Chen Wei-Tai, Yeh Yu-Hui F, Liu Ting-Yu, Lin Ta-Te
Department of Bio-Industrial Mechatronics Engineering, National Taiwan University Taipei, Taiwan.
Front Plant Sci. 2016 Mar 31;7:392. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2016.00392. eCollection 2016.
In plant factories, plants are usually cultivated in nutrient solution under a controllable environment. Plant quality and growth are closely monitored and precisely controlled. For plant growth evaluation, plant weight is an important and commonly used indicator. Traditional plant weight measurements are destructive and laborious. In order to measure and record the plant weight during plant growth, an automated measurement system was designed and developed herein. The weight measurement system comprises a weight measurement device and an imaging system. The weight measurement device consists of a top disk, a bottom disk, a plant holder and a load cell. The load cell with a resolution of 0.1 g converts the plant weight on the plant holder disk to an analog electrical signal for a precise measurement. The top disk and bottom disk are designed to be durable for different plant sizes, so plant weight can be measured continuously throughout the whole growth period, without hindering plant growth. The results show that plant weights measured by the weight measurement device are highly correlated with the weights estimated by the stereo-vision imaging system; hence, plant weight can be measured by either method. The weight growth of selected vegetables growing in the National Taiwan University plant factory were monitored and measured using our automated plant growth weight measurement system. The experimental results demonstrate the functionality, stability and durability of this system. The information gathered by this weight system can be valuable and beneficial for hydroponic plants monitoring research and agricultural research applications.
在植物工厂中，植物通常在可控环境下的营养液中栽培。植物的质量和生长受到密切监测和精确控制。对于植物生长评估而言，植物重量是一个重要且常用的指标。传统的植物重量测量具有破坏性且费力。为了在植物生长过程中测量和记录植物重量，本文设计并开发了一种自动测量系统。重量测量系统包括一个重量测量装置和一个成像系统。重量测量装置由一个顶盘、一个底盘、一个植物支架和一个称重传感器组成。分辨率为0.1克的称重传感器将植物支架盘上的植物重量转换为模拟电信号以进行精确测量。顶盘和底盘设计得耐用，可适应不同的植物大小，因此在整个生长周期内都能连续测量植物重量，而不会妨碍植物生长。结果表明，重量测量装置测量的植物重量与立体视觉成像系统估计的重量高度相关；因此，可以通过任何一种方法测量植物重量。使用我们的自动植物生长重量测量系统对国立台湾大学植物工厂中选定蔬菜的重量增长进行了监测和测量。实验结果证明了该系统的功能性、稳定性和耐用性。该重量系统收集的信息对于水培植物监测研究和农业研究应用可能是有价值且有益的。
