TWI832149B - Automated planting system and method - Google Patents

Abstract

An automated planting system and method thereof captures plant images for plants in an environmentally controlled area, identifies the plant images to determine the growth status of the plants, and issues a control instruction to automatically adjust based on the identified plant growth status. The environment controls the environmental parameters within the area, thereby enabling the plant to thrive in an optimal growth environment.

Description

Automated planting system and method

The present invention relates to the planting of plants, and in particular refers to an automated planting system and a method thereof.

It is known that the growth process of plants such as rice, fruits and vegetables, flowers, etc. generally includes the germination stage, the seedling stage, the growth stage, the maturity stage, and the harvest stage. Plants require different growth environments at each stage before the harvest stage. In order to effectively control the growth status of plants and provide appropriate growth conditions and nutrients, the traditional method is to rely on farmers' experience, but this method only increases the number of plants. The demand for manpower is not industrially competitive, which is even more difficult when rural labor is scarce.

Therefore, how to reduce manpower requirements while stabilizing production capacity and improving product quality while improving operational management efficiency is the need and focus of the current agricultural industry development, and automation of production environment supervision is one of the trends.

In view of this, the purpose of the present invention is to provide an automated planting system and a method thereof, which use automated production environment supervision to solve the problem of manpower demand and at the same time improve operation and management efficiency.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an automated planting system for planting plants in an environmentally controlled area. The aforementioned plants have different cultivation states in the seedling, germination, seedling, growth, maturity and harvest stages. , the automated planting system includes an image capture unit, a controller and an environment modulation unit. The image capture unit is used to capture plant images in the environmental control area; the controller includes an identification unit and a control unit, wherein the identification unit identifies the plant image to determine the growth status of the plant; the control unit A control instruction is issued according to the plant growth status identified by the identification unit; the environment modulation unit automatically adjusts the environmental parameters in the environmental control area according to the control instruction.

In addition, the present invention also provides an automated planting method, which includes step A: capturing plant images in the environmental control area; step B: determining the cultivation status of the plant by identifying the plant image, and based on the identified cultivation status The state issues a control instruction; and step C, automatically adjusts the environmental parameters in the environmental control area according to the control instruction.

The effect of the present invention is to solve the problem of manpower demand by supervising the production environment and supplementing it with an automated management model to improve operation management efficiency.

The automated planting system and method of the present invention are suitable for the growth process of plants after seeding, and improve the efficiency of operation and management through the automation of production environment supervision. In order to explain the present invention more clearly, a preferred embodiment is given and described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

Referring to Figures 1 to 3, the automated planting method of the preferred embodiment of the present invention is used to plant plants in an environmentally controlled area A1. The growth process of the plants is in sequence: seedlings P0, germination stage P1, In the seedling stage P2, the growth stage P3, the mature stage P4 and the harvest stage P5, the plants can be cultivated through hydroponics or soil cultivation. In this embodiment, soil cultivation is used as an example and the soil is placed in a container C. The method mainly includes steps A to C. Step A is to capture plant images in the environmental control area A1; step B is to identify the plant images to determine whether the plant is in the germination stage P1, seedling stage P2, or growth stage. The breeding status of P3 and mature stage P4, and a control instruction is issued based on the identified breeding status; step C is to automatically adjust the environmental parameters in the environmental control area A1 based on the control instruction. The aforementioned environmental control area A1 may be an open space or a closed space; the aforementioned identification may also include identification of plant species, and the identification method is implemented using artificial intelligence (AI) technology. The aforementioned artificial intelligence has Learning ability can increase the accuracy of identification.

In one application example, the method includes sampling operations on plants in at least one of the germination stage P1, the seedling stage P2, the growth stage P3 and the maturity stage P4. The aforementioned sampling operations refer to the sampling operations of plants at a specific stage. Plants are randomly inspected to check whether the growth status of the plants under the environmental parameters adjusted according to the control instructions meets expectations. If not, the environmental parameters in the environmental control area are adjusted again based on the expected difference; otherwise, they are maintained.

In an application example, the method further includes identifying pests and performing pest control operations on plants in at least one of the germination stage P1, the seedling stage P2, the growth stage P3, and the mature stage P4, as described above. Pest removal operations include but are not limited to the application of repellents, and artificial intelligence technology is also used to identify the aforementioned pests.

In an application example, the method can also perform cleaning and ozone treatment on the plants in the harvest stage P5. The ozone treatment is, for example, using the ozone generated by the ozone machine 200 to directly act on the plants, or a mixture of ozone and other substances. Then it acts on the plants, that is, it uses ozone to have a redox effect on bacteria, dirt, odors, etc. around the plants, thereby killing bacteria to achieve the purposes of disinfection and plant preservation.

Specific techniques for implementing the above methods are described below. The automated planting system 100 of this embodiment is constructed in the environmental control area A1. The environmental control area A1 is planned between a material preparation area A2 and a shipping area A3. The plants are grown in the material preparation area A2. The state is the seedling P0, and the growing state of the plant in the shipping area A3 is the harvest stage P5. As shown in FIG. 4 , the automated planting system 100 includes an image capture unit 10 , a controller 20 and an environment modulation unit 30 . The image capture unit 10 is used to capture images in the environment control area A1 The plant image; the controller 20 is an industrial PC (IPC for short) and includes an identification unit 22 and a control unit 24. The identification unit 22 identifies the plant image to determine the growth status of the plant. The control unit 24 issues a control instruction based on the plant growth status identified by the identification unit 22; the environment modulation unit 30 automatically adjusts the environmental parameters in the environmental control area A1 based on the control instruction. The aforementioned environmental parameters include but are not limited to temperature, Humidity and illumination, etc., and the illumination can include light wavelength, illumination time, etc., so the environment modulation unit 30 can be a lighting system, a water circulation system, a nutrient solution cooling system, etc., in the specific implementation of this embodiment Including but not limited to lighting lamp 32, sprinkler 34 and temperature controller 36, if necessary, a chemical sprayer 38 may also be included.

In this embodiment, the automated planting system 100 further includes an incubator 40 (refer to FIG. 3 ). The incubator 40 is placed in the environmental control area A1 and can be transported. The image capturing unit 10 is installed inside the incubator 40, and the environment modulation unit 30 is provided at an appropriate position inside the incubator 40, thereby forming an independent growth environment. As shown in Figures 3 and 4, after the container C and the seedlings P0 are put into the incubator 40, the image capture unit 10 will monitor and capture images of the plants at any time and transmit them to the controller 20. The controller 20 quickly identifies the plant image through the identification unit 22 to determine the cultivation status of the plant. Since plants require different growth environments in different cultivation processes, when the controller 20 determines the growth status of the plant, When the cultivation state is the germination stage P1, the seedling stage P2, the growth stage P3 or the maturity stage P4, the control unit 24 of the controller 20 issues a control instruction according to the cultivation state of the plant to further adjust the illumination of the light lamp 32, The water volume of the sprinkler 34 and the temperature of the temperature controller 36 promote the plant to thrive in the best growth environment. In other words, the germination stage P1, seedling stage P2, growth stage P3 and mature stage P4 of the plant are all Completed within the incubator 40. When the controller 20 determines that the cultivation status of the plant is approaching the harvest stage P5, the cultivation device 40 will be moved to the shipping area A3. As mentioned above, the harvested plants in the shipping area A3 can first be cleaned and Ozone treatment and other operations are required to achieve good preservation effects during subsequent packaging and transportation.

The material preparation area A2, the environmental control area A1 and the shipping area A3 in the above embodiment are located on a horizontal plane transmission path. The aforementioned horizontal plane transmission path can be a straight path or a curved path, but they are all based on a horizontal plane. run on. In a specific implementation case, a conveyor belt 300 (refer to FIG. 3 ) is used to transport the incubator 40 from the material preparation area A2 to the shipping area A3, thereby realizing the purpose of automated planting and management. It should be noted that the volume of the incubator 40 can be selected in various sizes to accommodate different numbers of containers C. The incubator 40 can be a closed structure or an open frame.

The above-mentioned incubators 40 are transported in a horizontal manner. However, in other embodiments, there may be a plurality of incubators 40 and they may be matched with a three-dimensional storage shelf to achieve the purpose of large-scale planting and management. Please refer to Figure 5. The storage shelf 400 defines a feed end 400a and a discharge end 400b. The material preparation area A2 and the discharge area A3 are respectively located outside the feed end 400a and the discharge end 400b. , it can be seen that the storage shelf 400 can be regarded as the environment control area A1. The storage shelf 400 is constructed with a plurality of shelves of different heights between the inlet end 400a and the discharge end 400b. Each shelf is provided with at least one conveyor belt 300, and a plurality of conveyor belts 300 are placed on the conveyor belt 300. Incubators 40, the conveyor belt 300 is controlled to drive the incubators 40 to shift; in addition, the lifting mechanism 500 is used between the upper and lower shelves to bring the incubators 40 of the lower shelf to the upper shelf.

In the application example shown in Figure 5, each incubator 40 has its own growth environment, that is, the germination stage P1, seedling stage P2, growth stage P3 and maturity stage P4 of the plant are all completed in this incubator 40. Therefore, the plants in the incubator 40 located on the lower shelf and close to the feed end 400a are in the germination stage P1, while the plants in the incubator 40 located on the upper shelf and close to the discharge end 400b are in the mature stage P4. When the incubator 40 near the discharge end 400b is moved out of the storage shelf 400 and enters the delivery area A3, each conveyor belt 300 will be controlled to drive the incubator 40 forward to supplement. Therefore, as the planting time increases, the plants in this application example gradually grow stronger from the germination stage P1 near the feed end 400a toward the discharge end 400b, and grow close to the discharge end 400b. to mature stage P4.

As can be seen from the above, the plants in the systems shown in Figures 3 and 5 complete the germination stage P1, the seedling stage P2, and the growth stage in an incubator 40 by implementing steps A to C in the planting method of the present invention. P3 and mature stage P4.

In addition, the environmental control area of the present invention may be composed of a plurality of breeding stations, as shown in another embodiment of FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 , in which the environmental control area A1 is further divided into a first breeding station S1 and a second breeding station. S2, the third incubation station S3 and the fourth incubation station S4, and the material preparation area A2, the first incubation station S1, the second incubation station S2, the third incubation station S3, the fourth incubation station S4 and the outlet The cargo area A3 is located on a horizontal plane transmission path. The aforementioned horizontal plane transmission path can be a straight path or a curved path, but they all operate on the basis of a horizontal plane. In a specific implementation case, the aforementioned areas are distinguished on the conveyor belt 300. In addition to the cultivation state of the aforementioned plants in the preparation area A2 being the seedling P0, the cultivation state of the plants in the shipping area A3 is in the In addition to the harvest stage P5, it is further defined that the plants in the first breeding station S1 are in the germination stage P1, the plants in the second breeding station S2 are in the seedling stage P2, and the plants in the third breeding station S3 are in In the growth stage P3, the plants in the fourth breeding station S4 are in the maturity stage P4.

The automated planting system 100 of this embodiment also includes an image capture unit 10, a controller 20 and an environment modulation unit 30. Since plants require different growth environments in different cultivation processes, an image capture system is installed in the first cultivation station S1, the second cultivation station S2, the third cultivation station S3 and the fourth cultivation station S4 respectively. The extraction unit 10 is provided with a set of light lamps 32, sprinklers 34 and temperature controllers 36 respectively. Of course, a chemical sprayer 38 can be included when necessary to effectively supervise the cultivation of plants in each cultivation station. The state shown in Figure 8 is an example of the configuration of the first incubation station S1. The configurations of other second incubation stations S2, third incubation station S3 and fourth incubation station S4 are also the same as the first incubation station S1. The aforementioned first incubation station S1, second incubation station S2, third incubation station S3 and fourth incubation station S4 may be an open space with appropriate intervals, a closed space, or a semi-open space.

Similarly, when the conveyor belt 300 sends the seedlings P0 in the preparation area A2 to the first breeding station S1, the image capture unit 10 in the first breeding station S1 will monitor and capture the images of the plants and transmit them to The controller 20 quickly identifies the plant image through its recognition unit 22 to determine the growth status of the plant. When it is confirmed that the plant is in the germination stage P1, the control unit 24 of the controller 20 determines the growth status of the plant based on the growth status of the plant. The state issues control instructions to further promote a better growth environment for the plant by adjusting the illumination of the lighting lamp 32, the water volume of the sprinkler 34, and the temperature of the temperature controller 36. If necessary, the chemical sprayer 38 will be activated. When the plant image captured by the image capturing unit 10 in the second growing station S2 is identified and determined that the plant is in the seedling stage P2, the controller 20 will control the environment modulation unit 30 to make the plant in the second growing station S2 The plants can thrive in the optimal growth environment; the operations of the third breeding station S3 and the fourth breeding station S4 are also based on the above, and there is no need to go into details. It can be seen from this that each of the aforementioned breeding stations is capable of implementing steps A to C of the automated planting method of the present invention.

The first incubation station S1, the second incubation station S2, the third incubation station S3 and the fourth incubation station S4 in the above embodiment are transmitted in a horizontal direction. However, in a limited space, storage shelves as shown in Figure 5 can also be used to achieve large-scale planting and management purposes. The difference is that the first breeding station S1, the second breeding station S2, the third breeding station S3 and the third breeding station S3 The four growing stations S4 are respectively constructed on different shelves of the storage shelf, that is, the plants on each growing station are moved in an entire layer.

It is also worth mentioning that in order to strengthen control and implement management, the automated planting system of the present invention can add an access control unit to ensure that personnel with appropriate authority can enter and exit the environment control area, so as to further enable the environment modification unit 30 to be operated. Set or adjust. Specific implementation forms of the aforementioned access control unit include but are not limited to face recognition, fingerprint recognition, etc., and the aforementioned access control unit can be installed between the material preparation area A2 and the environmental control area A1, and between the environmental control area A1 and the shipping area A3. , or installed between the environmental control area A1, the material preparation area A2 and the shipping area A3.

From the above, it can be known that the automated planting system and method of the present invention solve the problem of manpower demand by automating the supervision of the production environment, and at the same time can improve the efficiency of operation and management, meeting the needs of the current development of the agricultural industry.

The above are only the best possible embodiments of the present invention. Any equivalent changes made by applying the description and patent scope of the present invention should be included in the patent scope of the present invention.

[Invention] 100:Automated planting system 10:Image capture unit 20:Controller 22:Identification unit 24:Control unit 30:Environment Modulation Unit 32:Lighting lamp 34:Sprinkler 36: Temperature controller 38:Pharmaceutical sprayer 40:Incubator 200:Ozone machine 300:Conveyor belt 400: Storage shelves 400a: Feed end 400b: Discharge end 500:Lifting mechanism A1: Environmental control area A2: Preparation area A3: Shipping area C: Container P0: Seedlings P1: Germination stage P2: seedling stage P3: Growth stage P4: Mature stage P5: Harvest stage S1: The first breeding station S2: The second breeding station S3: The third breeding station S4: The fourth breeding station

Figure 1 is a flow chart of an automated planting method according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the location of the environmental control area, material preparation area and shipping area in the above-mentioned preferred embodiment of the present invention; Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of the application of the automated planting system in the horizontal direction according to the above-mentioned preferred embodiment of the present invention; Figure 4 is a schematic layout diagram of the automated planting system according to the above-mentioned preferred embodiment of the present invention; Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of the application of the automated planting system in the vertical direction according to the above-mentioned preferred embodiment of the present invention; Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of the location of the environmental control area, material preparation area and shipping area in another preferred embodiment of the present invention; Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of the application of the automated planting system in the horizontal direction according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention; and Figure 8 is a schematic diagram of one of the breeding stations shown in Figure 7 .

100:Automated planting system

10:Image capture unit

20:Controller

32:Lighting lamp

34:Sprinkler

36: Temperature controller

38:Pharmaceutical sprayer

40:Incubator

200:Ozone machine

300:Conveyor belt

A1: Environmental control area

A2: Preparation area

A3: Shipping area

C: Container

P0: Seedlings

P1: Germination stage

P2: seedling stage

P3: Growth stage

P4: Mature stage

P5: Harvest stage

Claims (8)

An automated planting system is used to plant plants in an environmentally controlled area. The aforementioned plants have different cultivation states in the seedling, germination, seedling, growth, maturity and harvest stages. The automated planting system includes: An image capture unit is used to capture plant images in the environmental control area; a controller includes an identification unit and a control unit, wherein the identification unit identifies the plant image to determine the growth status of the plant; the control The unit issues a control instruction based on the plant growth status identified by the identification unit; an environment modulation unit automatically adjusts environmental parameters in the environmental control area based on the control instruction; wherein the environmental control area is located in a material preparation area and an outlet Between the cargo areas, the cultivation status of the plant in the preparation area is a seedling, the cultivation status of the plant in the environmental control area is in the germination stage, seedling stage, growth stage and maturity stage, and the cultivation status of the plant in the shipping area is The cultivation state is in the harvesting stage; the environment modulation unit includes at least one set of light lamps, sprinklers and temperature controllers; a plurality of incubators, each incubator holds plants inside, the image capture unit, the The light lamp, the sprinkler and the temperature controller are arranged in the incubator, and the germination stage, seedling stage, growth stage and maturity stage of the plant are all completed in the incubator; a storage shelf, wherein the storage layer The rack has a feed end and a discharge end, and the material preparation area and the discharge area are respectively located on one side of the feed end and the discharge end; the incubators are placed on the storage shelf in a complementary manner. On different shelves, the plants inside the incubator near the feed end are in the germination stage, and the plants inside the incubator near the discharge end are in the mature stage. The automated planting system as described in claim 1, wherein the environmental control area includes a first breeding station, a second breeding station, a third breeding station and a fourth breeding station, and the plants in the first breeding station In the germination stage, the plants in the second breeding station are in the seedling stage, the plants in the third breeding station are in the growth stage, the plants in the fourth breeding station are in the mature stage, and the first breeding station , the second incubation station, the third incubation station and the fourth incubation station respectively have an image capture unit and a set of lighting lamps, sprinklers and temperature controllers. The automated planting system as described in claim 2, wherein the first cultivation station, the second cultivation station, the third cultivation station and the fourth cultivation station are respectively constructed on different shelves of the storage shelf. An automated planting method, which is to plant plants in an automated planting system including a storage shelf and a plurality of incubators. The aforementioned plants have different cultivation stages in the seedling, germination, seedling, growth, maturity and harvest stages. state, wherein the storage layer structure constitutes an environmental control area, and plants are planted in the environmental control area. The environmental control area is located between a material preparation area and a shipping area, and the cultivation state of the plant in the material preparation area is: Seedlings, the cultivation state of the plant in the environmental control area is in the germination stage, seedling stage, growth stage and maturity stage, and the cultivation state of the plant in the shipping area is in the harvest stage; the method includes the following steps: A. Extraction Obtain the plant image in the environmental control area; B. Determine the growth status of the plant by identifying the plant image, and issue a control instruction based on the identified growth status; C. Automatically adjust the environment control area based on the control instruction Environmental parameters; wherein, the plant completes the germination stage, seedling stage, growth stage and maturity stage by implementing steps A to C in each incubator; the storage shelf has a feeding end With a discharge end, the incubators are placed on different shelves of the storage shelf in a complementary manner, where the plants inside the incubators near the feed end are in the germination stage, and the incubators near the discharge end are in the germination stage. The plants inside are at this stage of maturity. The automated planting method as described in claim 4 includes ozone treatment of plants at the harvest stage. The automated planting method as described in claim 4 includes identifying pests and performing pest control operations on plants in at least one of the germination stage, the seedling stage, the growth stage and the mature stage. The automated planting method as described in claim 4, wherein the environmental parameters in the environmental control area include temperature, humidity and illumination. The automated planting method as described in claim 4, including performing a random inspection operation on plants in at least one of the germination stage, the seedling stage, the growth stage and the mature stage, and adjusting the environmental control area based on the random inspection operation. environmental parameters within.

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