Bilateral collaborative apple harvesting robot and method for fence wall type orchard
By using a dual-sided collaborative apple harvesting robot, which utilizes an all-terrain electrically controlled tracked chassis and a parallel picking robotic arm system, combined with a follow-up fruit relay conveying and automatic boxing and box-changing system, the problems of low operating efficiency and discontinuous fruit conveying in fenced orchards have been solved, achieving efficient and damage-free fruit harvesting.
Patent Information
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Applications(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- SHANDONG AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY
- Filing Date
- 2026-03-19
- Publication Date
- 2026-05-05
AI Technical Summary
Traditional orchard apple picking robots suffer from low operating efficiency, limited working space, and discontinuous fruit transport in fenced orchards, failing to meet the demand for efficient fruit harvesting.
The system employs a dual-sided collaborative apple harvesting robot, equipped with an all-terrain electrically controlled tracked chassis, a dual-end independent multi-dimensional adjustment platform, a parallel harvesting robotic arm system, and a follow-up fruit relay conveying system. Combined with an automatic boxing and box-changing system, it achieves full coverage of the fruit trees and seamless fruit transportation.
It enables efficient, continuous, and non-destructive automated harvesting in fenced orchards, reducing energy consumption and fruit loss during the harvesting process, and improving harvesting efficiency and automation level.
Smart Images
Figure CN121970611A_ABST
Abstract
Description
Technical Field
[0001] This invention relates to the field of agricultural robots and intelligent orchard management equipment technology, specifically to a dual-sided collaborative apple harvesting robot and method for hedged orchards. Background Technology
[0002] As modern orchard planting patterns shift towards dwarf dense planting and hedge-style cultivation, fruit trees are distributed in a wall-like pattern with narrow row spacing and high vertical canopy distribution. This planting pattern effectively increases apple yield per unit area of the orchard, but it also places higher demands on orchard mechanized and automated harvesting equipment. Traditional harvesting equipment is no longer suitable for the operational needs of this planting scenario.
[0003] Traditional orchard apple-harvesting robots mostly employ multi-joint serial robotic arm structures. While offering some operational flexibility, the placement of the drive motors at the joints results in high inertia, slow movements, and prolonged single-fruit harvesting time, leading to low harvesting efficiency and failing to meet the high-efficiency demands of large-scale commercial orchard harvesting. Parallel robotic arms, with their fixed drive units and lightweight moving parts, boast extremely high acceleration and operating speed, effectively improving single-fruit harvesting efficiency and becoming the preferred solution for efficient orchard harvesting. However, parallel robotic arms suffer from inherent limitations in their limited and fixed working space. Given the varying heights and depths of naturally growing fruit trees, fixed-base parallel robotic arms often have blind spots that they cannot reach or extend into, hindering comprehensive fruit harvesting.
[0004] While existing technologies attempt to expand the working range of parallel robotic arms by adding mobile platforms, this has introduced a new problem: a disconnect between harvesting and fruit transport. Traditional fruit collection boxes or conveyor belts are mostly fixed to the robot chassis. When the parallel robotic arm extends significantly to harvest fruit deep within the tree canopy, it must be completely retracted after harvesting to place the fruit into the collection device. This long-distance back-and-forth operation not only completely wastes the high-speed advantage of the parallel robotic arm but also significantly increases equipment energy consumption and raises the risk of fruit loss due to falling during harvesting. Summary of the Invention
[0005] In order to solve the above-mentioned technical problems, this application proposes the following technical solution: In a first aspect, embodiments of this application provide a dual-sided collaborative apple harvesting robot for hedged orchards, comprising: a central control unit and an all-terrain electrically controlled tracked chassis electrically connected to the central control unit, a dual-end independent multi-dimensional adjustment platform, a parallel harvesting robotic arm system, a follow-up fruit relay conveying system, and an automatic boxing and changing system. The adjustment mechanisms of the dual-end independent multi-dimensional adjustment platform are symmetrically arranged at the front and rear ends of the all-terrain electrically controlled tracked chassis. Each adjustment mechanism includes a lateral telescopic module and a longitudinal lifting module. The moving end of the lateral telescopic module is provided with a parallel harvesting robotic arm system. The parallel harvesting robotic arm system is fixedly connected to the follow-up fruit relay conveying system through a rigid connecting bracket. The output end of the follow-up fruit relay conveying system is provided with an automatic boxing and changing system.
[0006] In one possible implementation, the follow-up fruit relay conveying system includes a first follow-up sub-conveyor assembly, a second follow-up sub-conveyor assembly, and a central converging conveyor belt. The first and second follow-up sub-conveyor assemblies have the same structure, both including a follow-up sub-conveyor belt. The follow-up sub-conveyor belt is driven by a follow-up sub-conveyor belt drive motor. Anti-drop baffles are provided at both ends of the follow-up sub-conveyor belt. Multiple spacer baffles are evenly spaced on the surface of the follow-up sub-conveyor belt. A fruit receiving box is provided at the input end of the follow-up sub-conveyor belt. The frame of the fruit receiving box is fixedly connected to the first end of a rigid connecting bracket. The second end of the rigid connecting bracket is fixedly connected to the base of a parallel robotic arm. The output end of the follow-up sub-conveyor belt is slidably connected to a longitudinal lifting module through a sliding table hanging mechanism. A flexible guide plate is provided below the output end of the follow-up sub-conveyor belt. The flexible guide plate extends in an arc shape to the surface of the central converging conveyor belt. The follow-up sub-conveyor belt drive motor is electrically connected to a central control unit.
[0007] In one possible implementation, the central converging conveyor belt is arranged along the central axis of the through-type conveying channel reserved in the middle of the all-terrain electronically controlled tracked chassis and is located between two sets of adjustment mechanisms. The length of the central converging conveyor belt covers the distance of the all-terrain electronically controlled tracked chassis. An infrared beam sensor is provided at the end of the central converging conveyor belt and is electrically connected to the central control unit.
[0008] In one possible implementation, the automatic box packing and changing system includes an empty box storage unit and a rotary material distribution unit. The empty box storage unit includes a vertically arranged empty box storage rack, which is fixedly installed on one side of the rear of an all-terrain electrically controlled tracked chassis. A box supply conveyor belt is provided at the bottom of the empty box storage rack, and the box supply conveyor belt is connected to a box supply conveyor belt drive motor. Empty box stacking and separating mechanisms are fixedly installed on both sides of the lower part of the empty box storage rack. The rotary material distribution unit is fixedly installed at the center of the rear of the all-terrain electrically controlled tracked chassis. The rotary material distribution unit includes a rotary material distribution base, and a fruit collection conveyor belt is provided on the upper surface of the rotary material distribution base. The fruit collection conveyor belt is connected to the fruit collection conveyor belt drive motor. The rotary material distribution base is electrically connected to the output shaft of the rotary motor. The rotary motor, the empty box stacking and separating mechanism, the box supply conveyor belt drive motor, and the fruit collection conveyor belt drive motor are all electrically connected to the central control unit. The output end of the fruit collection conveyor belt is provided with a full box unloading ramp.
[0009] In one possible implementation, the longitudinal lifting module includes a vertically arranged gantry frame, a longitudinal drive cylinder is fixedly mounted on the column of the gantry frame, a double-speed sprocket assembly is provided at the output end of the longitudinal drive cylinder, one end of the chain is fixedly connected to the gantry frame, and the other end of the chain passes around the double-speed sprocket assembly and is connected to the harvesting platform, the harvesting platform is slidably mounted on a vertical guide rail, and the vertical guide rail is fixedly mounted on the gantry frame.
[0010] In one possible implementation, the harvesting platform includes a horizontal frame and a lateral telescopic module. A horizontal linear guide rail is fixedly mounted on the horizontal frame. The lateral telescopic module includes a lateral drive cylinder and a slide table. The cylinder body of the lateral drive cylinder is fixedly connected to the slide table seat of the slide table. The horizontal frame is slidably connected to the slide table. The movable end of the push rod of the lateral drive cylinder is connected to a parallel harvesting robotic arm system fixedly mounted on the horizontal frame.
[0011] In one possible implementation, the parallel harvesting robotic arm system includes a parallel robotic arm base, which is connected to the movable end of the push rod of the lateral drive electric cylinder. The parallel robotic arm base is provided with a parallel robotic arm and a rigid connecting bracket, which is fixedly connected to the frame of the fruit receiving box. The end of the parallel robotic arm is provided with an end effector and a depth camera, and the end effector is a flexible gripping structure robotic arm.
[0012] In one possible implementation, the all-terrain electronically controlled tracked chassis includes a tracked walking mechanism that is connected to a track drive motor. The all-terrain electronically controlled tracked chassis also includes a navigation and positioning module, a walking power battery compartment, and a working power battery compartment. The walking power battery compartment contains a walking power battery that is electrically connected to the track drive motor. The working power battery compartment contains a working power battery.
[0013] Secondly, embodiments of this application provide a bilateral coordinated apple harvesting method for hedgerow-style orchards, including: The robot travels along the rows of the hedged orchard to the work position, scans the fruit trees on both sides using a depth camera, and constructs a local 3D point cloud map. The coordinates of the target fruit point in the depth camera coordinate system are represented as follows: After camera extrinsic parameter transformation, the coordinates of the fruit target point in the parallel robotic arm base coordinate system are obtained: in, The three-dimensional coordinates of the fruit target point in the depth camera coordinate system. Let the three-dimensional coordinates of the target fruit point in the coordinate system of the parallel robotic arm base be given. Let be a rotation matrix. It is a translation vector; Based on the fruit distribution height in the local 3D point cloud map, the central control unit controls the longitudinal lifting modules at both ends to send the parallel robotic arms to a predetermined height level. At this height level, the vision control system acquires the 3D coordinates and depth information of the fruit. The target height of the predetermined height level satisfies the following: in, For the first The target height for each workstation. To hold a high position in a low-level job Interlayer spacing The vertical reachable radius of a single height station of a parallel robotic arm. This refers to the interlayer coverage overlap rate; The depth of the fruit from the parallel robotic arm base is calculated based on the acquired 3D coordinates and depth information, using the following formula: in, For the first The depth of each fruit relative to the base of the parallel robotic arm. For the first The orientation coordinates of each fruit in the base coordinate system The coordinates of the base depth reference plane; If the calculated depth is greater than 0 and less than or equal to the first preset threshold, it is determined to be a direct picking area. The central control unit executes the picking according to the optimal path, and the picking path length satisfies: in, The length of the crawling path corresponding to the k-th fruit. For the first on the trajectory Coordinates of path points For the first on the trajectory Coordinates of the path points; If the calculated depth is greater than the first preset threshold and less than or equal to the second preset threshold, it is determined to be a compensation picking area, and the compensation distance is calculated using the following formula: in, For the first The lateral scaling compensation distance corresponding to each fruit The gap distance is defined as the distance where the depth of the fruit exceeds the reachability of the parallel robotic arm itself. This is the maximum compensation stroke for the lateral telescopic module. This is a limiting function used to... Limited to the range Inside; The horizontal telescopic module drives the parallel robotic arm to move forward based on the calculated compensation distance and then controls the movement of the parallel robotic arm to perform the picking operation. During the movement, the follow-up fruit relay conveyor system moves synchronously and goes deep under the tree canopy. After being grabbed, the fruit is kept in a horizontally extended position and only slightly lifted or retracted vertically. The fruit is then gently placed into the fruit receiving box of the following conveyor belt directly below. The fruit is then transported backward by the following conveyor belt and smoothly transferred from the output end to the central collection conveyor belt. After being counted by the infrared beam sensor, the fruit is fed into the automatic boxing and box changing system at the tail end. After harvesting at the current location, the horizontal telescopic module drives the parallel robotic arm and the follow-up conveyor belt to retract synchronously, and the vertical lifting module adjusts to the next height layer until all fruits at all height layers are harvested.
[0014] In one possible implementation, the automatic packing and changing system that merges into the tail section after being counted by the infrared beam sensor includes: After being counted by the infrared beam sensor, the fruits fall into the fruit box placed on the fruit collection conveyor belt. At the same time, the rotary motor drives the rotating material distribution base to rotate the fruit box back and forth or rotate intermittently, so that the fruits falling into the box are spread out in all directions. When the number of fruits accumulated by the infrared beam sensor reaches the preset full box value, the central control unit controls the automatic box loading and changing system to perform full box unloading and empty box replenishment. The rotating material distribution base drives the fruit collection conveyor belt to rotate to the unloading angle, so that the tail of the fruit collection conveyor belt is aligned with the full box unloading ramp. The fruit collection conveyor belt rotates in the forward direction, so that the full box of fruits is unloaded. The formula for calculating the unloading angle is: in, For the unloading angle, Zero angle, This refers to the unloading deflection angle; After unloading, the rotating material distribution base drives the fruit collection conveyor belt to rotate to the receiving angle, so that the first end of the fruit collection conveyor belt aligns with the box supply conveyor belt. The formula for calculating the receiving angle is: ,in, For the angle of receiving the box, The angle of deflection of the receiving box; Then, the empty box stacking and separating mechanism on the empty box storage rack is activated to clamp and slightly lift all empty boxes from the second-to-last layer upwards, with the lifting displacement satisfying the following: ,in, To support displacement, The height of a single empty box. For safety margin; Start the box supply conveyor belt and the fruit collection conveyor belt. The empty boxes at the bottom are smoothly transferred from the box supply conveyor belt to the fruit collection conveyor belt, completing the empty box replenishment. After the empty containers are replenished, the empty container stacking and separating mechanism is released, and the remaining empty containers fall onto the container supply conveyor belt, waiting for the next cycle.
[0015] Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of this application are as follows: This application addresses the planting characteristics of hedgerow-style orchards by equipping the chassis with independent adjustable platforms at both ends, featuring longitudinal lifting and lateral extension functions. These platforms, coupled with parallel robotic arms, achieve full coverage of both sides of the tree canopy. The innovative follow-up relay conveyor system features conveyor belts rigidly connected to the robotic arm base and extending into the tree canopy synchronously with the robotic arms. The output end dynamically overlaps with the central converging conveyor belt via a sliding mechanism, enabling in-situ placement and seamless transfer after harvesting. This solves the problems of limited working space and interrupted fruit transport under large-range displacement adjustments of parallel robotic arms, achieving efficient, continuous, and damage-free automated harvesting in standardized orchards.
[0016] The automatic box loading and changing system equipped in this application integrates functions such as empty box storage, automatic box feeding, fruit equalization, and full box unloading. It achieves accurate fruit counting through infrared photoelectric sensors, and the rotary equalization unit can drive the fruit box to rotate reciprocally or intermittently, using centrifugal force and inertia to flatten the fruit, maximizing the use of box space and reducing fruit compression loss. When the fruit box is full, the system can automatically complete the entire process of full box unloading and empty box replenishment without manual intervention, which significantly reduces the labor cost of orchard harvesting and improves the overall automation and intelligence level of the operation.
[0017] This application adopts an all-terrain electrically controlled tracked chassis, which has good passability in complex orchard terrain and differential steering ability. It can travel smoothly in the narrow rows of hedged orchards. The chassis is equipped with separate power battery compartments for walking and working, providing power for the equipment's walking and working respectively, ensuring continuous and stable operation. At the same time, the conveying system uses food-grade flexible buffer belts and is equipped with shock-absorbing rollers, anti-falling baffles and other structures to effectively reduce the impact and loss of fruit during the transportation process, and achieve damage-free harvesting of apples. Attached Figure Description
[0018] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the overall structure of a dual-sided collaborative apple harvesting robot for hedged orchards provided in this application embodiment; Figure 2 A diagram showing the connection relationship between the dual-end independent multi-dimensional adjustment platform and the parallel robotic arm provided in the embodiments of this application; Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the sliding cooperation principle of the follow-up fruit relay conveying system provided in the embodiments of this application; Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the automatic packing and changing system provided in an embodiment of this application.
[0019] Figure 1-4 In the diagram, the symbols represent: 1-All-terrain electronically controlled tracked chassis, 11-Tracked walking mechanism, 12-Walking power battery compartment, 13-Working power battery compartment; 2-Dual-end independent multi-dimensional adjustment platform, 21-Longitudinal lifting module, 211-Gantry frame, 212-Longitudinal drive cylinder, 213-Multi-speed sprocket assembly, 214-Longitudinal lifting guide rail; 22-Lateral telescopic module, 221-Lateral drive cylinder, 222-Horizontal linear guide rail; 3-Parallel harvesting robotic arm system, 31-Parallel robotic arm base, 32-Parallel robotic arm, 33-RGB-D depth camera. 34-End-of-line manipulator; 4-Follow-up fruit relay conveyor system; 41-Follow-up distribution conveyor belt; 411-Fruit receiving box; 412-Output end; 42-Central converging conveyor belt; 43-Rigid connecting bracket; 44-Slide table hanging mechanism; 45-Infrared beam sensor; 5-Automatic box packing and changing system; 51-Empty box storage rack; 52-Box supply conveyor belt; 53-Empty box stacking and separating mechanism; 54-Rotary material distribution base; 55-Fruit collection conveyor belt; 57-Full box unloading ramp. Detailed Implementation
[0020] The present solution will now be described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.
[0021] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a bilateral collaborative apple harvesting robot for hedged orchards provided in this application embodiment is shown below. Figure 1 and Figure 2The dual-sided collaborative apple harvesting robot for fenced orchards in this embodiment includes: a central control unit and an all-terrain electrically controlled tracked chassis 1 electrically connected to the central control unit, a dual-end independent multi-dimensional adjustment platform 2, a parallel harvesting robotic arm system 3, a follow-up fruit relay conveying system 4, and an automatic boxing and changing system 5. The adjustment mechanisms of the dual-end independent multi-dimensional adjustment platform 2 are symmetrically arranged at the front and rear ends of the all-terrain electrically controlled tracked chassis 1. Each adjustment mechanism includes a lateral telescopic module 22 and a longitudinal lifting module 21. The moving end of the lateral telescopic module 22 is equipped with the parallel harvesting robotic arm system 3. The parallel harvesting robotic arm system 3 is fixedly connected to the follow-up fruit relay conveying system 4 through a rigid connecting bracket 43. The output end of the follow-up fruit relay conveying system 4 is equipped with the automatic boxing and changing system 5. In this embodiment, the central control unit adopts a multi-threaded parallel processing architecture, which independently controls the front-end and back-end adjustment mechanisms and parallel robotic arms, supporting the front-end robotic arms and back-end robotic arms to independently harvest fruit trees on the left and right sides, or to cooperate in harvesting high-density fruit trees on one side in sections.
[0022] See Figure 3 In this embodiment, the follow-up fruit relay conveying system 4 includes a first follow-up sub-conveyor component, a second follow-up sub-conveyor component, and a central converging conveyor belt 42. The first and second follow-up sub-conveyor components have the same structure, both including a follow-up sub-conveyor belt 41. The follow-up sub-conveyor belt 41 is connected to a follow-up sub-conveyor belt drive motor. Anti-drop baffles are provided at both ends of the follow-up sub-conveyor belt 41. Multiple spacer baffles are evenly spaced on the surface of the follow-up sub-conveyor belt 41. A fruit receiving box 411 is provided at the input end of the follow-up sub-conveyor belt 41. The frame of the fruit receiving box 411 is fixedly connected to the first end of the rigid connecting bracket 43. The second end of 3 is fixedly connected to the parallel robotic arm base 31. The output end of the follow-up conveyor belt 41 is slidably connected to the longitudinal lifting module 21 through the sliding table hanging mechanism 44. Both the follow-up conveyor belt 41 and the central collection conveyor belt 42 are food-grade conveyor belts with flexible buffer fingers or elastic wavy edges. Shock-absorbing rollers are arranged at intervals under the belts. A flexible guide plate is set below the output end of the follow-up conveyor belt 41. The flexible guide plate extends in an arc shape to the surface of the central collection conveyor belt 42 to reduce the impact of the fruit drop and realize the smooth transition of the fruit from the conveyor belt to the central conveyor belt. The follow-up conveyor belt drive motor is electrically connected to the central control unit.
[0023] The motion logic of the follow-up fruit relay conveying system is as follows: when the horizontal telescopic module 22 drives the parallel robotic arm 32 to extend towards the tree canopy, the follow-up sub-conveyor belt 41 moves synchronously under the rigid traction of the rigid connecting bracket 43, so that the horizontal projection position of the receiving end relative to the parallel robotic arm 32 remains unchanged. The output end slides adaptively in the auxiliary track above the central collecting conveyor belt 42 through the sliding table hanging mechanism 44, ensuring that no matter what distance the follow-up sub-conveyor belt extends, its output end is always within the effective receiving range of the central collecting conveyor belt 42, realizing the continuous transfer of fruits.
[0024] In this embodiment, the central gathering conveyor belt 42 is arranged along the central axis of the through conveyor channel reserved in the middle of the all-terrain electric tracked chassis 1 and is located between the two sets of adjustment mechanisms. The length of the central gathering conveyor belt 42 covers the distance of the all-terrain electric tracked chassis 1. An infrared beam sensor 45 is provided at the end of the central gathering conveyor belt 42 and is electrically connected to the central control unit.
[0025] See Figure 4 In this embodiment, the automatic box loading and changing system 5 includes an empty box storage unit and a rotary material distribution unit. The empty box storage unit includes a vertically arranged empty box storage rack 51, which is fixedly installed on one side of the rear of the all-terrain electrically controlled tracked chassis 1. A box supply conveyor belt 52 is provided at the bottom of the empty box storage rack 51, and the box supply conveyor belt 52 is connected to a box supply conveyor belt drive motor. Empty box stacking and separating mechanisms 53 are fixedly installed on both sides of the lower part of the empty box storage rack 51. The empty box stacking and separating mechanism 53 includes pneumatic push rods or electric grippers on both sides. The rotary material distribution unit is fixedly installed at the center of the rear of the all-terrain electric tracked chassis 1. The rotary material distribution unit includes a rotary material distribution base 54. A fruit collection conveyor belt 55 is provided on the upper surface of the rotary material distribution base 54. The fruit collection conveyor belt 55 is connected to the fruit collection conveyor belt drive motor. The rotary material distribution base 54 is electrically connected to the output shaft of the rotary motor. The rotary motor, the empty box stacking and separating mechanism 53, the box supply conveyor belt drive motor, and the fruit collection conveyor belt drive motor are all electrically connected to the central control unit. A full box unloading ramp 57 is provided at the output end of the fruit collection conveyor belt.
[0026] In this embodiment, to prevent the fruit from piling up in the center of the box, causing false fullness or rolling, the rotating material distribution base 54 drives the fruit collection conveyor belt 55 to rotate the fruit box in a small-amplitude reciprocating or intermittent manner. This action uses centrifugal force and inertia to spread the apples falling into the box evenly in all directions, maximizing the use of the box space and reducing the compression between the fruits.
[0027] In this embodiment, the longitudinal lifting module 21 includes a vertically arranged gantry frame 211. A longitudinal drive cylinder 212 is fixedly installed on the column of the gantry frame 211. A double-speed sprocket assembly 213 is installed at the output end of the longitudinal drive cylinder 212. One end of the chain is fixedly connected to the gantry frame, and the other end of the chain passes around the double-speed sprocket assembly and connects to the harvesting platform. The harvesting platform is slidably installed on a vertical guide rail, which is fixedly installed on the gantry frame. The harvesting platform includes a horizontal frame and a transverse telescopic module 22. A horizontal linear guide rail 222 is fixedly installed on the horizontal frame. The transverse telescopic module 22 includes a transverse drive cylinder 221 and a slide. The cylinder body of the transverse drive cylinder 221 is fixedly connected to the slide seat of the slide. The horizontal frame is slidably connected to the slide. The movable end of the push rod of the transverse drive cylinder 221 is connected to the parallel harvesting robotic arm system 3 fixedly installed on the horizontal frame.
[0028] In this embodiment, the parallel harvesting robotic arm system 3 includes a parallel robotic arm base 31, which is connected to the movable end of the push rod of the transverse drive electric cylinder 221. A parallel robotic arm 32 and a rigid connecting bracket 43 are provided on the parallel robotic arm base 31. The rigid connecting bracket 43 is fixedly connected to the frame of the fruit receiving box 411. The end of the parallel robotic arm 32 is provided with an end effector 34 and a depth camera. The end effector 34 is a flexible gripping structure robotic arm.
[0029] The all-terrain electronically controlled tracked chassis 1 has differential steering capability. A through-passage channel is reserved in the middle of the chassis, including a tracked walking mechanism 11. The tracked walking mechanism 11 is connected to the track drive motor. The all-terrain electronically controlled tracked chassis 1 also has a navigation and positioning module, a walking power battery compartment 12 and a working power battery compartment 12. The walking power battery compartment 12 contains a walking power battery, which is electrically connected to the track drive motor. The working power battery compartment 12 contains a working power battery.
[0030] Corresponding to the above-described bilateral collaborative apple harvesting robot for hedged orchards, this application also provides an embodiment of a bilateral collaborative apple harvesting method for hedged orchards.
[0031] This application provides a method for bilateral coordinated apple harvesting in hedgerow-style orchards, comprising: The robot travels along the rows of the hedged orchard to the work position, scans the fruit trees on both sides using a depth camera, and constructs a local 3D point cloud map. The coordinates of the target fruit point in the depth camera coordinate system are represented as follows: After camera extrinsic parameter transformation, the coordinates of the fruit target point in the parallel robotic arm base coordinate system are obtained: in, The three-dimensional coordinates of the fruit target point in the depth camera coordinate system. Let the three-dimensional coordinates of the target fruit point in the coordinate system of the parallel robotic arm base be given. Let be a rotation matrix. It is a translation vector; Based on the fruit distribution height in the local 3D point cloud map, the central control unit controls the longitudinal lifting modules at both ends to send the parallel robotic arms to a predetermined height level. At this height level, the vision control system acquires the 3D coordinates and depth information of the fruit. The target height of the predetermined height level satisfies the following: in, For the first The target height for each workstation. To hold a high position in a low-level job Interlayer spacing The vertical reachable radius of a single height station of a parallel robotic arm. The interlayer coverage overlap rate is set to 0.5 in this embodiment to achieve 50% overlap coverage between adjacent height workstations.
[0032] The depth of the fruit from the parallel robotic arm base is calculated based on the acquired 3D coordinates and depth information, using the following formula: in, For the first The depth of each fruit relative to the base of the parallel robotic arm. For the first The orientation coordinates of each fruit in the base coordinate system The coordinates of the base depth reference plane are set to 0 or the reference value obtained from calibration.
[0033] In this embodiment, the upper limit of the effective depth of operation of the parallel robotic arm without moving the lateral telescopic module is denoted as: The maximum compensation stroke of the lateral telescopic module is denoted as Therefore, set the partition threshold accordingly: in: For direct picking area threshold, To compensate for the upper limit threshold of the picking area, the rules for determining the picking area are as follows: in, For the first When the depth of a fruit relative to the base of the parallel robotic arm is determined to be a direct picking area, the central control unit executes the grasping according to the optimal path, and the grasping path length satisfies: in, The length of the crawling path corresponding to the k-th fruit. For the first on the trajectory Coordinates of path points For the first on the trajectory The coordinates of each path point are determined. When a compensation picking area is identified, the compensation distance is calculated using the following formula: in, For the first The lateral scaling compensation distance corresponding to each fruit The gap distance is defined as the distance where the depth of the fruit exceeds the reachability of the parallel robotic arm itself. This is the maximum compensation stroke for the lateral telescopic module. This is a limiting function used to... Limited to the range The target extension amount of the lateral telescopic module is: ,in: The extension amount of the horizontal telescopic module to the control target of the k-th fruit; This represents the initial lateral extension. To compensate for the distance.
[0034] The lateral telescopic module drives the parallel robotic arm to move forward based on the calculated compensation distance, and then controls the parallel robotic arm's movements to perform the picking operation. During the movement, the follow-up fruit relay conveyor system synchronously follows and extends into the area under the tree canopy. After grabbing the fruit, it maintains a lateral extension state, making only a slight vertical lift or retraction, and gently places the fruit into the fruit receiving box of the follow-up sub-conveyor belt directly below. The fruit is then transported backward by the follow-up sub-conveyor belt and smoothly transferred from the output end to the central collection conveyor belt. The conveying time meets the following requirements: ,in, The time it takes for the fruit to travel on the moving conveyor belt. The effective conveying distance of the follow-up conveyor belt, Let be the linear velocity of the follower conveyor belt. The linear velocity satisfies: in, This is a single fruit picking cycle to prevent subsequent fruit from piling up.
[0035] The fruits are transported from the central collection conveyor belt to the tail end, where they are counted by infrared beam sensors. Let the cumulative number of fruits counted by the infrared beam sensors be... The preset full box value is Then the condition for determining a full box is met: ,in: This is the cumulative count value. This is the threshold for the number of fruits in a full box.
[0036] After being counted by infrared beam sensors, the fruits fall into fruit boxes placed on the fruit collection conveyor belt. Simultaneously, a rotary motor drives a rotating material distribution base, causing the fruit boxes to rotate slightly back and forth or intermittently, spreading the fruits evenly. When the number of fruits accumulated by the infrared beam sensors reaches the preset full box value, the central control unit controls the automatic box loading and changing system to unload full boxes and replenish empty boxes. The rotating material distribution base drives the fruit collection conveyor belt to rotate to the unloading angle, aligning the tail of the conveyor belt with the full box unloading ramp. The conveyor belt then rotates forward, unloading the full fruit box. The formula for calculating the unloading angle is: in, For the unloading angle, Zero angle, This refers to the unloading deflection angle.
[0037] After unloading, the rotating material distribution base drives the fruit collection conveyor belt to rotate to the receiving angle, so that the first end of the fruit collection conveyor belt aligns with the box supply conveyor belt. The formula for calculating the receiving angle is: ,in, For the angle of receiving the box, To adjust the deflection angle of the receiving boxes, the empty box stacking and separating mechanism on the empty box storage rack is then activated to clamp and slightly lift all empty boxes from the second-to-last layer upwards in the stack, with the lifting displacement satisfying the following: ,in, To support displacement, The height of a single empty box. To allow for a safety margin, the bottom empty boxes are left unloaded at this point. Simultaneously, the box supply conveyor and the fruit collection conveyor are activated, smoothly transferring the bottom empty boxes from the box supply conveyor to the fruit collection conveyor, completing the empty box replenishment. The conveying time meets the following requirements: ,in, For repacking time, For the length of the supply path, The speed of the conveyor belt for supplying boxes.
[0038] After the empty boxes are replenished, the empty box stacking and separating mechanism is released, and the remaining empty boxes fall onto the box supply conveyor belt, waiting for the next cycle. After harvesting at the current location, the horizontal telescopic module drives the parallel robotic arm and the follow-up conveyor belt to retract synchronously, and the vertical lifting module adjusts to the next height layer until all fruits at all height layers have been harvested.
[0039] In this embodiment, the target quantity to be harvested at the current workstation is used. As a criterion for workstation completion: ,in, Let represent the number of fruits to be picked after being identified and screened by the vision control system at the i-th height station. This is the target height for the next workstation. When the following conditions are met: in, This is the current height workstation number; The target quantity to be harvested at the top-level workstation.
[0040] In this embodiment, "multiple" refers to two or more. "And / or" describes the relationship between related objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. For example, A and / or B can represent the existence of A alone, the simultaneous existence of A and B, or the existence of B alone. A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally indicates that the preceding and following related objects have an "or" relationship.
[0041] It should be noted that, in this document, 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. Unless otherwise specified, an element defined by the phrase "comprising one..." does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that includes said element.
[0042] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of this application. Any variations or substitutions that can be easily conceived by those skilled in the art within the scope of the technology disclosed in this application should be included within the protection scope of this application. The protection scope of this application should be determined by the protection scope of the claims.
Claims
1. A bilaterally collaborative apple harvesting robot for hedged orchards, characterized in that, include: The system includes a central control unit, an all-terrain electrically controlled tracked chassis, a dual-end independent multi-dimensional adjustment platform, a parallel harvesting robotic arm system, a follow-up fruit relay conveying system, and an automatic boxing and changing system, all electrically connected to the central control unit. The adjustment mechanisms of the dual-end independent multi-dimensional adjustment platform are symmetrically arranged at the front and rear ends of the all-terrain electrically controlled tracked chassis. Each adjustment mechanism includes a lateral telescopic module and a longitudinal lifting module. The moving end of the lateral telescopic module is equipped with a parallel harvesting robotic arm system. The parallel harvesting robotic arm system is fixedly connected to the follow-up fruit relay conveying system through a rigid connecting bracket. The output end of the follow-up fruit relay conveying system is equipped with an automatic boxing and changing system.
2. The dual-sided collaborative apple harvesting robot for hedged orchards according to claim 1, characterized in that, The follow-up fruit relay conveying system includes a first follow-up sub-conveyor component, a second follow-up sub-conveyor component, and a central converging conveyor belt. The first and second follow-up sub-conveyor components have the same structure, both including a follow-up sub-conveyor belt. The follow-up sub-conveyor belt is driven by a follow-up sub-conveyor belt drive motor. Anti-drop baffles are provided at both ends of the follow-up sub-conveyor belt. Multiple spacer baffles are evenly spaced on the surface of the follow-up sub-conveyor belt. A fruit receiving box is provided at the input end of the follow-up sub-conveyor belt. The frame of the fruit receiving box is fixedly connected to the first end of a rigid connecting bracket. The second end of the rigid connecting bracket is fixedly connected to the base of a parallel robotic arm. The output end of the follow-up sub-conveyor belt is slidably connected to a longitudinal lifting module through a sliding table hanging mechanism. A flexible guide plate is provided below the output end of the follow-up sub-conveyor belt. The flexible guide plate extends in an arc shape to the surface of the central converging conveyor belt. The follow-up sub-conveyor belt drive motor is electrically connected to a central control unit.
3. The dual-sided collaborative apple harvesting robot for hedged orchards according to claim 2, characterized in that, The central converging conveyor belt is arranged along the central axis of the through-type conveying channel reserved in the middle of the all-terrain electric tracked chassis and is located between the two sets of adjustment mechanisms. The length of the central converging conveyor belt covers the distance of the all-terrain electric tracked chassis. An infrared beam sensor is installed at the end of the central converging conveyor belt, and the infrared beam sensor is electrically connected to the central control unit.
4. The dual-sided collaborative apple harvesting robot for hedged orchards according to claim 1, characterized in that, The automatic box packing and box changing system includes an empty box storage unit and a rotary material distribution unit. The empty box storage unit includes a vertically arranged empty box storage rack, which is fixedly installed on one side of the rear of the all-terrain electrically controlled tracked chassis. A box supply conveyor belt is installed at the bottom of the empty box storage rack, and the box supply conveyor belt is connected to a box supply conveyor belt drive motor. Empty box stacking and separation mechanisms are fixedly installed on both sides of the lower part of the empty box storage rack. The rotary material distribution unit is fixedly installed at the center of the rear of the all-terrain electrically controlled tracked chassis. The rotary material distribution unit includes a rotary material distribution base, and a fruit collection conveyor belt is provided on the upper surface of the rotary material distribution base. The fruit collection conveyor belt is connected to the fruit collection conveyor belt drive motor. The rotary material distribution base is electrically connected to the output shaft of the rotary motor. The rotary motor, the empty box stacking and separating mechanism, the box supply conveyor belt drive motor, and the fruit collection conveyor belt drive motor are all electrically connected to the central control unit. The output end of the fruit collection conveyor belt is provided with a full box unloading ramp.
5. The dual-sided collaborative apple harvesting robot for hedged orchards according to claim 1, characterized in that, The longitudinal lifting module includes a vertically arranged gantry frame. A longitudinal drive cylinder is fixedly installed on the column of the gantry frame. A double-speed sprocket assembly is installed at the output end of the longitudinal drive cylinder. One end of the chain is fixedly connected to the gantry frame, and the other end of the chain passes around the double-speed sprocket assembly and is connected to the harvesting platform. The harvesting platform is slidably installed on a vertical guide rail, and the vertical guide rail is fixedly installed on the gantry frame.
6. The dual-sided collaborative apple harvesting robot for hedged orchards according to claim 5, characterized in that, The harvesting platform includes a horizontal frame and a lateral telescopic module. A horizontal linear guide rail is fixedly installed on the horizontal frame. The lateral telescopic module includes a lateral drive cylinder and a slide table. The cylinder body of the lateral drive cylinder is fixedly connected to the slide table seat of the slide table. The horizontal frame is slidably connected to the slide table. The movable end of the push rod of the lateral drive cylinder is connected to a parallel harvesting robotic arm system fixedly installed on the horizontal frame.
7. The dual-sided collaborative apple harvesting robot for hedged orchards according to claim 6, characterized in that, The parallel harvesting robotic arm system includes a parallel robotic arm base, which is connected to the movable end of the push rod of the lateral drive electric cylinder. The parallel robotic arm base is provided with a parallel robotic arm and a rigid connecting bracket. The rigid connecting bracket is fixedly connected to the frame of the fruit receiving box. The end of the parallel robotic arm is provided with an end effector and a depth camera. The end effector is a flexible gripping structure robotic arm.
8. The dual-sided collaborative apple harvesting robot for hedged orchards according to claim 1, characterized in that, The all-terrain electronically controlled tracked chassis includes a tracked walking mechanism, which is connected to a track drive motor. The all-terrain electronically controlled tracked chassis also includes a navigation and positioning module, a walking power battery compartment, and a working power battery compartment. The walking power battery compartment contains a walking power battery, which is electrically connected to the track drive motor. The working power battery compartment contains a working power battery.
9. A method for bilateral collaborative apple harvesting in hedged orchards, employing the bilateral collaborative apple harvesting robot for hedged orchards as described in any one of claims 1-8, characterized in that, include: The robot travels along the rows of the hedged orchard to the work position, scans the fruit trees on both sides using a depth camera, and constructs a local 3D point cloud map. The coordinates of the target fruit point in the depth camera coordinate system are represented as follows: After camera extrinsic parameter transformation, the coordinates of the fruit target point in the parallel robotic arm base coordinate system are obtained: in, The three-dimensional coordinates of the fruit target point in the depth camera coordinate system. Let the three-dimensional coordinates of the target point of the fruit be in the coordinate system of the parallel robotic arm base. Let be a rotation matrix. It is a translation vector; Based on the fruit distribution height in the local 3D point cloud map, the central control unit controls the longitudinal lifting modules at both ends to send the parallel robotic arms to a predetermined height level. At this height level, the vision control system acquires the 3D coordinates and depth information of the fruit. The target height of the predetermined height level satisfies the following: in, For the first The target height for each workstation. To hold a high position in a low-level job Interlayer spacing The vertical reachable radius of a single height station of a parallel robotic arm. This refers to the interlayer coverage overlap rate; The depth of the fruit from the parallel robotic arm base is calculated based on the acquired 3D coordinates and depth information, using the following formula: in, For the first The depth of each fruit relative to the base of the parallel robotic arm. For the first The orientation coordinates of each fruit in the base coordinate system The coordinates of the base depth reference plane; If the calculated depth is greater than 0 and less than or equal to the first preset threshold, it is determined to be a direct picking area. The central control unit executes the picking according to the optimal path, and the picking path length satisfies: in, The length of the crawling path corresponding to the k-th fruit. For the first on the trajectory Coordinates of path points For the first on the trajectory Coordinates of the path points; If the calculated depth is greater than the first preset threshold and less than or equal to the second preset threshold, it is determined to be a compensation picking area, and the compensation distance is calculated using the following formula: in, For the first The lateral scaling compensation distance corresponding to each fruit The gap distance is defined as the distance where the depth of the fruit exceeds the reachability of the parallel robotic arm itself. This is the maximum compensation stroke for the lateral telescopic module. This is a limiting function used to... Limited to the range Inside; The horizontal telescopic module drives the parallel robotic arm to move forward based on the calculated compensation distance and then controls the movement of the parallel robotic arm to perform the picking operation. During the movement, the follow-up fruit relay conveyor system moves synchronously and goes deep under the tree canopy. After being grabbed, the fruit is kept in a horizontally extended position and only slightly lifted or retracted vertically. The fruit is then gently placed into the fruit receiving box of the following conveyor belt directly below. The fruit is then transported backward by the following conveyor belt and smoothly transferred from the output end to the central collection conveyor belt. After being counted by the infrared beam sensor, the fruit is fed into the automatic boxing and box changing system at the tail end. After harvesting at the current location, the horizontal telescopic module drives the parallel robotic arm and the follow-up conveyor belt to retract synchronously, and the vertical lifting module adjusts to the next height layer until all fruits at all height layers are harvested.
10. The method for bilateral coordinated apple harvesting in hedgerow-type orchards according to claim 9, characterized in that, The automatic packing and changing system, which receives data from infrared beam sensors and then merges into the tail section, includes: After being counted by the infrared beam sensor, the fruits fall into the fruit box placed on the fruit collection conveyor belt. At the same time, the rotary motor drives the rotating material distribution base to rotate the fruit box back and forth or rotate intermittently, so that the fruits falling into the box are spread out in all directions. When the number of fruits accumulated by the infrared beam sensor reaches the preset full box value, the central control unit controls the automatic box loading and changing system to perform full box unloading and empty box replenishment. The rotating material distribution base drives the fruit collection conveyor belt to rotate to the unloading angle, so that the tail of the fruit collection conveyor belt is aligned with the full box unloading ramp. The fruit collection conveyor belt rotates in the forward direction, so that the full box of fruits is unloaded. The formula for calculating the unloading angle is: in, For the unloading angle, Zero angle, This refers to the unloading deflection angle; After unloading, the rotating material distribution base drives the fruit collection conveyor belt to rotate to the receiving angle, so that the first end of the fruit collection conveyor belt aligns with the box supply conveyor belt. The formula for calculating the receiving angle is: ,in, For the angle of receiving the box, The angle of deflection of the receiving box; Then, the empty box stacking and separating mechanism on the empty box storage rack is activated to clamp and slightly lift all empty boxes from the second-to-last layer upwards, with the lifting displacement satisfying the following: ,in, To support displacement, The height of a single empty box. For safety margin; Start the box supply conveyor belt and the fruit collection conveyor belt. The empty boxes at the bottom are smoothly transferred from the box supply conveyor belt to the fruit collection conveyor belt, completing the empty box replenishment. After the empty containers are replenished, the empty container stacking and separating mechanism is released, and the remaining empty containers fall onto the container supply conveyor belt, waiting for the next cycle.