JP2520230Y2 - Camera remote control device - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of Device] a. Purpose of the invention (industrial field of application) The present invention is for remote control of manipulators.
The present invention relates to a camera installed to monitor the movement of the manipulator and the like, and more specifically to a remote control device that controls the state of the camera from a remote position.

The state of the camera referred to in this specification means not only the installation state of the camera such as the orientation and position of the camera, but also the operating state such as the zoom amount of the camera. Controlling one or more of the position, orientation, and zoom amount of the camera.

(Prior Art) By using a manipulator that is operated remotely, it is possible to safely perform work that would be dangerous to the operator.
Various working devices using such a manipulator are used. As an example, there is one in which a manipulator is mounted on a workbench of an aerial work vehicle, and wiring of high-voltage electric wires, repair work, and the like are performed using the manipulator.

In such a case, the operation of this manipulator is performed by the remote operation of the operator from the ground.
It is difficult for an operator on the ground to control the operation of the manipulator while observing it with the naked eye. For this reason, a camera that monitors the movement of the manipulator is arranged adjacent to the manipulator, and a display that displays the captured image of this camera is installed in front of the operator's seat, and the operator operates while monitoring the movement of the manipulator. It is designed to control.

Here, since the manipulator is moved according to the operation control, the camera is configured to be able to remotely control the state such as its orientation and position so as to monitor this movement.
Conventionally, this remote operation has been performed by an operator manually operating a control lever provided in the operator's seat.

(Problems to be solved by the invention) However, when a manipulator is attached to an aerial work vehicle as described above, the operator needs to perform operation control of the aerial work vehicle and operation control of the manipulator. Usually, both hands and both feet of the operator are used for controlling these operations. Therefore, forcing the operator to control the state of the camera by manually operating the control lever imposes a heavy burden on the operator, resulting in poor work efficiency.

Incidentally, such a problem has been studied in the past, and it has been proposed, for example, to control the state of the camera by associating the swing of the operator with the swing of the camera. However, in this case, if the operator shakes his / her head, the direction of the face (or eyes) deviates from the front display. The problem is that we need to be able to see.

The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and the operator can control the state of the camera without using both hands and feet, and regardless of the state of the camera such as the direction and the position of the operator, the operator can An object of the present invention is to provide a remote control device for a camera configured so that the operation control of a manipulator or the like can be easily performed by viewing only one display in front.

B. Configuration of the Invention (Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve such an object, in the present invention, the state such as the direction and the position of the camera installed at a position away from the operator seat can be controlled by the state control means. In addition, a display for displaying images taken by this camera is arranged in front of the operator's seat, and further, head position detecting means for detecting the head position of the operator sitting in the operator's seat, and a predetermined head. When the movement of the head position from the neutral position is detected by the head position detecting means with the part position as the neutral position, the type and direction of the state control of the camera are set based on the direction of the movement, and The remote control device for the camera is composed of the controller that controls the state of the camera based on the set type and direction while the movement is detected.

When controlling the state of the camera by this controller, it is preferable to set the control speed in accordance with the amount of movement of the head position.

(Operation) By using the remote operation device having such a configuration, the operator can control the position, direction, zoom amount and other states of the camera by moving the head. For this reason, the limbs of the operator can be dedicated to the operation control of the manipulator, the operation control of the work vehicle, etc., and the operator's burden is lightened and the work efficiency is improved.

Also, when the control speed is set according to the amount of movement of the head position, for example, if the user wants to quickly change the direction of the camera, the head should be moved greatly, and the state control of the camera can be performed. Easier to do.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an aerial work vehicle 10 equipped with a manipulator and an operator vehicle 20 for controlling the operation thereof.

The aerial platform vehicle 10 has a swivel base 12 that can swivel on a vehicle body 11. The swivel base 12 can be raised and lowered and telescopically boomed.
A workbench is attached to the tip of this telescopic boom 13.
14 is attached so that it can be swung freely. The workbench 14 is always held horizontally by a leveling mechanism regardless of the ups and downs of the telescopic boom 13.

Two manipulators 15 and 16 are attached to the workbench 14. Furthermore, this manipulator 15,16
A camera 5 for monitoring the operation of is supported by a support 6 and mounted on a work table 14. This support 6
Supports the camera 5 and moves the camera 5 up and down (that is, tilts it) or rotates it left and right (that is, pans it).
Then, the state of the camera 5 can be controlled, and this support base 6 constitutes a state control means in the claims.

The operator vehicle 20 is a vehicle on which an operator rides, and an operator room having an operator seat in which the operator sits is provided in the vehicle 20. During work, the operator vehicle 20 and the aerial work vehicle 10 are connected via the control line 1, and the operation control signal sent via the control line 1 causes the telescopic boom 13 of the aerial work vehicle 10 to operate. Control and operation control of the manipulators 15 and 16 are performed. Further, the camera 5 and the operator vehicle 20 are connected via the line 2, and the image information photographed by the camera 5 is sent to the operator vehicle 20 via the line 2. Further, the support base 6 and the operator vehicle 20 are connected via a line 3, and a signal (state control signal) for controlling the direction and the like of the camera 5 by the support base 6 is transmitted from the operator vehicle 20 via the line 3. Sent to the support base 6.

An operator room 21 in the operator vehicle 20 is shown in FIG. 2. In the operator room 21, an operator seat 23 on which an operator 8 sits is provided, and the operator seat 21 is also provided.
A display 22 is arranged in front of 23. The display 22 receives a signal sent from the camera 5 via the line 2 and displays an image captured by the camera 5.
The camera and display may be ordinary ones, but in order to accurately grasp the operation of the manipulators 15 and 16, the 3D camera and display (3D camera and display)
3D display) may be used.

A plurality of control pedals 25 are arranged on the floor in front of the operator seat 23 in the operator room 21, and a pair of control arms 24 are arranged on both sides of the operator seat 23. The operator 8 sitting in the operator's seat 23 depresses an arbitrary control pedal 25 with both feet thereof to operate it, and moves the control arm 24 with both hands and operates a switch or the like arranged at the tip of the control arm 24. You can do it.
This control pedal 25 and control arm 24
Control of telescopic boom 13 and manipulators 15, 16
The operation signal of the control pedal 25 and the operation signal of the control arm 24 are transmitted to the aerial work vehicle 10 via the control line 1, and the telescopic boom 13 of the telescopic boom 13 is transmitted based on these operation signals. Actuation control and manipulators 15,16
Is controlled.

As described above, in this example, the operator 8 controls the operation of the telescopic boom 13 and the manipulator with both hands and both feet.
The operation control of 15, 16 is performed, and the state control of the camera 5 is performed by moving the head of the operator 8. Therefore, the sensor member 32 is mounted on the helmet 9 of the operator 8, and the source member 31 is mounted on the ceiling surface of the operator room 21 at a position facing the sensor member 32. The source member 31 and the sensor member 32 constitute a head position detecting means for detecting the head position of the operator 8.

The head position detecting means will be described with reference to FIG. Both the source member 31 and the sensor member 32 are made of quadrature coils, and both members 31, 32 are connected to the control unit 30 via signal lines 31a, 32a, respectively. The control unit 30 has a drive circuit 30a connected to the source member 31 via a signal line 31a,
An alternating current is sent to the source member 31 from the drive circuit 30a. When an alternating current is applied to the orthogonal coil of the source member 31, a magnetic field is generated, and this magnetic field induces a current in the orthogonal coil of the sensor member 32. This induced current is the signal line 32a
From the control unit 30 to the detection circuit 30c, where it is detected. The detected current magnitude can be processed by the computer 30b in the control unit 30 to calculate the position and angle of the sensor member 32 with respect to the source member 31, whereby the position of the sensor member 32, that is, the operator 8 It is designed to detect the head position of the.

In this example, the head position of the operator is detected using such head position detecting means, but the head position detection is not limited to this. For example, the head of the operator is optically detected. It may be one that detects the movement of a part.

The control unit 30 is provided in the operator vehicle 20 and is connected to the control line 3, and sends a state control signal from the control unit 30 to the support base 6 of the camera via the control line 3. This state control signal is set in correspondence with the movement of the head position detected by the head position detecting means, and the relationship between the movement of the head position and the state control will be described.

When the operator 8 swings his / her head up and down to move the head (in the case of the movement indicated by the arrow A in FIG. 2), the camera 5 is swung up / down (tilted) by the support base 6. When a state control signal is sent and the head is moved left and right to rotate the head left and right (in the case of movement indicated by arrow B in FIG. 2), the camera 5 is moved left and right by the support base 6. When a state control signal for rotational movement (pan movement) is sent to the head and the head is moved forward and backward while facing forward (in the case of movement indicated by arrow C in FIG. 2), the camera 5
A state control signal is sent to cause the zoom operation of. As a result, the operator 8 can control the state of the camera 5, the direction of the zoom, the amount of zoom, etc., without using the limbs, only by moving the head.

This state control signal is continuously output while the head position is detected to be moving, and accordingly, the state control of the camera is also continuously performed during this period. Then, when the head position is returned to the original position, the output of the state control signal is stopped, and the camera 5 is held as it is.

In addition, the judgment of the presence or absence of the movement of the head position as described above,
A predetermined head position, for example, the operator 8
The head position in a state where the user is seated facing forward at 23 is set as the neutral position, and the movement of the head position from the neutral position is detected to set the type and direction of the above state control. Specifically, when the head is shaken upward, the camera 5 is tilted upward, and when the head is shaken right, the camera 5 is panned right to move the head. When moved to the front, the camera 5 is controlled to zoom up.

Further, the control speed is set according to the amount of movement from the neutral position. For example, when the head is shaken slightly upward, the camera 5 is slowly tilted upward, and when it is shaken greatly, the camera 5 is tilted quickly. Thereby, the operator can also control the speed of the state control of the camera 5.

In front of the operator's seat 23, a changeover switch 33 connected to the control unit 30 via a signal line 33a.
The changeover switch 33 can be used to control the state of the camera 5 by the control unit 30 or to stop it (switch it on and off).

In this example, the operator room 21 is provided in the operator vehicle 20 different from the aerial work vehicle 10, but the operator room 21 may be installed on the aerial work vehicle 10.

Further, in the above example, the support base 6 only controls the direction and zoom amount of the camera 5, but
It may be configured as shown. This support device 40 is a workbench
A slide base 42 is movably mounted on the horizontal support frame 41 attached to the horizontal support frame 41, and a telescopic member 43 that is vertically expandable and contractable is mounted on the slide base 42. A support member 44 that supports the camera 5 is attached to the section. The support member 44 supports the camera 5 so that the camera 5 can be swung up and down, left and right, and tilted left and right.

In this case, if the operator shakes his head up and down,
When the camera 5 is vertically swung (tilt) as shown by arrow A, and the head is rotated left and right by rotating the neck left and right, the camera 5 is moved left and right as shown by arrow B. When the head is moved back and forth while rotating and moving (panning), the zoom operation of the camera 5 (arrow C) is performed.
When the head is tilted left and right, the camera 5 is tilted left and right as shown by arrow D, and when the head is moved up and down, it is expanded and contracted as shown by arrow E. When the camera 5 is moved up and down by the expansion and contraction of the member 43 and the head is moved in parallel to the left and right, the slide base 42 is moved as shown by an arrow F.
Is controlled to move to the left and right to move the camera 5 to the left and right. As a result, more various camera state controls can be performed.

C. As described above, according to the present invention, the head position detecting means for detecting the head position of the operator sitting in the operator seat is provided, and the movement of the head position from the neutral position detects the head position. When detected by the means, the type and direction of the state control of the camera is set based on the direction of this movement, and while the movement is detected, the state control of the camera is performed based on the set type and direction. Since the operator can control the position, direction, zoom amount, etc. of the camera by moving the head, the operator's limbs control the operation of the manipulator and the operation of the work vehicle. It is possible to reduce the burden on the operator and improve work efficiency.

When controlling the camera state by this controller, it is preferable to set the control speed in accordance with the amount of movement of the head position. By doing so, for example, the direction of the camera can be quickly changed. If the user wants to change it, he can move his head greatly, which makes it easier to control the state of the camera.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an aerial work vehicle and an operator vehicle equipped with a remote control device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an operator room of the operator vehicle, and FIG. 3 is a head position detecting means. FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing the structure, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a camera and its supporting device. 5 …… Camera, 6 …… Supporting base 10 …… Aerial work vehicle, 13 …… Telescopic boom 15,16 …… Manipulator 20 …… Operator car, 22 …… Display 23 …… Operator seat, 31 …… Source member 32 ... Sensor member

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification number Office reference number FI Technical display location H04N 5/232 H04N 5/232 B 7/18 7/18 D

Claims (2)

(57) [Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A camera installed at a position away from an operator's seat, status control means for controlling the status of the camera, and a display arranged in front of the operator's seat for displaying a photographed image of the camera. A remote control device for a camera used by an operator sitting in the operator seat to control the state of the camera while looking at the display, wherein the head position of the operator sitting in the operator seat is When the head position detecting means for detecting and the predetermined head position are set as the neutral position and the head position detecting means detects that the head position has moved from the neutral position, The type and direction of the state control of the camera is set based on the direction, and while the movement is detected, the type and direction are set based on the set type and direction. And a controller for controlling the state of the camera. 2. The controller sets the speed of the state control in correspondence with the amount of movement of the head position from the neutral position, and controls the state of the camera based on the speed of the state control. The remote control device for a camera according to claim 1, wherein: