Cherry picking device based on soft structure and working method thereof

Abstract

The present application relates to the field of agricultural technology, in particular to a cherry picking device based on soft body structure and its working method. The soft body mechanical arm of the device is driven by the soft body driving module in an electric driving mode, which can avoid branch interference and reach the cherry to be picked. Since the binding force of cherry stem and tree is less than that of fruit, the cherry can be picked with stem under the action of soft body clamping device. When it is unable to reach the cherry farther away, the soft body mechanical arm can be wrapped around the branch as an intermediate medium to improve the node stiffness, so as to reach the cherry farther away to complete the picking work. Meanwhile, the picking efficiency can be improved through multi-axis cooperative operation. Compared with the traditional picking method, the device can effectively identify and pick fresh cherry with stem in the complex environment of branch interference, solving the problem of low picking efficiency of fresh cherry in the existing patent technology.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the field of agricultural technology, in particular to a cherry picking device based on soft body structure and its working method. BACKGROUND

[0002] The existing cherries are divided into two kinds, one is sour cherry, and the other is fresh cherry. Sour cherries are often used to make jam, and large picking machines are often used for overall picking. However, this picking method not only causes damage to cherries, but also cannot achieve picking with stems, and cannot guarantee the integrity of the picked cherries, so it is not suitable for picking fresh cherries. Through the review of existing patent technologies, it is found that single cherry picking devices such as patent numbers CN202320969941.0 and CN202320763076.4 are mostly handheld, cannot achieve automatic picking, and have low picking efficiency. At the same time, due to the irregular shape of cherry trees, the existing technology cannot well avoid the complex environment of branch interference, and cannot achieve picking of cherries with too far distance from the picking position.

[0003] Therefore, the present application provides a cherry picking device based on soft body structure and its working method, which can achieve single picking of cherries, ensure the integrity of the picked cherries during picking, achieve picking with stems, and achieve picking of cherries with too far distance from the picking position. SUMMARY

[0004] The present application aims to provide a cherry picking device based on soft body structure and its working method to solve the problems of low efficiency of traditional manual handheld picking method, inability to pick cherries with too far distance from the picking position, and lack of suitable cherry picking equipment in the prior art.

[0005] The technical solution used by the present application is: a cherry picking device based on soft body structure, comprising: a Mecanum wheel chassis, a storage device, a 360-degree gimbal, a soft body mechanism and a camera;

[0006] The upper part of the Mecanum wheel chassis is provided with a storage device for storing picked cherries; the center of the Mecanum wheel chassis is provided with a 360-degree gimbal, the 360-degree gimbal is connected with the soft body mechanism, and the soft body mechanism is provided with a camera; the Mecanum wheel chassis is used to drive the whole device to move;

[0007] The soft body mechanism comprises: soft body mechanical arms, soft body clamping devices and soft body driving modules, the soft body mechanical arms are provided in plurality, the soft body driving modules are distributed at the central positions of the plurality of soft body mechanical arms, the soft body mechanical arms are driven by the soft body driving modules, and the soft body clamping devices are provided with cameras for identifying the ripeness of cherries.

[0008] Further, the Mecanum wheel type chassis comprises: Mecanum wheels, planetary reduction motors, profile frames and L-shaped connecting pieces; the Mecanum wheels are installed on the motor shafts of the planetary reduction motors, the planetary reduction motors are connected with the profile frames through the L-shaped connecting pieces, and are symmetrically distributed at the four corners of the bottom of the profile frames.

[0009] Further, the profile frame is fastened and connected by profile bars of different lengths through angle pieces.

[0010] Further, the 360-degree holder comprises: a holder lower plate, a holder middle plate, a holder upper plate, a digital steering engine, a steering disc, a copper column, a screw and a nut.

[0011] The holder lower plate is installed on the copper column, the holder upper plate and the holder middle plate are connected into a whole through a short copper column and are rotatably installed on the copper column; the digital steering engine is fixedly connected with the holder lower plate through the screw and the nut, the digital steering engine is connected with the holder middle plate through the steering disc, and the digital steering engine drives the holder upper plate and the holder middle plate to rotate through the steering disc.

[0012] Further, the soft body mechanical arm is multi-shaft type.

[0013] Further, the soft body mechanical arm is provided with three, which are: a soft body mechanical arm A, a soft body mechanical arm B and a soft body mechanical arm C; the soft body clamping devices are provided with three, which are: a soft body clamping device A, a soft body clamping device B and a soft body clamping device C.

[0014] The soft body clamping device A is installed on the soft body mechanical arm A, the soft body clamping device B is installed on the soft body mechanical arm B, the soft body clamping device C is installed on the soft body mechanical arm C, the picking soft body mechanical arm C is supported by the node stiffness of the soft body clamping device A and the soft body clamping device B, the picking soft body clamping device C picks cherries far away, and multi-shaft collaborative operation is realized.

[0015] Further, a working method of a cherry picking device based on a soft body structure:

[0016] S1, when picking cherries using the cherry picking device of the software structure, first drive the Mecanum wheel by the planetary reduction motor, drive the Mecanum wheel chassis and the whole device to move under the cherry tree;

[0017] S2, at this time, the steering wheel rotates, drives the movement of the gimbal plate connected with the steering disc, adjusts the software structure connected with the 360-degree gimbal to the appropriate position;

[0018] S3, at this time, the soft mechanical arm reaches the place to be picked up cherries by its extensibility, under the identification of the camera, the soft clamping device can avoid the complex environment of branch interference, close to the mature cherry to be picked up, realize picking with the stem;

[0019] S4, when the picked cherries are too far away, a part of the soft mechanical arm is wound around the nearby branch to improve the node stiffness, so that the picking end of the soft mechanical arm reaches the picking position far away; after the soft clamping device picks up the cherries, it can be placed in the storage box, so as to achieve the purpose of cherry picking;

[0020] S5, the soft mechanical arm is multi-axis type, which can realize multi-axis cooperative operation to complete the picking work and improve the picking efficiency;

[0021] S6, when the picked cherries are too far away and there is no branch to support, the flexible soft clamping device connected with one of the soft mechanical arms can firmly contact the middle part of the other soft mechanical arm to improve the node stiffness, so that the first soft mechanical arm can reach the picking position far away and complete the picking work.

[0022] Due to the adoption of the above technical scheme, the present application has the following advantages:

[0023] (1) The present application utilizes the vector characteristics of the Mecanum wheel, drives the chassis to move through the Mecanum wheel, and can realize the free movement of the cherry picking device under the forest.

[0024] (2) The present application can quickly adjust the orientation of the soft mechanical arm through the 360-degree gimbal, reduce the picking time and improve the picking efficiency.

[0025] (3) The soft mechanical arm of the present application connects these units into soft mechanical arms of different lengths by taking the cylindrical structure encapsulated by the dielectric high-elastic body film as a unit, covers flexible electrodes on both sides of the dielectric high-elastic body film, and when the soft driving module applies a driving voltage to it, the dielectric high-elastic body film deforms under the action of electric field force, realizing the movement of the whole soft mechanical arm in space.

[0026] (4) The soft mechanical arm of the present application can move flexibly in the complex environment disturbed by branches under the action of the soft driving module, and can be wound around the branches to improve the node stiffness, the soft mechanical arm is elongated, and can touch the cherries of the branches far away, so that the soft clamping device completes the picking work, and the soft mechanical arm can drive the dielectric elastomer in the form of electric driving through the soft driving module to realize the multi-axis cooperative operation of the soft mechanical arm. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0027] Figure 1 It is a structural schematic diagram of the present application.

[0028] Figure 2 It is a structural schematic diagram of the Mecanum wheel chassis of the present application.

[0029] Figure 3 It is a structural schematic diagram of the 360-degree holder of the present application.

[0030] Figure 4 It is a structural schematic diagram of the soft structure of the present application.

[0031] Figure 5 It is a working state schematic diagram of a single soft mechanical arm of the present application.

[0032] Figure 6 It is a working state schematic diagram of multiple soft mechanical arms of the present application.

[0033] In the figure: 1-Mecanum wheel chassis, 2-Mecanum wheel, 3-Planetary reduction motor, 4-Corner piece, 5-Storage device, 6-360-degree holder, 7-Soft structure, 8-Soft mechanical arm, 81-Soft mechanical arm A, 82-Soft mechanical arm B, 83-Soft mechanical arm C, 9-Soft clamping device, 91-Soft clamping device A, 92-Soft clamping device B, 93-Soft clamping device C, 10-Profile frame, 11-L-shaped connecting piece, 12-Digital steering engine, 13-Steering wheel, 14-Copper column, 151-Holder lower plate, 152-Holder middle plate, 153-Holder upper plate, 16-Screw, 17-Nut, 18-Camera, 19-Soft driving module. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0034] The technical solutions of the present application will be further specifically described below by examples, and in combination with the drawings. In the following description, many specific details are set forth in order to fully understand the present application, but the present application can be implemented in many other ways different from those described herein, and those skilled in the art can make similar improvements without departing from the connotation of the present application, therefore the present application is not limited by the specific examples disclosed below.

[0035] In the description of the present application, it should be noted that the terms "upper", "lower", "front", "back", "left", "right" and the like indicate the orientation or positional relationship shown in the drawings, or the orientation or positional relationship commonly used when the product of the present application is used, and are only for the convenience of describing the present application and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the devices or elements referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and therefore cannot be understood as limiting the present application.

[0036] As shown in the embodiment, Figures 1-6 The present application provides a cherry picking device based on soft mechanism and a working method thereof, which comprises a Mecanum wheel chassis 1, a storage device 5, a 360-degree holder 6, a soft mechanism 7 and a camera 18; the upper part of the Mecanum wheel chassis 1 is provided with the storage device 5 for storing picked cherries, and the storage device 5 is adhered to the Mecanum wheel chassis 1 and has a size matched with the size of the chassis; the center of the Mecanum wheel chassis 1 is provided with the 360-degree holder 6, the 360-degree holder 6 is connected with the soft mechanism 7, and the soft mechanism 7 is provided with the camera 18; the Mecanum wheel is used to drive the chassis 1 to move in all directions, so that the whole device can move in all directions;

[0037] The soft mechanism 7 comprises a soft mechanical arm 8, a soft clamping device 9 and a soft driving module 19; the soft mechanical arm 8 is provided in plurality and is a multi-axis soft mechanical arm; the soft driving module 19 is distributed at the center position of the plurality of multi-axis soft mechanical arms; the soft mechanical arm 8 is driven by the soft driving module 19; the soft clamping device 9 is provided with the camera 18 for identifying whether the cherry is ripe or not; the soft mechanism 7 is composed of a polyacrylic acid material, which is a typical dielectric elastomer material; flexible electrodes are covered on both sides of the dielectric elastomer film; when the soft driving module 19 applies a driving voltage to the soft mechanism 7, the dielectric elastomer film deforms under the action of the electric field force, so as to realize the movement of the whole soft mechanical arm 8 in space. The soft mechanical arm 8 learns the optimal action strategy by interacting with the environment, so that the soft mechanical arm 8 can move flexibly in the complex environment disturbed by branches to pick the cherries.

[0038] In an optional embodiment of the present application, Figure 2As shown in the figure, the Mecanum wheel type chassis 1 comprises: a Mecanum wheel 2, a planetary reduction motor 3, a profile frame 10 and an L-shaped connecting piece 11; the Mecanum wheel 2 is installed on the motor shaft of the planetary reduction motor 3, the planetary reduction motor 3 is connected with the profile frame 10 through the L-shaped connecting piece 11, and is symmetrically distributed at four corners of the bottom of the profile frame 10; the profile frame 10 is fastened and connected by profile bars of different lengths through angle pieces 4. The Mecanum wheel type chassis 1 drives four Mecanum wheels 2 by four planetary reduction motors 3, thereby realizing omnidirectional movement in the picking process.

[0039] In an optional embodiment of the embodiment of the present application, as shown in the figure, Figure 3 As shown in the figure, the 360-degree holder 6 comprises: a holder lower plate 151, a holder middle plate 152, a holder upper plate 153, a digital steering engine 12, a steering disc 13, a copper column 14, a screw 16 and a nut 17; the holder lower plate 151 is installed on the copper column 14, the holder upper plate 153 and the holder middle plate 152 are connected into a whole through a short copper column and are rotatably installed on the copper column 14; the digital steering engine 12 is fixedly connected with the holder lower plate 151 through the screw 16 and the nut 17, the digital steering engine 12 is connected with the holder middle plate 152 through the steering disc 13, and the digital steering engine 12 drives the holder upper plate 153 and the holder middle plate 152 to rotate through the steering disc 13; the planetary reduction motor 3 drives the Mecanum wheel 2 to drive the Mecanum wheel type chassis 1 and the whole device to move under the cherry tree; the steering engine 12 rotates and drives the holder upper plate 153 connected with the steering disc 13 to move, thereby adjusting the flexible soft body structure 7 connected with the 360-degree holder 6 to a suitable position, so as to facilitate cherry picking.

[0040] In an optional embodiment of the embodiment of the present application, as shown in the figure, Figures 4-6 As shown in the figure, the soft body mechanical arm 8 is provided with three, which are: a soft body mechanical arm A 81, a soft body mechanical arm B 82 and a soft body mechanical arm C 83; the soft body clamping device is provided with three, which are: a soft body clamping device A 91, a soft body clamping device B 92 and a soft body clamping device C 93; the soft body clamping device A 91 is installed on the soft body mechanical arm A 81, the soft body clamping device B 92 is installed on the soft body mechanical arm B 82, and the soft body clamping device C 93 is installed on the soft body mechanical arm C 83. As shown in the figure, Figure 5 When the cherry to be picked is too far away, the soft body mechanical arm 8 can be wrapped around the adjacent branch, and can be wound around the branch to improve the nodal stiffness, so that the soft body clamping device 9 can reach the cherry to be picked farther away, and then the soft body clamping device 9 completes the picking of the cherry; after the soft body clamping device 9 picks the cherry, it can be placed in the storage box 5, thereby achieving the purpose of picking cherries. As shown in the figure, Figure 6As shown, when the picked cherries are too far away and there is no branch to support winding, the flexible soft clamping device A91 connected by the soft robot arm A81 and the flexible soft clamping device B92 connected by the soft robot arm B82 firmly contact the middle part of the soft robot arm C83 to improve the node stiffness, so that the soft robot arm 83 can reach the farther position to be picked, and the soft clamping device C93 on it completes the picking work to realize the cooperative operation of the plurality of soft robot arms 8 and the soft clamping device 9.

[0041] The working principle of the present application: the soft structure 7 is packaged by a cylindrical structure of dielectric elastomer film as a unit, and these units can be connected into soft robot arms 8 of different lengths. The soft structure is composed of a polyacrylic material, which is a typical dielectric elastomer material, and flexible electrodes are covered on both sides of the dielectric elastomer film. When the soft driving module applies a driving voltage to it, the dielectric elastomer film deforms under the action of electric field force, realizing the movement of the whole soft robot arm 8 in space. The soft driving module 19 realizes the control of the soft robot arm 8 by electric driving. The model-based control method has precise control ability, which can realize the precise control of the soft robot arm 8 by establishing an accurate physical model, and maintain good control performance in complex tasks and environments. At the same time, in the improved reinforcement learning-based control method, the soft robot arm 8 can be adjusted according to the action result of the soft robot arm, so as to realize the precise picking of the soft robot arm 8 in the process of picking cherries.

[0042] When using the cherry picking device based on the soft structure, first, the Mecanum wheel 2 is driven by the planetary reduction motor 3, and the Mecanum wheel chassis 1 and the whole device are moved under the cherry tree; At this time, the steering gear 12 rotates and drives the gimbal upper plate 153 connected with the steering disc to move, and then adjusts the flexible soft structure 7 connected with the 360-degree gimbal to the appropriate position; At this time, the flexible soft robot arm 8 reaches the position to be picked by using its extensibility, and under the identification of the camera 18, the soft clamping device 9 can avoid the complex environment of branch interference and approach the mature cherry to be picked, realizing the picking with stem;

[0043] When the picked cherries are too far away, the soft robot arm 8 can be wrapped around the adjacent branch to reach the farther position to be picked, and then the soft clamping device 9 completes the picking of the cherry. When the soft clamping device 9 picks the cherry, it can be placed in the storage box 5, which can achieve the purpose of picking cherries;

[0044] When the distance of the picked cherries is too far and no branch can be entwined to support, the flexible soft clamping device A91 connected by the soft robot arm A81 and the flexible soft clamping device B92 connected by the soft robot arm B82 firmly contact the middle part of the soft robot arm C83 to increase the node stiffness, so that the soft robot arm 83 can reach the farther position to be picked, and the picking work is completed by the soft clamping device C93 thereon to realize the cooperative operation of the plurality of soft robot arms 8 and the soft clamping devices 9.

[0045] While embodiments of the application have been shown and described, it is to be understood that the embodiments described are only by way of example and that modifications, changes, substitutions and alterations can be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the application as set forth in the following claims and equivalents thereof.

Claims

1. A cherry-picking device based on a soft structure, characterized in that, include: Mecanum wheeled chassis (1), storage device (5), 360-degree gimbal (6), software mechanism (7) and camera (18); The upper part of the Mecanum wheeled chassis (1) is equipped with a storage device (5) for storing the picked cherries; a 360-degree gimbal (6) is provided at the center of the Mecanum wheeled chassis (1), the 360-degree gimbal (6) is connected to the software mechanism (7), and a camera (18) is provided on the software mechanism (7); the Mecanum wheeled chassis (1) is used to drive the entire device to move. The soft mechanism (7) includes: a soft robotic arm (8), a soft gripping device (9), and a soft driving module (19). Multiple soft robotic arms (8) are provided, and the soft driving module (19) is distributed at the center of multiple soft robotic arms (8). The soft robotic arms (8) are driven by the soft driving module (19). The soft gripping device (9) is equipped with a camera (18) for identifying whether the cherries are ripe or not. The soft robotic arm (8) learns the optimal action strategy by interacting with the environment, so that the soft robotic arm (8) can move flexibly in the complex environment of branch interference to pick cherries with the stem. The Mecanum wheel chassis (1) includes: Mecanum wheels (2), planetary geared motors (3), profile frames (10), and L-shaped connectors (11); the Mecanum wheels (2) are mounted on the motor shaft of the planetary geared motors (3), and the planetary geared motors (3) are connected to the profile frames (10) through the L-shaped connectors (11), and are symmetrically distributed at the four corners of the bottom of the profile frames (10); The profile frame (10) is made of profiles of different lengths fastened together by corner pieces (4); The 360-degree gimbal (6) includes: a lower gimbal plate (151), a middle gimbal plate (152), an upper gimbal plate (153), a digital servo motor (12), a servo disk (13), a copper column (14), screws (16), and nuts (17); the lower gimbal plate (151) is mounted on the copper column (14), the upper gimbal plate (153) and the middle gimbal plate (152) are connected as a whole by short copper columns and rotatably mounted on the copper column (14); the digital servo motor (12) is fixedly connected to the lower gimbal plate (151) by screws (16) and nuts (17), the digital servo motor (12) is connected to the middle gimbal plate (152) by the servo disk (13), and the digital servo motor (12) drives the upper gimbal plate (153) and the middle gimbal plate (152) to rotate by the servo disk (13); The soft structure (7) is composed of a cylindrical structure encapsulated with a dielectric elastomer film as a unit, and these units can be connected to form soft robotic arms (8) of different lengths. The soft structure (7) is composed of polyacrylic acid material, which is a typical dielectric elastomer material. Flexible electrodes are covered on both sides of the dielectric elastomer film. When the soft drive module (19) applies a driving voltage to it, the dielectric elastomer film deforms under the action of the electric field force, realizing the movement of the entire soft robotic arm (8) in space. The soft drive module (19) realizes the control of the soft robotic arm (8) by electric drive. The model-based control method has precise control capability. It can realize the precise control of the soft robotic arm (8) by establishing an accurate physical model and maintain good control performance in complex tasks and environments. At the same time, in the control method based on improved reinforcement learning, the soft robotic arm (8) can be adjusted according to the action result of the soft robotic arm to realize the precise picking of the soft robotic arm (8) in the cherry picking process. The working method of a cherry picking device based on a soft structure is as follows: S1. When using the cherry picking device with this soft structure, the planetary geared motor (3) first drives the Mecanum wheel (2), which in turn drives the Mecanum wheel chassis (1) and the entire device to move to the cherry tree. S2. At this time, the servo motor (12) rotates, driving the movement of the gimbal upper plate (153) connected to the servo disk (13), and adjusting the software structure (7) connected to the 360-degree gimbal (6) to a suitable position. S3. At this time, the soft robotic arm (8) uses its extensibility to reach the cherry to be picked. Under the recognition of the camera (18), the soft gripping device (9) can avoid the complex environment of branches and get close to the ripe cherry to be picked, so as to pick it with the stem. S4. When the cherry to be picked is too far away, part of the soft robotic arm (8) wraps around a nearby tree branch to increase the node rigidity, so that the picking end of the soft robotic arm (8) can reach a more distant picking position; after the soft clamping device (9) picks the cherry, it can be placed in the storage box (5) to achieve the purpose of cherry picking. S5. The soft robotic arm (8) is multi-axis and can perform multi-axis collaborative operation to complete the picking work, thereby improving the picking efficiency. S6. When the cherry to be picked is too far away and there are no branches to wrap around and support it, the flexible soft gripping device (9) connected to one of the soft robotic arms (8) can make firm contact with the middle part of the other soft robotic arm (8) to increase the node rigidity, so that the first soft robotic arm (8) can reach a more distant picking position and complete the picking work.

2. The cherry picking device based on a soft structure according to claim 1, characterized in that: The soft robotic arm (8) is multi-axis.

3. The cherry picking device based on a soft structure according to claim 2, characterized in that, The soft robotic arm (8) is provided in three parts: soft robotic arm A (81), soft robotic arm B (82) and soft robotic arm C (83); the soft clamping device is provided in three parts: soft clamping device A (91), soft clamping device B (92) and soft clamping device C (93). The soft gripping device A (91) is mounted on the soft robotic arm A (81), the soft gripping device B (92) is mounted on the soft robotic arm B (82), and the soft gripping device C (93) is mounted on the soft robotic arm C (83). The picking soft robotic arm C (83) is supported by the node stiffness of the soft gripping device A (91) and the soft gripping device B (92) to realize the picking of cherries at a distance, so as to achieve multi-axis collaborative operation.

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