The present invention relates to the technical field of agricultural robots, in particular to a system and a method for movement in a field and power supply of agricultural robots.
Existing agricultural robots, such as harvesting robots, move autonomously and automatically in the field mainly by means of wheeled or tracked vehicles and simulated limb walking, etc. The application of these agricultural robots is limited to industrial or quasi-industrial standardized terrain such as plant factories and greenhouses. For complex terrains, such as mountains, hills, water surface, rugged ground, muddy ground, etc., and for high trees with economic value, the available agricultural robot technique that the agricultural robot moves upon the ground lacks economic feasibility and practicability and cannot be popularized and used in a large scale. The main reasons are as follows. The complicated movement mechanical structure, vehicle control, navigation, obstacle avoidance, and path planning techniques are required in a fully autonomous automated movement operation. Autonomous movement also means that the robot is required to carry fuel or large capacity battery by itself, thereby limiting the duration of work, and greatly increasing the weight of the robot. Therefore, in view of the existing movement modes in the field, higher design and manufacturing costs for agricultural robots are required, and these movement modes also require a large amount of operation and maintenance costs during use, which becomes economically difficult for large-scale promotion.
In order to overcome the problems of high cost and low practicability of the existing vehicle and simulated limb walking, the objective of the present invention is to provide a movement and power supply method of a robot for operation in the field, which is economical and can be applied widespread.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned objective, the present invention provides a movement mode different from the movement upon the ground of the existing robot and a complete flying mode. Instead, the robot is suspended by a rope, the rope is driven by the robot through a remote control, and the robot is pulled to move by the rope, so that the robot moves autonomously. Since power is supplied to the robot through the rope, a continuous operation of the robot can be realized without the need to carry fuel or batteries by the robot itself.
The technical solution of the present invention is as follows. A traction and power supply system and method for an agricultural robot is provided, wherein the system includes a traction control system and a traction platform.
The traction control system includes a traction control unit, a range sensor, and a network communication interface.
The traction platform includes a controlled traction control unit, a network communication interface, an aerial support, a traction rope, a traction motor, and a traction support assembly.
In the method, a location distribution of one or more aerial supports and a route planning of one or more traction ropes are designed according to the terrain and a distribution of crops. The traction rope is supported by the aerial support and suspended in the air. The one or more robots are fixed to the traction rope through the traction support assembly. When the robot needs to move, encounters an obstacle, or needs to return to the start or stop point, an interaction through a request instruction and a response instruction is carried out between the traction control unit and the controlled traction control unit through respective network communication interfaces thereof, and the traction motor is driven to rotate by the controlled traction control unit so as to pull the rope, and the robot is pulled to move by the traction rope.
The method further includes the following steps. The electrical energy required by the robot for the continuous operation is transmitted through the traction rope. By doing so, not only the weight of the robot is reduced, but also the robot is enabled to work continuously for a long time.
The movement mode in the system is different from the movement upon the ground of the existing robot and a complete flying mode. Instead, the robot is suspended by a rope, the rope is driven by the robot through a remote control, and the robot is pulled to move by the rope, so that the robot moves autonomously. Since power is supplied to the robot through the rope, a continuous operation of the robot can be realized without the need to carry fuel or batteries by the robot itself, which is economical and can be applied widespread when the robot is working in the field.
Hereinafter, the technical solution of the embodiment of the present invention will be described clearly and completely with reference to the drawings of the embodiment of the present invention. Apparently, the embodiments described are merely a part of the embodiments of the present invention rather than all. Any other embodiment derived from the embodiments of the present invention by those skilled in the art without creative effort shall be considered as falling within the scope of the present invention.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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201610078234.7 | Feb 2016 | CN | national |
This application is the national phase entry of International Application PCT/CN2016/112013, filed on Dec. 26, 2016, which is based upon and claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 201610078234.7, filed on Feb. 04, 2016, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/CN2016/112013 | 12/26/2016 | WO | 00 |