Picking robot

Abstract

The utility model relates to a picking robot which comprises a collecting frame, a movable chassis and a picking mechanical arm. The picking mechanical arm is fixed to the middle of the collecting frame through a stand column. The movable chassis is arranged at the bottom of the collecting frame. The movable chassis is a four-wheel drive walking mechanism with an independent suspension; a first motor and a first joint are fixedly mounted on the side surface of the top of the upright; one end of the first joint is connected with a first motor output shaft, and the other end is connected with a second motor; an output shaft of the second motor is connected with a second joint; the second joint is fixedly provided with a telescopic joint and is movably provided with a connecting rod through the telescopic joint; the steering engine is fixedly mounted at the tail end of the connecting rod; an output shaft of the steering engine is connected with the picker; a first camera and a laser distance measuring sensor are fixedly mounted on one side, close to the steering engine, of the connecting rod; a second camera and a contact sensor are fixedly mounted on the picker tray; and an AI controller is mounted on the picking mechanical arm in an embedded manner. The fruit picking machine has the advantages of being high in fruit recognition rate, low in omission ratio and high in picking efficiency.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This utility model belongs to the field of agricultural machinery technology, and specifically relates to a harvesting robot, mainly used for harvesting citrus fruits. Background Technology

[0002] Citrus fruits are one of the world's most important economic crops, cultivated on a large scale globally. They are the world's largest category of fruit and the world's third-largest traded agricultural product. my country is one of the major origins of citrus fruits, boasting abundant resources, diverse varieties, and astonishing yields. Besides being consumed as food, citrus fruits also have significant medicinal value and considerable commercial worth.

[0003] Traditional citrus harvesting is entirely manual. While manual harvesting effectively reduces fruit damage and ensures uniformity, it requires a large workforce and is inefficient. This is especially true given China's urbanization and the resulting migration of rural labor to cities, leading to a severe shortage of rural labor and driving up costs. In some agriculturally developed Western countries, a vibratory harvesting method is used. However, this type of machinery suffers from drawbacks such as fruit damage and low efficiency, and it has limitations in selectively harvesting soft, easily perishable fruit. Clearly, a harvesting method relying primarily on vibratory harvesters is unsuitable for citrus harvesting in China.

[0004] Furthermore, most existing harvesting robots employ general-purpose robotic arms, requiring complex inverse kinematics calculations for target localization. The inverse kinematics of multi-degree-of-freedom robotic arms involve multiple solution spaces and massive computational demands, resulting in long calculation cycles, poor real-time performance, and difficulty meeting the demands of high-speed harvesting, leading to slow robot approach speeds towards target fruits. Existing robot vision systems are mostly based on monocular or depth cameras, employing traditional image processing algorithms such as color thresholding, edge detection, or geometric template matching. These methods exhibit poor robustness to complex scenarios involving lighting changes, foliage occlusion, and overlapping fruits, resulting in high false positive and false negative rates. Therefore, a harvesting robot distinct from existing technologies is needed. Summary of the Invention

[0005] This utility model provides a harvesting robot to solve the technical problems existing in the prior art, which has the characteristics of high fruit recognition rate, low missed detection rate and high harvesting efficiency.

[0006] This utility model includes the following technical solution: a harvesting robot, comprising a collection frame, a mobile chassis, and a harvesting robotic arm; the harvesting robotic arm is fixed to the middle of the collection frame by a column, and the mobile chassis is located at the bottom of the collection frame; the mobile chassis is a four-wheel drive walking mechanism with independent suspension; a first motor and a first joint are fixedly mounted on the top side of the column; one end of the first joint is connected to the output shaft of the first motor, and the other end is connected to a second motor; the output shaft of the second motor is connected to a second joint; a telescopic joint is fixedly mounted on the second joint, and a connecting rod is movably mounted through the telescopic joint; a servo motor is fixedly mounted at the end of the connecting rod, and the output shaft of the servo motor is connected to the harvester; a first camera and a laser rangefinder are fixedly mounted on the connecting rod near the servo motor, and a second camera and a contact sensor are fixedly mounted on the tray of the harvester; an AI controller is embedded in the harvesting robotic arm.

[0007] Furthermore, the telescopic joint includes a third motor and two limiting frames with internal rollers; the third motor is fixed to the top of the limiting frames and located between the two limiting frames; a gear is mounted on the output shaft of the third motor, and a rack matching the gear is fixed to the upper surface of the connecting rod. When the third motor rotates, it drives the connecting rod to move back and forth within the limiting frames, thereby achieving the telescopic effect.

[0008] Furthermore, the harvester includes a tray and a cutting mechanism; the cutting mechanism is positioned above the tray and controlled by a cutting motor, and a contact sensor is fixedly installed at the bottom of the tray's receiving space to detect whether it is in contact with the fruit. The cutting mechanism is a clamshell double-blade assembly that performs the cutting action by opening and closing under the control of the cutting motor.

[0009] Furthermore, the first joint is fixed to the second motor via an L-shaped connecting plate. When the first motor drives the first joint to rotate, it causes the picking robot arm to pitch. When the second motor drives the second joint to rotate, the picking robot arm swings left and right.

[0010] Furthermore, the mobile chassis includes a planar mounting bracket, a front axle mounting base, a rear axle mounting base, and four drive wheels.

[0011] Furthermore, the front axle mounting base and the rear axle mounting base are fixed on the planar mounting frame, and a drive wheel with a drive motor is provided on each side of the front axle mounting base and the rear axle mounting base.

[0012] Furthermore, the drive motors are connected to the front and rear axle mounting bases via several suspensions; the top of each drive motor is fixed with a buffer spring connected to the front and rear axle mounting bases. The four drive motors form a 4x4 drive system, with each motor mounted on four independent suspensions supported by buffer springs, giving the mobile chassis excellent off-road and maneuverability. The four drive wheels, two on each side, employ a differential steering model, featuring a simple kinematic model and easy control. The drive wheels use maintenance-free solid buffer tires, making the mobile chassis more robust and durable.

[0013] Furthermore, the harvesting robot is equipped with an industrial control computer and a depth camera; the four drive motors are connected to the industrial control computer via a CAN bus, and a tablet or mobile phone can connect to the industrial control computer via WiFi to display the harvesting route and status, as well as the number of tangerines harvested. The industrial control computer can obtain precise positioning data from differential GPS to control the four-wheeled mobile chassis to move in precise positions. The harvesting robot mainly uses a teaching mode to obtain position data for the harvesting route and transfer route.

[0014] Furthermore, the bottom side of the column is equipped with an attitude sensor and two servo push rods. The servo push rods and attitude sensor constitute a stable perception and drive system, forming a 2-DOF parallel mechanism together with the column. This mechanism has excellent rigidity and response speed, ensuring that the column remains relatively vertical to the ground throughout the robot's movement. The industrial control computer uses a depth camera and attitude sensor to perceive obstacles, enabling simple and effective obstacle avoidance control for the harvesting robot.

[0015] Furthermore, the collection frame is composed of soft canvas and a frame, and can hold 200 kg of citrus fruits.

[0016] The advantages and positive effects of this utility model are as follows:

[0017] 1. The mobile chassis of this utility model adopts four-wheel independent suspension, which can keep the column relatively vertical to the ground during the robot's movement and not interfere with the operation of the robotic arm.

[0018] 2. This utility model controls the swing angle of the first and second joints by controlling the first and second motors, and then controls the extension and retraction of the connecting rod by controlling the third motor, which facilitates control, reduces the complexity of the algorithm, and allows for faster approach to the target and faster harvesting speed.

[0019] 3. This utility model uses an AI controller combined with a first camera, a second camera, a laser rangefinder, and a contact sensor to identify targets. It has a high recognition rate, a low false negative rate, and improves harvesting efficiency. Attached Figure Description

[0020] Figure 1 This is a three-dimensional view of the overall structure of this utility model;

[0021] Figure 2 This is an enlarged structural diagram of the first joint, the second joint, and the telescopic joint;

[0022] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the control system for the mobile chassis;

[0023] Figure 4 This is a three-dimensional structural diagram of the mobile chassis;

[0024] In the diagram, 1-collection box; 2-mobile chassis; 201-flat mounting bracket; 202-front axle mounting base; 203-rear axle mounting base; 204-drive wheel; 205-drive motor; 206-suspension; 207-buffer spring;

[0025] 3-Column; 4-First motor; 5-First joint; 6-Second motor; 7-Second joint; 8-Connecting rod; 9-Servo motor; 10-Picker; 11-Third motor; 12-Limiting frame; 13-Servo push rod. Detailed Implementation

[0026] To further disclose the invention content, features, and effects of this utility model, the following examples are provided in conjunction with the accompanying drawings for detailed description. In the following description of the embodiments, it should be understood that the terms "center," "longitudinal," "lateral," "length," "width," "thickness," "upper," "lower," "front," "rear," "left," "right," "vertical," "horizontal," "top," "bottom," "inner," "outer," "clockwise," and "counterclockwise," etc., indicating the orientation or positional relationship, are based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the accompanying drawings and are only for the convenience of describing this patent and simplifying the description. They do not indicate or imply that the device or component referred to must have a specific orientation, or be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore should not be construed as a limitation of this patent.

[0027] In the following description of the embodiments, it should be noted that, unless otherwise explicitly specified and limited, the terms "installation," "connection," "linking," and "setting" should be interpreted broadly. For example, they can refer to a fixed connection or setting, a detachable connection or setting, or an integral connection or setting. Those skilled in the art can understand the specific meaning of the above terms in this patent according to the specific circumstances.

[0028] Example: See Appendix Figure 1-4A harvesting robot includes a collection frame 1, a mobile chassis 2, and a harvesting robotic arm. The harvesting robotic arm is fixed to the middle of the collection frame 1 by a column 3, and the mobile chassis 2 is located at the bottom of the collection frame 1. The collection frame 1 is composed of soft canvas and a frame, and can hold 200 kg of citrus fruits. The harvesting robotic arm includes a second motor 6, a second joint 7, a telescopic joint, a connecting rod 8, and a harvester. An AI controller is embedded in the harvesting robotic arm.

[0029] The bottom side of the column 3 is equipped with an attitude sensor and two servo push rods 13. The servo push rods 13 and the attitude sensor constitute an attitude-stable sensing and driving system, forming a 2-DOF parallel mechanism with the column 3. This mechanism has excellent rigidity and response speed, ensuring that the column 3 remains relatively vertical to the ground during robot movement. A first motor 4 and a first joint 5 are fixedly mounted on the top side of the column 3. One end of the first joint 5 is connected to the output shaft of the first motor 4, and the other end is connected to a second motor 6. The output shaft of the second motor 6 is connected to a second joint 7. The first joint 5 is fixed to the second motor 6 via an L-shaped connecting plate. When the first motor 4 drives the first joint 5 to rotate, it causes the picking robot arm to pitch. When the second motor 6 drives the second joint 7 to rotate, the picking robot arm swings left and right. A telescopic joint is fixedly mounted on the second joint 7, and a connecting rod 8 is movably mounted through the telescopic joint.

[0030] A servo motor 9 is fixedly mounted at the end of the connecting rod 8, and the output shaft of the servo motor 9 is connected to the harvester 10. A first camera and a laser rangefinder sensor are fixedly mounted on the connecting rod 8 near the servo motor 9, and a second camera and a contact sensor are fixedly mounted on the tray of the harvester 10. The harvester 10 includes a tray and a cutting mechanism; the cutting mechanism is located above the tray and is controlled by a cutting motor, and a contact sensor is fixedly mounted at the bottom of the tray's receiving space to detect whether it is in contact with the fruit. The cutting mechanism is a clamshell double-blade assembly, which performs the cutting action by opening and closing under the control of the cutting motor.

[0031] like Figure 2 As shown, the telescopic joint includes a third motor 11 and two limiting frames 12 with internal rollers. The third motor 11 is fixed to the top of the limiting frames 12 and located between the two limiting frames 12. A gear is mounted on the output shaft of the third motor 11, and a rack matching the gear is fixed to the upper surface of the connecting rod 8. When the third motor 11 rotates, it drives the connecting rod 8 to move back and forth within the limiting frames 12, thereby achieving the telescopic effect.

[0032] like Figures 3-4As shown, the mobile chassis 2 is a four-wheel drive walking mechanism with independent suspension; the mobile chassis 2 includes a planar mounting frame 201, a front axle mounting seat 202, a rear axle mounting seat 203, and four drive wheels 204. The front axle mounting seat 202 and the rear axle mounting seat 203 are fixed on the planar mounting frame 201, and a drive wheel 204 with a drive motor 205 is respectively provided on both sides of the front axle mounting seat 202 and the rear axle mounting seat 203.

[0033] The drive motor 205 is connected to the front axle mounting base 202 and the rear axle mounting base 203 via several suspensions 206. A buffer spring 207 is fixedly mounted on the top of the drive motor 205 and connected to the front axle mounting base 202 and the rear axle mounting base 203. The four drive motors 205 form a 4x4 drive system, with each drive motor 205 mounted on four independent suspensions 206, which are supported by buffer springs 207, giving the mobile chassis 2 excellent off-road and maneuverability. The four drive wheels 204 have two on each side and employ a differential steering model, featuring a simple kinematic model and easy control. The tires on the drive wheels 204 are maintenance-free solid buffer tires, making the mobile chassis 2 more robust and durable.

[0034] The harvesting robot is also equipped with an industrial control computer and a depth camera. The four drive motors 205 are connected to the industrial control computer via a CAN bus. A tablet or mobile phone connected to the industrial control computer via WiFi can display the harvesting route and status, as well as the number of tangerines harvested. The industrial control computer can obtain precise positioning data from differential GPS to control the four-wheeled mobile chassis 2 to move in precise positions. The harvesting robot mainly uses a teaching mode to obtain position data for the harvesting and transfer routes. The industrial control computer uses a depth camera and attitude sensors to perceive obstacles, enabling simple and effective obstacle avoidance control for the harvesting robot.

[0035] Working process: The industrial control computer controls the movement of the mobile chassis 2. The AI ​​controller initially identifies the fruit through the first camera and provides the rotation speed of the first motor 4 and the second motor 6, which in turn controls the swing angle of the first joint 5 and the second joint 7. After finding the right direction, the telescopic joint drives the connecting rod 8 to extend and quickly approach the target fruit. When it gets close enough that the first camera's field of view is about to be completely covered, it switches to the precisely aligned second camera to guide the harvester 10 directly under the target fruit. The harvester 10 is then raised so that the fruit falls completely into the tray of the harvester 10. The harvesting and cutting signal is sent out based on laser ranging and contact sensors. After the fruit is picked, the connecting rod 8 is immediately retracted to retract the harvester 10. The servo motor 9 rotates to flip the harvester 10 downwards, thus placing the fruit into the collection box 1.

[0036] Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments described above. The specific embodiments described above are merely illustrative and not restrictive. Those skilled in the art can make many other modifications under the guidance of the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the claims. These modifications all fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A picking robot, characterized in that: It includes a collection frame, a mobile chassis, and a harvesting robotic arm; the harvesting robotic arm is fixed to the middle of the collection frame by a column, and the mobile chassis is set at the bottom of the collection frame; the mobile chassis is a four-wheel drive walking mechanism with independent suspension; The column has a first motor and a first joint fixedly mounted on its top side; one end of the first joint is connected to the output shaft of the first motor, and the other end is connected to a second motor; the output shaft of the second motor is connected to a second joint; a telescopic joint is fixedly mounted on the second joint and a connecting rod is movably mounted through the telescopic joint; a servo motor is fixedly mounted at the end of the connecting rod, and the output shaft of the servo motor is connected to the harvester; a first camera and a laser rangefinder are fixedly mounted on the connecting rod near the servo motor, and a second camera and a contact sensor are fixedly mounted on the tray of the harvester; an AI controller is embedded in the harvesting robotic arm.

2. The picking robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: The telescopic joint includes a third motor and two limiting frames with internal rollers; the third motor is fixed to the top of the limiting frames and located between the two limiting frames; a gear is installed on the output shaft of the third motor, and a rack matching the gear is fixed on the upper surface of the connecting rod.

3. The picking robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: The harvester includes a tray and a cutting mechanism; the cutting mechanism is located above the tray and is controlled by a cutting motor, and a contact sensor is fixedly installed at the bottom of the tray's accommodating space.

4. The picking robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first joint is fixed to the second motor via an L-shaped connecting plate. When the first motor drives the first joint to rotate, it causes the picking robot arm to pitch. When the second motor drives the second joint to rotate, the picking robot arm swings left and right.

5. The picking robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: The mobile chassis includes a planar mounting frame, a front axle mounting base, a rear axle mounting base, and four drive wheels.

6. A picking robot according to claim 5, characterized in that: The front axle mounting base and the rear axle mounting base are fixed on the flat mounting frame, and a drive wheel with a drive motor is provided on the inner side of each side of the front axle mounting base and the rear axle mounting base.

7. A picking robot according to claim 6, characterized in that: The drive motor is connected to the front axle mounting base and the rear axle mounting base via several suspensions; a buffer spring is fixedly mounted on the top of the drive motor and connected to the front axle mounting base and the rear axle mounting base.

8. The picking robot according to claim 6, characterized in that: The harvesting robot is also equipped with an industrial control computer and a depth camera; the four drive motors are connected to the industrial control computer via a CAN bus, and a tablet or mobile phone is connected to the industrial control computer via WiFi.

9. A picking robot according to claim 8, characterized in that: The bottom side of the column is equipped with an attitude sensor and two servo push rods. The industrial control computer uses a depth camera and attitude sensor to perceive obstacles and control the picking robot to avoid them.

10. A picking robot according to any of claims 1-9, characterized in that: The collection frame consists of a soft canvas and a frame, and can hold 200 kg of fruit.

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