JP2022181864A - Flying object control system and luggage management system - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a flying object control system having high flight stability even in a warehouse.SOLUTION: A flying object control system 10 includes a carrier vehicle 50 moving on the ground and a flying object 40 levitating and flying from the ground into the air. The flying object 40 includes an illumination unit 48 for emitting light in a ground direction. The carrier vehicle 50 includes an imaging unit 57 for capturing an image of the illumination unit 48 and a control unit for performing flight control of the flying object 40 so that a position of an image of the illumination unit 48 is positioned near a predetermined position of the captured image of the imaging unit 57 based on a relative two-dimensional coordinate of the illumination unit 48 as viewed from a predetermined position of the captured image of the imaging unit 57 using the image of the illumination unit 48 captured by the imaging unit 57.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to an aircraft control system having an aircraft that flies in a warehouse, and to a package management system that uses this aircraft control system to manage packages in the warehouse.

As a technique for managing packages in a warehouse, there has been proposed a method of managing the presence or absence of packages in a warehouse and the installation location thereof by reading an identification code assigned to the package. Recently, by using drones that fly inside the warehouse to obtain information on packages stored on high racks in the warehouse, it is possible to reduce the load of inspection and inventory work of packages in the warehouse. Techniques have also been proposed.

For example, Patent Literatures 1 and 2 propose a package management system that includes a drone equipped with a camera that captures images of packages in a warehouse, and a mobile device that is connected to the drone by a cable and moves within the warehouse. there is Since the cable to the mobile device is used to charge the power supply for driving the drone, it is possible to acquire images over a long period of time using the drone's camera.

JP 2017-218325 A JP 2019-167177 A

Here, when managing packages using images taken by drone cameras, it is necessary to accurately read identification codes such as barcodes attached to packages. requires stable hovering control. There are drones that perform hovering control using optical flow sensors in warehouses where GPS signals cannot be received, but when it is difficult to acquire images of the ground, such as in warehouses at night, or when a mobile device on the ground moves significantly. For example, the hovering control of the drone using the optical flow sensor may become unstable, resulting in inaccurate reading of the identification code, resulting in the problem that it takes time to read the identification code.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the problems described above, and provides an aircraft control system having high flight stability even in a warehouse, and a cargo management system using the aircraft control system. intended to provide

In order to solve the above-described problems, the aircraft control system of the present invention includes a carrier that moves on the ground and an aircraft that levitates and flies from the ground. An illumination unit that emits light is provided, the transport vehicle includes a first imaging unit that captures an image of the illumination unit, and the image of the illumination unit captured by the first imaging unit is used to perform the first obtaining relative two-dimensional coordinates of the illumination unit viewed from a predetermined position of the captured image of the imaging unit, and determining the position of the image of the illumination unit in the first imaging unit based on the relative two-dimensional coordinates a control unit that controls the flight of the flying object so that it is located near the predetermined position of the captured image.

Further, a baggage management system of the present invention is a baggage management system equipped with the flying vehicle control system described above, and includes an identification code given to each of a plurality of baggage placed in a warehouse, and an identification code assigned to each of the plurality of baggages. and a baggage management device for managing the aircraft, wherein the flying object includes: a second imaging section for imaging the identification code; and image information captured by the second imaging section or an image captured by the second imaging section. and a transmission unit for transmitting information of the identification code read from the carrier to the carrier, and the carrier associates the information received from the aircraft with the reception time information of the received information, and transmits the information to the baggage management device. The parcel management device is configured to manage the position of the parcel within the warehouse based on the position of the transport vehicle within the warehouse and the reception time information.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an aircraft control system having high flight stability even in a warehouse, and to provide a baggage management system using the aircraft control system.

FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of an aircraft control system and a baggage management system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an example of functional blocks of an aircraft and a carrier that constitute an aircraft control system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining movement of the flying object in the embodiment of the present invention. 4A and 4B are diagrams for explaining the movement of the carrier according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. FIG. 5 is an example of an operation sequence of the package management system according to the embodiment of the invention. FIG. 6 is an example of package management data in the embodiment of the invention. FIG. 7 is another example of the configuration of the aircraft control system and the baggage management system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The present invention can be implemented in various embodiments, and is not limited to the embodiments described below.

<Configuration of aircraft control system and baggage management system>
FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of an aircraft control system and a baggage management system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The aircraft control system 10 of FIG. 1 comprises a carrier 50 that moves on the ground and an aircraft 40 that levitates and flies from the ground. The package management system 20 is configured to use the information acquired by the aircraft control system 10 to manage packages 4 stacked in multiple stages on the multi-level racks 3 in the warehouse 1 .

Each package 4 is given a unique identification code 5 for identifying each package, and the identification code 5 read from the image captured by the camera unit 41 (second imaging unit) mounted on the aircraft 40 Each package 4 is configured to be identifiable. The cargo management system 20 uses the identification code 5 read from the image captured by the camera unit 41 mounted on the aircraft 40 flying in the warehouse 1 to manage the presence or absence of the cargo 4 in the warehouse 1 and the installation position. conduct.

The transport vehicle 50 moves in the warehouse 1 toward the target 2, and the flying object 40 flies in the warehouse 1 while hovering over the transport vehicle 50. - 特許庁The flying object 40 performs autonomous control using an optical flow sensor and also performs hovering control based on a control signal from the carrier 50 . The transport vehicle 50 controls its position and attitude so that the flying object 40 hovers above the transport vehicle 50 based on the captured image of the lighting unit 48 provided in the lower part of the flying object 40 and emitting light toward the ground. .

The guided vehicle 50 acquires an image of the lighting unit 48 of the flying object 40 with an upward-facing camera unit 57 (first imaging unit), and uses the acquired image so that the flying object 40 hovers above the guided vehicle 50 . Secondly, it controls the position and attitude of the aircraft 40 . In this embodiment, the position and attitude of the flying object 40 are controlled by the control signal from the carrier 50 using the image of the lighting unit 48 of the flying object 40. Therefore, when the carrier 50 moves, the flying object Even if the autonomous control of hovering by 40 becomes unstable, the flying object 40 can fly while following the movement of the carrier 50 .

The baggage management system 20 manages the presence or absence of the baggage 4 in the warehouse 1 and the location of the baggage 4 based on the information of the identification code 5 read from the image captured by the camera unit 41 mounted on the aircraft 40 flying in the warehouse 1. . The presence or absence of the package 4 in the warehouse 1 can be managed by grasping the identification code 5 , and the position of the package 4 can be managed by associating it with the position of the transport vehicle 50 in the warehouse 1 .

Although the package management system of FIG. 1 is intended for a multi-tiered rack warehouse in which packages 4 are stored in multi-tiered racks 3, the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention is a flat warehouse in which packages 4 are stacked in multiple levels. It can also be applied to other forms of warehouse such as.

<Structure of flying object and transport vehicle>
FIG. 2 is an example of functional blocks of an aircraft and a carrier that constitute an aircraft control system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The guided vehicle 50 has a traveling function for self-propelled within the warehouse 1, and controls a camera section 51 (third imaging section) for acquiring image information of the target 2, a drive section 53, and transmits/receives information. , a driving unit 53 for traveling within the warehouse 1, a wireless unit 54 for transmitting and receiving signals to and from the aircraft 40 and the baggage management device 60, and a storage unit for storing various information. A memory 55, a battery 56 for operating each unit, a camera unit 57 for acquiring image information of the illumination unit 48 (first illumination unit) of the aircraft 40, and based on the image acquired by the camera unit 57, A flight control unit 58 is provided to control the position and attitude of the aircraft 40 . The transport vehicle 50 can self-travel along a predetermined route in the warehouse 1 based on the image information of the target 2 acquired by the mounted camera unit 51 .

The flight control unit 58 controls the position and attitude of the flying object 40 so that the flying object 40 hovers above the carrier 50 using the image of the lighting unit 48 of the flying object 40 acquired by the camera unit 57 facing upward. do. In this embodiment, the flight control unit 58 controls the position and attitude of the flying object 40 using the image of the lighting unit 48 of the flying object 40. Therefore, when the carrier 50 moves, the flying object 40 hovering Even if the autonomous control of the carrier becomes unstable, the flying object 40 can fly while following the movement of the carrier 50. - 特許庁

The flying object 40 includes a camera unit 41 for acquiring image information of the identification code of the baggage 4, a central processing unit 42 for performing processing such as reading the identification code 5 from the image information and transmitting the identification code 5, and a propeller. 47, a wireless unit 44 functioning as a transmitting unit for transmitting captured image information or information of the identification code 5 read from the captured image, a memory 45 for storing various information, etc., each unit , a propeller 47 for causing the aircraft 40 to fly, and an illumination unit 48 directed toward the ground.

Drive control of the propeller 47 mounted on the flying object 40 is based on the control signal from the flight control unit 58 using the image of the lighting unit 48 of the flying object 40 in addition to the autonomous control using the optical flow sensor. The control that is done is done. By using the control of the transport vehicle 50 together, the flying object 40 can fly while following the movement of the transport vehicle 50 even when the autonomous control of hovering by the flying object 40 becomes unstable.

<Hovering control of flying object>
FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining movement of the flying object in the embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3, the flying object 40 moves the guided vehicle 50 while hovering over the guided vehicle 50 based on the control signal from the guided vehicle 50 based on the image information of the illumination unit 48 of the flying object 40. can move in the warehouse 1 by following.

At the stage (1) of FIG. 3 , the transport vehicle 50 is stationary and the flying object 40 is controlled to hover above the transport vehicle 50 . Hovering control when the transport vehicle 50 is stationary is mainly performed by autonomous control by the flying object 40 .

In the stage (2) of FIG. 3, the transport vehicle 50 moves toward the target 2, and according to the movement distance of the transport vehicle 50, the position of the aircraft 40 slides from above the transport vehicle 50 compared to before the movement. Therefore, the transport vehicle 50 controls the position of the flying object 40 so that the position of the flying object 40 moves above the transport vehicle 50 . The relative position of the flying object 40 with respect to the carrier 50 can be controlled by the position of the illumination unit in the image acquired by the camera unit 57, and the height of the flying object 40 is controlled by the size of the image of the illumination unit 48. can do.

Specifically, since the position of the image of the illumination unit 48 has slid from the center of the image, the relative two-dimensional coordinates (-X, -Y) of the illumination unit 48 viewed from the center of the image are obtained, Based on these relative two-dimensional coordinates, the position of the image of the illumination unit 48 is slid (+X, +Y), and the flying object 40 is controlled so that the illumination unit 48 is positioned near the center of the image. , the flying object 40 can be moved above the carrier 50 .

The stage (3) in FIG. 3 is a state in which the control signal from the carrier 50 in (2) controls the flying object 40 so that the lighting unit 48 is positioned near the center of the image. be. In (3), the aircraft 40 is controlled to hover above the carrier 50 in the same manner as in (1). Hovering control when the transport vehicle 50 is stationary is mainly performed by autonomous control by the flying object 40 .

In the present embodiment, the position of the illumination unit 48 in the image of the camera unit 57 serving as the reference is exemplified in the center of the image, but the reference position is not limited to the center of the image. Any predetermined position can be appropriately set as the reference position. Also, the number and arrangement of the illumination units 48 are not limited to the above-described forms. For example, it is possible to change the number and arrangement positions of the lighting units 48 according to various forms of the flying object 40 and adopt a control algorithm for the flying object 40 according to the form of the lighting units 48 .

In the present embodiment, the carrier 50 is moved along a predetermined movement route in the warehouse 1, and the flying object 40 is controlled to hover above the carrier 50. 50 can be moved. By performing hovering control of the flying object 40 using the image of the lighting unit 48 provided on the flying object 40 and using the control signal from the carrier 50, the hovering control by the optical flow sensor of the flying object 40 is unstable. Even in such a situation, more stable hovering control of the flying object 40 becomes possible.

By stabilizing the hovering control of the flying object 40 that reads the identification code 5, the identification code 5 can be safely and reliably read using the image captured by the camera unit 41 of the flying object 40. By reading the identification code 5 with the body 40, it is possible to provide a package management system that can manage packages in the warehouse 1 safely and reliably.

<Transportation of transport vehicles in the warehouse>
4A and 4B are diagrams for explaining the movement of the carrier according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. In FIG. 4, the moving operation of the transport vehicle 50 from a stationary state at the starting point to moving toward the target 2 until reaching the target 2 will be described. Note that in FIG. 4, description of the flight control of the flying object 40 that flies following the carrier 50 is omitted.

At stage (1) in FIG. 4, the camera unit 51 obtains an image of the surroundings, and the target 2 is searched using the obtained image. The transport vehicle 50 starts moving toward the captured image of the target 2 as a result of the search.

At the stage of (2) in FIG. 4, the image of the target 2 has been captured, so the transport vehicle 50 moves in the direction in which the size of the image of the target 2 becomes larger. As the transport vehicle 50 approaches the target 2 , the image of the target 2 becomes larger, so it can be confirmed that the transport vehicle 50 is moving toward the target 2 .

At the stage of (3) in FIG. 4, the size of the target 2 exceeds the predetermined size, so the transport vehicle 50 determines that it has reached the vicinity of the target 2 and stops moving.

In FIG. 4, a case where a circular target 2 is used has been described, but the target 2 may be of other shapes, such as a bar code or illumination. Other methods can also be used as a method of moving the carrier 50 . For example, an image of lines arranged on the floor of the warehouse 1 may be acquired and the carrier 50 may be moved along the image.

<Operating Sequence of Package Management System>
An operation sequence in the baggage management system will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is an example of an operation sequence of the package management system according to the embodiment of the invention.

When the package 4 to which the identification code 5 is assigned is carried into the warehouse 1 and placed at a predetermined position, the flying object 40 captures an image of the package 4 including the identification code 5 with the camera unit 41 mounted thereon. It acquires, reads the identification code 5 from the acquired image information, and transmits the read code information to the transport vehicle 50 . The flying object 40 transmits code information while flying in the warehouse 1 along a predetermined movement route.

When the information of the identification code 5 is received, the transport vehicle 50 saves the code information of the identification code 5 and the reception time information of the code information. Here, the flying object 40 may transmit the acquired image information to the transport vehicle 50, and the transport vehicle 50 may read the information of the identification code 5 from the acquired image information.

While receiving code signals and image information from the aircraft 40, the carrier 50 collects reception time information such as code information. Send to the management device 60 .

The code information of the identification code 5 corresponding to the package 4 is registered in advance in the package management device 60, and the code information and the reception time of the code information are obtained for each package 4 using the information received from the transport vehicle 50. Package management data for managing information is configured.

Here, the transport vehicle 50 is moved along a predetermined moving route in the warehouse 1 so that the position in the warehouse 1 at a predetermined time can be specified, and based on the reception time information of the code signal in the transport vehicle 50 , the position of the transport vehicle 50 within the warehouse 1 at the reception time can be specified, and the position of the package 4 within the warehouse 1 can be specified based on the specified position of the transport vehicle 50 .

If the image information of the identification code 5 is acquired while the flying object 40 is stably hovering above the carrier 50, the position of the package 4 in the warehouse 1 can be specified more accurately. It becomes possible.

<Baggage management data>
FIG. 6 is an example of package management data in the embodiment of the invention. This package management data is stored in the package management device 60 .

The parcel management device 60 manages the presence or absence of the parcel 4 assigned the identification code 5 and the position in the warehouse 1 based on the code information received from the transport vehicle 50 . This parcel management data manages parcel information, code information, and reception time information of the code information for each parcel. In addition to these pieces of information, information indicating the position of the package 4 within the warehouse 1 may be registered.

<Other embodiments>
FIG. 7 is another example of the configuration of the aircraft control system and the baggage management system according to the embodiment of the present invention. In the configuration of FIG. 7 , in addition to the configuration of FIG. 1 , the carrier 50 has a plurality of lighting units 59 (second lighting units), and the aircraft 40 has a plurality of lighting units 48 .

With the configuration of FIG. 7 , the carrier 50 can perform flight control of the aircraft 40 using the images of the plurality of illumination units 48 . Since the orientation of the flying object 40 can be grasped by using the images of the plurality of illumination units 48 , the orientation of the flying object 40 can be controlled in addition to the position and height of the flying object 40 . Further, by using information about the intervals between the plurality of lighting units 48, it is possible to improve the control accuracy of the height of the flying object 40 even when the flying object 40 is tall.

In the configuration of FIG. 7, the flying object 40 acquires images of a plurality of lighting units 59 with the camera unit 41, and can perform autonomous hovering control by optical flow using these images. Compared with the configuration of FIG. 1, there is an advantage that the autonomous hovering control of the flying object 40 is stabilized. In particular, hovering control using the illumination unit 59 installed on the transport vehicle 50 is effective when it is difficult to obtain an image of the ground such as in a warehouse at night or in a warehouse with extremely high racks.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to provide an aircraft system having high flight stability even in a situation where the optical flow control of the aircraft becomes unstable in the warehouse. By managing the status of packages using the aircraft control system with high flight stability, it is possible to provide a package management system that safely and reliably manages the presence or absence and position of packages in the warehouse.

1... warehouse, 2... target, 3... multi-level rack, 4... package, 5... identification code, 10... aircraft control system, 20... package management system, 40... aircraft, 41... camera unit (second imaging unit ), 42... Central processing unit, 43... Drive unit, 44... Wireless unit, 45... Memory, 46... Battery, 47... Propeller, 48... Illumination unit (first illumination unit), 50... Transport vehicle, 51... Camera Unit (third imaging unit) 52 Central processing unit 53 Driving unit 54 Wireless unit 55 Memory 56 Battery 57 Camera unit (first imaging unit) 58 Flight control unit , 59... Lighting unit (second lighting unit), 60... Package management device.

Claims (4)

Equipped with a carrier that moves on the ground and a flying object that floats in the air from the ground,
The flying object includes a first lighting unit that emits light toward the ground,
The transport vehicle includes a first imaging unit that captures an image of the first illumination unit, and the first imaging is performed using the image of the first illumination unit captured by the first imaging unit. obtaining the relative two-dimensional coordinates of the first illumination unit viewed from a predetermined position of the captured image of the unit, and determining the position of the image of the first illumination unit based on the relative two-dimensional coordinates; 1. An aircraft control system comprising: a control unit that controls flight of the aircraft so that the aircraft is positioned near the predetermined position in the captured image of the imaging unit. The flying object includes a plurality of the first lighting units,
The flying object control system according to claim 1, wherein the transport vehicle controls the direction of the flying object using a plurality of images of the first lighting unit captured by the first imaging unit. The flight according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the transport vehicle includes a second illumination unit, and the flying object uses an image of the second illumination unit to perform autonomous hovering control using an optical flow sensor. body control system. A baggage management system comprising the aircraft control system according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
An identification code assigned to each of a plurality of packages placed in a warehouse, and a package management device for managing the plurality of packages,
The aircraft is
a second imaging unit that captures the identification code; and image information captured by the second imaging unit or information of the identification code read from the image captured by the second imaging unit is transmitted to the transport vehicle. a transmitter for
The transport vehicle is
a transmission unit that associates information received from the flying object with reception time information of the received information and transmits the information to the baggage management device;
The baggage management device is
A package management system configured to manage the location of the package within the warehouse based on the location of the transport vehicle within the warehouse and the reception time information.

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