自走式西瓜盆栽土壤信息采集装置设计与试验

Design and experiment of self–propelled information collection device for potted soil of watermelon

为满足高频次获取西瓜植株种植土壤中湿度和其他养分含量的需求,同时解决西瓜温室大棚内由于盆栽种植密集、空间狭小所带来的人工采集数据劳动强度大、作业环境恶劣等问题,设计了一种电动自走式土壤信息采集装置。该装置的移动平台可沿预设轨道到达盆栽相应位置,多关节机械手模拟人工检测方式伸至西瓜盆栽土壤中,对湿度数据自动采集。利用设计的采集装置整体结构以及多关节机械臂机构、传感器检测部件的结构,构建了该装置的控制系统和通信系统,并进行了西瓜盆栽土壤湿度采集试验。结果表明,该采集装置稳定行走的最大速度为0.24 m/s,多关节机械臂搭载传感器能精确插入盆栽土壤中,其水平方向定位误差最大值为11 mm,装置检测盆栽的漏检率为0.92%,采集土壤信息的效率为3.2盆/min,作业流畅、性能稳定,采用循环轮检方式可替代人工完成所有盆栽土壤信息的自动采集工作。研究表明,该采集装置相比人工采集提高了盆栽信息采集的效率,也实现了高频次、高通量采集盆栽土壤信息的要求。

To meet the needs for frequent measurement of humidity and other nutrient contents in soils for growing watermelon, and to solve the problems of high labor intensity and bad working environment during manual data collection in the watermelon greenhouse that are caused by high density of potted plants and narrow space among the potted plants, we designed an electrically self-propelled soil data collection device. The mobile platform of this device can move to a desired position near a potted plant along a preset track, a multi-joint manipulator on the device inserts into the soil of the potted plant and collects humidity information from the soil automatically. In this paper, the structures of the device, the multi-joint manipulator and the detection component on the device were designed. Moreover, the control system and communication system of the device were also established. Based on this device, experiments were carried out to detect soil humidity. The experimental results showed that the maximum speed of the device was 0.24 m/s in the pre-planned path; the multi-joint manipulator with sensor could accurately insert into the soil with the maximum horizontal positioning error of 11 mm, a loss rate of potting detection of 0.92% and the efficiency of soil data collection of 3.2 pots/min. The device can realize automatic collection of soil data in all potted plants via cyclic turning inspection instead of manual work. The research indicated that the designed device increased the efficiency of data collection in comparison with manual collection, and it could meet the requirements for high frequency and high throughput information collection of potted soil.