Single-arm multi-claw pneumatic-electric double-control picking robot end effector and use method

Abstract

The invention relates to a single-arm multi-claw pneumatic-electric double-control picking robot end effector and a using method. The effector comprises a rotary table, pneumatic clamping claws, a shearing device, a rubber clamping piece, an anti-skid gasket, a fixing rod, a buckle and an adapter plate. In order to improve the picking efficiency, four pneumatic clamping jaws are symmetrically arranged on the edge of the upper surface of the rotating disc, and after one pneumatic clamping jaw completes picking, the next pneumatic clamping jaw continues picking by rotating the flange plate. In order to adapt to picking operation of fruits with long fruit stems, a blade and a rubber clamping piece are installed at the front end of the pneumatic clamping jaw, the fruit stems can be clamped while shearing is conducted, and full-automatic picking is achieved. One end of the pneumoelectric slip ring is arranged below the flange plate, is connected with the electromagnetic valve through an air pipe and can rotate along with the rotation of the turntable; and the other end is fixed through a fixing rod and a buckle, so that air pipe winding caused by rotation of the turntable is prevented. Compared with a traditional picking system, multiple picking and single placement can be achieved, and the picking efficiency is greatly improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of agricultural automation equipment, and in particular to an end effector of a harvesting robot, specifically a single-arm multi-claw pneumatic-electric dual-control harvesting robot end effector and a use method thereof. Background Art

[0002] In agricultural production, the traditional fruit picking method is not only inefficient, but also the labor cost continues to rise. In order to improve the efficiency of fruit picking and reduce labor costs, picking robots are increasingly used in fruit picking, and picking by robots is also a trend in the development of modern agriculture.

[0003] However, the end effectors of the mechanical arms of traditional robots currently all adopt a single-arm and single-claw method. Each time a fruit is picked, the picked fruit needs to be immediately placed in a collection basket through a large rotation of the mechanical arm. Otherwise, the next fruit cannot be picked. The entire picking process can only be carried out by picking and placing the fruit separately. The time taken by the mechanical arm for one round trip movement is often greater than the picking time, or even several times the picking time. Therefore, the existing single-arm and single-claw end effectors are still insufficient in improving picking efficiency and saving time. Summary of the invention

[0004] In view of the deficiencies in the prior art, the present invention provides a single-arm multi-claw pneumatic-electric dual-control picking robot end effector and a method of use, which can continuously pick multiple fruits at a time with a small movement of the robotic arm. The picking robot robotic arm can deliver multiple fruits to a collection basket at the same time with a large movement of the robotic arm, thereby greatly improving the picking efficiency.

[0005] The present invention is realized by the following technical scheme, which provides a single-arm multi-claw pneumatic-electric dual-control harvesting robot end effector, comprising a turntable rotatably connected to the robot's mechanical arm, and a driving device driving the turntable to rotate around its axis, wherein the turntable is provided with a plurality of shearing devices arranged along the circumferential direction; the shearing devices comprise a pneumatic clamp fixedly connected to the turntable, and a blade fixedly mounted on the movable end of the pneumatic clamp, and a shearing edge is formed between the blades at the two movable ends of the pneumatic clamp; a rubber clip located below the blade is also fixedly mounted on the movable end of the pneumatic clamp, the rubber clips at the two movable ends of the pneumatic clamp are arranged opposite to each other, and a clamping opening opposite to the shearing edge is formed between the opposite sides of the two rubber clips, and the sum of the thickness of the blade and the thickness of the rubber clip is less than the length of the fruit stalk of the fruit to be picked; the blade and the rubber clip both extend outside the turntable.

[0006] When the present solution is in use, the rotation of the turntable can enable each shearing device to pick and clamp the fruits in turn. When one of the shearing devices is picking, the other shearing devices can maintain a clamping state for each picked fruit, thereby achieving that after picking multiple fruits, the fruits picked by each shearing device can be all sent to the collection basket through a single large-scale movement of the robotic arm, thereby reducing the number of large-scale movements of the robotic arm and improving the picking efficiency. Through the cooperation of the rubber clip and the blade, the effect of clamping the fruit after the fruit stalk is cut off is achieved, and the cutting and clamping actions are all completed by the pneumatic clamp, and the action is fast and reliable. As an optimization, the inner side of the rubber clip protrudes inward from the blade of the blade, and the protrusion distance is no more than 5mm. Through the setting of this optimization scheme, when the fruit stem is not sheared, the width of the shearing blade is greater than the width of the clamping opening, so that during the contraction of the active end of the pneumatic clamp, the rubber clip contacts the fruit stem before the blade, ensuring that when the blade shears the fruit stem, the rubber clip reliably clamps the fruit stem on the fruit side to prevent the fruit from falling. At the same time, the resilience of the rubber clip is used to further improve the firmness of the fruit stem clamping, extend the reliable clamping time, and ensure that the fruit will not fall during the fruit picking process of the other shearing devices and the final transportation process of the robotic arm.

[0007] As an optimization, the turntable is located below the mechanical arm, and a fixed rod is provided below the turntable. One end of the fixed rod is fixedly connected to a connecting rod fixed to the mechanical arm, and the other end of the fixed rod is installed with a gas-electric slip ring. The rotor end of the gas-electric slip ring is fixedly connected to the turntable, and the stator end of the gas-electric slip ring is fixedly connected to the fixed rod. This optimization scheme improves the stability of the turntable by setting a fixed rod, a connecting rod and a gas-electric slip ring, and prevents the gas pipes at the stator end from being entangled with each other due to rotation through the setting of the gas-electric slip ring.

[0008] As an optimization, a buckle is fixed to one end of the connecting rod away from the fixed rod, and the buckle is sleeved on the mechanical arm, and a fixing bolt that is pushed to the mechanical arm is connected to the buckle through a thread. The setting of this optimization scheme ensures that the connecting rod and the fixed rod move with the mechanical arm, and the buckle and the mechanical arm are relatively fixed by the fixing bolt, which is convenient for installation and disassembly.

[0009] As an optimization, the turntable is a circular disk, and the pneumatic grippers are evenly distributed along the circumference. The axis of the circle where the pneumatic grippers are located coincides with the axis of the turntable. The solenoid valves connected to the pneumatic grippers are installed on the lower surface of the turntable and are evenly arranged along the circumference. The optimized turntable is set as a circular disk to avoid collisions due to the existence of edges and corners during the rotation of the turntable, thereby avoiding damage to the fruit. The solenoid valve is set on the bottom surface of the turntable, which has a more compact structure and is convenient for shortening the length of the air pipe from the solenoid valve to the start gripper. By setting the axis of the circle where the pneumatic grippers are located to coincide with the axis of the turntable, the mass center of the entire device is as close to the geometric center as possible, which can effectively prevent damage to the mechanical arm caused by unbalanced weight.

[0010] The present invention also provides a method for using the above-mentioned single-arm multi-claw pneumatic and electric dual-control picking robot end effector, comprising the following steps: S1. Install the equipment: first install the turntable on the robot arm, then fix the gas-electric slip ring with the fixing rod, and fix it on the robot arm with the buckle; S2. Operation: a. Use the mechanical arm to drive the turntable to move as a whole, so that the fruit stem enters the shearing edge and clamping opening of one of the pneumatic grippers; b. The active end of the pneumatic clamp moves, causing the blade and the rubber clamp to shrink at the same time, using the rubber clamp to hold the fruit stem, and using the blade to cut off the fruit stem. In addition, the rubber clamp contacts the fruit stem before the blade. When the active end of the pneumatic clamp continues to move, the rubber clamp is compressed by the reaction force of the fruit stem until the blade cuts off the fruit stem, ensuring the clamping effect of the rubber clamp on the fruit stem; c. The driving device drives the turntable to rotate a certain angle, and the mechanical arm drives the turntable to move as a whole, so that the fruit stem of the next fruit enters the shearing edge and clamping mouth of the next pneumatic gripper, and step b is repeated until all the pneumatic grippers hold the picked fruits; d. When all the pneumatic grippers are holding the picked fruits, the turntable is moved as a whole to the fruit collection area using the robotic arm, and the pneumatic grippers release their grip on the fruit stems.

[0011] The beneficial effects of the present invention are as follows: the end effector is configured with a turntable as a carrier, and a plurality of shearing devices distributed along the circumferential direction are arranged on the turntable, and combined with the rotation of the turntable around its own axis, the plurality of shearing devices can perform picking actions in sequence, and the shearing devices can clamp the fruits picked by them, and the robotic arm sends the fruits picked by each shearing device to the collection basket together, which greatly reduces the number of large movements of the robotic arm between the picking position and the collection basket, saves time, and improves the picking efficiency. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of the present invention; Figure 2 It is a top view schematic diagram of the present invention; Figure 3 It is a bottom view schematic diagram of the present invention; Figure 4 It is a schematic diagram of the shearing device and rubber clip structure of the present invention; Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the installation of the gas-electric slip ring structure of the present invention; Figure 6 It is a schematic diagram of the fixing rod and buckle structure of the present invention; As shown in the figure: 1. Shearing device, 2. Solenoid valve, 3. Blade, 4. Rubber clip, 5. Turntable, 6. Connecting air pipe, 7. Air-electric slip ring, 8. Adapter plate, 9. Fixing rod, 10. Buckle, 11. Anti-slip pad, 12. Robotic arm. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0013] In order to clearly illustrate the technical features of this solution, this solution is described below through a specific implementation method.

[0014] like Figure 1 The end effector of a single-arm, multi-claw, pneumatic-electric dual-control harvesting robot shown in the figure includes a turntable 5 rotatably connected to the robot's mechanical arm 12, and a driving device for driving the turntable to rotate around its axis. The turntable is equipped with a plurality of shearing devices 1 evenly arranged along the circumference. The driving device of this embodiment adopts an electric motor, and the output shaft of the motor is vertically downward and perpendicular to the turntable.

[0015] The end of the mechanical arm is rotatably connected with a flange, the motor is located in the inner cavity of the mechanical arm, and the output shaft of the motor is coaxially fixed with the flange, the flange is fixed with an adapter plate 8 by connecting bolts, bolt holes are provided on the adapter plate 8 and the flange, the end of the adapter plate 8 away from the flange is fixed with the turntable 5, and the adapter plate, the turntable and the flange are coaxially arranged. When in use, the adapter plate and the flange are fixed together by connecting bolts to realize the connection between the end effector and the mechanical arm, thereby realizing the rapid installation and disassembly of the end effector, making the use of the actuator more flexible and not restricting the mechanical arm, and also facilitating the rapid conversion between different tasks, improving the overall work efficiency, and at the same time, due to the existence of the adapter plate, a rotation space is reserved for the pneumatic gripper on the upper surface of the turntable.

[0016] The shearing device 1 includes a pneumatic clamp fixedly connected to a turntable, and a blade 3 fixedly mounted on the movable end of the pneumatic clamp. A shearing edge is formed between the blades at the two movable ends of the pneumatic clamp, and the blade edge faces the shearing edge. A chamfer is provided at the end of the blade away from the pneumatic clamp, so that the end of the shearing edge away from the pneumatic clamp is a trumpet-shaped opening, and the width of the trumpet-shaped opening away from the end of the pneumatic clamp is greater than the width between the blade edges, so that the fruit stem is conveniently sent to the rear shearing edge. No blade is provided at the chamfer to prevent the front from being too sharp to damage the fruit and the plant, and the fruit stem can be naturally guided into the shearing part, so that the cutting operation can be completed without precise alignment, and it can also better adapt to fruit stems of different thicknesses, thereby increasing the flexibility and scope of application of the system. When picking, the two movable ends of the pneumatic clamp drive the two blades to move, and the fruit stem located in the shearing edge is cut off. The pneumatic clamp is a finger cylinder in the prior art, and the specific structure and air path connection are not repeated.

[0017] A rubber clip 4 located below the blade 3 is also fixedly mounted on the movable end of the pneumatic clamp. The rubber clips at the two movable ends of the pneumatic clamp are arranged opposite to each other, and a clamping opening opposite to the shearing edge is formed between the opposite sides of the two rubber clips. The sum of the thickness of the blade and the thickness of the rubber clip is less than the length of the fruit stalk to be picked. The rubber clip is used to clamp the fruit stalk to prevent the fruit from falling after the fruit stalk is cut off by the blade, thereby ensuring that each picked fruit can be accurately collected.

[0018] The blades and rubber clips are radially extended outside the turntable to make it easier for the fruit stems to enter the shearing edge and the clamping opening. After one pneumatic gripper completes picking, the turntable rotates to allow the next pneumatic gripper to continue picking. At the same time, the robot arm is prevented from being obstructed by the turntable when controlling the actuator to approach the fruit for picking operations, so that the end effector can approach the target fruit more flexibly, thereby improving the success rate and accuracy of picking.

[0019] The upper surface of the rubber clip is against the lower surface of the blade, and the inner side of the rubber clip protrudes inward from the blade edge, and the protruding distance is not more than 5mm, that is, when not shearing, the width of the shearing edge is greater than the width of the clamping opening. After the shearing action starts, the rubber clip contacts the fruit stem before the blade. Among them, the inner side of the rubber clip refers to the opposite side of the two rubber clips on the movable end of the same pneumatic clamp. The side of the blade forming the shearing edge is the blade. The side of the rubber clip is used to clamp the fruit stem, which ensures the stability of the clamping of the fruit stem.

[0020] The turntable 5 is located below the mechanical arm 12. A fixing rod 9 is provided below the turntable. One end of the fixing rod is fixedly connected to a connecting rod fixed to the mechanical arm, and the connecting rod is perpendicular to the fixing rod. The other end of the fixing rod is fixedly installed with a gas-electric slip ring 7 by screws. The rotor end of the gas-electric slip ring is fixedly connected to the lower surface of the turntable, and the stator end of the gas-electric slip ring is fixedly connected to the fixing rod. The rotor end can rotate with the flange, while the stator end is fixed. This design effectively avoids the problem of air pipe entanglement caused by the rotation of the turntable in the traditional solution. A buckle 10 is fixedly provided at one end of the connecting rod away from the fixing rod. The buckle is a frame-type structure. The buckle is sleeved on the mechanical arm. The buckle is threadedly connected to a fixing bolt that is pushed to the mechanical arm. The fixing bolt is used to ensure that the entire end effector is firmly connected to the mechanical arm, so that the entire end effector can move with the mechanical arm. In order to prevent the mechanical arm from being scratched, an anti-skid pad 11 is provided between the fixing bolt and the mechanical arm in this embodiment. The anti-skid pad is a rubber pad to prevent the fixing bolt from directly contacting the surface of the mechanical arm and causing wear or damage, thereby extending the service life of the mechanical arm. In addition, by providing an anti-skid pad, the problem of the fixing bolt loosening due to long-term work or vibration can be effectively prevented. The fixing is fixed by bolts and buckles, making disassembly and reinstallation more convenient and quick.

[0021] The turntable 5 is a round disk, which avoids the problem of corner collisions that may occur during the rotation of traditional square or irregular shapes, protects the turntable from damage, and prevents the corners of the turntable from causing damage to the fruit during rotation. The pneumatic clamps are evenly distributed on the turntable along the circumference, and the axis of the circle where the pneumatic clamps are located coincides with the axis of the turntable, so that the center of mass of the entire actuator is as close to the geometric center as possible to prevent uneven mass distribution from causing damage to the robot arm and the adapter. The solenoid valve 2 connected to each pneumatic clamp is installed on the lower surface of the turntable and is evenly arranged along the circumference, making full use of the spare part of the turntable and reducing the lateral occupied area of ​​the actuator, which is particularly important for operation in a small space. A through hole is opened on the turntable for the connecting air pipe 6 connecting the pneumatic clamps and the solenoid valve to pass through, without occupying additional space to arrange the air pipeline, reducing the area occupied by the actuator. The rotor end of the pneumatic slip ring is fixed to the lower surface of the turntable and is connected to four solenoid valves 2 through an air pipe. It can rotate with the turntable while supplying air to the pneumatic grippers. The stator end is fixed by a fixing rod to prevent the stator end air pipes from being entangled with each other due to rotation. The pneumatic slip ring can supply power to the four solenoid valves through electric wires to achieve separate control of the four pneumatic grippers. The action of each pneumatic gripper can be flexibly adjusted according to the actual picking situation, thereby improving the accuracy and efficiency of picking.

[0022] This embodiment is provided with four pneumatic grippers and four solenoid valves corresponding to each pneumatic gripper. When in use, the end effector is fixed to the robot arm through the adapter plate, the fixing rod and the buckle. After confirming that all connections are correct, the power is turned on to put the solenoid valve and the gas-electric slip ring into working state, so that the gas-electric slip ring supplies air to the four pneumatic grippers and supplies power to the solenoid valve at the same time, so as to realize independent control of each pneumatic gripper. The arrangement of the pneumatic grippers and the solenoid valves adopted in this embodiment can realize continuous operation and reduce the time of moving and adjusting the robot arm.

[0023] The method for using the end effector of the single-arm multi-claw pneumatic and electric dual-control picking robot in this embodiment includes the following steps: S1. Install the equipment: first install the turntable on the robot arm through the adapter plate, then fix the gas-electric slip ring through the fixing rod, and fix it on the robot arm through the buckle; S2. Operation: a. Use the mechanical arm to drive the turntable to move as a whole, so that the fruit stem enters the shearing edge and clamping opening of one of the pneumatic grippers; b. The pneumatic slip ring obtains high-pressure air by connecting to an air pump, and transmits the high-pressure gas to the pneumatic clamp through a solenoid valve. The active end of the pneumatic clamp moves, causing the blade and the rubber clip to shrink at the same time, using the rubber clip to hold the fruit stem, and using the blade to cut off the fruit stem. In addition, the rubber clip contacts the fruit stem before the blade. When the active end of the pneumatic clamp continues to move, the rubber clip is compressed by the reaction force of the fruit stem until the blade cuts off the fruit stem, ensuring the clamping effect of the rubber clip on the fruit stem; c. The driving device drives the turntable to rotate a certain angle, and the mechanical arm drives the turntable to move as a whole, so that the fruit stem of the next fruit enters the shearing edge and clamping mouth of the next pneumatic clamp, and repeats step b; d. When all the pneumatic grippers are holding the picked fruits, the turntable is moved to the fruit collection area by the robotic arm. At this time, the solenoid valve opens to discharge the high-pressure gas, and the pneumatic grippers release their grip on the fruit stems and put down the fruits.

[0024] The end effector of this embodiment realizes the sequential and continuous picking of multiple shearing devices during picking, avoiding the problem that traditional equipment can only pick one fruit at a time and then needs to return to place the fruit, thereby greatly improving the picking efficiency.

[0025] Of course, the above description is not limited to the above examples. Technical features not described in the present invention can be achieved by or by using existing technologies, which will not be described here. The above embodiments and drawings are only used to illustrate the technical scheme of the present invention and are not limitations of the present invention. The present invention is described in detail with reference to the preferred implementation methods. Ordinary technicians in this field should understand that changes, modifications, additions or substitutions made by ordinary technicians in this technical field within the essential scope of the present invention do not depart from the purpose of the present invention, and should also fall within the scope of protection of the claims of the present invention.

Claims

1. A single-arm multi-claw pneumatic and electric dual-control harvesting robot end effector, characterized in that: It comprises a turntable (5) rotatably connected to a mechanical arm (12) of a robot, and a driving device for driving the turntable to rotate around its axis, wherein a plurality of shearing devices (1) arranged in a circumferential direction are mounted on the turntable; The shearing device (1) comprises a pneumatic clamp fixedly connected to the rotating disk, and a blade (3) fixedly mounted on the movable end of the pneumatic clamp, wherein a shearing edge is formed between the blades at the two movable ends of the pneumatic clamp; A rubber clip (4) located below the blade (3) is also fixedly mounted on the movable end of the pneumatic clamping jaw, the rubber clips at the two movable ends of the pneumatic clamping jaw are arranged opposite to each other, and a clamping opening opposite to the shearing blade is formed between the opposite sides of the two rubber clips, and the sum of the thickness of the blade and the thickness of the rubber clip is less than the length of the fruit stem of the fruit to be picked; The blade and the rubber clip both extend out of the rotating disk.

2. According to claim 1, the single-arm multi-claw pneumatic and electric dual-control harvesting robot end effector is characterized by: The inner side surface of the rubber clip protrudes inwardly from the cutting edge of the blade, and the protruding distance is no more than 5 mm.

3. The single-arm multi-claw pneumatic and electric dual-control harvesting robot end effector according to claim 1 is characterized in that: The turntable (5) is located below the mechanical arm (12), and a fixing rod (9) is provided below the turntable, one end of the fixing rod is fixedly connected to a connecting rod fixedly connected to the mechanical arm, and the other end of the fixing rod is installed with a gas-electric slip ring (7), the rotor end of the gas-electric slip ring is fixedly connected to the turntable, and the stator end of the gas-electric slip ring is fixedly connected to the fixing rod.

4. The single-arm multi-claw pneumatic and electric dual-control harvesting robot end effector according to claim 3 is characterized by: A buckle (10) is fixedly provided at one end of the connecting rod away from the fixing rod, the buckle is sleeved on the mechanical arm, and a fixing bolt which is pushed up to the mechanical arm is connected to the buckle via a thread.

5. The single-arm multi-claw pneumatic and electric dual-control harvesting robot end effector according to claim 1, characterized in that: The turntable is a circular disk, and the pneumatic clamps are evenly distributed along the circumference. The axis of the circle where the pneumatic clamps are located coincides with the axis of the turntable. The solenoid valves connected to the pneumatic clamps are installed on the lower surface of the turntable and are evenly arranged along the circumference.

6. A method for using the single-arm multi-claw pneumatic and electric dual-control harvesting robot end effector according to claim 3, characterized in that: The following steps are involved: S1. Install the equipment: first install the turntable on the robot arm, then fix the gas-electric slip ring with the fixing rod, and fix it on the robot arm with the buckle; S2. Operation: a. Use the mechanical arm to drive the turntable to move as a whole, so that the fruit stem enters the shearing edge and clamping opening of one of the pneumatic grippers; b. The active end of the pneumatic clamp moves, causing the blade and the rubber clip to shrink at the same time, using the rubber clip to hold the fruit stem, and using the blade to cut off the fruit stem. In addition, the rubber clip contacts the fruit stem before the blade. When the active end of the pneumatic clamp continues to move, the rubber clip is compressed by the reaction force of the fruit stem until the blade cuts off the fruit stem. c. The driving device drives the turntable to rotate a certain angle, and the mechanical arm drives the turntable to move as a whole, so that the fruit stem of the next fruit enters the shearing edge and clamping mouth of the next pneumatic clamp, and repeats step b; d. When all the pneumatic grippers are holding the picked fruits, the turntable is moved as a whole to the fruit collection area using the robotic arm, and the pneumatic grippers release their grip on the fruit stems.

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