# US 11,026,415 B2 · Robotic agricultural system and method

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- Number: US 11,026,415 B2
- Document ID: US11026415B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 15/882,930
- Filed: 2018-01-29
- Published: 2018-06-14
- Granted: 2021-06-08
- Earliest claimed: 2016-05-10
- Assignees: Crinklaw Farm Services, Inc.
- Applicants: Crinklaw Farm Services, Inc.
- Inventors: David Curtis Crinklaw; Chase Schapansky; Richard Vaccari; Jeremy Bischel; Ryan Johnson
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11026415B2

## CPC

- A01M 7/0089: {Regulating or controlling systems (the delivery being related to the movement of a vehicle B05B9/06)}
- B05B 9/06: the delivery being related to the movement of a vehicle, e.g. the pump being driven by a vehicle wheel
- B05B 12/122: {responsive to presence or shape of target (B05B12/124 takes precedence)}
- B05B 13/005: {mounted on vehicles or designed to apply a liquid on a very large surface, e.g. on the road, on the surface of large containers}
- G05D 1/00: Control of position, course, altitude or attitude of land, water, air or space vehicles, e.g. using automatic pilots (drive control systems specially adapted for autonomous road vehicles B60W60/00)
- G05D 1/0038: {by providing the operator with simple or augmented images from one or more cameras located onboard the vehicle, e.g. tele-operation (images analyzed by a computer and used for automatic navigation G05D1/0246)}
- G05D 1/0094: {involving pointing a payload, e.g. camera, weapon, sensor, towards a fixed or moving target}
- G05D 1/0219: {ensuring the processing of the whole working surface}
- G05D 1/0231: {using optical position detecting means (position-fixing by using electromagnetic waves other than radio waves, e.g. optical position detecting means G01S5/16)}
- G05D 1/0278: {using satellite positioning signals, e.g. GPS}
- G05D 1/0297: {by controlling means in a control room}
- B05B 7/0012: {Apparatus for achieving spraying before discharge from the apparatus}
- A01M: CATCHING, TRAPPING OR SCARING OF ANIMALS (appliances for catching swarms or drone-catching A01K57/00; fishing A01K69/00 - {A01K99/00}; biocides, pest repellants or attractants A01N); APPARATUS FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF NOXIOUS ANIMALS OR NOXIOUS PLANTS
- B05B: SPRAYING APPARATUS; ATOMISING APPARATUS; NOZZLES (spray-mixers with nozzles B01F25/72; processes for applying liquids or other fluent materials to surfaces by spraying B05D)
- G05D: SYSTEMS FOR CONTROLLING OR REGULATING NON-ELECTRIC VARIABLES

## Abstract

A robotic orchard spraying system having an autonomous delivery vehicle (ADV), autonomously delivering an amount of a premixed solution over path, the path identified by a forward-looking sensor. The ADV uses GPS to sense an area containing the path, and LiDAR as the forward-looking sensor. Also, a mobile control center, configured to wirelessly inform the autonomous delivery vehicle of the path within the areas and to confirm that the autonomous delivery vehicle is following the path within the area. Additionally, a mapper vehicle generates the path within the area, the mapper vehicle being configured to communicate information about the path and the area to the command center. The mapper vehicle senses the path with a forward-looking LiDAR sensor, and senses the area with a GPS sensor. Moreover, a nurse truck has a reservoir of premixed solution for replenishing a tank of the ADV.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A robotic agriculture system, comprising:
autonomous delivery vehicles, configured to autonomously traverse respective at least partially obscured predefined non-overlapping paths within respective predefined areas, wherein each of the autonomous delivery vehicles further comprises:
hydraulic motors attached to a vehicle chassis, wherein the hydraulic motors motivate the autonomous delivery vehicle,
a main hydraulic pump attached to the vehicle chassis and fluidly coupled to provide a driving force to the hydraulic motors, causing the autonomous delivery vehicle to go forwards or backwards,
a hydraulic actuator mechanically coupled to front wheels of the autonomous delivery vehicle,
an auxiliary hydraulic pump attached to the vehicle chassis and fluidly coupled to the hydraulic actuator to provide a steering force, causing the autonomous delivery vehicle to turn right or left,
a motive engine coupled to the main and auxiliary hydraulic pumps, wherein the hydraulic pumps are caused to operate, and
a vehicle control unit coupled to an autonomous delivery vehicle (ADV) forward-looking LiDAR sensor and to an ADV GPS sensor, the vehicle control unit generating a vehicle command based on the ADV forward-looking LiDAR sensor sensing the at least partially obscured predefined path and the ADV GPS sensor sensing the predefined area containing the at least partially obscured predefined path, the vehicle command including at least one of a steering command, a propulsion command, a throttle control command, a clutch command, a parking brake command, a spray command, or a pressure control command, and the autonomous delivery vehicle responding to at least one vehicle command
wherein selected autonomous delivery vehicles further comprise:
a dispersal fan, attached to the vehicle chassis rear; a sprayer system, including:
a reservoir for holding a premixed solution,
a solution pump coupled to the reservoir, and
spray nozzles coupled to the solution pump,
wherein the solution pump is caused to deliver the premixed solution from the reservoir to the spray nozzles, wherein the dispersal fan is caused to create a forced air stream ejected from the autonomous delivery vehicle, and wherein the nozzles cause the premixed solution to be ejected into the forced air stream.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The robotic agriculture system of claim 1, further comprising: a command center, configured to wirelessly inform respective autonomous delivery vehicles of the assigned respective predefined non-overlapping paths within the respective predefined areas, and to confirm that the autonomous delivery vehicles are following the assigned respective predefined non-overlapping path within the respective predefined area.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The robotic agriculture system of claim 2, further comprising a mapper vehicle, the mapper vehicle generating the respective predefined non-overlapping paths within the respective predefined areas; and the mapper vehicle configured to communicate information about the respective predefined non-overlapping paths and the predefined areas to the command center, wherein the mapper vehicle senses the respective predefined non-overlapping paths with a mapper vehicle forward-looking LiDAR sensor, and senses the respective predefined area with a mapper vehicle GPS sensor.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The robotic agriculture system of claim 3, further comprising: a nurse truck having a reservoir of premixed solution for replenishing the respective premixed solution tanks of the respective autonomous delivery vehicles.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The robotic agriculture system of claim 1, wherein the autonomous delivery vehicle includes a forward-viewing camera providing a video feed, wherein the video feed is wirelessly routed to a mobile control center, and wherein a forward path of the autonomous delivery vehicle is displayed in the mobile control center.