JP2564127B2 - Unmanned vehicles that can make detours - Google Patents

Description

Description: FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to unmanned vehicles that can be bypassed to avoid collisions.

2. Description of the Related Art As is well known, recently, unmanned vehicles are frequently used for transporting parts and the like in a factory. In general, a guide line that generates signals such as electromagnetic waves is laid on the floor, and a detector provided on an unmanned vehicle detects the signal and travels so as not to deviate from the guide line. In the transport system by car, compared to the transport system by conveyor, there is no equipment to be fixed on the floor, so there are fewer obstacles to logistics, and the traveling route is easily set by appropriately laying guide lines,
There are also advantages such as being changeable.

By the way, it is usual to arrange a plurality of unmanned vehicles in a single transport system, but in that case, in order to secure the freedom of travel or improve the transport efficiency, pass the unmanned vehicles ahead. It is necessary to perform a detour control such as that described above, and in the past, such control was performed by a device installed on the floor. In other words, the bypass line is set by arranging the guide line at a predetermined location on the main taxi route, and the unmanned vehicle reaches the entrance of the detour route and the detection switch that detects that the unmanned vehicle is stopped. Signals are sent from the signal device to the subsequent unmanned vehicle or sent to the guide line by installing detection signals on the floor to detect the fact that a predetermined signal is input to a control device such as a computer from these switches. As a result, the subsequent unmanned vehicle was directed to the detour.

However, in such a detour control device, there is a problem that the configuration of the equipment becomes large-scale and the cost increases.Moreover, since the number of devices to be fixed on the floor side increases, it becomes difficult to change the layout. The required costs are high, and the inherent advantages of an unmanned transport system are lost.

Conventionally, unmanned vehicles that eliminate such inconvenience are Japanese Patent Publication Sho 53
-12106. This is to detour the following unmanned vehicle to another guide line when the preceding unmanned vehicle is stopped, and the detour command detector provided in the unmanned vehicle detects the detected object, A turning operation is performed irrespective of the line, and after traveling a predetermined distance along an adjacent guide line, the vehicle turns in the opposite direction to the previous case, and returns to the original guide line.

In the past, a device for changing the behavior of a succeeding unmanned vehicle in relation to the preceding unmanned vehicle has been proposed by Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 56-7070, in which light emitted forward from a floodlight is emitted from the preceding unmanned vehicle. It is reflected by a reflector and the reflected light is detected by a light receiver,
When the light amount becomes equal to or higher than a certain level, the following unmanned vehicle is stopped.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, in the former unmanned vehicle described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 53-12106, since the unmanned vehicle can perform the turning operation for detouring itself, equipment to be fixed to the floor side However, there is an advantage that the detection target needs to be installed only when the preceding unmanned vehicle is stopped, and some device for performing the operation is required. If done, the problem would be that the equipment would be expensive, and if done manually, automation would be lost.

Therefore, it is conceivable to detect the stop of the preceding unmanned vehicle with the device described in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 56-7070. In such a case, it is not necessary to install the subject and the need for detouring is eliminated. It is possible to let the unmanned vehicle determine whether or not the vehicle is present. However, in the device using the projector, the receiver, and the reflecting mirror described in JP-A-56-7070, if the front and rear unmanned vehicles are on the same straight line, the receiver can emit light even if they are far apart. The amount of light detected is maximized just before the front and rear unmanned vehicles collide, but since the amount of light fluctuates due to various factors such as voltage and the degree of clouding of the reflector,
There is a problem in that it is difficult to set the signal level at which the unmanned vehicle should be stopped or the detour operation should be started, and accurate control cannot be performed.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an unmanned vehicle that does not require a fixed device on the floor side and can perform a detouring operation accurately.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention presets by detecting a guide wire, self-propelled along the guide wire, and inputting a predetermined signal. In an unmanned vehicle that travels on a route that deviates from the guide line in accordance with the program described above, a light projecting unit that can set the light irradiation angle to an angle at which the optical axis intersects the traveling direction is either the front or rear of the vehicle body. The light-receiving means mounted on one side and capable of setting the light-receiving angle to an angle corresponding to the irradiation angle of the light-projecting means and receiving a light from the light-projecting means and outputting a signal is either in the front or rear of the vehicle body. A control device attached to the other side is further provided, which is provided with a control device for performing detouring traveling out of the guide line according to a preset program based on an output signal from the light receiving means. You.

Action The unmanned vehicle of the present invention normally runs on its own along a guide line. When the following unmanned vehicle approaches the stopped unmanned unmanned vehicle, the light irradiation angle of the unmanned vehicle's light projecting means is different from the traveling direction and is not facing forward. The optical axis and the optical axis of the light receiving means do not coincide with each other, and therefore the succeeding unmanned vehicle does not receive the signal to start the detour. When approaching further, the optical axes of the light projecting means and the light receiving means coincide with each other, so that a signal for starting detouring according to a preset program is input to the control device, so that the succeeding unmanned vehicle is guided by the guide wire. And make a detour to pass the side of the preceding unmanned vehicle.

Embodiments Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a schematic configuration of an unmanned vehicle 1 according to the present invention. The unmanned vehicle 1 shown here has a pair of traveling wheels 2 and 1.
Two steering wheels 3 are provided, the traveling wheels 2 are configured to be driven by a traveling motor 5 via a transmission 4, and the steering wheels 3 are configured to be steered by a steering motor 6. . Further, a pair of left and right pickup coils 8R, 8L for detecting a signal emitted from the guide wire 7 are provided at the center of the water surface of the vehicle body. Further, on the left and right sides of the front end of the vehicle body, there are provided light receiving sensors 9R, 9L that output signals in response to light, and these light receiving sensors 9R, 9L set the light receiving angle α with respect to the traveling direction appropriately. It is held by the swing mechanism 10. On the other hand, on the left and right sides of the rear end of the vehicle
11R and 11L are provided, and these projectors 11R and 11L are also
Like the light receiving sensors 9R and 9L, the swing mechanism 12 holds the irradiation angle α with respect to the traveling direction.

The unmanned vehicle 1 is equipped with a control device 13 for controlling its travel. The control device 13 includes the motors 5 and 6, the pickup coils 8R and 8L, the light receiving sensors 9R and 9L, and the projectors 11R and 11L. Are connected. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control device 13. Each pickup coil 8R, 8L is connected to the induction control circuit 14, and the output signal of the induction control circuit 14 is supplied to the steering servo driver 15.
Is input to drive the steering motor 6, and steering is performed so that the vehicle runs along the guide wire 7. The left and right light receiving sensors 9R and 9L are connected to a sensor receiving circuit 16, and the sensor receiving circuit 16 is connected to a program steering drive circuit 17. When the program steering drive circuit 17 operates, the program steering drive circuit 17 outputs an off signal to the guidance control circuit 14 to stop the operation of the guidance control circuit 14, and outputs a signal to the arithmetic circuit 18. This arithmetic circuit 18 has a steering data buffer for traveling regardless of the guide wire 7.
19 and the traveling data buffer 20 are connected, and the data are output to the steering function generating circuit 21 to determine the steering angle according to the traveling distance, and the signal is output to the steering servo driver 15. The steering wheel 3 has a potentiometer 22 that detects the steering angle and outputs a signal to the arithmetic circuit 18.
An encoder 23 that detects the traveling distance and outputs a signal to the arithmetic circuit 18 is attached. Therefore, the control device 13
Drives the traveling motor 5 and also drives the steering motor 6 based on the signals input from the pickup coils 8R and 8L, thereby giving a predetermined steering angle to the steering wheel 3 and following the guide wire 7. When the signal is input from either the left or right light receiving sensor 9R, 9L, steering is performed according to a preset program, and control is performed so that the vehicle deviates from the guide wire 7 and travels. Has been done. When stopped, light is emitted from either the left or right projectors 11R and 11L.

Note that FIG. 1 shows two unmanned vehicles, a leading unmanned vehicle 1 and a trailing unmanned vehicle 1. Of these, the trailing unmanned vehicle 1 has the same structure as the leading unmanned vehicle 1. It is omitted in FIG.

 Next, the operation will be described.

First, the projectors 11R and 11L and the light receiving sensors 9R and 9L that form a pair with the projectors 11R and 11L are set at angles that are symmetrical to each other. That is, the irradiation angle of each of the projectors 11R and 11L is set to an angle α from the traveling direction toward the center of the vehicle body, and the light receiving sensor 11
The light receiving angles of R and 11L are set to an angle α from the traveling direction toward the center of the vehicle body. Figure 3 shows an unmanned vehicle 1 set up in this way.
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a detouring process of a vehicle, in which a preceding unmanned vehicle (hereinafter, tentatively indicated as 1A) is stopped at a transfer station, and transfer is performed from the left side in the traveling direction. A car (hereinafter, tentatively indicated as 1B) is traveling along the guide line 7. Since the preceding unmanned vehicle 1A is stopped and is being transferred from the left side, the right projector 11R emits light. A flow chart of such control is as shown in FIG. 4, and if the transfer direction is judged and the result is left, the right projector 11R is turned on, and if the judgment result is right, it is left. Turn on the projector 11L.

When the succeeding unmanned vehicle 1B approaches the unmanned vehicle 1A in such a state, when the distance between the two is relatively large, the irradiation angle and the light receiving angle are set to an angle α with respect to the traveling direction as described above. The flood light is on
The optical axis of 11R and the optical axis of the light receiving sensor 9L which is paired therewith do not match, and the light receiving sensor 9L does not sense light. Therefore, in this state, the unmanned vehicle 1B travels along the guide line 7 (3rd
(A). When the succeeding unmanned vehicle 1B further approaches the stopped unmanned vehicle 1A, the optical axes of the projector 11R and the light receiving sensor 9L coincide with each other (FIG. 3 (B)), so that the light receiving sensor 9L receives light and signals. As a result, the control device 13 performs control according to preset steering data and traveling data instead of the guidance control circuit 14. That is, as shown in the flow chart of FIG. 5, when there is an input to the sensor, the program steering circuit is turned on,
Then, it is judged whether or not it is the light receiving sensor 9R on the right side.
When the result is "yes", the left program steering for detouring to the left side is executed, and when the determination result is "no", the right program steering for detouring to the right side is executed. Therefore, in the case shown in FIG. 3, since the left light receiving sensor 9L receives light, the right program steering is executed and the unmanned vehicle 1B detours to the right side as shown in FIG. After passing through the side of the vehicle, it returns to the position along the guide wire 7 (FIG. 3 (D)).

As described above, the succeeding unmanned vehicle 1B has the light receiving sensor 9
When R, 9L captures the light from the projectors 11R, 11L, that is, when the optical axes of the projectors 11R, 11L and the optical axes of the light receiving sensors 9R, 9L approach the distance, the detouring operation starts. The distance is the swing mechanism between the projectors 11R and 11L and the light receiving sensors 9R and 9L.
It is determined by the set angle α of 10, 12 and the following unmanned vehicle 1
As the angle α increases, the detouring operation starts closer to the preceding unmanned vehicle 1A, and conversely, the smaller the angle α, the detouring operation starts at a position distant from the preceding unmanned vehicle 1A.

In the above embodiment, the detour when the traveling routes of the two unmanned vehicles 1 are the same has been described, but in the present invention, there is a risk that the unmanned vehicles interfere with each other as the traveling routes approach each other. The detouring operation can be performed by appropriately setting the angles of the light projecting device and the light receiving sensor.

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION As is clear from the above description, according to the unmanned vehicle of the present invention, the light projecting means and the light receiving means for detecting the approach of the preceding unmanned vehicle and the succeeding unmanned vehicle are formed at appropriate angles with respect to the traveling direction. Therefore, the light receiving means receives the light and outputs the signal only when the two unmanned vehicles come close to each other up to the specified distance. Detour control can be performed, and the angles of the light projecting means and the light receiving means can be set to the angles at which the optical axes intersect the traveling direction, so that even if the taxiways of the unmanned vehicle do not match. Detour control can be performed. Further, since the unmanned vehicle of the present invention has a configuration in which all devices for detour control are mounted, there are almost no devices fixed to the floor side, and therefore, it is possible to extremely easily change and expand the traveling route, and at the same time, to install equipment. It is possible to obtain an effect that the cost can be significantly reduced as compared with the conventional one.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control device thereof, and FIGS.
(D) is a schematic diagram showing a detouring process, FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing control of a floodlight in a stopped unmanned vehicle, and FIG. 5 is a flowchart for controlling a succeeding unmanned vehicle. 1 ... unmanned vehicle, 2 ... running wheels, 3 ... steering wheels, 5 ... running motor, 6 ... steering motor,
7 ... Induction wire, 8R, 8L ... Pickup coil, 9R, 9L ...
… Light receiving sensor, 10, 12 …… Swing mechanism, 11R, 11L …… Projector, 13 …… Control device.

Front page continued (72) Inventor Hiroshi Ogawa Nishibiwajima-cho, Nishikasugai-gun, Aichi (no house) Meidensha Co., Ltd. Nagoya factory (56) Reference JP 62-88006 (JP, A) JP 53-12106 (JP, A) Actually developed 62-187307 (JP, U)

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. An unmanned vehicle that travels along a route that deviates from the guide line according to a preset program by detecting the guide line and traveling along the guide line and inputting a predetermined signal. A light projecting means capable of setting the light irradiation angle to an angle at which the optical axis intersects the traveling direction is attached to either the front or the rear of the vehicle body, and the light receiving angle is set to the light projecting angle of the light projecting means. A light receiving means that can be set to an angle corresponding to and that outputs a signal by receiving light from the light projecting means,
A detour traveling, which is attached to either the front or rear of the vehicle body, and further provided with a control device for detouring deviating from the guide line according to a preset program based on an output signal from the light receiving means. Possible unmanned vehicles.