Earth working – Automatic power control
Patent
1992-10-13
1994-06-21
Crowder, Clifford D.
Earth working
Automatic power control
36442407, 172649, A01B 4106, G06F 1550
Patent
active
053221290
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an array of tools which can be used in combination to produce automatically a variety of patterns of operation. Such an array may be used, for example, in silviculture, with each tool of the array either preparing a region of ground to receive a tree, or planting a tree in a region which has already been prepared, with the overall action of the array arranged to provide a required density and pattern of plants.
The applicant's earlier U.S. Pat. No. US-A-4790400 describes and claims a vehicle suitable for use in silviculture which can be arranged to carry an array of planting tools which may operate simultaneously. The vehicle and the tool array may be controlled by an operator in a cab mounted centrally on the vehicle. Such a vehicle can operate on very difficult ground and, with appropriate tools, can maintain high planting rates and desired work quality.
A number of problems are encountered in using an array of tools which operate simultaneously. A prime requirement, particularly in silviculture but also in other types of cultivation, is the achievement of an optimum planting density. It is of course possible to set spacing between the tools in the array so as to give the required density. In practice however it is found that if predetermined relative positions are used for the tools then a significant proportion of the tools will then be located over regions of ground which are unsuitable for planting. This problem can be overcome by manual adjustment of the position of the tools. However such manual adjustment adds significantly to the time taken for the planting process making it difficult to achieve high enough planting rates.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
According to a first aspect of the present invention, in an array of tools for planting, each tool is provided with an independent sensory/motor system comprising means to move the tool independently with respect to the array and a controller for the means to move responsive to a control signal to position the tool automatically in a desired location.
The present invention provides a tool array in which the tools are independently and automatically movable. It is therefore possible to adjust the position of a tool whilst the array is in use without it being necessary to stop to make a manual adjustment. It is therefore particularly useful in conditions where the ground to be planted is obstacle strewn since one or more tools can then be quickly moved out of the way of obstacles without having to stop the planting process.
Preferably the controller includes a sensor arranged to detect a perceptual cue in the environment of the tool, and means to generate a predetermined motor response in the means to move in response to the perceptual cue.
It is found to be particularly advantageous to base the control of the movement of the tools upon fixed motor responses to perceptual cues. These perceptual cues may take the form of light or sound signals detected by an appropriate sensor. It is found that with such an arrangement the complex calculations which would be necessary with a centralised control system with motion controlled by standard robotic methods are avoided and the desired control can be achieved using algorithms which are by comparison simple and shallow.
The perceptual cue may be a signal generated by another one of the tools in the array to control the position of the one tool with respect to the other tool. Alternatively the cue may be generated by a signal source controlled by the user to mark a location on the ground to be planted. Preferably the controller is responsive to both these forms of cues.
Preferably the signal source controlled by the user is a light source arranged to generate different regions of illumination in which case the sensor includes photo-sensor means responsive to the different regions of illumination and the tool is arranged to move to a location on the boundary between two such regions of illumination. The different regions of illumination may be character
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patent: 3983373 (1976-09-01), Russell
patent: 4342270 (1982-08-01), Lofgren et al.
patent: 4651074 (1987-03-01), Wise
patent: 4835691 (1989-05-01), Rotem et al.
patent: 4843561 (1989-06-01), Larson
Crowder Clifford D.
Lewis Paul C.
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