CN111766874A

CN111766874A - Control method of operation equipment and related device

Info

Publication number: CN111766874A
Application number: CN202010537737.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 刘登卫; 吴斌; 钟欣辰
Original assignee: Guangzhou Xaircraft Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Guangzhou Xaircraft Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-06-12
Filing date: 2020-06-12
Publication date: 2020-10-13
Anticipated expiration: 2040-06-12
Also published as: CN111766874B

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a control method and a related device of operation equipment, and relates to the field of equipment guidance. The method comprises the following steps: acquiring the current position of the operating equipment; determining a reference path between the current position and the work path when the distance between the current position and the work path of the work device is greater than the guidance distance; determining a reference point on the reference path; and controlling the working equipment to move to the reference point according to the position of the reference point and the current position. The method and the device can smoothly guide the operation equipment to approach to the operation path, improve the efficiency of returning the operation equipment to the operation path and reduce the cost.

Description

Control method of operation equipment and related device

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of device guidance, and in particular, to a method and a related apparatus for controlling a working device.

Background

With the development of science and technology, people use automatic operation equipment to replace manual operation more and more, improve production efficiency. Currently, the working equipment can work along a set working path, but before the working equipment works along the working path or after the working equipment is accidentally deviated from the working path due to faults, the current position of the working equipment is often not on the working path, and in this case, the working equipment needs to be efficiently returned to the working path.

In the existing method, when the operation equipment is controlled to return to the operation path, an angle sensor is usually installed on the operation equipment, and the steering of the operation equipment is controlled in real time by detecting the turning angle of a steering wheel of the operation equipment through the angle sensor, so that the operation equipment returns to the operation path. This approach is disadvantageous for cost reduction due to the high cost of the angle sensor.

In addition, at present, the work equipment can be returned to the work path by a simple steering control method. However, these methods may cause the operation device to have an unsmooth track, too many times of stopping direction changing, or too long a return track, which is inefficient when actually returning.

Disclosure of Invention

An object of the present application includes, for example, providing a method of controlling a work machine and a related apparatus, which can smoothly guide the work machine to approach a work path, improve the efficiency of returning the work machine to the work path, and reduce the cost.

The embodiment of the application can be realized as follows:

in a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for controlling a work apparatus, including: acquiring the current position of the operating equipment; determining a reference path between the current position and a work path of the work device when a distance between the current position and the work path is greater than a guidance distance; determining a reference point on the reference path; and controlling the operation equipment to move towards the reference point according to the position of the reference point and the current position.

In an alternative embodiment, the step of controlling the movement of the work apparatus to the reference point based on the position of the reference point and the current position comprises: acquiring the current direction of the operating equipment; determining a tracking orientation according to the position of the reference point and the current position; controlling the operation equipment to move according to the tracking orientation and the current direction so as to enable the operation equipment to move to the reference point; judging whether the distance between the current position of the working equipment and the working path is larger than a guidance distance or not; and when the distance between the current position and the working path of the working equipment is larger than the guidance distance, returning to execute the step of acquiring the current position of the working equipment.

In an alternative embodiment, when the distance between the current position and the work path is less than or equal to the guided distance, the method further comprises: and controlling the working equipment to move to the working path by adopting an L1 guidance method.

In an alternative embodiment, the step of controlling the movement of the work implement to the work path using the L1 guidance method includes: updating the current position of the operation equipment, and acquiring the current moving speed and the current direction of the operation equipment; determining a regression reference point on the work path; and controlling the operation equipment to move towards the regression reference point according to the position of the regression reference point, the current position, the current direction and the current moving speed so as to enable the operation equipment to move to the operation path and enable the direction of the operation equipment to be consistent with the direction of the operation path.

In an alternative embodiment, the step of determining a regression reference point on the work path comprises: acquiring at least one point to be selected, which is away from the current position by the guidance distance, on the operation path; and determining a candidate point close to the end point of the operation path from the at least one candidate point as the regression reference point.

In an alternative embodiment, the step of determining a reference point on the reference path comprises: acquiring at least one point to be selected, which is away from the current position and is the guidance distance, on the reference path; and determining a candidate point close to the end point of the reference path from the at least one candidate point as the reference point.

In an alternative embodiment, the reference path is parallel to the working path, and the distance between the reference path and the current position is less than or equal to the guidance distance.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a control method for a working device, which is applied to an agricultural unmanned aerial vehicle, and the method includes: judging whether the agricultural unmanned aerial vehicle is positioned on a working path or not; when the agricultural unmanned aerial vehicle leaves the operation path, an L1 guidance method is adopted to control the agricultural unmanned aerial vehicle to move to the operation path.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a control device for operation equipment, is applied to agricultural unmanned aerial vehicle, includes: the acquisition module is used for acquiring the current position of the operation equipment; a tracking module for determining a reference path between the current position and a work path of the work device when the distance between the current position and the work path is greater than a guided distance; preferably, the distance of the reference path from the current position is less than or equal to the guidance distance; the tracking module is further used for determining a reference point on the reference path; and the tracking module is also used for controlling the operation equipment to move towards the reference point according to the position of the reference point and the current position.

In an optional embodiment, the tracking module is configured to obtain a current direction of the work device; the tracking module is further used for determining a tracking orientation according to the position of the reference point and the current position; the tracking module is further used for controlling the operation equipment to move according to the tracking orientation and the current direction so as to enable the operation equipment to move to the reference point; the tracking module is further used for judging whether the distance between the current position of the working equipment and the working path is larger than a guidance distance; the tracking module is further used for informing the acquisition module to execute the step of acquiring the current position of the operation equipment when the distance between the current position and the operation path of the operation equipment is larger than a guidance distance.

In an alternative embodiment, the tracking module is further configured to control the work device to move to the work path using an L1 guidance method when the distance between the current position and the work path is less than or equal to the guidance distance.

In an optional embodiment, the tracking module is configured to update a current location of the work device, and obtain a current moving speed and a current direction of the work device; the tracking module is further used for determining a regression reference point on the working path; the tracking module is further configured to control the operation device to move to the regression reference point according to the position of the regression reference point, the current position, the current direction, and the current moving speed, so that the operation device moves to the operation path, and the direction of the operation device is consistent with the direction of the operation path.

In an optional embodiment, the tracking module is configured to acquire, on the working path, at least one candidate point whose distance from the current position is the guidance distance; the tracking module is further used for determining a candidate point close to the end point of the operation path from the at least one candidate point as the regression reference point.

In an alternative embodiment, the tracking module is configured to acquire at least one candidate point on the reference path, where the distance from the current position is the guidance distance; the tracking module is further configured to determine, from the at least one candidate point, a candidate point close to the end point of the reference path as the reference point.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a control device for a work apparatus, including: the judging module is used for judging whether the agricultural unmanned aerial vehicle is positioned on the operation path; and the guidance module is used for controlling the agricultural unmanned aerial vehicle to move to the working path by adopting an L1 guidance method when the agricultural unmanned aerial vehicle leaves the working path.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored, and the computer program, when executed by a processor, implements the method for controlling a work apparatus according to any one of the foregoing embodiments.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a work device control unit, including a processor and a memory, where the memory stores machine readable instructions, and the processor is configured to execute the machine readable instructions to implement the method for controlling a work device according to any one of the foregoing embodiments.

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a work apparatus, including: a body; the power equipment is arranged on the machine body and used for providing power for the working equipment; and a work apparatus control unit; the work device control unit comprises a processor and a memory, the memory storing machine readable instructions, the processor being configured to execute the machine readable instructions to implement the method of controlling a work device according to any of the preceding embodiments.

The beneficial effects of the embodiment of the application include, for example: the work apparatus is moved to the reference point in a determined turn by determining a reference path between the current position of the work apparatus and the work path, the reference path having a distance from the current position less than or equal to the guided distance, and determining a reference point on the reference path, and controlling the work apparatus to move to the reference point. The reference points gradually approaching the operation path can be determined between the operation equipment and the operation path by repeating the process, so that the operation equipment can continuously approach the operation path while moving according to the reference points without stopping changing the direction, the track of the operation equipment returning to the operation path is smoother, and the returning efficiency of the operation equipment is improved. Moreover, the method does not need an angle sensor, so that the implementation cost is reduced.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the drawings that are required to be used in the embodiments will be briefly described below, it should be understood that the following drawings only illustrate some embodiments of the present application and therefore should not be considered as limiting the scope, and for those skilled in the art, other related drawings can be obtained from the drawings without inventive effort.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a scenario of a regression trajectory of a conventional work apparatus;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of another scenario of a regression trajectory of a conventional work machine;

fig. 3 is a block diagram of a configuration of a work apparatus control unit according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a block diagram of a configuration of a work apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a flowchart of a method for controlling a working device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 6 is a schematic application scenario diagram of a control method for an operating device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is another flowchart of a method for controlling a work apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is another flowchart of a method for controlling a work apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic view of another application scenario of a control method of a work device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is another flowchart of a method for controlling a work apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is a schematic view of another application scenario of a control method of a work device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 12 is a flowchart of S140B of the method for controlling the work equipment in fig. 10 according to the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 13 is a schematic view of another application scenario of a control method for a work device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 14 is a control schematic diagram of a control method of a work apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 15 is a functional block diagram of a control device of a working apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 16 is a flowchart of another method for controlling a work apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 17 is a functional block diagram of another control device for a work apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present application clearer, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are some embodiments of the present application, but not all embodiments. The components of the embodiments of the present application, generally described and illustrated in the figures herein, can be arranged and designed in a wide variety of different configurations.

Thus, the following detailed description of the embodiments of the present application, presented in the accompanying drawings, is not intended to limit the scope of the claimed application, but is merely representative of selected embodiments of the application. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present application.

It should be noted that: like reference numbers and letters refer to like items in the following figures, and thus, once an item is defined in one figure, it need not be further defined and explained in subsequent figures.

It should be noted that the features of the embodiments of the present application may be combined with each other without conflict.

In the implementation process of the embodiment of the present application, the inventors of the present application find that:

the method for realizing the return of the operation equipment to an operation path mainly comprises the following steps: a kinematics-based control method and a dynamics-based control method.

Among them, a pure path tracking method (PurePursuit) and a front wheel feedback method (Stanley) are typical as a control method based on kinematics. Taking an operation device as an automobile as an example, a pure path tracking method takes the central position of the current front and rear wheels of the automobile as a reference, obtains a forward pre-aiming point on an operation path through a set pre-aiming distance Ld, then calculates a target rotation angle of a steering wheel by means of the pre-aiming point and a kinematic model, and finally guides the automobile to move to the operation path by controlling the steering wheel to rotate. The front wheel feedback method is to calculate the steering wheel angle by using the deviation amount of the center of the front wheel relative to the working path, and finally to guide the vehicle body to move towards the working path by controlling the rotation of the steering wheel.

The dynamics-based control method is a lateral control method, which is generally applied to tracking of a working path in a high-speed driving situation. The main idea is to perform stress analysis on the tires of the vehicle according to the inclination angles of the tires to establish a dynamic model of the vehicle (obtaining a state equation of the whole system, namely describing the relationship between the steering wheel angle and the lateral displacement, the lateral speed, the vehicle angle and the angular speed of the vehicle). And further obtaining a path tracking deviation state equation (describing the relationship between the steering wheel angle and the transverse distance deviation, the distance deviation change rate, the vehicle angle and the steering angle deviation change rate). In practical control, it is generally desirable that the lateral deviation converge quickly and stably while the input to the steered wheels is small. Therefore, multi-objective optimization is introduced on the basis, such as LQR optimal control, a target steering wheel angle is finally obtained, and the vehicle body is guided to move towards the working path by controlling the steering wheel angle.

Therefore, in both the two methods, the steering of the operation equipment can be controlled in real time by detecting the turning angle of the steering wheel of the operation equipment through the angle sensor, so that the operation equipment can return to the operation path. The method is not favorable for reducing the cost due to the high cost of the angle sensor, and the angle sensor is easy to break down and is not favorable for the correct regression of the operation equipment. In addition, a vehicle control system is a system with a large time lag, a Model Prediction (MPC) method is generally adopted for automatic driving vehicle control, and the MPC has a large calculation amount, relatively more data needs to be stored, and the requirement on the resources of controller hardware is high.

With regard to a simple path planning method, in the existing method, when the work equipment is controlled to return to the work path, since it is not considered that some direction changes of the work equipment and the position movement of the work equipment occur simultaneously (for example, a vehicle using an ackerman type steering mechanism, steering can be achieved only by controlling the steering wheel to rotate while driving, and the driving track is always smooth), the planned transition path often has a plurality of direction abrupt points (i.e., the shape of the transition path is not smooth), and as shown in fig. 1, the work equipment needs to stop turning at D1 and D2 to return to the work path, which may cause the return track of the work equipment to be not smooth, and the number of times of stopping turning is excessive.

In addition, when the conventional technology controls the operation equipment to return to the operation path, the operation equipment cannot return to the operation path accurately once when returning to the operation path (the direction of the operation equipment when returning to the operation path for the first time is not consistent with the direction of the operation path), but the direction needs to be adjusted continuously, and the return track is too long. (as shown in fig. 2) the first time the work device has returned to this reference point, the orientation is not consistent with the direction of the work path. The work device has to make multiple passes over the reference point and then return to the point to ensure that the orientation is consistent with the direction of the work path, which can result in an excessively long return trajectory.

Therefore, the above method may cause the operation equipment to have unsmooth track, too many times of stopping direction change, or too long return track, and low efficiency when actually returning.

Further, in order to improve various defects in the above-described conventional technology, embodiments of the present application provide a method and a related apparatus for controlling a work implement, which can smoothly guide the work implement to approach a work path, improve the efficiency of returning the work implement to the work path, and reduce the cost.

It should be noted that all the defects of the above prior art solutions are the results of the careful practical study by the inventors, and therefore, the discovery process of the above problems and the solutions proposed by the following embodiments of the present application to the above problems should be the contribution of the inventors to the realization of the present application.

First, an embodiment of the present application provides a work apparatus control unit capable of bringing a work apparatus smoothly close to a work path. Please refer to fig. 3, which is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an operating device control unit according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The work equipment control unit 100 may include: the memory 110 and the processor 120 may be electrically connected directly or indirectly to the communication interface 130 to realize data transmission and interaction. For example, the components may be electrically connected to each other via buses and/or signal lines.

Processor 120 may process information and/or data related to the control of a work device to perform one or more of the functions described herein. For example, the processor 120 may acquire the current position and the current direction of the work equipment, and perform control of the work equipment according to the information or the data, so as to smoothly guide the work equipment to approach the work path, improve the efficiency of returning the work equipment to the work path, and reduce the cost.

The memory 110 may be, but is not limited to: solid State Disk (SSD), Hard Disk Drive (Hard Disk Drive, HDD), Read Only Memory (ROM), Programmable Read Only Memory (PROM), Erasable Read Only Memory (EPROM), Random Access Memory (RAM), electrically Erasable Read Only Memory (EEPROM), and the like.

The processor 120 described above may be, but is not limited to: a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Network Processor (NP), and the like; but also may be, but is not limited to: an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other Programmable logic device, discrete Gate or transistor logic device, discrete hardware component. Thus, the processor 120 may be an integrated circuit chip with signal processing capabilities.

It is to be understood that the structure of the work equipment control unit 100 shown in fig. 3 is merely a schematic structure, and the work equipment control unit 100 may further include more or fewer components or modules than the structure shown in fig. 3, or have a different configuration or configuration from the structure shown in fig. 3. Also, the components shown in FIG. 3 may be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination of both. In addition, it should be further understood that the work equipment control unit 100 provided in the present application may have different configurations or configurations according to different requirements in practical applications, for example, the work equipment control unit 100 provided in the present application may be a control core device of a work equipment (for example, an internal controller of an agricultural tractor, a drone, an unmanned vehicle, an unmanned ship, etc.), and may also be an electronic device (for example, a server, a cloud platform, a computer, a mobile phone, a tablet, etc.) having communication, calculation, and storage functions.

Therefore, when the work equipment control unit 100 provided in the embodiment of the present application is a control core device of the work equipment, the present application also provides a work equipment, which can fully automatically work on a work land, and improves the work efficiency of the work equipment. In order to better illustrate the application, the working equipment provided by the embodiment of the application is illustrated below by taking the type of the working equipment as an agricultural tractor as an example, because the type of the working equipment applied by the method provided by the application is not limited to vehicles using an ackerman type steering mechanism, but can also be applied to working equipment such as unmanned planes, agricultural machines, unmanned vehicles, various types of vehicles, unmanned ships and the like.

Referring to fig. 4, which is a block diagram of a working device 200 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the working device 200 may include a machine body 210, a power device 220, and the working device control unit 100.

Among them, the power device 220 may be installed at the above-mentioned machine body 210 for supplying power to the working device 200. Since the working device may be constructed as an agricultural tractor, the power device 220 may be a driving module (including an engine, a chassis, etc.) of the tractor, and the body 210 may be a body of the tractor. The memory 110 of the work device control unit 100 stores machine-readable instructions related to a method for controlling a work device, and the processor 120 may execute the machine-readable instructions to further obtain a current position and a current direction of the work device, and smoothly guide the work device 200 to approach a work path according to the data, thereby improving efficiency of returning the work device to the work path and reducing cost.

It should be noted that the structure shown in fig. 4 is merely an illustration, and the work machine 200 may include more or less components than those shown in fig. 4, or may have a different configuration than that shown in fig. 4.

Further, when the work device control unit 100 provided by the present application is an electronic device having communication, calculation, and storage functions, the electronic device may acquire the current position and the current direction of the work device, smoothly guide the work device 200 to approach the work path according to the data, improve the efficiency of returning the work device to the work path, reduce the cost, and implement the control method of the work device provided by the present application.

For convenience of understanding, the following embodiments of the present application will describe a method for controlling a work apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application, taking the work apparatus 200 shown in fig. 4 as an example, with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring to fig. 5, fig. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a method for controlling a working device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method of controlling a work apparatus may be applied to the work apparatus 200 described above, and the method of controlling a work apparatus may include the steps of:

and S100, acquiring the current position of the operating equipment.

In some possible embodiments, the work device 200 may obtain the current location and current orientation of the work device 200 through positioning technologies such as GPS, wifi, bluetooth, base station, and the like. Alternatively, the work apparatus 200 may acquire the current position and the current direction from a memory of another electronic apparatus (for example, an electronic apparatus such as a server, a relay server, a background server, or a cloud server). The method and the device for acquiring the current position and the current direction are not limited.

It should be further noted that the control method of the working device provided in the embodiment of the present application may be implemented in a two-dimensional plane or a three-dimensional space, and furthermore, the control process of the working device illustrated in the schematic diagram provided in the present application is only an illustration, and a person skilled in the art can easily apply the control method to a three-dimensional space without creative labor.

S110, when the distance between the current position and the work path of the work equipment is larger than the guidance distance, determining a reference path between the current position and the work path;

preferably, the distance of the reference path from the current position is less than or equal to the guidance distance. In some possible embodiments of the present invention, the distance between the reference path and the current position refers to a distance between the current position and the reference path, that is, the distance between the reference path and the current position can be determined by making a perpendicular line to the reference path through the current position.

In some possible embodiments, the distance between the current position of the work device and the work path may be the shortest distance between the work device and the work path (the shortest distance from the reference point to the line may be). The above-mentioned guidance distance may be a preset distance, or may be an optimal regression distance (that is, the L1 guidance distance in the L1 guidance method).

The L1 guidance distance is a distance calculated according to the real-time moving speed of the working device, and the specific calculation method may refer to the L1 guidance method, which is not described herein again. Here, a point can be found within the L1 guidance distance, and the work apparatus can approach the point in such a manner that the steering wheel is controlled to rotate while traveling, and can smoothly move to the point or the vicinity thereof without stopping the turning.

Referring to fig. 6, assume that the current position of the work device is P, the current direction is vector PQ, the guidance distance is L1, and the work path is AB. Also, in fig. 6, the distance e between the current position P of the work equipment and the work path PQ is greater than the guidance distance L1. At this time, a reference path (e.g., AB1 in fig. 6) may be determined between the current position P and the working path AB, and the distance between the reference path AB1 and the current position is less than or equal to the guidance distance L1.

Wherein the shape of the generated reference path may be a straight line, a curved line, or the like. Alternatively, the reference path may have a shape that coincides with the shape of the work path and does not intersect the work path. It will be appreciated that reference paths of different shapes will influence whether the position of the selected reference point is reasonable, and in order to make the position of the generated reference point more optimal, the shape of the generated reference path may also coincide with and be parallel to the shape of the work path.

The work apparatus 200 may acquire the work path generated by itself, or may acquire the work path from a memory of another electronic apparatus, which is not limited in the present application.

And S120, determining a reference point on the reference path.

In some possible embodiments, the reference point may be selected randomly or according to a preset rule. The selection according to the preset rule may be performed by using a point closest to the current position of the operation device on the reference path as a reference point, or using a point on the reference path whose distance from the current position of the operation device is exactly L1 guidance distance as a reference point, which is not limited in the present application.

And S130, controlling the operation equipment to move to the reference point according to the position of the reference point and the current position.

Taking the scenario shown in fig. 6 as an example, assuming that the reference point determined on the reference path is Y, the working device may be controlled to approach the reference point Y in a manner of controlling the steering wheel to rotate while traveling according to the position of the reference point Y, the current position and the current direction of the working device.

It will be further appreciated that when the distance between the current position of the work implement and the work path of the work implement is greater than the guided distance, steps S100 to S130 may be repeated to determine reference points between the work implement and the work path, the reference points being gradually closer to the work path, in order to allow the work implement to continuously approach the work path and finally return to the work path correctly. And then the operation equipment can continuously move and approach to the operation path while turning according to the reference points without stopping turning, so that the track of the operation equipment returning to the operation path is smoother, and the returning efficiency of the operation equipment is improved. In addition, because the method does not need an angle sensor, the realization cost is further reduced.

Further, in order to enable the operation device to successfully return to the operation path, on the basis of fig. 5, the present application provides a feasible implementation manner, please refer to fig. 7, and the method provided in the embodiment of the present application may further include:

and S140, when the distance between the current position and the working path is smaller than or equal to the guidance distance, controlling the working equipment to move to the working path by adopting an L1 guidance method.

When the distance between the current position and the working path is less than or equal to the guidance distance, a point on the working path may be determined as a reference point to which the working device is controlled using the L1 guidance method. And finally, returning the working equipment to the working path, wherein the direction of the working equipment is consistent with that of the working path.

It will be appreciated that the L1 guidance method avoids the disadvantage of requiring the detection of the steering angle of the steered wheels during control, eliminates the need for a steering angle sensor, and also avoids the disadvantage of requiring a large number of calculations during model predictive control. Therefore, when the distance between the current position of the work apparatus and the work path is less than or equal to the guidance distance, the L1 guidance method is used to control the work apparatus to move to the work path, and the return efficiency of the work apparatus can be further improved.

In some possible embodiments, in order to make the work device return to the work path more efficiently, for how to determine the reference point on the reference path, referring to fig. 8 on the basis of fig. 7, S120 may include the following sub-steps:

and S120A, acquiring at least one point to be selected with the distance from the current position as the guidance distance on the reference path.

When the distance between the reference path and the current position is less than or equal to the guidance distance, at least one point to be selected, the distance between which and the current position is the guidance distance, may be acquired on the reference path. As shown in fig. 9, assuming that the reference path is ab1, the candidate points on the reference path include y1 and y 2.

It should be understood that the number of the candidate points is determined by the shape of the reference path, for example, when the reference path is a straight line segment, the number of the candidate points is two candidate points; when the reference path is a curve segment, the number of the points to be selected needs to be determined according to the actual situation.

And S120B, determining a candidate point close to the end point of the reference path as a reference point from the at least one candidate point.

In some possible embodiments, the work path typically includes a start point and an end point, and in order to make the position of the generated reference point more optimal, the shape of the reference path preferably coincides with the shape of the work path. The start and end points of the reference path also coincide with the job path.

As shown in fig. 9, assuming that the starting point is a and the end point is B for the job path AB (i.e., the direction of the job path AB is from a to B), and y2 is the candidate point close to the end point of the reference path for the candidate points y1, y2, so the candidate point y2 can be used as the return reference point.

It should be understood that the distance between the reference point actually determined by the above-mentioned S120A and S120B and the current position of the work machine is a guidance distance and is closer to the end point of the reference path (equivalent to being closer to the end point of the work path). The distance between the reference point and the current position of the working equipment is the guidance distance, so that the working equipment can be ensured to move to the point smoothly, the direction of the working equipment when returning can be more consistent with the direction of the working path when the reference point is close to the end point of the reference path, and incorrect orientation during final returning is avoided. Further, the above-described S120A and S120B can return the work machine to the work path more efficiently.

In addition, in order to further improve the efficiency of returning the operation path of the operation equipment, the size of an included angle formed by each point to be selected, the current position of the operation equipment and the current direction can be respectively determined; and then taking the point to be selected with the minimum included angle as a reference point ". As the point to be selected with the minimum included angle is taken as the reference point, the angle of the operation equipment which needs to rotate when moving to the reference point is minimum, the track is most smooth, and the efficiency of returning the operation equipment to the operation path is highest.

In some possible embodiments, in order to make the work device return to the work path more efficiently, for how to control the work device to move to the reference point according to the position of the reference point and the current position, on the basis of fig. 7, please refer to fig. 10, S130 may include the following sub-steps:

S130A, the current direction of the work apparatus is acquired.

S130B, determining a tracking orientation based on the position of the reference point and the current position.

And S130C, controlling the movement of the working equipment according to the tracking orientation and the current direction so as to move the working equipment to the reference point.

Referring to fig. 9, the position of the reference point is y2, and the current position is P, then the tracking orientation may be determined to be Py 2. After the tracking orientation is determined, the working device is controlled to approach the reference point y2 in a manner of controlling the turning of the steering wheel while driving according to the tracking orientation and the current direction.

Additionally, for how to "control the movement of the work equipment according to the tracked orientation and the current direction so as to move the work equipment to the reference point", it is possible to: determining an initial steering angle according to the tracking orientation, the current direction and the current position of the operation equipment, and then adjusting the value of the initial steering angle according to the current moving speed of the operation equipment so that the operation equipment moves to a reference point and the current orientation approaches to the orientation of the operation path.

It should be appreciated that the smaller the speed, the greater the change in direction of the work implement under the same travel distance and the same steering angle conditions, since the work implement moves toward the reference point while turning while moving. Therefore, through the process, the current direction of the operation equipment can better accord with the orientation of the operation path in the process of moving to the reference point, and the regression efficiency of the operation equipment is further improved.

S130D, judging whether the distance between the current position of the working equipment and the working path is larger than the guidance distance; when the distance between the current position and the work path of the work device is greater than the guidance distance, execution returns to S100.

In some possible embodiments, after a preset period of time has elapsed, a determination may be triggered whether the distance between the current position of the work device and the work path is greater than the guidance distance. For example, assuming that the preset period is 2S, as shown in fig. 11, the work equipment moves to R after 2S, and at this time, the distance between the work equipment and the work path is still greater than the guidance distance, so S100-S130 need to be executed in sequence.

It should be understood that by performing the determination of S130D, it is possible to continuously repeat the above steps S100 to S130 when the distance between the current position and the working path of the working device is greater than the guidance distance, so that reference points that gradually approach the working path are determined between the working device and the working path, and the working device can continuously move and turn to approach the working path according to the reference points without stopping changing the direction. The track of the return operation path of the operation equipment is smoother, and the return efficiency of the operation equipment is improved.

It can be understood that, in order to better apply the method provided by the present application, the preset period duration may be adaptively changed according to the actual application scenario.

Further, in some possible embodiments, with continued reference to fig. 10, in order to return the working device to the working path correctly and efficiently when the distance between the current position and the working path is less than or equal to the guidance distance, S140 may include the following sub-steps:

S140A, the current position of the work apparatus is updated, and the current moving speed and current direction of the work apparatus are acquired.

Since the work apparatus is constantly moving and changing directions, the current position, current direction, and current moving speed of the work apparatus in the present application are acquired in real time.

S140B, a regression reference point is determined on the job path.

The regression reference point may be selected randomly or according to a predetermined rule. The selection according to the preset rule may be performed by using a point closest to the current position of the operation device on the operation path as a regression reference point, or using a point on the operation path whose distance from the current position of the operation device is exactly L1 guidance distance as a regression reference point, which is not limited in this application.

In order to make the work equipment further return to the work path more efficiently, for determining the regression reference point on the work path, referring to fig. 12 on the basis of fig. 10, S140B may include the following sub-steps:

S140B-1, acquiring at least one point to be selected with the distance from the current position as the guidance distance on the working path.

Since the distance between the work path and the current position is less than or equal to the guidance distance, at least one point to be selected, the distance between which and the current position is the guidance distance, can be acquired on the work path. As shown in fig. 13, assuming that the job path is AB, the candidate points on the job path include x1 and x 2.

It should be understood that the number of the candidate points is determined by the shape of the operation path, for example, when the operation path is a straight line segment, the number of the candidate points is two candidate points; when the operation path is a curve segment, the number of the points to be selected needs to be determined according to the actual situation.

And S140B-2, determining a candidate point close to the end point of the work path as a regression reference point from at least one candidate point.

As shown in fig. 13, assuming that the starting point is a and the end point is B for the job path AB (that is, the direction of the job path AB is from a to B), and x1 is the candidate point close to the end point of the job path for the candidate points x1 and x2 on the job path, so the candidate point x1 can be used as the regression reference point.

It should be appreciated that the regression reference points actually determined due to the above-described S140B-1, S140B-2 are spaced from the current position of the work equipment by the guidance distance and closer to the end point of the work path. The distance between the regression reference point and the current position of the working equipment is the guidance distance, so that the working equipment can be ensured to move to the point smoothly, the return direction of the working equipment can be more consistent with the return direction of the working path when the regression reference point is close to the end point of the working path, and the incorrect return direction can be avoided. Further, the above-described S140B-1 and S140B-2 enable the work equipment to return to the work path further more efficiently.

In addition, in order to further improve the efficiency of returning the operation path of the operation equipment, the size of an included angle formed by each point to be selected, the current position of the operation equipment and the current direction can be respectively determined; and then taking the point to be selected with the minimum included angle as a regression reference point ". Because the point to be selected with the smallest included angle is used as the regression reference point, the angle of the operation equipment which needs to rotate when moving to the regression reference point is the smallest, the track is the most smooth, and the efficiency of returning the operation equipment to the operation path is the highest.

Referring to fig. 10 again, S140C controls the operation device to move to the regression reference point according to the position of the regression reference point, the current position, the current direction and the current moving speed, so that the operation device moves to the operation path and the direction of the operation device coincides with the direction of the operation path.

In some possible embodiments, first, a guidance heading may be determined from the position of the regression reference point and the current position of the work equipment; and then controlling the work equipment to move towards the regression reference point according to the guide orientation and the current direction, the current position and the current moving speed of the work equipment.

Further, in order to make the process of returning the working device to the working path smoother and to ensure that the direction of the working device coincides with the direction of the working path when the working device moves to the working path, in the process of "controlling the working device to move to the return reference point according to the guiding direction, the current direction and the current position of the working device", the processes of S100 to S130 may be repeatedly performed as described above.

That is, after a preset time period, whether the operation device correctly returns to the operation path may be determined; if the operation device does not return to the operation path correctly, the process returns to S140. The operation equipment can continuously move and turn to approach the operation path according to the regression reference points without stopping turning, and finally return to the operation path, so that the track of the operation equipment returning to the operation path is smoother, and the returning efficiency of the operation equipment is improved.

The following control schematic diagram 14 may also be referred to in the above steps S140A to S140C.

It should be added that, for how "to control the movement of the work equipment to the regression reference point according to the guiding orientation and the current direction, the current position, and the current moving speed of the work equipment", it is possible to: determining an initial steering angle according to the guide orientation, the current direction and the current position of the operation equipment, and then adjusting the value of the initial steering angle according to the current moving speed of the operation equipment, so that the operation equipment moves to the regression reference point and the current orientation approaches to the orientation of the operation path.

It should be understood that the magnitude of the direction change within a distance is different when the work equipment moves at the same turning angle for different speeds while moving to the regression reference point in a turning manner while moving. The smaller the speed, the greater the change in work machine direction for the same travel distance and the same steering angle. Therefore, the orientation of the operation equipment can be more consistent with the orientation of the operation path in the process of moving to the regression reference point through the process, and the regression efficiency of the operation equipment is improved.

In order to execute the corresponding steps in the above embodiments and various possible manners, an implementation manner of a control device of an operating device is given below, please refer to fig. 15, and fig. 15 shows a functional block diagram of the control device of an operating device provided in an embodiment of the present application. It should be noted that the basic principle and the technical effects of the control device 300 for a working device provided in the present embodiment are the same as those of the above embodiments, and for the sake of brief description, no part of the present embodiment is mentioned, and corresponding contents in the above embodiments may be referred to. The control device 300 for a work machine may include: an acquisition module 310 and a tracking module 320.

Alternatively, the modules may be stored in a memory in the form of software or Firmware (Firmware) or may be fixed in an Operating System (OS) of the working device provided in the present application, and may be executed by a processor in the working device. Meanwhile, data, codes of programs, and the like required to execute the above modules may be stored in the memory.

The acquisition module 310 may be used to acquire the current location of the work equipment.

It will be appreciated that the acquisition module 310 may be used to support a work device performing the above-described S100, etc., and/or other processes for the techniques described herein.

The tracking module 320 may be used to determine a reference path between the current position and the work path of the work device when the distance between the current position and the work path is greater than the guided distance.

It will be appreciated that tracking module 320 may be used to support a work device performing the above-described S110, etc., and/or other processes for the techniques described herein.

The tracking module 320 may also be used to determine a reference point on the reference path.

It will be appreciated that tracking module 320 may be used to support a work device performing the above-described S120, and/or the like, and/or other processes for the techniques described herein, e.g., S120A, S120B.

The tracking module 320 may also be used to control the movement of the work device to a reference point based on the location of the reference point and the current location.

It will be appreciated that tracking module 320 may be used to support a work device performing S130, etc., described above, and/or other processes for the techniques described herein, e.g., S130A-S130D.

The tracking module 320 may also be used to control movement of the work device to the work path using the L1 guidance method when the distance between the current position and the work path is less than or equal to the guidance distance.

It will be appreciated that the tracking module 320 may be used to support a work machine performing the above-described S140, and/or the like, and/or other processes for the techniques described herein, e.g., S140A-S140C, S140B-1, S140B-2.

Further, when the working device 200 is an agricultural unmanned aerial vehicle, an embodiment of the present application further provides a method for controlling the working device, please refer to fig. 16, where the method may include the following steps:

s200, judging whether the agricultural unmanned aerial vehicle is located on the operation path.

For example, the agricultural unmanned aerial vehicle determines that the agricultural unmanned aerial vehicle is located on the operation path when the current position is located on the operation path according to the relation between the current position and the operation path in real time; and when the current position is not located on the working path, determining that the agricultural unmanned aerial vehicle leaves the working path.

And S210, when the agricultural unmanned aerial vehicle leaves the operation path, controlling the agricultural unmanned aerial vehicle to move to the operation path by adopting an L1 guidance method.

It is understood that S210 may refer to S140 and the sub-steps that may be included therein, and will not be described herein.

In order to execute the corresponding steps in the above embodiments and various possible manners, an implementation manner of another control device for an operating device is given below, please refer to fig. 17, and fig. 17 shows a functional block diagram of another control device for an operating device according to an embodiment of the present application. It should be noted that the basic principle and the technical effects of the control device 400 for another kind of operation equipment provided in the present embodiment are the same as those of the above embodiment, and for the sake of brief description, no part of the present embodiment is mentioned, and reference may be made to the corresponding contents in the above embodiment. The control apparatus 400 of another work device may include: a judging module 410 and a guidance module 420.

The determination module 410 may be configured to determine whether the agricultural drone is located on the work path.

It will be appreciated that the determination module 410 may be used to support a work device performing the above-described S200, and/or the like, and/or other processes for the techniques described herein.

The guidance module 420 may be used to control the movement of the agricultural drone to the work path using the L1 guidance method when the agricultural drone leaves the work path.

It will be appreciated that the guidance module 420 may be used to support a work machine performing the above-described S210, etc., and/or other processes for the techniques described herein.

Based on the above method embodiment, the present application further provides a computer readable storage medium, where a computer program is stored, and when the computer program is executed by a processor, the computer program executes the steps of the method for controlling the work equipment.

Specifically, the storage medium may be a general-purpose storage medium, such as a removable disk, a hard disk, and the like, and when the computer program on the storage medium is executed, the control method of the operating device may be executed, so as to solve the problems in the prior art that when the operating device actually returns, a trajectory is not smooth, the number of times of stopping direction changing is too large, or a returning trajectory is too long, and efficiency is not high, and achieve the purposes of smoothly guiding the operating device to approach the operating path, improving efficiency of returning the operating device to the operating path, and reducing cost.

In summary, embodiments of the present application provide a method for controlling a work device and a related apparatus, which can smoothly guide the work device to approach a work path, improve efficiency of returning the work device to the work path, and reduce cost. The method comprises the following steps: acquiring the current position of the operating equipment; determining a reference path between the current position and the work path when the distance between the current position and the work path of the work device is greater than the guidance distance; determining a reference point on the reference path; and controlling the working equipment to move to the reference point according to the position of the reference point and the current position.

The work apparatus is moved to the reference point in a determined turn by determining a reference path between the current position of the work apparatus and the work path, the reference path having a distance from the current position less than or equal to the guided distance, and determining a reference point on the reference path, and controlling the work apparatus to move to the reference point. The reference points gradually approaching the operation path can be determined between the operation equipment and the operation path by repeating the process, so that the operation equipment can continuously approach the operation path while moving according to the reference points without stopping changing the direction, the track of the operation equipment returning to the operation path is smoother, and the returning efficiency of the operation equipment is improved. Moreover, the method does not need an angle sensor, so that the implementation cost is reduced. And when the distance between the current position of the working equipment and the working path is smaller than or equal to the guidance distance, the L1 guidance method is adopted to control the working equipment to move to the working path, so that the return efficiency of the working equipment can be further improved.

The above description is only for the specific embodiments of the present application, but the scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any changes or substitutions that can be easily conceived by those skilled in the art within the technical scope of the present application should be covered within the scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for controlling a work apparatus, comprising:

acquiring the current position of the operating equipment;

determining a reference path between the current position and a work path of the work device when a distance between the current position and the work path is greater than a guidance distance;

determining a reference point on the reference path;

and controlling the operation equipment to move towards the reference point according to the position of the reference point and the current position.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of controlling the movement of the work equipment to the reference point based on the position of the reference point and the current position comprises:

acquiring the current direction of the operating equipment;

determining a tracking orientation according to the position of the reference point and the current position;

controlling the operation equipment to move according to the tracking orientation and the current direction so as to enable the operation equipment to move to the reference point;

judging whether the distance between the current position of the working equipment and the working path is larger than a guidance distance or not;

and when the distance between the current position and the working path of the working equipment is larger than the guidance distance, returning to execute the step of acquiring the current position of the working equipment.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein when the distance between the current position and the work path is less than or equal to the guidance distance, the method further comprises:

and controlling the working equipment to move to the working path by adopting an L1 guidance method.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the step of controlling the movement of the work equipment to the work path using an L1 guidance method comprises:

updating the current position of the operation equipment, and acquiring the current moving speed and the current direction of the operation equipment;

determining a regression reference point on the work path;

and controlling the operation equipment to move towards the regression reference point according to the position of the regression reference point, the current position, the current direction and the current moving speed so as to enable the operation equipment to move to the operation path and enable the direction of the operation equipment to be consistent with the direction of the operation path.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of determining a regression reference point on the work path comprises:

acquiring at least one point to be selected, which is away from the current position by the guidance distance, on the operation path;

and determining a candidate point close to the end point of the operation path from the at least one candidate point as the regression reference point.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the step of determining a reference point on the reference path comprises:

acquiring at least one point to be selected, which is away from the current position and is the guidance distance, on the reference path;

and determining a candidate point close to the end point of the reference path from the at least one candidate point as the reference point.

7. The method of any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the reference path is parallel to the work path, the reference path being at a distance from the current position that is less than or equal to the guided distance.

8. A control method of a working device is applied to an agricultural unmanned aerial vehicle, and comprises the following steps:

judging whether the agricultural unmanned aerial vehicle is positioned on a working path or not;

when the agricultural unmanned aerial vehicle leaves the operation path, an L1 guidance method is adopted to control the agricultural unmanned aerial vehicle to move to the operation path.

9. A control device for a working machine, comprising:

the acquisition module is used for acquiring the current position of the operation equipment;

a tracking module for determining a reference path between the current position and a work path of the work device when the distance between the current position and the work path is greater than a guided distance; the tracking module is further used for determining a reference point on the reference path;

and the tracking module is also used for controlling the operation equipment to move towards the reference point according to the position of the reference point and the current position.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the tracking module is configured to obtain a current orientation of a work device;

the tracking module is further used for determining a tracking orientation according to the position of the reference point and the current position;

the tracking module is further used for controlling the operation equipment to move according to the tracking orientation and the current direction so as to enable the operation equipment to move to the reference point;

the tracking module is further used for judging whether the distance between the current position of the working equipment and the working path is larger than a guidance distance;

the tracking module is further used for informing the acquisition module to execute the step of acquiring the current position of the operation equipment when the distance between the current position and the operation path of the operation equipment is larger than a guidance distance.

11. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the tracking module is further configured to control the work device to move to the work path using an L1 guidance method when the distance between the current position and the work path is less than or equal to the guidance distance.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the tracking module is configured to update a current location of the work device and obtain a current moving speed and a current direction of the work device;

the tracking module is further used for determining a regression reference point on the working path;

the tracking module is further configured to control the operation device to move to the regression reference point according to the position of the regression reference point, the current position, the current direction, and the current moving speed, so that the operation device moves to the operation path, and the direction of the operation device is consistent with the direction of the operation path.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the tracking module is configured to obtain at least one candidate point on the work path at the guided distance from the current location;

the tracking module is further used for determining a candidate point close to the end point of the operation path from the at least one candidate point as the regression reference point.

14. The apparatus according to any one of claims 9 to 13, wherein the tracking module is configured to obtain at least one candidate point on the reference path at the guidance distance from the current position;

the tracking module is further configured to determine, from the at least one candidate point, a candidate point close to the end point of the reference path as the reference point.

15. The utility model provides a controlling means of operation equipment which characterized in that is applied to agricultural unmanned aerial vehicle, includes:

the judging module is used for judging whether the agricultural unmanned aerial vehicle is positioned on the operation path;

and the guidance module is used for controlling the agricultural unmanned aerial vehicle to move to the working path by adopting an L1 guidance method when the agricultural unmanned aerial vehicle leaves the working path.

16. A computer-readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored, which, when being executed by a processor, carries out the method according to any one of claims 1-7 or 8.

17. A work device control unit comprising a processor and a memory, the memory storing machine readable instructions, the processor being configured to execute the machine readable instructions to implement the method of any one of claims 1-7 or 8.

18. A work apparatus, comprising:

a body;

the power equipment is arranged on the machine body and used for providing power for the working equipment;

and a work apparatus control unit; the work machine control unit comprises a processor and a memory, the memory storing machine readable instructions, the processor to execute the machine readable instructions to implement the method of any of claims 1-7 or 8.