JP2556644Y2 - Remote imaging and display device - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a remote image capturing and displaying apparatus installed for observing the movement of a manipulator or the like when the manipulator or the like is remotely operated.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A remotely operated manipulator can safely perform an operation that may cause a worker to be in danger. Therefore, various working devices using such a manipulator have been used. As an example, a manipulator is mounted on a base attached to the tip of a boom that can be raised and lowered freely in a high place work vehicle, wiring of high voltage wires,
In some cases, repair work or the like is performed using a manipulator. In such a case, the operation of the manipulator is performed by remote control of the operator from the ground, but it is difficult to control the operation of the manipulator while watching the movement of the manipulator and the work target with the naked eye with the naked eye. .

For this reason, a remote photographing camera for photographing the movement of the manipulator and the work object is arranged adjacent to the manipulator on the base, and an image photographed by the remote photographing camera is placed at the operator's seat. It is displayed. The operator can control the operation of the manipulator while observing the manipulator and the work object through this image.

[0004] In order to observe a manipulator and a work object in a wide range, a remote photographing camera is often designed to be able to change its posture by swinging up, down, left and right. Further, there is a case where a remote camera control device for controlling the attitude of the remote imaging camera in accordance with the moving direction and the moving amount of the head of the operator sitting on the operator's seat may be provided. Thereby, the operator can dedicate his limbs to the operation of the manipulator control operating device arranged around the operator's seat,
The operation burden on the operator can be reduced.

[0005] In this apparatus, a display device of a type mounted on the operator's head so that the display screen is positioned in front of the operator's eyes so that the operator can always view the image even when the operator moves his / her head (head) (A part-mounted image display device) is often used. The head-mounted image display device is mounted so as to cover both eyes of the operator,
The operator can observe the image with both eyes to observe the manipulator and the work object three-dimensionally (for this reason, a remote photographing camera for photographing a stereoscopic image is used).

[0006]

However, the operator wearing the above-mentioned head-mounted image display device must see the operating device without removing the head-mounted image display device from the head. There is a problem that cannot be operated while. For this reason, an erroneous operation of the operation device is easily performed, which may lead to a reduction in work efficiency.

The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and enables the operator to operate the head-mounted image display device while looking at the operation device arranged around the operator's seat even when the image display device is mounted. It is an object of the present invention to provide a remote imaging and displaying device.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the remote imaging and displaying apparatus of the present invention is provided with a camera for photographing the periphery of the operator's seat. Then, the surrounding image taken by the surrounding photographing camera is displayed on the head-mounted image display device through the display switching device so as to be switchable between a remote image photographed by the remote photographing camera and the surrounding image. Has become.

[0009] Instead of the display switching device, a split display device may be provided which divides the screen of the remote image and the surrounding image on the head mounted image display device and displays them simultaneously. Further, a peripheral camera control device for controlling the posture of the peripheral photographing camera in accordance with the posture of the operator's head may be provided, or the peripheral photographing camera may be attached to the head-mounted image display device.

[0010]

In a remote image capturing and displaying apparatus provided with a display switching device, for example, when operating an operating device, a remote image displayed on a head mounted image display device is temporarily displayed through a switching operation of the display switching device. By switching to the surrounding image, the operator can see the operating device and his / her limbs without removing the head-mounted image display device, and can perform an accurate operation.

Further, in the remote image capturing and displaying apparatus provided with the divided display device, while viewing the remote image, for example, the surrounding image displayed at a part of the corner of the screen can be viewed. Accurate operation of the operation device can be performed without performing a switching operation. Furthermore, by providing a control device for the peripheral camera or attaching a camera for photographing the periphery to the head-mounted image display device, the operator can cover a wide area around the operator's seat with the head-mounted image display device mounted. It is convenient to see.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an aerial work vehicle 10 equipped with a manipulator and an operator vehicle 20 for controlling its operation. The aerial work vehicle 10 includes a body 1
1 has a swivel 12 that can be swiveled, and a boom 13 that can be freely raised and contracted is attached to the swivel 12. Further, a base 14 is attached to a tip of the boom 13. The base 14 is always held horizontally by the leveling mechanism irrespective of the ups and downs of the boom 13.

Two manipulators 15 and 16 are mounted in front of the base 14. At the center of the base 14, a remote photographing camera 17 for operating the manipulators 15 and 16 and photographing a work object by the manipulators 15 and 16 is attached. The remote photographing camera 17 is for photographing a stereoscopic image, and is capable of swinging up, down, left, and right to photograph a wide range. Further, the base 14
In the rear part of the work, the work
Cranes 18 to lift near the height of 5,16
Is attached.

The operator vehicle 20 and the aerial work vehicle 10 disposed on the ground are connected via a work control line 31, and a control signal sent through the work control line 31 causes the aerial work vehicle 10 to be connected to the aerial work vehicle 10. Of the boom 13, the manipulators 15, 16 and the crane 18 are controlled. The remote photographing camera 17 and the operator's vehicle 20 are connected via an image line 32, and image information captured by the camera 17 is sent to the operator's vehicle 20 via this image line 32. In addition, a remote shooting camera 1
7 and the operator's car 20 are also connected via a photographing control line 33, and control signals for zooming and swinging operation of the camera 17 are transmitted from the operator's car 20 to the remote photographing camera 17 via the photographing control line 33. Sent.

As shown in FIG. 2, an operator room 21 is provided in the operator's vehicle 20. The operator room 21 has an operator's seat 2 in which an operator M sits.
2 are installed. In the lower front part of the operator's seat 22, three boom control pedals 23, 23, 23 for controlling the turning of the boom 13 (the operation of the swivel base 12), the raising and lowering and the expansion and contraction operation are arranged. On both sides of the operator's seat 22, there are manipulator master arms 25 for controlling the operation of the manipulators 15 and 16,
26 are arranged. Further, a remote camera operation panel 27 for performing an instruction operation such as zooming in the remote photographing camera 17 is disposed on the left front of the operator seat 22, and a crane 18 is provided on the right front of the operator seat 22.
The operation lever 28 for crane for controlling operation | movement of this is arrange | positioned. Each control signal is transmitted via the work control line 31 and the photographing control line 33 in response to the operation of each of these operation means 23 to 28.

The operator M sitting on the operator seat 22
Wears a helmet 1 on its head. This helmet 1
Is a part of a remote camera master device (not shown). When the operator M swings the head back and forth or rotates left and right, the front and rear of the remote shooting camera 17 follow the movement. Right and left swing operation control is performed.

Further, the operator M places the head mounted image display device 2 on the head (on the helmet 1) so as to cover both eyes.
Attach. In this display device 2, normally, FIG.
As shown in (A), a remote image captured by the remote imaging camera 17 and transmitted via the image line 32 is displayed, and the operator M sees the image with both eyes, and the manipulators 15 and 16 are displayed. And work object 19
Can be observed three-dimensionally. As described above, by using the remote imaging and display device including the remote imaging camera 17, the remote camera master device, and the head-mounted image display device 2, the operator M can safely and efficiently stay on the ground at a high altitude. Work can be done.

However, by mounting the head-mounted image display device 2, the operator M can operate the boom control pedal 2
3. Since the remote camera operation panel 27 and the crane operation lever 28 cannot be directly seen, there is a risk of erroneous operation thereof. Therefore, the head-mounted image display device 2
A peripheral photographing camera 5 is attached to the outside front surface of the camera. The surrounding camera 5 also captures a stereoscopic image. The operator M moves integrally by moving his / her head, and can capture a wide area around the operator M (in the operator room 21). .

As shown in FIG. 2, an operator M operates a display changeover switch 7 provided on a manipulator master arm 26 so that the surrounding image captured by the peripheral camera 5 can be mounted on a head mounted type. Through the operation of a display switching circuit (not shown) built in the image display device 2, as shown in FIG. 3B, the image is displayed in the head-mounted image display device 2 instead of the remote image. The surrounding image can be returned to the remote image by operating the display changeover switch 7 again.

By displaying the surrounding image on the head mounted image display device 2 in this manner, the operator M can operate the pedal 2 without removing the head mounted image display device 2 from the head.
3. It is possible to accurately operate the operation target while looking at the operation target such as the operation panel 27 and the operation lever 28 and his / her own limbs, thereby preventing erroneous operation.

In the above-described embodiment, the remote image and the surrounding image are completely switched and displayed on the head-mounted image display device 2. However, as shown in FIG.
May be simultaneously displayed in a portion divided and provided at the corner of the screen of the remote image A. In this case, the display changeover switch 7 in the above embodiment is replaced with a divided display switch, and the display changeover circuit is replaced with a divided display circuit. According to this, the operator M does not feel the hassle of switching the display changeover switch 7 as described in the above-described embodiment, and the state of his own operation and the manipulators 15 and 1.
Since the state of operation such as 6 can be grasped at the same time, the working efficiency can be further improved.

Further, in the above embodiment, the peripheral photographing camera 5 is mounted on the head-mounted image display device 2, but the peripheral photographing camera 5 is mounted on the ceiling of the operator room 21 and the master device for peripheral cameras. (Not shown) may be provided to control the posture of the head of the operator M in accordance with the movement of the head of the operator M, as in the relationship between the remote imaging camera 17 and the camera master device.

[0023]

As described above, by using the remote image capturing and displaying device of the present invention, the operator can work while observing the remote image through the head mounted image display device mounted on the head. A control device that is arranged around the user by displaying a surrounding image on the head-mounted image display device without removing the head-mounted image display device from the head by switching operation of the display switching device. Can be seen. For this reason, erroneous operation of the operating device can be reliably prevented. Further, by providing the divided display device instead of the display switching device, the switching operation in the display switching device is not troublesome, and an accurate operation can be performed while simultaneously viewing the remote image and the surrounding image.
As described above, the remote image capturing and displaying apparatus according to the present invention is extremely effective in improving work efficiency of remote work using a manipulator or the like.

Further, in this remote image capturing and displaying apparatus, the attitude of the peripheral image capturing camera is controlled according to the attitude of the operator's head, and the peripheral image capturing camera is mounted on the head mounted image display apparatus. This makes it possible to capture a wide area around the operator, which is convenient for performing work.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing an aerial work vehicle and an operator vehicle equipped with a remote imaging and displaying device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the inside of the operator's vehicle.

FIG. 3A is a plan view showing a remote image captured by the remote image capturing and displaying apparatus, and FIG. 3B is a plan view showing a surrounding image captured by the remote image capturing and displaying apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a divided display of a remote image and a surrounding image captured by the remote image capturing and displaying apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Helmet (master device for remote cameras) 2 Head mounted image display device 5 Peripheral camera 7 Display switch 13 Boom 15, 16 Manipulator 17 Remote camera 18 Crane 20 Operator car 22 Operator seat 23 Boom control pedal 25, 26 Master arm for manipulator 27 Operation panel for remote camera 28 Operation lever for crane A Remote image B Surrounding image

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Agency reference number FI Technical display location B66F 9/24 B66F 9/24 T (56) References JP-A-1-153288 (JP, A) JP-A-60-126985 (JP, A) JP-A-58-165113 (JP, A) JP-A-62-144188 (JP, U) JP-A-58-93496 (JP, U)

Claims (4)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] 1. A remote camera installed at a position distant from an operator's seat, and a remote camera control for controlling the attitude of the remote camera according to the attitude of the head of an operator sitting at the operator's seat. And a head-mounted image display device that is mounted on the head of the operator and displays a remote image captured by the remote imaging camera in front of the operator. A camera for photographing the periphery of the operator's seat and a surrounding image taken by the camera for surrounding photographing, and the head-mounted image display for switching between the remote image and the remote image. A remote image capturing and displaying device comprising a display switching device for displaying the image on a device. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a split display device that, instead of the display switching device, splits a screen of the remote image and the surrounding image on the head-mounted image display device and simultaneously displays the split image. The remote image capturing and displaying device according to claim 1. 3. The remote control according to claim 1, further comprising a control device for a peripheral camera that controls a posture of the peripheral photographing camera in accordance with a posture of a head of the operator. Imaging and display device. 4. The remote image capturing and displaying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the peripheral camera is mounted on the head mounted image display apparatus.