CN117519189A - Automatic guide vehicle capable of actively compensating blind and blind compensation control method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention discloses an automatic guide vehicle capable of actively compensating blind and a blind compensation control method thereof, and belongs to the technical field of automatic driving equipment. The automatic guide vehicle capable of actively supplementing blind comprises a chassis, a telescopic frame, a sensor and a driving mechanism, wherein the telescopic frame is movably connected with the chassis, the sensor is arranged on the telescopic frame, the driving mechanism is arranged on the chassis, and the driving mechanism is used for driving the telescopic frame to move so that the telescopic frame drives the sensor to move outwards or inwards relative to the chassis. This but automatic guided vehicle of initiative blind patch installs the perceptron such as radar, camera on the expansion bracket that can stretch out and draw back voluntarily, when the perception visual angle that the perceptron was sheltered from to the loaded article, outwards stretches out the perceptron through the expansion bracket to make the perception visual angle of perceptron not shelter from by the loaded article, carry out the initiative blind patch to the blind area that appears, in time avoid the autonomous obstacle avoidance risk that the perceptron blind area probably arouses. According to the blind compensation control method, the sensor is controlled to extend outwards, so that the sensor avoids a shielded area, and the running is safer.

Description

Automatic guide vehicle capable of actively compensating blind and blind compensation control method thereof

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of automatic driving equipment, in particular to an automatic guide vehicle capable of actively compensating blind and a blind compensation control method thereof.

Background

An AGV, automated Guided Vehicle, or an automatic guided vehicle, also called an automatic guided vehicle, an AGV carriage, an unmanned carrier, or the like, travels along a predetermined guide path by an automatic guidance device such as electromagnetic or optical, and has various transfer functions. With the development of automation technology, the AGVs are increasingly wide in application range and diversified in functions. From the original single AGV to the current AGV system, modern AGVs have become an integral part of the automated manufacturing line. At the same time, modern AGVs have increased safety and greater load-bearing capacity to transport a wider variety of items that can be automatically handled and assembled in a manufacturing facility, automatically stored and retrieved in a warehouse, sent medicine and medical equipment to a patient's ward in a hospital, etc. Today, AGVs can also achieve more intelligent automated control by combining with cloud computing and big data analysis. Overall, the history and development of AGVs is a reduction in the development of automated technology. From the original single AGV to the current AGV system, the AGV technology is continually improving and perfecting. In the future, with further development of artificial intelligence and robotics, AGVs will continue to play an important role, becoming an important force for pushing intelligent development of manufacturing industry and logistics industry.

Currently, automatic Guided Vehicles (AGVs) are equipped with sensors such as radars, cameras, infrared rays, and the like, and can more intelligently execute tasks and avoid obstacles by utilizing technologies such as visual recognition, machine learning, autonomous navigation, and the like, thereby realizing functions such as autonomous obstacle avoidance, path planning, and the like.

However, due to the requirement of movement flexibility, the volume of the automatic guide vehicle is not too large, when large articles are transported, the automatic guide vehicle is shielded by the covering surface of the large articles, the sensing surface of the sensor is easily shielded by the large articles, and the recognition system thereof recognizes additional barriers, so that unnecessary obstacle avoidance actions are triggered by mistake, and even the situation of damage to goods caused by emergency obstacle avoidance occurs.

Disclosure of Invention

The aim of the embodiment of the invention is that: the automatic guide vehicle capable of actively compensating blind and the blind compensation control method thereof are provided, the expansion and contraction of the sensor can be realized through the expansion and contraction frame, the active blind compensation is carried out on the blind area, and the risk brought by unnecessary obstacle avoidance is avoided in time.

In order to achieve the above purpose, the invention adopts the following technical scheme:

an automatic guided vehicle capable of actively compensating blindness, comprising:

a chassis;

the telescopic frame is movably connected with the chassis;

the sensor is arranged on the telescopic frame;

The driving mechanism is arranged on the chassis; the driving end of the driving mechanism is connected with the telescopic frame, and the driving mechanism is used for driving the telescopic frame to move outwards or inwards relative to the chassis so as to enable the sensor to move outwards or inwards.

Optionally, the automatic guiding vehicle at least comprises two telescopic frames, one of the telescopic frames is a forward telescopic frame, the other telescopic frame is a backward telescopic frame, and the forward telescopic frame and the backward telescopic frame are both provided with the sensor.

Optionally, the driving mechanism is in transmission connection with the forward expansion bracket through a first transmission piece and in transmission connection with the backward expansion bracket through a second transmission piece;

when the driving mechanism is in a first driving state, the driving mechanism drives the forward expansion bracket to move forwards and drives the backward expansion bracket to move backwards; when the driving mechanism is in a second driving state, the driving mechanism drives the forward expansion bracket to move backwards and drives the backward expansion bracket to move forwards.

Optionally, the automatic guided vehicle comprises a transmission rod and a transmission assembly;

the transmission assembly comprises a driving wheel, a driven wheel and a transmission belt; the driving mechanism is a driving motor, a driving shaft of the driving motor is in transmission connection with the driving wheel through the transmission rod, and the driven wheel is in rotary connection with the chassis; the driving belt is sleeved on the driving wheel and the driven wheel;

The first transmission piece and the second transmission piece are arranged on two sides of the transmission belt; the forward expansion bracket is connected with the first transmission piece, and the backward expansion bracket is connected with the second transmission piece.

Optionally, the transmission assembly includes a mount, the mount being mounted to the chassis; the driving wheel is rotationally connected with the mounting seat, and the driven wheel is rotationally connected with the mounting seat.

Optionally, the automatic guide vehicle comprises two groups of transmission components, wherein the two groups of transmission components are respectively arranged on the left side and the right side of the automatic guide vehicle;

the forward expansion bracket comprises two first connecting brackets and a first transverse bracket connected between the two first connecting brackets, and the first transverse bracket is provided with the sensor; one first connecting frame is arranged on the left transmission component, and the other first connecting frame is arranged on the right transmission component;

the backward expansion bracket comprises a second connecting bracket and a second transverse bracket connected between the two second connecting brackets, and the second transverse bracket is provided with the sensor; one second connecting frame is arranged on the left side of the transmission component, and the other second connecting frame is arranged on the right side of the transmission component.

Optionally, the sensor comprises a plurality of sensors, wherein the plurality of sensors comprise forward cameras and forward radars arranged on the forward expansion brackets, and the plurality of sensors also comprise backward cameras and backward radars arranged on the backward expansion brackets.

Optionally, the forward radar is arranged on the left side of the forward camera, and the backward radar is arranged on the right side of the backward camera;

or, the forward radar is arranged on the right side of the forward camera, and the backward radar is arranged on the left side of the backward camera.

The automatic guide vehicle capable of actively compensating blind is applied to the blind compensation control method, and the blind compensation control method comprises the following steps:

according to a first signal, the expansion bracket is controlled to extend outwards from an inward-retracted position to an outward-extended position;

and according to a second signal, controlling the telescopic frame to retract inwards from the extending position to the retracting position.

Optionally, before sending a start signal to the running system of the automatic guided vehicle, acquiring sensing information of the sensor, and judging whether the visual angle of the sensor is blocked according to the sensing information; if yes, generating the first signal, controlling the expansion bracket to extend outwards from the adduction position to the extension position, and then sending a starting signal to the running system; and if not, sending a starting signal to the running system.

The beneficial effects of the invention are as follows: this but automatic guided vehicle of initiative blind patch installs the perceptron such as radar, camera on the expansion bracket that can stretch out and draw back voluntarily, when the perception visual angle that the perceptron was sheltered from to the loaded article, outwards stretches out the perceptron through the expansion bracket to make the perception visual angle of perceptron not shelter from by the loaded article, carry out the initiative blind patch to the blind area that appears, in time avoid the autonomous obstacle avoidance risk that the perceptron blind area probably arouses.

According to the blind compensation control method, the sensor is controlled to extend outwards, so that the sensor avoids a shielded area, and the automatic guided vehicle runs more safely.

Drawings

The invention is described in further detail below with reference to the drawings and examples.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an automatic guided vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 is an enlarged view of a portion a in fig. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a forward expansion bracket and a forward sensing assembly of an automatic guided vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a rearward expansion bracket and a rearward sensing assembly of an automatic guided vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating the cooperation of the forward expansion bracket, the backward expansion bracket and the transmission assembly in the automatic guided vehicle according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of the sensing range of the sensor when the chassis of the automatic guided vehicle is not loaded with articles according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a sensing blind area of a sensor caused by a large article after loading the large article on a chassis of an automatic guided vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of the chassis of the automatic guided vehicle according to the embodiment of the invention, after the chassis is loaded with large articles, the telescopic rack drives the sensor to extend outwards for active blind compensation.

In the figure: 100. a sensor; 10. a chassis; 20. a forward expansion bracket; 21. a first connection frame; 22. a first cross frame; 23. a first gusset; 30. a backward expansion bracket; 31. a second connecting frame; 32. a second cross frame; 33. a second gusset; 40. a forward sense component; 41. a forward camera; 42. forward radar; 50. a backward perception component; 51. a backward camera; 52. a backward radar; 61. a driving mechanism; 62. a transmission rod; 70. a transmission assembly; 71. a driving wheel; 72. driven wheel; 73. a transmission belt; 731. an upper layer belt portion; 732. a lower layer belt portion; 74. a mounting base; 75. a first rotating shaft; 76. a second rotating shaft; 81. a first transmission member; 82. a second transmission member; 91. an article; 92. an obstacle.

Detailed Description

In order to make the technical problems solved by the present invention, the technical solutions adopted and the technical effects achieved more clear, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention will be described in further detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present invention, but not all embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be made by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of the invention without making any inventive effort, are intended to fall within the scope of the invention.

In the description of the present invention, unless explicitly stated and limited otherwise, the terms "connected," "affixed" and "fixed" are to be construed broadly, and may be, for example, fixedly connected, detachably connected or integrally formed; can be mechanically or electrically connected; can be directly connected or indirectly connected through an intermediate medium, and can be communicated with the inside of two elements or the interaction relationship of the two elements. The specific meaning of the above terms in the present invention will be understood in specific cases by those of ordinary skill in the art.

In the present invention, unless expressly stated or limited otherwise, a first feature "above" or "below" a second feature may include both the first and second features being in direct contact, as well as the first and second features not being in direct contact but being in contact with each other through additional features therebetween. Moreover, a first feature being "above," "over" and "on" a second feature includes the first feature being directly above and obliquely above the second feature, or simply indicating that the first feature is higher in level than the second feature. The first feature being "under", "below" and "beneath" the second feature includes the first feature being directly under and obliquely below the second feature, or simply means that the first feature is less level than the second feature.

In the related art, since the automatic guided vehicle needs to automatically walk in a space such as a factory building, in order to improve the movement flexibility of the automatic guided vehicle, the volume of the automatic guided vehicle cannot be designed to be too large, so when a large article is arranged above the automatic guided vehicle, a part of the large article can extend out of the body of the automatic guided vehicle, thus the sensing surface of the sensor is easy to be shielded by the large article, for example, the large article can be shielded in a radar scanning area, a picture which can be acquired by a camera lens, and the like, and the large article can be identified as an obstacle by the identification system, so that the obstacle avoidance action is started, for example, the automatic guided vehicle moves leftwards or rightwards to avoid the obstacle, but the obstacle avoidance action is unnecessary, and even the condition that goods are damaged due to emergency obstacle avoidance occurs.

In order to solve the problem that the object loaded on the chassis is blocked in the sensing area of the sensor of the automatic guide vehicle to cause false triggering of the obstacle avoidance action, the inventor considers several solutions.

The first solution is to add an obstacle recognition judging step, collect images in the shooting area through a camera, when a foreign object suddenly appears, judge whether the foreign object is a large object to be transported, if the foreign object is judged to be an obstacle, then the obstacle avoidance action is performed, if the foreign object is judged to be an obstacle, then the obstacle avoidance action is not performed, however, the first difficulty faced by the method is that the recognition of the large object is difficult, the second difficulty faced by the method is that although the problem of unnecessary obstacle avoidance action caused by the shielding of the large object is solved, the area shielded by the large object becomes a recognition blind area of a sensor, in other words, even if a machine recognition system performs corresponding optimization treatment on the shielding surface, the optimized shielding surface also forms a blind area, the area shielded by the chassis loading the object is still a blind area of the sensor, and the risk is not ignored for autonomous obstacle avoidance after the automatic guide vehicle loading.

The second solution is that an external interface is added on the automatic guiding vehicle, an external sensing module is added, the external sensing module comprises a mounting bracket, a sensor (such as a radar or a camera) and a data line, when the automatic guiding vehicle conveys a large article, the external sensing module is mounted on the large article or the automatic guiding vehicle through the mounting bracket, the external sensor is connected with a control system of the automatic guiding vehicle through the data line, and the external sensor supplements a blind area of the sensor arranged in the automatic guiding vehicle, so that the problem that the large article shields a part of scanning surface of the internal sensor to bring the blind area is solved. However, this approach suffers from the problem that the external sensing module is cumbersome to install and is prone to unstable installation.

In order to solve the foregoing problems, the present application provides an automatic guiding vehicle capable of actively compensating blind, which can be applied to cargo transportation, wherein the automatic guiding vehicle mounts a sensor 100 such as a radar and a camera on an automatically telescopic bracket, when a loaded object (such as a large object 91) shields a sensing visual angle of the sensor 100, the sensor 100 is outwards extended through the telescopic bracket, so that the sensing visual angle of the sensor 100 is not shielded by the loaded object (such as the large object 91), the blind area is actively compensated, and the autonomous obstacle avoidance risk possibly caused by the blind area of the sensor 100 is timely avoided.

And after unloading the large articles 91 from the automatic guiding vehicle, the telescopic frame can retract the sensor 100 to the initial position, and when the chassis 10 of the automatic guiding vehicle is empty or small articles 91 are loaded, the sensor 100 has no blind area, the occupied space of the automatic guiding vehicle is small, and the running is more flexible.

For ease of understanding, the x-direction in the drawing is illustrated as the left-right direction of the automatic guided vehicle, and the y-direction is illustrated as the front-rear direction of the automatic guided vehicle.

Referring to fig. 1 to 8, the structure of the automatic guided vehicle will be described.

The automated guided vehicle includes a vehicle body, a plurality of sensors 100, and a controller. The vehicle body includes a chassis 10, wheels mounted to the chassis 10, and the like. The sensor 100 is electrically or communicatively connected with a controller, and the controller senses the collected information through the sensor 100 to perform obstacle avoidance and navigation control.

The automatic guiding vehicle further comprises a telescopic frame and a driving mechanism 61, wherein the telescopic frame is movably arranged on the chassis 10, the sensor 100 is arranged on the telescopic frame, a mechanism main body of the driving mechanism 61 is arranged on the chassis 10, and a driving end of the driving mechanism 61 is connected with the telescopic frame. The driving mechanism 61 is used for driving the telescopic frame to move horizontally inwards or horizontally outwards relative to the chassis 10, so as to drive the sensor 100 to move horizontally inwards or horizontally outwards relative to the chassis 10 through the telescopic frame.

In one embodiment, the top of the chassis 10 forms a loading surface for loading the articles 91, and the telescopic rack, drive mechanism 61 is mounted below the chassis 10 to avoid occupying the loading surface.

As shown in fig. 6, in the conventional state, when the articles 91 are not loaded on the chassis 10 or the articles 91 are not large on the chassis 10, the sensor 100 is located at the first position, and the chassis 10 and the articles 91 loaded on the chassis 10 are not blocked in the view angle of the sensor 100, so that the blind area of the sensor 100 is not caused. As shown in fig. 7, if the article 91 loaded on the chassis 10 is larger, when the planar size of the loaded article 91 is larger than the planar size of the chassis 10, the loaded article 91 will at least partially protrude outwards relative to the chassis 10, and the loaded article 91 will be blocked in the view angle range of the sensor 100, so as to cause a blind area of the sensor 100.

As shown in fig. 8, when the articles 91 loaded on the chassis 10 are larger, so that the articles 91 are loaded to block the view angle of the sensor 100, the driving mechanism 61 drives the telescopic frame to move outwards, so that the sensor 100 extends outwards, the sensor 100 leaves the area blocked by the articles 91, the view angle of the sensor 100 is not blocked by the articles 91, active blind compensation is realized, thus, when the chassis 10 loads large articles 91, the obstacle avoidance action of the automatic guided vehicle is not triggered by mistake, the risk that the automatic guided vehicle or the articles 91 are collided with the obstacle 92 due to the sensing blind area of the sensor 100 is avoided, and the automatic guided vehicle can reliably avoid the obstacle.

When the large article 91 loaded on the chassis 10 is unloaded, the driving mechanism 61 drives the telescopic frame to move inwards so as to retract the sensor 100 inwards to the initial position, thereby reducing the plane space occupied by the automatic guided vehicle and facilitating the flexible movement of the automatic guided vehicle in the environment. It will be appreciated that the telescoping frame is retracted to the first position and the sensor 100 is in the initial position when the automated guided vehicle is idling or when the automated guided vehicle is loading smaller items 91.

It is understood that the perceived viewing angle refers to the field of view of the sensor 100, within which the sensor 100 may receive and process information of the external environment. For a camera, a perceived viewing angle is the shooting range of a camera lens; for lidar, the perceived viewing angle is the laser scan range. The perceived viewing angle, perceived range of the sensor 100 is illustrated in fig. 6-8 by dashed lines.

The automatic guiding vehicle is used for achieving physical blind supplement actively, so that the situation that the obstacle avoidance action is triggered by mistake caused by the fact that the sensor 100 is blocked by the large article 91 to sense the visual angle is avoided, the machine can sense road conditions more truly, complex working environments can be better handled, and real blind supplement is achieved. Moreover, the automatic guiding vehicle can actively supplement blind areas when the large articles 91 are loaded, the large articles 91 are prevented from shielding the perception angle of the sensor 100, false triggering of obstacle avoidance actions is avoided, the sensor 100 can be retracted inwards when the articles 91 are not loaded or the small articles 91 are loaded, and occupied space of the automatic guiding vehicle is reduced.

Compared with the first solution (adding the step of identifying and judging the obstacle 92), the method can avoid the false triggering obstacle avoidance action caused by the shielding of the loaded articles 91 and ensure that the sensor 100 has no blind area; for the second solution, the external sensing module does not need to be assembled when the large article 91 is loaded every time, and then the external sensing module is detached when the large article 91 is unloaded, so that the method is more practical and convenient.

With continued reference to fig. 1-4, the sensing system of the automatic guided vehicle includes a forward sensing assembly 40 and a backward sensing assembly 50. The automatic guiding vehicle at least comprises two telescopic frames, one of which is a forward telescopic frame 20, and the other of which is a backward telescopic frame 30. The forward sensing assembly 40 includes at least one sensor 100, and the sensor 100 in the forward sensing assembly 40 is mounted to the forward expansion bracket 20. The rearward sensing assembly 50 includes at least one sensor 100, and the sensor 100 of the rearward sensing assembly 50 is mounted to the rearward expansion bracket 30.

Wherein, the forward direction sensing assembly 40 senses that the view angle of the sensor 100 is blocked by the article 91 loaded on the chassis 10 to generate a blind zone, and controls the forward expansion bracket 20 to move forward so as to push the sensor 100 forward for active blind compensation. When the rear sensing assembly 50 senses that the view angle of the sensor 100 is shielded by the articles 91 loaded on the chassis 10 to generate a blind area, the rear telescopic frame 30 is controlled to move backwards so as to push the sensor 100 backwards for active blind compensation.

In the embodiment, the sensing components are arranged on the front side and the rear side of the automatic guiding vehicle, so that the safety, the navigation precision, the adaptability and the obstacle avoidance capability can be improved, and the working efficiency is improved; and the sensing components on the front side and the rear side can be respectively arranged on the telescopic frame, and the sensing components on the front side and the rear side can be independently or simultaneously extended out of the chassis 10 to perform active blind compensation, so that the adaptability is stronger. Of course, in other embodiments, only the forward sensing assembly 40 and the forward telescopic frame 20 may be provided, and the forward telescopic frame 20 may drive the forward sensing assembly 40 to move back and forth; alternatively, the forward sensing assembly 40 is mounted on the forward expansion bracket 20, the forward expansion bracket 20 can drive the forward sensing assembly 40 to move forward and backward, the backward sensing assembly 50 is fixed on the chassis 10, and the backward sensing assembly 50 cannot move forward and backward.

Of course, in other embodiments, only the forward sensing assembly 40 and the forward telescoping support may be provided. In other embodiments, the forward sensing assembly 40 may be disposed in a left-hand telescopic bracket and/or a right-hand telescopic bracket, and the large article 91 is loaded on the chassis 10, and when the shielding surface of the large article 91 shields the view angle of the sensor 100 in the forward sensing assembly 40, the sensor 100 is extended leftwards or rightwards by the left-hand or right-hand telescopic bracket.

With continued reference to fig. 1 to 5, in an embodiment, the automatic guided vehicle includes a forward sensing component 40, a forward telescopic frame 20, a backward sensing component 50, and a backward telescopic frame 30, and the forward telescopic frame 20 and the backward telescopic frame 30 are in driving connection with the same driving mechanism 61, and the forward telescopic frame 20 and the backward telescopic frame 30 are driven to move reversely by one driving mechanism 61. The driving mechanism 61 is in transmission connection with the forward expansion bracket 20 through a first transmission member 81, and the driving mechanism 61 is in transmission connection with the backward expansion bracket 30 through a second transmission member 82.

The driving mechanism 61 has a first driving state and a second driving state.

When the chassis 10 of the automatic guided vehicle loads a large article 91, the article 91 can cover the AGV chassis 10 in a large area, at this time, the condition that the article 91 shields the view angle of the sensor 100 may occur, when the machine detects that the view angle of the sensor 100 is shielded by the article 91, or when the machine observes that the view angle of the sensor 100 is shielded, the driving mechanism 61 is automatically controlled by the automatic guided vehicle controller, or a command is manually input to adjust the driving mechanism 61 to a first driving state, at this time, the driving mechanism 61 drives the forward expansion bracket 20 to move forward and synchronously drives the backward expansion bracket 30 to move backward, at this time, the forward expansion bracket 20 and the backward expansion bracket 30 are in an extending state, so that the forward sensing assembly 40 and the backward sensing assembly 50 extend out of the shielding range of the large article 91, the sensor 100 is prevented from generating a sensing blind area, and active blind supplement is realized.

After the automatic guided vehicle conveys the large articles 91, based on a signal that the vision of the sensor 100 is not blocked by the articles 91 detected by a machine or based on a contraction command input by a person, the controller controls the driving mechanism 61 to adjust to a second driving state, at this time, the driving mechanism 61 drives the forward expansion bracket 20 to move backwards and synchronously drives the backward expansion bracket 30 to move forwards, so that the forward expansion bracket 20 and the backward expansion bracket 30 are reset inwards to the contraction state, the automatic guided vehicle is prevented from occupying too much space, and the automatic guided vehicle is more flexible.

When the automatic guiding vehicle conveys the conventional articles 91, the forward telescopic frame 20 and the backward telescopic frame 30 are kept in the contracted state, so that the automatic guiding vehicle is prevented from occupying excessive space, and the automatic guiding vehicle is more flexible.

In this embodiment, the forward expansion bracket 20 and the backward expansion bracket 30 can be synchronously driven by one driving mechanism 61 to simultaneously extend or retract, so that the number of driving mechanisms 61 can be reduced, the structure is more compact, and the control logic is simpler compared with the case that two independent driving mechanisms 61 are arranged to respectively and independently control the movement of the two expansion brackets. It can be appreciated that, when the large article is placed on the chassis 10, the front side and the rear side of the large article 91 extend forward and backward relative to the chassis 10 to form a part of the shielding of the view angles of the forward sensing assembly 40 and the backward sensing assembly 50, and the forward sensing assembly 40 and the backward sensing assembly 50 can avoid the blind area caused by the large article 91 through one driving action of the driving mechanism 61, so that the blind repairing efficiency is high, and the automatic guiding vehicle is more suitable for being applied in the loading driving scene of the automatic guiding vehicle.

An embodiment in which the forward expansion bracket 20 and the backward expansion bracket 30 can be synchronously driven by one driving mechanism 61 to simultaneously extend outward and retract inward is provided below.

Referring to fig. 5, the automated guided vehicle includes a drive rod 62 and a drive assembly 70. The transmission assembly 70 includes a driving wheel 71, a driven wheel 72, and a transmission belt 73, where the driving wheel 71 and the driven wheel 72 are respectively connected with the chassis 10 in a rotating manner directly or indirectly, the driving mechanism 61 is a rotation driving mechanism 61, the rotation driving mechanism 61 in this embodiment is a driving motor, a driving shaft of the driving motor is connected with the driving wheel 71 in a transmission manner through a transmission rod 62, and the driven wheel 72 is connected with the chassis 10 in a rotating manner. One end of the driving belt 73 is sleeved outside the driving wheel 71, the other end is sleeved outside the driven wheel 72, the first driving member 81 and the second driving member 82 are arranged on two sides of the driving belt 73, the forward expansion bracket 20 is connected with the first driving member 81, and the backward expansion bracket 30 is connected with the second driving member 82.

In an embodiment, the first driving member 81 and the second driving member 82 are detachable fixed sleeves sleeved on the driving belt 73, the fixed sleeves are detachably connected with the driving belt 73 by fastening fasteners and the like, and the installation positions of the fixed sleeves can be adjusted according to requirements to adjust the extending and shrinking limit positions of the front telescopic frame 20 and the rear telescopic frame 30, thereby adjusting the limit positions of the front sensing assembly 40 and the rear sensing assembly 50 to adapt to the requirements of loading cargoes with different sizes.

The driving pulley 71, the driven pulley 72, and the belt 73 may be arranged at least in the following manner. Configuration mode one: in the flat belt transmission mode, the surfaces of the driving wheel 71 and the driven wheel 72 are flat, the transmission belt 73 is closely attached to the wheel surface, and power is transmitted through friction force. Configuration mode II: in the v-ribbed belt transmission system, the driving pulley 71 and the driven pulley 72 each have a plurality of wedge teeth on their surfaces, and the belt 73 is tightly attached to the tread and transmits power by friction. And the configuration mode III: in the synchronous toothed belt transmission mode, the surfaces of the driving wheel 71 and the driven wheel 72 are provided with certain tooth shapes, and the transmission belt 73 is meshed with the teeth on the wheel surface and transmits power through friction force. And the configuration mode is four: in the chain transmission mode, the driving wheel 71 and the driven wheel 72 are connected through a chain, and the friction force between the chain and the wheel surface transmits power. When the driving wheel 71, the driven wheel 72 and the driving belt 73 are configured in the third configuration mode, higher transmission precision can be obtained compared with the first configuration mode and the second configuration mode, the outward extending distance of the telescopic frame can be controlled more accurately, the external dimension of the automatic guided vehicle can be reduced as much as possible while the requirement that the visual angle perceived by the sensor 100 is not blocked by the loaded articles 91 is met, and the automatic guided vehicle can be transmitted as stably as possible.

In this embodiment, the motor body of the driving motor is mounted on the chassis 10, the motor shaft of the driving motor is in transmission connection with the transmission rod 62, and the transmission rod 62 is in transmission connection with the driving wheel 71. The rotation axis of the driving pulley 71, the rotation axis of the driven pulley 72, and the transmission lever 62 are arranged to extend in the x-direction, which is the left-right direction of the chassis 10, and correspondingly, as shown in fig. 5, the transmission belt 73 includes an upper belt portion 731 and a lower belt portion 732, and the upper belt portion 731 and the lower belt portion 732 are located on the upper side and the lower side of the wheel, respectively.

Referring to fig. 1, 2, 5 (a) and 5 (b), the forward expansion bracket 20 is connected to the upper belt portion 731 through a first transmission member 81, and the backward expansion bracket 30 is connected to the lower belt portion 732 through a second transmission member 82. When the driving motor is in the first driving state, the driving motor drives the driving rod 62 to rotate around the first direction, the upper layer belt part 731 of the driving belt 73 drives the forward expansion bracket 20 to move forward, and the lower layer belt part 732 drives the backward expansion bracket 30 to move backward. When the driving motor is in the second driving state, the driving motor drives the transmission rod 62 to rotate around the second direction opposite to the first direction, the upper layer belt part 731 of the transmission belt 73 drives the forward expansion bracket 20 to move backward, and the lower layer belt part 732 drives the backward expansion bracket 30 to move forward. Illustratively, when the drive motor is in the first drive state, the state of fig. 5 (a) is adjusted to the state of fig. 5 (b); when the driving motor is in the second driving state, the state of fig. 5 (b) is adjusted to the state of fig. 5 (a).

Compared with the mode of driving the telescopic frame to move by adopting the linear driving mechanism 61, the embodiment adopts the rotary driving mechanism 61 (rotary motor) as the driving mechanism 61, thereby realizing larger transmission ratio and high efficiency and saving the installation space of the chassis 10. In addition, based on the arrangement of the rotary driving mechanism 61, the driving wheel 71, the driven wheel 72 and the driving belt 73, the forward expansion bracket 20 and the backward expansion bracket 30 are respectively connected with the upper side belt part and the lower side belt part of the driving belt 73, so that the forward expansion bracket 20 and the backward expansion bracket 30 can be driven to move in opposite directions when the driving belt 73 rotates, and the forward sensing assembly and the backward sensing assembly can simultaneously extend outwards or simultaneously retract inwards. The present embodiment utilizes the characteristic that the upper and lower belt portions of the driving belt 73 can rotate in opposite directions under the driving of the driving wheel 71, and can simultaneously realize the requirement of outward extension of the forward sensing assembly and the backward sensing assembly for blind compensation or inward retraction for resetting through the single action of the single rotation driving mechanism 61.

In this embodiment, the driving wheel 71 and the driven wheel 72 are arranged at intervals along the front-rear direction of the chassis 10, the driving belt 73 can be installed by using the length space of the chassis 10, the driving belt 73 does not protrude relative to the chassis 10 in the length direction of the chassis 10, the front sensing assembly 40 and the rear sensing assembly 50 are ensured to be positioned at the front side and the rear side of the driving assembly 70, and the arrangement of the driving assembly 70 does not obstruct the sensing viewing angles of the front sensing assembly 40 and the rear sensing assembly 50. In addition, the upper belt portion 731 and the lower belt portion 732 of the driving belt 73 extend along the front-rear direction of the chassis 10, and the driving belt 73 can just drive the forward expansion bracket 20 and the backward expansion bracket 30 to move outwards or inwards simultaneously when rotating, so as to meet the position adjustment requirements of the forward sensing assembly 40 and the backward sensing assembly 50.

In other embodiments, the forward expansion bracket 20 may be connected to the lower belt portion 732 by the first transmission member 81, and the backward expansion bracket 30 may be connected to the upper belt portion 731 by the second transmission member 82.

The transmission assembly 70 includes a mounting block 74, and the mounting block 74 is fastened to the chassis 10 by fasteners or the like. The driving wheel 71 is rotatably mounted on the mounting seat 74 via a first rotating shaft 75, and the driven wheel 72 is rotatably mounted on the mounting seat 74 via a second rotating shaft 76. The forward expansion bracket 20 is matched with the mounting seat 74, and the backward expansion bracket 30 is matched with the mounting seat 74 through sliding guides.

Referring to fig. 1, in order to provide more stable support to the sensor 100, the automatic guided vehicle includes two sets of transmission assemblies 70, and the two sets of transmission assemblies 70 are arranged at intervals along the left-right direction of the chassis 10, and as shown in fig. 1, the two sets of transmission assemblies 70 are exemplarily disposed on the left side and the right side of the automatic guided vehicle, respectively. The forward expansion bracket 20 comprises two first connecting frames 21 which are arranged at intervals along the left-right direction, and further comprises a first transverse frame 22 which is connected between the two first connecting frames 21, wherein the first transverse frame 22 is provided with a sensor 100, one first connecting frame 21 is arranged on the left side of the transmission assembly 70, and the other first connecting frame 21 is arranged on the right side of the transmission assembly 70. The backward expansion bracket 30 comprises two second connecting frames 31 which are arranged at intervals along the left-right direction, and also comprises a second transverse frame 32 which is connected between the two second connecting frames 31, wherein the second transverse frame 32 is provided with a sensor 100, one second connecting frame 31 is arranged on the left side of the transmission assembly 70, and the other second connecting frame 31 is arranged on the right side of the transmission assembly 70.

Referring to fig. 1 to 3, the driving motor is a bidirectional synchronous motor, motor shafts are respectively disposed at the left and right ends of the driving motor, driving rods 62 are respectively disposed at the two sides of the driving motor, the motor shaft at the left side is in transmission connection with a driving wheel 71 at the left side through the left driving rod 62, and the motor shaft at the right side is in transmission connection with the driving wheel 71 at the right side through the right driving rod 62. For the forward expansion bracket 20, the left first connecting bracket 21 is connected to the upper belt portion 731 of the left drive belt 73 via a first transmission member 81, and the right first connecting bracket 21 is connected to the upper belt portion 731 of the right drive belt 73 via another first transmission member 81. For the backward expansion bracket 30, the left second connecting bracket 31 is connected to the lower belt portion 732 of the left transmission belt 73 via a second transmission member 82, and the right second connecting bracket 31 is connected to the lower belt portion 732 of the right transmission belt 73 via another second transmission member 82.

The front expansion bracket 20 and the rear expansion bracket 30 are arranged like a U shape, on one hand, the scheme that the expansion bracket is in a rod-shaped structure and is connected with only one transmission component 70 is adopted for the expansion bracket, the two first connection brackets 21 arranged at left and right intervals and the two second connection brackets 31 arranged at left and right intervals can be connected with the transmission components 70 at left and right sides, driving force can be simultaneously provided for the expansion bracket through the transmission components 70 at two sides, the front and rear movement of the expansion bracket is smoother and stable, and the influence on the sensor 100 is reduced. In the second aspect, the U-shaped expansion bracket is more reliable and less likely to break than a long rod-shaped expansion bracket, and the space can be saved relative to a flat-shaped expansion bracket to avoid interference with other structures near the chassis 10. In the third aspect, the first cross frame 22 and the second cross frame 32 may meet the requirement that the partial sensor 100 needs to be installed in front of or behind.

In the present embodiment, the two kinds of sensors 100 in the forward sensing assembly 40 are respectively a forward camera 41 and a forward radar 42; in the present embodiment, the two sensors 100 in the backward sensing component 50 are respectively a backward camera 51 and a backward radar 52. The forward radar 42 and the backward radar 52 are both lidars.

Among them, a laser radar may be used to scan at 360 degrees or a specific angle, and by emitting a laser beam to the surrounding environment and measuring the time of reflection back, the laser radar may acquire detailed information of the surrounding environment, such as obstacles 92, terrain, etc. The camera may be used to capture images of the surrounding environment and by analyzing the captured images, the automated guided vehicle may identify specific signs, markers, or topographical features. The laser radar and the camera of the automatic guiding vehicle can be matched with each other, so that accurate navigation, obstacle avoidance and positioning are realized: the laser radar can measure the distance and angle between the object and the AGV by emitting laser beams and receiving reflected signals, so that a map of the surrounding environment is constructed. Meanwhile, the camera can capture images of surrounding environments, specific markers or path information is identified through an image processing technology, the AGV trolley is helped to position and navigate, and the navigation mode can realize automatic and efficient logistics transportation in complex environments. The automatic guiding vehicle can be positioned through auxiliary navigation marks (such as two-dimensional codes and reflecting plates) without being required, and can realize positioning navigation through natural environments in working scenes, such as columns, wall surfaces and the like in a warehouse as positioning reference objects.

With continued reference to fig. 1 and 3, the forward sensing assembly 40 includes a forward camera 41 and a forward radar 42, and the backward sensing assembly 50 includes a backward camera 51 and a backward radar 52. The forward camera 41 is disposed on the first transverse frame 22, and the backward camera 51 is disposed on the second transverse frame 32, in other words, the forward camera 41 and the backward camera 51 are disposed substantially centrally, so that images of the environment right in front of and right behind the automatic guided vehicle can be clearly captured.

The forward radar 42 is mounted at a corner of the front side of the automatic guided vehicle, the backward radar 52 is mounted at a corner of the rear side of the automatic guided vehicle, and the laser radar is mounted at the corner to realize more comprehensive environmental perception, and the laser radar mounted at the corner can scan a wider angle, including the front and the side, or including the rear and the vehicle, so that the omnibearing perception can help the AGV to better understand the surrounding environment, and perform more accurate navigation and obstacle avoidance.

Meanwhile, the forward radar 42 and the backward radar 52 are installed at diagonal positions of the automatic guided vehicle, and illustratively, the forward radar 42 is installed at the left front corner and the backward radar 52 is installed at the right rear corner, and by installing the laser radar at the left front corner and the right rear corner, the AGV car can more comprehensively sense the surrounding environment including the obstacle 92 in front, the vehicle in rear, and the wall of the side, etc. The two lidars may complement each other to provide more accurate environmental information. In the autonomous navigation and obstacle avoidance process of the AGV trolley, the two laser radars can be processed through data fusion and technology, so that more accurate target identification, distance measurement and gesture information are provided. The AGV trolley is facilitated to conduct more accurate path planning, speed control and obstacle avoidance operation, and the autonomous navigation and obstacle avoidance performance of the AGV trolley is improved.

With continued reference to fig. 1, 3 and 4, the forward telescopic frame 20 includes a first corner plate 23, the first corner plate 23 is connected between the left first connecting frame 21 and the first transverse frame 22, and the forward radar 42 is mounted on the first corner plate 23. The rear extension 30 includes a second gusset 33, the second gusset 33 is connected between the left second link 31 and the second cross frame 32, and the rear radar 52 is mounted to the second gusset 33.

The following describes a blind-supplementing control method applied to the automatic guided vehicle capable of actively supplementing blind in any of the foregoing embodiments.

The blind compensation control method comprises the following steps:

according to the first signal, the telescopic frame is controlled to extend outwards from the retracted position to the extended position so as to prevent the chassis 10 from loading articles 91 to shield the sensing area of the sensor 100, avoid false triggering of the obstacle avoidance action and eliminate the dead zone of the sensor 100;

according to the second signal, the telescopic frame is controlled to retract inwards from the extended position to the retracted position, so that the extended telescopic frame is prevented from occupying excessive space, and the automatic guiding vehicle can move more flexibly.

In an embodiment, the first signal and the second signal are signals obtained according to the information processing result after the controller processes the sensing information after receiving the sensing information of the sensor 100. For example, if the sensor 100 senses the shielding information before the automatic guided vehicle runs, the controller generates a first signal according to the sensor 100 information, and if the sensor 100 senses no shielding information when the automatic guided vehicle stops running, the controller generates a second signal according to the sensor 100 information. In this embodiment, the controller receives the information sensed by the sensor 100 and processes the information to determine whether the sensor 100 senses the viewing angle is blocked according to the sensed information, generates the first signal when the sensor 100 senses the viewing angle is blocked, or generates the second signal when the sensor 100 senses the viewing angle is not blocked, and controls the telescopic frame to perform relative movement based on the first signal and the second signal.

In other embodiments, the first signal and the second signal are signals manually input to the automated guided vehicle by an operator. The first signal and the second signal are generated when the operator performs different touch operations.

In an embodiment, the blind-mate control method may be implemented in the following manner.

S100: before transmitting a start signal to the traveling system of the automated guided vehicle, it is determined whether the viewing angle of the sensor 100 is blocked.

S200: if the visual angle of the sensor 100 is judged to be blocked, the telescopic frame is controlled to extend outwards from the inward-retracted position to the outward-extended position; if it is determined that the viewing angle of the sensor 100 is not blocked, the expansion bracket is held at the retracted position.

In S200, if it is determined that the viewing angle of the sensor 100 is blocked, the telescopic frame is controlled to extend outwards until the viewing angle of the sensor 100 is not blocked, and then a start signal is sent to the driving system, so that the automatic guided vehicle starts to drive; if it is determined that the viewing angle of the sensor 100 is not blocked, the telescopic frame is held at the retracted position, a start signal is transmitted to the traveling system, and the automatic guided vehicle starts traveling.

Controlling the expansion bracket to extend outwards from the retracted position to the extended position comprises: and controlling the outward moving distance a of the telescopic frame, then judging whether the visual angle of the sensor 100 is blocked again, and if the visual angle of the sensor 100 is still blocked, continuously controlling the outward moving distance a of the telescopic frame, and quantitatively moving for a certain distance each time in a circulating and reciprocating mode until the visual angle of the sensor 100 is not blocked. Or, controlling the expansion bracket to extend outwards from the retracted position to the extended position comprises: the sensing information of the sensor 100 is acquired, the distance b of the expansion bracket which needs to move outwards is calculated based on the sensing information, and the expansion bracket is controlled to move outwards by the distance b, so that the condition that the visual angle of the sensor 100 is not blocked is achieved. In other words, when the viewing angle of the pre-driving judgment sensor 100 is blocked, the first method is to move the telescopic frame one by one a certain distance and judge whether the viewing angle is blocked again after each movement, and the second method is to directly calculate the moving distance of the telescopic frame and control the telescopic frame to move the distance. The first mode has low requirement on calculation processing capacity compared with the second mode, and the second mode has high speed and high efficiency compared with the first mode.

In the description herein, it should be understood that the terms "upper," "lower," "left," "right," and the like are based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the drawings, and are merely for convenience of description and to simplify operation, rather than to indicate or imply that the apparatus or elements referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and thus should not be construed as limiting the invention. Furthermore, the terms "first," "second," and the like, are used merely for distinguishing between descriptions and not for providing a special meaning.

In the description herein, reference to the term "one embodiment," "an example," etc., means that a particular feature, structure, material, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment or example is included in at least one embodiment or example of the invention. In this specification, schematic representations of the above terms do not necessarily refer to the same embodiments or examples.

Furthermore, it should be understood that although the present disclosure describes embodiments, not every embodiment is provided with a separate embodiment, and that this description is provided for clarity only, and that the disclosure is not limited to the embodiments described in the foregoing embodiments, and that the embodiments described in the foregoing embodiments may be combined appropriately to form other embodiments that will be understood by those skilled in the art.

The technical principle of the present invention is described above in connection with the specific embodiments. The description is made for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention and should not be taken in any way as limiting the scope of the invention. Other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of this specification without undue burden.

Claims (10)

1. An automatic guided vehicle capable of actively compensating blindness, which is characterized by comprising:

a chassis (10);

the telescopic frame is movably connected with the chassis (10);

a sensor (100) mounted to the expansion bracket;

a drive mechanism (61) mounted on the chassis (10); the driving end of the driving mechanism (61) is connected with the telescopic frame, and the driving mechanism (61) is used for driving the telescopic frame to move outwards or inwards relative to the chassis (10) so as to enable the sensor (100) to move outwards or inwards.

2. The automatic guided vehicle capable of actively compensating for blindness according to claim 1, wherein the automatic guided vehicle comprises at least two telescopic frames, one of which is a forward telescopic frame (20), the other of which is a backward telescopic frame (30), and the sensor (100) is disposed on both the forward telescopic frame (20) and the backward telescopic frame (30).

3. The automatic guided vehicle capable of actively compensating for blindness according to claim 2, wherein the forward expansion bracket (20) is in transmission connection with the driving mechanism (61) through a first transmission member (81), and the backward expansion bracket (30) is in transmission connection with the driving mechanism (61) through a second transmission member (82);

when the driving mechanism (61) is in a first driving state, the driving mechanism (61) drives the forward expansion bracket (20) to move forwards and drives the backward expansion bracket (30) to move backwards; when the driving mechanism (61) is in the second driving state, the driving mechanism (61) drives the forward expansion bracket (20) to move backwards, and drives the backward expansion bracket (30) to move forwards.

4. An actively blinding automatic guided vehicle according to claim 3, characterized in that the automatic guided vehicle comprises a transmission rod (62) and a transmission assembly (70);

the transmission assembly (70) comprises a driving wheel (71), a driven wheel (72) and a transmission belt (73); the driving mechanism (61) is a driving motor, a driving shaft of the driving motor is in transmission connection with the driving wheel (71) through the transmission rod (62), and the driven wheel (72) is in rotary connection with the chassis (10); the driving belt (73) is sleeved on the driving wheel (71) and the driven wheel (72);

The first transmission piece (81) and the second transmission piece (82) are arranged on two sides of the transmission belt (73); the forward expansion bracket (20) is connected with the first transmission piece (81), and the backward expansion bracket (30) is connected with the second transmission piece (82).

5. The automatic guided vehicle capable of active blind mate of claim 4, wherein the transmission assembly (70) comprises a mounting base (74), the mounting base (74) being mounted to the chassis (10); the driving wheel (71) is rotationally connected with the mounting seat (74), and the driven wheel (72) is rotationally connected with the mounting seat (74).

6. The automatic guided vehicle capable of actively compensating for blindness according to claim 4, comprising two sets of transmission assemblies (70), wherein the two sets of transmission assemblies (70) are respectively arranged at the left side and the right side of the automatic guided vehicle;

the forward expansion bracket (20) comprises two first connecting brackets (21) and a first transverse bracket (22) connected between the two first connecting brackets (21), and the first transverse bracket (22) is provided with the sensor (100); one first connecting frame (21) is arranged on the left side of the transmission assembly (70), and the other first connecting frame (21) is arranged on the right side of the transmission assembly (70);

The backward expansion bracket (30) comprises a second connecting bracket (31) and a second transverse bracket (32) connected between the two second connecting brackets (31), and the second transverse bracket (32) is provided with the sensor (100); one second connecting frame (31) is arranged on the left transmission assembly (70), and the other second connecting frame (31) is arranged on the right transmission assembly (70).

7. The automatic guided vehicle capable of active blind supplement according to any one of claims 1 to 6, comprising a plurality of sensors (100), wherein the plurality of sensors (100) comprise a forward camera (41) and a forward radar (42) disposed on the forward telescopic frame (20), and the plurality of sensors (100) further comprise a backward camera (51) and a backward radar (52) disposed on the backward telescopic frame (30).

8. The automatic guided vehicle capable of actively compensating for blindness according to claim 7, wherein the forward radar (42) is arranged at the left side of the forward camera (41), and the backward radar (52) is arranged at the right side of the backward camera (51);

or, the forward radar (42) is arranged on the right side of the forward camera (41), and the backward radar (52) is arranged on the left side of the backward camera (51).

9. The blind-supplement control method is applied to the automatic guided vehicle capable of actively supplementing blind according to any one of claims 1 to 8, and comprises the following steps:

according to a first signal, the expansion bracket is controlled to extend outwards from an inward-retracted position to an outward-extended position;

and according to a second signal, controlling the telescopic frame to retract inwards from the extending position to the retracting position.

10. The blind-mate control method according to claim 9, wherein the perception information of the sensor (100) is acquired, and whether the viewing angle of the sensor (100) is blocked is judged based on the perception information; if yes, generating the first signal, and controlling the expansion bracket to extend outwards from the inward-retracted position to the outward-extended position; if not, the expansion bracket is kept at the adduction position.