System for measuring three-dimensional environment data, particularly for plant care, as well as sensor module

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10953985-B2
Application number	US-201816042437-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 23, 2018
Priority date	Jul 24, 2017
Publication date	Mar 23, 2021
Grant date	Mar 23, 2021

Abstract

A sensor module is assigned to a vehicle that can be displaced in a terrain or designed for being positioned in the terrain. The sensor module has a sensor system with sensors that acquire sensor data in a contactless fashion. The sensors are designed for detecting the spatial extent of the plant at a location in the terrain. The sensor data makes it possible to determine whether the plant should be pruned. To this end, the sensor data is evaluated by utilizing a knowledge database.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a vehicle that can be automatically displaced in an outdoor area and comprises a running gear;
a control unit that controls the running gear,
a working module with module-specific plant care tools,
a first sensor system having sensors that detect physical characteristics of objects in the environment, the sensors acquiring control data that is used by the control unit along with a map stored in a memory element, and
a second sensor system that comprises sensors assigned to a sensor module, wherein the first sensor system and the second sensor system are configured so that they detect physical characteristics of the same object from different angles,
a computer unit,
a data transmitter configured for communicating with an external computer unit providing a knowledge data base maintained by a user group, the external computer unit being available in a decentralized manner accessible via the internet, wherein the external computer unit provides a platform capable of processing empirical values of individual users for an entirety of all users and providing results to a community in a form of user suggestions or user aids,
wherein the sensors of the first and second sensor systems comprise at least one of the following sensors: a sensor for detecting atmospheric moisture, a sensor for detecting UV rays or a brightness sensor,
wherein the second sensor system is configured to be displaced by the vehicle and comprises sensors that acquire sensor data in a contactless fashion, wherein the sensors are designed for detecting a spatial extent of a plant at a location of the plant,
wherein the computer unit is capable of supplementing the map, which contains two-dimensional location coordinates of plants, with height and/or volume data of the plants by utilizing the sensor data, and determining current growth height data of the plants from the height and/or volume data,
wherein the computer unit is further configured to compare the current growth height data with older growth height data, which was previously acquired with the same method and same sensor module in order to determine a volume increase of the plants,
wherein the computer unit is configured to determine, based on the knowledge data base, if the volume increase necessitates a plant care action of the working module,
wherein the vehicle is configured to carry the sensor module in an environment data acquisition mode configured for acquiring the height and/or volume data of the plants, and is configured to carry the working module instead of the sensor module in a working mode,
wherein the plant care tools of the working module are motion-controlled with sensor data acquired by the sensor module,
and wherein the computer unit is configured to automatically control the determined necessary plant care action of the working module.

2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the vehicle is an air vehicle that is configured to be positioned in an airspace in a GPS-controlled fashion.

3. The system according to claim 1 , further comprising a device configured for calculating a three-dimensional model of a three-dimensional structure from images of a spatial structure that were recorded by the sensors at different locations.

4. A method for operating a system according to claim 1 comprising:
detecting physical characteristics of a plant to be cared for with the first sensor system and the second sensor system from different angles.

5. The method according to claim 4 , further comprising controlling one of the tools by utilizing sensor data acquired by the first sensor system and the second sensor system.

Assignees

• Vorwerk Co Interholding

Inventors

• Hackert Georg
• Helmich Martin
• Hillen Lorenz
• Holz Christian
• Isenberg Gerhard
• Koetz Hendrik
• Mosebach Andrej
• Ortmann Roman
• Dulinski Robin

Classifications

• B64U2201/104

  using satellite radio beacon positioning systems, e.g. GPS · CPC title

• B64U2101/30

  for imaging, photography or videography · CPC title

• A01G25/09

  Watering arrangements making use of movable installations on wheels or the like · CPC title

• A01B79/005 Primary

  Precision agriculture · CPC title

• B64U2101/40

  for agriculture or forestry operations · CPC title