Granted Patent B2

US 12,557,722 · App. 18/462,401 · Granted Feb 24, 2026

Inventors: Ameer Ellaboudy (Newark, CA); Aubrey C. Donnellan (San Mateo, CA); Austin Chun (San Jose, CA); Igino C. Cafiero (Palo Alto, CA); David E. Bertucci (Sunnyvale, CA); Thuy T. Nguyen (Albany, CA)

Assignee: Deere & Company

A01B69/001A01B69/008B60W40/114G06V10/454G06V10/764G06V20/56

Abstract

Claims (75)

1 . A system comprising:

a distance sensor connected to a vehicle, wherein the distance sensor is configured to output range data reflecting distances of objects with respect to the vehicle;

actuators configured to control motion of the vehicle; and

a processing apparatus configured to:

access range data captured using the distance sensor;

determine a ground plane segmentation based on the range data;

detect a furrow based on the ground plane segmentation to obtain position data for the furrow;

based on the position data for the furrow, control one or more of the actuators to cause the vehicle to move along a length of the furrow;

detect a crop row based on the range data to obtain position data for the crop row, by applying a clustering algorithm to the range data to identify three-dimensional clusters of points associated with respective plants of the crop row and estimating respective positions of the respective plants of the crop row based on their associated three-dimensional clusters of points;

determine, based on the position data for the crop row including the respective positions of the respective plants of the crop row, a yaw and a lateral position of the vehicle with respect to a lane bounded by the crop row; and

based on the yaw and the lateral position, control, using one or more of the actuators, the vehicle to move along a length of the lane bounded by the crop row.

2 . The system of claim 1 , in which the crop row includes multiple plants and the processing apparatus is configured to:

detect the plants of the crop row based on the range data, and associate plants of the crop row with respective positions;

fit a line to the respective positions of the plants of the crop row; and

determine the yaw and the lateral position based on the line.

3 . The system of claim 1 , in which the crop row includes a raised planting bed and the processing apparatus is configured to:

detect one or more edges of the raised planting bed based on the range data, and associate the one or more edges of the raised planting bed with positions;

fit a line to the positions associated with an edge of the raised planting bed; and

determine the yaw and the lateral position based on the line.

4 . The system of claim 1 , in which the distance sensor includes a lidar sensor and the range data includes point cloud data, and in which the processing apparatus is configured to:

determine the ground plane segmentation based on the point cloud data.

5 . The system of claim 4 , in which the processing apparatus is configured to:

filter the point cloud data to consider only points in a zone of interest when detecting the crop row, wherein the zone of interest is limited to a range of heights and a maximum distance from the vehicle.

6 . The system of claim 1 , in which the distance sensor includes a radar sensor, the system includes one or more image sensors connected to the vehicle, and the processing apparatus is configured to:

access image data captured using the one or more image sensors;

determine bounding boxes for respective plants of the crop row based on the image data and the range data; and

detect the crop row based on the bounding boxes.

7 . The system of claim 6 , in which the one or more image sensors comprise a normalized difference vegetation index camera connected to the vehicle, and in which the processing apparatus is configured to:

access normalized difference vegetation index data, captured using the normalized difference vegetation index camera; and

detect the crop row based on the normalized difference vegetation index data.

8 . The system of claim 1 , in which the distance sensor includes a lidar sensor, the system includes one or more image sensors connected to the vehicle, and the processing apparatus is configured to:

access image data captured using the one or more image sensors;

determine bounding boxes for respective plants of the crop row based on the image data and the range data; and

detect the crop row based on the bounding boxes.

9 . The system of claim 1 , in which the crop row is a left crop row, and the processing apparatus is configured to:

detect a right crop row based on the range data; and

determine, based on position data for the left crop row and the right crop row, the yaw and the lateral position of the vehicle with respect to a lane bounded by the left crop row and the right crop row.

10 . The system of claim 1 , in which the processing apparatus is configured to:

determine the lateral position based on a constant lane width parameter and based on the position data for the crop row.

11 . A method comprising:

accessing range data captured using a distance sensor connected to a vehicle;

determining a ground plane segmentation based on the range data;

detecting a furrow based on the ground plane segmentation to obtain position data for the furrow;

based on the position data for the furrow, controlling one or more actuators to cause the vehicle to move along a length of the furrow;

detecting a crop row based on the range data to obtain to obtain position data for the crop row, wherein detecting the crop row includes applying a clustering algorithm to the range data to identify three-dimensional clusters of points associated with respective plants of the crop row and estimating respective positions of the respective plants of the crop row based on their associated three-dimensional clusters of points;

determining, based on the position data for the crop row including the respective positions of the respective plants of the crop row, a yaw and a lateral position of the vehicle with respect to a lane bounded by the crop row; and

based on the yaw and the lateral position, controlling the vehicle to move along a length of the lane bounded by the crop row.

12 . The method of claim 11 , in which the crop row includes multiple plants, comprising:

detecting the plants of the crop row based on the range data, and associate plants of the crop row with respective positions;

fitting a line to the respective positions of the plants of the crop row; and

determining the yaw and the lateral position based on the line.

13 . The method of claim 11 , in which the crop row includes a raised planting bed, comprising:

detecting one or more edges of the raised planting bed based on the range data, and associate the one or more edges of the raised planting bed with positions;

fitting a line to the positions associated with an edge of the raised planting bed; and

determining the yaw and the lateral position based on the line.

14 . The method of claim 11 , in which the distance sensor includes a lidar sensor and the range data includes point cloud data, comprising:

determining the ground plane segmentation based on the point cloud data.

15 . The method of claim 14 , comprising:

filtering the point cloud data to consider only points in a zone of interest when detecting the crop row, wherein the zone of interest is limited to a range of heights and a maximum distance from the vehicle.

16 . The method of claim 11 , in which the distance sensor includes a radar sensor, comprising:

accessing image data captured using one or more image sensors connected to the vehicle;

determining bounding boxes for respective plants of the crop row based on the image data and the range data; and

detecting the crop row based on the bounding boxes.

17 . The method of claim 16 , in which the one or more image sensors comprise a normalized difference vegetation index camera connected to the vehicle, comprising:

accessing normalized difference vegetation index data, captured using the normalized difference vegetation index camera; and

detecting the crop row based on the normalized difference vegetation index data.

18 . The method of claim 11 , in which the distance sensor includes a lidar sensor, comprising:

accessing image data captured using one or more image sensors connected to the vehicle;

determining bounding boxes for respective plants of the crop row based on the image data and the range data; and

detecting the crop row based on the bounding boxes.

19 . The method of claim 11 , in which the crop row is a left crop row, comprising:

detecting a right crop row based on the range data; and

determining, based on position data for the left crop row and the right crop row, the yaw and the lateral position of the vehicle with respect to a lane bounded by the left crop row and the right crop row.

20 . The method of claim 11 , comprising:

determining the lateral position based on a constant lane width parameter and based on the position data for the crop row.

Assignments (2)

Continuity (3)

References Cited (64)