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EP-4228404-B1 - TREATMENT SYSTEM FOR WEED SPECIFIC TREATMENT

EP4228404B1EP 4228404 B1EP4228404 B1EP 4228404B1EP-4228404-B1

Inventors

  • DELATREE, Clemens Christian
  • WERNER, Nicolas
  • SCHMEER, HUBERT
  • SCHEEL, Carvin Guenther

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20211014

Claims (15)

  1. A method for operating a treatment device applying a treatment product to an agricultural area, the method comprising: obtaining (S210) at least one dataset relating to an area of interest within the agricultural area (110) to a control system (121.10); determining (S220), by the control system (121.10), from the at least one dataset a vegetative indicator relating to real-time conditions on the agricultural area (110), wherein a basic threshold for triggering application of the treatment product is dynamically adjustable in relation to the vegetative indicator; and providing a control signal (S240), by the control system (121.10), to control the treatment device (120) based on the determined vegetative indicator and the basic threshold for triggering application of the treatment product, wherein a dynamic set of threshold adjustments relating to one or more vegetative specie(s) or vegetative type(s) is provided to the control system (121.10), wherein the set of dynamic thresholds includes threshold adjustments for a limited number of critical or beneficial vegetative specie(s) and/or vegetative type(s).
  2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the vegetative indicator is a weed indicator, wherein the determined weed indicator includes one or more weed specie(s) or weed type(s) detected in the obtained dataset.
  3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the vegetative indicator is an insect indicator, wherein the determined insect indicator includes one or more insect specie(s) or insect type(s) detected in the obtained dataset.
  4. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the set of dynamic threshold adjustments includes at least one threshold adjustment for one or more vegetative specie(s) and/or vegetative type(s).
  5. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the set of dynamic thresholds includes more than one level of threshold adjustments depending on criticality or beneficialness of one or more vegetative specie(s) and/or vegetative type(s), wherein one level of threshold adjustment corresponds to one criticality or beneficialness class including specific vegetative specie(s) and/or vegetative type(s).
  6. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the set of dynamic thresholds includes area-specific threshold adjustments for one or more vegetative specie(s) and/or vegetative type(s).
  7. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the threshold is dynamically adjusted based on the vegetative indicator, if the vegetative indicator includes at least one vegetative specie or vegetative type detected in the dataset that is associated with a threshold adjustment in the set of dynamic thresholds.
  8. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein vegetative metadata associated with the agricultural area to be treated is provided to the control system (121.10), and the dynamic adjustment of threshold is activated based on vegetative metadata.
  9. The method according to any of the previous claims, wherein a basic threshold for triggering application of the treatment product relating to a basic parameter is provided to the control system (121.10), wherein the dataset is analyzed to determine the basic parameter, and wherein the control signal is provided to control the treatment device based on the determined basic parameter and the basic threshold.
  10. The method according to any of the previous claims, wherein the vegetative indicator is determined based on a classification of vegetative species and/or vegetative types detected in the data set.
  11. The method according to any of the previous claims, wherein determining the vegetative indicator is performed by use of a data driven model, wherein the data driven model is used to analyze the data set for determining the vegetative indicator.
  12. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein a set of thresholds is provided by a cloud-based preparation system or by a treatment device-based system as embedded software or by a combination thereof.
  13. A control system (121.10) for operating a treatment device for applying a treatment product to an agricultural area, the control system (121.10) is configured to: obtaining (S210) at least one dataset relating to an area of interest within the agricultural area (110) to a control system (121.10); determining (S220), by the control system (121.10), from the at least one dataset a vegetative indicator relating to real-time conditions on the agricultural area (110), wherein a basic threshold for triggering application of the treatment product is dynamically adjustable in relation to the vegetative indicator; and providing a control signal (S240), by the control system (121.10), to control the treatment device (120) based on the determined vegetative indicator and the basic threshold for triggering application of the treatment product, wherein a dynamic set of threshold adjustments relating to one or more vegetative specie(s) or vegetative type(s) is provided to the control system (121.10), wherein the set of dynamic thresholds includes threshold adjustments for a limited number of critical or beneficial vegetative specie(s) and/or vegetative type(s).
  14. A treatment device (120) for applying a treatment product to an agricultural area, the treatment device comprising: at least one detection component (121.9), and the control system (121.10) of claim 13 connected to the at least one detection component (121.9);
  15. A computer program element, which when executed by a data processing unit, is configured to carry out the method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, and/or to control a device according to claims 13 or 14.

Description

The present disclosure relates to a method for controlling a treatment device applying a treatment product to an agricultural area, respective control systems, treatment devices, computer program products and machine-readable storage devices. Background The general background of this disclosure is the treatment of plants in an agricultural area, which may be an agricultural field, a greenhouse, or the like. The treatment of plants, such as the actual crops or the like, may also comprise the treatment of weed present in the agricultural area, the treatment of the insects present in the agricultural area as well as the treatment of pathogens present in the agricultural area. A semi-automated or fully automated plant treatment device, such as a robot, a smart sprayer, or the like, may be configured to treat the weed, the insects and/or the pathogens in the agricultural area based on ecological and economical rules. In order to automatically detect and identify the different objects to be treated, image analysis techniques, such as image recognition, may be used. For this purpose, the treatment device may carry an image capture device, such as a camera or the like. Further, for the actual plant treatment during operation, the treatment device may carry plant treatment means, such as spray nozzle, a tank, control means, etc. Controlling operation of the treatment device may be based on a decision logic, which may comprise e.g. a data processing unit and/or a control software etc., that is configured to obtain the images taken and to decide whether or not to treat an area of interest of the agricultural area. WO2018208947A1 for instance discloses a plant treatment platform using a plant detection model to detect plants as the plant treatment platform travels through a field. The plant treatment platform applies the plant detection model to the pre-processed image data to generate bounding boxes for the plants. The plant treatment platform then can apply treatment to the plants based on the output of the machine-learned model. EP3576526A1 discloses a weed control system for an agricultural sprayer comprising a camera and a spraying unit with several supply modules, a nozzle and a controller module to receive a weed species detection signal and to command the spraying of chemical agent. The weed control system also comprises a weed species identification unit with a communication module, a memory module and a processing module having several parallel processing cores. WO2019226869A1 a farming machine including a number of treatment mechanisms treats plants according to a treatment plan as the farming machine moves through the field. The control system of the farming machine executes a plant identification model configured to identify plants in the field for treatment. WO2020201163A1 describes a method for plantation treatment of a plantation field with a variable application rate. WO2019002077A1 describes a method for applying a spray to a field. In existing systems, cases may occur where some weeds will not be treated, if the threshold is not reached, but the vegetation to be treated is critical. Problematic weeds that have a high negative impact on yield and food safety may hence not be treated at an early growth stage and remain on the field and the decision making must be improved. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, there is a need to provide means for improving plant treatment, particularly in terms of accuracy. It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide more efficient and/or effective means for treating plants. This object is solved by the subject-matter of the independent claims. According to a first aspect, provided herein is a method for operating or controlling a treatment device applying a treatment product to an agricultural area, the method comprising: obtaining at least one dataset, such as an image, relating to an area of interest within the agricultural area to a control system, preferably the at least one dataset is obtainable or obtained in real-time while the treatment device travels through the agricultural area;determining, by the control system, from the at least one dataset a vegetative indicator relating to real-time conditions on the agricultural area, preferably while the treatment device travels through the agricultural area, wherein a basic threshold for triggering application of the treatment product is dynamically adjustable or adjusted in relation to the vegetative indicator; andproviding a control signal, by the control system, to control the treatment device based on the determined vegetative indicator and the threshold for triggering application of the treatment product and optionally controlling the plant treatment device. In this way, the operation of the treatment device can be dynamically controlled based on the treatment condition derived from real-time data, such as an image. The threshold concept including a basic, optionally static threshold, which is