Palm fruit picking robot

Abstract

The invention discloses a palm fruit picking robot. The palm fruit picking robot comprises a tree climbing mechanism, a picking mechanism and a sensing and main control module. The tree climbing mechanism is used for enabling the fruit picking robot to stably and spirally climb or descend along a tree trunk along a spiral angle of 30 degrees; the picking mechanism is mounted on the machine body of the tree climbing mechanism and is used for picking fruits; the sensing and main control module is installed on the tree climbing mechanism and the picking mechanism and used for controlling the whole fruit picking robot. Compared with the prior art, work such as tree climbing, palm fruit detection and identification, palm leaf felling, palm fruit picking and fruit collection can be completed, manual labor is replaced, the working intensity of workers is reduced, and the picking work efficiency is improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This design belongs to the field of agricultural robots, and specifically involves a tree-climbing and palm fruit-picking robot that can complete tasks such as tree climbing, palm fruit detection and identification, palm leaf cutting, and palm fruit picking. Background Art

[0002] Oil palm is a tropical plant, mainly distributed in Southeast Asia, Africa, Brazil and other places. Oil palm is an important cash crop. Its fruit is rich in oil and is widely used in food, biodiesel, cosmetics and other industries. At present, the harvesting of palm fruits mainly relies on manual harvesting. According to statistics, the manual harvesting process of oil palm fruits accounts for 60% of the total workload and 50% of the production cost. This manual harvesting method not only increases production costs, but may also be affected by human resource limitations and seasonal labor shortages, which in turn affects the harvesting efficiency and product quality.

[0003] With the development of technology, the continuous increase in demand and the continuous development of automatic fruit picking technology, the original manual picking method can no longer meet the requirements of modern production, and the picking work is constantly moving towards automation and intelligence. Therefore, seeking alternative picking methods has become a trend in the development of the industry, among which the application of picking robots has gradually received attention and attention. Palm fruit picking is different from general picking requirements. The climbing height is high, the fruit is heavy, the trunk surface is rough, and the picking is difficult. There are requirements for the obstacle crossing ability and impact resistance of the picking robot. Existing picking robots do not have high climbing ability and strong obstacle crossing ability. At the same time, they cannot withstand the impact of harvesting large fruits and cannot complete the harvesting of palm fruits. Summary of the invention

[0004] The purpose of the present invention is to address the deficiencies of the prior art and propose an automatic harvesting robot that can climb oil palm trees, detect and identify palm fruits, cut palm leaves, and pick palm fruits, etc., which can reduce the workload of workers, improve the efficiency and quality of oil palm fruit picking, and reduce production costs. This robot is suitable for automated harvesting operations in large-scale palm orchards.

[0005] The present invention solves the above-mentioned technical problems by adopting the following technical scheme: a palm fruit picking robot, which comprises a tree climbing mechanism, a picking mechanism, and a sensing and main control module; the tree climbing mechanism is used to enable the fruit picking robot to smoothly climb or descend along the tree trunk in a spiral angle of 30°; the picking mechanism is installed on the body of the tree climbing mechanism, and is used for picking fruits; the sensing and main control module is installed on the tree climbing mechanism and the picking mechanism, and is used for controlling the entire fruit picking robot.

[0006] The tree climbing mechanism comprises a clamping and embracing mechanism and a climbing mechanism. The clamping and embracing mechanism is used to automatically adjust the opening and closing degree of the clamping claws according to the diameter of the tree trunk to firmly clamp the tree trunk; the climbing mechanism can enable the fruit picking robot to move along a spiral angle of 30°.

[0007] The clamping and embracing mechanism includes a fuselage, a left clamp, a right clamp, a pushing rod, an electric push rod, and an electric push rod base; the left clamp and the right clamp are respectively hinged on the fuselage and can rotate freely around the hinge axis, and are used to embrace and clamp the trunk of the palm tree; the pushing rod, the electric push rod, and the electric push rod base are respectively arranged in two groups axially symmetrically, among which the electric push rod base is fixed on the fuselage, and the left and right sides have the same structure and are symmetrically arranged, the front end of the electric push rod base is hinged to the left clamp and the right clamp to increase the structural rigidity, and the right end is used to install the electric push rod; one end of the electric push rod is fixed to the electric push rod base, and the other end is hinged to the pushing rod; one end of the pushing rod is hinged to the electric push rod, and the other end is hinged to the left clamp or the right clamp.

[0008] The climbing mechanism comprises a wheel hub motor and a spring shock absorber; one end of the spring shock absorber is fixed on the left clamping jaw or the right clamping jaw, and the other end is fixedly connected to the intermediate shaft of the wheel hub motor.

[0009] The hub surface of the hub motor is at an angle of 30° to the horizontal plane, allowing the robot to smoothly climb or descend along the tree trunk in a spiral angle of 30°; the hub motor adopts a double-row driving wheel design, and the hub motor is arranged in two layers along the direction of gravity.

[0010] The picking mechanism includes a robotic arm, an end effector and a fruit collecting device; the robotic arm is fixed on the fuselage and is used to carry a binocular camera and a circular saw to realize the movement of the binocular camera and the circular saw as well as observation and harvesting from different angles; the end effector is installed at the end of the robotic arm and is used to realize the identification, positioning and picking of fruits; the fruit collecting device is installed on the fuselage and is used to collect the picked fruits.

[0011] The end effector includes a circular saw, a binocular camera base and a binocular camera; the circular saw is fixed on the rotating shaft at the end of the robotic arm, and the rotating shaft at the end of the robotic arm rotates to drive the circular saw, which is then used to perform the operations of cutting palm leaves and picking fruits; the binocular camera base is fixed on the housing at the end of the robotic arm; the binocular camera is fixed on the binocular camera base to identify and locate fruits;

[0012] The fruit collecting device includes a fruit collecting box, a slide and a flexible shock absorber; the slide is fixedly installed on the platform of the fuselage, used to guide the fruit to slide towards the fruit collecting box; the fruit collecting box is located on the back of the robot, and the top of the fruit collecting box is hinged to the fuselage to collect the picked fruits; one end of the flexible shock absorber is fixed on the fuselage, and the other end is connected to the fruit collecting box to ensure the stability of the mechanism during harvesting.

[0013] The robotic arm is a six-degree-of-freedom robotic arm; the base of the robotic arm is fixed on the fuselage.

[0014] The perception module and main control module mainly include visual sensors, laser ranging sensors, posture sensors and controllers; the visual sensors are used to detect fruits and branches and are installed on the end shell of the robotic arm; the laser ranging sensors, posture sensors and controllers are installed on the fuselage respectively, among which the laser ranging sensors are used to sense motion and target distance, the posture sensors are used to sense the posture of the robot body, and the controller is used to receive and process the position information and status information signals of the whole machine and the picking targets.

[0015] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0016] (1) The palm fruit picking robot designed by the present invention can realize the functions of automatic climbing, automatic identification, and automatic picking of palm fruits, taking into account the characteristics of heavy single palm fruits and high positions. It can reduce the workload of workers, improve the efficiency and quality of oil palm fruit picking, and reduce production costs.

[0017] (2) The climbing mechanism of the present invention is designed in view of the characteristics that the oil palm tree may have some nodules and leaf roots with a rough surface, the oil palm tree leaves are huge, and the tree trunk surface is incompletely harvested, resulting in a fish-scale surface and great friction resistance. A spring shock absorber is added between the hub motor and the frame to ensure that the robot can climb smoothly, so that the robot can rely on the spring to perform adaptive adjustment during the climbing process and cross obstacles.

[0018] (3) The end face of the hub motor in the climbing mechanism of the present invention is inclined at an angle of 30° to the horizontal plane, so that the palm fruit picking robot can spirally rise along an angle of 30°. On the one hand, it can avoid the problem of excessive climbing resistance caused by tree nodules and unprocessed palm leaf roots. On the other hand, it can utilize self-spin to realize the movement of the harvesting device to the specified position, which can reduce the need for a rotating platform, making the overall structure simpler and more compact. Reducing the increase in the mechanism can also reduce the weight of the overall mechanism, reduce the operating burden, and reduce energy consumption.

[0019] (4) The present invention arranges a flexible shock absorber between the body and the fruit collecting box to mitigate the instantaneous impact on the overall structure when the palm fruit falls into the fruit collecting box, thereby ensuring that the palm fruit picking robot works smoothly during harvesting. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0020] Figure 1 The structure of the present invention is schematically shown in FIG. Figure 1 ;

[0021] Figure 2 The structure of the present invention is schematically shown in FIG. Figure 2 ;

[0022] Figure 3 The structure of the present invention is schematically shown in FIG. Figure 3 ;

[0023] Figure 4 It is a front view of the present invention;

[0024] Figure 5 is a top view of the present invention;

[0025] Figure 6 is a bottom view of the present invention;

[0026] Figure 7 It is a left side view of the present invention;

[0027] Figure 8 It is a partial enlarged view of a single side of the clamping mechanism of the present invention.

[0028] Among them, the markings in the attached drawings are: 1-body; 2-spring shock absorber; 3-hub motor; 4-left clamp; 5-right clamp; 6-push rod; 7-electric push rod; 8-electric push rod base; 9-flexible shock absorber; 10-sensing module and main control module; 11-fruit collecting box; 12-slide; 13-mechanical arm; 14-circular saw; 15-binocular camera base; 16-binocular camera. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0029] The present invention is further described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and embodiments.

[0030] Combination Figures 1 to 6 A palm fruit picking robot includes a tree climbing mechanism, a picking mechanism, a sensing module and a main control module. The tree climbing mechanism includes a clamping and embracing mechanism and a climbing mechanism, and the picking mechanism includes a mechanical arm 13, an end effector and a fruit collecting device.

[0031] The clamping and embracing mechanism comprises a body 1, a left clamping jaw 4, a right clamping jaw 5, a push rod 6, an electric push rod 7, and an electric push rod base 8;

[0032] The left clamp 4 and the right clamp 5 are respectively hinged on the fuselage 1 and can rotate freely around the hinge axis to embrace and clamp the trunk of the palm tree. The push rod 6, the electric push rod 7, and the electric push rod base 8 are respectively arranged in two groups axially symmetrically. Among them, the electric push rod base 8 is fixed on the fuselage 1, and the left and right sides have the same structure and are symmetrically arranged. The front end of the electric push rod base 8 is hinged with the left clamp 4 and the right clamp 5 to increase the structural rigidity, and the rear end is used to install the electric push rod 7. One end of the electric push rod 7 is fixed on the electric push rod base 8, and the other end is hinged with the push rod 6. One end of the push rod 6 is hinged with the electric push rod 7, and the other end is hinged with the left clamp 4 (or the right clamp 5). The electric push rods 7 on both sides extend or retract at the same time, and the embracing and releasing actions of the left clamp 4 and the right clamp 5 are realized by pushing the push rod 6. The clamping and embracing mechanism is controlled by the electric push rod 7, and the opening and closing degree of the clamp can be automatically adjusted according to the diameter of the palm trunk to ensure that the trunk is firmly clamped. The gripping system ensures that the robot remains stable on the tree trunk and does not slide during climbing, felling and harvesting operations.

[0033] Six groups of climbing mechanisms are arranged, each group includes a hub motor 3 and a spring shock absorber 2. One end of the spring shock absorber 2 is fixed to the left clamp 4 or the right clamp 5, and the other end is fixedly connected to the intermediate shaft of the hub motor 3. The hub surface of the hub motor 3 is at an angle of 30° to the horizontal plane, so that the robot can smoothly climb or descend along the tree trunk along a spiral angle of 30°. The hub motor 3 adopts a double-row driving wheel design, and the hub motor 3 is arranged in two layers along the gravity direction, which not only ensures the force and torque required for climbing and descending actions, but also can obtain better structural rigidity and stability. The hub motor 3 has a built-in electromagnetic brake device, which can stop accurately when reaching a predetermined height, ensuring that the robot can accurately position itself on the tree trunk and achieve air parking to support picking operations.

[0034] The hub motor 3 is electrically driven, and its energy comes from the lithium battery in the fuselage.

[0035] The end effector includes a circular saw 14, a binocular camera base 15 and a binocular camera 16. The circular saw 14 is fixed to the rotating shaft at the end of the robot arm 13. The rotating shaft at the end of the robot arm 13 rotates to drive the circular saw 14, which is then used to perform the operations of cutting palm leaves and picking palm fruits. The binocular camera base 15 is fixed to the shell at the end of the robot arm 13; the binocular camera 16 is fixed to the binocular camera base 15, and is used to identify and locate palm fruits. Through image processing technology, the position of the palm fruit is accurately identified, and the identification result is fed back to the control system of the robot arm 13. The entire end effector can move with the end of the robot arm 13, and is designed to meet the requirements that the movement of the circular saw 14 does not affect the binocular camera 16 to obtain the target image.

[0036] The robot arm 13 is a 6-DOF robot arm, the end of which is connected to the end effector (circular saw 14, binocular camera base 15 and binocular camera 16), and the base of the robot arm 13 is fixed on the fuselage 1. Flexible movement is achieved through multi-DOF joints, and it can accurately move to the target position according to the position information provided by the binocular camera 16. The working range of the robot arm is ±360°, and the repeatability accuracy is ±0.1mm.

[0037] The fruit collecting device includes a fruit collecting box 11, a slide 12 and a flexible shock absorber 9. The slide 12 is fixedly mounted on the platform of the fuselage 1, and is used to guide the fruit to slide toward the fruit collecting box 11; the fruit collecting box 11 is located on the back of the robot, and the top of the fruit collecting box 11 is hinged to the fuselage 1, and is used to collect the picked palm fruits. One end of the flexible shock absorbing device 9 is fixed to the fuselage 1, and the other end is connected to the fruit collecting box 11, which can effectively absorb the impact force when the palm fruits fall, ensure the stability of the mechanism during harvesting, and prevent the whole machine from tipping over during harvesting and the fruits from being damaged during the picking process.

[0038] The perception module and the main control module 10 mainly include a visual sensor, a laser ranging sensor, an IMU (attitude sensor) and a controller; the visual sensor is used to detect fruits and branches and is installed on the end shell of the robotic arm 13; the laser ranging sensor, the IMU (attitude sensor) and the controller are respectively installed on the fuselage 1, wherein the laser ranging sensor is used to sense movement and target distance, the IMU (attitude sensor) is used to sense the posture of the robot body, and the controller is used to receive and process the position information and status information signals of the whole machine and the picking target, including controlling the electric push rod 7 in the clamping mechanism to maintain a certain clamping force during operation, controlling the start and stop and electromagnetic braking of the hub motor 3 in the tree climbing mechanism, and controlling the movement and positioning of the harvesting mechanism robotic arm 13 and the rotation of the circular saw 14.

[0039] The working process of this embodiment is:

[0040] (1) At the beginning of the picking operation, the robot first embraces the trunk of the palm tree with the left clamp 4 and the right clamp 5 and clamps the trunk. The clamping system can automatically adjust the clamping force according to the thickness of the trunk to ensure that the trunk is firmly clamped. After clamping the trunk, the hub motor 3 is started to drive the robot to climb upward around the trunk at a spiral angle of 30°. During the climbing process, when encountering rough surface parts such as nodules and leaf roots, the robot relies on the spring shock absorber 2 to achieve automatic obstacle crossing. The robot maintains stable movement, the internal sensor monitors the height in real time, and the electromagnetic brake device is used to achieve mid-air parking when reaching the predetermined height.

[0041] (2) After the robot reaches the predetermined height, the robotic arm 13 starts and automatically extends. The visual binocular camera 16 is used to acquire and process images of the target area, identify the position and maturity of the palm fruits, and transmit the identification information to the control system of the controller. Based on the information fed back by the binocular camera 16, the control system makes a judgment and directs the robotic arm to move to the location of the mature palm fruits, and starts the circular saw 14 on the end effector to complete the palm leaf felling and palm fruit picking operations in turn. The cut palm fruits enter the fruit collection box 11 through the slide 12. When the fruit falls into the fruit collection box, the flexible shock absorber 9 is used to absorb the instantaneous impact to ensure the stability of the robot during harvesting and avoid overturning.

[0042] (3) After the picking operation is completed, the robot arm 13 is retracted to the initial position, and the wheel hub motor 3 is started again to drive the robot to slowly spiral down around the tree trunk at a spiral angle of 30°. When the robot descends to the predetermined recovery height, the wheel hub motor 3 stops the robot through the electromagnetic brake device. Finally, the clamping system releases the tree trunk, and the worker recovers the fruit and the robot body, completing a complete picking operation, and preparing to move to the next palm tree to repeat the above operation.

[0043] The above is a preferred embodiment of the present invention. It should be noted that for junior technicians in this technical field, several improvements and extensions can be made without departing from the actual situation and in accordance with the design principles. These should also be regarded as citing the content of the present invention and should also be regarded as the protection scope of the present invention. Therefore, no matter from which point of view, the embodiments should be regarded as exemplary and non-restrictive. The scope of the present invention is defined by the attached claims rather than the above description, and it is intended to include all changes within the meaning and scope of the equivalent elements of the claims in the present invention.

Claims

1. A palm fruit picking robot, characterized in that: The fruit picking robot includes a tree climbing mechanism, a picking mechanism, and a sensing and main control module; the tree climbing mechanism is used to enable the fruit picking robot to smoothly climb or descend along the tree trunk in a spiral angle of 30°; the picking mechanism is installed on the body of the tree climbing mechanism and is used to pick fruits; the sensing and main control module is installed on the tree climbing mechanism and the picking mechanism and is used to control the entire fruit picking robot.

2. The palm fruit picking robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: The tree climbing mechanism comprises a clamping and embracing mechanism and a climbing mechanism. The clamping and embracing mechanism is used to automatically adjust the opening and closing degree of the clamping claws according to the diameter of the tree trunk to firmly clamp the tree trunk; the climbing mechanism can enable the fruit picking robot to move along a spiral angle of 30°.

3. The palm fruit picking robot according to claim 2, characterized in that: The clamping and embracing mechanism comprises a body, a left clamping jaw, a right clamping jaw, a pushing rod, an electric push rod, and an electric push rod base; the left clamping jaw and the right clamping jaw are respectively hinged on the body and can rotate freely around the hinge axis to embrace and clamp the trunk of the palm tree; The push rod, electric push rod and electric push rod base are respectively arranged in two groups axially symmetrically, among which the electric push rod base is fixed on the fuselage, and the left and right sides have the same structure and are symmetrically arranged. The front end of the electric push rod base is hinged to the left clamping jaw and the right clamping jaw to increase the structural rigidity, and the right end is used to install the electric push rod; one end of the electric push rod is fixed to the electric push rod base, and the other end is hinged to the push rod; one end of the push rod is hinged to the electric push rod, and the other end is hinged to the left clamping jaw or the right clamping jaw.

4. The palm fruit picking robot according to claim 2, characterized in that: The climbing mechanism comprises a wheel hub motor and a spring shock absorber; one end of the spring shock absorber is fixed on the left clamping jaw or the right clamping jaw, and the other end is fixedly connected to the intermediate shaft of the wheel hub motor.

5. The palm fruit picking robot according to claim 4, characterized in that: The hub surface of the hub motor is at an angle of 30° to the horizontal plane, allowing the robot to smoothly climb or descend along the tree trunk in a spiral angle of 30°; the hub motor adopts a double-row driving wheel design, and the hub motor is arranged in two layers along the direction of gravity.

6. The palm fruit picking robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: The picking mechanism includes a mechanical arm, an end effector and a fruit collecting device; the mechanical arm is fixed to the body and is used to carry a binocular camera and a circular saw to realize the movement of the binocular camera and the circular saw as well as observation and harvesting from different angles; the end effector is installed at the end of the mechanical arm and is used to realize the recognition, positioning and picking of fruits; The fruit collecting device is installed on the machine body and is used to collect the picked fruits.

7. The palm fruit picking robot according to claim 6, characterized in that: The end effector includes a circular saw, a binocular camera base and a binocular camera; the circular saw is fixed on the rotating shaft at the end of the robotic arm, and the rotating shaft at the end of the robotic arm rotates to drive the circular saw, which is then used to perform operations such as cutting palm leaves and picking fruits; the binocular camera base is fixed on the shell at the end of the robotic arm; the binocular camera is fixed on the binocular camera base and is used to identify and locate fruits.

8. The palm fruit picking robot according to claim 6, characterized in that: The fruit collecting device includes a fruit collecting box, a slide and a flexible shock absorber; the slide is fixedly installed on the platform of the fuselage, used to guide the fruit to slide towards the fruit collecting box; the fruit collecting box is located on the back of the robot, and the top of the fruit collecting box is hinged to the fuselage to collect the picked fruits; one end of the flexible shock absorber is fixed on the fuselage, and the other end is connected to the fruit collecting box to ensure the stability of the mechanism during harvesting.

9. The palm fruit picking robot according to claim 6, characterized in that: The robotic arm is a six-degree-of-freedom robotic arm; the base of the robotic arm is fixed on the fuselage.

10. The palm fruit picking robot according to claim 6, characterized in that: The perception module and main control module mainly include visual sensors, laser ranging sensors, posture sensors and controllers; the visual sensors are used to detect fruits and branches and are installed on the end shell of the robotic arm; the laser ranging sensors, posture sensors and controllers are installed on the fuselage respectively, among which the laser ranging sensors are used to sense motion and target distance, the posture sensors are used to sense the posture of the robot body, and the controller is used to receive and process the position information and status information signals of the whole machine and the picking targets.

Images