Agricultural robot

• US 10,698,402 B2
• Filed: 01/21/2016
• Issued: 06/30/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 01/21/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Center (Government of Israel), Ramot at Tel Aviv University Limited (Tel Aviv University)
• Original Assignee: Ramot at Tel Aviv University Limited (Tel Aviv University)
• Inventors: Kosa, Gabor, Bechar, Avital, Yovel, Yosef, Finkelshtain, Roee
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Bao Long T
• Application Number:
  US15/544,949
• Publication Number:
  US 20180017965A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,622 Days
• Field of Search: 701 2, 700248, 700258, 901 46, 31856816
• CPC Class Codes: A01B 69/004 automatic
• CPC Class Codes: A01B 79/005 Precision agriculture
• CPC Class Codes: A01D 46/30 Robotic devices for individually picking crops
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0022 characterised by the communication link data switching networks in general H04L12/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0255 using acoustic signals, e.g. ultra-sonic singals sonar systems designed for anti-collision purposes G01S15/93

Abstract

An agricultural robot for monitoring plants in a growing site, the robot comprising: a sensor module comprising: a speaker operable to transmit a directional acoustic signal at an object; and a microphone operable to register a reflection of the acoustic signal; a sound analyzer operable to time-index the reflection received by the microphone and maps a location of the object that reflected the received acoustic signal; and an autonomous mobile platform onto which the sensor module is mounted.

Claims

1. An agricultural robot for monitoring a growing site, the agricultural robot comprising:

a dual mode acoustic sensor module comprising;

a speaker operable to transmit an acoustic signal at an object and operable to transmit an acoustic communication signal for reception by another agricultural robot; and

a microphone operable to register a reflection of the acoustic signal from at least one plant in the growing site and operable to receive the acoustic communication signal;

a dual mode sound analyzer that is;

operable in an echolocation mode to direct the speaker to transmit the acoustic signal wherein a frequency of the acoustic signal increases and/or decreases as a function of time, time-index the registered reflection, and map a location in the growing site of the at least one plant responsive to the registered reflection, and

operable in a communication mode to direct the dual mode acoustic sensor module to transmit and/or receive the acoustic communication signal;

an autonomous mobile platform; and

an articulated robotic arm comprising a first end and a second end, the first end physically connected to the acoustic sensor module and the second end physically connected to the autonomous mobile platform.

2. The agricultural robot according to claim 1, wherein the articulated robotic arm provides at least three degrees of freedom movement for the acoustic sensor module.

3. The agricultural robot according to claim 2, wherein the articulated robotic arm provides six degrees of freedom movement for the acoustic sensor module.

4. The agricultural robot according to claim 1, wherein the autonomous mobile platform is a ground vehicle.

5. The agricultural robot according to claim 1, wherein the autonomous mobile platform is an aerial vehicle.

6. The agricultural robot according to claim 1, wherein the sound analyzer comprises a classifier that classifies the time-index of the registered reflection to determine a characteristic of the object reflecting the acoustic signal.

7. The agricultural robot according to claim 6, wherein the classifier is operable to distinguish between a plant object and a non-plant object.

8. The agricultural robot according to claim 7, wherein the object is a plant, and the characteristic of the object operable to be determined by the classifier comprises one or more selections of the group consisting of:

variety of the plant;

the plant having fruit or not having fruit;

the abundance of fruit on the plant;

the ripeness of fruit on the plant;

the level of health of the plant;

the abundance of branches on the plant;

the abundance of foliage on the plant, and the level of pest infestation on the plant.

9. The agricultural robot according to claim 1, wherein the frequency changes linearly over time.

10. The agricultural robot according to claim 1, wherein a power of the acoustic signal stays constant over time.

11. The agricultural robot according to claim 1, wherein the acoustic communication signal comprises an operational instruction for the another agricultural robot.

12. The agricultural robot according to claim 1, wherein the acoustic communication signal comprises information regarding the growing site gathered by the agricultural robot.

13. The agricultural robot according to claim 1, wherein the acoustic communication signal comprises a location of the another agricultural robot in the growing site.

14. The agricultural robot according to claim 1, further comprising a guidance system operable to control the autonomous mobile platform responsive to the location in the growing site of the at least one plant located responsive to the registered reflection.

15. A multirobot system for monitoring a growing site, the multirobot system comprising a plurality of agricultural robots in accordance with claim 1, the plurality of agricultural robots comprising at least a first agricultural robot and a second agricultural robot, wherein the sound analyzer comprised in the first agricultural robot is operable to control the first agricultural robot responsive to receiving from the second agricultural robot an acoustic communication signal that comprises information regarding locations of objects in a portion of the growing site gathered by the second agricultural robot.

16. The multirobot system according to claim 15, wherein the first agricultural robot has not previously gathered information in the portion of the growing site.

17. The multirobot system according to claim 15, wherein the first agricultural robot has previously gathered information in the portion of the growing site, and the sound analyzer of the first agricultural robot is operable to combine the respective information regarding the portion of the growing site gathered by the first and second agricultural robots to generate more accurate information regarding object location in the portion of the growing site.

18. The agricultural robot according to claim 1, further comprising a controller operable to control the articulated robotic arm responsive to the location in the growing site of the at least one plant located responsive to the registered reflection.

19. The agricultural robot according to claim 18, wherein the acoustic sensor module is connected to the articulated robotic arm, such that the controller is operable to control the articulated robotic arm to move the acoustic sensor module.