JP2008067617A - Agricultural working vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide the technologies of an agricultural working vehicle autonomously traveling straight forward, capable of easily setting the position of its traveling passage on a transition to a next process and approximately coinciding an objective passage with an actual traveling passage. <P>SOLUTION: In this rice transplanter 1 equipped with a GPS unit 102 and treating part 110, generating a teaching passage by the treating part 110 based on a positional information measured by the GPS unit 102 and autonomously traveling along the teaching passage, a teaching passage-starting point (point A) and a teaching passage-finishing point (point B) are measured by the GPS unit 102, a linear teaching passage (line AB) is obtained by connecting the points A and B by the treating part 110, and N lines of linear objective passages separated by a working width and in parallel to the line AB are generated, based on the line AB and the working width [i.e., a distance obtained by multiplying a transplanting width (a) by the number of transplanting rows (b)] set by a transplanting part 4 attached to a vehicle body. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for an agricultural work vehicle capable of autonomous straight traveling, and more particularly to a technique for generating a target route and a method for controlling autonomous traveling using a GPS device.

Conventionally, in an agricultural work vehicle, a geomagnetic direction sensor is used to perform teaching processing after setting the vehicle body direction to a predetermined direction at the start, and the vehicle body direction (direction) is stored. A technique that makes it possible to control the steering mechanism while feeding back the direction of the vehicle body detected in step 1 and to travel straight in a predetermined direction stored at the time of teaching is known. For example, the technique is disclosed in Patent Document 1 Has been.
If this technique is used, for example, it becomes possible to plant crops in a substantially straight line, and the workability can be improved while reducing the burden on the operator.
However, in the prior art, after the agricultural work vehicle is turned back at the end of the field, it has become easy to travel autonomously in parallel with the travel route before turning back, but the interval between the travel route before turning back and after turning back is reduced. In order to keep it constant, it was necessary for the operator to perform a driving operation so as to be at substantially equal intervals visually. In addition, it is necessary to install a reference mark for recognizing the inside of the movement target area in advance. In addition, in work vehicles such as rice transplanters, it is difficult to check crops that have been planted when working in deep-water rice planting, etc., and the operator's visual method allows the operator to grasp and adjust the distance between travel routes. It was difficult.
That is, in the prior art, it has been difficult to keep the distance between the travel routes constant with high accuracy.
Further, in the above-described conventional technology, since only the vehicle body direction (azimuth) is controlled to be constant, the target route generated from the vehicle body direction (azimuth) at the start time and the actual traveling by autonomous straight traveling There is a case where there is a deviation in the route, and when there is a deviation, there is no means for detecting the deviation and returning the travel route to the original target route. There was a problem that gradually expanded.

Furthermore, conventionally, there is also known an agricultural work vehicle that is equipped with GPS and sensors, and that autonomously travels and works based on information from various sensors such as obstacle sensors and copying sensors while measuring the position of the vehicle body by GPS. ing. For example, Patent Document 2 discloses the technique.
JP-A-2-287708 JP 2004-16160 A

  Therefore, in the present invention, in view of such a current situation, in an agricultural work vehicle that autonomously travels straight while measuring the position of the vehicle body by GPS, positioning of the travel route can be easily performed at the time of transition to the next process, and the target It is an object of the present invention to provide a technique that can substantially match a route with an actual travel route.

  The problems to be solved by the present invention are as described above. Next, means for solving the problems will be described.

  That is, in claim 1, a GPS device and a teaching path generation unit are provided, and a teaching path is generated by the teaching path generation unit based on position information measured by the GPS device, and along the teaching path In an agricultural work vehicle that travels autonomously, the vehicle body position at the start of teaching is the starting point, and the vehicle body position at the end of teaching is the end point, and the GPS device measures the start and end points, The teaching path generation means generates a linear teaching path connecting the start point and the end point, and the straight line is based on the linear teaching path and a work width set in the work machine mounted on the vehicle body. N linear target paths that are parallel to the teaching path and separated by the working width Be formed, is obtained by it said.

  In Claim 2, when the agricultural work vehicle travels on the target route, the vehicle body position is measured by the GPS device, and the vehicle is autonomously traveled along the target route. Is.

  According to claim 3, the agricultural work vehicle includes a switch for turning on and off the autonomous traveling, and when the switch is set to "on", the vehicle body position is measured by the GPS device, and is closest to the vehicle body position. It is characterized by autonomously traveling along a target route.

  5. The teaching vehicle according to claim 4, wherein the agricultural work vehicle is provided with a deviation amount notification means, and when the agricultural work vehicle is autonomously driven along the target route, the vehicle body position is measured by the GPS device, and the teaching route is measured. The generating unit obtains a deviation amount between the target route and the actual vehicle body position, and the deviation amount notifying unit notifies the operator of the deviation amount.

  As effects of the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to easily generate target paths with equal intervals.

  In claim 2, by measuring the actual traveling position, it is possible to confirm the amount of deviation from the target route, and as a result, the planting positions of the crops can be accurately aligned at equal intervals.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, positioning at the next process transition can be easily and accurately performed.

  In the fourth aspect, the operator can confirm the traveling state as to whether or not the target route and the actual traveling route are misaligned.

Next, embodiments of the invention will be described.
FIG. 1 is a side view showing an overall configuration of a rice transplanter according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the overall configuration of the rice transplanter, and FIG. 3 is a meter panel of the rice transplanter. It is the perspective view which showed the structure of the part. 4 is a flowchart showing the flow when the autonomous running display lamp is turned on, FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing the overall configuration of a GPS device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a target generated by the present invention. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the flow of teaching work according to one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing the behavior of the rice transplanter during autonomous driving according to one embodiment of the present invention. is there.
In the description of the embodiment of the present invention shown below, as an example of an agricultural work vehicle, a rice transplanter will be described as an example, but the agricultural work vehicle to which the present invention is applied is not limited to a rice transplanter, For example, it may be a tractor, a spreader, or the like, and can be widely applied to agricultural work vehicles that perform work while scanning the field surface.

First, an overall configuration of a rice transplanter according to the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.
The rice transplanter 1 described here is, for example, a 6-row riding rice transplanter, and the planting unit 4 is attached to the rear part of the machine body via a lifting link mechanism 27.
The engine 2 is mounted on the upper front part of the vehicle body frame 3, the front wheel 6 is supported on the front lower part via the front axle case 6a, and the rear wheel 8 is supported on the rear part via the rear axle case 8a. .
The engine 2 is covered with a hood 9, and a portal-shaped mounting frame 24 is disposed above the hood 9. In addition, spare seedling platforms 10 and 10 are arranged on both the left and right sides of the mounting frame 24, and a GPS antenna 101 and an operation casing 128, which will be described later, are fixedly installed at the upper center.
A meter panel 7 and a handle 14 are disposed on the dashboard 5 at the rear of the bonnet 9, and both sides of the bonnet 9 and the rear body frame 3 are covered with a body cover 12.
A seat 13 is disposed at a rear position of the handle 14, and steps on both sides of the bonnet 9 and the front portion of the seat 13, both left and right sides of the seat 13, and the rear of the seat 13 are used.

The planting part 4 provided at the rear part of the rice transplanter 1 is provided here with seedlings 16 for six strips, and rotary cases 22, 22, provided at the rear part of the planting transmission case serving as a planting claw support part. -A planting claw attached to the rotary case 22, a center float 34, a side float 35, etc. are provided.
The seedling stage 16 is disposed in front and rear and low, and the lower part of the seedling stage 16 is supported by the lower guide rail 18 and the upper part of the front surface by the upper guide rail 19 so as to be slidable in the left-right direction.
The lower guide rail 18 and the upper guide rail 19 are supported via a planting center case 20, a planting frame 23, and the like.
Further, connecting pipes (not shown) project from the planting center case 20 to the left and right sides, a transmission case (not shown) is fixed, and the transmission case protrudes rearward in parallel. .. Are arranged on both sides of the rear part of the transmission case, and planting claws are provided on the rotary cases 22.
In this case, six rotary cases 22, 22,... Are provided for one seedling stand 16, and thus six rotary cases are provided in the case of the above-mentioned six-rice rice transplanter.
Further, the elevating link mechanism 27 is connected to the front portion of the planting center case 20 via a rolling fulcrum shaft, and the elevating link mechanism 27 includes a top link 25, a lower link 26, and the like. The planting part 4 can be moved up and down by an elevating cylinder (not shown) comprising an arranged actuator and a hydraulic cylinder.
The center float 34 and the side float 35 are supported via a link mechanism below the planting center case 20 and the planting transmission case connected to the rear part of the above-described lifting link mechanism 27.
The center float 34 or the side float 35 is provided with an angle sensor and is connected to a control unit for raising and lowering which will be described later.
Accordingly, the control unit appropriately controls the planting unit 4 by moving the lifting / lowering link mechanism 27 up and down by operating the lifting cylinder according to the float angle obtained from the angle sensor. The planting work can be done.
Markers 36 and 36 are provided on the pipes provided below the right and left side seedling mounts 16 so that the markers 36 and 36 can be protruded to the left and right sides by rotating the pipes. Marking is possible.
The above is description about the whole structure of the rice transplanter which concerns on the best form for implementing this invention.

Next, a meter panel of an agricultural work vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 1 or FIG. 2, the meter panel 7 of the rice transplanter 1 is disposed on the dashboard 5 in front of the operator seated on the seat 13 at a position near the center of the vehicle body that can be easily seen by the operator.

As shown in FIG. 3, on the meter panel 7, an automatic operation display lamp 41, a teaching display lamp 42, a GPS communication display lamp 43, an abnormality display lamp 44, an autonomous traveling position display lamp 45, an automatic operation switching SW 46, a teaching SW 47, and Autonomous operation SW48 etc. are provided. However, the arrangement positions of these switches, lamps, and the like are not limited to the arrangement positions shown in FIG. 3, and can be appropriately arranged at positions that take into consideration the operability of the operator.
The automatic operation display lamp 41 is configured to be lit during the automatic operation in which the automatic operation switch SW46 is switched to “automatic” and the autonomous operation SW48 is set to “on”. By checking the lighting state of, it is possible to grasp at a glance whether or not the vehicle is currently in automatic operation.
The teaching display lamp 42 is turned off when teaching is not being performed, and when the teaching SW 47 is pressed once and teaching is in progress, the lamp blinks, and further, the teaching SW 47 is pressed once again to teach. When the process is completed, the lamp is turned on. In this way, the operator can grasp the teaching state at a glance by confirming the lighting state of the teaching display lamp 42.
The GPS display lamp 43 is configured to be lit when the GPS unit 102 is communicable with a GPS satellite. When the operator confirms the lighting state of the GPS display lamp 43, positioning by the GPS unit 102 can be performed. It is configured so that it can be grasped at a glance whether or not it can be used.
The abnormality display lamp 44 is turned on when an abnormality occurs in each part or system of the rice transplanter 1, and when the operator confirms the lighting state of the abnormality display lamp 44, each part of the rice transplanter 1 is properly operated. It is set as the structure which can grasp | ascertain the operation state of the rice transplanter 1 at a glance about whether it is operating.

The autonomous travel position display lamp 45 includes a left shift display lamp 45a, a normal travel display lamp 45b, and a right shift display lamp 45c.
As shown in FIG. 4, in the present invention, when the autonomous operation SW 48 is “ON” and the rice transplanter 1 travels autonomously (S01), the rice transplanter 1 follows the target route generated by the processing unit 110. To drive autonomously. At this time, the actual travel route during autonomous travel is measured by the GPS unit 102 (S02), the difference (deviation amount) between the target route and the actual travel route is calculated by the processing unit 110 (S03), and a preset threshold value is obtained. And making a determination (S04).

When the amount of deviation is in a range that does not exceed the threshold, the normal travel display lamp 45b is turned on (S04), and the operator normally travels the rice transplanter 1 autonomously along the target route. It is configured so that it can be confirmed at a glance.
If the amount of deviation exceeds the threshold value, the direction of deviation relative to the reference line is detected for determination (S06), and if there is a deviation on the left side, the left-side deviation display lamp 45a. Is turned on (S07), and the steering device is corrected to the right according to the amount of deviation (S08). Alternatively, when there is a shift to the right, the right shift display lamp 45c is turned on (S09), and the steering device is corrected to the left according to the shift amount (S10).
That is, when the rice transplanter 1 travels on the target route, the vehicle body position is measured by the GPS unit 102, and the vehicle body travels autonomously along the target route.
As a result, the amount of deviation from the target route can be confirmed by measuring the actual travel position.
In this way, the operator is configured to be able to confirm at a glance that the rice transplanter 1 is traveling autonomously out of the target route, and the “ON” state of the autonomous operation SW 48 continues. During (S01), the above steps are repeated to autonomously travel along the target route while repeating the procedure for confirming the difference between the current position and the target route (S05).

That is, when the rice transplanter 1 includes the autonomous travel position display lamp 45 and the rice transplanter 1 travels autonomously along the target route, the GPS unit 102 measures the vehicle body position, and the processing unit 110 determines the target route and the actual route. The amount of deviation of the vehicle body position is obtained, and the amount of deviation is notified to the operator by the autonomous traveling position display lamp 45.
As a result, the operator can check the traveling state as to whether or not there is a deviation between the target route and the actual traveling route.

The automatic operation switching SW 46 is a switch for switching whether or not to perform autonomous driving, and allows the automatic traveling mode or the manual traveling mode to be selected depending on the rotation position of the switch. If the state is switched to the automatic operation mode, the autonomous operation SW 48 described later can be set to “ON” to perform the autonomous operation. In the state switched to the manual operation mode, the autonomous operation SW 48 can be changed. “Off” is set.
In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, an example in which a rotary switch is employed as the automatic operation switching SW 46 is shown, but the type of switch of the automatic operation switching SW 46 is not limited.

The teaching SW 47 is a switch for performing teaching work. In this embodiment, the teaching SW 47 is constituted by a push-in button type switch as shown in FIG.
When the operator wants to start teaching, teaching is started by pressing the teaching SW 47 once, and when the teaching is finished, the teaching work is ended by pressing the teaching SW 47 again.
In this embodiment, the teaching SW 47 is configured by a button-type push-in switch, but the type of switch applied to the present invention is not limited to this.

The autonomous operation SW 48 is a switch for switching the start and end of autonomous travel, and can be constituted by, for example, a lever-type switch. Then, the autonomous running is started when the autonomous operation SW 48 is set to “ON”, and the autonomous running is terminated when the autonomous operation SW 48 is set to “OFF”. However, the autonomous operation SW 48 can also be configured by a button-type push-in switch or the like.
In this embodiment, the autonomous operation SW 48 is configured by a lever type switch such as an automobile direction indicator. The autonomous operation SW 48 can be configured to be in the lower “ON” state and the upper “OFF” state, and the turning direction can be indicated by a substantially forward / backward rotation operation corresponding to the left and right. I can do it.
Accordingly, the operator can instruct the turning direction only by operating the autonomous operation SW 48 up and down or back and forth.
In the present embodiment, the autonomous operation SW 48 is configured by a button-type push-in switch or lever switch, but the type of the autonomous operation SW 48 switch applied to the present invention is not limited thereto. .
The above is the description of the meter panel of the agricultural work vehicle according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Next, GPS according to an embodiment applied to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
GPS (Global Positioning System) is a system originally developed for navigation support of aircraft, ships, etc., and it has 24 GPS satellites (six orbital planes) that orbit about 20,000 kilometers above the sky. It is composed of a control station for tracking and controlling GPS satellites, and a user receiver for positioning.
As a surveying method using GPS, there are various methods such as single positioning, relative positioning, DGPS (differential GPS) positioning, RTK-GPS (real-time kinematic-GPS) positioning, and in this embodiment, the measurement accuracy is high. RTK-GPS positioning system is adopted.

RTK-GPS (real-time kinematics-GPS) positioning is performed by simultaneously performing GPS observations at a reference station (reference station unit 104) whose position is known and an observation point (mobile station unit 103) whose position is to be obtained. In this method, the observed data is transmitted to the observation point in real time by a method such as wireless, and the position of the observation point is obtained in real time based on the position result of the reference station.
Specifically, phase measurement (relative positioning) is performed at both the reference station and the observation point, and the phase data observed at the reference station is transmitted to the observation point. The GPS receiver at the observation point determines the position of the observation point by analyzing the received data and the data transmitted from the reference station in real time.
The surveying method using GPS applied to the present invention may be the other method described above, and is not limited.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the GPS unit 102 which is one embodiment of the GPS of the present invention is mainly near the mobile station unit 103 mounted on the rice transplanter 1 main body and the farm field (paddy field in this embodiment). The reference station unit 104 installed in The reference station unit 104 serves as a reference station fixed to the ground, and the mobile station unit 103 functions as a mobile station (observation point) that seeks a position.

The mobile station unit 103 includes a GPS antenna 101 having an antenna 108, a signal processing unit 109, a signal storage unit 106, an operation casing 128 that houses the signal processing unit 109 and the signal storage unit 106, and the like. Is done.
In this embodiment, by operating a button or the like (not shown) on the operation housing 128, radio signals from the GPS satellites 125, 125,... Received by the antenna 108 of the GPS antenna 101 are signaled by wire or wirelessly. The signal is stored in the signal storage unit 106 (stored in the operation casing 128 in the present embodiment) through the processing unit 109 (stored in the operation casing 128 in the present embodiment).

In this embodiment, the GPS antenna 101 is attached to the upper end portion of the rod-shaped attachment pole 120, and the operation housing 128 is disposed below the GPS antenna 101. Thus, when the operator operates the operation housing 128, the radio signal is blocked by the operator and communication is not interrupted.
Further, when performing measurement while moving with the GPS antenna 101 such as when measuring a farm field, the GPS antenna 101 is always located above the head by having the mounting pole 120.

  Then, with the GPS antenna 101 and the mounting pole 120 attached to the rice transplanter 1, the information stored in the signal storage unit 106 is transmitted to the RTK calculation unit. The RTK calculation unit calculates information in the storage unit 105 that stores information transmitted from the reference station unit 104 (to be described later) and information transmitted from the signal storage unit 106 to recognize the vehicle body position.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 5, the reference station unit 104 includes a GPS antenna 114, a signal processing unit 115, a processing unit 116, an operation unit 117, a display unit 118, a wireless unit 119, and the like.
The radio signal from the GPS satellites 125, 125... Received by the GPS antenna 114 is analyzed by the signal processing unit 115 and converted into wireless data via the processing unit 116, etc. To the wireless unit 113 on the rice transplanter 1 side.
Thus, the information sent to the wireless unit 113 on the rice transplanter 1 side is stored in the storage unit 105 as described above, and the RTK calculation unit transmits the information transmitted from the signal storage unit 106, The vehicle body position is calculated based on the information stored in the storage unit 105.

  When the rice transplanter 1 starts to move, the radio signal from the GPS satellites 125, 125,... Received by the antenna 108 disposed on the side of the rice transplanter 1 is transmitted by wire or wirelessly. 109 and the like, and is transmitted to the RTK calculation unit. In the RTK calculation unit, information in the storage unit 105 that stores information transmitted from the reference station unit 104 and information transmitted from the signal processing unit 109 as needed. And the current position of the rice transplanter 1 is recognized.

  The operation unit 111 is an interface for performing setting for autonomous driving described later, and is connected to the processing unit 110 by a cable. The display unit 112 is connected to the processing unit 110 via a cable, and displays the status of data processing in the processing unit 110 and various settings input by the operation unit 111.

The processing unit 110 is a control unit including a CPU, a RAM, a ROM, and the like. The autonomous traveling program 121 is stored therein, and position information obtained by the GPS unit 102 and an internal sensor 122 connected to the processing unit 110. Based on signals from various sensors such as the tilt sensor 123 and the like, an autonomous traveling route in the field is generated and a command is issued to the autonomous traveling means 124 to cause the rice transplanter 1 to autonomously travel, or the autonomous traveling target route is determined. Is to be generated.
The autonomous traveling program 121 is a program for causing the rice transplanter 1 to perform rice transplanting work by autonomous traveling. Details of the autonomous traveling based on the autonomous traveling program 121 will be described later.

Further, as the autonomous traveling means 124, for example, a hydraulic actuator can be used, and the hydraulic actuator and the handle 14 are connected by a link mechanism or the like so that the hydraulic actuator can be expanded and contracted according to a signal from the processing unit 110. Thus, the steering wheel 14 can be rotated automatically to the left and right according to the expansion and contraction of the hydraulic actuator so as to be automatically steered. Thus, by feeding back the difference between the target route and the actual travel route to the processing unit 110, the handle 14 is automatically rotated even when the target route and the actual travel route are misaligned. Thus, the travel route can be corrected and the rice transplanter 1 can be autonomously traveled along the target route accurately. In addition, it is good also as a structure which uses a hydraulic motor etc. instead of the said hydraulic actuator.
The above is the description of the GPS according to one embodiment applied to the present invention.

Next, a method for generating a target route according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 6 or FIG.
As shown in FIG. 6 or FIG. 7, in order to generate a target route, a teaching operation is first performed to set a reference line.
The position of the vehicle body of the rice transplanter 1 is measured with reference to the position of the GPS antenna 101 provided in the rice transplanter 1, and the teaching SW 47 is pressed at the start of teaching, and the position of the GPS antenna 101 at the time of the pressing. Is stored in the storage unit 105 as a start point (point A) (S11), and the teaching SW 47 is pressed at the end of teaching, and the position of the GPS antenna 101 at the time of pressing is stored as the end point (point B). It is made to memorize | store in 105 (S12). Then, based on the information of the start point (point A) and the end point (point B) stored in the storage unit 105, a reference line (line segment AB) connecting the point A and the point B by the RTK calculation unit and the processing unit 110. ) And stored in the storage unit 105, and then the target route is generated by the processing unit 110 based on the reference line (line segment AB).

The generation of the target route is performed by the processing unit 110 based on information on the reference line (line segment AB) and information on the planting width a and the number of planting lines b set in the planting unit 4 of the rice transplanter 1. (S13).
That is, the target path interval W is obtained by the following equation.
W = a * b

In addition, in this example, since it is described taking a 6-planted riding rice transplanter as an example, when using all 6 planting claws, the number of planting strips b = 6, The target path interval W = 6a.
Then, N rows of linear target paths parallel to the reference line (line segment AB) and having a line-to-line distance (line interval) of 6a are generated.
In the present embodiment, N means an integer. When N is a negative integer, N rows of target paths are generated to the left with respect to the aircraft traveling direction. When the number is a positive integer, N series of target paths are generated to the right of the aircraft traveling direction. Further, when N = 0, a target route is generated on the traveling route of the aircraft (that is, overlapping with the teaching route).
In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, an example is shown in which planting work is started from the left front side of the field, line segment AB is determined, and N rows of target paths are generated on the right side of the figure. However, N columns of target paths can also be generated on the left side of the line segment AB, and the target paths can be generated in either the left or right direction from the reference line. Further, when N = 0, an infinite straight line on the reference line can be generated as the target route.
In addition, the work start position can be started from any of the four corners.

In other words, a rice transplanter that includes a GPS unit 102 and a processing unit 110, generates a teaching route by the processing unit 110 based on position information measured by the GPS unit 102, and autonomously travels along the teaching route. 1, with the vehicle body position at the start of teaching as the start point (point A) and the vehicle body position at the end of teaching as the end point (point B), the GPS unit 102 uses the start point (point A) and end point ( The point B) is measured, and the processing unit 110 generates a linear teaching path (line segment AB) connecting the start point (point A) and the end point (point B), and the linear teaching path ( Line AB) and the planting width a and the number of planting strips b set in the planting part 4 attached to the vehicle body, the straight teaching path (line segment AB) Te parallel and so as to generate the working width (i.e., distance multiplied by the planting Article number b to the planting width a) only spaced N linear target path of the.
As a result, it is possible to easily generate target paths at equal intervals.

Further, since the straight target path is generated as an infinite straight line in which each straight line does not have an end portion, it is outside the field including the line segment AB (that is, the range X and the range Y in FIG. 6, the pillow The target route also exists on the ground, so that the target route is not lost when the rice transplanter 1 is turned at the end of the field.
Further, when N = 0, an infinite straight line on the reference line can be generated as the target route. Therefore, if the teaching end point is set to a position before the end point (point B) (for example, point C in FIG. 6), It is also possible to generate an infinitely straight target route so as to overlap the line segment CB and to make the rice transplanter 1 autonomously travel straight on the target route after the point C.
The above is the description of the target route generation method according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Next, operation during autonomous traveling by the autonomous traveling program according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 6 or FIG.
In the following description, after completing the planting work on a certain target route (or reference line), the operation when moving to the next planting position and traveling autonomously will be described.
As shown in FIG. 8, in this embodiment, the operator steers at the end of the field (that is, the range X and range Y in FIG. 6 and the headland), and the other straight planting portion (start point (point By setting the autonomous operation SW 48 to “ON” at A) and the end point (point B), the planting operation can be performed by traveling parallel and linearly.
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 8, in the headland after the teaching is completed, the autonomous operation SW 48 is set to “OFF” and the operator turns (turns) by the operation of the operator.
When the automatic operation switching SW 46 is set to the “automatic” position, when the rice transplanter 1 reaches a straight target path (a line segment parallel to the line segment AB), the normal travel display lamp 45b is turned on (that In other positions, the left shift display lamp 45a or the right shift display lamp 45c is lit). At this time, the operator can determine that the aircraft is at a position that substantially matches the target route. When the autonomous operation SW 48 is set to “ON” at a position near the target route where the normal travel display lamp 45b is lit (when the rice transplanter 1 is at the position P), the position of the GPS antenna 101 at that time (that is, the vehicle body position) ) Is measured, and the rice transplanter 1 travels autonomously along the target route.

That is, when the rice transplanter 1 includes an autonomous operation SW 48 that turns autonomous driving on and off and sets the autonomous operation SW 48 to “ON”, the vehicle body position is measured by the GPS unit 102, and the target route closest to the vehicle body position is set. It is trying to run autonomously along.
As a result, the operator need only perform rough positioning while checking whether or not the aircraft is on the target route at the time of positioning, and autonomously travels along the target route after positioning. Therefore, positioning at the next process transition can be performed easily and with high accuracy, and as a result, the planting positions of the crops can be aligned with equal intervals with high accuracy.
This completes the description of the operation during autonomous traveling by the autonomous traveling program according to one embodiment of the present invention.

The side view which showed the whole structure of the rice transplanter which concerns on one Example of this invention. The top view which showed the whole structure of the rice transplanter similarly. The perspective view which similarly showed the structure of the meter panel part of a rice transplanter. The flowchart which shows the flow at the time of an autonomous running display lamp lighting similarly. The schematic diagram which showed the whole structure of the GPS apparatus which concerns on one Example of this invention. The schematic diagram which shows the target path | route produced | generated by this invention. The flowchart which shows the flow of the teaching operation | work which concerns on one Example of this invention. The schematic diagram which shows the behavior of the rice transplanter at the time of the autonomous running which concerns on one Example of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

1 Rice transplanter 4 Planting unit 102 GPS unit 110 Processing unit

Claims (4)

A GPS device;
With teaching path generation means,
Based on the position information measured by the GPS device,
A teaching path is generated by the teaching path generation means,
In an agricultural work vehicle that autonomously travels along the teaching path,
The body position at the start of teaching is the starting point, and
With the body position at the end of teaching as the end point,
With the GPS device,
Measure the start point and end point,
By the teaching path generation means,
Generating a linear teaching path connecting the start point and the end point; and
The linear teaching path;
Based on the work width set on the work implement attached to the car body,
Parallel to the linear teaching path,
Generating N linear target paths separated by the working width;
Agricultural work vehicle characterized by. The agricultural work vehicle is
When traveling on the target route,
The vehicle body position is measured by the GPS device,
Traveling autonomously along the target path,
The agricultural work vehicle according to claim 1. The agricultural work vehicle is
A switch for turning on and off the autonomous running;
When this switch is set to “On”,
The vehicle body position is measured by the GPS device,
Autonomously traveling along the target route closest to the vehicle body position;
The agricultural work vehicle according to claim 2. The agricultural work vehicle is
Provided with a deviation amount notification means,
The agricultural work vehicle,
When autonomously running along the target route,
The vehicle body position is measured by the GPS device,
The teaching path generation means obtains the amount of deviation between the target path and the actual vehicle body position,
By the deviation amount notification means,
Informing the operator of the amount of deviation;
The agricultural work vehicle according to claim 2 or claim 3, wherein

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