Outdoor working automating system

• US 5,606,850 A
• Filed: 05/05/1995
• Issued: 03/04/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/1992
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Sakura Rubber Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Sakura Rubber Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Nakamura, Tetsuya
• Primary Examiner(s): MELIUS, TERRY L
• Application Number:
  US08/435,497
• Time in Patent Office: 669 Days
• Field of Search: 56/10.2 A, 56/10.2 R, 56/DIG. 7, 56/DIG. 15, 111/911
• US Class Current: 56/10.20A
• CPC Class Codes: A01B 69/008 automatic
• CPC Class Codes: A01B 79/005 Precision agriculture
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 111/911 Rice
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 56/07 Remote control implement
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 56/15 Condition responsive

Abstract

An outdoor working automating system includes a rice reaper having a position detecting unit for detecting a position by receiving radio waves from a GPS satellite and a control unit for controlling the position of the rice reaper sa that the position traces predetermined route data, and a rice transplanter having a position detecting unit for detecting a position by receiving radio waves from the GPS satellite and a memory for storing the detected position. The outdoor working automating system causes the memory to store a route that the rice transplanter takes during rice transplanting, and causes the rice reaper to perform rice reaping automatically by using the position data stored in the memory as the route data of the rice reaper.

Claims

1. An automated system for weeding between rice transplanted to selected positions, said system comprising means for storing information relating to said selected positions of said transplanted rice, an automated unmanned weeder means for performing weeding operations, and control means responsive to said means for storing information related to said selected positions for moving said weeding means to positions exclusive of the stored positions for performing weeding operations avoiding the rice.

2. An automated system for the performance of mowing operations, said system comprising detecting means for detecting the positions of trees and storing the positions of the trees during a tree planting operation, an automated unmanned mower means for performing mowing operations, and control means for moving said mower means to positions exclusive of the tree positions for performing mowing operations within a boundary of the tree planting operation.

3. An outdoor automated system, said system comprising position detecting means for detecting and storing tree-planted positions resulting from a tree planting operation, and a robot means for performing mowing operations, said robot means being controlled by said detecting means for being moved to positions except for the tree-planted positions to perform the mowing operation within a boundary of the tree planting operation.

4. A method of operating an automated unmanned weeder within a rice planting operation, said method comprising transplanting rice plants to determinable positions, storing information relating to said determined positions, and controlling said automated unmanned weeder in accordance with said stored information to perform weeding operations between said plants.

5. A method for performing a mowing operation with a remote controlled mower, said method comprising detecting tree positions and storing the positions thereof, and remotely controlling the remote controlled mower to perform a mowing operation between the trees in accordance with the stored positions.