US 11,832,569 B2
Grow tower processing for controlled environment agriculture system
Gage Goodspeed Coffin, Los Altos Hills, CA (US); Michael Peter Flynn, Palo Alto, CA (US); Brice Leon Klein, San Francisco, CA (US); Alexandre Le Roux, Redwood City, CA (US); Nathaniel R. Storey, Laramie, WY (US); Tamara Tahir Hasoon, Redwood City, CA (US); Merritt Jonathan Jenkins, Cambridge, MA (US); Maria Alexandria Malone, San Francisco, CA (US); Matthew James Matera, San Francisco, CA (US); Anna Olson, San Mateo, CA (US); and Nadav Sahar Hendel, San Francisco, CA (US)
Assigned to MJNN LLC, South San Francisco, CA (US)
Appl. No. 17/281,685
Filed by MJNN LLC, South San Francisco, CA (US)
PCT Filed Oct. 30, 2019, PCT No. PCT/US2019/058764
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Mar. 31, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/092503, PCT Pub. Date May 7, 2020.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/752,977, filed on Oct. 30, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2022/0000043 A1, Jan. 6, 2022
Int. Cl. A01G 9/029 (2018.01); A01G 31/04 (2006.01); A01D 46/30 (2006.01); A01G 9/02 (2018.01); B25J 9/06 (2006.01)
CPC A01G 9/0299 (2018.02) [A01D 46/30 (2013.01); A01G 9/023 (2013.01); B25J 9/06 (2013.01)] 21 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A crop production system for controlled environment agriculture, comprising:
a vertical grow tower conveyance system comprising
one or more grow lines;
a plurality of grow towers, each of the plurality of grow towers vertically attached to, and moveable along, a respective one of the one or more grow lines, wherein each of the plurality of grow towers includes a plurality of grow sites extending at least along one face thereof; and
a grow tower conveyance mechanism operative to move the one or more grow towers along a respective grow line from a first end to a second end;
a horizontal conveyor to convey grow towers to one or more processing stations; and
an automated laydown station comprising a first robot including an end effector adapted to releasably grasp a grow tower, and control logic operative to cause the first robot to pick the grow tower from a pick location in a vertical orientation, rotate the grow tower to a horizontal orientation and place the tower on the horizontal conveyor;
wherein the end effector comprises a beam, a first gripper attached to a first end of the beam, and a second gripper attached to a second end of the beam, wherein the first and second grippers are configured to releasably grasp a grow tower.