Adjustable-Leg Plant Scanner for Variable Row Spacing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing plant scanning vehicles face challenges in being both robust for field use and easily transportable, while also needing to adjust track width to accommodate different plant row spacings, which is difficult to achieve simultaneously.
Innovation Solution
A plant scanning vehicle with a central body and three or more legs that are rotatably mounted to allow adjustment of track width by rotating about a vertical axis, featuring mechanical coupling for symmetry and actuators for height adjustment, enabling the vehicle to collapse or expand for varying configurations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the vehicle uses a fixed wide track width to straddle plant rows, then it can accommodate different plant spacings, but it becomes difficult to transport
Solution Approach 1:
The vehicle employs dynamically adjustable legs that can rotate about vertical axes to change the track width. The legs are mechanically coupled to transmit rotation between them, allowing the vehicle to transition from a narrow configuration for transport to a wide configuration for straddling plant rows, thus resolving the contradiction between adaptability and transportability
Solution Approach 2:
The vehicle body is divided into separable components with independently adjustable legs. Each leg can be rotated and positioned independently while maintaining mechanical coupling, allowing the track width to be segmented and adjusted without moving the entire vehicle, enabling easy transport when legs are retracted
2Adaptability or versatility
If the vehicle adjusts track width by moving legs, then it accommodates different plant spacings, but sensor alignment may be affected
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor mounting system is merged with the adjustable leg structure. Sensors are mounted on the centrally positioned body rather than on individual legs, ensuring that sensor alignment remains constant relative to the vehicle centerline regardless of leg position or track width adjustments, thus maintaining measurement precision while enabling adaptability
Solution Approach 2:
The mechanical coupling system uses asymmetric toothed couplings with curved racks that differentialially transmit rotation to maintain symmetric wheel positions relative to the sensor centerline. This asymmetric coupling mechanism ensures that even as legs rotate to adjust track width, the wheels remain properly aligned with the sensor, preserving measurement accuracy
3Reliability
If the vehicle uses heavy machinery design for robustness, then it can operate in field conditions, but it becomes expensive and difficult to transport
Solution Approach 1:
The vehicle uses lightweight dynamic leg structures with rotational joints instead of heavy fixed undercarriages. The legs can be raised and lowered, and rotated to adjust track width, providing field operation robustness when deployed while minimizing weight and transport difficulty when retracted, resolving the contradiction between reliability and weight
Solution Approach 2:
The vehicle adds the dimension of vertical adjustment by allowing legs to rotate about horizontal axes as well as vertical axes. This enables the legs to be folded upward for transport, reducing the vehicle's footprint and weight impact during transport while maintaining full operational capability in the field, effectively separating the robustness function from the weight penalty
Data Source
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AI summary
Plant scanning vehicles (10) including, but not limited to, plant scanning vehicles for use in field-based phenotyping. There is a central body (16); three or more legs (15) extending from the central body (16) to support a wheel (13) on each leg (15); wherein the three or more legs (15) are mounted to the central body (16) rotatably about a respective vertical axis (95) to allow adjustment of a track width W of the vehicle by rotating the legs wherein the legs are mechanically coupled to transmit rotation between the legs about their respective vertical axes and the central body (16) or the three or more legs (13) are configured to support a sensor (47) to scan plants.