AGRICULTURAL ROBOT

• US 20180017965A1
• Filed: 01/21/2016
• Published: 01/18/2018
• 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: Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Center (Government of Israel), Ramot at Tel Aviv University Limited (Tel Aviv University)
• Inventors: KOSA, Gabor, BECHAR, Avital, YOVEL, Yosef, FINKELSHTAIN, Roee
• Granted Patent: US 10,698,402 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• 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 robot comprising:

an acoustic 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 from at least one plant in the growing site;

a sound analyzer operable to time-index the registered reflection, and map a location in the growing site of the at least one plant responsive to the registered reflection;

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.

4. The agricultural robot according to claim 1, wherein the manipulator provides at least three degrees of freedom movement for the sensor module.

5. The agricultural robot according to claim 4, wherein the manipulator provides six degrees of freedom movement for the sensor module.

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

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

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

9. The agricultural robot according to claim 8, wherein the classifier is operable to distinguish between a plant object and a non-plant object.

10. The agricultural robot according to claim 9, 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.

11. The agricultural robot according to claim 1, wherein a frequency of the acoustic signal increases and/or decreases as a function of time.

12. The agricultural robot according to claim 11, wherein the frequency changes linearly over time.

13. The agricultural robot according to claim 11, wherein a power of the acoustic signal stays constant over time.

15. The agricultural robot according to claim 1, wherein the speaker is operable to transmit an acoustic communication signal for reception by another agricultural robot, the acoustic communication signal comprising an operational instruction for the other agricultural robot.

17. The agricultural robot according to claim 15, wherein the acoustic communication signal comprises information regarding the growing site gathered by the agricultural robot.

18. The agricultural robot according to claim 17, wherein the acoustic communication signal comprises a location of another agricultural robot in the growing site.

19. The agricultural robot according to claim 1, further comprising a guidance system operable to control the autonomous mobile platform responsive to the located object.

22. The agricultural robot according to claim 1, further comprising a controller operable to control the robotic arm responsive to the located object.

23. The agricultural robot according to claim 22, wherein the sensing module is connected to the robotic arm, such that the controller is operable to control the robotic arm to move the sensing module.

25. A multirobot system for monitoring a growing site, the system comprising a plurality of agricultural robots in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, the plurality of agricultural robots comprising at least a first agricultural robot and a second agricultural robot, wherein a sound analyzer comprised in the first agricultural robot is operable to control the first agricultural robot responsive to an acoustic communication signal received from the second agricultural robot, wherein the acoustic communication signal comprises information regarding locations of objects in a portion of the growing site gathered bv the second agricultural robot.

27. The multirobot system according to claim 25, wherein the first agricultural robot has not previously gathered information in the portion of the growing site.

28. The multirobot system according to claim 25, 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.

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