JP2892424B2 - Automatic guided vehicle - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an automatic guided vehicle that travels while generating a melody sound.

(Prior art) In various manufacturing facilities, factories, etc., in recent years,
Since it is necessary to connect the processing steps in a flexible manner without any loss of time, each step is often connected by an unmanned transport vehicle, and goods are transferred between the steps.

By the way, many such automatic guided vehicles run while generating a melody sound for safe driving, but since they are configured to generate a melody sound with a constant volume throughout, noise is reduced. When traveling in a large environment, it is difficult to hear the melody sound and it is difficult to achieve the function of notifying the existence of the automatic guided vehicle, which is the original role.On the other hand, when traveling in an environment with low noise, the melody sound is noisy. There was a problem that it sounded bad and adversely affected the surroundings.

(Object of the Invention) The present invention has been made in order to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks of the related art, and can generate a melody sound at a volume corresponding to the noise of each environment, thereby adversely affecting the surroundings. It is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic guided vehicle that can inform the surroundings of the existence of the automatic guided vehicle without giving it to the driver and ensure safety during traveling.

(Summary of the Invention) In order to solve the above problems, in an automatic guided vehicle according to the present invention, an environmental sound extracting unit for detecting a noise level of an environment in which the automatic guided vehicle travels, and the environmental sound extracting unit extracts the noise. And a melody generating circuit that generates a melody sound at a volume corresponding to the level of the generated noise and notifies the melody to the surroundings.

(Examples) Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on illustrated examples.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention.
In this figure, the traveling control system of the automatic guided vehicle is omitted for the sake of simplicity.

The automatic guided vehicle shown in FIG. 1 includes a microphone 1 that collects surrounding sounds (ambient sounds), a melody generating circuit 2 that generates a melody sound signal, and a melody based on a melody sound signal output from the melody generating circuit 2. A speaker 3 for generating sound and outputting the sound to the surroundings, and an environment for canceling the melody sound output from the speaker 3 from the surrounding sound collected by the microphone 1 and extracting the surrounding sound where the automatic guided vehicle is currently located. A sound extraction unit 4 and a volume adjustment circuit 5 for adjusting the volume of the melody generation circuit 2 according to the amount of noise extracted by the environmental sound extraction unit 4 are provided.

The melody canceling circuit 6 subtracts the melody sound signal output from the melody generating circuit 2 from the ambient sound signal collected by the microphone 1 to extract a noise signal under the environment. An amplifier circuit 7 for amplifying the output of the cancel circuit 6, a rectifier circuit 8 for rectifying the output of the amplifier circuit 7, and a level of the output of the rectifier circuit 8 to detect the level of noise and to respond to the detection result. A noise detection circuit 9 for generating a level discrimination signal.

The volume adjustment circuit 5 is provided with the melody generation circuit 2.
A plurality of resistors 10 connected in series between a voltage output terminal 2a of the melody generating circuit 2 and a control terminal 2b of the melody generating circuit 2. A plurality of switches 11 are selectively opened and closed by a level discrimination signal output from the noise detection circuit 9 of the sound extraction unit 4.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

When the automatic guided vehicle is traveling, the melody generating circuit 2 operates and a melody sound is output from the speaker 3 to notify the surroundings.

At this time, the ambient sound including the melody sound is collected by the microphone 1 to generate an ambient sound signal. The ambient sound signal is input to the melody cancel circuit 6 of the environmental sound extraction unit 4 and the melody output from the melody generating circuit 2. The sound signal is input to the melody cancel circuit 6.

The melody cancellation circuit 6 subtracts the melody sound signal from the surrounding sound signal to extract a noise signal under the environment where the automatic guided vehicle is currently traveling, and amplifies the noise signal with the amplifier circuit 7.
It is rectified by the rectification circuit 8 and supplied to the noise detection circuit 9.

The noise detection circuit 9 performs level discrimination of the signal output from the rectifier circuit 8 to generate a level discrimination signal corresponding to the noise level of the environment in which the automatic guided vehicle is currently traveling, and switches each switch 11 of the volume control circuit 5. It is selectively closed to adjust the size of the melody sound signal output from the melody generating circuit 2.

Thereby, when the noise of the environment in which the AGV is currently traveling is large, the melody sound output from the speaker 3 of the AGV is increased so that the surroundings can be heard well. The melody sound output from 3 is reduced so as not to adversely affect the surroundings.

As described above, in this embodiment, the volume of the melody sound is adjusted according to the level of the sound (environmental noise) obtained by removing the melody sound from the surrounding sounds. Can be generated, whereby the presence of the automatic guided vehicle can be notified to the surroundings without adversely affecting the surroundings, and safety during traveling can be ensured.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention. In this figure, the same parts as those shown in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals.

The automatic guided vehicle shown in FIG. 1 includes a microphone 1 that collects ambient sounds (ambient sounds), a melody generating circuit 2 that generates a melody sound signal, a timer circuit 15 that generates a pulse signal of a predetermined width at a predetermined cycle, A melody sound based on a melody sound signal output from the melody generating circuit 2 when the B contact 16b is closed when the pulse signal is generated by the timer circuit 15 and when the B contact 16b is closed. , And outputs to the surroundings; an A contact 16a that is closed when a pulse signal is generated by the timer circuit 15; and a microphone 1 that is collected by the microphone 1 when the A contact 16a is closed. Environmental sound extraction unit 17 which detects the level of a signal corresponding to the noise (noise under the environment where the automatic guided vehicle is currently located) and holds it
And a sound volume adjusting circuit 5 for adjusting the sound volume of the melody sound generating circuit 2 according to the noise level held by the environmental sound extracting unit 17.

The environmental sound extracting unit 17 is an amplifier circuit 7 for amplifying a signal corresponding to the noise collected by the microphone 1
A rectifier circuit 8 for rectifying the output of the amplifier circuit 7;
A noise detection circuit 9 for detecting the level of noise by level-discriminating the output of the rectifier circuit 8 and generating a level discrimination signal according to the detection result, and a level discrimination signal output from the noise detection circuit 9 are stored. And a memory circuit 18.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b).

When the automatic guided vehicle is traveling, the melody generating circuit 2 operates to generate a melody sound signal.
The sound is supplied to the speaker 3 via the speaker 16b, converted into a melody sound by the speaker 3, and output to the surroundings.

When the timer circuit 15 generates a pulse signal, the B contact 16b is opened as shown in FIG. 3 (a) and the melody sound is not output from the speaker 3 at the same time as shown in FIG. As shown in b), the A contact 16a is closed, and a signal corresponding to the noise collected by the microphone 1 (noise in the environment not including the melody sound) is supplied to the environmental sound extracting unit 17.

The environmental sound extraction unit 17 amplifies and rectifies the signal corresponding to the noise, generates a level discrimination signal by level discrimination, holds the signal, and supplies the level discrimination signal to the volume control circuit 5 to selectively switch each switch 11. The size of the melody sound signal output from the closed melody generating circuit 2 is adjusted.

As a result, until the next pulse signal is generated by the timer circuit 15, the melody sound is output from the speaker 3 at a volume corresponding to the noise of the environment in which the automatic guided vehicle is currently traveling.

As described above, in this embodiment, the output of the melody sound from the speaker 3 at a predetermined period is stopped, and during that time,
The surrounding noise is collected by the microphone 1 and the magnitude of the melody sound signal output from the melody generating circuit 2 is determined according to the level of the noise.
Since the loudness of the melody sound signal is maintained, the melody sound can be generated at a volume corresponding to each environment similarly to the above-described embodiment, and thereby the unmanned transport vehicle can be produced without adversely affecting the surroundings. By notifying the presence to the surroundings, safety during traveling can be ensured.

Further, in each of the above-described embodiments, the ambient noise of the automatic guided vehicle is measured at all times, or at a predetermined cycle.However, a reflection tape affixed to a factory floor or the like as a guide line of the automatic guided vehicle is used. Separate the embedded electromagnetic induction wires etc. by a fixed section unit, put a mark on the reflective tape to specify the volume of the melody sound at each section, and output a signal specifying the volume of the melody sound from the electromagnetic induction wires etc. May be used to adjust the volume of the melody sound.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to generate a melody sound at a volume corresponding to the noise amount of each environment, and thereby it is possible to determine the existence of the automatic guided vehicle without adversely affecting the surroundings. By notifying the surroundings, it is possible to ensure safety during traveling.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of an automatic guided vehicle according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the automatic guided vehicle according to the present invention, and FIGS. FIG. 3 is a timing chart for explaining the operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. 2. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Microphone, 2 ... Melody generation circuit, 3 ... Speaker, 4 ... Environmental sound extraction part, 5 ... Volume adjustment circuit.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-1-216409 (JP, A) JP-A-64-13606 (JP, A) JP-A-55-127416 (JP, U) JP-A-2-216409 100851 (JP, U) Japanese Utility Model 2-141198 (JP, U) (58) Fields surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B60Q 5/00 610 B60Q 5/00 640 B60Q 5/00 650 B60Q 5 / 00 660 G05D 1/02

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] An environment sound extraction unit for detecting a noise level of an environment in which an automatic guided vehicle travels, and a melody sound generated at a volume corresponding to the noise level extracted by the environment sound extraction unit to generate a melody sound around the environment. A melody sound generating circuit for notifying, the environmental sound extracting unit removes the melody sound generated by the melody generating circuit from the sound collected by a microphone provided in the automatic guided vehicle, and the automatic guided vehicle travels. An automatic guided vehicle characterized by detecting a noise level in a changing environment.