Joint operation type starfish capture robot cluster operation method

Abstract

The present invention provides a cooperative operation method for a starfish capture robot cluster, comprising the steps of: S1: putting the search and capture robot, the first transfer station and the transport robot into water; S2: the search and capture robot docking with a transport robot and notifying the subsequent arriving transport robots to wait; S3: the search and capture robot searching for starfish and storing the starfish in the transport robot; S4: when the transport robot is full, detaching from the search and capture robot and returning to dock with the first transfer station; S5: recovering the first transfer station and the docked transport robot to the deck; S6: repeating steps S3 to S5; S7: recovering the search and capture robot, the transport robot and the first transfer station. The cooperative operation method for the starfish capture robot cluster of the present invention separates the functions of search and capture, and uses the transport robot to continuously salvage the starfish back to the water surface, while the search and capture robot continuously conducts starfish search and capture operations; the capture efficiency is high.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of starfish capture, and in particular to a cooperative operation method for a starfish capture robot cluster operation. Background Art

[0002] Starfish are predatory animals in the ocean. Due to having poisonous spines and being able to regenerate severed limbs, they have few natural enemies. In marine aquaculture activities, starfish often feed on shellfish, causing serious economic losses and environmental damage. Currently, in China, methods such as manual fishing or manual injection of drugs are mostly used for extermination. However, the underwater environment is harsh, the labor intensity is high; the spines are highly poisonous, threatening the safety of personnel; the flow field environment is changeable, with high danger; the labor efficiency of manual operation is low; and personnel engaged in underwater operations for a long time are prone to occupational diseases.

[0003] Therefore, some automated products have emerged at home and abroad. For example, the University of Queensland in Australia invented an underwater robot that can automatically perform injection operations. This robot is relatively large in size and requires a large winch for deployment and recovery; Patent No. CN111012541B discloses a similar injection-type underwater robot. Both of the above use the injection method to kill starfish, but the starfish remains are still in the water, and it is not clear whether the starfish are completely dead, whether they will regenerate, and whether the remains will affect the marine environment and other organisms.

[0004] Patent No. CN112970731A discloses a starfish killing device that uses the negative pressure principle to suck a single starfish into the device and uses a rotating cutter to crush the starfish and discharge it into the sea. This device has a relatively high efficiency during killing, but it still cannot get rid of the drawbacks of manual entry into the water for operation.

[0005] Patent No. CN109832231B discloses a starfish capture device that uses bait to attract starfish into the device and, based on the negative pressure principle, adsorbs multiple starfish on the inner wall of the device, so that more starfish can be captured in one operation. This invention adopts a trapping operation method. After one operation, the device needs to be retrieved to the water surface for treatment and then re-entered the water to perform a new round of operations. The time cost and labor cost consumed in the deployment and recovery stages are very high, and the overall efficiency is low.

[0006] Therefore, there are still technical problems to be solved in how to efficiently and safely achieve starfish killing, which urgently need to be addressed. Summary of the Invention

[0007] Aiming at the deficiencies in the above-mentioned prior art, the present invention provides a cooperative operation method for a starfish capture robot cluster operation, which separates the functions of searching and transporting. The transport robot continuously retrieves starfish back to the water surface in a cycle, while the search robot continuously conducts starfish search and capture operations; the capture efficiency is high.

[0008] To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a cooperative operation method for a starfish capture robot cluster, including the steps:

[0009] S1: A mother ship puts a search robot and a first transfer station into the water; the search robot emits a first guiding signal, and the first transfer station emits a second guiding signal; after waiting for a first time period T1, several transport robots are put into the water at intervals of a second time period T2; the search robot includes a second transfer station and is connected to the mother ship through a cable; the transport robot includes a connection head, and the connection head cooperates with the first transfer station and the second transfer station; the search robot is supplied with energy by the mother ship through an umbilical cable;

[0010] S2: The search robot docks with one of the transport robots through the second transfer station and the connection head, and notifies the subsequent arriving transport robots to wait;

[0011] S3: The search robot captures starfish and stores the starfish in the docked transport robot;

[0012] S4: When the transport robot is full, it detaches from the search robot and returns to dock with the first transfer station; the search robot docks with the next waiting transport robot;

[0013] S5: The first transfer station and the docked transport robot are recovered together to the deck of the mother ship; the current transport robot is removed; the first transfer station is put into the water again;

[0014] S6: Repeat steps S3 - S5 until the capture of the starfish is completed;

[0015] S7: Recover the search robot, the transport robot and the first transfer station.

[0016] Preferably, the first guiding signal and the second guiding signal include acoustic signals, magnetic field signals or optical signals.

[0017] Preferably, the first guiding signal carries a second transfer station occupancy flag bit J; when J = 0, it means that there is no transport robot docked at the second transfer station; when J = 1, it indicates that the second transfer station has been docked with a transport robot, and other transport robots should queue up and wait in turn;

[0018] The first guiding signal also carries a full - load flag bit L; when L = 0, it indicates that the transport robot currently docked with the second transfer station is not full; when L = 1, it indicates that the transport robot currently docked with the second transfer station is full;

[0019] The second guiding signal carries a first docking station occupancy flag bit K; when K = 0, it indicates that there is no docking of the transport robot at the first docking station; when K = 1, it indicates that the first docking station has been docked with a transport robot, and other transport robots should queue up and wait in turn.

[0020] Preferably, in the step S2:

[0021] After the transport robots enter the water in turn, they move towards the direction of the first guiding signal; if the second docking station occupancy flag bit J is 0, the transport robot ranked first docks with the second docking station;

[0022] After the search and capture robot docks with the transport robot, it modifies the second docking station occupancy flag bit J to 1; the search and capture robot starts the capture operation.

[0023] Preferably, in the step S4:

[0024] When the transport robot is full, the search and capture robot modifies the full - load flag bit L to 1, indicating that the currently docked transport robot detaches; after the transport robot detaches, the second docking station occupancy flag bit J is 0;

[0025] The detached transport robot moves towards the direction of the second guiding signal; the transport robot identifies the first docking station occupancy flag bit K, if K is 0, then this transport robot docks with the first docking station; after the docking is completed, the first docking station occupancy flag bit K is modified to 1, informing the subsequent transport robots to wait.

[0026] Preferably, in the step S5:

[0027] After removing the transport robot, the first docking station occupancy flag bit K is modified to 0.

[0028] Due to the adoption of the above - mentioned technical solutions, the present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0029] The present invention adopts a composition method of "function segmentation + joint operation", that is, it separates the functions of "search and capture" and "transport". The transport robot is used to continuously salvage starfish back to the water surface in a cycle, while the search and capture robot continuously conducts starfish search and capture operations to achieve continuous starfish search and capture.

[0030] It also has the following advantages:

[0031] 1. Intact live starfish will not affect the marine environment and other marine organisms, and there is no need to worry about incomplete killing situations such as broken - body regeneration.

[0032] 2. Since the functions of the two types of robots are simplified, the system complexity is reduced, the single - unit mass is reduced, and thus the difficulty of deployment and recovery and the requirements for the deployment system are reduced.

[0033] 3. The two robots perform their respective duties and carry out continuous hunting operations. The operation process will not be interrupted by the deployment and recovery equipment, the operation time is extended, and the operation efficiency is further improved. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0034] Figure 1 It is a schematic structural diagram of a joint - operation - type starfish - catching robot cluster according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0035] Figure 2 It is a flowchart of a method for operating a joint - operation - type starfish - catching robot cluster according to an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0036] The following gives the preferred embodiments of the present invention according to the drawings Figures 1 to 2 , and describes them in detail to enable a better understanding of the functions and features of the present invention.

[0037] Please refer to Figures 1 to 2 , a method for operating a joint - operation - type starfish - catching robot cluster according to an embodiment of the present invention includes the steps:

[0038] S1: A mother ship 1 puts a hunting robot 2 and a first transfer station 11 into the water; the hunting robot 2 emits a first guiding signal, and the first transfer station 11 emits a second guiding signal; after waiting for a first time period T1, a number of transport robots 3 are put into the water at intervals of a second time period T2; the hunting robot 2 includes a second transfer station 21 and is connected to the mother ship 1 through a cable; the transport robot 3 includes a connecting head 31, and the connecting head 31 cooperates with the first transfer station 11 and the second transfer station 21; the hunting robot 2 is supplied with energy by the mother ship 1 through an umbilical cable;

[0039] The first guiding signal and the second guiding signal include acoustic signals, magnetic field signals or optical signals. The type of the signal is related to the matching of the operation sea area and the signal characteristics. The types of the first guiding signal and the second guiding signal can be the same, but the characteristics are different, such as sound frequency, spectral wavelength, etc.

[0040] The first guiding signal carries a second transfer station occupancy flag bit J; when J = 0, it means that there is no transport robot 3 docked at the second transfer station 21; when J = 1, it indicates that the second transfer station 21 has been docked with a transport robot 3, and other transport robots 3 should queue up in turn and wait;

[0041] The first guiding signal also carries a full-load flag bit L; when L = 0, it indicates that the transport robot 3 currently docked with the second transfer station 21 is not full; when L = 1, it indicates that the transport robot 3 currently docked with the second transfer station 21 is full.

[0042] The second guiding signal carries a first transfer station occupancy flag bit K; when K = 0, it indicates that there is no transport robot 3 docked at the first transfer station 11; when K = 1, it indicates that the first transfer station 11 has been docked with a transport robot 3, and other transport robots 3 should queue up and wait in turn.

[0043] S2: The search and capture robot 2 docks with a transport robot 3 through the second transfer station 21 and the docking head 31, and notifies the subsequent arriving transport robots 3 to wait.

[0044] In step S2:

[0045] The transport robots 3 enter the water in turn and move towards the direction of the first guiding signal; if the occupancy flag bit J of the second transfer station 21 is 0, the first transport robot 3 in line docks with the second transfer station 21.

[0046] After the search and capture robot 2 docks with the transport robot 3, it modifies the occupancy flag bit J of the second transfer station to 1; the search and capture robot 2 starts the capture operation.

[0047] S3: The search and capture robot 2 searches for starfish and stores the starfish in the docked transport robot 3.

[0048] S4: When the transport robot 3 is full, it detaches from the search and capture robot 2 and returns to dock with the first transfer station 11; the search and capture robot 2 docks with the next waiting transport robot 3.

[0049] In step S4:

[0050] When the transport robot 3 is full, the search and capture robot 2 modifies the full-load flag bit L to 1, indicating that the currently docked transport robot 3 detaches; after the transport robot 3 detaches, the occupancy flag bit J of the second transfer station is 0.

[0051] The detached transport robot 3 moves towards the direction of the second guiding signal; the transport robot 3 identifies the first transfer station occupancy flag bit K, if K is 0, then this transport robot 3 docks with the first transfer station 11; after completing the docking, the first transfer station occupancy flag bit K is modified to 1, informing the subsequent transport robots 3 to wait.

[0052] S5: Recover the first transfer station 11 and the docked transport robot 3 together to the deck of the mother ship 1; remove the current transport robot 3; put the first transfer station 11 into the water again.

[0053] In step S5:

[0054] After removing the transport robot 3, the occupancy flag bit K of the first docking station is modified to 0.

[0055] S6: Repeat steps S3 - S5 until the capture of the starfish is completed;

[0056] S7: Recover the capture robot 2, the transport robot 3, and the first docking station 11.

[0057] The present invention has been described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. Those of ordinary skill in the art can make various variations of the present invention based on the above description. Therefore, certain details in the embodiments should not constitute a limitation to the present invention, and the protection scope of the present invention will be defined by the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method for collaborative operation of a starfish capture robot cluster, comprising the steps: S1: A mother ship puts a search robot and a first transfer station into the water; the search robot emits a first guiding signal, and the first transfer station emits a second guiding signal; after waiting for a first time period T1, several transport robots are put into the water at intervals of a second time period T2; the search robot includes a second transfer station and is connected to the mother ship through a cable; the transport robot includes a connection head, and the connection head cooperates with the first transfer station and the second transfer station; the search robot is supplied with energy by the mother ship through an umbilical cable. S2: The search robot docks with one of the transport robots through the second transfer station and the connection head, and notifies the subsequent arriving transport robots to wait. S3: The search robot captures starfish and stores the starfish in the docked transport robot. S4: When the transport robot is full, it detaches from the search robot and returns to dock with the first transfer station; the search robot docks with the next waiting transport robot. S5: The first transfer station and the docked transport robot are recovered together to the deck of the mother ship; the current transport robot is removed; the first transfer station is put into the water again. S6: Repeat steps S3 - S5 until the capture of the starfish is completed. S7: Recover the search robot, the transport robot and the first transfer station.

2. The method for collaborative operation of a starfish capture robot cluster according to claim 1, wherein The first guiding signal and the second guiding signal include acoustic signals, magnetic field signals or optical signals.

3. The collaborative operation method of starfish capture robot clusters according to claim 1, wherein, The first guiding signal carries a second transfer station occupancy flag bit J; when J = 0, it means that there is no transport robot docked at the second transfer station; when J = 1, it indicates that the second transfer station has been docked with a transport robot, and other transport robots should queue up in turn. The first guiding signal also carries a full - load flag bit L; when L = 0, it indicates that the transport robot currently docked with the second transfer station is not full; when L = 1, it indicates that the transport robot currently docked with the second transfer station is full. The second guiding signal carries a first transfer station occupancy flag bit K; when K = 0, it indicates that there is no transport robot docked at the first transfer station; when K = 1, it indicates that the first transfer station has been docked with a transport robot, and other transport robots should queue up in turn.

4. The collaborative operation method of the starfish capture robot cluster for collaborative operation according to claim 3, characterized in that, In step S2: After the transport robots enter the water in turn, they move towards the direction of the first guiding signal; if the second transfer station occupancy flag bit J is 0, the first - ranked transport robot docks with the second transfer station. After the search robot docks with the transport robot, it modifies the second transfer station occupancy flag bit J to 1; the search robot starts the capture operation.

5. The collaborative operation method of the starfish capture robot cluster for joint operations according to claim 3, characterized in that, In step S4: When the transport robot is full, the search robot modifies the full - load flag bit L to 1, indicating that the currently docked transport robot detaches; after the transport robot detaches, it sets the second transfer station occupancy flag bit J to 0. After detachment, the transport robot moves in the direction of the second guiding signal; the transport robot identifies the occupancy flag bit K of the first docking station. If K is 0, the transport robot docks with the first docking station; After docking is completed, the occupancy flag bit K of the first docking station is modified to 1 to inform the subsequent transport robots to wait.

6. The collaborative operation method of starfish capture robot clusters according to claim 5, characterized in that In the step S5: After the transport robot is removed, the occupancy flag bit K of the first docking station is modified to 0.

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