JP2015120566A - Cargo handling vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cargo handling vehicle capable of reducing an operator's burden, and appropriately detecting that an area behind the vehicle body has been visually recognized.SOLUTION: A forklift 1, which is a cargo handling vehicle, includes: a vehicle body 10 that can travel in a back and forth direction X and includes a cargo handling device 30 in the front; a boarding section 12 mounted on the vehicle body 10 for an operator to board; an operation section 20 provided in front of the boarding section 12, which is operated for controlling the vehicle body 10, etc.; a rear side camera 41 for photographing the operator from behind the boarding section 12; an image processing section for performing predetermined pattern recognition for an image including the operator photographed by the rear side camera 41; and a control section. The image processing section performs pattern recognition when the vehicle body 10 starts to travel backward so as to detect part of the face of the operator at the time when the operator turns his or her head and look behind the vehicle body 10, and the control section controls a predetermined operation based on the result of the detection of the part of the operator's face by the image processing section.

Description

  The present invention relates to a cargo handling vehicle that detects that the rear of a vehicle body has been visually confirmed.

  2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a cargo handling vehicle such as a forklift includes a vehicle body having a cargo handling device in the front, a riding part provided on the vehicle body, and an operation part provided in front of the riding part. The operator of the cargo handling vehicle gets on the boarding portion and controls the vehicle body and the cargo handling device by operating the operation portion.

  As a cargo handling vehicle in which the rear of the vehicle body can be easily confirmed, a forklift having a rear camera that captures the rear of the vehicle body and a monitor that displays an image captured by the rear camera is known (for example, see Patent Document 1). However, if there is a blind spot that is not photographed by the rear camera, or if the photographed image cannot be displayed in detail on the monitor, the rear of the vehicle body may not be sufficiently confirmed. Therefore, in order to sufficiently confirm the rear of the vehicle body, it is preferable to visually confirm the rear of the vehicle body.

  A forklift 101 shown in FIG. 5 is known as a cargo handling vehicle that detects that the rear of the vehicle body has been visually confirmed. The forklift 101 includes a push button switch 125 provided obliquely behind the riding section 112, and the push button switch 125 is tilted so that an operator W who is on the boarding section 112 faces the front and tilts the upper body. It is arranged so that it can be operated backwards. With such a configuration, the forklift 101 can detect that the rear of the vehicle body 110 has been visually confirmed based on the operation of the push button switch 125 by the operator W.

  However, in the configuration in which it is detected that the rear of the vehicle body has been confirmed based on the operation of the push button switch by the operator, the operation of the push button switch is necessary, so the distance from the riding section to the push button switch is long This creates a heavy burden on the operator. In addition, when an arbitrary push button switch operation is performed by the operator, it cannot be accurately detected that the rear of the vehicle body has been visually confirmed.

JP 2006-69778 A

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and is a cargo handling vehicle that can reduce the burden on the operator and can accurately detect that the rear of the vehicle body has been visually confirmed. The issue is to provide.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the cargo handling vehicle according to claim 1 is capable of traveling in the front-rear direction, and includes a vehicle body having a cargo handling device in front, a boarding unit provided on the vehicle body and on which an operator boardes, An operation unit provided in front of a boarding unit and operated to steer the vehicle body, at least one rear camera that images the operator from behind the boarding unit, and the image captured by the rear camera An image processing unit that performs a predetermined pattern recognition on an image including an operator and a control unit that controls a predetermined operation, and the image processing unit recognizes the pattern when the vehicle body tries to travel backward. When the operator turns to the rear of the vehicle body, at least a part of the operator's face is detected, and the control unit detects the operation by the image processing unit. And controlling the operation based on at least a portion of the detection result of the face of the chromatography data.

  The cargo handling vehicle according to claim 2 is the cargo handling vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the operation controlled by the control unit is an operation related to travel of the vehicle body, and the vehicle body tries to travel backward. The control unit suppresses traveling backward of the vehicle body when at least a part of the operator's face is not detected by the image processing unit, and at least a part of the operator's face is the image processing unit. When detected by the above, the vehicle is allowed to travel rearward.

  The cargo handling vehicle according to claim 3 is the cargo handling vehicle according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the operation controlled by the control unit is a notification operation performed to the operator, and the vehicle body travels backward. When trying to perform, the control unit performs the notification operation when at least a part of the operator's face is not detected by the image processing unit, and at least a part of the operator's face is the image processing unit. In the case where it is detected by the above, the notification operation is not performed.

  The cargo handling vehicle according to claim 4 is the cargo handling vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the rear camera is on the boarding unit from the right rear of the boarding unit. And a left rear camera for photographing the operator riding on the riding section from the left rear of the riding section.

  The cargo handling vehicle according to claim 5 is the cargo handling vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the head guard disposed above the riding section, and the head guard and the vehicle body are connected. The rear camera is provided on the support column.

  The cargo handling vehicle according to claim 6 is the cargo handling vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the image processing unit detects the line of sight of the operator based on detecting the eyes of the operator. It is characterized by doing.

  The cargo handling vehicle according to claim 7 is the cargo handling vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 6, further comprising a front camera that images the operator from the front of the boarding portion, and the image processing unit includes: The pattern recognition is performed on an image including the operator photographed by the front camera, thereby detecting at least a part of the operator's face when the operator faces the front of the vehicle body. To do.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a cargo handling vehicle that can reduce the burden on the operator and can accurately detect that the rear of the vehicle body has been visually confirmed.

It is a side view which simplifies and shows the forklift which is a cargo handling vehicle which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which simplifies and shows the forklift which concerns on the embodiment, Comprising: (A) is a rear view, (B) is a top view. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the forklift which concerns on the embodiment. It is a perspective view which shows the usage condition of the forklift which concerns on the embodiment. It is a perspective view which shows the usage condition of the forklift which concerns on a prior art example.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In addition, the front-back direction X represented by the arrow X in the figure, the left-right direction Y represented by the arrow Y in the figure, and the up-down direction Z represented by the arrow Z in the figure are directions orthogonal to each other.

As shown in FIG. 1, the cargo handling vehicle is a counterbalance forklift 1 including a vehicle body 10, an operation unit 20, a cargo handling device 30, a camera 40, and the like.
The vehicle body 10 includes a traveling device 10 </ b> D (see FIG. 3) that has a cargo handling device 30 in front and drives a front wheel 11 </ b> F that is a driving wheel, and is configured to travel in the front-rear direction X together with the cargo handling device 30. The vehicle body 10 includes a front wheel 11 </ b> F and a rear wheel 11 </ b> R, a riding part 12 on which an operator W (see FIG. 4) rides, a front column 13 and a rear column 14, and a head guard 15 disposed above the riding part 12. And an operation unit 20 operated by an operator W is provided. The riding section 12 is composed of a seat 12A with a backrest. The front column 13 is disposed in front of the seat 12A, and the rear column 14 is disposed behind the seat 12A. The front column 13 and the rear column 14 connect the vehicle body 10 and the head guard 15 and support the head guard 15. The head guard 15 is configured by a lattice-like structure.

  The operation unit 20 is provided in front of the boarding unit 12. The operation unit 20 includes a man-machine interface that is operated to steer the vehicle body 10 and includes a steering wheel 21, an accelerator pedal 22, a brake pedal 23, a selector 24, and the like. The steering wheel 21 is a steering unit for operating the steering angle of the rear wheel 11R. The accelerator pedal 22 is an acceleration instruction unit for accelerating the traveling of the vehicle body 10. The brake pedal 23 is a deceleration instruction unit for decelerating the travel of the vehicle body 10. The selector 24 is a traveling direction selection unit for selecting the traveling direction of the vehicle body 10.

  The cargo handling device 30 is provided in front of the operation unit 20 provided in the vehicle body 10. The cargo handling device 30 includes a mast 31 that can be expanded and contracted in the vertical direction Z, and a fork 32 that can be raised and lowered along the mast 31. The cargo handling device 30 is configured to be driven using a handling lever (not shown) for cargo handling.

  The camera 40 includes a rear camera 41 that captures the riding section 12 from the rear and a front camera 42 that captures the riding section 12 from the front. The rear camera 41 is attached to the rear column 14, and the front camera 42 is attached to the front end of the head guard 15.

The configuration of the camera 40 will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 2B, the head guard 15 shown in FIG. 2A and the like is not shown.
As shown in FIG. 2, the rear camera 41 includes a right rear camera 41R and a left rear camera 41L. The right rear camera 41R is attached to the right rear column 14R constituting the rear column 14, and images the space above the seat 12A from the diagonally right rear of the seat 12A. The left rear camera 41L is attached to the left rear column 14L constituting the rear column 14, and images the space above the seat 12A from the diagonally left rear of the seat 12A. Further, the front camera 42 captures a space above the seat 12A from an obliquely upper front of the seat 12A.

A configuration for controlling a predetermined operation using the rear camera 41 and the front camera 42 will be described with reference to FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, the forklift 1 performs an image processing unit 51 that performs a predetermined pattern recognition on an image, a notification unit 52 that performs a notification operation, and a predetermined operation based on a pattern recognition result of the image processing unit. And a control unit 53 for controlling.

  The image processing unit 51 is constituted by an integrated circuit for image processing, and detects characteristic portions appearing on the face of the operator W such as eyes, nose and mouth from images taken by the rear camera 41 and the front camera 42. Pattern recognition. The image processing unit 51 detects a part of the face of the operator W by performing pattern recognition.

  The notification unit 52 includes a speaker that outputs sound, a light-emitting lamp that emits light, or a display that outputs images and characters. The notification unit 52 performs a notification operation for emitting voice or light to the operator W.

  The control unit 53 is configured by an integrated circuit for controlling the traveling device 10D and the notification unit 52. The control unit 53 controls the operation related to the traveling of the vehicle body 10 by controlling the traveling device 10D. The control unit 53 controls the notification operation by controlling the notification unit 52. An acceleration signal is input to the control unit 53 by operating the accelerator pedal 22. Based on the acceleration signal, the control unit 53 causes the vehicle body 10 to travel forward in the forward mode, and causes the vehicle body 10 to travel rearward in the reverse mode. Switching between the forward mode and the reverse mode is performed based on a mode switching signal input to the control unit 53 by the operation of the selector 24. In addition, a signal indicating the detection result of the face of the operator W by the image processing unit 51 is input to the control unit 53.

Controls performed by the control unit 53 based on the detection result of the face of the operator W by the image processing unit 51 are described in the following (a1) to (a4).
(A1) When the eyes, nose, and mouth of the face of the operator W are not detected based on images taken by the right rear camera 41R and the left rear camera 41L after switching from the forward mode to the reverse mode (A2) After switching from the forward mode to the reverse mode, the eyes of the face of the operator W are based on the images taken by the right rear camera 41R or the left rear camera 41L. When the nose and mouth are detected, the vehicle body 10 travels backward based on the acceleration signal. (A3) Based on the image photographed by the front camera 42 after switching from the reverse mode to the forward mode. If the eyes, nose and mouth of the face of the operator W are not detected, the vehicle body 10 is not allowed to travel forward (a4 When the eyes, nose and mouth of the operator W are detected based on the image taken by the front camera 42 after switching from the reverse mode to the forward mode, the vehicle body 10 is moved forward based on the acceleration signal. Drive to

  Moreover, the control part 53 makes the alerting | reporting part 52 perform alerting | reporting operation | movement, when performing control as described in said (a1) and (a3). That is, the control unit 53 performs a notification operation when the eyes, nose and mouth of the operator W face are not detected, and performs the notification operation when the eyes, nose and mouth of the operator W are detected. Do not do.

In addition, after the vehicle body 10 starts to travel, in the following cases (b1) to (b3), the control unit 53 stops the vehicle body 10 from traveling and causes the notification unit 52 to perform a notification operation.
(B1) In the forward mode, when it is determined that the face of the operator W is facing in a direction other than the front for a long time based on the image captured by the front camera 42 (b2) In the forward mode, the image is captured by the front camera 42 When it is determined that the face of the operator W frequently faces directions other than the front based on the obtained image (b3) In the reverse mode, the image captured by the right rear camera 41R or the left rear camera 41L When it is determined that the face of the operator W is not facing backward for a predetermined time or more based on

The effect | action by the said structure is demonstrated.
An operator W who wants to travel the vehicle body 10 backward switches the forward mode from the forward mode by operating the selector 24, and inputs an acceleration signal to the control unit 53 by operating the accelerator pedal 22. At this time, as shown in FIG. 4, the face of the operator W facing the rear of the vehicle body 10 is photographed by the rear camera 41 from the rear of the riding section 12. The right rear camera 41R images the operator W riding on the riding section 12 from the right rear of the riding section 12, and the left rear camera 41L is riding on the riding section 12 from the left rear of the riding section 12. The operator W is photographed. The image processing unit 51 detects a part of the face of the operator W by performing pattern recognition on the image including the operator W taken by the rear camera 41. A part of the face of the operator W is detected from an image photographed by the right rear camera 41R or the left rear camera 41L from when the reverse mode is switched to when the acceleration signal is input to the control unit 53. In this case, the control unit 53 allows the vehicle body 10 to travel rearward and does not cause the notification unit 52 to perform a notification operation. Therefore, the vehicle body 10 travels backward based on the operation of the accelerator pedal 22.

  On the other hand, a part of the face of the operator W is detected from an image photographed by the right rear camera 41R or the left rear camera 41L from when the reverse mode is switched to when the acceleration signal is input to the control unit 53. If not, the control unit 53 prohibits the vehicle body 10 from traveling backward and causes the notification unit 52 to perform a notification operation.

In the present embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.
(1) The cargo handling vehicle (forklift 1) includes a vehicle body 10, a boarding unit 12, an operation unit 20, a rear camera 41, an image processing unit 51, and a control unit 53. The image processing unit 51 detects and controls at least a part of the face of the operator W when the operator W faces the rear of the vehicle body 10 by performing pattern recognition when the vehicle body 10 tries to travel backward. The unit 53 controls a predetermined operation based on the detection result of at least a part of the face of the operator W by the image processing unit 51. According to this configuration, the rear camera 41 and the image processing unit 51 can detect that the rear side of the vehicle body 10 has been visually confirmed. For this reason, for example, the operation of the push button switch 125 is not required compared to the configuration in which it is detected that the rear of the vehicle body 101 is confirmed based on the operation of the push button switch 125 (see FIG. 5) by the operator W. Thus, an arbitrary operation of the push button switch 125 by the operator W is not performed. Therefore, the burden on the operator W can be reduced, and it can be accurately detected that the rear of the vehicle body 10 has been visually confirmed.

  (2) When the vehicle body 10 is about to travel backward, the control unit 53 suppresses the vehicle body 10 from traveling backward when at least part of the face of the operator W is not detected by the image processing unit 51. When at least a part of the face of the operator W is detected by the image processing unit 51, the vehicle body 10 is allowed to travel backward. According to this configuration, when the rear side of the vehicle body 10 is not visually confirmed, if there is an obstacle (not shown) behind the vehicle body 10, the vehicle body 10 travels backward and the vehicle body 10 becomes an obstacle. It is possible to suppress the collision.

  (3) When the vehicle body 10 is about to travel backward, the control unit 53 performs a notification operation when at least a part of the face of the operator W is not detected by the image processing unit 51, When at least a part is detected by the image processing unit 51, the notification operation is not performed. According to this configuration, when the rear side of the vehicle body 10 is not visually confirmed, the operator W can be notified that the rear side of the vehicle body 10 is not visually confirmed, and the operator can confirm the rear side of the vehicle body 10. W can be urged.

  (4) The rear camera 41 includes a right rear camera 41R and a left rear camera 41L. According to this configuration, when the operator W who is on the riding part 12 facing forward faces his right back, the right rear camera 41R can accurately photograph the face of the operator W. In the case where the operator W who is on the boarding portion 12 facing forward is turned to the left rear, the left rear camera 41L can accurately photograph the face of the operator W. Accordingly, it is possible to accurately detect that the rear of the vehicle body 10 has been visually confirmed as compared with the case where the rear camera 41 is configured by only one of the right rear camera 41R and the left rear camera 41L. .

  (5) The cargo handling vehicle (forklift 1) includes a head guard 15 and a support column (rear support column 14), and a rear camera 41 is provided on the support column. According to this configuration, for example, compared to the configuration in which the rear camera 41 is provided in the head guard 15, the rear camera 41 can be provided at the same height as the face of the operator W boarded on the riding section 12. The face of the operator W can be captured more accurately by the rear camera 41.

  (6) The cargo handling vehicle (forklift 1) includes a front camera 42 that captures the operator W from the front of the riding section 12, and the image processing unit 51 applies a pattern to an image including the operator W captured by the front camera 42. By performing recognition, at least a part of the face of the operator W when the operator W faces the front of the vehicle body 10 is detected. According to this configuration, it is possible to detect that the traveling direction of the vehicle body 10 is visually confirmed not only when the vehicle body 10 travels backward but also when the vehicle body 10 travels forward.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and the above configuration can be changed as appropriate. For example, the following modifications can be implemented, and the following modifications can be combined.

  The image processing unit 51 may detect the line of sight of the operator W based on detecting the eyes of the operator W. The line of sight of the operator W is detected from, for example, the positional relationship between the corneal reflection in the eyes of the operator W and the pupil. According to this configuration, it is possible to more accurately detect that the rear of the vehicle body 10 has been visually confirmed by determining whether or not the line of sight of the operator W is facing the rear of the vehicle body 10.

  The control unit 53 may perform only the operation related to the traveling of the vehicle body 10 among the operation related to the traveling of the vehicle body 10 and the notification operation. Moreover, you may change the control content of the operation | movement which concerns on driving | running | working of the vehicle body 10. FIG. For example, the control unit 53 may perform control for reducing the traveling speed of the vehicle body 10 instead of the control for prohibiting the vehicle body 10 from traveling. That is, when a part of the face of the operator W is not detected by the image processing unit 51 based on the image taken by the rear camera 41 when the vehicle body 10 is going to travel backward, the face of the operator W Compared to a case where a part of the vehicle is detected by the image processing unit 51, it is only necessary that the vehicle body 10 is prevented from traveling.

Moreover, the control part 53 may suppress driving | running | working of the vehicle body 10, for example, when raising in the following (b4) or (b5).
(B4) When it is determined that the operator W is not wearing a helmet based on an image photographed by the right rear camera 41R, the left rear camera 41L, or the front camera 42 (b5) the right rear camera 41R or left When it is determined that the operator W is not a specific person set in advance based on an image photographed by the rear camera 41L or the front camera 42

  -The control part 53 may perform only alerting | reporting operation | movement among operation | movement which concerns on driving | running | working of the vehicle body 10, and alerting | reporting operation | movement. Further, the control unit 53 may control another operation different from both the operation related to the traveling of the vehicle body 10 and the notification operation.

  As long as at least a part of the face of the operator W when the operator W faces the rear of the vehicle body 10 can be detected, the rear camera 41 may be configured by one or three or more cameras. That is, the forklift 1 only needs to include at least one rear camera. Further, the arrangement of the rear camera 41 may be changed.

  The front camera 42 may be composed of two or more cameras. Further, the arrangement of the front camera 42 may be changed. Further, the forklift 1 may include only the rear camera 41 among the rear camera 41 and the front camera 42.

The image processing unit 51 and the control unit 53 may be configured by the same integrated circuit.
The present invention may be applied to other cargo handling vehicles (for example, a reach type forklift or a picking lift).

1 Forklift (handling vehicle)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Car body 10D Traveling apparatus 11F Front wheel 11R Rear wheel 12 Riding part 12A Seat 13 Front side support | pillar 14 Rear side support | pillar 14L Left rear side support | pillar 14R Right rear side support | pillar 15 Head guard 20 Operation part 21 Steering wheel 22 Accelerator pedal 23 Brake pedal 24 Selector 30 Cargo handling device 31 Mast 32 Fork 40 Camera 41 Rear camera 41L Left rear camera 41R Right rear camera 42 Front camera 51 Image processing unit 52 Notification unit 53 Control unit X Front-rear direction Y Left-right direction Z Vertical direction

Claims (7)

A vehicle body capable of traveling in the front-rear direction and having a cargo handling device in the front;
A boarding section provided on the vehicle body and on which an operator boardes;
An operation unit provided in front of the boarding unit and operated to steer the vehicle body;
At least one rear camera for photographing the operator from the rear of the riding section;
An image processing unit for performing a predetermined pattern recognition on an image including the operator photographed by the rear camera;
A control unit for controlling a predetermined operation,
The image processing unit detects at least a part of the operator's face when the operator faces the rear of the vehicle body by performing the pattern recognition when the vehicle body is going to travel backwards,
The said control part controls the said operation | movement based on the detection result of at least one part of the said operator's face by the said image process part. The cargo handling vehicle characterized by the above-mentioned. The operation controlled by the control unit is an operation related to travel of the vehicle body,
When the vehicle body tries to travel rearward, the control unit suppresses the vehicle body from traveling backward when at least a part of the operator's face is not detected by the image processing unit. The cargo handling vehicle according to claim 1, wherein when the image processing unit detects at least a part of a face, the vehicle is allowed to travel rearward. The operation controlled by the control unit is a notification operation performed to the operator. When the vehicle body is going to travel backward, the control unit is configured so that at least a part of the operator's face is the image. The notification operation is performed when not detected by a processing unit, and the notification operation is not performed when at least a part of the face of the operator is detected by the image processing unit. Or the cargo handling vehicle of 2 description. The rear camera includes a right rear camera that captures the operator riding in the riding section from the right rear of the riding section, and the operator boarding the riding section from the left rear of the riding section. The cargo handling vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the cargo handling vehicle is configured by a left rear camera for photographing. A head guard disposed above the riding section;
And further comprising a column connecting the head guard and the vehicle body,
The cargo handling vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the rear camera is provided on the support column. The cargo handling vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the image processing unit detects a line of sight of the operator based on detecting eyes of the operator. A front camera for photographing the operator from the front of the boarding section;
The image processing unit recognizes at least a part of the operator's face when the operator faces the front of the vehicle body by performing the pattern recognition on the image including the operator photographed by the front camera. It detects. The cargo handling vehicle as described in any one of Claims 1-6 characterized by the above-mentioned.

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