US 12,127,516 B2
Production facility layout for automated controlled environment agriculture
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, San Francisco, CA (US); Maria Alexandria Malone, San Francisco, CA (US); Matthew James Matera, San Francisco, CA (US); Kelly Catherine Casie LaBuff, San Francisco, CA (US); and Alan Colbrie Schoen, Los Gatos, CA (US)
Assigned to MJNN LLC, South San Francisco, CA (US)
Filed by MJNN LLC, South San Francisco, CA (US)
Filed on May 27, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/324,964.
Application 18/324,964 is a continuation of application No. 17/281,694, granted, now 11,700,804, previously published as PCT/US2019/058770, filed on Oct. 30, 2019.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/752,980, filed on Oct. 30, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2023/0389494 A1, Dec. 7, 2023
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. A01G 31/04 (2006.01); A01G 31/06 (2006.01)
CPC A01G 31/045 (2013.01) [A01G 31/06 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A crop production facility for controlled environment agriculture, comprising:
a growth environment comprising a vertical grow tower conveyance system; wherein the vertical grow tower conveyance system comprises:
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;
a central processing system located adjacently to the growth environment, the central processing system comprising:
a transplanter station arranged proximal to the first end of the growth environment;
a harvester station arranged more proximally to the second end of the growth environment relative to the transplanter station; and
wherein the harvester station comprises a crop harvesting machine, and a feeder mechanism to receive a grow tower in a horizontal orientation and feed the grow tower through the crop harvesting machine in a horizontal orientation; and
wherein the crop production facility further comprises 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 grow tower on a conveyor for loading into the harvester station.