JP6244256B2 - Transport container, transport system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a transfer technique in which a plurality of freely moving subjects cooperate to move a moving object from an initial position to a target position.

  In recent years, research on article transportation by autonomous mobile robots has been actively conducted. There are various types of articles to be transported and the robots that transport them. In particular, there is a need for technology to efficiently transport goods by cooperating multiple robots, and research is actively conducted. .

  In the article conveyance technique described in Non-Patent Document 1, a plurality of robots learn an action plan of each robot for performing container conveyance by cooperative operation by a machine learning method. In this method, the ideal path of the container from the initial position to the target position is learned, and the behavior of each robot is learned so that the container moves along the path. Non-Patent Document 1 uses the concept of “virtual brake” when learning the behavior of each robot. This is a process at the time of learning that even if the robot pushes the container in a direction deviating from the ideal path, the position of the container is not changed in accordance with the pushing action. By using the learning result thus obtained, it is possible for a plurality of robots to efficiently transport a container that does not have the concept of braking to a target position by cooperative operation.

Hiroshi Kawano, “Effect of Virtual Work Braking on Distributed Multi-robot Reinforcement Learning”, IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, pp.1987-1994, 2013.

  According to the prior art as described in Non-Patent Document 1, containers can be transported by operating the robots according to the action plan of each robot obtained by learning. However, it is difficult to construct a robot that can operate without problems in various bad environmental conditions, and it is difficult to realize article conveyance by the robot in a bad environment.

  If the robot is replaced with an animal, it can operate on rough ground. However, in order to move the animal according to the action plan like a robot, it is necessary to restrain the animal or to embed control electrodes in the animal's brain to give external stimuli, which causes an excessive load on the animal. There is a problem of giving.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a transport technique that can operate even in a bad environment and can perform transport without applying a load to an operation subject.

  In order to solve the above problems, a transport container according to the present invention is a transport container for transporting an article according to a transport plan in which a plurality of operating subjects cooperate to move the article from an initial position to a target position. The transport container includes a storage unit that stores a transport path of an article from an initial position to a target position, and a waiting position for waiting for the article to move because an operation subject that moves the article on the transport path is switched, and for each traveling direction of the article. The presence of the article, the brake actuator unit that controls whether or not the movement subject is present, the detection unit that detects whether or not the action subject exists at the waiting waiting position where the subject should wait before the article reaches the waiting position, and The position measuring unit that measures the position to be moved, and the article is present at the waiting position, and the subject is at the waiting position corresponding to the waiting position. If not, the brake is controlled to control the brake actuator unit so that the article cannot be moved in all the traveling directions, and in other cases, the article can be moved only in the traveling direction along the transport path. And a control unit.

  According to the transfer technology of the present invention, if an animal is used as an operation subject, it can be operated even in a bad environment, and restrains the animal's behavior without restraining or giving an external stimulus to the operation subject. The container can be transported to a desired position by operating the animal in a coordinated manner.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an environment for an article transport mission by an animal. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the structure of the transport container. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the transport container. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a specific configuration of the position measurement unit. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a specific configuration of the position measurement unit. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a processing flow of the braking control unit. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a specific configuration of the braking actuator unit. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a specific configuration of the braking actuator unit. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a specific configuration of the transport container. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a specific configuration of the transport container. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the position measurement unit according to the second embodiment. FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a processing flow of the position transmission / reception control unit. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a specific example of an article conveyance plan according to the second embodiment.

  Prior to the description of the embodiments, the basic concept of the present invention will be described.

[Problem settings]
The mission of a plurality of actors to coordinately transport an article is, for example, a plurality of articles (moving objects) in a room separated by walls or obstacles as illustrated in FIG. 1 from the initial position to the target position. It is conveyed by the cooperative action of the movement subject. Each operation subject can move the transport container by pushing the transport container in the XY-axis direction (in this example, the four directions up, down, left and right in the drawing).

  Here, the “moving subject” is a systematic action according to a programmed action plan such as an animal or a low intelligence robot (ie, a robot that continues to roll in a free direction or a robot that continues to reciprocate in one direction). Robot that does not have such advanced functions. In short, any moving subject that moves freely in an arbitrary direction and whose behavior is not systematically operated (controlled) by an external factor may be used. In the following description, it is assumed that the operation subject is an “animal”.

  From the viewpoint of specifically explaining the present invention, it is assumed that the shape of the transport container is a shape in which a plurality of cubic block elements are combined as shown in FIG. However, this is an example, and the shape is not limited to a cube. The position of the transport container is defined by the grid position (container reference point) of any one of the blocks constituting the transport container. Hereinafter, as illustrated in FIG. 2, the block element at the lower right end among the block elements constituting the transport container will be described as a container position reference point.

  It is assumed that the walls and obstacles constituting the transportation mission environment are formed by connecting a plurality of cubic block elements in the same manner as the transportation container. The cube is an example, and the shape is not limited to the cube, like the transport container. In the present invention, since the wall and the obstacle play the same role, the block elements of the wall or the obstacle are collectively referred to as “wall block” in the following description.

  The basic idea of the present invention is not to cause the robot to move according to the action plan, but only to the movement container carrying the article as planned (movement along the conveyance path from the initial position to the target position). Is provided with a brake function that does not accept any other movement. While the moving subject moves freely, various actions are performed on the transport container, but the transport container does not accept any movement other than the planned movement. As a result, the transport container naturally reaches the target position.

  In this sense, the present invention corresponds to an embodiment of the concept of the virtual brake of Non-Patent Document 1. However, the virtual brake of Non-Patent Document 1 only uses the concept of virtual brake as a function for reducing the size of the learning space for learning the behavior of the robot. Actually, when the robot performs the transfer mission according to the behavior algorithm learned by the method shown in Non-Patent Document 1, the transfer container does not need to have a braking device. In Non-Patent Document 1, it is obvious that what action plan result should be used, what function should be provided to the article, and what control should be performed in order to realize the virtual brake as a real system. There wasn't.

  In the present invention, it is assumed that the transport path of the transport container is given in advance. The transport path of the transport container may be set manually in advance, or may be learned by a known machine learning method such as Non-Patent Document 1.

  Further, for the sake of simplicity, it is assumed in this invention that only animals located at positions adjacent to the position of the transport container can push the transport container.

For example, it is assumed that the transport path L of the transport container is determined from the initial position S to the target position G, as indicated by a dashed line in FIG. In the example of FIG. 1, the horizontal direction on the paper surface is taken as the X axis, the vertical direction on the paper surface is taken as the Y axis, and the position is represented by (X, Y). The transport path L of the transport container is a point sequence of positions at each step (time) from the initial position (2, 3) to the target position (5, 1). If the position of the lower left block in FIG. 1 is (0,0), the transport path L in FIG.
L = {(2,3), (2,4), (2,5), (2,6), (2,7), (3,7), (4,7), (5,7) , (5,6), (5,5), (5,4), (5,3), (5,2), (5,1)}
It can be expressed as

  Accordingly, it is possible to define an appropriate direction of movement for the transport container to follow the path at each position of the transport container. For example, in the initial position S, it is desirable for the transport container to move the transport container in the upward direction (a direction in which only the Y coordinate increases).

  For example, in Fig. 1, when the transport container is at the position (5,7) (position A), and there is no animal at the position (5,8) (position B), the transport container The operation following the transport path cannot be continued. In other words, before an animal pushes the transport container to position A and moves it, another animal must have reached position B. In this way, unless an appropriate waiting coordination is performed between an animal that pushes the transport container to position A and an animal that is waiting for the transport container to arrive at position B, It cannot be achieved from the position (5, 7) to the position (5, 1) (target position G).

  Hereinafter, a position where a coordinated operation is required among a plurality of animals is referred to as a “waiting position”. In particular, the waiting position on the transport path (position A in (5, 7) in the above example) is called the “container waiting position”, and the position where the animal must wait before reaching the container waiting position (described above). In this example, the position B) of (5, 8) is called a “waiting standby position”. There may be a plurality of waiting positions (container waiting position and waiting waiting position).

  Since the meeting position can be specified from the transport route and the environment of the transport mission (the position of the obstacle and the position of the wall), it is given in advance by calculating in advance (or by manually obtaining it). It is assumed that

  Originally, the animal moves freely, so when the animal pushes the transport container, the transport container does not always push the transport container in the desired direction. Therefore, in the present invention, when the transport container is pushed in an undesired direction by the animal, the transport container itself performs a braking function so as to prevent it from being moved by the animal.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail. In addition, the same number is attached | subjected to the component which has the same function in drawing, and duplication description is abbreviate | omitted.

[First embodiment]
As illustrated in FIG. 3, the transport container 1 according to the first embodiment includes a storage unit 10, a detection unit 12, a position measurement unit 14, a braking control unit 16, and a braking actuator unit 18. The detection unit 12 detects whether or not there is an animal at the waiting waiting position in the transport environment. When an instruction for detecting whether or not there is an animal is input from the braking control unit 16 of the transport container 1, the detection unit 12 detects whether or not there is an animal at the waiting position, and the result (hereinafter, animal) is detected. The detection result is output to the braking control unit 16.

  Various methods are conceivable for the detection unit 12 to detect the presence of an animal. For example, as shown in FIG. 4A, the detection unit 12 includes a light emitting unit 121 that emits light such as infrared rays installed on a wall block 9A that surrounds a lattice at a waiting position (in the example of FIG. 1, position B). The light receiving unit 122 that receives light emitted from the light emitting unit 121 installed in the facing wall block 9B, the variable resistance unit 123 that changes in resistance value from the intensity of light received by the light receiving unit 122, and the resistance value thereof are detected. The resistance value measuring unit 124 can be used. In this configuration, as shown in FIG. 4B, when an animal exists between the light emitting unit 121 and the light receiving unit 122, the intensity of light that the light receiving unit 122 should receive by the body of the animal is weakened. Decreases, the resistance value of the variable resistance portion 123 changes. And the presence of an animal can be detected by reading the change of the resistance value with the resistance value measuring unit 124.

  As shown in FIG. 5, a specific method for realizing the light receiving unit 122 and the variable resistance unit 123 is a circuit in which a cadmium sulfide cell (hereinafter referred to as a CdS cell) is connected in series with a current measuring device and a DC power source. Can be considered. In this configuration, the CdS cell corresponds to the light receiving unit 122 and the variable resistance unit 123, and the current measuring device corresponds to the resistance value measuring unit 124. The CdS cell utilizes the property of cadmium sulfide (CdS), whose resistance value changes depending on the amount of light hit, and the resistance value decreases as the amount of light hitting the CdS cell increases. As a frequency of light applied to the CdS cell, a wide frequency band such as infrared rays, visible rays, and ultraviolet rays can be assumed. When a constant voltage source dry battery or the like is used as the DC power source, the current flowing in the circuit changes due to the change in the resistance value of the CdS cell. The change in the resistance value of the CdS cell can be read by reading the changing current value with a current measuring instrument. In this configuration, it may be determined that an animal is detected when the measured current value becomes smaller than a predetermined threshold Th. The threshold value Th is determined empirically in consideration of the weather conditions, whether the installation location is indoors or outdoors, and indoor conditions such as the type of lighting if indoors.

  As another method for detecting the presence of the animal by the detection unit 12, a configuration in which a camera is mounted on the wall block 9 surrounding the waiting waiting position and the presence of the animal is detected by processing an image captured by the camera is also useful. . For example, an image when there is no animal at the waiting position (hereinafter referred to as a comparative image) is captured in advance and stored as data in the storage unit 10, and image data when the image is captured during the mission (hereinafter, during the mission) Compare with image). There is a method for determining that an animal is present at the waiting position if there is a clear difference in brightness between the comparison image and the image on duty in the pixel data constituting the image. Conceivable.

  Furthermore, as a method for detecting the presence of the animal, the detection unit 12 is equipped with a weight measuring device on the floor surface of the waiting waiting position, and detects the presence of the animal by changing the measured weight when the animal is present at the waiting waiting position. It is also useful to do so.

  Hereinafter, the operation of each part of the transport container 1 in step t will be described, where t is the current step.

In the storage unit 10, a transport path L and a set W of container waiting positions are stored in advance. Hereinafter, specific processing will be described with reference to the example of FIG. In the example of FIG. 1, the transport route L and the container waiting position set W are
L = {(2,3), (2,4), (2,5), (2,6), (2,7), (3,7), (4,7), (5,7) , (5,6), (5,5), (5,4), (5,3), (5,2), (5,1)}
W = {(5,7)}
As stored in the storage unit 10. Let L (t) represent the t-th element of the transport path L. In this example, L (1) is the initial position (2,3), and L (3) = (2,5). Let W (i) represent the i-th element of the set W of container waiting positions. In the first embodiment, the position of the transport path is indicated by integer-valued coordinates, but in actuality, it is assumed to be read as position information of a global positioning system (GPS). That is, it is assumed that the expression of the position measured by the position measuring unit 14 described later and the expression format of each position of the transport path L and the container waiting position are prepared.

  The position measuring unit 14 is a sensor (for example, GPS) that measures the position of the transport container 1, measures the position C (t) of the transport container 1 at the current step t, and sends the result to the braking control unit 16. Output.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the braking control unit 16 performs the following processing.

(Step S1-1) The position L (t + 1) of the transport path in step t + 1 is acquired from the storage unit 10.

(Step S1-2) It is searched whether or not the position L (t + 1) of the conveyance path acquired in Step S1-1 is included in the set W of waiting positions stored in the storage unit 10. If the position L (t + 1) is included in the waiting position set W, the process proceeds to step S1-3. If the position L (t + 1) is not included in the waiting position set W, the process proceeds to step S1-5. Proceed to

(Step S1-3) An instruction for detecting whether or not there is an animal is input to the detection unit 12 at the waiting waiting position corresponding to the container waiting position (ie, position L (t + 1)), Receives animal detection results. If the animal detection result indicates that there is no animal, the process proceeds to step S1-4. If the animal detection result indicates that there is an animal, the process proceeds to step S1-5.

(Step S1-4) All the brake actuator parts 18 are operated. Thereby, even if an animal pushes the conveyance container 1, the conveyance container 1 does not move to any direction.

(Step S1-5) The brake actuator unit 18 in a direction other than the direction in which the transport container 1 moves from the position C (t) to the position L (t + 1) acquired by the position measuring unit 14 is operated. Thereby, even if the animal pushes the transport container 1 in a direction not along the transport path L, the transport container 1 does not move.

  As shown in FIG. 7A, the brake actuator unit 18 is disposed on the bottom surface of the transport container 1 so as to correspond to the direction in which the transport container 1 can move. In this embodiment, since the transport container 1 can move in four directions, front, rear, left, and right, it is assumed that it includes four braking actuator portions 18A to 18D corresponding to the four traveling directions.

  7B to 7D illustrate bottom views of the brake actuator unit 18. In this embodiment, the brake actuator unit 18 is used to allow the movement of the article only in the four directions of the plus direction and minus direction of the X axis and the plus direction and minus direction of the Y axis and not to move the article in the other directions. It shall be.

  FIGS. 7B to 7D are side views of the brake actuator unit 18D that allows only the leftward movement in FIG. 7A. The brake actuator unit 18 includes a brake rod 181, a rotation joint 182, a rotation stopper 183, a linear actuator 184, and a fixing material 185. The brake rod 181 is connected to the fixing member 185 via the rotary joint 182, and the rotary joint 182 is a rotation axis that is perpendicular to the traveling direction (that is, the direction from the right to the left of the page) (that is, the front to the back of the page). have. The rotation stopper 183 is a member for preventing the brake rod 181 from rotating in the reverse direction of the traveling direction from the upright state, and is fixedly connected to the fixing member 185. The fixing material 185 is fixed to the wall surface or the bottom surface of the transport container 1 via the linear actuator 184. The height of the fixing material 185 from the wall surface or bottom surface of the transport container 1 is variably controlled by the linear actuator 184.

  During braking of the brake actuator unit 18, as shown in FIG. 7C, the height of the fixing member 185 is held low by the linear actuator 184, and the brake rod 181 is exposed from the wall surface or bottom surface of the transport container 1. It enters the braking hole 91 dug in the block 9. As shown in FIG. 7C, the braking hole 91 contacts the opposite side of the traveling direction of the braking rod 181 (that is, the right side of the drawing) when the braking rod 181 is upright. As shown in FIG. 7D, when the transport container 1 moves in the advancing direction and the braking rod 181 rotates in the advancing direction, the braking hole 91 provides a space sufficient to enable the rotating operation. It is dug so as to be secured on the traveling direction side of 181 (that is, on the left side of the drawing). When the braking actuator unit 18 is not braking, the linear actuator 184 holds the fixing member 185 at a high height as shown in FIG. 7B, and the braking rod 181 is exposed from the wall surface or bottom surface of the transport container 1. do not do. By providing the braking actuators 18A to 18D for each direction as described above on the wall surface or bottom surface of the transport container 1 for each of the traveling directions, it becomes possible to brake the traveling direction of the article.

  With reference to FIG. 8, the structure for the conveyance container 1 to move along the wall block 9 is demonstrated. As shown in FIG. 8A, a guide rail 92 is provided on the side surface of the wall block 9. As shown in FIG. 8B, wheels 11 for moving along the guide rails 92 are provided on the side surface of the frequent use container 1. The guide rail 92 is a groove dug in the horizontal direction on the side surface of the wall block 9. The guide rail 92 includes a wheel stopper 93 for preventing the wheel 11 from coming out of the rail hole when the wheel 11 travels in the guide rail 92, and the wheel 11 coming out of the rail hole when the transport container 1 changes its traveling direction. For this purpose, a wheel exit hole 94 is provided. The position of the wheel exit hole 94 in the side surface of the wall block 9 is the same position as that of the wheel 11 in the side surface of the transport container 1. FIG. 8 shows the case where the wheels 11 are provided on the transport container 1 side and the guide rails 92 are provided on the wall block 9 side. Conversely, the wheels 11 are provided on the wall block 9 side. The guide rail 92 may be provided on the transport container 1 side.

  FIG. 9 shows the positions of the brake actuator unit 18 and the wheel 11 on the side surface of the transport container 1 and the positions of the brake hole 91 and the guide rail 92 on the side surface of the wall block 9 when the guide rail 92 is mounted on the side surface of the wall block 9. Indicates placement. The wheel 11 and the guide rail 92 are prepared in correspondence with all directions that may move. The brake actuator unit 18 and the brake hole 91 are provided on each side surface for two directions. When the transmission / reception unit 151 is provided, the transmission / reception unit 151 is disposed so as not to overlap the guide rail 92 and the wheel 11. The transmission / reception unit 151 will be described in a second embodiment described later.

  FIG. 10 shows the positions of the braking actuator unit 18 and the wheels 11 in the bottom surface of the transport container 1 and the arrangement of the guide rails 92 on the mission environment floor when the guide rails 92 are installed on the floor of the mission environment. Guide rails 92 are dug vertically and horizontally on the mission environment floor, and intersect at the center of the bottom surface of the block element. The wheel 11 is, for example, a spherical wheel that can rotate in four directions. On the bottom surface of each block element, brake actuator portions 18E to 18L for four directions are provided so as not to cover the positions of the guide rail 92 and the spherical wheel 11. When the transmission / reception unit 151 is provided, the transmission / reception unit 151 is arranged at an arbitrary position on each side surface of the transport container 1.

  FIG. 10 shows an example in which the guide rail 92 is dug on the mission environment floor surface. However, the guide rail 92 is dug on the mission environment ceiling surface so that the spherical wheel 11 and the brake actuator unit 18 are installed. A system equipped on the top plate surface of the transport container 1 may be used.

[Second Embodiment]
The second embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that a wall, an obstacle, and a transport article constituting the transport mission environment are provided with a self-defining position measurement function. The transport system of the second embodiment has the advantage that it can be applied indoors where a wireless position measurement device such as GPS cannot be used, or in a transport environment using a small animal such as a mouse that requires more accurate position measurement. is there.

  The transport path L of the transport container in the second embodiment may be set as a path that can move the transport container in a state where it is in contact with a wall block having a position measuring function, which will be described later. This is because the mission space can be configured without placing a block element having a position measuring function on the floor or ceiling.

  In the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 11, the position measuring units 15 and 15A to D for measuring the position of the transport container 1 are provided in the wall blocks 9A to 9D and the transport container 1 constituting the transport mission environment. It has been.

  The position measurement unit 15 will be described. In this embodiment, each block element (for example, a cubic shape, but may be a rectangular parallelepiped or a cylindrical shape) constituting a transport container, a wall, or an obstacle, as shown in FIG. The function of measuring the position of the transport container 1 is realized by installing the transmission / reception units 151A to 151H for communication with the element. At this time, it is not necessary to equip the block element of the wall or obstacle that is not directly adjacent to the transport container 1 with the transmission / reception unit 151.

  The square block shown in FIG. 11 is an element constituting the wall block 9 and the transport container 1 in the example of FIG. 1, receives position information of the adjacent block element from the transmitting / receiving unit 151 of the adjacent block element, and A function of transmitting position information to the transmitting / receiving unit 151 of the adjacent block element is provided. Among these block elements in the mission environment, it is assumed that the position (X, Y) is defined in advance for the block element at the reference point. Each block element includes a position measurement unit 15, and each position measurement unit 15 is (upper) transmission / reception unit 151 </ b> A, (lower) transmission / reception unit 151 </ b> B, (right) transmission / reception unit 151 </ b> C, (left) transmission / reception unit. 151D, a self-position storage unit 152, and a position transmission / reception control unit 153 are provided. The self-position storage unit 152 stores position data of each block element and detection data that is a Boolean value indicating whether or not an animal is detected. As a communication method of the transmission / reception unit 151 in each direction, a short-range non-contact wireless method such as NFC (Near Field Communication) recommended as an international standard by ISO / IEC 18092 is suitable. Any method can be used.

  Hereinafter, with reference to FIG. 12, the flow of the operation in which the position measuring unit 15 measures the position of the transport container 1 will be described. The position measurement unit 15 performs the following process at regular time intervals. In the following, the case where there is only one waiting position will be described. In this case, the position of the block element that detects the presence / absence of an animal at the waiting waiting position is set as a reference point.

(Step S2-1) The position transmission / reception control unit 153 of the block element at the reference point sets the position data in the self-position storage unit 152 to (X, Y) and sets its own mode to the position transmission mode. The position transmission / reception control unit 153 of other block elements sets the position data in the self-position storage unit 152 to an undefined state and sets its own mode to the position reception mode. The detection data of the self-position storage unit 152 in all the block elements is set to FALSE (no animal).

(Step S2-2) The position element transmission / reception control unit 153 of the block element at the reference point detects the presence / absence of an animal using the detection unit 12, and writes the animal detection result in the self-position storage unit 152 as detection data. .

(Step S2-3) The position transmission / reception control unit 153 of each block element proceeds to step S2-4 if the own mode is the position transmission mode, and proceeds to step S2-5 if the mode is the position reception mode. .

(Step S2-4) The position transmission / reception control unit 153 in the position transmission mode reads the position data and the detection data from the self-position storage unit 152 when the position data stored in the self-position storage unit 152 has been defined. The value of the position data and the value of the detection data are transmitted to the adjacent block element using the transmission / reception units 151A to 151D in each direction.

(Step S2-5) The position transmission / reception control unit 153 in the position reception mode decreases the Y coordinate by 1 for the position data transmitted from the adjacent block received from the upper transmission / reception unit 151A, and the lower transmission / reception unit The value of the position obtained by incrementing the Y coordinate by 1 for those received from 151B, decrementing the X coordinate by 1 for those received from the right transmitting / receiving unit 151C, and increasing the X coordinate by 1 for those received from the left transmitting / receiving unit 151D Is the value of its own position data, and the value of the position data is written into the self-position storage unit 152. At this time, the value of the detection data is also written in the self-position storage unit 152. Then, change your mode to the position transmission mode. When the position data received from each of the transmission / reception units 151A to 151D is inconsistent, the position data is not written into the self-position storage unit 152.

(Step S2-6) The block elements constituting the transport container 1 determine whether or not position data and detection data are written in the self-position storage unit 152. If not written, the process returns to step S2-3. If it has been written, the process is terminated.

  If the reference point is set at an arbitrary position, depending on how the reference point is selected, the position data is transmitted to the block element of the transport container 1 before the block element at the waiting position, and the waiting position is transferred to the transport container 1. Detection data on whether or not there is an animal will not be transmitted. In this case, unless the position data is transmitted to the transport container 1 by repeating the communication for transmitting the detection data regarding whether there is an animal again, the detection data regarding whether there is an animal at the meeting position is not stored in the transport container 1. Because I do not know, the number of communication increases.

  As described above, in the second embodiment, the waiting position is set as a reference point (position measurement start point). Therefore, when information is transmitted to the transport container 1, detection data indicating whether or not there is an animal at the waiting position is always provided. Will be included. Thereby, there exists an advantage that the conveyance container 1 can know the position of an animal with few frequency | counts of communication.

FIG. 13 shows the state of the mission environment when there are two meeting positions. In the example of FIG. 13, the wall block element in the mission environment is divided into the following two areas.
1. A region 1 including a wall block element that is in contact with an animal when the animal is at the waiting point B and the container waiting point C for the waiting point B (a region surrounded by a broken line in FIG. 13)
2. A region 2 including a wall block element that is in contact with an animal when the animal is at the container waiting position E for the waiting waiting position D and the waiting waiting position D (a region surrounded by a dotted line in FIG. 13)

  It is assumed that the block element does not perform communication between the areas 1 and 2. It is assumed that the area 1 does not include the wall block element that the animal is in contact with when the animal is at the container meeting position E in the area 2. Position measurement and animal detection can be performed by independently executing the processes of the following steps S3-1 to 3-6 in the respective regions in the same manner as the above-described procedure.

(Step S3-1) The position element transmission / reception control unit 153 of the block element at the origin sets the position data of the self-position storage unit 152 to (X, Y) and sets its own mode to the position transmission mode. The position transmission / reception control unit 153 of other block elements sets the position data in the self-position storage unit 152 to an undefined state and sets its own mode to the position reception mode. Each wall block 9 stores its own region number in the self-position storage unit 152. The transport container 1 does not define the area number. The detection data of the self-position storage unit 152 in all the block elements is set to FALSE (no animal).

(Step S3-2) The position element transmission / reception control unit 153 of the block element at the origin detects the presence or absence of an animal using the detection unit 12, and writes the animal detection result in the self-position storage unit 152 as detection data.

(Step S3-3) The position transmission / reception control unit 153 of each block element proceeds to step S3-4 if the own mode is the position transmission mode, and proceeds to step S3-5 if the mode is the position reception mode. .

(Step S3-4) The position transmission / reception control unit 153 in the position transmission mode reads the position data and the detection data from the self-position storage unit 152 when the position data stored in the self-position storage unit 152 has been defined. The position data value, the detection data value, and the region number value are transmitted to the adjacent block elements using the transmission / reception units 151A to 151D in each direction.

(Step S3-5) The position transmission / reception control unit 153 in the position reception mode decreases the Y coordinate by 1 for the position data sent from the adjacent block from the upper transmission / reception unit 151A, and the lower transmission / reception unit The value of the position obtained by incrementing the Y coordinate by 1 for those received from 151B, decrementing the X coordinate by 1 for those received from the right transmitting / receiving unit 151C, and increasing the X coordinate by 1 for those received from the left transmitting / receiving unit 151D Is the value of its own position data, and the position data is written into the self-position storage unit 152. At this time, the value of the detection data is also written in the self-position storage unit 152. Then, change your mode to the position transmission mode. When the position data received from each of the transmission / reception units 151A to 151D is inconsistent, the position data is not written into the self-position storage unit 152.

  The transport container 1 in the position reception mode receives position data from any area. However, when position data is received from a plurality of areas, the position data from the young block element having the received area number has priority. Assume that the user belongs to the area of the received area number stored in the storage unit 152.

(Step S3-6) The block elements constituting the transport container 1 determine whether position data and detection data are written in the self-position storage unit 152. If not written, the process returns to step S3-3. If it has been written, the process is terminated.

  Similarly, when there are three or more waiting positions, the wall block element region may be divided into three or more and the same processing as described above may be performed.

  The braking control unit 16 of the second embodiment performs the following processing.

(Step S4-1) The position L (t + 1) of the transport path in step t + 1 is acquired from the storage unit 10.

(Step S4-2) It is searched whether or not the set L of waiting positions stored in the storage unit 10 includes the position L (t + 1) of the conveyance path acquired in Step S4-1. If the position L (t + 1) is included in the waiting position set W, the process proceeds to step S4-3. If the position L (t + 1) is not included in the waiting position set W, the process proceeds to step S4-5. Proceed to

(Step S4-3) With respect to the position measuring unit 14 at the waiting waiting position corresponding to the container waiting position (that is, the position L (t + 1)), the position detection process at the above-described step S3-1 is performed using itself as the origin. Let it run. With this as a trigger, information is transmitted along the walls in the above steps 3-2 to 3-6, whereby the position data and the detection data are written in the self-position storage unit 152 of the transport container 1. If the detection data written in the self-position storage unit 152 indicates that there is no animal, the process proceeds to step S4-4. If the detection data indicates that there is an animal, the process proceeds to step S4-5.

(Step S4-4) All the brake actuator parts 18 are operated. Thereby, even if an animal pushes the conveyance container 1, the conveyance container 1 does not move to any direction.

(Step S4-5) The brake actuator unit 18 in a direction other than the direction in which the transport container 1 moves from the position C (t) to the position L (t + 1) acquired by the position measuring unit 14 is operated. Thereby, even if the animal pushes the transport container 1 in a direction not along the transport path L, the transport container 1 does not move.

  When the transport container 1 is located at the position A in FIG. 13, the animal at the meeting position B is confined. In such a case, the animal has the habit of learning the behavior to escape from the confined environment. It is known that there is an efficient manner that the animal in the waiting position B takes over the pushing movement of the transport container 1 by this behavior.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and it goes without saying that modifications can be made as appropriate without departing from the spirit of the present invention. The various processes described in the above embodiment may be executed not only in time series according to the order of description, but also in parallel or individually as required by the processing capability of the apparatus that executes the processes or as necessary.

[Program, recording medium]
When various processing functions in each device described in the above embodiment are realized by a computer, the processing contents of the functions that each device should have are described by a program. Then, by executing this program on a computer, various processing functions in each of the above devices are realized on the computer.

  The program describing the processing contents can be recorded on a computer-readable recording medium. As the computer-readable recording medium, for example, any recording medium such as a magnetic recording device, an optical disk, a magneto-optical recording medium, and a semiconductor memory may be used.

  The program is distributed by selling, transferring, or lending a portable recording medium such as a DVD or CD-ROM in which the program is recorded. Furthermore, the program may be distributed by storing the program in a storage device of the server computer and transferring the program from the server computer to another computer via a network.

  A computer that executes such a program first stores, for example, a program recorded on a portable recording medium or a program transferred from a server computer in its own storage device. When executing the process, the computer reads a program stored in its own recording medium and executes a process according to the read program. As another execution form of the program, the computer may directly read the program from a portable recording medium and execute processing according to the program, and the program is transferred from the server computer to the computer. Each time, the processing according to the received program may be executed sequentially. Also, the program is not transferred from the server computer to the computer, and the above-described processing is executed by a so-called ASP (Application Service Provider) type service that realizes the processing function only by the execution instruction and result acquisition. It is good. Note that the program in this embodiment includes information that is used for processing by an electronic computer and that conforms to the program (data that is not a direct command to the computer but has a property that defines the processing of the computer).

  In this embodiment, the present apparatus is configured by executing a predetermined program on a computer. However, at least a part of these processing contents may be realized by hardware.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Transfer container 9 Wall block 10 Storage part 12 Detection part 14, 15 Position measurement part 16 Braking control part 18 Braking actuator part 121 Light emission part 122 Light reception part 123 Variable resistance part 124 Resistance value measurement part 151 Transmission / reception part 152 Self-position storage part 153 Position transmission / reception controller

Claims (6)

A transport container for transporting the article according to a transport plan in which a plurality of operating subjects cooperate to move the article from an initial position to a target position,
A storage unit that stores a conveyance path of the article from the initial position to the target position, and a waiting position where the article waits in order to switch an operating subject that moves the article on the conveyance path;
A braking actuator unit that controls whether or not the article moves in each traveling direction;
A detection unit that detects whether or not the operating subject is present at a waiting waiting position where the operating subject should be waiting before the article reaches the waiting position;
A position measuring unit for measuring the position where the article exists;
When the article is present at the waiting position and the operating subject does not exist at the waiting position corresponding to the waiting position, the article cannot be moved in all the traveling directions. Includes a braking control unit that controls the braking actuator unit so that the article can be moved only in the traveling direction along the conveyance path;
Contain shipping container. The transport container according to claim 1,
The braking actuator section is
A braking rod having a rotation axis perpendicular to the traveling direction and insertable into a braking hole provided on a wall surface or bottom surface adjacent to the transport container;
A rotation stopper for preventing the brake rod from rotating in the direction opposite to the traveling direction;
A linear actuator that exposes the braking rod from the braking hole when it is movable in the traveling direction, and inserts the braking rod into the braking hole when it is impossible to move in the traveling direction;
Contain shipping container. The transport container according to claim 1 or 2 ,
The transport container further includes a wheel that can be fitted to a guide rail provided along the traveling direction on a wall surface or a bottom surface adjacent to the transport container and is movable along the guide rail. A transport system comprising a transport container according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The walls or obstacles constituting the transport path and the transport container are formed by connecting a plurality of block elements,
The block element is
When position data indicating the position of the block element and detection data indicating whether or not the operation subject exists in the block element are set, the position data and the block element adjacent to the block element are A transmission / reception unit for transmitting the detection data;
When the position data is received from the adjacent block element, the position data of the block element is obtained using the position data received from the adjacent block element, and whether or not the operating subject exists in the block element is determined. A position transmission / reception control unit that detects and sets the detection data;
Conveying system including. It is a conveyance system of Claim 4 , Comprising:
The block element corresponding to the waiting position has the position data set in advance,
The position transmission / reception control unit of the block element corresponding to the waiting position detects whether or not the operation subject exists in the block element without receiving the position data from the adjacent block element. A transport system that sets data. It is a conveyance system of Claim 5 , Comprising:
When there are a plurality of the waiting positions, the block element is divided into areas so that only one waiting position exists,
The said transmission / reception part transmits the area number which specifies the said area | region to the said adjacent block element in addition to the said position data and the said detection data. Conveyance system.