Grape picking robot provided with stacking system and capable of working continuously

Abstract

The invention relates to the technical field of agricultural automation equipment, and discloses a continuously working grape picking robot with a stacking system.The continuously working grape picking robot comprises a chassis, a rotary table, a mechanical arm, a goods shelf and the stacking system.The chassis comprises an aluminum profile frame, two steering wheels and two universal wheels, and the two steering wheels are symmetrically installed along one diagonal line of the chassis; the two universal wheels have steering and driving functions, are symmetrically installed along the other diagonal line of the chassis and are used for auxiliary supporting and flexible steering. The grape picking robot provided with the stacking system and capable of working continuously is high in space utilization rate and capable of achieving continuous operation, grape frames are circularly transferred and stored on the robot, empty frame and full frame storage positions are reused, the system integrates the functions of automatic collection frame replacement, automatic transfer and storage and automatic navigation walking, a plurality of collection frames can be full through one-time operation, and the working efficiency is improved. Long-time continuous automatic picking is achieved, and the manual labor intensity and the production cost are greatly reduced.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of agricultural automation equipment technology, specifically to a grape-harvesting robot with a stacking system that can operate continuously. Background Technology

[0002] Grape harvesting is a crucial step in the grape growing industry. Traditional harvesting methods rely mainly on manual labor, which is characterized by high labor intensity, low efficiency, and high labor costs. Especially in large-scale vineyards, manual harvesting requires a significant investment of labor, and improper handling during the harvesting process can easily damage the grapes, severely impacting fruit quality and subsequent economic benefits.

[0003] In the existing technology, some automated grape harvesting equipment attempts to automate grape harvesting by mounting robotic arms and fruit frames on the walking mechanism, but there are still significant drawbacks: the storage frames equipped with them are mostly independent single structures, which cannot achieve automated replacement and transfer of storage frames in large-scale harvesting operations, resulting in frequent interruptions in the harvesting process, making it difficult to meet the actual needs of efficient harvesting, and limiting the promotion and application of automated harvesting equipment. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The purpose of this invention is to provide a grape-harvesting robot with a stacking system that can operate continuously, in order to solve the problems mentioned in the background art.

[0005] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention provides the following technical solution: a grape-harvesting robot with a stacking system that can operate continuously, comprising a chassis, a turntable, a robotic arm, a shelf, and a stacking system. The chassis includes an aluminum profile frame, two steering wheels, and two casters. The two steering wheels are symmetrically installed along one diagonal of the chassis and have steering and driving functions. The two casters are symmetrically installed along the other diagonal of the chassis and are used for auxiliary support and flexible steering. The turntable includes an aluminum profile support and a rotating frame. The rotating frame is located above the aluminum profile support, and a fruit frame can be placed on each of the front and rear sides. A driving mechanism is provided below the rotating frame, which can drive the rotating frame to rotate so as to exchange the positions of the two fruit frames. The robotic arm is a four-degree-of-freedom palletizing robotic arm, with two arms working in coordination. The robotic arm includes a base, an upper arm, a lower arm, a gripper, and a gripper rotary motor. The lower arm joint is driven by a servo motor through a lower arm drive belt, and the gripper can be driven by the gripper rotary motor to rotate around a vertical axis. The shelves are divided into two rows, front and back, and each row of shelves includes multiple compartments. Each compartment is a rectangular space that matches the shape of the fruit basket and is used to store the grape baskets. The stacking system is located between two rows of shelves and includes a transverse sliding mechanism, a lifting mechanism, an X-axis multi-stage telescopic plate, and a Y-axis multi-stage telescopic plate connected in sequence. The X-axis and Y-axis multi-stage telescopic plates have similar structures, both including a base plate and a telescopic plate. The telescopic plate is slidably connected to the base plate via a slider and a guide rail. The telescopic plate includes a first-level plate, a second-level plate, and a third-level plate. The plates are slidably connected to each other and to the base plate and the first-level plate via guide rails. A synchronous belt is rotatably connected to the base plate, the first-level plate, and the second-level plate. The synchronous belt is fixed to the upper and lower plates or the base plate. A drive mechanism is provided on the side of the telescopic plate, which can drive the telescopic plate to extend into or out of the grid.

[0006] Preferably, the steering wheel includes an upper assembly, a lower assembly, and a universal joint, with the upper and lower assemblies connected by the universal joint. The upper assembly includes a slewing bearing, a connecting plate, a partition, a double-tube shock absorber, a hinge seat, and a base plate. The outer ring of the slewing bearing is fixedly connected to the chassis frame, and the inner ring is fixedly connected to the connecting plate. A partition is fixed to the lower side of the connecting plate, and a double-tube shock absorber is connected to the lower side of the partition in both the front and rear directions. The connecting plate and the hinge seat are connected below the double-tube shock absorber. The lower assembly includes two hub motors, a motor bracket, a hinge seat, and a baffle. The hub motor shaft is fixed inside the motor bracket, and the baffle and the hinge seat are fixed below the bracket. The hinge seat is connected to the universal joint, and a magnetic encoder is fixed above the slewing bearing.

[0007] Preferably, the turntable is triggered when there are five bunches of grapes in the fruit frame, and the total frame changing time is about 14 seconds, including 2.1 seconds of rotation and an average of 11.9 seconds for the stacking system to pick up / place the frames. The turntable is calibrated by a photoelectric switch, and a reset program is started after power-on. The turntable rotates until the photoelectric switch is triggered and then stops.

[0008] Preferably, the gripper is an integrated scissor-clamp structure, including a servo motor, a front linkage, a rear linkage, a transmission gear, a cutting blade, a fixed clamping block, a floating clamping block, and a sliding clamping block guide shaft; the cutting and clamping parts are connected vertically, and the motor rotation drives the two parts to close; a spring is provided on the side of the sliding clamping block, and the fruit stem is clamped by the spring force during cutting; the gripper locates the position of the fruit stem through a fruit stem cutting point reasoning algorithm, and does not apply pressure to the fruit during clamping.

[0009] Preferably, a connecting block is fixedly connected above the third-level plate of the X-direction multi-level telescopic plate, and the base of the Y-direction multi-level telescopic plate is fixed above the connecting block. The timing belts on the first-level and second-level plates of the Y-direction multi-level telescopic plate pass around the tensioning wheel module. The tensioning wheel module includes a tensioning wheel, an inner tensioning wheel bracket, an outer tensioning wheel bracket, a double-headed stud, and a locking mechanism, which can adjust the tension of the timing belt.

[0010] Preferably, the lifting mechanism includes an aluminum profile frame, a base plate, a servo motor, a worm gear reducer, a transmission shaft, a synchronous pulley bracket, a multi-stage telescopic plate connecting module, a gear plate, a guide rail, a slider, and a tensioning wheel module. The servo motor drives the synchronous belt to rotate through the worm gear reducer and the transmission shaft. The synchronous belt drives the synchronous belt fixing module and the multi-stage telescopic plate connecting module to move up and down. The X-axis multi-stage telescopic plate is fixed above the multi-stage telescopic plate connecting module.

[0011] Preferably, the system further includes a control system and a vision system; the control system includes an RDKX5 controller, which connects to a USB-to-485 module, an SPI module, a CAN analyzer, etc. via USB to control the operation of each component; the vision system uses an Orbbec Gemini335 binocular RGBD camera, and uses the Yolov8 algorithm combined with the Bytetrack library to achieve grape cluster positioning and tracking, with an average 2D positioning error of 9.38mm for the center point of the fruit stem in the XZ plane.

[0012] Preferably, the drive system adopts dual-loop PI control, with a steady-state error of 0.5 for rudder angle tracking. The chassis can smoothly pass through a 5-meter cement slope and travel stably on soft muddy ground in a vineyard after rain. The differential steering rudder wheel has a lower ground pressure than the single-wheel rudder wheel.

[0013] Compared with the prior art, the present invention provides a grape-harvesting robot with a stacking system that can operate continuously, and has the following beneficial effects: This grape-harvesting robot with a stacking system can operate continuously, with high space utilization and continuous operation: grape frames are circulated and stored on the robot, and empty and full frames are reused. The system integrates automatic replacement of collection frames, automatic transfer and storage, and automatic navigation functions. It can fill multiple collection frames in one operation, realize long-term continuous automatic harvesting, and greatly reduce the intensity of manual labor and production costs.

[0014] This grape-harvesting robot with a stacking system can operate continuously. The stacking system is highly efficient and reliable: the telescopic plate can enter the storage location from below or directly, and complete the storage and retrieval of the frames in conjunction with the lifting mechanism. The structure has a strong load-bearing capacity and meets the efficiency requirements of practical applications. A single Y-axis power can support bidirectional frame retrieval and placement functions, and a single X-axis power can support frame placement to the shelf function. The retrieval and placement speed is fast, the structure is highly reliable, not easily damaged, and easy to maintain.

[0015] This grape-harvesting robot with a stacking system can operate continuously, significantly improving harvesting efficiency: it adopts a four-degree-of-freedom belt-driven palletizing robotic arm, which has the advantages of low cost, lightweight, and large range of motion; the two robotic arms work together, with no overlapping working areas and flexible reuse of fruit frame space, greatly improving harvesting efficiency compared to a single-arm robotic robot.

[0016] This grape-harvesting robot with a stacking system is capable of continuous operation and is highly mobile and adaptable. The chassis is driven by two differential steering wheels, a common drive method for AGVs, which allows it to travel in all directions in automatic operation with good maneuverability. The steering wheels are equipped with dual-tube shock absorbers and universal joints, which can adapt to uneven roads and maintain stable driving, while minimizing damage to soft orchard ground. It is suitable for grape harvesting operations in vineyards with various cultivation modes.

[0017] This grape-harvesting robot with a stacking system can operate continuously and has a low rate of fruit damage: the gripper adopts an integrated shearing and clamping structure, combined with a precise positioning algorithm for the fruit stem cutting point and a spring buffer clamping design, so that the fruit is not pressured during the harvesting process and is accurately placed into the preset position when placed, effectively avoiding damage to the grapes and ensuring fruit quality. Attached Figure Description

[0018] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention, the accompanying drawings used in the description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort: Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the external shape of the harvesting robot; Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the chassis of the harvesting robot; Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the steering wheel of the harvesting robot; Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the stacking system of this harvesting robot; Figure 5 This is an exploded view of the Y-axis multi-stage telescopic plate of this harvesting robot; Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the X-axis multi-stage telescopic plate of this harvesting robot; Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of the lifting mechanism of this harvesting robot; Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram of the multi-stage telescopic plate connection module of this harvesting robot; Figure 9 This is a schematic diagram of the tensioning module located on the lateral movement mechanism of this harvesting robot; Figure 10 This is a schematic diagram of the tensioning module located on the lateral movement mechanism of this harvesting robot from an oblique view. Figure 11 This is a schematic diagram of the lateral movement mechanism of the harvesting robot; Figure 12 This is a schematic diagram of the robotic arm of this harvesting robot; Figure 13This is a schematic diagram of the turntable of this harvesting robot; Figure 14 This is a schematic diagram of the gripper of the harvesting robot; Figure 15 This is a flowchart of the harvesting robot's operation. Figure 16 This is a diagram of the control system architecture for the harvesting robot.

[0019] In the diagram: 1. Chassis; 11. First aluminum profile frame; 12. Steering wheel; 121. Steering wheel slewing bearing; 122. Dual-tube shock absorber; 123. Hub motor; 13. Caster wheel; 2. Stacking system; 21. Y-axis multi-stage telescopic plate; 211. Third-stage plate; 2111. Telescopic plate guide rail; 212. Second-stage plate; 2121. First synchronous belt fixing module; 2122. Slider connecting plate; 2123. Telescopic plate slider; 213. First-stage plate; 214. Base plate; 2141. Tensioner module; 21411. Tensioner. 21412. Inner tensioning wheel bracket; 21413. Outer tensioning wheel bracket; 21414. Double-ended stud; 21415. Locking mechanism; 2142. Motor bracket; 2143. Base plate slider; 22. X-axis multi-stage telescopic plate; 23. Lifting mechanism; 231. Second aluminum profile frame; 232. Base plate; 233. Servo motor; 234. Worm gear reducer; 235. Drive shaft; 236. Front right-angle fixed bracket; 237. Rear right-angle fixed bracket; 238. Front synchronous pulley bracket; 239. Rear synchronous pulley bracket ; 2310, Multi-stage telescopic plate connection module; 23101, Large connecting plate; 23102, Lateral reinforcing plate; 23103, Longitudinal reinforcing plate; 2311, Toothed plate; 2312, Guide rail; 2313, Slider; 2314, Tensioner module; 24, Lateral movement mechanism; 241, Base plate; 242, Guide rail; 243, Slider; 244, Motor bracket; 245, Coupling; 246, Motor side tensioner module; 247, Synchronous belt fixing module; 248, Motor opposite side tensioner module; 3, Robotic arm; 31 31. Base; 32. Boom; 33. Arm; 34. Gripper; 341. Servo motor; 342. Front linkage; 343. Rear linkage; 344. Transmission gear; 345. Cutting blade; 346. Fixed clamping block; 347. Floating clamping block; 348. Sliding clamping block guide shaft; 35. Gripper rotary motor; 36. Arm drive belt; 4. Turntable; 41. Aluminum profile bracket; 421. Rotating frame; 422. Drive mechanism; 423. Fruit crate placement position; 424. Slewing bearing; 425. Gear; 5. Shelf. Detailed Implementation

[0020] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present invention, and not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative effort are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0021] This invention provides a technical solution: Example 1: Combination Figures 1-15 A grape-harvesting robot with a stacking system that can operate continuously includes a chassis 1, a turntable 4, a robotic arm 3, a shelf 5, and a stacking system 2. The chassis 1 includes an aluminum profile frame 11, two steering wheels 12, and two casters 13. The two steering wheels 12 are symmetrically installed along one diagonal of the chassis 1 and have steering and driving functions. The two casters 13 are symmetrically installed along the other diagonal of the chassis 1 and are used for auxiliary support and flexible steering. The turntable 4 includes an aluminum profile support 41 and a rotating frame 421. The rotating frame 421 is located above the aluminum profile support 41, and a fruit frame can be placed on each of the front and rear sides. A drive mechanism 422 is provided below the rotating frame 421, which can drive the rotating frame 421 to rotate so as to realize the exchange of the positions of the two fruit frames. The robotic arm 3 is a four-degree-of-freedom palletizing robotic arm. There are two of them working together. The robotic arm 3 includes a base 31, an upper arm 32, a lower arm 33, a gripper 34, and a gripper rotary motor 35. The joint of the lower arm 33 is driven by a servo motor through the lower arm drive belt 36. The gripper 34 can be driven by the gripper rotary motor 35 to rotate around the vertical axis. Shelf 5 is divided into two rows, front and back. Each row of shelf 5 includes multiple compartments, which are rectangular spaces that match the shape of the fruit baskets and are used to store grape baskets. The stacking system 2 is located between two rows of shelves 5 and includes a transverse sliding mechanism 24, a lifting mechanism 23, an X-axis multi-level telescopic plate 22, and a Y-axis multi-level telescopic plate 21 connected in sequence. The X-axis multi-level telescopic plate 22 and the Y-axis multi-level telescopic plate 21 have similar structures, both including a base plate 214 and a telescopic plate. The telescopic plate is slidably connected to the base plate 214 via a slider and a guide rail. The telescopic plate includes a first-level plate 213, a second-level plate 212, and a third-level plate 211. The plates are slidably connected to each other and between the base plate 214 and the first-level plate 213 via guide rails. A synchronous belt is rotatably connected to the base plate 214, the first-level plate 213, and the second-level plate 212. The synchronous belt is fixed to the upper and lower plates or the base plate 214. A drive mechanism is provided on the side of the telescopic plate, which can drive the telescopic plate to extend into or out of the grid.

[0022] Furthermore, the steering wheel 12 includes an upper assembly, a lower assembly, and a universal joint, with the upper and lower assemblies connected by the universal joint. The upper assembly includes a slewing bearing, a connecting plate, a partition, a twin-tube shock absorber 122, a hinge seat, and a base plate. The outer ring of the slewing bearing 121 is fixedly connected to the chassis 1 frame, and the inner ring is fixedly connected to the connecting plate. A partition is fixed to the lower side of the connecting plate, and a twin-tube shock absorber 122 is connected to the lower side of the partition in both the front and rear directions. The connecting plate and the hinge seat are connected below the twin-tube shock absorber 122. The lower assembly includes two hub motors. 123. Motor bracket, hinge seat and baffle. The hub motor 123 shaft is fixed inside the motor bracket. The baffle and hinge seat are fixed below the bracket. The hinge seat is connected to the universal joint. A magnetic encoder is fixed above the slewing bearing 121. The frame changing trigger condition of the turntable 4 is that there are five bunches of grapes in the fruit frame. The total frame changing time is about 14s, including 2.1s of rotation and an average of 11.9s for the stacking system 2 to pick up / place the frames. The turntable 4 is calibrated by a photoelectric switch. After power-on, the reset program is started. The turntable 4 rotates until the photoelectric switch is triggered and then stops.

[0023] Furthermore, the gripper 34 is an integrated scissor-clamp structure, including a servo motor 341, a front connecting rod 342, a rear connecting rod 343, a transmission gear 344, a cutting blade 345, a fixed clamping block 346, a floating clamping block 347, and a sliding clamping block guide shaft 348; the cutting and clamping parts are connected vertically, and the motor rotation drives the two parts to close. The sliding clamping block is equipped with a spring on its side, and the fruit stem is clamped by the spring force during cutting; the gripper 34 locates the position of the fruit stem through a fruit stem cutting point reasoning algorithm, and does not apply pressure to the fruit during clamping.

[0024] Furthermore, a connecting block is fixedly connected above the third-stage plate 211 of the X-direction multi-stage telescopic plate 22, and the base of the Y-direction multi-stage telescopic plate 21 is fixed above the connecting block. The timing belts on the first-stage plate 213 and the second-stage plate 212 of the Y-direction multi-stage telescopic plate 21 pass around the tensioning wheel module 2141 on both sides. The tensioning wheel module 2141 includes a tensioning wheel 21411, an inner tensioning wheel bracket 21412, an outer tensioning wheel bracket 21413, a double-headed stud 21414, and a locking mechanism 21415, which can adjust the tension of the timing belt.

[0025] Example 2: Based on Embodiment 1, the lifting mechanism 23 further includes an aluminum profile frame 231, a base plate 232, a servo motor 233, a worm gear reducer 234, a transmission shaft 235, a synchronous pulley bracket, a multi-stage telescopic plate connecting module 2310, a toothed plate 2311, a guide rail 2312, a slider 2313, and a tensioning wheel module 2314. The servo motor 233 drives the synchronous belt to rotate through the worm gear reducer 234 and the transmission shaft 235. The synchronous belt drives the synchronous belt fixing module and the multi-stage telescopic plate connecting module 2310 to move up and down. The X-axis multi-stage telescopic plate 22 is fixed above the multi-stage telescopic plate connecting module 2310.

[0026] Furthermore, it also includes a control system and a vision system; the control system includes an RDKX5 controller, which connects to a USB-to-485 module, SPI module, CAN analyzer, etc. via USB to control the operation of each component; the vision system uses an Orbbec Gemini335 binocular RGBD camera, which uses the Yolov8 algorithm combined with the Bytetrack library to realize the positioning and tracking of grape clusters, with an average 2D positioning error of 9.38mm for the center point of the fruit stem in the XZ plane.

[0027] Furthermore, the drive system adopts dual-loop PI control, with a steady-state error of 0.5 for rudder angle tracking. The chassis 1 can smoothly pass through a 5-meter cement slope and travel stably on the soft muddy ground of the vineyard after rain. The differential steering wheel 12 has a lower ground pressure than the single-wheel steering wheel 12.

[0028] The specific structure and assembly relationship of each component of the continuously operating grape-harvesting robot with a stacking system are as follows: Component assembly 1. Chassis Assembly: The aluminum profile frame 11 of the chassis 1 is an integral support structure. Two steering wheels 12 are symmetrically installed along one diagonal of the aluminum profile frame 11, and two universal wheels 13 are symmetrically installed along the other diagonal. The outer ring of the slewing bearing 121 of the steering wheel 12 is fixedly connected to the aluminum profile frame 11, and the inner ring is fixedly connected to the connecting plate. A partition is fixed on the lower side of the connecting plate. A double-tube shock absorber 122 is installed on the lower side of the partition in the front-rear direction. The double-tube shock absorber 122 is connected to the hinge seat through the connecting plate below, and the hinge seat is connected to the base plate. The shafts of the two hub motors 123 of the lower assembly are fixed in the bracket formed by the upper motor bracket and the lower motor bracket. A baffle and a hinge seat are fixed below the bracket. The hinge seat is connected to the upper assembly through a universal joint. A magnetic encoder is installed above the slewing bearing for real-time monitoring of the steering angle.

[0029] 2. Turntable Assembly: The aluminum profile bracket 41 of the turntable 4 is fixed on the chassis 1. The rotating frame 421 is installed above the aluminum profile bracket 41 through the slewing bearing 424. Fruit frame placement positions 423 are set on the front and rear sides of the rotating frame 421. The drive mechanism 422 is installed inside the aluminum profile bracket 41. The output end of the drive mechanism 422 is connected to the gear 425. The gear 425 meshes with the slewing bearing 424 and drives the rotating frame 421 to rotate through the drive mechanism 422. A photoelectric switch is installed on one side of the aluminum profile bracket 41 for turntable reset calibration.

[0030] 3. Robotic Arm Assembly: Two robotic arms 3 are symmetrically mounted on the chassis 1. The base 31 of the robotic arm 3 is fixed to the robotic arm bracket, which is fixedly connected to the chassis 1 and the shelf 5 through aluminum profiles. The upper arm 32 is hinged to the base 31, and the lower arm 33 is hinged to the upper arm 32. The gripper 34 is mounted on the end of the lower arm 33 through the gripper rotation motor 35. The lower arm drive belt 36 connects the servo motor to the joint of the lower arm 33 to realize the rotation of the lower arm 33. The servo motor 341, front link 342, rear link 343, transmission gear 344, cutting blade 345, fixed clamping block 346, floating clamping block 347, and sliding clamping block guide shaft 348 of the gripper 34 are assembled in the designed position. Springs are installed on the side of the sliding clamping block to ensure that the cutting and clamping are linked and do not damage the fruit.

[0031] 4. Shelf assembly: The front and rear rows of shelves 5 are fixed on the base 1. The aluminum profiles of the shelves 5 are 20*20 and are assembled in a 3-column layout. The rightmost column is designed as a two-frame storage structure in the upper part, and the other two columns are designed as a 4-layer storage structure, forming 20 compartments. The spacing between the aluminum profiles on the left and right sides of the compartments is slightly larger than the width of the three-level plate 211 to ensure that the telescopic plate can be moved in and out smoothly.

[0032] 5. Stacking System Assembly: The stacking system 2 is installed on the chassis 1 between the two rows of shelves 5. The base plate 241 of the transverse mechanism 24 is fixed to the chassis 1. The guide rail 242 is installed on the base plate 241. The slider 243 is slidably connected to the guide rail 242. The motor-side tensioning wheel module 246 is fixed to one end of the base plate 241. The motor is installed on the motor bracket 244. The motor shaft is connected to the synchronous belt pulley through the coupling 245. The synchronous belt is wound around the motor-side tensioning wheel module 2446 and the motor-opposite side tensioning wheel module 248. The synchronous belt fixing module 247 is fixed on the synchronous belt. The lifting mechanism 23 is fixed above the slider 243 and the synchronous belt fixing module 2487.

[0033] The aluminum profile frame 231 of the lifting mechanism 23 is fixed by the front right-angle fixing bracket 236 and the rear right-angle fixing bracket 237. The front synchronous pulley bracket 238 and the rear synchronous pulley bracket 239 are installed inside the aluminum profile frame 231, and the synchronous pulleys are installed on the front synchronous pulley bracket 238 and the rear synchronous pulley bracket 239. The base plate 232 is fixed below the aluminum profile frame 231. The servo motor 233 and the worm gear reducer 234 are installed on the base plate 232. The output shaft of the servo motor 233 is connected to the worm gear reducer 234. The output end of the worm gear reducer 234 is connected to the drive shaft 235. The drive shaft 235 is connected to each synchronous pulley through the synchronous belt. The synchronous belt fixing module is fixed on the synchronous belt. The multi-stage telescopic plate connecting module 2310 is fixed to the synchronous belt fixing module. The X-axis multi-stage telescopic plate 22 is fixed above the multi-stage telescopic plate connecting module 2310. The tensioning wheel module 2314 is installed inside the aluminum profile frame 231 and is used to adjust the tension of the synchronous belt.

[0034] The base plate of the X-axis multi-stage telescopic plate 22 is fixed to the multi-stage telescopic plate connecting module 2310 of the lifting mechanism 23. The first-stage plate, second-stage plate, and third-stage plate are sequentially stacked and slidably connected by guide rails and sliders. Synchronous belts are installed on the base plate, first-stage plate, and second-stage plate, and the synchronous belts are fixed to the upper sub-plates by fixing blocks. The base plate of the Y-axis multi-stage telescopic plate 21 is fixed above the third-stage plate of the X-axis multi-stage telescopic plate 22 by connecting blocks. The assembly method of its first-stage plate, second-stage plate, and third-stage plate is the same as that of the X-axis multi-stage telescopic plate 22. The drive motor is installed on one end of the base plate 214 through the motor bracket 2142. The motor shaft is connected to the synchronous belt pulley. The synchronous belt is wound around the synchronous belt pulley and the tensioning pulley module 2141 to realize the telescopic drive of the telescopic plate.

[0035] 6. Control System and Vision System Assembly: The RDKX5 controller is installed in the control box of chassis 1. The USB to 485 module, SPI module, and CAN analyzer are connected to the RDKX5 controller via USB interface. The DC motor driver is connected to the USB to 485 module via 485 bus. The X-axis telescopic plate motor, Y-axis telescopic plate motor, traverse mechanism motor, lifting mechanism motor, turntable motor, and servo motor are respectively connected to the DC motor driver. The AS5047P magnetic encoder is connected to the SPI module via SPI communication. The DC servo motor and servo motor are connected to the CAN analyzer via CAN bus. The LiDAR, RTK-GNSS, and IMU are connected to the RDKX5 controller via USB interface. The binocular RGBD camera is mounted on the bracket above the robotic arm 3 and connected to the RDKX5 controller via USB cable for acquiring grape images and depth information.

[0036] Work Project 1. System Startup: After the robot is powered on, the ROS system initializes and starts each functional node. Then, it performs system self-test and module communication, including communication tests of chassis 1, turntable 4, robotic arm 3, stacking system 2, vision system and control system. After the self-test is passed, each module works in parallel. If the self-test fails, the system alarms and waits for manual intervention.

[0037] 2. Visual Recognition and Localization: The binocular RGBD camera of the vision system is activated to capture RGB images of the vineyard scene and obtain depth maps. Grape clusters are identified using the Yolov8 target recognition algorithm, and stable tracking of the fruit clusters is achieved using the Bytetrack library. The localization results are optimized by Kalman filtering and Hungarian algorithm. The grape clusters are mathematically modeled, and the 3D coordinates of the grape clusters are calculated by extrapolating the stem cutting points based on key reference points. The region is then marked as belonging to the target (left arm target or right arm target) based on the coordinate position.

[0038] 3. Chassis Movement: The vision system sends the grape position information to the chassis control system. The path tracking algorithm calculates the target speed and angular velocity of chassis 1 based on the target grape position. The chassis kinematics calculation module calculates the speed and rudder angle of the two steering wheels 12 based on the target speed and angular velocity, combined with the current rudder angle (detected by the magnetic encoder). The PID controller calculates the differential speed of the two hub motors 123 based on the rudder angle deviation, and then obtains the speed of the two hub motors 123. The motor driver drives the hub motors 123 to rotate, driving chassis 1 to move. The odometer node monitors the moving distance in real time. When the moving distance reaches 2.5m, chassis 1 stops moving, ready for harvesting.

[0039] 4. Harvesting Operation: The harvesting module receives the target queue sent by the vision system. The two robotic arms 3 perform harvesting operations according to the area they belong to: the forearm is responsible for harvesting grapes in the front right area, and the rear arm is responsible for harvesting grapes in the rear right area. During harvesting, the robotic arm 3 plans the motion path according to the 3D coordinates of the grapes. The gripper 34 moves to the stem cutting point, and the servo motor 341 drives the cutting blade 345 to cut the stem. At the same time, the sliding gripping block and the fixed gripping block 346 clamp the stem with spring force to prevent the grape bunch from falling. Then, the robotic arm 3 drives the gripper 34 to move to the fruit frame on the turntable 4 and places the grape bunch in the preset position of the fruit frame (the left arm is responsible for the two positions on the left side and the middle position of the fruit frame, and the right arm is responsible for the two positions on the right side).

[0040] 5. Frame Changing Process: When five bunches of grapes are in the fruit frame, the control system determines that the frame is full and triggers the frame changing process: the robotic arm 3 pauses the picking operation, the drive mechanism 422 of the turntable 4 starts, driving the rotating frame 421 to rotate, turning the full frame to the side of the stacking system 2, while turning the empty frame into the working position; after the rotation is completed, the control system sends a continue working signal to the robotic arm 3, and the robotic arm 3 resumes the picking operation; the stacking system 2 starts, the lateral movement mechanism 24 drives the lifting mechanism 23, the X-axis multi-stage telescopic plate 22, and the Y-axis multi-stage telescopic plate 21 to the full frame position, the telescopic plate of the Y-axis multi-stage telescopic plate 21 extends to below the full frame, the lifting mechanism 23 rises to lift the full frame, the telescopic plate retracts to move the full frame out of the turntable 4, the X-axis multi-stage telescopic plate 22 extends and retracts in coordination with the lateral movement mechanism 24 and the lifting mechanism 23 to transfer the full frame to the empty space of the shelf 5 and place it; then the stacking system 2 takes an empty frame from the shelf 5 and transfers it to the empty frame placement position of the turntable 4, completing the frame changing operation.

[0041] 6. Area switching and continuous operation: If the grapes in the area handled by one robotic arm are harvested, the other robotic arm can use the fruit basket position in that area. The robotic arm on the side that has finished harvesting remains in the retracted state to avoid collision with the robotic arm on the other side. When all the grapes in the current field of view have been harvested, chassis 1 starts up again, moves 2.5m according to the navigation path and then stops. The vision system continues to detect grapes in the new area and repeats the above harvesting process until the preset harvesting task is completed or shelf 5 is full.

[0042] 7. Operation complete: When shelf 5 is full or the preset picking task is completed, the system will prompt that the operation is complete. Chassis 1 will return to the starting position according to RTK-GNSS navigation to complete the picking operation.

[0043] It should be noted that, in this document, relational terms such as "first" and "second" are used merely to distinguish one entity or operation from another, and do not necessarily require or imply any such actual relationship or order between these entities or operations. Furthermore, the terms "comprising," "including," or any other variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements includes not only those elements but also other elements not expressly listed, or elements inherent to such a process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitations, an element defined by the statement "comprising a..." does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that includes said element.

Claims

1. A continuously operating grape-harvesting robot with a stacking system, comprising a chassis (1), a turntable (4), a robotic arm (3), a shelf (5), and a stacking system (2), characterized in that: The chassis (1) includes an aluminum profile frame (11), two steering wheels (12) and two casters (13). The two steering wheels (12) are symmetrically installed along one diagonal of the chassis (1) and have steering and driving functions. The two casters (13) are symmetrically installed along the other diagonal of the chassis (1) and are used for auxiliary support and flexible steering. The turntable (4) includes an aluminum profile support (41) and a rotating frame (421). The rotating frame (421) is located above the aluminum profile support (41), and a fruit frame can be placed on each of the front and rear sides. A driving mechanism (422) is provided below the rotating frame (421), which can drive the rotating frame (421) to rotate so as to realize the exchange of the positions of the two fruit frames. The robotic arm (3) is a four-degree-of-freedom palletizing robotic arm, with two arms working together. The robotic arm (3) includes a base (31), an upper arm (32), a lower arm (33), a gripper (34), and a gripper rotary motor (35). The joint of the lower arm (33) is driven by a servo motor through a lower arm drive belt (36). The gripper (34) can be driven by the gripper rotary motor (35) to rotate around the vertical axis. The shelf (5) is divided into two rows, front and back. Each row of the shelf (5) includes multiple compartments. Each compartment is a rectangular space that matches the shape of the fruit basket and is used to store grape baskets. The stacking system (2) is located between two rows of shelves (5) and includes a transverse moving mechanism (24), a lifting mechanism (23), an X-axis multi-level telescopic plate (22), and a Y-axis multi-level telescopic plate (21) connected in sequence. The X-axis multi-level telescopic plate (22) and the Y-axis multi-level telescopic plate (21) have similar structures, both including a base plate (214) and a telescopic plate. The telescopic plate is slidably connected above the base plate (214) by a slider and a guide rail. The telescopic plate includes a first-level plate (213), a second-level plate (212), and a third-level plate (211). The plates are slidably connected to each other and between the base plate (214) and the first-level plate (213) by a guide rail. The base plate (214), the first-level plate (213), and the second-level plate (212) are all rotatably connected to a synchronous belt. The synchronous belt is fixed to the upper and lower plates or the base plate (214). The side of the telescopic plate is provided with a driving mechanism that can drive the telescopic plate to extend into or out of the grid.

2. The continuously operating grape-harvesting robot with a stacking system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The steering wheel (12) includes an upper assembly, a lower assembly, and a universal joint. The upper assembly and the lower assembly are connected by the universal joint. The upper assembly includes a slewing bearing, a connecting plate, a partition, a double-tube shock absorber (122), a hinge seat, and a base plate. The outer ring of the slewing bearing (121) is fixedly connected to the chassis (1) frame, and the inner ring is fixedly connected to the connecting plate. The partition is fixed on the lower side of the connecting plate. A double-tube shock absorber (122) is connected to the lower side of the partition in the front and rear directions. The connecting plate and the hinge seat are connected below the double-tube shock absorber (122). The lower assembly includes two hub motors (123), a motor bracket, a hinge seat, and a baffle. The hub motor (123) shaft is fixed inside the motor bracket. The baffle and the hinge seat are fixed below the bracket. The hinge seat is connected to the universal joint. A magnetic encoder is fixed above the slewing bearing (121).

3. The continuously operating grape-harvesting robot with a stacking system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The frame-changing trigger condition of the turntable (4) is that there are five bunches of grapes in the fruit frame. The total frame-changing time is about 14s, including 2.1s of rotation and an average of 11.9s for the stacking system (2) to pick up / place the frame. The turntable (4) is calibrated by photoelectric switch. After powering on, the reset program is started. The turntable (4) rotates until the photoelectric switch is triggered and then stops.

4. A continuously operating grape-harvesting robot with a stacking system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The gripper (34) is a scissor-clamp integrated structure, including a servo motor (341), a front connecting rod (342), a rear connecting rod (343), a transmission gear (344), a cutting blade (345), a fixed clamping block (346), a floating clamping block (347), and a sliding clamping block guide shaft (348). The cutting and clamping parts are connected vertically, and the motor rotation drives the two parts to close. The sliding clamping block is provided with a spring on its side, and the fruit stem is clamped by the spring force during cutting. The gripper (34) locates the position of the fruit stem by the fruit stem cutting point reasoning algorithm, and does not apply pressure to the fruit during clamping.

5. A continuously operating grape-harvesting robot with a stacking system according to claim 1, characterized in that: A connecting block is fixedly connected above the third plate (211) of the X-direction multi-level telescopic plate (22), and the base of the Y-direction multi-level telescopic plate (21) is fixed above the connecting block. The synchronous belts on the first plate (213) and second plate (212) of the Y-direction multi-level telescopic plate (21) pass around the tensioning wheel module (2141). The tensioning wheel module (2141) includes a tensioning wheel, an inner tensioning wheel bracket, an outer tensioning wheel bracket, a double-headed stud, and a locking mechanism, which can adjust the tension of the synchronous belt.

6. A continuously operating grape-harvesting robot with a stacking system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The lifting mechanism (23) includes an aluminum profile frame (231), a base plate (232), a servo motor (233), a worm gear reducer (234), a transmission shaft (235), a synchronous pulley bracket, a multi-stage telescopic plate connecting module (2310), a toothed plate (2311), a guide rail (2312), a slider (2313), and a tensioning wheel module (2314). The servo motor (233) drives the synchronous belt to rotate through the worm gear reducer (234) and the transmission shaft (235). The synchronous belt drives the synchronous belt fixing module and the multi-stage telescopic plate connecting module (2310) to move up and down. The X-axis multi-stage telescopic plate (22) is fixed above the multi-stage telescopic plate connecting module (2310).

7. A continuously operating grape-harvesting robot with a stacking system according to claim 1, characterized in that: It also includes a control system and a vision system; the control system includes an RDKX5 controller, which connects to a USB to 485 module, SPI module, CAN analyzer, etc. via USB to control the operation of each component; the vision system uses an Orbbec Gemini335 binocular RGBD camera, and uses the Yolov8 algorithm combined with the Bytetrack library to realize the positioning and tracking of grape clusters, with an average 2D positioning error of 9.38mm for the center point of the fruit stem in the XZ plane.

8. A continuously operating grape-harvesting robot with a stacking system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The drive system adopts dual-loop PI control, with a steady-state error of 0.5 for rudder angle tracking. The chassis (1) can smoothly pass through a 5-cement slope and travel stably on the soft muddy ground of the vineyard after rain. The differential steering wheel (12) has a lower ground pressure than the single-wheel steering wheel (12).

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