Agricultural robot

Abstract

An agricultural robot for monitoring a growing site, the robot comprising: an autonomous mobile platform; an acoustic sensor module mounted on the autonomous mobile platform and comprising: a speaker operable to transmit a directional acoustic signal at an object; and a microphone operable to register a reflection of the acoustic signal from at least one plant in the growing site; and a sound analyzer operable to time-index the registered reflection, and map a location in the growing site of the at least one plant responsive to the registered reflection.

1 . An agricultural robot for monitoring a growing site, the robot comprising:
 an autonomous mobile platform;   an acoustic sensor module mounted onto the autonomous mobile platform and comprising:
 a speaker operable to transmit a directional acoustic signal at an object; and 
 a microphone operable to register a reflection of the acoustic signal from at least one plant in the growing site; and 
   a sound analyzer operable to time-index the registered reflection and map a location in the growing site of the at least one plant responsive to the registered reflection.   
     
     
         2 . The agricultural robot according to  claim 1 , comprising an articulated robotic arm comprising a first end and a second end, the first end physically connected to the acoustic sensor module and the second end physically connected to the autonomous mobile platform. 
     
     
         3 . The agricultural robot according to  claim 2 , wherein the articulated robotic arm provides six degrees of freedom movement for the sensor module. 
     
     
         4 . The agricultural robot according to  claim 1 , wherein the autonomous mobile platform is a ground vehicle. 
     
     
         5 . The agricultural robot according to  claim 1 , wherein the autonomous mobile platform is an aerial vehicle. 
     
     
         6 . The agricultural robot according to  claim 1 , wherein the sound analyzer comprises a classifier that classifies the time-indexed reflection to determine a characteristic of the object reflecting the acoustic signal. 
     
     
         7 . The agricultural robot according to  claim 6 , wherein the classifier is operable to distinguish between a plant object and a non-plant object. 
     
     
         8 . The agricultural robot according to  claim 7 , wherein the object is a plant, and the characteristic of the object operable to be determined by the classifier comprises one or more selections of the group consisting of: variety of the plant; the plant having fruit or not having fruit; the abundance of fruit on the plant; the ripeness of fruit on the plant; the level of health of the plant; the abundance of branches on the plant; the abundance of foliage on the plant, and the level of pest infestation on the plant. 
     
     
         9 . The agricultural robot according to  claim 1 , wherein a frequency of the acoustic signal increases and/or decreases as a function of time. 
     
     
         10 . The agricultural robot according to  claim 9 , wherein the frequency changes linearly over time. 
     
     
         11 . The agricultural robot according to  claim 9 , wherein a power of the acoustic signal stays constant over time. 
     
     
         12 . The agricultural robot according to  claim 1 , wherein the speaker is operable to transmit an acoustic communication signal for reception by another agricultural robot, the acoustic communication signal comprising an operational instruction for the other agricultural robot. 
     
     
         13 . The agricultural robot according to  claim 12 , wherein the acoustic communication signal comprises information regarding the growing site gathered by the agricultural robot. 
     
     
         14 . The agricultural robot according to  claim 13 , wherein the acoustic communication signal comprises a location of another agricultural robot in the growing site. 
     
     
         15 . The agricultural robot according to  claim 1 , further comprising a guidance system operable to control the autonomous mobile platform responsive to the located object. 
     
     
         16 . The agricultural robot according to  claim 2 , further comprising a controller operable to control the robotic arm responsive to the located object. 
     
     
         17 . The agricultural robot according to  claim 16 , wherein the sensing module is connected to the robotic arm, such that the controller is operable to control the robotic arm to move the sensing module. 
     
     
         18 . A multirobot system for monitoring a growing site, the system comprising a plurality of agricultural robots in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, the plurality of agricultural robots comprising at least a first agricultural robot and a second agricultural robot, wherein a sound analyzer comprised in the first agricultural robot is operable to control the first agricultural robot responsive to an acoustic communication signal received from the second agricultural robot, wherein the acoustic communication signal comprises information regarding locations of objects in a portion of the growing site gathered by the second agricultural robot. 
     
     
         19 . The multirobot system according to  claim 18 , wherein the first agricultural robot has not previously gathered information in the portion of the growing site. 
     
     
         20 . The multirobot system according to  claim 18 , wherein the first agricultural robot has previously gathered information in the portion of the growing site, and the sound analyzer of the first agricultural robot is operable to combine the respective information regarding the portion of the growing site gathered by the first and second agricultural robots to generate more accurate information regarding object location in the portion of the growing site.