US 12,501,860 B2 · Autonomous navigation in an orchard for harvesting

Abstract

An autonomous harvesting machine for orchard operating environments is described. The autonomous harvesting machine uses machine vision techniques to identify and triangulate features in the operating environment using a stream of monocular images. For instance, the harvesting machine identifies and localizes a shake point of a tree by projecting virtual rays from the pose of the identification system to the identified emergence point feature. To harvest the fruit of trees in the orchard, the harvesting machine shakes the tree at the identified shake point. Additionally, the harvesting machine autonomously navigates through the orchard using a combination high resolution spatial information based on localized features and low resolution spatial information from accessed satellite images.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method comprising:

accessing a low-fidelity image of an orchard comprising one or more tree rows;
localizing, using the low-fidelity image, a position of an autonomous agricultural machine in a tree row of the one or more tree rows in the orchard;
capturing, using the autonomous agricultural machine, high-resolution spatial information of one or more trees in the tree row;
determining, for each tree in the tree row, an emergence point and a shake point of the tree using the high-resolution spatial information;
determining, for each tree in the tree row, a corresponding minimum distance and maximum distance from the tree based on the emergence point and the shake point for the tree;
and
autonomously navigating the autonomous agricultural machine such that the autonomous agricultural machine moves along the tree row between the minimum distance and the maximum distance for each tree in the tree row.

4 more elements

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer program instructions, the computer program instructions, when executed by one or more processors, causing the one or more processors to:

access a low-fidelity image of an orchard comprising one or more tree rows;
localize, using the low-fidelity image, a position of an autonomous agricultural machine in a tree row of the one or more tree rows in the orchard;
capture, using the autonomous agricultural machine, high-resolution spatial information of one or more trees in the tree row;
determine, for each tree in the tree row, an emergence point and a shake point of the tree using the high-resolution spatial information;
determine, for each tree in the tree row, a corresponding minimum distance and maximum distance from the tree based on the emergence point and the shake point for the tree;
and
autonomously navigate the autonomous agricultural machine such that the autonomous agricultural machine moves along the tree row between the minimum distance and the maximum distance for each tree in the tree row.

4 more elements

An autonomous agricultural machine comprising:

an identification system configured to capture high-resolution spatial information of one or more trees in tree rows;
a chassis comprising one or more transport systems;
and
a control system comprising one or more processors, the one or more processors configured to execute computer program instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the control system to:
access a low-fidelity image of an orchard comprising one or more tree rows;
localize, using the low-fidelity image, a position of an autonomous agricultural machine in a tree row of the one or more tree rows in the orchard;
capture, using the identification system of the autonomous agricultural machine, high-resolution spatial information of one or more trees in the tree row;
determine, for each tree in the tree row, an emergence point and a shake point of the tree using the high-resolution spatial information;
determine, for each tree in the tree row, a corresponding minimum distance and maximum distance from the tree based on the emergence point and the shake point for the tree;
and
autonomously navigate the autonomous agricultural machine, using the one or more transport systems, such that the autonomous agricultural machine moves along the tree row between the minimum distance and the maximum distance for each tree in the tree row.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Autonomous navigation in an orchard for harvesting

Life of this patent

Autonomous navigation in an orchard for harvesting

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20