JP2023167210A - Unmanned transportation system - Google Patents

Abstract

To automatically stop an unmanned transportation vehicle before it interferes with an obstacle, and to enable surrounding workers to easily and efficiently move the obstacle that caused the vehicle to stop.SOLUTION: An unmanned transportation system includes: an object detection sensor; an obstacle detection unit that detects whether the object detected by the object detection sensor is an obstacle 5 placed in the travelable area of an unmanned transportation vehicle 10; a passage area calculation unit that calculates an expected passage area R of the unmanned transportation vehicle 10 along a planned travel route; an interference prediction unit that predicts whether or not the unmanned transportation vehicle 10 will interfere with the obstacle 5 based on position information of the obstacle 5 and the expected passage area R of the unmanned transportation vehicle 10 calculated by the passage area calculation unit; a travel control unit that stops the travel of the unmanned transportation vehicle 10 when the interference prediction unit predicts that interference will occur; an interference information calculation unit that calculates interference-related information (table T) related to interference; and a notification unit 62 that notifies the interference-related information.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

The present invention provides an automatic guided vehicle, a travel route determination unit that determines a scheduled travel route for the automatic guided vehicle, and travel control that causes the automatic guided vehicle to travel along the scheduled travel route determined by the travel route determination unit. The present invention relates to an unmanned transportation system comprising:

Conventionally, as an example of the above-mentioned unmanned transport system, the unmanned transport system disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-042148 (Patent Document 1 below) is known. This unmanned transportation system includes a storage unit that stores an environmental map, a travel route determination unit that determines a scheduled travel route from the self-position on the environmental map to a travel destination, and a travel route determined by the travel route determination unit. The vehicle is equipped with a travel control section that causes the automatic guided vehicle to travel along the road, and an obstacle detection section that detects obstacles. The traveling control section causes the automatic guided vehicle to travel along the avoidance route when the obstacle is detected by the obstacle detection section. Then, the automatic guided vehicle travels to the destination while avoiding obstacles while repeating the detection of obstacles and the search for an avoidance route. On the other hand, if the travel control unit cannot find an avoidance route, the automatic guided vehicle will stop near the obstacle.

In the automatic guided vehicle system disclosed in Patent Document 1, the automatic guided vehicle is configured to perform avoidance travel to avoid obstacles. A system that immediately stops an automated guided vehicle without searching for a route is also known.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-042148

In the conventional automated guided vehicle system described above, if the automated guided vehicle stops due to an obstacle, the operator can move the obstacle to a position where it will not interfere with the automated guided vehicle and restart the automated guided vehicle. can be done. However, for example, if there are multiple obstacles around the automated guided vehicle, the operator cannot easily determine which obstacle is causing the automated guided vehicle to stop, and the operator cannot move the obstacle. There is a problem that the work cannot be done efficiently. Furthermore, even if the worker were able to identify the obstacle that caused the vehicle to stop, it would depend on the worker's sense (intuition) as to which direction and how much to move the identified obstacle. . For this reason, when a worker moves an obstacle, the distance to be moved may be too long, or the worker may be forced to move the object multiple times because it is not enough to move it once.As a result, work efficiency may be reduced. There is a problem in that it causes a decrease in

Additionally, in conventional automated guided vehicle systems, when an automated guided vehicle is stopped, the operator cannot determine whether the cause is a malfunction of the automated guided vehicle or the presence of an obstacle. There is a problem that recovery work takes time.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and it automatically stops an automatic guided vehicle before it interferes with an obstacle, and also moves the obstacle that caused the stop to the surrounding area. The purpose is to enable workers to perform operations easily and efficiently.

One aspect of the present invention for solving the above problem is:
An automatic guided vehicle, a travel route determination unit that determines a scheduled travel route for the automatic guided vehicle, and a travel control unit that causes the automatic guided vehicle to travel along the scheduled travel route determined by the travel route determination unit. An unmanned transportation system equipped with
an object detection sensor mounted on the automatic guided vehicle that detects an object existing within a predetermined range from the automatic guided vehicle and outputs position information that allows the position of the object to be specified;
an obstacle detection unit that detects whether the object detected by the object detection sensor is an obstacle placed in a travelable area of the automatic guided vehicle;
a passage area calculation unit that calculates a planned passage area of the automatic guided vehicle along the planned travel route when the object is detected as an obstacle by the obstacle detection unit;
Based on the scheduled passage area of the automatic guided vehicle calculated by the passage area calculation unit and the position information of the obstacle outputted from the object detection sensor, the automatic guided vehicle is guided along the scheduled travel route. an interference prediction unit that predicts whether or not the vehicle will interfere with the obstacle if the vehicle continues to travel;
The travel control unit is configured to stop the automatic guided vehicle before interfering with the obstacle when the interference prediction unit predicts that the interference will occur,
an interference information calculation unit that calculates interference-related information related to the interference when the interference prediction unit predicts that the interference will occur;
The present invention relates to an unmanned transportation system further comprising a notification unit that reports the interference-related information calculated by the interference information calculation unit.

According to the automatic guided vehicle system of this aspect (first aspect), when an object within a predetermined range from the automatic guided vehicle is detected by the object detection sensor mounted on the automatic guided vehicle, the obstacle detection unit detects the object. It is determined whether or not the object is an obstacle placed in the travelable area, and if it is determined that the object is an obstacle, the passage area calculation unit calculates the area where the automatic guided vehicle is scheduled to pass along the scheduled travel route. is calculated. Then, based on the expected passage area of the automatic guided vehicle calculated by the passage area calculation unit and the position information of the obstacle outputted from the object detection sensor, it is determined whether the automatic guided vehicle will interfere with the obstacle. is predicted by the interference prediction unit. When the interference prediction unit predicts that the automatic guided vehicle will interfere with an obstacle, the automatic guided vehicle stops traveling under the control of the travel control unit, and the interference information calculation unit predicts that the automatic guided vehicle will interfere with an obstacle. Interference related information related to interference between the automatic guided vehicle and the obstacle is calculated. The interference related information calculated by the interference information calculation section is notified to surrounding workers by the notification section. Therefore, based on the interference-related information reported by the notification unit, surrounding workers can recognize that the cause of the automatic guided vehicle's stoppage is not due to a malfunction or the like but to an obstacle, and can also take steps to restart the automatic guided vehicle's operation. The work of moving obstacles can be performed efficiently.

Other aspects of the invention include:
An automatic guided vehicle, a travel route determination unit that determines a scheduled travel route for the automatic guided vehicle, and a travel control unit that causes the automatic guided vehicle to travel along the scheduled travel route determined by the travel route determination unit. An unmanned transportation system equipped with
an object detection sensor mounted on the automatic guided vehicle that detects an object existing within a predetermined range from the automatic guided vehicle and outputs position information that allows the position of the object to be specified;
an obstacle detection unit that detects whether the object detected by the object detection sensor is an obstacle placed in a travelable area of the automatic guided vehicle;
a passage area calculation unit that calculates a planned passage area of the automatic guided vehicle along the planned travel route when the object is detected as an obstacle by the obstacle detection unit;
Based on the expected passage area of the automatic guided vehicle calculated by the passage area calculation unit and the position information of the obstacle outputted from the object detection sensor, the automatic guided vehicle moves along the scheduled travel route. an interference prediction unit that predicts whether or not there will be interference with the obstacle if the vehicle continues to travel;
an interference information calculation unit that calculates interference-related information related to the interference when the interference prediction unit predicts that the interference will occur;
comprising a notification unit that reports the interference-related information calculated by the interference information calculation unit,
When the interference prediction unit predicts that the automatic guided vehicle and the obstacle will interfere, the travel route determination unit determines whether there is an avoidance route that can avoid the interference, If it is determined that the avoidance route exists, the current scheduled travel route is updated to the avoidance route;
The travel control unit is configured to stop the automatic guided vehicle before interfering with the obstacle when the travel route determination unit determines that there is no avoidance route that can avoid the interference. ,
The notification unit is configured to notify the interference-related information calculated by the interference information calculation unit when the travel route determination unit determines that there is no avoidance route that can avoid the interference. This relates to unmanned transportation systems.

According to the automatic guided vehicle system of this aspect (second aspect), when the interference prediction unit predicts that the automatic guided vehicle will interfere with an obstacle, the travel route determination unit determines an avoidance route that can avoid the interference. It is determined whether or not an avoidance route exists, and if it is determined that an avoidance route exists, the current scheduled travel route is updated to the avoidance route, and under the control of the travel control unit, the automatic guided vehicle follows the updated avoidance route. run along. On the other hand, if the travel route determination unit determines that there is no avoidance route that avoids interference between the automatic guided vehicle and the obstacle, the current scheduled travel route is not updated. If the scheduled travel route is not updated, the interference prediction unit determines that the automatic guided vehicle will interfere with the obstacle. As a result, the automatic guided vehicle stops traveling under the control of the travel control unit, and the interference information calculation unit calculates interference-related information related to the interference between the automatic guided vehicle and the obstacle predicted by the interference prediction unit. be done. The interference related information calculated by the interference information calculation section is notified to surrounding workers by the notification section. Therefore, based on the interference-related information reported by the notification unit, surrounding workers can recognize that the cause of the automatic guided vehicle's stoppage is not due to a malfunction or the like but to an obstacle, and can also take steps to restart the automatic guided vehicle's operation. The work of moving obstacles can be performed efficiently.

The interference information calculation unit is configured to determine, when the interference prediction unit predicts that interference between the automatic guided vehicle and the obstacle will occur, the expected passage area of the automatic guided vehicle calculated by the passage area calculation unit. and the positional information of the obstacle output from the object detection sensor, determine the direction of movement of the obstacle and the direction of movement in which interference between the automatic guided vehicle and the obstacle can be avoided. A mode (third mode) can be adopted in which the interference-related information includes the moving direction and the minimum moving distance.

According to the third aspect, the interference-related information notified by the notification unit includes the moving direction and minimum moving distance of the obstacle that can avoid interference between the automatic guided vehicle and the obstacle. Therefore, based on this interference-related information, the worker can easily recognize the moving direction and moving distance of the obstacle to avoid interference, and can efficiently perform the task of moving the obstacle.

The interference information calculation unit is configured to determine, when the interference prediction unit predicts that interference between the automatic guided vehicle and the obstacle will occur, the expected passage area of the automatic guided vehicle calculated by the passage area calculation unit. and the positional information of the obstacle outputted from the object detection sensor to calculate the area of the overlapping portion of the expected passage area and the obstacle in plan view, and the interference-related information An aspect (fourth aspect) in which the area of the overlapping portion is included can be adopted.

According to the fourth aspect, the interference-related information notified by the notification unit includes an area in plan view of an overlapping portion of the area where the automatic guided vehicle is expected to pass and the obstacle in plan view. Therefore, the operator can roughly grasp the amount of movement of the obstacle required to avoid interference between the automatic guided vehicle and the obstacle, based on the area of the overlapped portion notified by the notification unit. . Therefore, the worker can efficiently move the obstacle.

The interference information calculation unit is configured to determine, when the interference prediction unit predicts that interference between the automatic guided vehicle and the obstacle will occur, the expected passage area of the automatic guided vehicle calculated by the passage area calculation unit. and the positional information of the obstacle outputted from the object detection sensor to calculate the length in a predetermined direction of the overlapping portion of the expected passage area and the obstacle in plan view, A mode (fifth mode) may be adopted in which the interference-related information includes the length of the overlapping portion in the predetermined direction.

According to the fifth aspect, the interference-related information notified by the notification unit includes the length in a predetermined direction of an overlapping portion in plan view of the area through which the automatic guided vehicle is scheduled to pass and the obstacle. As an example of this predetermined direction, a moving direction that minimizes the moving distance of the obstacle for interference avoidance can be adopted. Moreover, as another example of the predetermined direction, for example, a direction perpendicular to the traveling direction of the automatic guided vehicle can be adopted. The operator appropriately determines the required moving direction and distance of the obstacle based on the length of the overlapping portion in the predetermined direction included in the interference-related information reported by the notification unit, and moves the obstacle. The moving work can be carried out efficiently.

When the interference prediction unit predicts that interference between the automatic guided vehicle and the obstacle will occur, the interference information calculation unit calculates the amount of interference based on the position information of the obstacle output from the object detection sensor. , configured to calculate relative position information between the automatic guided vehicle after the traveling of the automatic guided vehicle is stopped by the travel control unit and the obstacle where interference is predicted, and the interference related information In this case, an aspect (sixth aspect) in which the relative position information is included can be adopted.

According to the sixth aspect, the interference-related information notified by the notification unit includes relative position information between the automatic guided vehicle after stopping and the obstacle that is predicted to cause interference between the automatic guided vehicle and the automatic guided vehicle. is included. Therefore, for example, even if there are multiple obstacles around the automatic guided vehicle and the operator cannot identify at a glance which obstacle is expected to interfere with the automatic guided vehicle, the operator can Based on the relative position information included in the reported interference-related information, it is possible to easily identify obstacles that are predicted to interfere with the automatic guided vehicle. Therefore, the operator can efficiently move the obstacle to avoid the interference.

The notification unit may adopt a mode (seventh mode) provided in a mobile terminal carried by a worker.

According to the seventh aspect, the notification unit is provided in a mobile terminal carried by the worker. Therefore, if the interference prediction unit predicts that interference will occur between the automatic guided vehicle and an obstacle, the operator can quickly recognize the situation based on the interference-related information reported via the mobile terminal. Work to avoid interference can be started quickly.

As described above, according to the unmanned guided vehicle system of the present invention, it is possible to predict whether or not the unmanned guided vehicle will interfere with an obstacle placed in its travelable area, and if it is predicted that the unmanned guided vehicle will interfere with the obstacle, By calculating related interference-related information, stopping the movement of the automatic guided vehicle, and notifying the calculated interference-related information, it is possible to automatically stop the automatic guided vehicle before it interferes with an obstacle. At the same time, surrounding workers can easily and efficiently move the obstacle that caused the vehicle to stop.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a schematic configuration and an operation example of an unmanned transportation system according to an embodiment. FIG. 1 is an external perspective view showing an automatic guided vehicle equipped with a robot. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a control system. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a mobile terminal. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a mobile terminal in a state where image data including interference-related information is displayed on a display. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of obstacle avoidance control executed through cooperation between an on-vehicle control device and a higher-level control device. It is an explanatory view for explaining an example of operation of an unmanned transportation system concerning other embodiments.

《Embodiment》
FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the schematic configuration of an unmanned transportation system 1 according to an embodiment. This unmanned guided vehicle system 1 includes an unmanned guided vehicle 10 and a robot 20 mounted on the upper part of the unmanned guided vehicle 10, and as will be described later, it is predicted that the unmanned guided vehicle 10 will interfere with the obstacle 5. In this case, the automatic guided vehicle 10 is stopped and interference-related information is notified to the worker through the mobile terminal 60. Note that although FIG. 1 shows two rectangular parallelepiped-shaped obstacles 5a and 5b arranged apart from each other as an example of the obstacles 5, the number, arrangement positions, shapes, etc. of the obstacles 5 are as shown in FIG. The example is not limited to.

The unmanned guided vehicle system 1 performs wireless communication between an on-vehicle control device 30 (see FIG. 3) housed in the guided vehicle body 11 of an unmanned guided vehicle 10 and the on-vehicle control device 30 installed in a factory building. However, it further includes a host control device 40 that controls the automatic guided vehicle 10 and the robot 20.

Under the control of the on-vehicle control device 30 that receives instructions from the host control device 40, the automatic guided vehicle 10 passes through work positions P1 and P2 adjacent to each work station 3a and 3b installed in the building. Run. Each of the work stations 3a, 3b is configured by, for example, a machine tool. Under the control of the on-vehicle control device 30, the robot 20 performs predetermined operations such as loading and unloading workpieces when the automatic guided vehicle 10 stops at work positions P1 and P2 of each work station 3a and 3b. Note that the work stations 3 shown in FIG. 1 are only an example, and the shape, number, and arrangement position thereof are not limited to the example shown in FIG.

FIG. 2 is an external perspective view showing the automatic guided vehicle 10 on which the robot 20 is mounted. In the following description, unless otherwise specified, front side and rear side mean the front side and rear side in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, and left side and right side mean the left side and right side in the vehicle width direction. As shown in the figure, the automatic guided vehicle 10 has a guided vehicle main body 11 in the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped that is long in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle. The transport vehicle main body 11 accommodates the vehicle-mounted control device 30 therein, and has the robot 20 mounted on its upper surface. At the four corners of the lower end of the transport vehicle main body 11, four drive wheels 12, front, rear, left and right, are attached. The four drive wheels 12 are independently rotationally driven by traveling motors 13a (see FIG. 3) connected to respective axles. Further, each drive wheel 12 has a vertically extending steering shaft (not shown), and is configured to be able to be steered around the vertical axis by a steering motor 13b connected to the steering shaft. The automatic guided vehicle 10 is capable of moving straight, traveling sideways, or turning by changing the steering angle of each drive wheel 12 using the steering motor 13b under the control of the on-vehicle control device 30. In the following description, the traveling motor 13a and the steering motor 13b will be referred to as the traveling actuator 13 unless they are particularly distinguished.

A distance sensor 14 (an example of an object detection sensor) is attached to the front side of the carrier body 11. The distance sensor 14 is a sensor for measuring the distance to another object, and is configured by, for example, a LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) device. Here, as an example of other objects, for example, a fixed installation object such as a machine tool installed in a building, an obstacle 5 placed in the travelable area of the automatic guided vehicle 10 (an area excluding fixed installation objects), etc. can be mentioned. The distance sensor 14 has a light emitting section, and scans the laser beam emitted from the light emitting section in the vertical and horizontal directions to detect an object existing within a predetermined range in front of the automatic guided vehicle 10. Irradiate with laser light. The distance sensor 14 measures the distance to the light irradiation position on the object surface by measuring the time it takes for the laser beam to reflect on the object and return, and calculates the measured distance and the scanning of the light at the time of the measurement. Correlate with corner information and output as distance data. This distance data corresponds to position information for specifying the position of the object, and is transmitted in real time to the host control device 40 via the on-vehicle control device 30.

The robot 20 is mounted on the front end of the upper surface of the carrier body 11. A pallet 4 that holds workpieces before and after processing is loaded on the rear side of the robot 20 on the upper surface of the carrier body 11. The robot 20 is a six-axis articulated robot having a first arm 21, a second arm 22, a third arm 23, and six axes A1 to A6. A hand 24 is attached. A hand-mounted camera 25 is attached to the hand 24 to take an image of a work to be gripped by the robot 20.

Next, with reference to FIG. 3, the control system 100 that controls the unmanned transportation system 1 will be explained. This control system 100 includes the vehicle-mounted control device 30 and the host control device 40. The on-vehicle control device 30 and the higher-level control device 40 are configured to be able to communicate with each other wirelessly via a communication line 50. Furthermore, the in-vehicle control device 30 and the host control device 40 are configured to be able to communicate wirelessly via a communication line 50 with a mobile terminal 60 carried by a worker. The communication line 50 is configured by, for example, the Internet or a LAN (Local Area Network). Each mobile terminal 60 is configured by, for example, a smartphone, a notebook computer, or the like. In the example of FIG. 3, three mobile terminals 60 are provided, but the number of mobile terminals 60 is not limited to this.

The on-vehicle control device 30 is a microcomputer including a CPU, ROM, RAM, etc., and includes a CPU 31 and a wireless communication section 32, as shown in FIG.

The wireless communication unit 32 includes a transmitting circuit, a receiving circuit, and a transmitting/receiving antenna. The wireless communication unit 32 receives commands from the CPU 31 and transmits and receives various signals and data to and from the higher-level control device 40 by wireless communication via the communication line 50. An example of this data is, for example, distance data of an object detected by the distance sensor 14.

The CPU 31 is connected to the travel actuator 13, the distance sensor 14, the robot 20, and the hand-mounted camera 25 so as to be able to send and receive signals. The CPU 31 functions as a travel control section 31a and a robot control section 31b by executing a computer program stored in a ROM or the like.

The travel control unit 31a estimates the current position of the automatic guided vehicle 10 based on the distance data output from the distance sensor 14. Then, while estimating the current position of the automatic guided vehicle 10, the traveling control unit 31a causes the automatic guided vehicle 10 to travel along a scheduled traveling route V calculated by a traveling route determination unit 41b of the higher-level control device 40, which will be described later. The travel actuator 13 is controlled so as to. Note that it is not always necessary to use the distance sensor 14 to estimate the current position of the automatic guided vehicle 10, and for example, GPS (Global Positioning System) may be used.

The robot control unit 31b causes the robot 20 to perform a predetermined operation (for example, work for attaching and detaching a workpiece) while the automatic guided vehicle 10 is stopped at work positions P1 and P2 of each work station 3a and 3b. The robot control unit 31b is configured to correct the position of the hand 24 relative to the workpiece by correcting the working posture based on the image captured by the hand-mounted camera 25 when causing the robot 20 to perform a predetermined operation. .

The upper control device 40 is a microcomputer having a CPU, ROM, RAM, etc., and includes a CPU 41, a wireless communication section 42, and a map data storage section 43.

The wireless communication section 42 includes a transmitting circuit, a receiving circuit, and a transmitting/receiving antenna. The wireless communication unit 42 receives a command from the CPU 41 and transmits and receives various signals and data between the in-vehicle control device 30 and each mobile terminal 60 by wireless communication via the communication line 50.

The map data storage unit 43 is a functional unit that stores map data, and is configured of a storage medium such as a magnetic disk, for example. The map data includes information on the travelable area of the automatic guided vehicle 10 within the building. The travelable area is an area excluding fixed installations such as machine tools, and is an area in which the automatic guided vehicle 10 can physically travel. In this example, this map data is automatically generated based on the distance data output from the distance sensor 14. The method for generating map data is not limited to this; for example, the map data may be generated manually by an operator operating an operation panel (not shown) such as a touch panel provided on the automatic guided vehicle 10. .

The CPU 41 executes a computer program stored in the ROM or the like to generate a job generation section 41a, a travel route determination section 41b, an obstacle detection section 41c, a passing area calculation section 41d, an interference prediction section 41e, and an interference information calculation section. Functions as 41f.

The job generation unit 41a acquires the loading status of conveyed objects in the automatic guided vehicle 10 and the retention status of conveyed objects at each work station 3, and determines the movement start point and movement of the automatic guided vehicle 10 based on the acquired conditions. Decide on your destination.

The travel route determination unit 41b determines (calculates) a scheduled travel route V from the travel start point determined by the job generation unit 41a to the travel destination. This planned travel route V is determined so that the travel distance of the automatic guided vehicle 10 is the shortest within the travelable area defined in the map data. Note that the condition is not limited to the shortest moving distance; for example, the condition that the power consumption is the minimum may be adopted.

The obstacle detection unit 41c receives object distance data output from the distance sensor 14 from the on-vehicle control device 30, and based on the received object distance data and the map data stored in the map data storage unit 43. First, it is detected whether the object is an obstacle 5 placed in the travelable area of the automatic guided vehicle 10. As described above, the travelable area is an area excluding fixed installations such as machine tools shown in the map data. The obstacle detection unit 41c detects an object placed in this travelable area as an obstacle 5.

When the obstacle 5 is detected by the obstacle detection unit 41c, the passage area calculation unit 41d determines the planned passage area R of the automatic guided vehicle 10 along the scheduled travel route V determined by the travel route determination unit 41b. calculate. In this example, the passage area calculation unit 41d calculates the area through which the planar shape of the automatic guided vehicle 10 is predicted to pass, as the expected passage area R (see FIG. 1). Note that the planned passage area R may be a three-dimensional area in consideration of the three-dimensional shape of the automatic guided vehicle 10.

The interference prediction unit 41e receives the distance data of the obstacle 5 output from the distance sensor 14 from the on-vehicle control device 30, and uses the received distance data (position information) of the obstacle 5 and the distance data calculated by the passing area calculation unit 41d. Based on the planned passage area R of the automatic guided vehicle 10, it is predicted whether the automatic guided vehicle 10 will interfere with the obstacle 5 if the automatic guided vehicle 10 continues to travel along the planned travel route V. Specifically, the interference prediction unit 41e identifies the coordinate position of the obstacle 5 on the map data based on the distance data of the obstacle 5 output from the distance sensor 14. Then, the interference prediction unit 41e determines whether at least a part of the obstacle 5 overlaps with the expected passage area R in plan view, and if it is determined that the obstacle 5 overlaps, the automatic guided vehicle 10 and the obstacle 5 overlap. It is predicted that the two will interfere in the future, and if it is determined that they do not overlap, it is predicted that no interference will occur between the two.

The prediction result of whether or not interference will occur by the interference prediction unit 41e is transmitted to the travel control unit 31a of the vehicle-mounted control device 30 via the wireless communication unit 42. In the travel control unit 31a, when the interference prediction unit 41e predicts that the automatic guided vehicle 10 will interfere with the obstacle 5, the driving of the travel motor 13a of the automatic guided vehicle 10 is stopped to stop the automatic guided vehicle 10. . The timing for stopping the automatic guided vehicle 10 can be, for example, when the distance between the automatic guided vehicle 10 and the obstacle 5 becomes a predetermined distance or less (for example, 1 m or less).

Further, the prediction result of whether or not interference will occur by the interference prediction unit 41e is transmitted to the interference information calculation unit 41f. When the interference information calculation unit 41f receives the prediction result that the automatic guided vehicle 10 and the obstacle 5 will interfere from the interference prediction unit 41e, the interference information calculation unit 41f calculates the distance data (position information), the coordinate position of the obstacle 5 on the map data is specified. Then, the interference prediction unit 41e generates interference-related information related to this interference based on the coordinate position of the identified obstacle 5 and the expected passage area R of the automatic guided vehicle 10 calculated by the passage area calculation unit 41d. calculate. In this example, the interference information calculation unit 41f calculates the following three pieces of information as interference-related information.

The first information is information on the moving direction and minimum moving distance of the obstacle 5 to avoid interference between the automatic guided vehicle 10 and the obstacle 5. In this example, the interference information calculation unit 41f calculates, as this movement direction, a direction that is perpendicular to the traveling direction of the automatic guided vehicle 10 in a plan view and that allows movement of the obstacle 5 to the outside of the expected passage area R. . Then, the interference information calculation unit 41f calculates the minimum movement distance (minimum movement distance) necessary to move the obstacle 5 to the outside of the expected passage area R in the calculated movement direction.

The second information is an overlapping portion in a plan view between the expected passage area R of the automatic guided vehicle 10 and an obstacle 5 (in the example of FIG. 1, the obstacle 5a) that is predicted to interfere with the automatic guided vehicle 10. This is information on the area of C. In this example, the interference information calculation unit 41f detects the obstacle 5 identified based on the expected passage area R of the automatic guided vehicle 10 calculated by the passage area calculation unit 41d and the distance data output from the distance sensor 14. The area of the overlapping portion C is calculated based on the coordinate position.

The third information includes the automatic guided vehicle 10 after the travel of the automatic guided vehicle 10 is stopped by the travel control unit 31a, and the obstacle 5 that is expected to interfere with the automatic guided vehicle 10 (the example in FIG. 1). Here is the relative position information with respect to the obstacle 5a). The interference information calculation unit 41f acquires distance data output from the distance sensor 14 from the on-vehicle control device 30 regarding the obstacle 5 that is predicted to interfere with the automatic guided vehicle 10, and calculates the distance from the obstacle based on the acquired distance data. The coordinate position of 5a on the map data is specified. Then, the interference information calculation unit 41f calculates relative position information of the obstacle 5 with respect to the automatic guided vehicle 10 based on the identified coordinate position of the obstacle 5. In this example, this relative position information is information on the direction in which the obstacle 5 is located with respect to the automatic guided vehicle 10, and in the example of FIG. The relative position information of 5a is calculated as "diagonally forward left". Note that the relative position information is not limited to a format in which a direction is specified in this manner, but may be in a format in which coordinate values with respect to the automatic guided vehicle 10 are specified, for example.

Then, the interference information calculation unit 41f generates image data (see FIG. 5 described later) including the calculated interference-related information, and transmits the generated image data from the wireless communication unit 42 of the host controller 40 to each mobile terminal 60. Send by wireless communication to the destination.

As shown in FIG. 4, each mobile terminal 60 is connected to a CPU 61, a display 62 for displaying image data, a speaker 63 capable of outputting audio, and an upper control device 40 by wireless communication via a communication line 50. It has a wireless communication section 64 that transmits and receives various signals and data.

The CPU 61 functions as a display control section 61a and an audio control section 61b by executing a computer program stored in a ROM or the like. The display control unit 61a is a functional unit that controls the display screen of the display 62. The audio control unit 61b is a functional unit that controls audio output from the speaker 63.

The display control unit 61a receives image data including the interference-related information calculated by the interference information calculation unit 41f via the wireless communication unit 64 of each mobile terminal 60, and causes the display 62 to display the received image data.

FIG. 5 is an example of image data including interference-related information displayed on the display 62 of each mobile terminal 60. The display 62 displays a table T summarizing interference-related information and an auxiliary map U for visually understanding the information shown in the table T. Incidentally, the auxiliary map U in FIG. 5 includes symbols so that the correspondence with FIG. 1 can be understood, but these symbols are not displayed on the actual screen.

The table T is composed of four rows, and the first row from the top of the table T displays relative position information (the third information) of the obstacle 5 that is predicted to interfere with the automatic guided vehicle 10, The second line displays information on the moving direction of the obstacle 5 to avoid interference (the first information), and the third line displays information on the movement direction of the obstacle 5 required in the moving direction. Information on the minimum travel distance (the first information) is displayed, and the fourth line shows an overlap portion C in a plan view between the automatic guided vehicle 10 and the obstacle 5 that is predicted to interfere with the automatic guided vehicle 10. Information on the area (the second information) is displayed.

Further, the auxiliary map U is a planar map showing the positional relationship between the automatic guided vehicle 10, obstacles 5 placed in the travelable area of the automatic guided vehicle 10, and the planned passage area R of the automatic guided vehicle 10. . The auxiliary map U is generated by the interference information calculation unit 41f of the host control device 40 based on, for example, map data stored in the map data storage unit 43 and distance data of the obstacle 5 output from the distance sensor 14. be done.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of obstacle avoidance control executed by cooperation between the host control device 40 and the vehicle-mounted control device 30. This obstacle avoidance control includes the process of notifying interference-related information via the mobile terminal 60 described above.

In step S1, the travel route determination unit 41b determines (calculates) a scheduled travel route V for the automatic guided vehicle 10 from the travel start point to the travel destination. When determining the planned driving route V, a large number of route candidates are generated using, for example, a genetic algorithm, and the shortest route is calculated as the planned driving route V from among the generated large number of route candidates.

In step S2, the travel control unit 31a controls the travel actuator 13 to start the automatic guided vehicle 10 traveling along the scheduled travel route V determined in step S1.

In step S3, it is determined whether or not the obstacle 5 has been detected by the obstacle detection unit 41c, and if the determination is NO, the process returns, while if the determination is YES, the process proceeds to step S4.

In step S4, the passage area calculation unit 41d calculates the planned passage area R of the automatic guided vehicle 10 along the planned travel route V calculated in step S1.

In step S5, the interference prediction unit 41e determines whether or not the automatic guided vehicle 10 will pass through the automatic guided vehicle 10 based on the expected passage area R of the automatic guided vehicle 10 calculated in step S4 and the distance data of the obstacle 5 output from the distance sensor 14. It is predicted whether or not the vehicle will interfere with the obstacle 5 if it continues traveling along the planned travel route V. If this determination is NO, the process returns, whereas if this determination is YES, the process advances to step S6.

In step S6, the traveling control unit 31a determines whether the distance between the automatic guided vehicle 10 and the obstacle 5 is less than a predetermined distance (for example, 1 m or less) based on the distance data of the obstacle 5 output from the distance sensor 14. If the determination is NO, the process returns, whereas if the determination is YES, the process advances to step S7.

In step S7, the travel control unit 31a stops driving the travel motor 13a to stop the automatic guided vehicle 10.

In step S8, the interference information calculation unit 41f calculates interference-related information related to the interference between the automatic guided vehicle 10 and the obstacle 5 predicted by the interference prediction unit 41e in step S5.

In step S9, the interference information calculation unit 41f transmits the image data including the interference-related information calculated in step S8 to each mobile terminal 60 by wireless communication. After this step S9 ends, the process returns to step S1.

In this example, the interference information calculation unit 41f calculates the interference-related information after the automatic guided vehicle 10 stops; however, the calculation is not limited to this, and for example, before the automatic guided vehicle 10 stops or when the automatic guided vehicle 10 stops The interference related information may be calculated at the same time.

An example of the operation of the unmanned transportation system 1 configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG. 1. In FIG. 1, the movement start point of the automatic guided vehicle 10 is a work position P1 set for the first work station 3a, and the movement destination is a work position P1 set for the second work station 3b. An example of position P2 is shown. In the example of FIG. 1, two obstacles 5a and 5b are arranged in a travelable region of the automatic guided vehicle 10, separated from each other.

In the travel control of the automatic guided vehicle 10, first, the travel route determination unit 41b (see FIG. 3) calculates a planned travel route V from the work position P1, which is the movement start point, to the work position P2, which is the movement destination. Then, the automatic guided vehicle 10 starts traveling along the planned travel route V under the control of the travel control unit 31a.

After the automatic guided vehicle 10 starts traveling, when the obstacle detection unit 41c detects the obstacles 5a and 5b, the passage area calculation unit 41d calculates the expected passage area R of the automatic guided vehicle 10, and then the interference prediction unit 41e, the automatic guided vehicle 10 travels along the planned travel route V based on the expected passage area R calculated by the passage area calculation unit 41d and the distance data of each obstacle 5a, 5b output from the distance sensor 14. It is predicted whether or not it will interfere with each obstacle 5a, 5b if it continues. In the example of FIG. 1, the obstacle 5a located diagonally in front of the left of the automatic guided vehicle 10 overlaps with the expected passage area R of the automatic guided vehicle 10, so the interference prediction unit 41e determines whether the obstacle 5a and the automatic guided vehicle It is predicted that interference with the vehicle 10 will occur. On the other hand, since the obstacle 5b located diagonally in front of the right side of the automatic guided vehicle 10 is located outside the expected passage area R of the automatic guided vehicle 10, the interference prediction unit 41e determines whether the obstacle 5b and the automatic guided vehicle No interference with 10 is expected to occur. The prediction result by the interference prediction section 41e is then transmitted to the travel control section 31a of the vehicle-mounted control device 30.

The traveling control unit 31a stops driving the traveling actuator 13 in response to a prediction result that an obstacle 5a located diagonally to the left ahead of the automatic guided vehicle 10 will interfere with the automatic guided vehicle 10. Thereby, the automatic guided vehicle 10 stops before interfering with the obstacle 5a.

After the automatic guided vehicle 10 has stopped, the interference information calculation unit 41f calculates the above-mentioned interference-related information and generates image data including the interference-related information. Image data including this interference-related information is transmitted to each mobile terminal 60 owned by the worker via the wireless communication unit 42 of the host control device 40 and displayed on the display 62 (see FIG. 5).

Therefore, the operator can easily identify the obstacle 5 predicted to interfere with the automatic guided vehicle 10 by looking at the interference-related information (table T) included in the image data displayed on the display 62. In other words, in the example of FIG. 5, "diagonally forward left" is displayed in the relative position information column of the obstacle 5 displayed in the first row from the top of the table T, so the worker looks at this and Of the two obstacles 5a and 5b, the obstacle 5a located diagonally to the left front of the automatic guided vehicle 10 can be recognized as the obstacle 5 that causes interference with the automatic guided vehicle 10.

In addition, the operator can avoid interference with the obstacle 5a based on the movement direction and minimum movement distance information displayed in the second and third rows from the top of the table T, which are interference-related information. You can easily recognize the work required. In other words, in the example of FIG. 5, "leftward" is displayed in the movement direction column of table T, and "50 cm" is displayed in the minimum movement distance column, so the worker who sees this is able to identify obstacles. By moving 5a to the left of the automatic guided vehicle 10 by at least 50 cm, it can be recognized that interference between the obstacle 5a and the automatic guided vehicle 10 can be avoided. Thereby, the worker can accurately determine the personnel and equipment (jacks, etc.) necessary for the task of moving the obstacle 5a, and efficiently perform the task.

The operator also determines the area necessary to avoid interference between the automatic guided vehicle 10 and the obstacle 5a based on the area of the overlapping portion C displayed in the fourth row from the top of the table T, which is interference related information. It is possible to roughly grasp the amount of movement of the obstacle 5a. Therefore, the operator can efficiently move the obstacle 5a.

Further, the interference related information is reported to the worker via the display 62 of the mobile terminal 60 carried by the worker. According to this, even a worker who is far away from the automatic guided vehicle 10 can quickly acquire interference-related information and quickly start work to avoid interference.

As explained above, in this embodiment, when it is predicted that the automatic guided vehicle 10 will interfere with the obstacle 5, the automatic guided vehicle 10 is stopped, and the interference-related information related to the interference (see FIG. By calculating the interference-related information (see Table T) and notifying the operator of the calculated interference-related information, the automatic guided vehicle 10 can be stopped automatically before it interferes with the obstacle 5, and the automatic guided vehicle 10 can be The surrounding workers can easily and efficiently move the obstacle 5 that caused the vehicle to stop.

《Other embodiments》
In the embodiment, the interference-related information includes the first to third information described above, but is not limited to this, and may further include, for example, fourth information. As the fourth information, for example, information on the length in a predetermined direction of the overlapping portion C between the expected passage area R of the automatic guided vehicle 10 and the obstacle 5 in a plan view calculated by the passage area calculation unit 41d may be adopted. I can do it. As an example of this predetermined direction, for example, a moving direction that minimizes the moving distance of the obstacle 5 for interference avoidance can be adopted. The moving direction in which the moving distance of the obstacle 5 is the minimum can be calculated, for example, by performing a pseudo calculation to move the obstacle 5 in all directions on the map data.

Furthermore, the interference-related information does not need to include all of the first to fourth information, and may include at least one of the first to fourth information.

In the embodiment, when the interference prediction unit 41e predicts that the automatic guided vehicle 10 will interfere with the obstacle 5, the automatic guided vehicle 10 is stopped without searching for an avoidance route. For example, the traveling route determination unit 41b determines whether an avoidance route exists to avoid interference between the automatic guided vehicle 10 and the obstacle 5, and determines that an avoidance route exists. If it is determined, the current scheduled travel route V may be updated to the avoidance route, while if it is determined that there is no avoidance route, the current scheduled travel route V may not be updated. According to this, after the obstacle 5 is detected by the obstacle detection unit 41c, the automatic guided vehicle 10 stops only after the travel route determination unit 41b determines that there is no avoidance route that avoids the obstacle 5. Accordingly, interference-related information is calculated by the interference information calculation unit 41f, and the calculated interference-related information is displayed on the display 62 of the mobile terminal 60.

According to such an unmanned guided vehicle system 1, for example, as shown in FIG. In addition, the automatic guided vehicle 10 can travel between the obstacles 5c and 5d. At this time, as shown by the solid line in FIG. 7, if the automatic guided vehicle 10 stops between the two obstacles 5c and 5d, in the conventional automatic guided vehicle system, one of the two obstacles 5c and 5d There was a problem in that surrounding workers could not recognize whether the automatic guided vehicle 10 had stopped due to this. In contrast, in the automatic guided vehicle system 1 of the present invention, even if the automatic guided vehicle 10 stops between the two obstacles 5c and 5d, the operator is displayed on the display 62 of the mobile terminal 60. Based on the interference related information, the obstacle 5 that caused the automatic guided vehicle 10 to stop, that is, the obstacle 5 predicted to interfere with the automatic guided vehicle 10 (in the example of FIG. 7, the obstacle 5c) is easily identified. be able to. The operator can efficiently move the obstacle 5c based on the interference-related information displayed on the display 62 of the mobile terminal 60.

In the embodiment, the notification unit that reports interference-related information is configured by the display 62 provided in the mobile terminal 60, but is not limited to this, and for example, the notification unit configured to notify interference-related information may be a display provided in the automatic guided vehicle 10. (not shown). Furthermore, the notification section is not limited to a device that notifies information visually, such as the display 62, but may also include a device that notifies information through audio, such as a speaker, for example. In this case, the speaker 63 provided in the mobile terminal 60, for example, can be used as the notification section.

In the embodiment, the automatic guided vehicle 10 is configured to autonomously travel without tracks, but the present invention is not limited to this. The automatic guided vehicle 10 may be configured to run on a track along a guide such as a magnetic tape or a light reflective tape, for example.

In the embodiment described above, the control system 100 is composed of the host control device 40 and the vehicle-mounted control device 30; however, the control system 100 is not limited to this. Alternatively, on the contrary, each functional section of the vehicle-mounted control device 30 may be integrated into the host control device 40 to remotely control the automatic guided vehicle 10.

In the embodiment, the distance sensor 14 is configured to scan the laser beam in the horizontal direction and in the vertical direction, but is not limited to this, and may be configured to scan only in the horizontal direction, for example. Good too. Even in this case, it is possible to specify the planar position of the obstacle 5 based on the distance data output from the distance sensor 14 and calculate the interference-related information.

In the embodiment, the distance sensor 14 detects an object existing within a predetermined range in front of the automatic guided vehicle 10; however, the object is not limited to this, and for example, the object is detected on the left side, right side, or An object existing within a predetermined range on the rear side may be detected.

In the embodiment, the object detection sensor is the distance sensor 14, but the object detection sensor is not limited to this, and may be an image sensor, for example. In this case, the coordinate position of each pixel and the respective brightness value output from the image sensor function as position information for specifying the position of the object.

In the embodiment, an example in which the robot 20 is mounted on the automatic guided vehicle 10 has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the robot 20 may be abolished. In this case, the work of loading and unloading the workpieces onto the automatic guided vehicle 10 may be performed by another robot or a worker installed on the floor.

Note that the description of the embodiments described above is illustrative in all respects and is not restrictive. Modifications and changes can be made as appropriate by those skilled in the art. The scope of the invention is indicated by the claims rather than the embodiments described above. Furthermore, the scope of the present invention includes changes from the embodiments within the scope of the claims and equivalents.

1 Unmanned transportation system 5 Obstacle 5a Obstacle 5b Obstacle 5c Obstacle 5d Obstacle 10 Unmanned guided vehicle 31a Travel control section 41b Travel route determination section 41c Obstacle detection section 41d Passage area calculation section 41e Interference prediction section 41f Interference information calculation Section 60 Mobile terminal 62 Display (notification section)
C Overlapping part R Planned passage area V Planned travel route

Claims (7)

An automatic guided vehicle, a travel route determination unit that determines a scheduled travel route for the automatic guided vehicle, and a travel control unit that causes the automatic guided vehicle to travel along the scheduled travel route determined by the travel route determination unit. An unmanned transportation system equipped with
an object detection sensor mounted on the automatic guided vehicle that detects an object existing within a predetermined range from the automatic guided vehicle and outputs position information that allows the position of the object to be specified;
an obstacle detection unit that detects whether the object detected by the object detection sensor is an obstacle placed in a travelable area of the automatic guided vehicle;
a passage area calculation unit that calculates a planned passage area of the automatic guided vehicle along the planned travel route when the object is detected as an obstacle by the obstacle detection unit;
Based on the scheduled passage area of the automatic guided vehicle calculated by the passage area calculation unit and the position information of the obstacle outputted from the object detection sensor, the automatic guided vehicle is guided along the scheduled travel route. an interference prediction unit that predicts whether or not the vehicle will interfere with the obstacle if the vehicle continues to travel;
The travel control unit is configured to stop the automatic guided vehicle before interfering with the obstacle when the interference prediction unit predicts that the interference will occur,
an interference information calculation unit that calculates interference-related information related to the interference when the interference prediction unit predicts that the interference will occur;
An unmanned transportation system further comprising: a notification section that reports the interference-related information calculated by the interference information calculation section. An automatic guided vehicle, a travel route determination unit that determines a scheduled travel route for the automatic guided vehicle, and a travel control unit that causes the automatic guided vehicle to travel along the scheduled travel route determined by the travel route determination unit. An unmanned transportation system equipped with
an object detection sensor mounted on the automatic guided vehicle that detects an object existing within a predetermined range from the automatic guided vehicle and outputs position information that allows the position of the object to be specified;
an obstacle detection unit that detects whether the object detected by the object detection sensor is an obstacle placed in a travelable area of the automatic guided vehicle;
a passage area calculation unit that calculates a planned passage area of the automatic guided vehicle along the planned travel route when the object is detected as an obstacle by the obstacle detection unit;
Based on the expected passage area of the automatic guided vehicle calculated by the passage area calculation unit and the position information of the obstacle outputted from the object detection sensor, the automatic guided vehicle moves along the scheduled travel route. an interference prediction unit that predicts whether or not there will be interference with the obstacle if the vehicle continues to travel;
an interference information calculation unit that calculates interference-related information related to the interference when the interference prediction unit predicts that the interference will occur;
comprising a notification unit that reports the interference-related information calculated by the interference information calculation unit,
When the interference prediction unit predicts that the automatic guided vehicle and the obstacle will interfere, the travel route determination unit determines whether there is an avoidance route that can avoid the interference, If it is determined that the avoidance route exists, the current scheduled travel route is updated to the avoidance route;
The travel control unit is configured to stop the automatic guided vehicle before interfering with the obstacle when the travel route determination unit determines that there is no avoidance route that can avoid the interference. ,
The notification unit is configured to notify the interference-related information calculated by the interference information calculation unit when the travel route determination unit determines that there is no avoidance route that can avoid the interference. An unmanned transportation system that is characterized by The interference information calculation unit is configured to determine, when the interference prediction unit predicts that interference between the automatic guided vehicle and the obstacle will occur, the expected passage area of the automatic guided vehicle calculated by the passage area calculation unit. and the positional information of the obstacle output from the object detection sensor, determine the direction of movement of the obstacle and the direction of movement in which interference between the automatic guided vehicle and the obstacle can be avoided. configured to calculate the minimum distance traveled along the
The unmanned transportation system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the interference-related information includes the moving direction and the minimum moving distance. The interference information calculation unit is configured to determine, when the interference prediction unit predicts that interference between the automatic guided vehicle and the obstacle will occur, the expected passage area of the automatic guided vehicle calculated by the passage area calculation unit. and the location information of the obstacle output from the object detection sensor to calculate the area of the overlapping portion of the expected passage area and the obstacle in plan view,
The unmanned transportation system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the interference-related information includes an area of the overlapping portion. The interference information calculation unit is configured to determine, when the interference prediction unit predicts that interference between the automatic guided vehicle and the obstacle will occur, the expected passage area of the automatic guided vehicle calculated by the passage area calculation unit. and the positional information of the obstacle outputted from the object detection sensor to calculate the length in a predetermined direction of the overlapping portion of the expected passage area and the obstacle in plan view,
3. The unmanned transportation system according to claim 1, wherein the interference-related information includes a length of the overlapping portion in the predetermined direction. When the interference prediction unit predicts that interference between the automatic guided vehicle and the obstacle will occur, the interference information calculation unit calculates the amount of interference based on the position information of the obstacle output from the object detection sensor. , configured to calculate relative position information between the automatic guided vehicle after the traveling of the automatic guided vehicle is stopped by the travel control unit and the obstacle where the interference is predicted;
The unmanned transportation system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the interference-related information includes the relative position information. 3. The unmanned transportation system according to claim 1, wherein the notification section is provided in a mobile terminal carried by a worker.

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