JPH0856459A - Harvesting robot for cucumber or the like - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To reduce the falling off of warts from a cucumber by specifying a holding position in a harvesting robot for the cucumber, etc. CONSTITUTION: This harvesting robot is obtained by installing a hand part, having an image pickup means and capable of sensing a long object for harvesting such as a raised cucumber and approaching the object for harvesting on the tip side of a manipulator driven so as to be movable in the vertical, left and right and extending directions, providing a peduncle sensing means capable of sensing a peduncle in the hand part and further installing a controller for the harvesting part capable of controlling the lifting and lowering of the hand part 18 along the object for harvesting between the holding parts 26 and 26, extended and opened based on the results of sensing the peduncle and outputting a signal so as to hold the object at a lower level than that of a prescribed site in the peduncle by a prescribed distance based on the sensing of the prescribed site in the peduncle. Since the part at the lower level than that of the base of the peduncle by the prescribed distance is gripped, the site without any warts in the upper part of the fruit body is gripped. Thereby, the merchandise value is not deteriorated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a harvesting robot such as cucumber and can be used for other long fruits and vegetables.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A harvesting robot for cucumber or the like is provided with a gripping part for gripping a cucumber body in a hand part that can move three-dimensionally. In this way, the fruit stalk extending from the stem is grasped optically by the gripping portion, and the fruit stalk is cut by the cutting blade to be harvested.

However, in the case of cucumber, for example, when a wart on the surface is grasped, it is damaged and the commercial value is lowered.

[0004]

Therefore, according to the present invention, a long harvest object such as a cucumber grown on the tip side of a manipulator 13 which is provided with an image pickup means and is driven so as to be movable vertically and horizontally and in the extending direction. Is provided with a hand portion which is close to the gripping portions 26, 26 expanded based on the result of the fruit pattern detection. Hand part 1 according to the harvest
A harvester controller 8 is provided for controlling the lifting and lowering of 8 and outputting a gripping signal to the gripping portion 18 based on the detection of a predetermined portion of the fruit pattern to grip an object at a certain distance below the predetermined portion of the fruit pattern. The harvesting robot for cucumber etc. will be provided.

[0005]

The hand portion 18 at the tip of the manipulator 13 approaches a target crop such as long fruits and vegetables such as cucumber when it is recognized by imaging. The hand portion 18 is provided with a fruit pattern detecting means 27, and when the target harvested product is caught within a predetermined range of the gripping parts 26, 26, the fruit pattern detecting means 2
7 detects a specific part of the peduncle (for example, a boundary part (root part) with the harvested product) by detecting and starting up / down control of the manipulator 13, and grips the lower part for a certain distance based on this. After gripping, the cutting blade 28 corresponding to the position of the fruit pattern is operated to cut the fruit pattern.

[0006] Therefore, since it is possible to grip a certain distance downward from a specific portion of the fruit pattern, it is possible to grip the upper body of the harvested product, and to grip a position where there is no so-called "wart", which is of commercial value. Does not come down. In addition, the gripping position of other long items can be specified, and the gripping position that facilitates handling of the harvested product and balance after cutting can be achieved.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The harvesting robot 1 has a battery-driven traveling unit 2, and the traveling unit 2 has front and rear wheels 3, 3 and 4, 4 for left and right pairs. The robot body 5 includes a traveling unit controller 6 that controls the traveling unit 2, a harvesting unit controller 8 that controls the harvesting unit 7, a recognition device controller 10 that controls the cucumber recognition device 9, and a main unit that controls each of these controllers. The controller 11 is provided.

The harvesting section 7 is provided with a manipulator 13 mounted on a swivel base 12 on the machine body 5. The arm of the manipulator 13 has a first joint 14, a second joint 15, and a third joint.
It has a joint 16. Each of the first joint 14, the second joint 15, and the third joint 16 is provided with a pulse motor for rotating each joint, and the harvester controller 8 controls the forward and reverse rotations of these pulse motors.

A color CCD is provided above the first joint 14.
The camera 17 is directed obliquely upward and is arranged directly in front of the seedling surface of the inclined shelf A, and the image pickup surface of this camera 17 is aligned with the seedling surface. Reference numeral 18 denotes a hand portion provided at the end of the third joint 16. The manipulator 13 is connected via a slider 21 to a swivel base 20 which is formed in a conical shape on the swivel base 12 which is swivelable about a vertical axis with respect to an airframe by a swivel motor 19. The slide motor 19 is rotated by the forward and reverse rotations of the slide motor 19, and the slide motor 2 is also rotated.
2 is configured so that it can move up and down with respect to the slider 21 along the inclination direction of the conical swivel base 20.
Is composed of these manipulator 13, swivel base 20, and the like.
Reference numeral 23 is a carrier supply device, which stores a plurality of carriers in which the harvested cucumbers should be stored.

Reference numeral 24 is an operating device for operating and controlling the harvesting robot 1. The hand portion 18 includes a pair of left and right gripping portions 26, 26 protruding forward from the hand portion main body 25, and a fruit detection sensor 27 provided on the upper surface of the main body 25 so as to be vertically movable.
And a fruit cutting blade 28 provided integrally with the sensor 27
Etc. The left and right grips 26, 26 are provided with a non-slip rubber or the like inside the grips, and the distance between them is controlled by the control motor 29.
By the normal rotation, the spring is expanded to a certain distance against a spring (not shown), and when it is rotated in the reverse direction, the spring is narrowed and the cucumber can be further sandwiched by the spring.

The pair of left and right gripping portions 26, 26 are provided with fruit presence / absence detection sensors 31a, 31b and 32a, 32b, which are light emitting and light receiving elements, respectively on the front end side and the base end portion. When it is confirmed that a cucumber has entered the sensor area after approaching the cucumber, a fruit presence signal is output to the harvesting unit controller 8. The fruit pattern detection sensor 27 is composed of photoelectric sensor parts 33, 33 ... Which are formed by arranging light receiving elements on the left and right, and the support part 34 and the hand part body 25 are connected by a screw shaft 35,
The configuration is such that the height can be raised or lowered to an arbitrary height by setting the rotation time of the control motor 36 at the end of the screw shaft 35. The photoelectric sensors 33, 33 ... Have a configuration capable of determining whether the body portion C ₁ or the fruit pattern C ₂ of the cucumber C at the height position is determined depending on which one is blocked. In addition,
Instead of a configuration in which a plurality of photoelectric sensors are arranged side by side, a single sensor may be scanned to determine the body portion C _{1 to the} fruit pattern C ₂ depending on whether the detection capturing width is below a predetermined width or above. Good (Figure 9).

A scissor-shaped cutting blade 28 is provided on the lower surface of the support portion 34 of the fruit pattern detection sensor 27 so that the fruit pattern portion can be cut by an appropriate structure. 37 is the fruit pattern detection sensor 27
The pressure detection sensor provided on the upper surface of the support portion 34 of the support portion 34 of the fruit pattern detection sensor 27 provided in the protective cover 38.
If the cucumber comes in contact with another object when it rises, it is determined that there is an obstacle and a harvesting operation stop signal of the target cucumber can be output to the harvesting part controller 8 (FIG. 10).

Next, the processing of the cucumber recognition device 9 will be described. The recognition device controller 10 binarizes the image signal picked up by the color CCD camera 17 by the binarizing means, and the gradation of the binarized image is changed. The contour of is determined by the cucumber determination means. At this time, even if a part of the cucumber is hidden by the leaves, the image in the range captured by the camera 17 can be determined as the cucumber based on the aspect ratio and the like. If the recognition device controller 10 determines that it is a cucumber, then the hand unit 1 is detected by the non-illustrated distance sensor.
The horizontal distance L from 8 to the target cucumber and the elevation angle θ are calculated. Receiving the distance data and the elevation angle data in the recognition device controller 10, the harvester controller 8
Is a configuration in which a drive signal is output to each of the pulse motors of the first to third joints to bring the hand portion 18 close to the target cucumber C.

The operation of the above example will be described. The manipulator 13 and the color C are rotated by rotating the swivel base 20 in a predetermined manner.
Aim the CD camera 17 at the seedling surface of the cucumber. Color C
When the recognition device controller 10 recognizes the cucumber C coming into the visual field of the CD camera 17 in a predetermined manner and outputs a cucumber recognition signal to the harvesting unit controller 8, the harvesting unit controller 8 controls the joint motors of the manipulator 13. The hand portion 18 at the tip approaches to catch the cucumber C. When the gripping portions 26, 26 having a wide space between the left and right sides approach the cucumber C and catch the cucumber C in the space, the light emitting / receiving sensors 32a disposed on the tip side of the cucumber presence / absence detection sensor. , 32b
The cucumber C intercepts and outputs a cucumber presence signal. It should be noted that the tip side sensors 32a and 32b are arranged such that after the cucumber presence signal is output, the cucumber C captured within the gripping portion interval is located at the approximate center thereof in combination with the base end side sensors 31a and 31b. The positions of the grips 26, 26 are controlled so that the gripping portions 26, 26 exist so as not to be sensed.

When the cucumber C is caught at an appropriate position in the grips 26, 26 by signals from the cucumber presence / absence detection sensors 31, 32 (S10), it is predetermined to raise the support 34 of the fruit pattern detection sensor 27. Control time 3 minutes
6 rotates in the normal direction, and the supporting portion 34 rises from the main body of the hand portion 18 by a distance l corresponding to the time t (S20). From here, the operations of fruit pattern detection, cucumber gripping, and fruit pattern cutting are started. First, the output of the fruit pattern detection sensor 27 is observed (S30), and it is determined whether or not it is a fruit pattern (S40). That is, a plurality of photoelectric sensor units 33, 33 of the fruit pattern detection sensor 27 arranged side by side
Depending on which of the parts detects the object, when a predetermined number of sensors or more detect, the body part C _{1 of the} cucumber
When it is less than a predetermined value, it is determined that this is the fruit pattern C ₂ . When it is determined in step 40 that the pattern is C ₂ , the descending command signal is output to the pulse motor that drives each joint of the manipulator 13 to gradually move it substantially directly below. At this time, while taking in the outputs of the cucumber presence / absence sensors 31 and 32, the target cucumber C is lowered so as to be present at a proper position within the interval between the grips 26 and 26. When the detection output of the fruit pattern detection sensor 27 is constantly taken in while being lowered and the outputs of the sensor units 33, 33 change extremely (S50),
Judging from the fruit pattern C ₂ to the cucumber body C ₁ ,
The descending side movement of the manipulator 13 is stopped (S6).
0). Next, the hand unit 18 outputs an approach command signal to the cucumber C side, and the supporting unit 34 of the fruit pattern detection sensor 27 approaches the position where the fruit pattern can be captured. Here, a cucumber gripping signal is output to the left and right grips 26, 26 (S70).
The gaps between the gripping portions 26, 26 become narrower, and finally, by the action of a spring (not shown), the gripping portions 26, 26 come into contact with the upper body portion C ₁ of the cucumber and grip it (S80). Furthermore, an operation command signal can be output to the cutting blade 28 to cut the fruit pattern C ₂ .

When it is determined in step 40 that the fruit pattern is not the fruit pattern, the fruit pattern detection sensor 27 has not yet detected the fruit pattern, and it is predicted that the fruit pattern is further above the manipulator 13. (S90). When the outputs of the sensor units 33, 33 ... Are continuously captured and changed, the cucumber body C is subjected to the same process from step 50 to step 80.
₁ Grasping and cutting of the fruit pattern C ₂ are executed.

By the way, "warts" on the surface of cucumber C are treated with caution because they are considered to reduce the freshness of the "warts" when they are removed and reduce the commercial value in the market. When this "wart" is grasped by the gripping portions 26, 26, it falls off easily, so it is necessary to handle it with care. However, the inventor found that in the body end of the cucumber C, a certain range close to the fruit pattern side is this "wart". It is found that there is no or a small amount, and the lower part of the fruit pattern C ₂ is gripped by a certain distance l by the above-described configuration, and the supporting portion rise time of the fruit pattern detection sensor 27, and thus the distance l, is predetermined. By
The harvesting work can be performed without removing the "warts". This rising time can be changed and set depending on the type and target.

In addition, the upward movement of the main body 25 of the hand portion 18,
Alternatively, when the support portion 34 of the fruit pattern detection sensor 27 alone moves upward and collides with an obstacle, the protective cover 38 is deformed and the internal pressure detection sensor 37 operates to detect the predetermined pressure, which causes the obstacle. It is determined that the collision of the target cucumber C is stopped and the further increase is stopped and controlled, while the harvest of the target cucumber C is stopped. It should be noted that when the pressure is lower than a predetermined pressure, contact with petiole or the like is predicted, but at this time, the harvesting work is to be continued, and it is intended to determine whether the continuation of the harvesting work is appropriate based on the magnitude of the detected pressure. is there.

The body 25 of the hand portion 18 and the fruit pattern detection sensor 27 are set at a fixed distance from each other, and while detecting the fruit pattern,
Since the hand unit 18 is controlled to move up and down, even if the fruit pattern cannot be confirmed with the CCD camera 17, if a part of the cucumber body C ₁ can be confirmed, it is approached to catch the cucumber C within a predetermined range and then the fruit pattern is detected. To perform an action,
Even the peduncle C ₂ hidden behind the leaf can be detected.

At this time, as in the embodiment, when the hand portion 18 is brought close to the cucumber C, the fruit pattern detecting device 2
The support part 34 of 7 overlaps the main body 25 of the hand part 18, and it is necessary to secure the constant distance 1 by holding the cucumber C by the grip part 2.
6 and 26, the fruit pattern detection sensor 27
The cucumber C and the cucumber C are less likely to be blocked by a leaf or the like, that is, the leaves can be lifted at the same time during the rise of a certain distance l, which is less likely to interfere with the detection.

FIG. 7 shows another embodiment of the fruit pattern detecting sensor,
An optical detection sensor 42 is provided in which light receiving elements 41, 41 are provided on both sides of the light emitting element 40, and a volume 43 for adjusting the variation of the light emitting / light receiving elements and the color of the object is provided in the detection circuit (FIG. 8). A volume 44 for adjusting the sensor output is provided. In this circuit, 45 is a light emitting unit, 46 is a light receiving unit, 47 is an oscillating unit connected to the light emitting unit, 48 is an adding unit, 49 is a bandpass filter unit,
50 is a smooth part.

Further, as described above, the fruit pattern detecting sensor 27
In a configuration in which the cucumber presence / absence detection sensors 31 and 32 are arranged close to each other, it is preferable that the detection is performed by light beams that are biased at different frequencies. Not only is it not affected by ambient light, but it is possible to prevent interference between sensors and improve detection accuracy.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an enlarged side view of a main part.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged front view of a main part.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the entire apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a plan view thereof.

FIG. 5 is a controller-related diagram.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing another embodiment.

FIG. 8 is an electric circuit diagram in another embodiment.

FIG. 9 is an example of detection of a fruit pattern detection sensor.

FIG. 10 shows an example of pressure detection sensor detection.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Harvesting robot, 2 ... Running part, 3 ... Wheels, 4 ... Wheels,
5 ... Aircraft, 6 ... Traveling controller, 7 ... Harvesting unit, 8 ...
Harvesting part controller, 9 ... Cucumber recognition device, 10 ... Recognition device controller, 11 ... Main controller, 12
… Swivel base, 13… Manipulator, 14… First joint,
15 ... 2nd joint, 16 ... 3rd joint, 17 ... Color CCD
Camera, 18 ... Hand part, 19 ... Swing motor, 20 ... Swiveling base, 21 ... Slider, 22 ... Slide motor, 23 ...
Carrier supply device, 24 ... Operating device, 25 ... Hand part main body, 26, 26 ... Gripping part, 27 ... Fruit pattern detection sensor, 28
... Fruit cutting blade, 29 ... Control motor, 31, 32 ... Cucumber presence / absence detection sensor, 33, 33 ... Photoelectric sensor, 34 ...
Sensor support portion, 35 ... Screw shaft, 36 ... Control motor, 37
… Pressure sensor, 38… Protective cover

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A hand unit for detecting and approaching a long harvest target object such as a grown cucumber is provided at the tip end side of a manipulator 13 which is provided with an image pickup means and is driven so as to be movable up and down, left and right, and in the extension direction. The hand portion is provided with a fruit pattern detecting means capable of detecting a fruit pattern, and the hand portion 18 is arranged along the target harvested product between the gripping portions 26 and 26 expanded based on the result of the fruit pattern detection. In addition to lifting control, the gripper 18 is provided with a harvester controller 8 that outputs a gripping signal to grip an object at a certain distance below the predetermined part of the fruit pattern based on the detection of the predetermined part of the fruit pattern. Harvesting robot such as a cucumber.