Apparatus and method for placing plant cuttings and cutting holding unit for planting cuttings in a cultivation medium

Abstract

The present invention relates to an apparatus for placing cuttings of plants in a cultivation medium. The apparatus has a cuttings supply system for supplying a plurality of cuttings, a camera system for identifying cuttings among the plurality of cuttings that are suitable for individual pick up using pattern recognition, a pick-up tool for picking up cuttings identified by the camera system, and a planting system for simultaneously planting multiple cuttings in the cultivation medium. The planting system and the pick-up tool are separate entities. Furthermore, the pick-up tool is arranged for suitably placing picked-up cuttings in the planting system.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a continuation of PCT application number PCT / EP2012 / 051065 filed on 24 Jan. 2012, which claims priority from Netherlands application number NL 1038540 filed on 24 Jan. 2011 and Netherlands application number NL 2006878 filed on 31 May 2011. All applications are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]1. Field of the Invention[0003]The invention relates to an apparatus for placing cuttings of plants in a cultivation medium. The invention further relates to a method of placing cuttings of plants in a cultivation medium as well as to a computer readable medium having computer readable instructions stored thereon for performing, when executed by a processor, such a method. The invention also relates to a cutting holding unit for planting cuttings in a cultivation medium. Furthermore, the invention relates to an apparatus for placing cuttings of plants in a cultivation medium co...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0011]It is an object of the invention to provide an alternative apparatus and method for placing plant cuttings in a cultivation medium with an improved performance, in particular with respect to throughput, precision and reliability. For this purpose, an embodiment of the invention provides an apparatus for placing cuttings of plants in a cultivation medium comprising: a cuttings supply system for supplying a plurality of cuttings; a camera system for identifying cuttings among the plurality of cuttings provided by the supply system that are suitable for individual pick up using pattern recognition; a pick-up tool for picking up cuttings identified by the camera system among the plurality of cuttings; and a planting system for simultaneously planting multiple cuttings in the cultivation medium; wherein the planting system and the pick-up tool are separate entities, and wherein the pick-up tool is arranged for suitably placing picked-up cuttings in the planting system. The use of a separate pick-up tool and planting system increases the throughput of the apparatus. While the planting tool plants one or more cuttings, the pick-up tool may already pick up new cuttings to be planted. Furthermore, simultaneously planting multiple cuttings in the cultivation medium further improves the throughput.

[0012]The planting system may comprise a planting unit for accommodating multiple cuttings in a predetermined orientation; and an indentation unit for indenting the cultivation medium before planting such that the planting unit can plant the multiple cuttings in corresponding indentations in the cultivation medium made by the indentation unit. The use of a planting unit and an indentation unit allows for planting cuttings in preformed indentations. As the indentations are made with the same system, their characteristics are known and placement of cuttings can be executed even more reliably. The planting system may comprise a frame to which the planting unit and the indentation unit are both connected. Using such frame improves the knowledge of the characteristics of the indentations and may further improve the reliability and uniformity of cutting placement.

[0014]In some embodiments, the cuttings supply system comprises an irregularly moveable surface for supporting the supplied cuttings. The use of an irregularly moveable surface may improve the spreading of the cuttings, which alleviates the identification and pick-up of individual cuttings among the plurality of cuttings. The irregularly moveable surface may be moveable in dependence of one or more images obtained with the camera system. On the basis of the actual placement and orientation of cuttings in the supply system a movement program may be executed for controlling movement of the irregularly moveable surface.

[0018]It is another object of the invention to enable automatic planting of cuttings in a cultivation medium with sufficient accuracy and throughput. For this purpose, the invention provides a cutting holding unit for planting cuttings in a cultivation medium comprising: a cutting clamp comprising two opposing members for clamping a portion of a cutting at a clamping position; and a holding device comprising two opposing members for supporting the cutting at a position closer to the cutting end that is to be put into the cultivation medium than the clamping position; wherein the cutting clamp and the holding device are connected to each other such that the opposing members of the holding device and the cutting clamp are moveable towards and away of each other simultaneously, and such that the distance between the opposing members of the cutting clamp and the opposing members of the holding device is variable. Each of the two opposing members of the cutting clamp may be provided with a substantially flat surface facing each other. Such surfaces limit the chance that cuttings are damaged during clamping.

Problems solved by technology

As a result, besides being expensive, the propagation success rate of the cuttings is relatively unreliable.

For example, the apparatus and method described in WO03 / 022034 lead to a cutting placement having insufficient uniformity.

As a result, some cuttings are placed into the pots with an orientation different from the predetermined orientation, which results in a poorly placed cutting.

Furthermore, the arrangement and functionality of the pick and place tool causes the apparatus to operate with a limited throughput, i.e. the number of cuttings that can be placed within a specific period of time is limited.

First, the use of a rotating device for picking individual cuttings occupies a lot of space.

Furthermore, the throughput of the assembly is sensitive to logistics failure.

The first option would decrease the throughput, whereas the second option causes the control of the rotating device to be complex.