Tomato seedling pot seedling low-shielding clamping mechanism in spatial stepped arrangement

Abstract

The invention relates to a space step type arrangement mechanism and an improved clamping mechanism for reducing tomato seedling pot seedling damage. The improved clamping mechanism comprises a clamping mechanical claw set and a main body rack. The control mechanism drives the whole mechanism to operate through a servo motor. The adjusting mechanism comprises a sliding groove, a sliding rail and a chain, wherein the sliding groove and the sliding rail are installed on the main body rack, the chain is connected with the main body rack and the mechanical claw to drive the mechanical claw to move in a space step mode, and shielding between pot seedlings is reduced as much as possible. By operating the adjusting device, the distance and height between the mechanical claws can be accurately controlled, and the problem of shielding between tomato seedlings and pot seedlings is solved. According to the mechanical claw, the clamping part of the mechanical claw is improved, so that the problem of shielding of tomato seedlings and pot seedlings in the grabbing process is solved, and the shooting efficiency of the pot seedlings is improved. By means of hinges among the sliding rails, the sliding grooves and the mechanical claws of the adjusting mechanism, stepped arrangement of pot seedlings is achieved, and the blocking problem of the pot seedlings is solved. Meanwhile, the grabbing part of the mechanical claw is improved, and the shielding of the mechanical claw to the tomato pot seedlings in the grabbing process is reduced.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of agricultural automation equipment technology, and in particular to a gripping mechanism for the transplanting or sorting of tomato seedlings. Specifically, it relates to a multi-claw variable-distance sorting mechanism that can reduce the shading and interference between tomato seedlings in pots. Background Technology

[0002] In greenhouse agriculture, tomato seedling cultivation is a crucial step in production. With the development of large-scale planting, the need for automated sorting and transplanting of tomato seedlings is becoming increasingly urgent. In automated operations, clamping mechanisms are typically used to remove seedlings from their trays and transfer them.

[0003] However, existing gripping mechanisms have the following drawbacks: First, traditional grippers are usually positioned on the same plane or at the same height. When tomato seedlings have lush foliage, adjacent seedlings can easily obstruct each other, making it difficult for the visual recognition system to accurately locate the center of each seedling, thus affecting the success rate and accuracy of gripping. Second, traditional mechanical grippers directly hold the stems of the tomato seedlings. Due to the severe obstruction of the seedlings by traditional mechanical grippers, data collection becomes very difficult. Therefore, a gripping mechanism that can effectively solve the obstruction problem needs to be designed. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The technical problem this invention aims to solve is to overcome the shortcomings of existing technologies and provide a low-damage clamping mechanism for tomato seedlings arranged in a spatially stepped manner. To solve the above technical problem, this invention provides the following technical solution:

[0005] A low-damage gripping mechanism for tomato seedlings in a spatially stepped arrangement includes a main frame and a gripping mechanical claw assembly, a servo motor-driven control mechanism, and an adjustment mechanism for spatial position adjustment. The adjustment mechanism includes a slide groove, rack, slide rail, transmission chain, and mechanical claw fixing components fixedly installed on the main frame. Two front-view and side-view cameras are located outside the main frame for image data acquisition. One end of the transmission chain is connected to the main frame, and the other end is fixedly connected to the gripping mechanical claw assembly. The gripping mechanical claw assembly is connected to the main frame through a fixing component, and forms a sliding guide engagement with the slide groove and slide rail. The adjustment mechanism drives the gripping mechanical claw assembly to achieve spatial stepped displacement movement, so that the gripped tomato seedlings are arranged in a stepped staggered manner, eliminating the shading interference between the seedlings. The gripping working end of the gripping mechanical claw assembly is a root soil mound adaptation structure, which directly grips the root soil mound area of ​​the tomato seedlings. Through structural improvements, it avoids the root system of the seedlings and reduces the shading of the seedlings during the gripping process. The adjustment mechanism can independently and precisely adjust the horizontal spacing and vertical height of each gripping unit in the gripping mechanical claw assembly.

[0006] Preferably, the gripping mechanical claw assembly consists of four independently operating mechanical claw holding units. All mechanical claw holding units are arranged sequentially along the length of the slide rail, forming a spatially staggered, vertically differentiated, stepped arrangement between adjacent units. Each set of mechanical claw holding units can be independently adjusted linearly along the slide groove and slide rail. The vertical height difference adjustment range for adjacent mechanical claw holding units in the spatially stepped arrangement is 20mm-80mm, and the horizontal spacing adjustment range is 30mm-120mm, adapting to the gripping of tomato seedlings of different heights and spacings.

[0007] Preferably, the control mechanism includes a servo motor, a planetary reducer, a first control gear, and a second control gear. The output shaft of the servo motor is fixedly connected to the input end of the planetary reducer, and the output end of the planetary reducer is connected to the first control gear. The first and second control gears are respectively connected to the left and right connecting rods, driving the opening and closing of the mechanical gripper mechanism. The servo motor achieves precise driving of the displacement and gripping action of the mechanical gripper assembly through closed-loop control.

[0008] Preferably, each mechanical claw gripping unit includes symmetrically arranged left and right gripping mechanisms. The inner gripping surfaces of the left and right gripping mechanisms are arc-shaped contact surfaces. The curvature of the arc-shaped contact surfaces matches the curvature of the outer wall of the soil mound at the root of the tomato seedling pot, thus achieving full-wrap gripping.

[0009] Preferably, a flexible anti-slip protective pad is fixedly attached to the arc-shaped contact surface of the left and right clamping mechanisms. The flexible anti-slip protective pad is made of food-grade silicone. The clamping working surface of the flexible anti-slip protective pad is provided with dense anti-slip protrusions and buffer grooves to increase clamping friction and buffer clamping impact. The thickness of the flexible anti-slip protective pad is 3mm-8mm, and the Shore hardness is 30-50HA, which ensures clamping stability while avoiding compression and breakage of the soil pile at the root by rigid clamping.

[0010] Preferably, the fixing component is a double-degree-of-freedom hinged bearing. The gripping mechanical claw assembly is connected to the main frame via the double-degree-of-freedom hinged bearing, enabling adjustment of the pitch angle and horizontal deflection of the gripping mechanical claw assembly. This, combined with the spatial stepped arrangement, eliminates obstruction by the seedlings. The slide rail is a precision ball-bearing linear slide rail, and the slide groove is a closed guide groove. A wear-resistant lubricated slider is installed between the slide rail and the slide groove, allowing the gripping mechanical claw assembly to form a low-resistance sliding fit with the slide groove and slide rail through the wear-resistant lubricated slider. The main frame is a hollow aluminum alloy profile frame, with its surface treated with hard anodizing for corrosion protection. A mounting flange is provided at the bottom of the main frame for fixing the gripping mechanism to the transplanting equipment. A seedling position detection sensor is also installed on the main frame, electrically connected to the control mechanism to achieve automatic alignment and precise gripping of the gripping mechanical claw assembly. The drive chain is a 304 stainless steel precision drive chain, and the drive chain is fixedly connected to the gripping mechanical claw assembly via a detachable chain joint.

[0011] Beneficial effects:

[0012] This invention uses an adjustment mechanism to arrange multiple mechanical claw units in a stepped spatial distribution during grasping. Compared to the traditional planar distribution, this significantly reduces mutual occlusion between leaves of the seedlings, creating favorable conditions for machine vision positioning and improving recognition accuracy and grasping success rate. Simultaneously, the mechanical claws, by gripping the root ball, fundamentally avoid the problem of seedling occlusion. Combined with an elastic buffer layer, this significantly improves seedling occlusion and transplant survival rates. Attached Figure Description

[0013] The accompanying drawings are provided to further illustrate the invention and form part of the specification. They are used in conjunction with embodiments of the invention to explain the invention and do not constitute a limitation thereof. In the drawings:

[0014] Figure 1 This is a front view of the present invention.

[0015] Figure 2 This is the left view of the present invention.

[0016] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the present invention.

[0017] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the overall mechanical gripper unit of the present invention.

[0018] The following are the labels in the diagram: 1. Camera; 2. Gripping mechanical claw assembly; 3. Main frame; 4. Chain; 5. Mechanical claw fixing component; 6. Slide groove; 7. Horizontal rack; 8. Servo motor; 9. Slide rail; 10. Fixing component; 11. Frame; 12. Planetary reducer; 13. Control gear one; 14. Control gear two; 15. Connector one; 16. Connector two; 17. Connecting rod; 18. Gripping mechanism. Detailed Implementation

[0019] The exemplary embodiments of this disclosure are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, including various details of the embodiments to aid understanding, and should be considered merely exemplary. Therefore, those skilled in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications can be made to the embodiments described herein without departing from the scope and spirit of this disclosure. Similarly, for clarity and brevity, descriptions of well-known functions and structures are omitted in the following description:

[0020] To further understand and appreciate the structural features and effects achieved by the present invention, the following detailed description is provided through specific embodiments and accompanying drawings:

[0021] As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the spatial stepped arrangement and gripping mechanical claw assembly (2) of the present invention mainly consists of a main frame (3), a sliding groove (6), a sliding rail (9), and the gripping mechanical claw assembly (2). The design of the sliding groove (6) and the sliding rail (9) makes the mechanical claws present a spatial stepped arrangement, which greatly reduces the obstruction between tomato seedlings in pots. The design of the mechanical claw gripping mechanism (18) reduces the obstruction of the seedlings in pots during the gripping process, and can ensure the preservation of the soil mound and the protection of the roots, which greatly improves the efficiency of taking pictures and the survival rate of transplanted seedlings.

[0022] The mechanical gripper assembly includes a unit mechanical gripper, a chain (4), and a slide (6). The unit mechanical gripper consists of a fixing part (10), a frame (11), a planetary reducer (12), control gear one (13), control gear two (14), connector one (15), connector two (16), a connecting rod (17), and a gripping mechanism (18). The main function of the fixing part (10) is to fix the mechanical gripper on the main frame (3). Connector one (15) and connector two (16) fix each gear, allowing them to mesh with each other to achieve a more stable gear transmission. The servo motor (8) drives the rotation of control gear one (13) and control gear two (14) through the planetary reducer (12). Control gear one (13) and control gear two (14) are respectively connected to the left and right gripping mechanisms (18) to control the opening and closing of the gripping mechanisms (18). The gripping mechanism (18) opens and closes through two gears. The claw part is designed with a flexible anti-slip protective pad, which can effectively help protect the roots of the seedlings. The output shaft of the servo motor (8) is fixedly connected to the input end of the planetary reducer (12). The output end of the planetary reducer (12) is connected to the gear transmission group. The gear transmission group meshes with the transmission chain (4). The servo motor (8) achieves precise drive of the displacement and gripping action of the gripping mechanical claw group (2) through closed-loop control.

[0023] A fixing part (5) on top of the mechanical claw unit fixes the mechanical claw to the main frame (3), which can ensure the displacement path of the mechanical claw. The mechanical claw has a more stable path movement process during the grasping process, which is more conducive to ensuring the spatial stepped arrangement of the mechanical claw when grasping the seedlings, and providing clearer seedling data for subsequent image acquisition. The spatial stepped arrangement of the mechanical claw is mainly composed of two slides (6) and slide rails (9). One slide (6) is horizontal, and the other slide (6) is inclined upward. The two slides (6) can well determine the movement path of the mechanical claw on the main frame (3). The function of the slide rail (9) is mainly to drive the entire gripping mechanical claw group (2) to move upward and downward. The transmission chain (4) connects each mechanical claw unit, ensuring the coordinated movement of the mechanical claw units. The main function of the camera (1) is to take pictures when the tomato seedlings are arranged in a spatial stepped manner, and upload the pictures to the data terminal.

[0024] The mechanical claw module (2) of this invention simplifies the structure of the mechanical claw and improves the structure of the mechanical claw gripping mechanism (18). The upper part of the mechanical claw adopts a gear meshing method, which reduces unnecessary material consumption. At the same time, the gear transmission is more stable, which can greatly control the opening and closing of the mechanical claw and the magnitude of the force of the mechanical claw opening and closing. During the gripping process, the opening and closing of the mechanical claw is controlled by the gear transmission, which can stably and with less damage to the roots of the potted seedlings, reduce the damage to the roots of the potted seedlings, and improve the survival rate of the potted seedlings during transplanting. The mechanical claw gripping mechanism (18) is simplified and adopts two claws for gripping. The claw part is improved and a flexible anti-slip protective pad is used on the inner wall of the claw, which can well ensure the preservation of the soil mound at the roots and greatly reduce the problem of the mechanical claw gripping mechanism (18) blocking the potted seedlings when gripping them.

[0025] The specific embodiments and working principles of the present invention have been shown and described above. Those skilled in the art should understand that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments; the embodiments and descriptions in the specification are merely preferred embodiments, not all embodiments. Various changes and modifications can be made to the present invention without departing from its spirit and scope, such as independent movement of the mechanical gripper unit and optimization of motor parameters. These changes and modifications all fall within the scope of the present invention as claimed. The scope of protection of the present invention is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A spatially stepped tomato seedling pot low-shading clamping mechanism, comprising a main frame (3) and, characterized in that: The main frame (3) is equipped with a gripping mechanical claw assembly (2). It also includes a control mechanism driven by a servo motor (8) and an adjustment mechanism; the adjustment mechanism includes a slide groove (6), a rack (7), a slide rail (9), a transmission chain (4), and a mechanical claw fixing component (5) fixedly mounted on the main frame (3). Two cameras (1) are located outside the main frame, one for frontal view and one for side view. One end of the transmission chain (4) is connected to the main frame (3), and the other end is fixedly connected to the gripping mechanical claw assembly (2). The gripping mechanical claw assembly (2) is connected to the main frame via the fixing component (5). The frame (3) is connected, and the clamping mechanical claw group (2) forms a sliding guide cooperation with the slide groove (6) and the slide rail (9); the adjustment mechanism drives the clamping mechanical claw group (2) to realize spatial step displacement movement, so that the clamped tomato seedlings in pots are arranged in a step staggered manner; the clamping working end of the clamping mechanical claw group (2) is a root soil mound adaptation structure, and the clamping mechanical claw group (2) directly clamps the root soil mound area of ​​the tomato seedlings in pots; the adjustment mechanism independently and precisely adjusts the horizontal spacing and vertical height of each clamping unit in the clamping mechanical claw group (2).

2. According to claim 1, the gripping mechanical claw group (2) is composed of four groups of independently operating mechanical claw gripping units. All mechanical claw gripping units are arranged sequentially along the length direction of the slide rail (8), and adjacent mechanical claw gripping units form a spatial stepped arrangement structure with horizontal misalignment and vertical height difference. Each group of mechanical claw gripping units can be independently adjusted linearly along the slide groove (6) and the slide rail (9). The vertical height difference adjustment range of the adjacent mechanical claw gripping units arranged in the spatial stepped manner is 20mm-80mm, and the horizontal spacing adjustment range is 30mm-120mm.

3. The clamping mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the control mechanism includes a servo motor (8), a planetary reducer (12), and control gears one (13) and two (14), wherein the output shaft of the servo motor (8) is fixedly connected to the input end of the planetary reducer (12), the output end of the planetary reducer (12) is connected to control gear one (13), and control gears one (13) and two (14) are respectively connected to the left and right connecting rods (17).

4. According to claim 2, each set of mechanical claw gripping units includes symmetrically arranged left and right gripping mechanisms (18), the inner gripping surface of the left and right gripping mechanisms (18) is an arc-shaped contact surface, and the curvature of the arc-shaped contact surface matches the curvature of the outer wall of the soil mound at the root of the tomato seedling pot.

5. The clamping mechanism according to claim 4, wherein a flexible anti-slip protective pad is fixedly attached to the arc-shaped contact surface of the left and right clamping mechanisms (18), the flexible anti-slip protective pad being made of food-grade silicone, and the clamping working surface of the flexible anti-slip protective pad being provided with dense anti-slip protrusions and buffer grooves. The thickness of the flexible anti-slip protective pad is 3mm-8mm, and the Shore hardness is 30-50HA.

6. According to claim 1, the clamping mechanism is a double-degree-of-freedom hinged bearing, and the connection between the clamping mechanical claw assembly (2) and the main frame (3) is a double-degree-of-freedom hinged bearing; the slide rail (9) is a precision ball linear slide rail, the slide groove (6) is a closed guide slide groove, and a wear-resistant lubricating slider is provided between the slide rail (9) and the slide groove (6). The clamping mechanical claw assembly (2) forms a low-resistance sliding fit with the slide groove (6) and the slide rail (9) through the wear-resistant lubricating slider; the main frame (3) is a hollow aluminum alloy profile frame, and the surface of the main frame (3) is treated with hard anodizing anti-corrosion, and the bottom of the main frame is provided with a mounting positioning flange; a seedling position detection sensor is provided on the main frame (3), and the seedling position detection sensor is electrically connected to the control mechanism; the transmission chain (4) is a 304 stainless steel precision transmission chain (4), and the transmission chain (4) is fixedly connected to the clamping mechanical claw assembly (2) through a detachable chain joint.

7. The clamping mechanism according to claim 4, wherein the clamping action is driven by gear transmission, and the control end of the gear transmission is electrically connected to the control system of the servo motor (8).

8. According to claim 1, the gripping mechanical claw assembly (2) is connected to the main frame (3) by a mechanical claw fixing member (5), and each gripping mechanical claw unit is connected to each other by a transmission hinge (4). The slide groove (6) is located on the main frame (3). The slide groove (6) is divided into two types: horizontal and inclined upward. The mechanical claw fixing member (5) cooperates with the slide groove (6). The mechanical claw fixing member (5) drives the mechanical claw unit to move inside the slide groove (6). The slide rail (9) is connected to the servo motor (8). The slide rail (9) moves up and down at the fixed position of the main frame (3). The slide rail (9) and the rack (7) in the slide groove (6) are connected to each other to realize the spatial stepped arrangement.

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