JPH0376485B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a control device for a moving body that causes a moving body moving on a travel route to perform a predetermined work at a predetermined location.

[Prior Art] There has been a strong desire to perform a predetermined work at a predetermined movement position while moving a movable body along a predetermined movement route. For example, an unmanned guided vehicle automatically moves within a factory, and when it reaches a predetermined location, it performs tasks such as temporarily stopping, increasing the speed of movement, or branching, thereby saving labor and promoting unmanned operation. The aim is to rationalize it.

In order to meet these demands, a system has been proposed in which an address mark is placed in advance on the moving route of a moving object, and the moving object detects this address mark while moving and performing work. There are two methods of attaching address marks: the standard address method and the relative address method.

The absolute addressing method is when an address mark is attached to a predetermined location on the pre-route of a moving object, each address mark is a different type of mark, and when the moving object detects a certain type of address mark, the location is determined. This makes it possible to recognize both at the same time. Therefore, by memorizing in advance the types of address marks attached to specific locations that appear in the order of the moving route of the mobile object, the mobile object can confirm the types of address marks and,
It becomes possible to perform the work to be performed at a specific location of the address mark.

The relative addressing method is one in which address marks of the same type are provided on the route along which a mobile object moves, without providing positional information to the address marks as described above. In this system, the moving object has a counter, and each time it detects an address mark, the counter is activated, and the work is executed according to the contents of the counter.

[Problems to be solved by the invention] However, even methods using the address mark adding method described above are still not perfect.
It had the following problems.

First, in the case of using the address mark attaching method of the absolute address method, many types of address marks must be used, which increases the cost of installing the address marks, and makes it difficult to change the design once manufactured. Moreover, since the moving body must identify all of the many types of address marks, it is necessary to use an expensive sensor with high resolution for detecting the address marks.

All of the above problems can be solved by using the relative addressing method, but in the relative addressing method, the absolute position of the moving object is sheared only by the contents of the counter, so even one address mark cannot be used. This method has the disadvantage that even if a discrepancy occurs between the contents of the counter and the actual absolute position due to erroneous detection (skipping), it cannot be detected. Therefore, once a discrepancy occurs, the movable body will have to perform a completely different task until the program is completely completed, which may actually reduce work efficiency.

The present invention has been developed in view of the above-mentioned problems, and does not require equipment costs unlike those using the relative addressing method, and also eliminates erroneous detection of address marks unlike those using the absolute addressing method. The object of the present invention is to provide an excellent method for attaching an address mark for controlling a mobile object that can determine detection.

[Means for Solving the Problems] As a means for achieving the above object, a control device for a moving object according to the present invention arranges a plurality of types of address marks in a repeating predetermined order, and A control device for a movable body moving on a movement route in which different types of address marks are arranged, an address mark detection means for detecting the type of the address mark as it moves on the movement route; The gist of the present invention is to include operation control means for causing the mobile body to sequentially perform pre-stored operations based on the type of address mark detected by the address mark detection means.

[Operation] In the mobile object control device of the present invention, address marks of a plurality of types are repeatedly arranged in a predetermined order of types, and when adjacent address marks move on a movement route of different types, the address marks The detection means detects the type of address mark on the moving route, and the operation control means causes the moving body to sequentially execute pre-stored operations based on the type of the address mark.

As a result, in a partial unit where multiple types of address marks are arranged in a predetermined type order, the mobile object can determine whether or not the type of address mark is appropriate for each address mark it detects. Judging from this, the predetermined work is executed. Thereafter, by repeatedly performing this process, the accuracy of each part is spread throughout the entire moving route, and accurate work is performed over the entire moving route.

In other words, the absolute addressing method can be used in units of parts in which a plurality of types of address marks are arranged in a predetermined order of types, and errors in the work in this part can be almost eliminated. Furthermore, by repeating this absolute addressing method, errors in the overall work can be eliminated with a smaller number of classified address mark types than the total number of address marks. As a result, with a small number of types of address marks, it is possible to accurately work on a movement route in which many address marks are arranged.

The above-mentioned address marks are, for example, attached to the route along which a moving object moves, but the number of address marks (P, 2≦P<N) is smaller than the number (N) of address marks to be attached. It is composed of In other words, as in the absolute addressing method, the type PA of the address mark is not the same as the number NA (PA = NA), and as in the relative addressing method, the type PS of the address mark is PS = 1 regardless of the number NS. It's not what it is. and,
When actually attaching these plural types P of address marks to a movement route, address marks of the same type are not attached adjacently. For example, when attaching P=3 address marks of types P1, P2, and P3 on a moving route, P1→P2
→P3→P1... The address mark next to the address mark Pn is always given as Pm (n≠m).

EXAMPLES Hereinafter, in order to explain the present invention more specifically, the present invention will be described in detail by giving examples.

[Embodiment] FIG. 1 schematically shows the route of a moving object provided with an address mark according to a first embodiment. In the figure, reference numeral 10 denotes a moving body, which performs work according to the contents of a built-in counter. Further, the counter is incremented each time address marks MA and MB, which will be described later, are detected by the detection device 20 provided on the moving body. In this embodiment, the address mark is placed on the moving path 3 of the moving body 10 depending on its arrangement position.
By attaching a light reflecting plate off to the right or left with 0 as the center, address mark MA is placed to the right of the center, and address mark MB is placed to the left of the center.
It is composed of two types. Therefore, the detection device 20 has the ability to identify whether the address mark is MA or MB. In this embodiment, the detection units 20A and 20 are composed of a pair of light emitting and light receiving elements.
When the light emitted from the light emitting element is reflected by the address mark, the light receiving element detects the reflected light and confirms the presence of the address mark.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the built-in computer 40 that controls the moving body 10 and its control system. In the figure, 41 is a CPU that executes various calculations, and 42
43 is a ROM that stores control programs and various operations executed by the moving body, which will be described later; 43 is a RAM that temporarily stores data; 44 is a counter;
5 is an output circuit 46 that outputs control signals to various actuators 50 to perform predetermined operations;
Similarly, is an output circuit that outputs a control signal to the electric motor 60, which is a source of driving force for moving the movable body 10 by itself. Reference numeral 47 denotes an input port to which detection signals from the two address mark detection units 20A and 20B described above are inputted as appropriate. A data and address bus 48 connects each of these components. Further, 49 is a power supply circuit for each component.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a control program for the mobile body 10 stored in the ROM 42. When a switch input to start operation is given to the moving body 10, this moving body control program is stored in the ROM 4.
2 to the CPU 41, and execution of control according to the program begins. That is, when the operation is started, step 100 is first executed, and two flags FA and FB, which will be described later, are reset and the contents of the counter 44 are cleared. Next step 110
An output signal is output to the electric motor 60, and the moving body 10 starts moving along the moving route 30. This movement continues until the address mark is detected by the detection unit 20A or 20B in step 120. When the address mark is detected, it is determined whether the address mark is of type MA or MB, that is, it is determined which of the detection sections 20A and 20B has produced a detection output (step 130).
If MA is detected, the process from step 140A is executed, and if MB is detected, the process from step 140B is executed. To explain the processing from step 140A onward, first, the contents of flag FA are determined (step 140A). this flag
FA is set to FA="1" if the previous address mark detection was MA, and FA="0" if the previous address mark detection was MB. That is, even though the currently detected address mark is MA, if the previously detected address mark is also MA, the process moves to step 200 at this step, and all signals from the movable body's drive source are cut off and work is stopped. be exposed. Also, if the address mark is different between the last time and this time, that is, the flag
When it is determined that FA=0, the counter 44 is counted up (step 150A), and then a work program (not shown) corresponding to the contents of the counter 44 is read from the ROM 42 and the work is executed (step 160A), and then a flag is set. FA is set to "1" and flag FB is set to "0" (step 170A), and the process returns to step 110 again. Further, step 1 is executed when it is determined in step 130 that the address mark MB has been detected.
The processing after step 40B is almost the same as step 140A, and the flag FB is used instead of the flag FA.
The same control is executed using flag FA instead of FB.

That is, in the embodiment configured as described above, the first
Same address mark MA or
Since the MB appears repeatedly on the same movement route, it is impossible to teach the moving body 10 its absolute position, and in this sense it corresponds to the conventional relative addressing method. However, when considering only adjacent address marks, two types of address marks, MA and MB, have the same effect as using the absolute addressing method in a short period. Therefore, when the mobile unit 10 executes a task according to the contents of the counter, it first checks whether it has misjudged its absolute position in this short interval, or in other words, whether it has detected the address marks MA and MB alternately. It is only necessary to judge whether the detection is accurate and execute the work according to the counter contents only when the detection is accurate.

In this way, according to this embodiment, as long as the short absolute address assignment interval, MA and MB, are not skipped consecutively, it is possible to detect skipping of the address mark.

In other words, as is clear from the above explanation, if n types of address marks are attached on the same moving route, unless the moving object skips all n address marks, it will not be possible to detect the skipping of the moving object. There is no such thing.

FIG. 4 shows a second embodiment in which three types of address marks are added to one movement route. This moving body 10 is similar to the first embodiment described above,
The detection device 20 and the computer block shown in FIG. 2 are also the same. That is, in this embodiment, the performance of the detection device 20 included in the moving body 10 can be utilized most effectively. As shown in the figure, in this embodiment, the address mark is provided with reflectors on both the left and right sides of the moving path 30' in addition to the above-mentioned MA and MB.
It consists of three types that add MC, MA
→ MB → MC → MA... are given repeatedly in this order.

FIG. 5 shows the control program of this embodiment. In the figure, steps 300 to 320, steps 350, 360, and 40 are shown.
0 is step 100 to step 12 of the above embodiment.
0, step 150A, step 160A, and step 200, the same processing is executed.

In this embodiment, steps 330A to 33
The processing for only 0D is different from the previous time. In these steps, the address mark assignment pattern MA→MB→ which is stored in the ROM 42 in advance is
It is determined whether the detection pattern of the actually detected address mark is the same as MC→MA.... That is, in the previous embodiment, it was simply determined which of the two types of address marks MA and MC was selected by the previous detection unit 2.
It was sufficient to memorize whether it was detected at 0A or 20B, so this was done by manipulating a flag, but as the number of types of address marks increases, the processing becomes more complex. Therefore, in this example, the pattern of adding address marks in the interval of detailed absolute addressing described above is MA→MB→MC.
→MA . First, in step 330A, it is determined whether the content of the newly provided counter C is 2 or less. If it is 2 or less, the content is incremented (step 330B), and if it is 3 or more, the content of the counter C is 1” (step 330).
C) Do. Therefore, when step 330D is executed, the contents of counter C change from 1 to 2 to 3 each time address mark detection is executed in step 320.
→1. Therefore, in step 330D, the contents of counter C and step 320
Types of address marks detected in MA, MB,
Skip-reading of address marks is detected by determining whether there is a one-to-one correspondence with the MC. If the contents of this counter match the type of the detected address mark, the counter 44 is incremented (step 350), and an operation corresponding to the contents of the counter 44 is executed (step 360). If an address mark different from this pattern is detected, it is determined that the address mark has been erroneously detected for some reason, and the moving body 10 is stopped at step 400.

In this way, according to this embodiment, three address marks MA,
Unless a situation occurs in which all MB and MC are skipped in succession, the mobile object 10 can reliably recognize the erroneous detection of an address mark by itself.
Moreover, since all the sections where absolute addressing is executed have the same pattern, ROM4
There is only one pattern that must be memorized in 2.
Since the information is short: MA→MB→MC→MA, the storage area may be extremely small.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above in detail with reference to the embodiments, the control device for a moving object according to the present invention can detect one detected address mark in a partial unit in which a plurality of types of address marks are arranged in a predetermined type order. A predetermined task can be executed by determining whether the type of address mark is appropriate for each address mark.
Further, by repeatedly performing this process over the entire movement route, accurate work is performed over the entire movement route.

As a result, it is possible to perform operations on a mobile object with the same overall accuracy as when using the absolute addressing method, and this can be achieved using fewer types of address marks.

As a result, an extremely excellent effect is obtained in that accurate control can be performed without using an apparatus configuration having high classification performance.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a moving route and a moving object in which the address mark attaching method of the first embodiment is implemented, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the control system of the moving object of the first and second embodiments, and FIG. The figure is a flowchart of the control program of the first embodiment, FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a moving route and a moving object implementing the address mark attaching method of the second embodiment, and FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the control program of the second embodiment. Showing a flowchart. 10... moving object, 20... detection device, 30, 30'
...Movement route, 40...Control circuit, MA, MB, MC
...Address mark.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A control device for a moving object that moves on a movement path in which a plurality of types of address marks are repeatedly arranged in a predetermined order of types, and adjacent address marks are arranged in different types. an address mark detection means for detecting the type of the address mark as the address mark is moved along the movement route; and a pre-stored task based on the type of address mark detected by the address mark detection means. What is claimed is: 1. A control device for a movable body, comprising: operation control means for causing the movable body to perform operations sequentially.