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 apparatus configured to remove one or more first leaves proximate to an edible crown of a broccoli plant;
- a second de-leafing apparatus 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 characteristics associated with the broccoli plant;
- positioning, based at least in part on the one or more characteristics, at least one of:
- the first de-leafing apparatus, or
- the second de-leafing apparatus;
- causing the first de-leafing apparatus to actuate to remove the one or more first leaves;
- and
- causing the second de-leafing apparatus to actuate to remove the one or more second leaves.
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;
- 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 characteristics associated with the plants,
- positioning, based at least in part on the one or more 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 at least the first portion of the leaves, and
- causing the one or more second blades to rotate to remove the at least the second portion of the leaves.
A method comprising:
- determining one or more characteristics of plants located within a field;
- positioning, based at least in part on the one or more characteristics, a cutting mechanism associated with removing at least a portion of leaves proximate to an edible portion of the plants;
- and
- causing, based at least in part on positioning the cutting mechanism, the cutting mechanism to actuate to remove the at least the portion of the leaves.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.