UAV Crop Pickup Control for Landing-Free Harvest Transport
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Solution Overview
Problem
There is a demand for efficiently transporting harvested crops using unmanned aerial vehicles without the need for ground infrastructure.
Innovation Solution
An unmanned aerial vehicle equipped with a flight device, control device, and acquisition device to acquire and transport harvested crops from an agricultural machine, capable of supporting and transporting packages based on weight information and position data, and a management system to manage these operations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the unmanned aerial vehicle lands on the ground to acquire harvested crops, then the acquisition process is simple, but the transport efficiency is reduced due to landing time and ground infrastructure requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions the crop acquisition process from the ground dimension to the aerial dimension. The acquisition device is mounted on the UAV and acquires crops while the UAV is flying, eliminating the need for landing. This dimensional change allows continuous transport operations without ground infrastructure, directly improving transport efficiency while the integrated acquisition device manages the complexity of operating in three-dimensional space.
2Quantity of substance
If the unmanned aerial vehicle carries a support structure for package transport, then the payload capacity increases, but the weight of the vehicle increases
Solution Approach 1:
The support structure is designed as a dynamic, deployable system rather than a permanent fixed structure. The support structure can be extended or deployed when packages need to be transported and retracted or folded when not in use. This dynamic configuration allows the UAV to carry packages when needed while minimizing weight during flight, effectively increasing payload capacity without permanently increasing vehicle weight.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the unmanned aerial vehicle transports crops without ground infrastructure, then the operational flexibility increases, but the navigation and positioning difficulty increases
Solution Approach 1:
The UAV is equipped with multi-functional integrated systems that combine navigation, positioning, and crop field mapping capabilities. These systems serve multiple purposes: navigating to field locations, positioning during crop acquisition, and mapping the spatial distribution of crops. This multi-functionality provides operational flexibility across different phases of the harvest transport process while managing navigation complexity through integrated sensor suites and control algorithms.
Data Source
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Figure 1C
AI summary
A harvest management system according to an embodiment is a harvest management system for acquiring harvested crops that a mobile agricultural machine has harvested from a field using an unmanned aerial vehicle, wherein an acquisition device used for acquiring the harvested crops is connected to the unmanned aerial vehicle and moves together with the unmanned aerial vehicle, and the unmanned aerial vehicle includes: a receiving device that receives position information indicating a position of the agricultural machine in the field or a position where the agricultural machine is scheduled to discharge harvested crops; a flight device that causes the unmanned aerial vehicle to fly; and a control device that controls operation of the flight device to cause the unmanned aerial vehicle to fly to a position where first harvested crops stored in the agricultural machine or second harvested crops discharged from the agricultural machine can be acquired, and the first harvested crops or the second harvested crops are acquired using the acquisition device connected to the unmanned aerial vehicle.