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US 12,477,989 B2Granted
De-leafing apparatus for removing leaves of harvestable crops
AssigneeAutomated Harvesting Solutions, LLC
InventorAnthony Wisdom
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A harvester selectively harvests edible crowns ready for harvesting. The harvester may include an imaging system for capturing image(s) of the edible crowns and a de-leafing component that removes leaves of the broccoli plant. For example, broccoli plants typically have an abundance of leaves that reside beneath, alongside of, and even above the edible crowns. The leaves may conceal the edible crowns and impact a quality of the image(s). The de-leafing component may be positioned in front of the imaging system, relative to a direction of travel of the harvester, to remove the leaves and isolate or expose the edible crown. Therein, the imaging system may image the edible crowns for use in determining whether the edible crowns are ready for harvesting.
Claims20
A machine comprising:
- a first de-leafing component configured to remove one or more first leaves proximate to an edible crown of a broccoli plant;
- a second de-leafing component configured to remove one or more second leaves proximate to the edible crown of the broccoli plant;
- one or more processors;
- and
- one or more computer readable media containing computer executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:
- determining one or more first characteristics associated with the broccoli plant;
- positioning, based at least in part on the one or more first characteristics, at least one of:
- the first de-leafing component, or
- the second de-leafing component;
- causing, at a first instance in time, the at least one of the first de-leafing component to actuate to remove the one or more first leaves or the second de-leafing component to actuate to remove the one or more second leaves;
- determining one or more second characteristics associated with harvesting the broccoli plant;
- determining that the one or more second characteristics satisfy criteria associated with harvesting the broccoli plant;
- and
- causing, at a second instance in time that is at least partially after the first instance in time, the edible crown of the broccoli plant to be harvested by separating the edible crown of the broccoli plant from a stalk of the broccoli plant planted in a ground.
11 more elements
A machine comprising:
- one or more first blades configured to rotate to remove at least a first portion of leaves on plants located within a row;
- one or more second blades configured to rotate to remove at least a second portion of the leaves on the plants located within the row;
- a harvesting component configured to harvest edible portions of the plants;
- one or more processors;
- and
- one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform acts comprising:
- determining one or more first characteristics associated with the plants,
- determining, based at least in part on the one or more first characteristics, a subset of the first portion of the leaves to be removed,
- determining, based at least in part on the one or more first characteristics, a subset of the second portion of the leaves to be removed,
- positioning, at a first instance in time and based at least in part on the one or more first characteristics, at least one of:
- the one or more first blades, or
- the one or more second blades,
- causing the one or more first blades to rotate to remove the subset of the first portion of the leaves,
- causing the one or more second blades to rotate to remove the subset of the second portion of the leaves,
- determining one or more second characteristics associated with the plants, and
- causing, at a second instance in time that is after the first instance in time and based at least in part on the one or more second characteristics, the harvesting component to harvest an edible portion of a plant of the plants by actuating a cutting mechanism of the harvesting component to separate the edible portion of the plant from a stalk of the plant.
13 more elements
A method comprising:
- causing, at a first instance in time, a de-leafing component to actuate to remove leaves proximate to an edible portion of plants within a field;
- determining one or more first characteristics of a first plant located within the field;
- determining that the one or more first characteristics fail to satisfy criteria associated with harvesting the plants in the field;
- refraining, at a second instance in time that is after the first instance in time and based at least in part on the one or more first characteristics failing to satisfy the criteria, from actuating a harvesting component associated with harvesting the first plant;
- determining one or more second characteristics of a second plant located within the field;
- determining that the one or more second characteristics satisfy the criteria;
- positioning, based at least in part on the one or more second characteristics, the harvesting component proximate to an edible portion of the second plant;
- and
- causing, at a third instance in time that is after the first instance in time and based at least in part on positioning the harvesting component, the harvesting component to actuate to harvest the edible portion of the second plant.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.