Automatic sprout picking machine

Abstract

The application discloses a tender bud automatic picking machine, which is formed by connecting a collecting barrel provided with air lift power by four sets of large rotors and a picking head provided with air lift power by four sets of small rotors through a transparent hose, and can automatically identify and pick and collect tender buds when flying above tea trees. The application can greatly reduce the number of workers needed for tea picking and reduce the picking cost of high-quality tea leaves.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to an automatic bud picking machine, specifically an automatic bud picking machine for tea leaves. Background Technology

[0002] The tea bud picking cycle is very short every year, the picking workload is huge, and the labor cost has reached a relatively high level. It is becoming increasingly difficult for any company to gather a large number of skilled workers in a short period of time. However, at present, due to the difficulties in identification, execution and terrain, all tea picking machines not only require a lot of manual labor throughout the process, but also cannot quickly and accurately pick high-value-added tea buds. Summary of the Invention

[0003] The purpose of this invention is to overcome the above-mentioned shortcomings of the prior art and provide an automatic bud picking machine.

[0004] The present invention overcomes the above-mentioned shortcomings of the prior art by adopting the following technical solution:

[0005] The automatic bud-picking machine is characterized by: a collection bucket powered by four large rotors and a picking head powered by four small rotors connected by a transparent flexible hose; the collection bucket consists of an inner and an outer bucket nested together, concentrically. The inner bucket's diameter is 5-20 mm smaller than the outer bucket's diameter, and its height is 10-50 mm smaller than the outer bucket's height. The inner bucket has several circular ventilation holes with a diameter less than 2 mm evenly distributed around its circumference and bottom. The top of the inner bucket has a continuous outward-flaring edge, and the inner circumference of the top of the outer bucket has a continuous lining that matches its dimensions. After the inner bucket is placed inside the outer bucket and the sealing cap is locked in place, a natural seal is formed around its top circumference. A circular hole is located at the center of the bottom of the outer bucket, where an exhaust fan is installed. The outer diameter of the fan blades exactly covers this hole. During tea picking, the exhaust fan continuously blows downward air, creating a continuous negative pressure inside the collection bucket, providing power for transporting the buds cut by the picking head. A straight... A circular hole with the same diameter as the outer diameter of the connecting rigid pipe is used. The connecting rigid pipe is composed of a straight pipe section of the same diameter and a circular arc pipe section. The straight pipe section is fixed to the outer wall of the outer barrel with a pipe clamp and can move up and down or rotate. Lifting it up a little section can pull the circular arc pipe out of the sealing cover. After rotating it a certain angle, the sealing cover can be opened and the inner barrel filled with tea leaves can be taken out. During the picking period, the exhaust fan works continuously. Air is drawn in from the picking port and enters the upper part of the inner barrel through the transparent flexible hose connected to the rigid pipe. It enters the space between the outer barrel and the inner barrel through the circular ventilation holes on the circumference and bottom of the inner barrel and is finally discharged by the exhaust fan. In addition to providing a sealed space for the inner barrel, the outer barrel is also a structural component that connects the four sets of large rotors, the legs, and other parts. Each of the four sets of large rotors is symmetrically fixed to the upper half of the outer wall of the outer barrel through a straight connecting rod to provide the lifting power for the collection barrel. Each of the two legs is symmetrically fixed to the lower half of the outer wall of the outer barrel through two curved rods.The picking head is a 50-150 mm long sleeve, the inner diameter of which depends on the characteristic size of the tender buds. It also maintains the same inner diameter as the connecting rigid tube and transparent flexible tube. Four small rotors, each symmetrically fixed to the upper part of the picking head via a straight connecting rod, provide the lifting power. Each small rotor motor has a color sensor and a distance sensor installed at its bottom. Inside the picking opening, three grayscale sensors are arranged in a ring at a 120-degree angle. Above these three grayscale sensors is a shutter blade. Unlike a camera shutter, this shutter blade normally spreads outwards and is hidden close to the circumference of the picking head sleeve, not obstructing the tea buds from entering the picking head. It only becomes active when the picking head lowers its grip. After receiving the command, it quickly retracts to cut the tender bud. The cut bud, under the negative pressure inside the tube, flows through a transparent flexible tube and a connecting rigid tube before finally falling into the inner container. Clearly, to avoid cutting failure, all the cutting parts of the shutter blades must be very sharp. Simultaneously, to ensure the continuity of the negative pressure inside the tube, round holes are made in all parts of the shutter blades that have minimal impact on structural strength, ensuring that the posture of the tender bud does not change adversely during or after cutting. To obtain the largest possible tea-collecting space within a fixed external size, the battery, control board, and other components can be placed inside the tripod, and the tripod shape and size can be adjusted as needed, as long as the camera body is kept balanced.

[0006] The working procedure of the automatic bud picking machine is as follows: This invention uses different methods to identify buds in the positioning and picking stages. First, the user places the automatic bud picking machine on the ground near the tea tree to be picked and uses a separately matched laser rangefinder to locate all endpoints of the tea tree range to be picked. Tea trees in tea gardens are usually planted in rows, with each row typically less than 2 meters wide and 1 meter high.Once the four endpoints of each row are determined (below 2 meters), the automatic picking range is easily defined. The laser rangefinder transmits positioning data via Bluetooth to the automatic bud-picking machine, which calculates the optimal path. First, four small rotors lift the picking head into the air, followed by four large rotors lifting the collection bucket. Both rise simultaneously to their respective working heights and relative positions before flying together to the starting point of the optimal path. The optimal path is from the takeoff point to the center of the nearest row endpoint on the tea tree. The collection bucket hovers 30-50 centimeters above the tea tree and moves only in one direction along the center line of each row. The picking head not only needs to move the same distance in the same direction as the collection bucket but also needs to continuously move along the width direction. A comprehensive scan of the harvesting area is performed from left to right and then from right to left, leaving no area untouched. The harvesting head operates 15-30 cm above the tea bushes. During the scan, the color sensors and distance sensors at the bottom of the four small rotor motors on the harvesting head work simultaneously. The color sensors are used to initially identify and locate the tender buds, while the distance sensors simultaneously determine the specific height of the buds. The color sensors identify buds based on changes in the green value during the scan. For example, if the green value continuously drops below 100 during a movement greater than 5 mm and less than 15 mm, a tender bud can be identified at that location. Of course, the size data of greater than 5 mm and less than 15 mm, and the green value of 100, are not constant. Each time, specific control parameters can be set according to the differences in tea tree varieties and individual requirements for quality. Once the color sensor and distance sensor at the bottom of a small rotor motor detect a tender bud, the picking nozzle is moved to the bud under the control of four small rotors. Then, it slowly descends to allow the bud to enter the picking head. Simultaneously, three grayscale sensors at the picking nozzle continuously scan the bud. When none of the three grayscale sensors obtain a maximum width exceeding 10 millimeters, it can be confirmed that a tender bud has been collected. Of course, this 10-millimeter size is not fixed and can be adjusted according to actual conditions. During the descent of the harvesting head, at least one of the three grayscale sensors scans the width of the tender shoot, starting from zero, gradually increasing and then decreasing. Once the width data from all three sensors remains constant, it indicates the shoot has fully penetrated and reached the stem. Immediately, the shutter blade cuts the shoot and stem. The cut shoot, under negative pressure, automatically falls into the inner bucket through a transparent tube and connecting rigid tube. After cutting, four small rotors lift the harvesting head back to its original height and position to continue scanning until the task is completed or the weight sensor in the collection bucket indicates it is full, at which point it returns to the takeoff point. Alternatively, a forced remote control command can be issued to stop the operation.

[0007] This invention can significantly reduce the amount of manual labor in the tea picking process. Within a pre-defined area of ​​the tea tree, the scanning head is vertically pointing downwards to identify old buds, tender buds, and branches. The main differences between them are their shape, color, and size. By narrowing down the identification target, tender buds can be identified from the tea tree using a single data point. The continuous scanning method ensures that no buds are missed. Furthermore, the positioning and picking stages use single data points for two different characteristics of tender buds, which can greatly improve accuracy and picking efficiency.

[0008] During the sprouting period, many branches of tea trees will simultaneously produce two or three tender buds. In this invention, the airflow blown downward by the four small rotors during the picking process can press down the branches and buds around the target tender bud. At the same time, the negative pressure attraction at the picking opening can help the two or three tender buds on a branch to shrink towards the center, which is convenient for improving efficiency and picking in one go. In addition, the exhaust fan on the collection bucket continuously exhausts air downwards, which not only provides power for transporting the tender buds, but also provides some buoyancy for the collection bucket, reducing the energy consumption of the four large rotors. The picked tender buds are also constantly cooled by airflow in the inner bucket, which ensures the quality. Attached Figure Description

[0009] Figure 1 This is a top view schematic diagram of the harvesting process at the beginning of the invention;

[0010] Figure 2 This is a cross-sectional schematic diagram of the present invention (II);

[0011] Figure 3 This is a bottom view of the picking opening when preparing to cut tender shoots according to the present invention;

[0012] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the working range of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0013] The invention will now be further described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0014] from Figure 1 , Figure 2As can be seen from the overall structural scheme of the present invention, it consists of a collection bucket powered by four sets of large rotors 1 and a picking head 6 powered by four sets of small rotors 8 connected by a transparent hose 10. The collection bucket is formed by nesting an inner bucket 3 and an outer bucket 2. The inner bucket 3 and the outer bucket 2 are concentric. The diameter of the inner bucket 3 is 5-20 mm smaller than that of the outer bucket 2, and the height of the inner bucket 3 is 10-50 mm smaller than that of the outer bucket 2. Several circular ventilation holes 11 with a diameter of less than 2 mm are evenly distributed on the circumference and bottom surface of the inner bucket 3. The top of the inner bucket 3 has a continuous outward flange, and the inner circumference of the top of the outer bucket 2 has a continuous inner lining that matches its size. After the outer bucket 2 is placed in place and the sealing cap 12 is closed, a natural seal is formed around the top circumference. A circular hole is located at the center of the bottom of the outer bucket 2, where an exhaust fan 4 is installed. The outer diameter of the fan blades perfectly covers this hole. During tea picking, the exhaust fan 4 continuously exhausts air downwards, creating a continuous negative pressure inside the collection bucket, providing power for transporting the tender buds cut by the picking head 6. A circular hole with a diameter equal to the outer diameter of the connecting rigid pipe 9 is located near the edge of the sealing cap 12. The connecting rigid pipe 9 consists of a straight pipe section of the same diameter and an arc-shaped pipe section connected together. The straight pipe section is fixed to the outer wall of the outer bucket 2 with a pipe clamp 16, allowing it to move up and down. Rotate and lift slightly to remove the arc-shaped tube from the sealing cover 12. Then, rotate it a certain angle to open the sealing cover 12 and remove the inner barrel 3 filled with tea leaves. During the harvesting period, the exhaust fan 4 operates continuously. Air is drawn in from the harvesting opening, passes through the transparent hose 10 connected to the rigid pipe 9, and enters the space above the inner barrel 3. It then enters the interlayer space between the outer barrel 2 and the inner barrel 3 through the circular ventilation holes 11 on the circumference and bottom of the inner barrel 3, and is finally discharged through the exhaust fan 4. In addition to providing a sealed space for the inner barrel 3, the outer barrel 2 is also a structural component connecting the four large rotors 1, the legs 5, and other parts. Each of the four large rotors 1 is symmetrically fixed to the upper half of the outer wall of the outer barrel 2 via a straight connecting rod, providing the lifting power for the collection barrel. Two legs 5 are symmetrically fixed to the lower half of the outer wall of the outer barrel 2 via two curved rods. The picking head 6 is a 50-150 mm long sleeve, the inner diameter of which depends on the characteristic size of the buds; of course, it will also be consistent with the inner diameter of the connecting rigid tube 9 and the transparent flexible tube 10. Four small rotors 8 are symmetrically fixed to the upper part of the picking head 6 via a straight connecting rod, providing the lifting power for the picking head 6. Each small rotor 8 has a color sensor 13 and a distance sensor 14 installed at the bottom of its motor. Figure 3As can be seen, three sets of grayscale sensors 15 are arranged in a ring at a 120-degree angle inside the picking opening. Right above these three sets of grayscale sensors 15 is a set of shutter blades 7. Unlike the camera shutter, this set of shutter blades 7 is normally spread out and closely hidden around the circumference of the picking head 6 sleeve, so as not to block the tea buds from entering the picking head 6. Only when the picking head 6 issues a picking command will it quickly retract and cut the tender buds. The cut tender buds are attracted by the negative pressure inside the tube, and finally fall into the inner barrel 3 through the transparent flexible tube 10 and the connecting rigid tube 9. Obviously, in order to avoid cutting failure, all the cutting parts of the shutter blades 7 are required to be very sharp. At the same time, in order to ensure the continuity of the negative pressure inside the tube, all the parts of the shutter blades 7 that have little impact on the structural strength are opened with round holes to ensure that the posture of the tender buds will not be adversely affected during and after cutting. In order to obtain the largest possible tea collection space within a fixed external size, it is possible to consider placing the battery, control board and other components inside the tripod 5.

[0015] Next, let's combine... Figure 4An example illustrating the working procedure of the automatic bud-picking machine: This invention uses different methods to identify buds in the positioning and picking stages. First, the user places the automatic bud-picking machine on the ground near the tea trees to be picked. To adapt to complex terrain requirements, before takeoff, the picking head 6 can be placed directly on top of the sealing cover 12 of the collection bucket, and the picking opening is placed on the circular cover button 17 of the sealing cover. As long as the diameter of the circular cover button 17 matches the inner diameter of the picking head 6, it can play a good stabilizing role. A separately matched laser rangefinder (not shown in the figure) is used to locate the eight endpoints A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and H of the two rows of tea trees to be picked. Tea trees in tea gardens are usually planted in rows. Once the four endpoints of each row are determined, the automatic picking is determined. The laser rangefinder transmits positioning data to the automatic bud-picking machine via Bluetooth to calculate the optimal path. First, four small rotors 8 lift the picking head 6 into the air. Then, four large rotors 1 lift the collection bucket. Both rise simultaneously to their respective working heights and relative positions before flying together to the starting point of the optimal path. The optimal path is from the takeoff point to the center of the nearest row A and D on the tea tree. The collection bucket is suspended 30-50 cm above the tea tree and moves only in one direction along the center line of row ABCD. The picking head 6 not only needs to move the same distance in the same direction as the collection bucket, but also needs to perform a comprehensive scan of the picking area from left to right and then from right to left along the width direction, starting from A to D. The picking head 6 is suspended... The machine operates 15-30 cm above the tea tree. During the scanning process, the color sensor 13 and distance sensor 14 at the bottom of the four small rotors 8 on the picking head 6 work simultaneously. The color sensor 13 is used for initial identification and positioning of the tender buds, while the distance sensor 14 is used simultaneously to determine the specific height of the tender buds. The color sensor 13 identifies the tender buds based on the change in the green value during the scanning process. For example, if the green value continuously drops below 100 during a movement greater than 5 mm and less than 15 mm, it can be determined that there is a tender bud at that location. Of course, the size data of greater than 5 mm and less than 15 mm and the green value of 100 are not fixed. Each time, specific control parameters can be set according to the differences in tea tree varieties and different quality requirements. Once the color sensor 13 and distance sensor 14 at the bottom of one of the small rotor motors 8 determine that there is a bud at a certain location, the four small rotors 8, under their control, move the picking opening to the bud and then slowly descend to allow the bud to extend into the picking head 6. Simultaneously, the three grayscale sensors 15 at the picking opening are activated to continuously scan the bud. If none of the bud width data obtained by the three grayscale sensors 15 exceeds 10 mm in maximum width, it can be confirmed that a bud has been collected. Of course, this 10 mm dimension is not fixed and can be adjusted according to actual conditions. During the descent of the picking head 6, at least one of the bud width data obtained by the three grayscale sensors 15 must start from zero, continuously increase, and then gradually decrease.Once the width data of the sprouts obtained by the three sets of grayscale sensors 15 remains constant, it indicates that the sprouts have all reached the stem position. The shutter blade 7 is immediately activated to cut the sprout stem. The cut sprouts are then automatically drawn into the inner bucket 3 through the transparent tube 10 and connecting rigid tube 9 under negative pressure. After cutting, the four small rotors 8 lift the picking head 6 back to its original height and position to continue scanning. When rows ABCD are finished, the automatic sprout picker automatically moves to the midpoint of GF to begin picking rows EFGH. It continues until the task is completed or the weight sensor of the collection bucket indicates that the inner bucket 3 is full, at which point it flies back to the takeoff point. Alternatively, a forced remote control command can be issued to stop the operation.

[0016] Although a preferred embodiment of the invention has been described above, it should be understood that the invention is not limited to this embodiment, and those skilled in the art can make various modifications and improvements to the invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the claims.

Claims

1. An automatic sprout harvesting machine, characterized in that: The automatic bud harvester consists of a collection bucket powered by four large rotors (1) and a harvesting head (6) powered by four small rotors (8) connected by a transparent hose (10). The collection bucket is composed of an inner bucket (3) and an outer bucket (2) nested together. The inner bucket (3) and the outer bucket (2) are concentrically arranged. The diameter of the inner bucket (3) is 5-20 mm smaller than that of the outer bucket (2), and the height of the inner bucket (3) is 10-50 mm smaller than that of the outer bucket (2). The inner bucket (3) has several circular ventilation holes (11) with a diameter of less than 2 mm evenly distributed around its circumference and bottom. The top of the inner bucket (3) has a continuous outward-curved edge, and the inner circumference of the top of the outer bucket (2) has a continuous outward-curved edge. The inner liner is fitted with the size of the outer liner. The inner liner (3) is placed into the outer liner (2), and the sealing cap (12) is closed. After the top circumference is naturally sealed, a seal is formed. There is a round hole in the center of the bottom of the outer liner (2). An exhaust fan (4) is installed in the round hole. The outer diameter of the fan blades of the exhaust fan (4) covers the round hole. During the tea picking period, the exhaust fan (4) continuously exhausts air downward to form a continuous negative pressure in the collection bucket, providing the power to transport the tender buds cut by the picking head (6). There is a round hole with a diameter equal to the outer diameter of the connecting hard pipe (9) near the edge of the sealing cap (12). The connecting hard pipe (9) is composed of a straight pipe section of the same diameter and a circular arc pipe connected together. The straight pipe section is fixed to the outer wall of the outer barrel (2) with pipe clamps (16), and can move up and down or rotate relative to the outer barrel (2). Lifting it upwards can pull the arc pipe out of the sealing cover (12), and then rotating it a certain angle can open the sealing cover (12) and take out the inner barrel (3) filled with tea. In addition to providing a sealed space for the inner barrel (3), the outer barrel (2) is also a structural component connecting the four sets of large rotors (1) and the legs (5). The four sets of large rotors (1) are symmetrically fixed to the upper half of the outer wall of the outer barrel (2) through a straight connecting rod, and the two legs (5) are symmetrically fixed to the lower half of the outer wall of the outer barrel (2) through two curved rods. The head (6) is a sleeve 50-150 mm long, with the inner diameter depending on the characteristic size of the bud. Four small rotors (8) are symmetrically fixed to the upper part of the picking head (6) through a straight connecting rod. A color sensor (13) and a distance sensor (14) are installed at the bottom of the motor of each small rotor (8). Three grayscale sensors (15) are arranged in a ring at a 120-degree angle inside the picking opening. A shutter cutter (7) is installed above the three grayscale sensors (15). The shutter cutter (7) is spread out and closely attached to the circumference of the sleeve of the picking head (6) and will not block the tea buds from entering the picking head (6) when not in operation.

2. The automatic bud harvesting machine according to claim 1, characterized in that: The automatic bud-picking machine uses different methods to identify buds in the positioning and picking stages. First, the user places the automatic bud-picking machine on the ground near the tea tree to be picked and uses a separately matched laser rangefinder to locate all endpoints of the area to be picked. Based on these endpoints, the automatic picking range is determined. The laser rangefinder transmits the positioning data to the automatic bud-picking machine via Bluetooth. After calculating the optimal path, the automatic bud-picking machine first activates four sets of small rotors (8) to lift the picking head (6) into the air. Then, four sets of large rotors (1) lift the collection bucket into the air. The two coordinate to rise to their respective working heights and relative positions simultaneously and then fly together to the optimal path. The optimal path starts from the center of the nearest row endpoint of the tea tree, with the collection bucket suspended 30-50 cm above the tea tree and moving unidirectionally along the center line of each row. The picking head (6) not only needs to move the same distance in the same direction as the collection bucket, but also needs to perform a comprehensive scan of the picking area without omission, continuously from left to right and then from right to left along the width direction. The picking head (6) works suspended 15-30 cm above the tea tree. During the scanning process, the color sensor (13) and distance sensor (14) at the bottom of the motor of the four small rotors (8) of the picking head (6) work simultaneously. The color sensor (13) is used for preliminary identification and positioning of the tender buds, and the distance sensor... (14) is used to simultaneously determine the specific height of the bud. The color sensor (13) identifies the bud based on the change in green value during the scanning process. When the color sensor (13) and distance sensor (14) at the bottom of a certain set of small rotors (8) determine that there is a bud at a certain location, the picking head (6) is moved to the bud location under the control of the four sets of small rotors (8). Then, it slowly descends to allow the bud to extend into the picking head (6). At the same time, the three sets of grayscale sensors (15) at the picking opening are activated to continuously scan the bud. When the maximum width of the bud obtained by the three sets of grayscale sensors (15) does not exceed the set threshold, it can be determined that the bud has been collected. It is indeed a tender shoot. During the descent of the picking head (6), the width data of the tender shoot obtained by the three sets of grayscale sensors (15) is at least one of them. It starts from zero, gradually increases and then gradually decreases. When the width data of the tender shoot obtained by the three sets of grayscale sensors (15) are fixed, the shutter blade (7) is immediately activated to cut the bud stem. The cut tender shoot is automatically drawn into the inner bucket (3) through the transparent tube (10) and the connecting hard tube (9) under negative pressure. After the cutting is completed, the four sets of small rotors (8) lift the picking head (6) back to the original height and position to continue scanning until the current work task is completed or the weight sensor of the collection bucket indicates that the inner bucket (3) is full. Finally, it flies back to the take-off point.

3. The automatic bud harvesting machine according to claim 1, characterized in that: All shutter blades (7) have round holes.

4. The automatic bud harvesting machine according to claim 1, characterized in that: The sealing cap (12) is provided with a circular cap button (17), the diameter of which is fitted to the inner diameter of the picking head (6).

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