JPH11215906A - Fruit thinning device for fruit vegetable harvesting robot - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To hold the strength of a pressing force for fruit vegetables with a fruit thinning plate of an end effector for thinning the fruits of the fruit vegetables at a proper constant pressure when performing the harvesting of the fruit vegetables with a fruit vegetable harvesting robot. SOLUTION: A fruit thinning plate 2 in a shape of U when viewed in a plane for pressing an opening end 2a against fruit vegetables held with left and right holding plates 1 and carrying out the detection of a peduncle and cutting thereof is tilted so as to provide an angle θ at which the pressing force for the fruit vegetables can be made to escape with a component force in the upward direction to hold a proper pressure in a fruit harvesting robot having an end effector 3 for sliding and driving the fruit thinning plate 2 in the front and rear directions.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a fruit picking device for a fruit and vegetable harvesting robot, and belongs to the technical field of an end effector mounted on a manipulator for picking cucumber and the like as fruit and vegetables.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In order to harvest fruits and vegetables (for example, cucumbers) as work objects by a fruit and vegetable harvesting robot, a cucumber cultivated on an inclined shelf or the like at an appropriate time is harvested by a visual sensor. Based on the result of image processing of the input image, the manipulator supporting the end effector at the tip is moved up and down and turned left and right to perform a harvest approach.

At the time of this approach, the end effector is controlled in attitude to grip the cucumber by the left and right grip plates, and the thinning plate, which is located above the grip plate and detects and cuts the cucumber stem, is moved by the thinning motor. When the cucumber is slid forward by the drive along the guide rail, and the sliding end presses the open end of the U-shaped fruiting plate in plan view against the cucumber, the detection of this contact causes the upward motion motor to move. By causing the parallel link to act and drive the slide upward while the drive is performed, the fruit handle taken in from the opening end of the fruit cutting plate is cut by a cutter blade fixed to the fruit cutting plate for harvesting.

[0004] At the time of this harvesting, conventionally, the thinning plate, which is advanced by the guide rail in the end effector, moves in a horizontal posture, so that the thinning plate that contacts and presses the cucumber rises to the fruit stem position along the surface of the cucumber. When sliding, the opening end is caught on the surface of the cucumber due to the pressing force of the flattening plate and cannot be raised smoothly, and when the cucumber is damaged, or when there is unevenness on the cucumber surface, excessive pressure is applied to remove the cucumber. There was a risk of pressure loss.

According to the present invention, the thinning plate is tilted so that the pressing force applied to the cucumber is released by an upward component force to maintain an appropriate pressure.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to a U-shaped fruit picking plate 2 for detecting and cutting a fruit handle by pressing an open end 2a against fruits and vegetables grasped by left and right grasping plates 1. Harvesting robot having an end effector 3 that slides the fruits and vegetables in the front-rear direction, the fruit picking plate 2 is tilted so that the pressing force against the fruits and vegetables is released by an upward component force and the angle θ can be maintained at an appropriate angle. The structure of a fruit picking device characterized by having been performed.

[0007]

With the above arrangement, when harvesting fruits and vegetables (for example, cucumbers) as a work target by the fruit and vegetable harvesting robot, the attitude of the end effector 3 is determined by a harvesting approach using a manipulator that supports the end effector 3 at the front end. The cucumber is gripped by the left and right gripping plates 1 by performing control, and the thinning plate 2, which is located above the gripping plate 1 and detects and cuts the cucumber stem, is slid forward to the cucumber side by driving a motor or the like. Then, the opening end 2a is pressed against the surface of the cucumber.

When the pressing plate 2 is tilted so that the pressing force is released by an upward component force at the time of pressing and the angle θ can maintain an appropriate pressure, the opening end 2a of the plate 2 is made of cucumber. It is possible to raise the fruit stem while pressing it along the surface with an appropriate pressure.
It is taken into a long hole of a U-shape, and the long hole is cut by a cutter blade fixed transversely to harvest.

[0009]

As described above, when fruits and vegetables (for example, cucumbers) are harvested by a fruit and vegetables harvesting robot, the cucumbers are gripped by the gripping plate 1 of the end effector 3 and a pressing force is applied to the surface of the gripped cucumbers. By pressing the opening end 2a of the thinning plate 2 in an inclined posture inclined by an angle θ at which an appropriate pressure can be maintained by releasing the thinning plate 2 by an upward component force, as in the related art, As in the case where there is no escape of pressure due to pressing, the opening end 2a is not caught and damaged by the surface of the cucumber, and the cucumber is not subjected to pressure loss due to excessive pressure applied due to irregularities on the surface of the cucumber. The opening end 2a can be smoothly raised while being softly pressed along the surface of the cucumber with an appropriate pressure. Et al, can be harvested efficiently clean cucumber unblemished by thinning the plate 2.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 4 shows the entire configuration of the fruit and vegetable harvesting robot, in which a pair of left and right front wheels 5a and rear wheels 5b are arranged at lower front and rear positions of a chassis 4, respectively.
In order to link the wheel drive motor 6 to each of the four wheels a and the rear wheel 5b in an interlocking manner and to support the steering wheel so as to be steerable and turnable in the traveling direction, the front wheel 5a and the rear wheel 5b are separately steered. A steering angle sensor 7 for detecting the steering angle of the vehicle is provided, and a battery 8 as a power source is stored between the front wheel 5a and the rear wheel 5b to configure the traveling device 9.

A front cover 10 containing a controller and the like for controlling the operation of the robot is provided at a front position on the chassis 4.
Behind the front cover 10, a CCD camera 11 as a visual sensor for capturing an image of a cucumber as a fruit and vegetables, and a manipulator 12 for grasping and removing the cucumber by the CCD camera 11 are mounted. Work swivel cylinder 13 which is substantially cylindrical and partially cut away at right angles
And a carry control for storing and discharging a carry for storing harvested cucumbers in a rear cover 14 provided at a rear position of the chassis 4 behind the work swing body 13. Part 15 and cover 14
An operation panel 16 for operating the robot is disposed on the rear side surface of the work device 17.

The manipulator 12 and an auxiliary storage case 18 for auxiliary storage of the cucumber are moved along a slider 19 such as a ball screw or the like that slides up and down along the inside of the right-angled notch wall surface of the work turning cylinder 13. And a slide guide 20 is provided so as to be vertically movable by the rotation of the slider 19. The base portion 21 of the manipulator 12 is connected to the slide guide 20 through two sliding grooves 13 a provided along the wall surface of the cutout portion of the work turning cylinder 13 at right angles, and the slider 19 is turned. A slide motor 22 by a servo motor for moving is linked to a lower end portion of a slider 19, and a chassis motor 23 for rotating the CCD camera 11 and the manipulator 12 together with the work rotating body 13 by approximately 180 degrees is operated by the work of the chassis 4. It is arranged at the center position of the revolving drum 13 and is linked and connected.

A slider 24 such as a ball screw for sliding the CCD camera 11 in a vertical direction is rotatably supported along the inside of a right-angled notch wall surface of the work turning cylinder 13. A slide guide 25 is provided so as to be vertically movable by the rotation of the slide guide 25. The upper surface of the slide guide 25 penetrates through a sliding groove 13b provided along a wall surface of the manipulator 12 which is displaced to a position substantially perpendicular to the wall surface having the sliding groove 13a of the manipulator 12, and engages the CCD camera 11. A slide motor 26, which is a servo motor for rotating the slider 24, is connected to the lower end of the slider 24 in conjunction with the engagement of the arm 11a. The sliding groove 13b holds the posture of the CCD camera 11 and slides. A movable guide rail is provided.

FIG. 3 shows the overall configuration of the manipulator 12. In order to perform an action similar to the movement of a human arm and a hand by means of multiple joints, a shoulder joint A and an arm joint are respectively provided from the base side to the distal end side. B, wrist joint C
And the like are connected to each other. The shoulder joint A is configured as a shoulder joint for rotating the manipulator 12 up and down by incorporating and interlockingly connecting a shoulder motor 27 by a servomotor.

The arm joint B is moved from an arm motor 29 by a servomotor incorporated in the base of a telescopic linear arm 28 that expands and contracts in two stages.
The guide rail 31 is arranged in parallel with the slider 30 so as to be interlocked with a slider 30 including a ball screw or the like housed inside 8a and to be able to store the first-stage telescopic cylinder 28b in the fixed cylinder 28a by the rotation of the slider 30. Place the interior.
The arm motor 29 is interlocked with a slider 33 composed of a ball screw or the like via a timing belt 32 stretched in the first-stage telescopic cylinder 28b. Inside, a guide rail 34 is arranged and arranged in parallel with the slider 33 so that the second-stage telescopic cylinder 28c can be stored therein.

The wrist joint C is a second-stage telescopic cylinder 28c.
A worm gear 37a is secured to the end of a wrist drive shaft 36 extending from the wrist pitch motor 35 by a servomotor incorporated into the base of the wrist drive shaft 36 to the tip of the telescopic cylinder 28c, and the worm meshes with the worm gear 37a at right angles. The wrist pitch joint shaft 38 is fixed to the wheel 37b and connected to each other, and the wrist pitch joint shaft 38 protrudes outside the telescopic cylinder 28c. The L-shaped rotation support arm 39 is configured to be axially stopped.

The rear end of the end effector 3 is supported by the rotation support arm 39, and the end effector 3 is rotated by a pitch in a vertical plane within a range of approximately 180 degrees, and the end effector 3 is rolled by a range of approximately 180 degrees. A wrist roll motor 40 by a servo motor to be driven is interlocked and connected to the rear end of the end effector 3 via the rotation support arm 39.

The rotation axis of the waist motor 41 by the servo motor at the waist joint D for horizontally rotating the manipulator 12 is moved to the center of the work of the end effector 3 at the base 21 on which the shoulder joint A is mounted. A shaft is provided at a position where the shaft intersects with an axis extending toward the base of the arm 28 so as to be interlocked and connected. A few cucumber can be stored on the lower surface of the base portion 21, and when the cucumber is picked, the auxiliary storage case 18, which extends to the position of the end effector 3 and whose bottom surface is openable and closable, is moved by a rack and a pinion. A case slide motor 42 to be driven is incorporated and arranged on the upper surface of the work turning cylinder 13 to be constituted.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the end effector 3 has a rectangular cylindrical box 43, and a fruit removing motor 44 for removing cucumber is disposed on one upper side of the box 43.
A slide screw 45 is connected to the motor 44 by extending it forward, and a slide arm 45a that moves forward or backward according to the rotation direction of the slide screw 45 extends in the front-rear direction in parallel with the side of the motor 44. Is joined to a thinning base 47 having a U-shaped cross section which is slid and guided by the guide rail 46, and the U-shaped side projection 47a of the thinning base 47 on one side is disposed in front of the front and rear limit switches. It is configured to be engageable with the rear 72a, 72b.

Left and right fruiting links 4 with four point parallel links
8, the front end of the thinning base 47 and the thinning arm 4
9 and a restraining spring 47c for suppressing the upward movement of the thinning arm 49 by the thinning link 48 with a constant load is provided on the link pin 47b of the thinning base 47, and at the front end of the thinning arm 49. The U-shaped base of the U-shaped fruiting plate 2 for detecting and cutting a cucumber stem is supported and configured.

From the U-shaped base supported by the fruiting arm 49 to the front open end 2a, the fruiting plate 2 can release the pressing force to the cucumber by upward component force and maintain an appropriate pressure. and a sliding roller 2b for smoothing the upward movement of the thinning plate 2 against the cucumber is supported at the tip of each of the left and right open ends 2a to take in the cucumber stem. U-shaped slot 2
2d is a thin blade-like cutter blade that cuts obliquely in a plan view.
Is mounted horizontally on the fruiting plate 2 in an inclined posture so as to easily push off the fruit handle.

A gripping motor 50 for gripping the cucumber is arranged at the lower center of the box 43, and a worm gear 51a is connected forward from the motor 50.
The left and right worm wheels 51b meshed with the left and right worm wheels 51b are respectively disposed at symmetrical positions, and the left and right grip shafts 52 supported upward from the left and right worm wheels 51b, respectively.
The left and right grip plates 1 extending forward by a length capable of gripping the cucumber by the rotation of the grip shaft 52 are provided so as to be axially stopped and interlocked therewith, and the grip plate 1 is provided with a return spring 1a for return. And a buffer pad 1b for preventing cucumber from being damaged.

The left and right gripping shafts 5 above the gripping motor 50
2, a suction pad 53 for sucking and fixing the cucumber when gripping the cucumber is arranged, and a slide screw 54 for moving the suction pad 53 back and forth is extended rearward, and is interlocked with the slide screw 54. Suction motor 55,
It is arranged and arranged on the upper position side opposite to the fruit cutting motor 44. The end effector 3 can be replaced by an offset.

As shown in FIG. 5, a traveling unit controller 56a for controlling the wheel drive motor 6, steering angle sensor 7, carry control unit 15, etc. of the traveling device 9 as a control mechanism.
And a visual controller 5 for controlling the CCD camera 11
6b, a thinning section controller 56c for controlling the manipulator 12, and these controllers 56a, 56b,
A main controller 56 for integrally controlling the operation panel 16 and the safety device 57 is provided inside the front cover 10 together with 56c.

As shown in FIG. 6, the visual controller 56b is connected to a receiver 61 via a driver 60 from a drive pulse generating circuit 59 which has received a signal from the OCR 58, and is connected to the CCD camera 11 from the receiver 61. A signal processing circuit 62 for converting a signal detected by driving the camera 11 into a video signal is connected to the camera 11, and the signal processing circuit 62 is connected to an image memory 64 via an A / D converter 63, The image memory 64, an image processing circuit 65 for performing high-speed image processing, and a CPU 66 are connected so as to be able to communicate with each other. The CPU 66 is connected to a timing circuit 67 for setting a lamp emission timing and a start timing of the A / D converter 63 based on a video signal, and the timing circuit 67, the A / D converter 63, and the lamp drive circuit 68 are connected. At the same time, the signal processing circuit 62 is connected to the timing circuit 67, the halogen lamp 69 is connected to drive the halogen lamp 69 via the lamp driving circuit 68, and the photo sensor 70 is connected to the CPU 66 via A / D conversion. I do.

As shown in FIG. 7, the thinning controller 56c is provided with the waist motor 4 serving as a servomotor.
1, a slide motor 22, a slide motor 26, a shoulder motor 27, an arm motor 29, a wrist pitch motor 35, and a wrist roll motor 40 are connected via a control driver 71, respectively.
4. The gripping motor 50 and the suction motor 55 are connected to each other. The servo motors 41, 22, 26, 2
7, 29, 35, and 40 are provided with a combination of an encoder and an origin detection sensor.

When a cucumber as a work object is harvested by the fruit and vegetable harvesting robot, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the wheel drive motor 6 by the traveling unit controller 56a is used.
While traveling along the ridge groove R under the control of the steering angle sensor 7 and the like, the cucumber cultivated on the inclined shelf T is picked up by the CCD camera 11 up and down by sliding up and down. The image processing is performed by the visual controller 56b, and the expansion and contraction arm 28 of the manipulator 12 is turned left and right by the waist joint D and vertically moved by the shoulder joint A by the calculation of the thinning controller 56c based on the image information. At the same time, the arm joint B is extended and contracted, and the end effector 3 is controlled by the wrist joint C located at the tip of the arm joint B to perform the harvest approach.

At the time of this harvest approach, the pitch motor or the roll of the end effector 3 causes the suction motor 5 to rotate.
5 to slide the suction pad 53 forward,
After sucking the cucumber by the vacuum supplied from the outside, it is retracted to the gripping position and
The cucumber is gripped by the gripping plate 1 by driving the cucumber. The fruit picking motor 44 is driven by the gripping of the cucumber, and the fruit thinning base 47 can be advanced by the slide screw 45 via the slide arm 45a to the regulated position by the front 72a of the limit switch. The thinning plate 2 is advanced through the thinning arm 49 connected by the arrow.

As the thinning plate 2 advances, the sliding roller 2b pivotally supported on the opening end 2a is pressed against the surface of the cucumber. At this time, the thinning plate 2 is pressed by the upward force. By tilting by the angle θ that can be moved up and released, while suppressing the upward component force due to this tilt with a constant load by the spring 47c and holding and pressing the appropriate pressure on the surface of the cucumber, With the rotation of the sliding roller 2b at the opening end 2a, the pinch link 48 is slid up and down in parallel.

When the fruit picking plate 2 reaches the stem portion along the surface of the cucumber by the ascending slide, the stem is taken into the long hole portion 2c from the opening end 2a and is pushed off by the cutter blade 2d in a horizontal posture. It is harvested by The picked cucumber is stored in a carry and discharged to the ground by the carry control unit 15 when it is full. Since the fruit cutting plate 2 is inclined as described above, it can be pressed and raised smoothly against the surface of the cucumber, so that the open end 2a is caught on the surface of the cucumber and is damaged, or the unevenness of the surface of the cucumber is obtained. It does not cause excessive pressure to be applied to the cucumber and cause pressure loss.
You can efficiently harvest beautiful cucumber without scratches.

As described above, even though the fruit cutting plate 2 is inclined, the cutter blade 2d is mounted horizontally so that the cucumber stem can be cut on a horizontal plane. The force can be reduced, and the cut surface does not break other fruits and vegetables. Further, as described above, since the fruit cutting plate 2 is inclined, when the opening end 2a is pressed against the surface of the cucumber by driving the fruit cutting motor 44, the pressing force is released by a component force in an upward direction. Since the thinning plate 2 can be naturally raised by the upward force of the component force while pressing the surface of the cucumber with an appropriate pressure, conventionally, the thinning plate 2 has a forward / retreat action and an upward sliding action. What is required for each one dedicated motor can be operated by only a single fruit cutting motor 44, and the end effector 3 can be formed light and compact.

Therefore, even for fruits and vegetables having many obstacles, the chance of contact with the leaves, the main stem and the petiole, etc. can be reduced, the breakage can be reduced, and the end effector 3 can be lightened to reduce the manipulator. The structure can be made light and simple. Further, as described above, in order to reduce the contact resistance of the pressing force acting in both the contact direction and the upward direction on the cucumber at the tip at which the open end 2a of the fruit thinning plate 2 is pressed against the cucumber, The sliding rollers 2b are pivotally supported at the left and right ends of the opening end 2a, respectively.
The thinning plate 2 is not caught on the surface of the cucumber and does not cause any damage, and the thinning plate 2 can be moved up and down smoothly, so that the thinning link 48 is not damaged and a large power source is required. Nor do you.

In this embodiment, the object to be harvested is limited to cucumber. However, it goes without saying that the gist of the present invention can be applied to fruits and vegetables other than cucumber.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing an inclined posture and a vertical movement state of a fruit picking plate in an end effector.

FIG. 2A is a plan view showing the entire configuration of an end effector in a manipulator. (B) The side view which shows the whole structure of the end effector in a manipulator. (C) The rear view which shows the whole structure of the end effector in a manipulator.

FIG. 3A is a plan view showing a state in which a telescopic arm of a manipulator is extended. (B) The side view which shows the state which extended and retractable translation arm of the manipulator.

FIG. 4A is a side view showing an entire configuration of a fruit and vegetable harvesting robot. (B) The rear view which shows the whole structure of a fruit and vegetable harvesting robot.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a control relationship of the whole fruit and vegetable harvesting robot.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a control relationship of a visual unit.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a control relationship of a fruit cutting unit.

FIG. 8A is a working diagram showing an image pickup state of a camera at a lower part of an inclined shelf by a visual sensor. (B) A work view showing an image pickup state of the camera at the upper stage of the inclined shelf by the visual sensor.

FIG. 9 (a) is a work diagram showing the state of harvesting harvested products on the upper stage of the inclined shelf by the manipulator. (B) A work view showing a state in which crops are stored in the upper stage of the inclined shelf by the manipulator.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1. 1. Holding plate Fruit picking plate 2a. Open end 3. End effector

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An end for sliding a fruit-and-vegetable fruit gripped by the left and right gripping plates 1 in a front-rear direction to a U-shaped thinning plate 2 which presses an open end 2a to detect and cut a fruit handle. In a fruit and vegetable harvesting robot having an effector 3, the fruit cutting plate 2 is inclined so as to have an angle θ at which a pressing force on fruit and vegetables can be released by an upward component force and an appropriate pressure can be maintained. apparatus.