Method and apparatus for automated plant necrosis
AssigneeBlue River Technology Inc.
InventorLee Kamp Redden
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of distinguishing individual plants within a row of plants, including directing radiation at the row of plants at an angle selected to illuminate a portion of the plant and cast a shadow at the plant center, collecting an image from the radiation reflected off of two or more contiguous plants with a detector, identifying a continuous foreground region indicative of a plant within the image, identifying points of interest within the region, classifying the points of interest as plant centers and non-plant centers, and segmenting the region into sub-regions, each sub-region encompassing a single point of interest classified as a plant center.
Claims40
A method of distinguishing individual plants within a row of plants extending from a ground, comprising:
- illuminating two contiguous plants within the row at an angle between the ground and a normal vector to the ground with a light;
- collecting an image of the two plants with a camera oriented with a view plane substantially parallel to the ground;
- identifying a continuous region indicative of a plant;
- identifying points of interest within the region based on gradients identified within the region, wherein points of interest comprise portions of the region having gradients greater than a gradient threshold;
- selecting a first and a second point of interest;
- and
- segmenting the region into a first and a second sub-region encompassing the first and the second selected points of interest, respectively.
A method of distinguishing individual crops within a row of crops, comprising:
- directing radiation at the row of crops at an angle selected to illuminate a portion of the crop and cast a shadow at the plant center, the crop center comprising the area of a plant from which upper leaves originate;
- collecting an image from the radiation reflected off of two or more contiguous crops with a detector;
- identifying a continuous foreground region indicative of a crop within the image;
- identifying points of interest within the region;
- classifying the points of interest as plant centers and non-plant centers;
- and
- segmenting the region into sub-regions, each sub-region encompassing a single point of interest classified as a plant center.
A mechanism for identifying and removing individual crops from a crop row, wherein the crops extend from a ground, the mechanism comprising:
- a brace with an arm, the brace configured to span at least a row width with the arm adjacent a first side of the row width;
- a radiation emitting element mounted to the arm and configured to project radiation at a portion of the crop row at an angle between a normal vector to the ground and the ground, wherein the angle is selected such that the radiation emitting element irradiates a portion of a crop body and casts a shadow proximal the crop center;
- a radiation receiver mounted to the brace in static relation to the radiation emitting element, wherein the radiation receiver collects an image of the portion of the crop row;
- a tracking mechanism statically coupled to the brace that tracks a position of the radiation receiver along the row;
- a elimination mechanism coupled to the brace;
- and
- a processor, electrically connected to the radiation receiver and the tracking mechanism, that determines removal instructions for the elimination mechanism based on the image and tracked radiation receiver position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.