JPH029764B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] The present invention relates to a lawn mowing robot.

Mowing grass in vast areas such as parks and golf courses requires a lot of manpower and time, and on golf courses during the daytime, it becomes an obstacle to golf play and is also dangerous. Therefore, it would be convenient if lawn mowing could be done unattended at night using a robot. The present invention avoids obstacles without deviating from the work area, moves under self-control, mowing the grass within the area unmanned at night, collects the cut grass, and places it in an approximately fixed amount at an appropriate location. The purpose is to provide a lawn mowing robot that can go anywhere.

Examples of the present invention will be described. First, to explain the structure of the present invention, as shown in FIGS.
The trolley 2 is equipped with a lawn mower 5 at the bottom, a plurality of detectors 6 at the periphery for detecting the boundary of the lawn mowing work area and obstacles such as trees and ponds, and a rear mower for mowing. A storage section 7 for temporarily storing lawn mowing waste is provided, and a lawn mowing waste feeding means 8 for feeding the cut lawn mowing waste to the storage section 7 is provided between the lawn mower 5 and the storage section 7. Furthermore, it is preferable that an engine or a battery, a motor, and a battery for control power supply be suitably mounted on the trolley 2 as a power source, and the battery for control power supply be charged during driving, as in a general automobile. A control device 4 equipped with a microcomputer performs sequence control of the power equipment when starting and stopping the lawn mowing robot, control of the robot's attitude (running angle) when changing the running direction, and abnormality monitoring. Furthermore, it is convenient to equip the control device 4 with a simple wireless device so that an alarm can be sent to a nearby management office if the robot becomes unable to run due to a malfunction or some other reason.

The lawn mower 5 provided at the lower part of the trolley 2 may be of any existing type, such as a rotary type, clipper type, reel type, etc., but a reel type will be described here. A reel mower 12, which has a reel-type rotary blade 9, a cover 10 that covers it from above, and a fixed blade 11 attached to the lower part of the cover 10, is supported by a pair of rotatable rollers 13 provided before and after the reel mower 12. The lawn is mowed by the rotary blade 9 and fixed blade 11 of the mower 12. The mown lawn debris is sent to the storage section 7 by the lawn clippings feeding means 8. The lawn mowing waste feeding means 8 includes, for example, a suction fan 14 , a suction tube 15 having one end connected to the suction side and the other end connected to the cover 10 , and one end connected to the discharge side of the suction fan 14 and the other end connected to the storage section 7 . Lawn cuttings are sent to the storage section 7 through a discharge pipe 16 connected to the upper part of the lawn mower. The storage section 7 is
It is a box body with an inclined lid 7, and as shown in FIG. 3, it is pivotably supported at one upper end of a support rod 18, and has an opening diagonally upward at the other end, and usually has a lever 19. The robot is held almost horizontally by the rollers 20 at its tip, and when more than a predetermined amount of lawn mowing debris has been stored and the robot reaches the predetermined position, the lever 19 collapses and the box body tilts due to its own weight, and the box body swings at the upper end. The movably supported lid 17 reverses its inclination direction and swings to open the opening under its own weight, and the lawn mowing debris is discharged. Thereafter, by returning the lever 19 to its original position, the box body is pushed up by the tip of the lever 19, returns to the horizontal position, and is held, and the lid 17 swings to close the opening by its own weight. The detector 6 has a magnetic sensor for detecting the boundary of the working area and an ultrasonic sensor for detecting obstacles within the area, and continuous markers made of steel wire or the like are laid in advance at the boundary of the working area. The ultrasonic sensor may be omitted if markers can be placed around all obstacles. In preparation for unexpected obstacles, it is desirable to install a buffer section and a limit switch 21 around the lawn mowing robot as a safety device in the event of a collision, so that it can suddenly stop or change the running direction. .

Next, an embodiment of the lawn mowing robot operation control method according to the present invention will be described. In Figs. 4 and 5, the lawn mowing robot is moved by self-propulsion or transportation to the starting point 23 within the work area boundary 22, performs predetermined preparations and inspections, points in the desired direction, and then turns on the automatic operation start switch. Drive unit 3
and start automatic operation. The lawn mowing robot mowing the lawn while moving straight ahead, reaching the work area boundary 2.
When it reaches 2, it is detected by the marker installed there and the detector 6, and it reverses and mowing the lawn while changing the running direction by 180 degrees.When the reversal is completed, it mowing the lawn while going straight again, and when it reaches the boundary, the next time. The machine reverses itself and mows the lawn while changing the direction of travel by 180 degrees, and when the reversal is completed, it mowing the lawn while going straight again, and repeats the same operation. For a 180° reversal, if the operating speed of the steering device is kept constant, the time it takes for the steering device to rotate in the steering direction,
The number of rotations of the wheel 1 for each of the time for holding the wheel as it is and the time for returning to the original position is determined, and this is detected by an encoder and processed by the microcomputer in the control device 4 to perform a steering operation.
When more than a predetermined amount of lawn mowing debris accumulates in the storage section 7,
For example, in the case of a golf course, lawn mowing waste is discharged onto the ground outside the fairway immediately after the robot turns over, and is collected separately after it has dried appropriately and is no longer bulky. If there are no obstacles, the lawn mowing robot will come to a stop near the boundary of the work area on the opposite side of the starting point 23, and if reversal becomes impossible, that point will be set as the stopping point 24, and the drive device 3 will stop. If there is an obstacle 25 on the way, it is detected by the detector 6 and the lawn mowing robot is reversed in the same way as at the work area boundary 22. In this case, the uncut portion is cut separately. The operating method is not limited to such a sequential turning movement, but it is also possible to freely run in random directions within the work area within a predetermined time. If the stop condition is met at a point other than the stop point 24, for example, if a predetermined time has elapsed after running at random, or if a failure occurs, the drive device stops, the lawn mowing robot stops, and at the same time the simple radio device transmits an activation signal. and inform the nearby management office.

If a magnetic sensor or an ultrasonic sensor is used as a detector, it has the advantage of being able to mow the lawn even at night when it is too dark for humans to do the work, and if the operation is repeated sequentially, there will be no uncut grass, and once the lawn has been mowed, You can mow the lawn efficiently without the waste of mowing twice. When targeting a golf course, when the robot finishes mowing the fairway of one course and stops, it is automatically guided to a certain position, moves to the next course along a predetermined route, and starts mowing again. It is preferable to do so, but it is also possible to use an alarm to notify the management office and have the night shift staff guide them to the next course.

According to the present invention, a lawnmower is provided at the lower part of a trolley that is equipped with a control device and a drive device and runs on its own, and a detector is provided around the periphery of the trolley, and the boundaries of the lawn mowing work area and obstacles detected by the detector are provided. Since the lawn mowing is performed while moving while avoiding objects using the control device and drive device, there is no need for manpower to mow the lawn, and it is possible to mow the lawn at night without any hindrance to the use of the area during the day. A storage section for temporarily storing mown lawn debris is provided at the rear, and a means for feeding lawn mowing debris to the storage section is provided, so that the mown lawn debris is immediately stored in the storage section and the lawn mowing debris is later collected. There is no need to do so, and the lawn mowing debris does not accumulate between the lawns and cause harm, and can exhibit great effects.

Further, in the lawn mowing robot according to the present invention, the storage section includes a lever that horizontally holds the lower part of the box body at its tip, and a lever that is pivotably supported at the upper end of the diagonally upward opening of the box body, and the lever that holds the lower part of the box body horizontally at its tip. and a lid that closes under its own weight in a tilted state, and when the lever is rotated to release the support of the box, the box tilts and the lid opens under its own weight to automatically remove the lawn mowing debris inside. discharged,
When the lever is returned, the box body is pushed up by the tip of the lever and returned to the horizontal position, and the lid swings under its own weight to close the opening, thereby automatically discharging the lawn mowing debris at the desired position. This has the effect of being extremely convenient.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings are for explaining the embodiments of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view, FIG. 2 is a plan view, FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged side view, FIG. 4 is a flow chart, and FIG. FIG. In each drawing, 1 is a wheel, 2 is a trolley, 3 is a drive device, 4 is a control device, 5 is a lawn mower, 6 is a detector, 7 is a storage section, 8 is a lawn mowing waste feeding means, 9 is a rotary blade, 10 is a cover, 11 is a fixed blade, 12 is a reel mower, 13 is a roller, 14 is a suction fan, 15
16 is a suction pipe, 16 is a discharge pipe, 17 is a lid, 18 is a support rod, 19 is a lever, 20 is a roller, 21 is a buffer part and a limit switch, 22 is a work area boundary, 23
24 indicates a starting point, 24 indicates a stopping point, and 25 indicates an obstacle.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A lawn mower is installed at the bottom of a trolley that is equipped with a control device and a drive device and runs automatically, and a detector is installed around the periphery of the trolley, and the boundaries of the lawn mowing work area and obstacles detected by the detector are detected by the control device. and mowing the lawn while moving in an avoidance manner by means of a drive device, a storage section for temporarily storing cut grass cuttings is provided at the rear of the trolley, and a means for feeding lawn cuttings to the storage section is provided. , the storage section includes a box that is pivotably supported at one end and has an upward diagonal opening at the other end and stores lawn mowing waste therein, and a lower part of the box that is held horizontally at the tip. a lever, and a lid that is pivotably supported at the upper end of the opening and closes the opening with its own weight in an inclined state, and when the lever is rotated to release the support of the box, The box body tilts and the lid opens under its own weight, automatically discharging the grass cuttings inside. When the lever is returned, the box body is pushed up by the tip of the lever and returns to the horizontal position, and the lid opens under its own weight. The lawn mowing robot is characterized in that the robot swings at a constant angle to close the opening.