EP-4734745-A2 - APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MULTI-ROW AGRICULTURAL MECHANIZATION

EP4734745A2EP 4734745 A2EP4734745 A2EP 4734745A2EP-4734745-A2

Abstract

Methods, devices, and systems, that relate to mechanization of agricultural tasks, including a dual robotic tool carrier configured to be mounted on two sides of a tractor or other type of vehicle and employing imaging and artificial intelligence to perform agricultural tasks, such as pruning, cutting vegetables, or weeding crops along two rows of the crops simultaneously.

Inventors

FANG, Yang

Assignees

Beagle Technology Inc.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260506
Application Date: 20240628

Claims (13)

1. A multi-row tool carrier apparatus, comprising: a first tool for working on a first plant planted in the ground; a first adjustable carrier configured to hold the first tool and move the first tool in a horizontal direction and a vertical direction with respect to the ground and configured to mount to a vehicle; a first camera configured to capture an image of the first plant, the first plant having a protected portion; a second tool for working on a second plant planted in the ground; a second adjustable carrier configured to hold the second tool and move the second tool in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction with respect to the ground and configured to mount to the vehicle; a second camera configured to capture an image of the second plant, the second plant having a protected portion; a controller comprising: a memory having a program stored therein; a processor that when executing the program implements: an artificial intelligence engine trained to identify the protected portion of the first plant and the protected portion of the second plant, receive the captured images of the first plant and the second plant, and output a first indication of the protected portion of the first plant and output a second indication of the protected portion of the second plant; and a control algorithm outputting a first control command based on the output first indication and a second control command based on the output second indication; a robotic controller configured to simultaneously control the first adjustable carrier based on the first control command to position the first tool to work on the first plant while avoiding contacting the protected portion of the first plant and the second adjustable carrier based on the second control command to position the second tool to work on the second plant while avoiding contacting the protected portion of the second plant.
2. The multi -row tool carrier apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first plant is planted in a first row, the second plant is planted in a second row and the first row and second row are adjacent to each other.
3. The multi -row tool carrier apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first camera is mounted on the first adjustable carrier and the second camera is mounted on the second adjustable carrier.
4. The multi-row tool carrier apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the first tool is a cutting tool to work on the first plant by cutting a portion of the first plant.
5. The multi-row tool carrier apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the first plant and second plant each is a grape vine and the protected portion of the first plant is a cordon of the grape vine and the protected portion of the second plant is a cordon of the grape vine.
6. The multi-row tool carrier apparatus according to claim 4, wherein each of the first adjustable carrier and the second adjustable carrier comprises an adjustable horizontal arm moveable inhe horizontal direction, an adjustable vertical arm moveable in the vertical direction with respect to the ground, and an end effector attached to one of the adjustable horizontal arm and the adjustable vertical arm and configured to hold the tool.
7. The multi-row tool carrier apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the first camera is attached to the end effector for the first adjustable carrier by a rigid support and in close proximity to the first tool.
8. The multi-row tool carrier apparatus according to claim 7, wherein each of the first plant and the second plant is a grape vine and the protected portion of the plant is a cordon of the grape vine.
9. The multi-row tool carrier apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the first plant is a vegetable and the artificial intelligence engine is trained to identify the protected portion of the first plant so that the robotic controller causes the position of the cutting tool to correspond to a predicted portion of the vegetable between a lower point of the vegetable and an upper point of the vegetable.
10. The multi-row tool carrier apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the lower point of the vegetable corresponds to a point where soil is not taken when the vegetable is cut and the upper point of the vegetable corresponds to a point where the cut vegetable is not likely to divide into separate pieces.
11. The multi-row tool carrier apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the vehicle is a tractor.
12. A multi-row multi-tool positioning method, comprising: capturing an image of a first plant, the first plant having a protected portion; capturing an image of a second plant, the second plant having a protected portion; receiving, at an artificial intelligence engine trained to identify the protected portion of the first plant and to identify the protected portion of the second plant, captured images of the first plant and the second plant, and output a first indication of the protected portion of the first plant and a second indication of the protected portion of the second plant; outputting a first control command based on the output first indication and a second control command based on the output second information; and simultaneously controlling a first adjustable carrier based on the first control command to position a first tool to work on the first plant while avoiding contacting the protected portion of the first plant and a second adjustable carrier based on the second control command to position a second tool to work on the second plant while avoiding contacting the protected portion of the second plant.
13. A multi-row multi-tool positioning computer-readable medium, comprising: at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium containing program code, the rogram code configured to, when executed by at least one processor, cause at least one of the least one rocessors to: capture an image of a first plant, the first plant having a protected portion; capture an image of a second plant, the second plant having a protected portion; receive, at an artificial intelligence engine trained to identify the protected portion of the first plant and to identify the protected portion of the second plant, captured images of the first plant and the second plant, and output a first indication of the protected portion of the first plant and a second indication of the protected portion of the second plant; output a first control command based on the output first indication and a second control command based on the output second information; and simultaneously control a first adjustable carrier based on the first control command to position a first tool to work on the first plant while avoiding contacting the protected portion of the first plant and a second adjustable carrier based on the second control command to position a second tool to work on the second plant while avoiding contacting the protected portion of the second plant.

Description

APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MULTI-ROW AGRICULTURAL MECHANIZATION CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/523,881, filed on June 28, 2023, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. FIELD [0002] This disclosure relates to mechanization of agricultural tasks. More specifically, the disclosure relates to a tool carrier configured to be mounted on a tractor or other type of vehicle and employing imaging and artificial intelligence to perform agricultural tasks, such as pruning crops, simultaneously, along multiple rows of the crops. BACKGROUND [0003] The labor force for farm laborers has been steadily decreasing since 2000. Specialty crops, including fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, and nursery crops, are some of the most labor-intensive crops to farm with labor costs being a large percentage of the overall expenses for those crops. Farmers want to mechanize tasks traditional performed by laborers, but current mechanized farm equipment does not have automatic adjustment features which leads to poor quality and crop damage. [0004] In many farming environments, crops are planted in rows. Such an industrial style setup is easy to manage and save space. Farm vehicles, such as tractors, operate between the rows of crops to conduct various tasks, such as spraying and pruning. However, it is surprising that other than spraying, most tasks involving maintaining or harvesting a crop are conducted only on one row of crops at a time. The tractor driver must drive in the same row a second time to operate on an adjacent row of the crop. While spray herbicide devices operate on two adjacent rows at a time, a farmer can prune or thin only one row at a time. [0005] A fundamental reason behind the discrepancy between spraying and performing other tasks is that spraying requires no contact between the equipment and the crop. It is a non-contact operation. In any contact operation, it is important to control the relative position between the work-head of the equipment, or implement on the tractor, and the crops to effectively operate on the crop and avoid damaging the crop. [0006] Because there is no intelligent automation currently available to assist with these agricultural tasks, a tractor driver is required to manually control the equipment, usually through the use of a joystick. [0007] Because a human can focus and operate only on one side of a row of crops at a time, the contact type equipment always is designed for operating on only one row at a time. The problems caused by this limit are that: • Duplicate tractor passes: A tractor must make duplicate passes through a row to operate on opposing sides of adjacent rows. It must enter the same row twice to operate on the two rows. Accordingly, fuel costs are double and additional, unnecessary soil compaction from the tractor’s weight occurs. • Longer operation window: The contact type equipment takes twice the time to operate, compared to the non-contact type of equipment. • Driver fatigue: A tractor driver must drive and use the operator’s joystick to constantly adjust the equipment. Operating in such a way, often more than 8 hours a day, causes fatigue and danger to the driver and the crops. [0008] What is needed is a mechanized solution capable of accurately and efficiently operating on multiple rows of plants, even in cases where the rows are not evenly aligned with each other and/or the tractor implement that operates on the plants. SUMMARY [0009] Some embodiments of the present disclosure solve the previously mentioned problems and other problems of the background art. However, not all embodiments of the present disclosure are required to solve those problems to practice the inventive techniques of the present application. [0010] Some embodiments of the present disclosure enable a multi -row tool carrier apparatus. In certain embodiments, the carrier apparatus includes a first tool for working on a first plant planted in the ground. In certain embodiments, the carrier apparatus includes a first adjustable carrier configured to hold the first tool and move the first tool in a horizontal direction and a vertical direction with respect to the ground and configured to mount to a vehicle. In certain embodiments, the carrier apparatus includes a first camera configured to capture an image of the first plant, the first plant having a protected portion. In certain embodiments, the carrier apparatus includes a second tool for working on a second plant planted in the ground. In certain embodiments, the carrier apparatus includes a second adjustable carrier configured to hold the second tool and move the second tool in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction with respect to the ground and configured to mount to the vehicle. In certain embodiments, the carrier apparatus includes a second camera configured to capture an image of the second plant, the second