Color Sensor Weed Detection for Volunteer Potato Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for controlling volunteer potato plants as weeds in agricultural areas require excessive herbicide use, which is environmentally detrimental and contradicts legal and environmental protection goals, as they compete with crops for resources and serve as pest and disease hosts.
Innovation Solution
An agricultural device with light-emitting units and light-sensitive color sensors that detect true color values to identify volunteer potato plants, activating targeted thermal treatment devices only when specific color and coverage criteria are met, minimizing herbicide use and ensuring efficient weed control.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If herbicides are applied repeatedly to control volunteer potato plants, then effective weed control is achieved, but environmental protection and legal requirements are violated
Solution Approach 1:
The agricultural area is divided into multiple width sections, with separate weed treatment devices and color sensors assigned to each section. This allows independent detection and treatment of volunteer potato plants in specific zones, enabling targeted herbicide application only where needed rather than blanket spraying across the entire field.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements spatially varying treatment by activating weed treatment devices individually based on local detection conditions. Each width section can be treated differently according to the presence and coverage of volunteer potato plants, as determined by local color sensor measurements, thus applying herbicides only where necessary.
2Measurement precision
If light-sensitive sensors are used to detect weed plants, then targeted herbicide application is enabled, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The detection system is segmented into multiple independent color sensor units, each assigned to a specific width section. Each sensor unit independently measures color values in its designated zone, and the control unit processes each section separately. This modular approach distributes system complexity across multiple simple units rather than requiring one complex centralized system.
Solution Approach 2:
The system utilizes color detection to identify volunteer potato plants, exploiting the distinct color characteristics of these weeds compared to crops and soil. By measuring color values in the visible spectrum and comparing them against reference values, the system achieves reliable weed identification without requiring complex spectral analysis or multiple sensor types.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The device enables precise, environmentally friendly weed treatment by selectively targeting volunteer potato plants, reducing unnecessary herbicide application and minimizing impact on crops and soil, thus promoting sustainable agricultural practices.
Implementation Method 1
At least one light emitting unit for emitting visible, in particular white, light in the direction of the agricultural land area
Implementation Method 2
several light-sensitive color sensors for detecting the visible light reflected in the width sections from the agricultural soil area and previously emitted by the at least one light-emitting unit
Implementation Method 3
several light-sensitive color sensors for detecting the visible light reflected
Implementation Method 4
Each of the weed treatment devices is designed in such a way that, at the time of its activation, it exerts an at least growth-inhibiting, but preferably killing, effect on a weed plant present in the width section
Data Source
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AI summary
An agricultural device (1) for the automatic detection and treatment of weeds (U) covering an agricultural area (A) is presented, comprising several weed treatment devices (2, 2-1, 2-2, 2-3) for treating weeds (U) in a respective width section (B1, B2, B3) of a total working width (B) of the agricultural device, at least one light-emitting unit (6) for emitting visible light, several light-sensitive color sensors (3, 3-1, 3-2, 3-3) for detecting the reflected visible light and for measuring true color values of the detected visible light, and several evaluation units (4, 4-1, 4-2, 4-3) for processing the measured true color values. For each width subsection (B1, B2, B3) exactly one assigned evaluation unit (4, 4-1, 4-2, 4-3) is provided, which is designed based on the data in this width subsection (B1, B2,B3) measured true color values of weed plants (U) of a given weed species, in particular volunteer potato plants, and to determine as a temporarily valid activation criterion for the weed control device (2, 2-1, 2-2, 2-3) assigned to this lateral section (B1, B2, B3) whether the lateral section (B1, B2, B3) of the respective weed control device (2, 2-1, 2-2, 2-3) is covered by the given weed species to at least a given minimum extent, wherein the given minimum extent of coverage is at least 30% of the respective lateral section (B1, B2, B3), and the weed control device (2, 2-1, 2-2, 2-3) assigned to the lateral section (B1, B2, B3) is temporarily used for the, in particular thermal, targeted treatment of the identified weed plants (U) of the given The weed species should only be activated if this is the case for this latitudinal section (B1, B2,The activation criterion determined in B3 is valid.