Systems and methods for measuring growth of a plant in an assembly line grow pod

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10918031-B2
Application number	US-201815985503-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 21, 2018
Priority date	Jun 14, 2017
Publication date	Feb 16, 2021
Grant date	Feb 16, 2021

Abstract

An assembly line grow system for measuring growth of a plant, includes a rail system, carts moving along the rail system and carrying plants, seeds, or both, weight sensors, a proximity sensor, a camera and a master controller. The master controller is communicatively coupled to the carts, the weight sensors, the proximity sensor, and the camera. The master controller is operable to receive information from the weight sensors, the proximity sensor, and the camera, determine a growth state of a selected plant based on the information indicative of weight, color, height, or a combination thereof, and control a dosage supply component to provide a modified dosage based on the growth state.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for measuring growth of a plant in an assembly line grow pod, comprising:
a plurality of carts moving along a rail and carrying plants and seeds;
a group of sensors arranged in or around an assembly line grow pod and comprising at least a weight sensor, a proximity sensor and a camera;
a master controller communicatively coupled to the group of sensors and comprising a processor and a memory for storing a master recipe, a plurality of threshold growth index values associated with plants, and a predetermined program, wherein the master recipe comprises a set of instructions that dictate a dosage supply customized to growth of plants, seeds, or both, and the predetermined program, upon execution by the processor, causes the system to perform operations comprising:
receiving information indicative of growth state of a selected plant from the group of sensors;
identifying the selected plant;
retrieving a threshold growth index value associated with the selected plant;
comparing the information indicative of growth state of the selected plant with the threshold growth index value;
determining that the growth state of the selected plant is normal, overgrowth, or undergrowth; and
upon determination that the growth state of the selected plant is overgrowth, or undergrowth, modifying the master recipe accordingly.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the information indicative of growth state of the selected plant comprises a weight of the selected plant, a height of the selected plant, a chlorophyll level of the selected plant, or a combination thereof.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the predetermined program, upon execution by the processor, the system to perform operations further comprising:
receiving the weight of the selected plant from the weight sensor;
retrieving a threshold weight index value associated with the selected plant;
comparing the weight against the threshold weight index value; and
determining that the growth state of the selected plant is normal, overgrowth, or undergrowth.

4. The system of claim 2 , wherein the predetermined program, upon execution by the processor, performs operations further comprising:
receiving a distance between the proximity sensor and the selected plant from the proximity sensor;
determining the height of the selected plant based on the distance;
retrieving a threshold height index value associated with the selected plant;
comparing the height against the threshold height index value; and
determining that the growth state of the selected plant is normal, overgrowth, or undergrowth.

5. The system of claim 2 , wherein the predetermined program, upon execution by the processor, performs operations further comprising:
receiving a captured image of the selected plant from the camera;
determining a chlorophyll level of the selected plant based on the captured image;
retrieving a threshold chlorophyll level index value associated with the selected plant;
comparing the determined chlorophyll level against the threshold chlorophyll index value; and
determining that the growth state of the selected plant is normal, overgrowth, or undergrowth.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined program, upon execution by the processor, perform operations further comprising:
upon determination that the growth state of the selected plant is normal, determining that the selected plant is ready for harvesting.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined program, upon execution by the processor, performs operations further comprising:
upon determination that the growth state of the selected plant is overgrowth, modifying the master recipe relevant to the selected plant to alter a dosage supply; and
causing a dosage control component to provide the selected plant with the altered dosage supply.

8. The system of claim 6 , wherein the predetermined program, upon execution by the processor, perform operations further comprising:
upon determination that the selected plant is ready for harvesting, transporting the selected plant to a harvest component.

9. An assembly line grow system for measuring growth of a plant, comprising:
a rail system;
carts moving along the rail system and carrying plants, seeds, or both;
weight sensors operable to measure weight of a payload of each cart;
a proximity sensor positioned over the carts and operable to detect an object within a predetermined distance;
a camera positioned over the carts and operable to capture an image of the plants in the carts; and
a master controller communicatively coupled to the carts, the weight sensors, the proximity sensor, and the camera, and operable to:
receive information from the weight sensors, the proximity sensor, and the camera;
determine a growth state of a selected plant based on the information indicative of weight, color, height, or a combination thereof;
modify dosage supply instructions based on the growth state of the selected plant; and
control a dosage supply component to provide the selected plant with a modified dosage supply by sending the modified dosage supply instructions to the dosage supply component.

10. The assembly line grow system of claim 9 , wherein the master controller is further operable to:
receive data relating to a selected plant which are output from the weight sensors, the proximity sensor, and the camera; and
process the data relating to the selected plant and determine weight of the payload, color, and height of the selected plant.

11. The assembly line grow system of claim 9 , wherein the master controller is further operable to: based on the growth state of the selected plant, determine that the selected plant is to be transported to a harvest component.

12. The assembly line grow system of claim 9 , wherein the master controller comprises a processor and a memory for storing a master recipe that contains a set of dosage supply instructions and upon determination of an overgrowth state of the selected plant, the master controller modifies the dosage supply instructions relating to the selected plant to reduce dosage.

13. The assembly line grow system of claim 9 , wherein the master controller comprises a processor and a memory for storing a master recipe that contains dosage supply instructions and upon determination of an undergrowth state of the selected plant, the master controller modifies the dosage supply instructions relating to the selected plant to increase dosage.

14. The assembly line grow system of claim 9 , wherein the weight sensors are arranged on the carts, or alternatively, on the rail system.

Assignees

• Grow Solutions Tech Llc

Inventors

• Millar Gary Bret
• Hurst Michael Stephen

Classifications

• Y02P60/21

  Dinitrogen oxide [N2O], e.g. using aquaponics, hydroponics or efficiency measures · CPC title

• G01N2021/8466

  Investigation of vegetal material, e.g. leaves, plants, fruits · CPC title

• G01N2021/8416

  and process controlling, not otherwise provided for · CPC title

• G01N2021/1776

  Colour camera · CPC title

• G01N33/0098

  Plants or trees (wood G01N33/46) · CPC title