Fruit and vegetable picking and grasping structure and fruit and vegetable picking robot

Abstract

The present invention discloses a fruit and vegetable picking and grasping structure and a fruit and vegetable picking robot, belonging to the technical field of agricultural picking machinery. The structure comprises a base, a fruit grasping assembly, and a fruit stem fixing assembly. The fruit grasping assembly forms a fruit-enclosing cavity by means of multiple claws hinged circumferentially on a support body. The fruit stem fixing assembly employs dual clamping arms to clamp the fruit stem from both sides. When the support body moves downward, the claws drag the fruit, separating the fruit stem. By designing the fruit grasping assembly and the fruit stem fixing assembly, the present invention achieves separation between the fruit and the fruit stem, making it suitable for fruit and vegetable picking operations. Combined with structures such as a multi-jointed manipulator and a mobile chassis, the system can achieve agricultural mechanization for the entire fruit and vegetable picking and collection process.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of agricultural picking machinery, and in particular to a fruit and vegetable picking grasping structure and a fruit and vegetable picking robot. Background Art

[0002] Fruit and vegetable harvesting is a critical step in agricultural production. When fruits and vegetables are ripe, they need to be picked and collected before entering the agricultural product market. For fruits and vegetables like tomatoes and eggplants, the fruit is connected to the main plant via the stalk. During harvesting, the fruit needs to be removed from the stalk. Current harvesting methods are largely manual, which suffers from low efficiency, high labor costs, and seasonal labor shortages. Because the position of each fruit on the main plant is highly random, mechanized harvesting is difficult with existing equipment. Therefore, a new design for a picking and gripping structure is needed, along with targeted robot design to achieve automated harvesting. Summary of the Invention

[0003] In view of the above-mentioned technical deficiencies, the purpose of the present invention is to provide a fruit and vegetable picking and grasping structure and a fruit and vegetable picking robot, which realizes the separation of fruits and stems by designing a fruit grasping component and a fruit stem fixing component.

[0004] In order to solve the above technical problems, the present invention adopts the following technical solution: The present invention provides a fruit and vegetable picking and grasping structure, comprising:

[0005] A base, used to connect a multi-joint robotic arm;

[0006] A fruit grabbing assembly is provided on the base and is used to grab the fruit. The assembly comprises a support body provided on the base and a plurality of gripping claws hinged to the ends of the support body in a circumferentially uniform manner. When the plurality of gripping claws are gathered together, a fruit-enclosing cavity is formed.

[0007] A fruit stem fixing assembly is provided on the base and is used to fix the fruit stem. The assembly includes two clamping arms, the ends of the two clamping arms being away from the base pressing against the fruit stem from both sides.

[0008] When the plurality of clamping claws cover the fruit in the fruit covering cavity and the two clamping arms clamp the fruit stem, the supporting body moves toward the base to separate the fruit from the fruit stem.

[0009] Preferably, a guide cylinder is fixed on the base, the support body is movably sleeved on the guide cylinder, and a first push rod is fixed on the base, and the first push rod is used to drive the support body to move on the guide cylinder.

[0010] Preferably, the support body includes a rotating sleeve and a column, the column is rotatably mounted on the rotating sleeve, the rotating sleeve is sleeved on the guide cylinder, and the clamping claw is hinged to the end of the column.

[0011] Preferably, a slip ring is sleeved on the column, a plurality of connecting rods are hinged on the slip ring, one end of the connecting rod away from the slip ring is hinged on the clamping claw, and a second push rod for driving the slip ring to move on the column is fixed on the column.

[0012] Preferably, a motor is fixed on the side wall of the rotating sleeve, a gear ring is fixed on the column, and the output shaft of the motor is transmission-connected to the gear ring through a reduction box.

[0013] Preferably, a guide groove is provided on the rotating sleeve, and a guide key that slides in cooperation with the guide groove is provided on the guide cylinder.

[0014] Preferably, the interior of the column is hollow, and a discharge port is provided at the bottom of the base. The picked fruits pass through the column, the rotating sleeve and the guide cylinder in sequence and are discharged from the discharge port.

[0015] Preferably, the two clamping arms are hinged on the base, a third push rod is fixed on the base, a hinge seat is fixed at the end of the third push rod, connecting rod 2 is hinged on both sides of the hinge seat, and the ends of the two connecting rods 2 away from the hinge seat are respectively hinged to the two clamping arms.

[0016] Preferably, a V-shaped notch is provided at one end of the clamping arm away from the base, and teeth are provided on the inner wall of the V-shaped notch.

[0017] A fruit and vegetable picking robot comprises the above-mentioned fruit and vegetable picking and grasping structure, and also comprises a crawler-type mobile chassis, a collecting bin is provided on the mobile chassis, a multi-joint robotic arm is mounted on the mobile chassis, and a material receiving hose connected to a base is provided above the collecting bin.

[0018] The beneficial effects of the present invention are:

[0019] The present invention is designed with a fruit grabbing component and a fruit stalk fixing component, wherein the two clamping arms can cooperate to clamp the fruit stalk, and the multiple clamping claws can cooperate to gather to cover the fruit in the fruit covering cavity, and then the clamping claw moves to drag the fruit and pull the fruit off the fruit stalk to complete the fruit picking. The picked fruit is located in the fruit covering cavity. In conjunction with a multi-joint robotic arm, it can be used for the design of an intelligent agricultural product picking robot to promote the agricultural mechanization of fruit and vegetable picking; the present invention further designs a rotating sleeve and a column, the column can rotate on the rotating sleeve, and the rotating sleeve can move on the guide cylinder, so as to achieve the effect of rotation when the clamping claw drags the fruit, simulate the way of picking the fruit by hand, more effectively disconnect the fruit stalk and the fruit, and reduce the damage of the clamping claw to the fruit; the fruit and vegetable picking robot designed by the present invention can use the multi-joint robotic arm to move the base so that the clamping claw can move to the front of the fruit, and the picked fruit can fall into the material receiving hose from the discharge port in the base and be guided to the collection bin to complete the picking and collection of the fruit, thereby realizing the special robot operation of fruit and vegetable picking. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0020] In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the following briefly introduces the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying any creative work.

[0021] Figure 1 A front-view stereoscopic diagram of a fruit and vegetable picking and grabbing structure provided by an embodiment of the present invention.

[0022] Figure 2 A rear-view stereoscopic diagram of a fruit and vegetable picking and grabbing structure provided by an embodiment of the present invention.

[0023] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the open state of the clamping claws and clamping arms in a fruit and vegetable picking and grasping structure provided by an embodiment of the present invention.

[0024] Figure 4 A top view of a fruit and vegetable picking and grasping structure provided in an embodiment of the present invention.

[0025] Figure 5 for Figure 4 A partial enlarged view of point B in the middle.

[0026] Figure 6 for Figure 4 Cross-sectional view at AA in the middle.

[0027] Figure 7 This is a structural schematic diagram of a fruit and vegetable picking robot provided by an embodiment of the present invention.

[0028] Description of reference numerals:

[0029] 1. Base, 2. Multi-joint robotic arm, 3. Support body, 4. Clamping claw, 5. Fruit wrapping chamber, 6. Clamping arm, 7. Guide cylinder, 8. First push rod, 9. Rotating sleeve, 10. Cylinder, 11. Slip ring, 12. Connecting rod 1, 13. Second push rod, 14. Motor, 15. Gear ring, 16. Reducer, 17. Guide groove, 18. Guide key, 19. Discharge port, 20. Third push rod, 21. Articulated seat, 22. Connecting rod 2, 23. Tooth pattern, 24. Mobile chassis, 25. Collection bin, 26. Material receiving hose. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0030] The following will clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without making creative efforts are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0031] Example 1:

[0032] like Figures 1 to 6 As shown, embodiment 1 of the present invention provides a fruit and vegetable picking and grasping structure for grasping tomato fruits, comprising a plate-shaped base 1 provided with a plurality of bolt holes, which is connected to a multi-joint robotic arm 2 by bolts. A guide cylinder 7 is fixed in the center of the base 1, and four axial guide keys 18 are provided on the inner wall of the guide cylinder 7. A support body 3 is provided in the guide cylinder 7, and the support body 3 is composed of a rotating sleeve 9 and a column 10. The rotating sleeve 9 is stepped, and a guide groove 17 that slides with the guide key 18 is provided on the outer wall of the lower end of the rotating sleeve 9 to achieve axial sliding limitation. The column 10 is rotatably mounted on the upper end of the rotating sleeve 9 through a bearing. A first push rod 8 is fixedly mounted on the base 1, and the movable end of the first push rod 8 is fixedly connected to the rotating sleeve 9, so that the first push rod 8 can control the rotating sleeve 9 to rise and fall on the guide cylinder 7.

[0033] Twelve arc-shaped clamping jaws 4 are evenly hinged around the end of the column 10 away from the base. A flexible pad is provided on the inner side of the clamping jaw 4 to increase the contact area with the fruit, which is not shown in the attached figure. The flexible pad can make the pressure distribution on the surface of the fruit more even during the clamping process, avoiding local squeezing damage. A slip ring 11 is provided on the outer side of the column 10. Twelve connecting rods 12 corresponding to the clamping jaws 4 are evenly hinged on the slip ring 11. The connecting rod 12 is hinged to the corresponding clamping jaw 4 at the end away from the slip ring 11. When the slip ring 11 moves on the column 10, the clamping jaw 4 can be driven to swing by the connecting rod 12, thereby realizing the gathering and opening of multiple clamping jaws 4. A second push rod 13 is fixed on the side wall of the column 10. The movable end of the second push rod 13 is fixedly connected to the slip ring 11. The second push rod 13 can control the movement of the slip ring 11 on the column 10.

[0034] Two clamping arms 6 are hingedly connected to the base 1. The ends of the clamping arms 6 facing away from the base 1 are curved and have a V-shaped notch. A third push rod 20 is fixed to the base 1 between the two clamping arms 6. Two connecting rods 22 are symmetrically hinged to a hinge seat 21 fixed to the top of the third push rod 20. The ends of these connecting rods 22 facing away from the hinge seat 21 are respectively hinged to the two clamping arms 6. The extension and retraction of the third push rod 20 drives the two clamping arms 6 to open and close.

[0035] Figure 3 The clamping arm 6 and the clamping jaw 4 are open, and Figure 1This is the state where the clamping arms 6 and the clamping claws 4 are gathered together. During operation, the clamping arms 6 and the clamping claws 4 are first in an open state. The multi-joint robotic arm 2 moves the clamping claws 4 to the front of the tomato fruit. The second push rod 13 extends, driving the clamping claws 4 to gather to form a fruit-enclosing cavity 5, covering the tomato fruit. At this time, the fruit stalk of the fruit passes through the top of the fruit-enclosing cavity 5. Then the third push rod 20 extends, bringing the two clamping arms 6 closer together. The two clamping arms 6 close so that the V-shaped notch clamps the fruit stalk. To further enhance the clamping effect, anti-slip teeth 23 are also provided on the inner wall of the V-shaped notch. Afterwards, the first push rod 8 drives the support body 3 to move downward so that the clamping claws 4 move toward the base 1, thereby dragging the fruit and moving the fruit away from the fruit stalk until the fruit is separated from the fruit stalk.

[0036] Through the above-mentioned setting, the clamping arm 6 cooperates with the clamping claw 4, the clamping arm 6 fixes the fruit stalk, the clamping claw 4 wraps the fruit and drags the fruit, separates the fruit from the fruit stalk, and completes the picking and grasping of the fruit. In conjunction with the multi-joint robotic arm 2, it can be used for the design of an intelligent picking robot for agricultural products to realize intelligent machine picking operations of agricultural products.

[0037] Example 2:

[0038] On the basis of the first embodiment, the present invention proposes a second embodiment, in which a rotary drive assembly is additionally provided. First, a servo motor 14 is fixed on the side wall of the rotating sleeve 9, and its output shaft is connected to the gear ring 15 fixed on the outer periphery of the column 10 through the reduction gear 16. How to realize the transmission connection between the output shaft and the gear ring 15 is a conventional technical means in the prior art, and the present invention will not go into details. During picking, after the clamping claws 4 complete the fruit wrapping and the clamping arms 6 complete the fruit stalk clamping, in the process of the clamping claws 4 dragging the fruit toward the base 1, the motor 14 drives the column 10 to rotate at a low speed, so that a torsional load is generated at the connection between the fruit and the fruit stalk, making the connection easier to break, thereby completing the separation of the fruit and the fruit stalk with minimal damage to the fruit. The cooperation between the guide key 18 and the guide groove 17 can prevent the torsional load from being transmitted to the first push rod 8, thereby preventing the first push rod 8 from being damaged.

[0039] Through the above-mentioned setting, the rotary shearing and axial stretching work together to significantly reduce the force required for separating the fruit stalks and reduce damage to the tomato fruits.

[0040] Example 3:

[0041] Based on Example 1 and Example 2, the present invention can separate the fruit stalk from the fruit. After separation, the fruit is in the fruit-wrapping cavity 5. A multi-joint robotic arm 2 can be used to transfer the fruit to the storage area, and the clamping claws 4 can be controlled to open to put the fruit down.

[0042] In order to improve the collection speed, the present invention designs the column 10 to be hollow and connected to the inner cavity of the rotating sleeve 9, and a corresponding discharge port 19 is also opened on the base 1, so that the picked tomato fruits can fall from the column 10, pass through the rotating sleeve 9 and the guide cylinder 7, and be discharged from the discharge port 19, thereby realizing direct diversion of the picked fruits and improving the collection speed.

[0043] Example 4:

[0044] like Figure 7 As shown, building on the above-mentioned embodiments, the present invention proposes a fruit and vegetable picking robot design that utilizes the aforementioned fruit and vegetable picking and grasping structure as the actuator and is equipped with a mobile chassis 24. The grasping structure is mounted on the crawler-type mobile chassis 24, upon which the multi-jointed robotic arm 2 and the collection bin are mounted, forming the complete picking robot. The discharge port 19 of the base 1 is connected to the upper end of the collection bin 25 via a material receiving hose 26, which can be a corrugated hose. This allows the harvested fruit to roll directly through the material receiving hose 26 into the collection bin 25 for collection.

[0045] The fruit and vegetable picking robot may be further equipped with a visual recognition system for identifying the position of the fruit so as to control the multi-joint robotic arm 2 to move the fruit and vegetable picking and grasping structure for picking. The visual recognition system may adopt an existing design.

[0046] Obviously, those skilled in the art may make various changes and modifications to the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Thus, if such changes and modifications fall within the scope of the claims and their equivalents, the present invention is intended to include such changes and modifications.

Claims

1. A fruit and vegetable picking and grabbing structure, characterized in that: include: A base (1) for connecting to a multi-joint robotic arm (2); A fruit grabbing assembly is arranged on a base (1) and is used for grabbing fruit, comprising a support body (3) arranged on the base (1) and a plurality of gripping claws (4) hinged to the ends of the support body (3) in a circumferentially uniform manner, wherein a fruit-enclosing cavity (5) is formed when the plurality of gripping claws (4) are gathered together; A fruit stem fixing assembly is provided on the base (1) and is used to fix the fruit stem, comprising two clamping arms (6), the ends of the two clamping arms (6) away from the base (1) pressing against the fruit stem from both sides; When the plurality of clamping claws (4) cover the fruit in the fruit-enclosing cavity (5) and the two clamping arms (6) clamp the fruit stem, the support body (3) moves toward the base (1) to separate the fruit from the fruit stem; A guide cylinder (7) is fixed on the base (1), the support body (3) is movably sleeved on the guide cylinder (7), and a first push rod (8) is fixed on the base (1), and the first push rod (8) is used to drive the support body (3) to move on the guide cylinder (7); The support body (3) comprises a rotating sleeve (9) and a column (10), the column (10) is rotatably mounted on the rotating sleeve (9), the rotating sleeve (9) is sleeved on the guide cylinder (7), and the clamping claw (4) is hinged to the end of the column (10); The interior of the column (10) is hollow, and a discharge port (19) is provided at the bottom of the base (1). The picked fruits pass through the column (10), the rotating sleeve (9) and the guide cylinder (7) in sequence and are discharged from the discharge port (19); A slip ring (11) is sleeved on the column (10), and a plurality of connecting rods (12) are hinged on the slip ring (11). One end of the connecting rod (12) away from the slip ring (11) is hinged on the clamping claw (4), and a second push rod (13) for driving the slip ring (11) to move on the column (10) is fixed on the column (10); A motor (14) is fixed on the side wall of the rotating sleeve (9), a gear ring (15) is fixed on the column (10), and an output shaft of the motor (14) is connected to the gear ring (15) through a reduction gear box (16).

2. A fruit and vegetable picking and grabbing structure according to claim 1, characterized in that: A guide groove (17) is provided on the rotating sleeve (9), and a guide key (18) that is slidably matched with the guide groove (17) is provided on the guide cylinder (7).

3. The fruit and vegetable picking and grasping structure according to claim 1, characterized in that: The two clamping arms (6) are hinged on the base (1), a third push rod (20) is fixed on the base (1), an articulated seat (21) is fixed to the end of the third push rod (20), and two connecting rods (22) are hinged on both sides of the articulated seat (21), and the ends of the two connecting rods (22) away from the articulated seat (21) are respectively hinged to the two clamping arms (6).

4. The fruit and vegetable picking and grasping structure according to claim 1, characterized in that: A V-shaped notch is provided at one end of the clamping arm (6) away from the base (1), and a tooth pattern (23) is provided on the inner wall of the V-shaped notch.

5. A fruit and vegetable picking robot, comprising the fruit and vegetable picking and grasping structure according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: The invention also includes a crawler-type mobile chassis (24), a collecting bin (25) is provided on the mobile chassis (24), a multi-joint mechanical arm (2) is mounted on the mobile chassis (24), and a material receiving hose (26) connected to the base (1) is provided above the collecting bin (25).

Images