Mechanism and methods for robotic installation of stakes

Methodology for an autonomous all-terrain robot for agricultural industries for installing support stakes inground on plant beds, comprising:

• providing:
• a base having a plurality of drive wheels for controlled movement of the robot,
• a main arm mounted on said base and comprising a generally vertical mast with a pair of side arms laterally projecting from the vertical mast in generally opposite directions of each other,
• a pair of stake driving arms respectively mounted on said side arms for respectively receiving a stake and controllably driving the received stake into the ground, and
• a reservoir associated with the base for receiving and storing a supply of stakes;
• operating the base to locate the robot in a desired location in an area of plant beds;
• operating the stake driving arms to obtain stakes from the reservoir;
• operating the side arms to selectively position each respective stake driving arm a determined distance from the vertical mast;
• and
• further operating the stake driving arms to drive the stakes into the ground.

An autonomous all-terrain robot for agricultural industries for selectively installing or removing support stakes inground along plant beds while self-navigating the plant beds, comprising:

• a base having a plurality of drive wheels for controlled movement of the robot;
• a main arm, mounted on said base, comprising:
• a vertical mast, and
• a pair of side arms laterally projecting in opposite directions from the vertical mast;
• a pair of stake handling arms respectively mounted on said side arms for respectively and controllably handling a stake relative to the ground;
• a stake holster associated with said base for receiving and storing a supply of stakes in respective storage channels thereof;
• a pair of movable mounts associated with each respective side arm for receiving a respective stake handling arm and for selectively positioning each of the stake handling arms a determined distance from the vertical mast;
• and
• a control system for said robot comprising one or more processors programmed for controlling operation of the base, the side arms, the movable mounts, and the stake handling arms of the robot in order to:
• self-navigate the robot, and
• either of (a) drive stakes into the ground or (b) pull stakes from the ground at selected locations.