Agricultural robot system and method
First Claim
1. An agricultural robot system comprising:
- a scouting robot programmed to autonomously scouting an agricultural field without operator intervention comprising;
a platform;
at least one drive wheel coupled with said platform;
at least one camera coupled with said scouting robot wherein said scouting robot utilizes said at least one camera to scout objects in said agricultural field;
a harvesting robot programmed to autonomously harvesting the agricultural field without said operator intervention comprising;
at least one arm;
wherein said scouting robot is programmed to scout a first plant in said agricultural field, and wherein said scouting robot is programmed to move to a second plant not within reach of said first plant in said agricultural field, and scout said second plant in said agricultural field to create a map of agricultural elements comprising locations of said first plant and said second plant and locations of fruit in said first plant and said second plant in said agricultural field wherein said scouting robot does not perform an agricultural operation that transforms said agricultural elements within said agricultural field or otherwise harvest said agricultural field while said scouting robot creates said map;
at least one computer that is programmed to generate a picking plan from said map created by said scouting robot comprising locations of said first plant and said second plant and locations of fruit in said first plant and said second plant wherein said picking plan comprises a harvesting robot motion path and locations to position said harvesting robot that increases efficiency of said harvesting robot and wherein said picking plan comprises an order in which to pick fruit at said locations of fruit and wherein said picking plan comprises said at least one arm of said harvesting robot to pick said fruit at said locations of fruit and wherein said picking plan minimizes a risk of entanglement of said at least one arm of said harvesting robot and minimizes the number of movements of said at least one arm of said harvesting robot and minimizes last looks and back tracks of said harvesting robot and wherein said picking plan is generated before said first plant is harvested by said harvesting robot; and
,wherein said harvesting robot is programmed to perform an agricultural operation to pick said fruit at said first plant and said second plant to harvest said agricultural field according to said picking plan and after said picking plan is received from said at least one computer.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Robotic harvesting of agricultural crops. Robot moves through a field first to “map” the field to determine plant locations, number and size of fruit on plants and approximate positions of fruit on each plant. Once the map of the fruit is complete, the robot can plan and implement an efficient picking plan for itself or another robot. A scout robot or harvest robot determines a picking plan in advance of picking a tree. This may be done if the map is finished hours, days or weeks before a robot is scheduled to harvest, or if the picking plan algorithm selected requires significant computational time and cannot be implemented in “real time” by the harvesting robot as it is picking the field. The system harvests according to the selected picking plan. The picking plan may be generated in the scout robot, harvest robot or on a server.
104 Citations
19 Claims
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1. An agricultural robot system comprising:
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a scouting robot programmed to autonomously scouting an agricultural field without operator intervention comprising; a platform; at least one drive wheel coupled with said platform; at least one camera coupled with said scouting robot wherein said scouting robot utilizes said at least one camera to scout objects in said agricultural field; a harvesting robot programmed to autonomously harvesting the agricultural field without said operator intervention comprising; at least one arm; wherein said scouting robot is programmed to scout a first plant in said agricultural field, and wherein said scouting robot is programmed to move to a second plant not within reach of said first plant in said agricultural field, and scout said second plant in said agricultural field to create a map of agricultural elements comprising locations of said first plant and said second plant and locations of fruit in said first plant and said second plant in said agricultural field wherein said scouting robot does not perform an agricultural operation that transforms said agricultural elements within said agricultural field or otherwise harvest said agricultural field while said scouting robot creates said map; at least one computer that is programmed to generate a picking plan from said map created by said scouting robot comprising locations of said first plant and said second plant and locations of fruit in said first plant and said second plant wherein said picking plan comprises a harvesting robot motion path and locations to position said harvesting robot that increases efficiency of said harvesting robot and wherein said picking plan comprises an order in which to pick fruit at said locations of fruit and wherein said picking plan comprises said at least one arm of said harvesting robot to pick said fruit at said locations of fruit and wherein said picking plan minimizes a risk of entanglement of said at least one arm of said harvesting robot and minimizes the number of movements of said at least one arm of said harvesting robot and minimizes last looks and back tracks of said harvesting robot and wherein said picking plan is generated before said first plant is harvested by said harvesting robot; and
,wherein said harvesting robot is programmed to perform an agricultural operation to pick said fruit at said first plant and said second plant to harvest said agricultural field according to said picking plan and after said picking plan is received from said at least one computer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification