JP6435028B1 - Passenger detection device provided in a vehicle capable of unmanned traveling, and a vehicle allocation system using the device - Google Patents

Abstract

A boarding person detection apparatus capable of facilitating a request for boarding by a boarding person and a boarding system using the apparatus are provided.
A passenger detection device according to the present invention includes an image data generation unit 21 that captures an image of surroundings and generates image data, and whether or not there is a passenger who wants to board in the vicinity based on the generated image data. An image data analysis unit 22 for determination and a control unit 23 for controlling the operation state of the image data generation unit 21 and the image data analysis unit 22 are provided. The control unit 23 enables both the image data generation unit 21 and the image data analysis unit 22 to operate synchronously and intermittently, or can operate one of the image data generation unit 21 and the image data analysis unit 22. In this state, the other is intermittently operable.
[Selection] Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to a boarding person detection device provided in a vehicle capable of driving unattended, and to a vehicle allocation system that dispatches the vehicle to a boarding person based on the detection result of the apparatus.

  Conventionally, a vehicle capable of manned traveling by a human manual operation and unmanned traveling not by a human manual operation has been used (for example, see Patent Document 1). For example, in the field of distribution warehouses, normal cargo handling operations are left to unmanned vehicles, and only emergency cargo handling operations are carried out manually by humans riding on vehicles. For this reason, it is preferable that the unmanned vehicle is configured to move to the boarding requester in response to a request for dispatch by the boarding requester.

  A boarding applicant can make a request for dispatch through a mobile terminal, for example (see, for example, Patent Document 2). When a person who wishes to board operates a mobile terminal and requests a vehicle allocation, the mobile terminal informs the vehicle allocation management center that a vehicle allocation request has been made, and then requests to board an appropriate vehicle from the vehicle allocation management center. An order is made to go to the person.

JP 2010-222108 A Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2016-210417

  However, the above-mentioned request for dispatch has a problem that the operation of the mobile terminal is troublesome and a problem that the request for dispatch cannot be made if the mobile terminal is lost.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a boarding person detection apparatus capable of facilitating a request for boarding by a boarding person and a boarding system using the apparatus. And

  In order to solve the above-described problem, a passenger desire detection device according to the present invention is a passenger desire detection device provided in a vehicle capable of unmanned traveling, and generates image data by photographing the periphery and generating image data. And an image data analysis unit that determines whether or not there is a person who wants to board the vehicle based on the image data generated by the image data generation unit, and controls the operation states of the image data generation unit and the image data analysis unit A controller, and the controller can operate both the image data generator and the image data analyzer synchronously and intermittently, or can operate one of the image data generator and the image data analyzer. The other is in a state in which the other is intermittently operable.

  For example, the image data analysis unit of the above-described boarding person detection device is configured to determine that there is a boarding applicant when data relating to a person at a predetermined position is included in the image data. be able to.

  In the case where the boarding person detection device includes a position detection unit that detects the current position of the vehicle and an image data analysis unit having the above-described configuration, the control unit detects the current position detected by the position detection unit. It is preferable to change at least one of the time and interval at which the image data generation unit and the image data analysis unit are operable according to the positional relationship between the image data generation unit and the predetermined position.

  The image data analysis unit of the above-mentioned boarding person detection device is configured to determine that there is a boarding person when the image data includes, for example, data related to a person taking a predetermined pose. You can also take

  In order to solve the above problems, a vehicle allocation system according to the present invention is a vehicle allocation system including a plurality of vehicles capable of unmanned traveling and a management device capable of communicating with each of the vehicles, An image data generation unit that shoots the periphery and generates image data, an image data analysis unit that determines whether there is a person who wants to board the periphery based on the image data generated by the image data generation unit, and an image A control unit that controls the operation state of the data generation unit and the image data analysis unit, or the control unit is configured to enable both the image data generation unit and the image data analysis unit to operate synchronously and intermittently, While one of the image data generation unit and the image data analysis unit is in an operable state, the other is in an intermittently operable state, and the management device is operated by the image data analysis unit of the vehicle. Person if it is determined to have been made have, and wherein the directing the vehicle to the original of the passenger who wish.

  Here, even if it is determined that there is a passenger who wishes to board the vehicle, the vehicle data management unit determines that another vehicle heading for the passenger who wishes to ride is present. If present, it is preferable not to direct the vehicle to the person who wants to board.

  For example, the image data analysis unit of the vehicle allocation system can be configured to determine that there is a person who wants to board when the image data includes data relating to a person at a predetermined position. .

  When the vehicle allocation system includes a position detection unit that detects the current position of the vehicle and an image data analysis unit having the above-described configuration, the control unit is configured so that the current position detected by the position detection unit It is preferable to change at least one of the time and interval at which the image data generation unit and the image data analysis unit are operable according to the positional relationship with the determined position.

  For example, the image data analysis unit of the vehicle allocation system is configured to determine that there is a person who wants to board when the image data includes data related to a person who is taking a predetermined pose. You can also.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the boarding applicant detection apparatus which can make the request | requirement of dispatch by the boarding applicant easy, and the dispatch system using this apparatus can be provided.

It is a block diagram of the dispatch system which concerns on the Example of this invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the passenger detection device shown in FIG. 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a timing chart which shows the change of the operation state of the image data generation part in the Example of this invention, and an image data analysis part. It is a timing chart which shows the change of the operation state of the image data generation part and image data analysis part in the modification of the present invention.

  DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of a passenger detection device and a vehicle allocation system according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[Example]
As shown in FIG. 1, a vehicle allocation system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a plurality of vehicles 2 (2a, 2b, 2c,...) That can run unattended, and a management device 3 that can communicate with each of these vehicles. It has. In this embodiment, the vehicle 2 is a forklift (loading vehicle). In the following description, reference numerals 2a, 2b, 2c,... Are used when indicating a specific vehicle, and reference numeral 2 is used otherwise.

  The vehicle 2 includes a passenger desire detection device 20 and a battery 25 that supplies power to the passenger desire detection device 20. Naturally, the vehicle 2 also includes a cargo handling device such as a fork, a traveling motor for driving the traveling wheels, and a handle operated by the passenger. The battery 25 may supply power to a portion other than the passenger desire detection device 20 (for example, a traveling motor).

  When the boarding applicant detection device 20 detects the boarding applicant, it reports that fact to the management device 3. The configuration of the passenger desire detection device 20 will be described in detail later.

  The management device 3 includes a vehicle state storage unit 30 and a dispatching command unit 31.

  The vehicle state storage unit 30 stores the latest state of each vehicle 2. The state of the vehicle 2 stored in the vehicle state storage unit 30 includes at least whether or not the vehicle 2 is in the process of heading to the person who wants to board.

  When the dispatch command unit 31 receives a report from any one of the vehicles 2 (for example, the vehicle 2a) that a passenger who wants to board is detected, the vehicle dispatching unit 31 refers to the vehicle state storage unit 30 and sends the vehicle 2a to the passenger who wants to board. Decide if you want to go. In other words, the dispatch command unit 31 determines whether or not to send a dispatch command signal to the vehicle 2a.

  Specifically, when the vehicle dispatch command unit 31 receives a report from the vehicle 2a that the person who wishes to board the vehicle is detected, the vehicle dispatch command unit 31 refers to the vehicle state storage unit 30 in the vehicles 2b, 2c. It is confirmed whether or not there is already a vehicle moving to the person who wants to board. And the dispatch command part 31 determines not transmitting a dispatch command signal to the vehicle 2a, when such a vehicle exists. This is because it is useless to direct a plurality of vehicles 2 to the person who wants to board. On the other hand, when there is no such vehicle, the vehicle allocation command unit 31 determines to transmit a vehicle allocation command signal to the vehicle 2a. With this as a trigger, the vehicle 2a starts moving to the person who wants to board.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the boarding person detection device 20 according to the embodiment of the present invention includes an image data generation unit 21, an image data analysis unit 22, a control unit 23, and a position detection unit 24. .

  The image data generation unit 21 is an omnidirectional camera provided at the highest position of the vehicle 2 (for example, a head guard that protects the passenger from falling objects). The image data generation unit 21 captures the periphery of the vehicle 2 at a predetermined frequency and generates image data. In the present embodiment, the frequency is set to 30 times / second.

  Based on the image data generated by the image data generation unit 21, the image data analysis unit 22 determines whether or not there is a passenger who wants to board. In the present embodiment, when the image data analysis unit 22 includes data relating to a person who is in a predetermined position for requesting vehicle allocation (hereinafter referred to as “vehicle allocation request position”), The person is recognized as a person who wishes to board, and the determination result is “There is a person who wishes to board” and reports it to the management device 3. On the other hand, when the image data does not include data relating to such a person, the image data analysis unit 22 sets the determination result to “no passengers to be boarded”.

  The position detection unit 24 (for example, the position detection unit 24 of the vehicle 2a) detects the current position of the vehicle 2a substantially in real time, and transmits a signal related to the detected position to the control unit 23. The current position may be an absolute position obtained by GPS (Global Positioning System), or a relative position from a specific position such as a vehicle allocation request position obtained by various sensors.

  The control unit 23 (for example, the control unit 23 of the vehicle 2a) synchronously and intermittently operates the image data generation unit 21 and the image data analysis unit 22 while referring to the current position of the vehicle 2a detected by the position detection unit 24. Ready to operate. Specifically, when the distance between the requested vehicle allocation position and the current position of the vehicle 2a is longer than a predetermined threshold distance, the control unit 23, as shown in FIG. At this time, the image data generating unit 21 and the image data analyzing unit 22 are set in an operable state for a time T1a. In addition, when the distance between the vehicle allocation request position and the current position of the vehicle 2a is shorter than a predetermined threshold distance, the control unit 23 sets time T2b (however, T2b as shown in FIG. 3B). The image data generation unit 21 and the image data analysis unit 22 are made operable for a time T1b (where T1b> T1a) every <T2a).

  When it is in an operable state, the image data generation unit 21 and the image data analysis unit 22 detect a person who wants to board in the vicinity as described above while consuming the power of the battery 25. On the other hand, when the operation is disabled, the image data generation unit 21 and the image data analysis unit 22 do not consume the power of the battery 25. According to the vehicle allocation system 1 and the passenger desire detection device 20 according to the present embodiment, the consumption of the battery 25 can be suppressed by intermittently operating the image data generation unit 21 and the image data analysis unit 22.

  Here, the consumption of the battery 25 is such that the period for enabling the operation (T2a, T2b in FIG. 3) is made longer, or the time for making the operation ready (T1a, T1b in FIG. 3) is made shorter. This is further suppressed. However, if the periods T2a and T2b are made too long or the times T1a and T1b are made too short, there is a high possibility that the person who wants to board will be missed. Considering this, in the present embodiment, when the current position is relatively close to the dispatch request position (that is, when there is a high possibility that the person who wants to board is in the vicinity), the current position is determined from the dispatch request position. By changing the cycle and the time when the passengers are relatively far away (that is, when it is unlikely that the person who wants to board the vehicle is in the vicinity), both saving of the battery 25 and prevention of detection omission are achieved.

  Further, according to the vehicle allocation system 1 and the passenger requesting detection device 20 according to the present embodiment, the vehicle 2 is allocated to the passenger who wants to board the vehicle 2 only by standing at the predetermined vehicle allocation request position. Can be made easier.

[Modification]
As mentioned above, although the Example of the vehicle allocation system and the passenger desire detection device according to the present invention has been described, the present invention should not be construed as being limited to the configuration of the example, and the modifications illustrated below are also the present invention. include.

  For example, the image data analysis unit 22 recognizes the person as a person who wants to board and determines the determination result “if there is a person who wants to board” when the image data includes data relating to a person who has a predetermined pose. Or may be determined by other methods.

  Moreover, the position detection part 24 may be abbreviate | omitted for the boarding applicant detection apparatus 20. FIG. In this case, the control unit 23 uniformly controls the operation states of the image data generation unit 21 and the image data analysis unit 22 regardless of the positional relationship between the current position and the requested allocation position.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 4A, the control unit 23 may make the image data analysis unit 22 intermittently operable while the image data generation unit 21 is operable, or FIG. As shown in B), the image data generation unit 21 may be intermittently operable while the image data analysis unit 22 is operable.

  In addition, the control unit 23 (for example, the control unit 23 of the vehicle 2a) estimates the required time when the vehicle 2a travels from the current position to the dispatch request position, and the estimated required time is longer than a predetermined threshold time. You may change time (T1a, T1b) and a period (T2a, T2b) with the case where it is long and the case where it is short.

  Further, the control unit 23 may change only one of the time (T1a, T1b) and the period (T2a, T2b).

  The vehicle 2 is not limited to a forklift (loading vehicle), and may be another type of vehicle such as an unmanned taxi.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vehicle allocation system 2, 2a, 2b, 2c Vehicle 20 Passenger desire detection apparatus 21 Image data generation part 22 Image data analysis part 23 Control part 24 Position detection part 25 Battery 3 Management apparatus 30 Vehicle state storage part 31 Vehicle allocation command part

Claims (9)

A passenger detection device provided in a vehicle capable of unmanned traveling,
An image data generation unit that shoots the periphery and generates image data;
Based on the image data generated by the image data generation unit, an image data analysis unit that determines whether or not there is a person who wants to board the periphery,
A control unit for controlling an operation state of the image data generation unit and the image data analysis unit;
With
The control unit can operate both the image data generation unit and the image data analysis unit synchronously and intermittently, or can operate one of the image data generation unit and the image data analysis unit. A passenger desire detection apparatus characterized in that the other is intermittently operable while being in a state. 2. The boarding according to claim 1, wherein the image data analysis unit determines that there is a person who wants to board when the image data includes data relating to a person at a predetermined position. Applicant detection device. A position detector for detecting the current position of the vehicle;
The control unit is configured to set the image data generation unit and the image data analysis unit in an operable state according to a positional relationship between the current position detected by the position detection unit and the predetermined position. The boarding person detection apparatus according to claim 2, wherein at least one of the intervals is changed. 2. The image data analysis unit according to claim 1, wherein the image data analysis unit determines that the person who wants to board is present when the image data includes data relating to a person who is taking a predetermined pose. The passenger detection device. A vehicle allocation system comprising a plurality of unmanned vehicles and a management device capable of communicating with each of the vehicles,
Each of the vehicles
An image data generation unit that shoots the periphery and generates image data;
Based on the image data generated by the image data generation unit, an image data analysis unit that determines whether or not there is a person who wants to board the periphery,
A control unit for controlling an operation state of the image data generation unit and the image data analysis unit;
Including
The control unit can operate both the image data generation unit and the image data analysis unit synchronously and intermittently, or can operate one of the image data generation unit and the image data analysis unit. While making the state, make the other intermittently operable,
The vehicle management system according to claim 1, wherein when the image data analysis unit of the vehicle determines that the boarding applicant is present, the management device directs the vehicle to the boarding applicant. Even if the management device determines that there is a person who wants to board by the image data analysis unit of the vehicle, there is a case where there is another vehicle heading for the person who wants to board. The vehicle allocation system according to claim 5, wherein the vehicle is not directed toward the boarding applicant. The image data analysis unit determines that there is a person who wants to board when the image data includes data relating to a person at a predetermined position. The vehicle allocation system described in 1. Each of the vehicles further includes a position detection unit that detects a current position of the vehicle,
The control unit is configured to set the image data generation unit and the image data analysis unit in an operable state according to a positional relationship between the current position detected by the position detection unit and the predetermined position. The vehicle allocation system according to claim 7, wherein at least one of the intervals is changed. 6. The image data analyzing unit according to claim 5, wherein the image data analysis unit determines that there is a person who wants to board when the image data includes data relating to a person who has a predetermined pose. Item 7. The vehicle allocation system according to item 6.

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