Harvesting equipment for vibrating fallen fruits in orchard and harvesting method thereof

Abstract

The invention discloses harvesting equipment for vibrating fallen fruits in an orchard and a harvesting method of the harvesting equipment, and belongs to the technical field of agricultural machinery. The machine comprises a self-propelled main machine, a multi-section arm system, a vibration head, a visual perception unit, a control system and a two-degree-of-freedom posture adjusting mechanism arranged between the multi-section arm system and the vibration head. The posture adjusting mechanism is composed of an assembling frame, an assembling shaft and two hydraulic cylinders, two-degree-of-freedom adjustment of horizontal rotation and pitching rotation of the vibration head is achieved, and the clamping face is made to be attached to the inclined tree trunk in a self-adaptive mode; a junction point and a first bifurcation point of a trunk and the ground are recognized through binocular stereoscopic vision, the trunk fixing height of a tree body is calculated, the clamping height is determined, a posture adjusting mechanism is controlled in combination with the inclination angle of the trunk, self-adaptive clamping and vibration harvesting are completed in the static state of a main machine, accurate positioning, machine-moving-free operation and flexible harvesting are achieved, and the working efficiency is improved. The nut harvester is suitable for large-scale mechanical harvesting of nut crops such as walnuts and almonds.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of agricultural machinery, and in particular to a harvesting device and method for harvesting fallen fruit in orchards caused by vibration. Background Technology

[0002] Nut crops such as walnuts and almonds are an important part of my country's distinctive forestry and fruit industry, widely cultivated in Xinjiang, Yunnan, Sichuan, and other regions, and have become an important source of income for local farmers. However, the harvesting of nut crops has long faced severe challenges, hindering the sustainable development of the industry.

[0003] Traditional harvesting methods rely primarily on manual labor, requiring farmers to repeatedly tap branches with long poles to dislodge the fruit. This method presents several significant problems: First, it is physically demanding, with prolonged repetitive tapping easily leading to worker fatigue and occupational health issues such as musculoskeletal injuries. Second, harvesting efficiency is low, as a single skilled worker can only harvest a limited area per day, making it difficult to meet the needs of large-scale plantations. Third, the harvesting window is short, as the ripening period of nuts is highly concentrated, typically lasting only 2-3 weeks; missing the optimal harvesting period results in severe fruit drop losses.

[0004] To address these issues, some research institutions and agricultural machinery companies have begun developing mechanized harvesting equipment. However, existing mechanized harvesting equipment still suffers from the following technical shortcomings: 1. Operators need to visually assess the condition of the tree trunk and judge the clamping height based on experience. This not only requires high operational skills, but also makes it difficult to ensure consistent work results due to different judgment standards among different personnel. If the clamping position is too low, it may damage the base of the tree trunk; if the clamping position is too high, it may cause the branches to swing excessively or even break. 2. Existing equipment cannot automatically identify key biological features such as the boundary between the tree trunk and the ground, and the first fork in the tree trunk and branches, making it difficult to scientifically determine the optimal clamping position based on the tree structure; 3. Existing equipment typically has a vibrating head that is fixedly connected to the end of the boom or can only be adjusted in one direction. When the tree trunk is tilted, the clamping surface of the vibrating head is difficult to fit well with the trunk surface, resulting in unstable clamping, reduced vibration energy transmission efficiency, and even damage to the bark. To solve this problem, operators often need to repeatedly move the main unit to adjust the angle, which not only affects work efficiency but is also more difficult to operate on slopes or in densely planted orchards. 4. During operation, operators have difficulty accurately predicting the clamping position and mainly rely on experience to conduct trial operations, making it difficult to guarantee the accuracy and efficiency of the operation.

[0005] Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop a new type of intelligent harvesting equipment that can automatically identify tree trunk features, scientifically determine the clamping position, and adaptively adjust the posture of the vibrating head, so as to improve the quality and efficiency of modern harvesting operations. Summary of the Invention

[0006] In order to overcome the above-mentioned defects of the prior art, the present invention provides a harvesting device and method for vibrating fallen fruit in orchards, so as to solve the problems existing in the background art.

[0007] This invention provides the following technical solution: a harvesting device and method for vibrating fallen fruit in orchards, comprising: Self-propelled main unit; A multi-section boom system, installed on the self-propelled main unit, includes at least one telescopic or swingable boom section; A vibrating head, connected to the end of the multi-segment arm system, is used to clamp and vibrate the branches; A visual sensing unit, mounted on the vibrating head and / or the multi-segment arm system, is used to acquire images of the tree trunk; The control unit is electrically connected to the visual sensing unit, the multi-segment arm system, and the vibrating head. It also includes a multi-degree-of-freedom attitude adjustment mechanism disposed between the multi-section arm system and the vibrating head, the adjustment mechanism comprising: An assembly frame is fixedly connected to the end of the multi-section boom system; An assembly shaft is rotatably mounted on the assembly frame, constituting a first degree of rotational freedom; At least two drive components are respectively connected between the assembly frame, the assembly shaft and the vibrating head, driving the vibrating head to adjust its posture in at least two independent and / or related rotational directions so that the clamping surface of the vibrating head adapts to tree trunks with different tilt angles.

[0008] Preferably, the two driving elements include a first driving element and a second driving element; One end of the first driving member is connected to the assembly shaft, and the other end is connected to the vibrating head, for driving the vibrating head to rotate relative to the assembly shaft; One end of the second driving member is connected to the assembly frame, and the other end is connected to the assembly shaft, for driving the assembly shaft to swing relative to the assembly frame.

[0009] Preferably, both the first driving component and the second driving component are hydraulic cylinders; The cylinder end of the first driving component is hinged to the assembly shaft, and the piston rod end is hinged to the vibrating head; The cylinder end of the second drive component is hinged to the mounting frame, and the piston rod end is hinged to the mounting shaft.

[0010] Preferably, the multi-section boom system includes a main boom, a second boom, and a third boom. The main boom is hinged to the self-propelled main unit, the second boom is movably inserted into the main boom, and the third boom is movably inserted into the second boom. A lifting cylinder is hinged between the main boom and the self-propelled main unit, a second boom cylinder is hinged between the second boom and the self-propelled main unit, and a third boom cylinder is hinged between the third boom and the self-propelled main unit, so that lifting and pitch adjustment can be achieved through the drive of each cylinder.

[0011] Preferably, the vibrating head includes: Vibration head main frame; The clamping mechanism, installed at the front end of the main frame of the vibrating head, includes a four-bar linkage assembly, a left clamping arm and a right clamping arm driven by the four-bar linkage assembly, and a clamping cylinder that drives the four-bar linkage assembly. A rubber pad is provided on the inner clamping surface of the left and right clamping arms; A shock-absorbing spring is connected between the clamping arm and the main frame of the vibrating head; The vibration generating mechanism includes a hydraulic motor and an eccentric block driven by the hydraulic motor.

[0012] Preferably, the vibration generating mechanism further includes two synchronous pulleys that are connected to the output end of the hydraulic motor via a synchronous belt. Each of the two synchronous pulleys is provided with an eccentric block, and the three eccentric blocks are arranged in a triangular shape.

[0013] Preferably, the visual perception unit is a binocular camera, which is installed on the vibrating head. The binocular stereo vision is used to calculate the three-dimensional coordinates of key points on the tree trunk, and the control system calculates the control quantity of each cylinder based on the three-dimensional coordinates.

[0014] A method for harvesting shaken-fallen fruit in orchards includes the following steps: S1: Acquire images containing the boundary between the tree trunk and the ground, as well as the first branching point of the tree trunk, through the visual perception unit; S2: Preprocess and extract features from the acquired images to identify the location of the boundary between the tree trunk and the ground, as well as the location of the first branch point of the tree trunk; S3: Calculate the tree trunk height H based on the two identified key points; S4: Determine the final clamping height H based on the fixed clamping height H. final ; S5: Identify the tilt angle of the tree trunk relative to the vertical direction, and automatically or in response to manual instructions control the multi-degree-of-freedom attitude adjustment mechanism to adapt the clamping surface axis of the vibrating head to the tilt angle of the tree trunk.

[0015] Preferably, identifying the first branching point of the tree trunk in S2 specifically includes: Gaussian filtering is used to denoise the image; Threshold segmentation is performed based on the HSV color space to filter out non-tree trunk background areas; The Canny edge detection algorithm was used to extract the tree trunk edge contour; The sliding window traversal method is used to scan the tree trunk outline curve, calculate the curvature change of the outline points within the window, and mark the points whose curvature exceeds the preset threshold as candidate branching points. The candidate branching points are clustered using the DBSCAN clustering algorithm, and the point farthest from the ground among the cluster centers is selected as the first branching point of the tree trunk.

[0016] Preferably, S4 specifically includes: The initial clamping height H1 is determined according to the fixed stem height H and a preset ratio, wherein the preset ratio is 0.9, that is, H1 = 0.9H; Obtain the maximum lifting height H of the harvester's vibrating head max ; Compare H1 and H max If H1 ≤ H max The final clamping height H final = H1; if H1>H max The final clamping height H final =H max ; And also includes S6: according to the final clamping height H final By combining the camera imaging model, the position is converted into a pixel position in the image coordinate system, and the clamping position is graphically marked on the tree trunk image and displayed in real time through the harvester's display interface.

[0017] Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of the present invention are as follows: 1. This invention integrates a binocular camera on the main frame of the vibrating head. Utilizing the principle of binocular stereo vision, it calculates the three-dimensional coordinates of key points on the tree trunk through triangulation. By simultaneously acquiring stereo images of the left and right views, and performing stereo matching based on the camera's intrinsic and extrinsic parameters, it converts the pixel positions in the image coordinate system into spatial coordinates in the camera coordinate system. This enables precise positioning of the junction between the tree trunk and the ground, as well as the first branching point. The combination of this structure and the visual algorithm determines the optimal clamping height. Compared with traditional manual visual judgment, the positioning accuracy is improved by more than 50%, and the problems of branch damage or low vibration efficiency caused by improper clamping position are avoided. 2. The present invention sets up an assembly frame, an assembly shaft, and a posture adjustment mechanism consisting of a first hydraulic cylinder and a second hydraulic cylinder at the front end of the three-section arm, forming a horizontal rotational degree of freedom around the vertical axis and a pitch rotational degree of freedom around the horizontal axis. The two hydraulic cylinders are driven independently and controlled in coordination, so that the plane of the vibrating head clamping mouth always remains parallel and in contact with the surface of the inclined tree trunk. Compared with the limitation of the traditional rigid connection vibrating head, which can only rely on the movement of the host for alignment, this structure realizes the posture adaptive adjustment of the host in a stationary state, improves the working efficiency by more than 40%, and reduces the fuel consumption and soil compaction caused by frequent movement of the host. 3. The vibrating head of this invention adopts a four-bar clamping mechanism. The clamping port is made of rubber, and a shock-absorbing spring is set between the clamping port and the four-bar arm to form a dual flexible protection structure of rubber buffer and spring shock absorption. The rubber clamping port uses the viscoelastic deformation of the polymer material to absorb the impact load in the initial clamping stage. The shock-absorbing spring uses elastic potential energy storage and release to isolate the transmission of the high-frequency excitation force generated by the eccentric block to the tree body during the vibration harvesting process. At the same time, the hydraulic motor drives the three eccentric blocks to rotate through the pulley and belt to generate a controllable excitation force. The excitation frequency can be steplessly adjusted by adjusting the engine throttle to change the speed of the transmission shaft, so that the bark damage rate is reduced to below 5%. At the same time, the frequency adjustment can adapt to the harvesting needs of fruits with different maturity levels, and the harvesting rate reaches more than 95%. 4. This invention deeply integrates a binocular vision system, a multi-section arm hydraulic drive system, a two-degree-of-freedom attitude adjustment mechanism, and a control system to construct a closed-loop control system consisting of perception, decision-making, and execution. The vision system acquires tree trunk images in real time and calculates three-dimensional coordinates; the control system calculates the target displacement of each hydraulic cylinder based on the tree trunk's fixed height and tilt angle through inverse kinematics; the multi-section arm cylinders achieve large-range coarse adjustment positioning of the vibrating head, while the attitude adjustment mechanism achieves local fine adjustment alignment; visual feedback monitors the distance between the clamping opening and the tree trunk surface in real time, forming a closed-loop control. This structural integration and control method combination realizes full automation from image acquisition, feature recognition, height calculation, attitude adjustment to clamping vibration. Attached Figure Description

[0018] Figure 1 This is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of the device of the present invention.

[0019] Figure 2 This is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of the vibrating head of the present invention.

[0020] Figure 3 This is a side view of the vibration head of the present invention.

[0021] The attached figures are labeled as follows: 1. Self-propelled main unit; 2. Main boom; 3. Two-section boom; 4. Three-section boom; 5. Lifting cylinder; 6. Two-section boom cylinder; 7. Three-section boom cylinder; 8. Vibrating head; 81. Vibrating head main frame; 82. Clamping mechanism; 821. Four-bar linkage assembly; 822. Left clamping arm; 823. Right clamping arm; 824. Clamping cylinder; 83. Rubber pad; 84. Vibration spring; 85. Vibration generating mechanism; 851. Hydraulic motor; 852. Eccentric block; 853. Synchronous pulley; 854. Synchronous belt; 9. Assembly frame; 10. Assembly shaft; 11. Visual perception unit; 12. Display and control unit; 13. First drive component; 14. Second drive component. Detailed Implementation

[0022] The preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, so that the advantages and features of the present invention can be more easily understood by those skilled in the art, thereby providing a clearer and more explicit definition of the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0023] This invention provides a harvesting device for vibrating fallen fruit in orchards, such as... Figure 1-3 As shown, it includes: a self-propelled main unit 1, a multi-section arm system, a vibrating head 8, a vision sensing unit 11, and a display and control unit 12.

[0024] The self-propelled main unit 1 can adopt a tracked or wheeled walking mechanism to adapt to the complex terrain of the orchard.

[0025] The multi-section boom system is installed on the self-propelled main unit 1 and includes at least one telescopic or swingable boom section.

[0026] The vibrating head 8 is connected to the end of the multi-section arm system and is used to clamp and vibrate the branches; The visual sensing unit 11 is mounted on the vibrating head 8 and / or the multi-segment arm system for acquiring images of the tree trunk.

[0027] The display and control unit 12 is electrically connected to the visual perception unit 11, the multi-segment arm system and the vibrating head 8. It can be an industrial controller or an embedded computer with built-in image processing algorithms and control programs.

[0028] A significant improvement of this invention is that the device further includes a multi-degree-of-freedom attitude adjustment mechanism disposed between the multi-segment arm system and the vibrating head 8, the adjustment mechanism comprising: The assembly frame 9 is fixedly connected to the end of the multi-section boom system, serving as the mounting base for the entire adjustment mechanism.

[0029] The assembly shaft 10 is rotatably mounted on the assembly frame 9, forming the first rotational degree of freedom.

[0030] Two drive components are respectively connected between the assembly frame 9, the assembly shaft 10 and the vibrating head 8, driving the vibrating head 8 to adjust its posture in two independent and / or related rotational directions so that the clamping surface of the vibrating head 8 can adapt to tree trunks with different tilt angles.

[0031] In a preferred embodiment, the two driving components include a first driving component 12 and a second driving component 13; One end of the first driving member 12 is connected to the assembly shaft 10, and the other end is connected to the vibrating head 8. It is used to drive the vibrating head 8 to rotate relative to the assembly shaft 10, thereby achieving fine adjustment of the clamping angle of the vibrating head itself.

[0032] One end of the second driving member 13 is connected to the assembly frame 9, and the other end is connected to the assembly shaft 10. It is used to drive the assembly shaft 10 to swing relative to the assembly frame 9, so as to achieve coarse adjustment of the overall orientation of the vibrating head.

[0033] As a further preferred embodiment, both the first driving member 12 and the second driving member 13 are hydraulic cylinders.

[0034] The cylinder end of the first driving member 12 is hinged to the assembly shaft 10, and the piston rod end is hinged to the vibrating head 8. The vibrating head 8 is driven to rotate around the assembly shaft 10 by the extension and retraction of the hydraulic cylinder. The cylinder end of the second driving member 13 is hinged to the assembly frame 9, and the piston rod end is hinged to the assembly shaft 10. The assembly shaft 10 is driven to swing relative to the assembly frame 9 by the extension and retraction of the hydraulic cylinder.

[0035] With the above two-stage adjustment mechanism, when the tree trunk is tilted, there is no need to move the self-propelled main unit 1. Only the first drive component 12 and the second drive component 13 need to be controlled to work together to make the clamping surface of the vibrating head 8 fit the tree trunk surface best. This not only improves the work efficiency, but also avoids problems such as soil compaction and damage to tree roots caused by frequent movement of the main unit.

[0036] As a specific structural embodiment, the multi-section boom system includes a main boom 2, a second-section boom 3, and a third-section boom 4. The main boom 2 is hinged to the self-propelled main unit 1. The second-section boom 3 is movably inserted into the main boom 2, and the third-section boom 4 is movably inserted into the second-section boom 3, forming a three-stage telescopic structure that can achieve a large working radius and height range. Specifically, a lifting cylinder 5 is hinged between the main boom 2 and the self-propelled main unit 1 to drive the main boom 2 to lift relative to the main unit 1; a second-section boom cylinder 6 is hinged between the second-section boom 3 and the self-propelled main unit 1 to drive the second-section boom 3 to extend and retract; and a third-section boom cylinder 7 is hinged between the third-section boom 4 and the self-propelled main unit 1 to drive the third-section boom 4 to extend and retract. Through the coordinated control of each cylinder, the multi-degree-of-freedom adjustment of the multi-section boom system in the lifting, pitching, and extension directions can be achieved, precisely delivering the vibrating head 8 to the predetermined working position.

[0037] As a further refinement of the internal structure of the vibrating head 8, the vibrating head 8 includes: The main frame 81 of the vibrating head serves as the mounting base for the various components of the vibrating head; The clamping mechanism 82, installed at the front end of the vibrating head main frame 81, includes a four-bar linkage assembly 821, a left clamping arm 822 and a right clamping arm 823 driven by the four-bar linkage assembly 821, and a clamping cylinder 824 that drives the four-bar linkage assembly 821. The design of the four-bar linkage mechanism ensures that the left clamping arm 822 and the right clamping arm 823 remain parallel during the opening and closing process, thereby forming a uniform and stable clamping force for tree trunks of different diameters. Rubber pad 83 is provided on the inner clamping surface of the left clamping arm 822 and the right clamping arm 823. It is made of wear-resistant and highly elastic rubber material. It undergoes elastic deformation during clamping, increasing the contact area with the bark and avoiding scratches or indentations to the bark caused by rigid clamping. The shock-absorbing spring 84 is connected between the clamping arm and the main frame of the vibrating head 81. It plays a buffering role during vibration, absorbs part of the high-frequency impact energy, and reduces microscopic damage to the tree trunk. Vibration generating mechanism 85, used to generate excitation force, includes a hydraulic motor 851 and an eccentric block 852 driven by the hydraulic motor 851.

[0038] In a preferred embodiment of the vibration generating mechanism 85, the vibration generating mechanism 85 further includes two synchronous pulleys 853 that are connected to the output end of the hydraulic motor 851 via a synchronous belt 854. Each of the two synchronous pulleys 853 is provided with an eccentric block 852, and the three eccentric blocks 852 are arranged in a triangular shape. The hydraulic motor 851 serves as a power source, driving one synchronous pulley 853 to rotate, which in turn drives the other two synchronous pulleys 853 to rotate synchronously via the synchronous belt 854, causing the three eccentric blocks 852 to rotate at the same speed.

[0039] Because the eccentric blocks 852 are arranged in a triangular shape, the centrifugal force generated during their rotation has its horizontal and vertical components superimposed to form a stable excitation force, which is effectively transmitted to the tree trunk. By adjusting the speed of the hydraulic motor 851, the frequency of the excitation force can be changed to adapt to the fruit drop requirements of different tree species and different maturity stages.

[0040] In a preferred embodiment, the visual perception unit 11 is a binocular camera mounted on the vibrating head 8. The binocular camera can simultaneously acquire left and right views and calculate the three-dimensional coordinates of the target point using a stereo matching algorithm. The control system has built-in camera calibration parameters (focal length, principal point coordinates, distortion coefficients, etc.), which can calculate the three-dimensional coordinates of the point in the camera coordinate system based on the corresponding pixels in the left and right views, and then obtain its position in the world coordinate system through coordinate transformation. The control system calculates the control quantities of each cylinder based on the three-dimensional coordinates to realize the automatic control of the multi-section boom system and the attitude adjustment mechanism.

[0041] Based on the above-mentioned equipment, the present invention also provides a method for harvesting fallen fruit in orchards by vibration, comprising the following steps: S1: Image Acquisition Steps A stereoscopic image pair, including the boundary between the tree trunk and the ground, and the first branching point of the tree trunk, is acquired using a binocular camera mounted on the vibrating head 8. The camera's shooting angle and focal length are adjusted to ensure that the image is clear and completely includes the two key areas mentioned above: the boundary between the tree trunk and the ground, and the node where the main trunk first branches out as a lateral branch (i.e., the first branching point). The binocular camera simultaneously acquires the left and right views, obtaining stereoscopic image pairs containing the above features, laying the foundation for subsequent 3D reconstruction.

[0042] S2: Key Point Recognition Steps The image acquired by S1 is preprocessed and its features extracted to identify the two-dimensional pixel coordinates of the boundary between the tree trunk and the ground, as well as the first branch point of the tree trunk. Specifically, this includes the following sub-steps: S2-1: Gaussian filtering is used to denoise the image, eliminating sensor noise and environmental interference while preserving the details of the tree trunk edges. S2-2: Threshold segmentation based on HSV color space, utilizing the differences in hue, saturation and brightness between tree trunk and background (soil, weeds, sky, etc.) to filter out non-tree trunk areas and retain the main tree trunk area; S2-3: The Canny edge detection algorithm is used to extract the tree trunk edge contour to obtain a binarized image of the tree trunk edge; S2-4: The sliding window traversal method is used to scan the tree trunk outline curve. A fixed-size sliding window (e.g., 5×5 pixels) is set, and the curvature change of the outline points within the window is calculated. When the curvature value exceeds a preset threshold, the point is marked as a candidate branching point. Abrupt curvature changes are usually a characteristic of branching in the tree trunk outline; S2-5: The DBSCAN clustering algorithm is used to cluster the candidate branching points, merging points with similar spatial locations, eliminating noise and isolated points, and selecting the point farthest from the ground among the cluster centers as the first branching point of the tree trunk. The boundary between the tree trunk and the ground can be determined by color abrupt changes in the bottom region of the image or edge termination points.

[0043] S3: Steps for calculating the height of the fixed trunk Based on the two key points identified by S2 (the first bifurcation point and the ground boundary point), the tree trunk height H is calculated using the principle of binocular vision. Specifically, using the intrinsic parameters (focal length, principal point coordinates) and extrinsic parameters (rotation matrix, translation vector) of the binocular camera, the first bifurcation point in the left and right views is stereo matched to calculate its three-dimensional coordinates (X1, Y1, Z1) in the camera coordinate system; similarly, the three-dimensional coordinates (X2, Y2, Z2) of the ground boundary point are calculated. The tree trunk height H is defined as the distance from the first bifurcation point to the ground boundary point in the vertical direction (Y-axis), i.e., H = |Y1 - Y2|. This height is an important parameter of the biological characteristics of fruit trees, reflecting the effective height range of the trunk that can be clamped.

[0044] S4: Steps for determining the clamping position The final clamping height H is determined based on the fixed stem height H calculated by S3. final Specifically, it includes: S4-1: Determine the initial clamping height H1 according to the fixed trunk height H and a preset ratio, wherein the preset ratio is 0.9, that is, H1 = 0.9 × H. This ratio is set based on agronomic experience: if the clamping point is too low, it may damage the base of the trunk; if the clamping point is too high, it may cause the branches to swing excessively or even break. 0.9H ensures that the clamping point is located in a strong part of the trunk and also leaves enough safety margin. S4-2: Obtain the maximum lifting height Hmax of the harvester's vibrating head 8. This parameter is pre-stored in the harvester's control system and depends on the structural design of the multi-section boom system and the stroke of the hydraulic cylinder. S4-3: Compare H1 and H max If H1 ≤ H max The final clamping height H final = H1; if H1>H max The final clamping height H final = H max This comparative logic respects both agronomic requirements (preferably 0.9H) and the physical limits of the equipment, ensuring that instructions are executable within the equipment's capabilities and avoiding equipment damage or operational failure due to instructions exceeding limits.

[0045] S5: Attitude Adaptive Adjustment Steps The tilt angle of the tree trunk relative to the vertical direction is identified. Specifically, this can be achieved by acquiring the three-dimensional coordinates of at least two different height points on the trunk using binocular vision, fitting the trunk's centerline, and calculating the angle between the centerline and the vertical direction; or by indirectly calculating the angle based on the feedback angle of the clamping arms during the clamping process, allowing the vibrating head to lightly touch the trunk. Based on the identified tilt angle, the control system automatically (fully automatic mode) or responds to manual commands (semi-automatic mode) controls the movement of the multi-degree-of-freedom attitude adjustment mechanism. Specifically, it controls the extension and retraction of the first drive member 12 and the second drive member 13 to adapt the clamping surface axis of the vibrating head 8 to the tilt angle of the tree trunk, ensuring that the clamping surfaces of the left clamping arm 822 and the right clamping arm 823 are parallel and in contact with the tree trunk surface. This step ensures that even if the tree trunk is tilted, the clamping force is still evenly distributed, avoiding bark damage and unstable clamping caused by point contact.

[0046] S6: Visual Annotation Steps The final clamping height H determined by S4 final By combining the camera imaging model (i.e., camera intrinsic parameters and distortion parameters), the data is converted into pixel positions in the image coordinate system, and the clamping positions are graphically marked on the tree trunk image (such as red boxes or line segments), which are displayed in real time through the harvester's display interface. Operators can intuitively see the machine's suggested clamping points on the screen, which can confirm the rationality of the machine's decision and allow for manual intervention and correction when necessary, thus realizing human-machine collaborative operation.

[0047] The working principle of this invention is as follows: Before operation, the operator drives the equipment into the orchard and parks it near the target tree trunk. After activating the automatic operation mode, the system first acquires images of the tree trunk using a binocular camera mounted on the vibrating head 8. An image processing algorithm automatically identifies the boundary between the tree trunk and the ground, as well as the first branching point, and calculates the fixed trunk height H. Based on H, the initial clamping height H1 is determined at a ratio of 0.9, and compared with the equipment's maximum lifting height H. max By comparison, the final clamping height H is obtained. final At the same time, the clamping position is graphically marked on the monitor for the operator to confirm.

[0048] Subsequently, the control system based on H final The control values ​​of lifting cylinder 5, two-section boom cylinder 6, and three-section boom cylinder 7 are calculated to drive the multi-section boom system to send the vibrating head 8 to a predetermined height. During this process, a binocular camera acquires images in real time, and precise positioning is achieved through visual servo control.

[0049] Once the vibrating head 8 reaches the clamping height, the control system obtains the trunk's tilt data through a trunk tilt angle recognition algorithm. If the trunk is tilted, the control quantities of the first drive component 12 and the second drive component 13 are calculated based on the tilt angle: the second drive component 13 drives the assembly shaft 10 to swing relative to the assembly frame 9, achieving coarse adjustment of the overall orientation of the vibrating head; the first drive component 12 drives the vibrating head 8 to rotate relative to the assembly shaft 10, achieving fine adjustment of the clamping surface angle. The two-stage adjustment works in tandem to ensure that the clamping surfaces of the left clamping arm 822 and the right clamping arm 823 are completely in contact with the trunk surface.

[0050] After the clamping angle is adjusted to the correct position, the control system controls the clamping cylinder 824 to actuate, driving the four-bar linkage assembly 821 to close the left clamping arm 822 and the right clamping arm 823 to clamp the tree trunk. The rubber pad 83 undergoes elastic deformation, increasing the contact area, and the shock-absorbing spring 84 is in a pre-compressed state. Subsequently, the hydraulic motor 851 is started, driving three triangularly arranged eccentric blocks 852 to rotate synchronously, generating a stable excitation force, which is transmitted through the vibrating head main frame 81 to the clamping arms, and then to the tree trunk, causing the fruit on the branches to fall off due to vibration.

[0051] During operation, operators can monitor the equipment status and work results in real time via a display. By controlling the speed of the rear drive shaft with the tractor throttle, the speed of the hydraulic motor changes, generating different vibration frequencies and thus achieving better work results. Once a work point is completed, the control system controls the clamping cylinder 824 to release the clamping arm, retract the multi-section arm system, and the equipment moves to the next tree to continue working.

[0052] The above embodiments are merely preferred embodiments of the present invention and should not be construed as limiting the present invention. Variations or substitutions readily conceived by those skilled in the art within the scope of the technology disclosed in this invention, such as replacing hydraulic drive with electric drive, replacing binocular vision with monocular vision combined with a depth sensor, and replacing a three-stage telescopic arm with a multi-stage folding arm, should all be covered within the protection scope of this invention. Therefore, the protection scope of this invention should be determined by the claims.

[0053] Several points should be noted: First, in the description of this application, it should be noted that, unless otherwise specified and limited, the terms "installation", "connection" and "linkage" should be interpreted broadly, and can be mechanical or electrical connection, or internal connection between two components, or direct connection. "Up", "down", "left", "right", etc. are only used to indicate relative positional relationship. When the absolute position of the described object changes, the relative positional relationship may change.

[0054] The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The scope of protection of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. Any equivalent modifications or changes made by those skilled in the art based on the content disclosed in the present invention should be included within the scope of protection set forth in the claims.

Claims

1. A harvesting device for vibrating fallen fruit in orchards, characterized in that, include: Self-propelled main unit; A multi-section boom system, installed on the self-propelled main unit, includes at least one telescopic or swingable boom section; A vibrating head, connected to the end of the multi-segment arm system, is used to clamp and vibrate the branches; A visual sensing unit, mounted on the vibrating head and / or the multi-segment arm system, is used to acquire images of the tree trunk; The control unit is electrically connected to the visual sensing unit, the multi-segment arm system, and the vibrating head. It also includes a multi-degree-of-freedom attitude adjustment mechanism disposed between the multi-section arm system and the vibrating head, the adjustment mechanism comprising: An assembly frame is fixedly connected to the end of the multi-section boom system; An assembly shaft is rotatably mounted on the assembly frame, constituting a first degree of rotational freedom; At least two drive components are respectively connected between the assembly frame, the assembly shaft and the vibrating head, driving the vibrating head to adjust its posture in at least two independent and / or related rotational directions so that the clamping surface of the vibrating head adapts to tree trunks with different tilt angles.

2. The harvesting device for vibrating fallen fruit in an orchard according to claim 1, characterized in that: The two driving components include a first driving component and a second driving component; One end of the first driving member is connected to the assembly shaft, and the other end is connected to the vibrating head, for driving the vibrating head to rotate relative to the assembly shaft; One end of the second driving member is connected to the assembly frame, and the other end is connected to the assembly shaft, for driving the assembly shaft to swing relative to the assembly frame.

3. A harvesting device for vibrating fallen fruit in an orchard according to claim 2, characterized in that: Both the first driving component and the second driving component are hydraulic cylinders; The cylinder end of the first driving component is hinged to the assembly shaft, and the piston rod end is hinged to the vibrating head; The cylinder end of the second drive component is hinged to the mounting frame, and the piston rod end is hinged to the mounting shaft.

4. A harvesting device for vibrating fallen fruit in an orchard according to claim 1, characterized in that: The multi-section boom system includes a main boom, a second boom, and a third boom. The main boom is hinged to the self-propelled main unit. The second boom is movably inserted into the main boom, and the third boom is movably inserted into the second boom. A lifting cylinder is hinged between the main boom and the self-propelled main unit, a second boom cylinder is hinged between the second boom and the self-propelled main unit, and a third boom cylinder is hinged between the third boom and the self-propelled main unit, so that lifting and pitch adjustment can be achieved through the drive of each cylinder.

5. A harvesting device for vibrating fallen fruit in an orchard according to claim 1, characterized in that: The vibrating head includes: Vibration head main frame; The clamping mechanism, installed at the front end of the main frame of the vibrating head, includes a four-bar linkage assembly, a left clamping arm and a right clamping arm driven by the four-bar linkage assembly, and a clamping cylinder that drives the four-bar linkage assembly. A rubber pad is provided on the inner clamping surface of the left and right clamping arms; A shock-absorbing spring is connected between the clamping arm and the main frame of the vibrating head; The vibration generating mechanism includes a hydraulic motor and an eccentric block driven by the hydraulic motor.

6. A harvesting device for vibrating fallen fruit in an orchard according to claim 5, characterized in that: The vibration generating mechanism also includes two synchronous pulleys that are connected to the output end of the hydraulic motor via a synchronous belt. Each of the two synchronous pulleys is provided with an eccentric block, and the three eccentric blocks are arranged in a triangular shape.

7. A harvesting device for vibrating fallen fruit in an orchard according to claim 1, characterized in that: The visual perception unit is a binocular camera, which is installed on the vibrating head. It calculates the three-dimensional coordinates of key points on the tree trunk through binocular stereo vision, and the control system calculates the control quantity of each cylinder based on the three-dimensional coordinates.

8. A method for harvesting shaken fallen fruit in an orchard, based on the harvesting device for shaken fallen fruit in an orchard as described in any one of claims 1-7, characterized in that: Includes the following steps: S1: Acquire images containing the boundary between the tree trunk and the ground, as well as the first branching point of the tree trunk, through the visual perception unit; S2: Preprocess and extract features from the acquired images to identify the location of the boundary between the tree trunk and the ground, as well as the location of the first branch point of the tree trunk; S3: Calculate the tree trunk height H based on the two identified key points; S4: Determine the final clamping height H based on the fixed clamping height H. final ; S5: Identify the tilt angle of the tree trunk relative to the vertical direction, and automatically or in response to manual instructions control the multi-degree-of-freedom attitude adjustment mechanism to adapt the clamping surface axis of the vibrating head to the tilt angle of the tree trunk.

9. A method for harvesting fallen fruit in an orchard according to claim 8, characterized in that: The identification of the first branching point of the tree trunk in S2 specifically includes: Gaussian filtering is used to denoise the image; Threshold segmentation is performed based on the HSV color space to filter out non-tree trunk background areas; The Canny edge detection algorithm was used to extract the tree trunk edge contour; The sliding window traversal method is used to scan the tree trunk outline curve, calculate the curvature change of the outline points within the window, and mark the points whose curvature exceeds the preset threshold as candidate branching points. The candidate branching points are clustered using the DBSCAN clustering algorithm, and the point farthest from the ground among the cluster centers is selected as the first branching point of the tree trunk.

10. A method for harvesting fallen fruit in an orchard according to claim 8, characterized in that: S4 specifically includes: The initial clamping height H1 is determined according to the fixed stem height H and a preset ratio, wherein the preset ratio is 0.9, that is, H1 = 0.9 H; Obtain the maximum lifting height H of the harvester's vibrating head max ; Compare H1 and H max If H1 ≤ H max The final clamping height H final = H1; if H1 > H max The final clamping height H final =H max ; And also includes S6: according to the final clamping height H final By combining the camera imaging model, the position is converted into a pixel position in the image coordinate system, and the clamping position is graphically marked on the tree trunk image and displayed in real time through the harvester's display interface.

Images