grafting unit 2 of the grafting robot is covered with a safety cover (not shown), the robot stops when the safety cover is opened.
Further, when the clip presence / absence detection sensor 129 (FIGS. 15 and 16) detects that the clip 123 has disappeared, the rootstock and the scion cannot be grafted. However, in this case, when the clip 123 is set, the work is continued by the reset switch. Clip 1
When the grafting robot stops except when 23 is lost, the grafting robot works again from the beginning. In addition,
Regarding the time chart and the like of the root part and the ear part of the grafting robot of the present invention, a patent application by the present applicant (Japanese Patent Application No. 4-16
No. 1512).

[0036]

According to the present invention, since the mechanism for pulling down the hypocotyls by the weight is provided for both the scion gripping part and the rootstock gripping part of the grafting robot, the force applied to these root parts is almost constant. The seedlings will not be strained and a thin skin will not be connected, and the vertical position of the rootstock will be accurately determined, resulting in stable cutting and improved joining accuracy.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a top view of a grafting robot according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a top view of a grafting portion of the grafting robot according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a front view of a grafting portion of the grafting robot according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a side view of a grafting portion of the grafting robot according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a view of a root carrier of the grafting robot according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram of the vicinity of a root carrier when the root graft of the grafting robot according to the embodiment of the present invention is cut.

FIG. 7 is a view of a root carrier transporting apparatus at the time of joining rootstocks and scions of a grafting robot according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram of a root carrier transporting apparatus as received from a root feeder of the grafting robot according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram of a scion conveying device of a grafting robot according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram of the vicinity of a scion conveying device when cutting scions of a grafting robot according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a view showing a state in which a rootstock seedling is pushed down by the rootstock transporting device of the grafting robot according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing the vicinity of a scion conveying device when cutting scions of a grafting robot according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a diagram of a cutting device for a grafting robot according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a top view of the clip hanging device of the grafting robot according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a side view of a clip hanging device of the grafting robot according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a side view of a clip hanging device of the grafting robot according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a view showing a mounting state of a clip presence / absence sensor of the grafting robot according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a comparative explanatory diagram according to an attachment state of a clip presence / absence sensor of an embodiment of the present invention and a conventional grafting robot.

FIG. 19 is a time chart showing the timing of clip detection by the clip presence / absence sensor and the stop of the grafting robot according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing an operation sequence of the grafting robot according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Clip feeder part, 2 ... Graft part, 3 ... Root part, 5
… Spike part, 6… joint part, 9… clip guide rail, 1
0 ... Rootstock robot manipulator, 11 ... Brush robot manipulator, 13 ... Rootstock seedling supply plate, 14 ... Brush seedling supply plate, 15 ... Top plate, 17 ... Rootstock seedling supply device, 18 ...
Root transporting device, 19 ... Root cutting device, 21 ... Scion seedling supplying device, 22 ... Scion transferring device, 23 ... Scion cutting device, 25
… Clip joining device, 36… Root lowering hand, 84
... hokine root fixing hand

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An extendable scion transport arm for sequentially transporting scion received from a scion feeder to a cutting position and a joining position with a rootstock, and at least two gripping hands for gripping the scion. A scion conveying device having a scion gripping portion provided at the end of the scion conveying arm, and an expandable and contractible rootstock for sequentially transferring the rootstock received from the rootstock supply device to a cutting position and a joining position with the rootstock. A carrier arm and a carrier carrier having at least two gripping hands for gripping the rootstock and a root gripper provided at the tip of the root carrier arm, and cuts rootstock seedlings and scion seedlings. After that, in the grafting robot that joins, the scion gripping hand and the rootstock gripping hand grip the scion and the rootstock, respectively, and then clamp the hypocotyl at the root upper part of the scion and the rootstock and push down the hypocotyl. It is characterized by having Tree robot.