JP7482509B2 - Autonomous mobile work device and autonomous mobile work system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an autonomously traveling work device that travels autonomously to perform work, and a work system that operates the device.

Conventionally, work vehicles have been proposed that perform various tasks by autonomous driving, without a driver on board. Methods of autonomous driving include those that use sensors such as physical contact sensors and optical sensors, those that use images captured by an imaging device, and those that use GPS radio signals from GPS satellites.

As such an autonomous working device, various types of autonomous lawn mowers that autonomously travel and mow grass have been proposed. For example, as an autonomous lawn mower that uses GPS radio signals, Patent Document 1 discloses an example of an autonomous working system that uses an electric lawn mower that autonomously travels using GPS radio signals from GPS satellites. In this system, lawns can be mowed autonomously while wirelessly communicating between a base station and the electric lawn mower.
Furthermore, Patent Document 2 discloses an automatic lawnmower having a lawnmowing status monitoring function that has various sensors including a position detection means, and is equipped with wireless communication means for remotely operating the traveling vehicle via a calculation unit and a driving control unit via wireless communication.

In addition, autonomous mobile work devices can tip over if the terrain they are traveling on is sloped or has steps, and avoiding this can be a challenge depending on the application (typically for mowing grass).
In response to this problem, an autonomously controlled working device equipped with a mechanism for preventing tipping has also been developed. For example, Patent Document 3 reports an autonomously controlled grass mower that, when traveling on a slope where the risk of tipping increases, steers based on detection information from an inclination angle sensor to change the traveling direction to the upper side of the slope to avoid tipping if the grass mower transitions to traverse traveling while climbing a slope, and to change the traveling direction to the lower side of the slope to avoid tipping if the grass mower transitions to traverse traveling while descending a slope. Patent Document 4 also discloses an autonomously traveling automatic lawn mower that has at least various sensors including a position detection means and motor-controlled drive wheels, and is equipped with a control unit that has a learning function, and the control unit has a drum control unit that controls the drive wheels to move to a target point based on sensor information, a vehicle body balancing unit that moves the axle according to the inclination of the traveling road surface to keep the vehicle body balanced, a cutting unit that mows the grass by moving the cutting unit along the traveling road surface, and a calculation processing unit that performs various calculations to control each unit based on sensor information and processes corresponding to the calculations.

JP 2010-25872 A JP 2012-235712 A JP 2020-25495 A JP 2012-105557 A

However, the conventional autonomous lawn mowers in Patent Documents 1 and 2 are primarily intended for mowing the grass on flat surfaces such as golf courses, and there is a risk of tipping over if the travel surface has an inclined topography or there are steps. In addition, the autonomously controlled lawn mowers in Patent Documents 3 and 4 are equipped with a tipping prevention mechanism, but because the tipping prevention mechanism is mounted on a single device, there are limitations to the actual tipping prevention effect.

In this situation, the object of the present invention is to provide an autonomous mobile work device that can avoid tipping and move on its own even when the traveling surface has an inclined topography or has steps, and an autonomous mobile work system equipped with the same.

As a result of extensive research into solving the above problems, the inventors discovered that the following invention meets the above objectives, and thus arrived at the present invention.

The present invention relates to the following autonomously traveling working device.
<1> An autonomously traveling work device comprising two or more work vehicles capable of autonomous traveling, and a connecting member that connects the two or more work vehicles.
<2> The autonomous mobile working device described in <1>, wherein the connecting member has a shock absorbing means.
<3> The autonomously mobile work device described in <1> or <2>, wherein the connecting member is detachably engageable with the two or more work vehicles.
<4> An autonomously mobile work device described in any one of <1> to <3>, comprising two work vehicles connected in parallel.
<5> The autonomously mobile work device according to any one of <1> to <3>, wherein the work vehicles are three or more, including two or more work vehicles connected in parallel.
<6> The autonomously mobile work device according to any one of <1> to <5>, wherein the work vehicle is a work vehicle equipped with a traveling body and a grass cutting device.

The present invention also relates to the following autonomously traveling working device.
<7> The autonomously mobile work device described in any one of <1> to <6>, wherein at least one of the work vehicles is a work vehicle that travels autonomously while communicating wirelessly with an external device.
<8> The autonomously traveling work device according to <7>, wherein the work vehicle that travels autonomously while communicating wirelessly with an external device is a work vehicle that travels autonomously using a satellite positioning system.
<9> The autonomously traveling work device described in <8>, wherein the work vehicle that travels autonomously while communicating wirelessly with the external device is equipped with a GPS device that detects its current position based on an RTK-GPS function, and is a work vehicle that travels autonomously while performing RTK positioning.

That is, the autonomously traveling work device of the present invention is characterized by comprising two or more work vehicles capable of autonomous traveling, and a connecting member that connects the two or more work vehicles.
With this configuration, two or more work vehicles are connected by a connecting member, so compared to when there is only one work vehicle, it is possible to absorb vehicle swaying caused by the shape of the work site, and the work vehicles can travel stably even on uneven work sites with undulations, slopes, steps, etc., and are less likely to tip over.

In this specification, "autonomous driving" refers to autonomous driving without human operation. Autonomous driving methods include known autonomous driving methods, such as those that use sensors such as physical contact sensors and optical sensors, those that use images captured by an imaging device, and those that use a satellite positioning system, as well as combinations of these.

In this specification, a "work vehicle" refers to a vehicle that is equipped with a traveling body and a working machine and is capable of performing work while traveling. Examples of work vehicles include work vehicles whose working machine is a grass cutting device (hereinafter, sometimes referred to as "grass cutting vehicles"), work vehicles whose working machine is a vacuum cleaner, and autonomous transport carts used in logistics warehouses, etc.

One of the preferred configurations of the autonomous working device of the present invention is a configuration in which the work vehicle is a work vehicle equipped with a traveling body and a grass cutting device. With such a configuration, it can be made into an autonomous grass cutter, and is suitable because it can cut grass while avoiding tipping even on undulating or sloping terrain such as banks, or on terrain with steps.

A "connecting member" is a member that connects work vehicles, and the work vehicles are connected to each other at a specified distance by the connecting member. A typical connecting member is a rod-shaped connecting member, but connecting members of other shapes (e.g., plate-shaped) may also be used.

In the autonomous mobile working device of the present invention, it is preferable that the connecting member has a shock absorbing means. If the connecting member has a shock absorbing means, when traveling on a work site (ground) having undulations, steps, etc., each work vehicle constituting the autonomous mobile working device can travel following the shape of the work site (ground), and vibrations caused by undulations, steps, etc. are reduced, so that the autonomous mobile working device can travel stably. Examples of the shock absorbing means include a joint mechanism or a universal joint.

In addition, in the autonomous mobile working device of the present invention, it is preferable that the connecting member is detachably engageable with the two or more work vehicles. With this configuration, the two or more work vehicles can be arranged in any arrangement.

One example of a suitable configuration for the autonomous working device of the present invention is a configuration consisting of two work vehicles connected in parallel.

Another example of a suitable configuration for the autonomous working device of the present invention is a configuration that includes two or more work vehicles connected in parallel.

In addition, in the autonomously traveling work device of the present invention, it is preferable that at least one of the work vehicles is a work vehicle that travels autonomously while communicating wirelessly with an external device. In addition, it is preferable that the work vehicle that travels autonomously while communicating wirelessly with an external device is equipped with an operation function (e.g., a radio-controlled operation function) that complements the autonomous traveling.

It is more preferable that the work vehicle that travels autonomously while communicating wirelessly with the external device is a work vehicle that travels autonomously using a satellite positioning system. With such a work vehicle, an autonomous traveling work system described below enables work to be performed based on position information using the satellite positioning system.
The term "satellite positioning system" refers to a system that uses signals emitted from artificial satellites to perform position measurement, navigation, and time distribution. The satellite positioning system may be the well-known Global Positioning System (GPS), which is an example of a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), as well as GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, Michibiki, and the like.

Among satellite positioning systems, it is preferable to use a centimeter-class high-precision satellite positioning system. Examples of such high-precision satellite positioning systems include the RTK-GPS method and the Michibiki positioning augmentation service method. In terms of accuracy and cost, the RTK-GPS method is preferable.

A suitable example of the use of a high-precision satellite positioning system is an autonomous working device, which is a work vehicle that uses the satellite positioning system to travel autonomously and is equipped with a GPS device that detects its current position based on an RTK-GPS function, and travels autonomously while performing RTK positioning. Such an autonomous working device receives GPS radio waves from GPS satellites, and can calculate and determine the current position of the autonomous working device (a work vehicle equipped with a GPS device) based on the information obtained by the RTK positioning, allowing for more accurate autonomous travel.

The present invention also relates to the following autonomous navigation work system and work method using the same.
<1A> An autonomous traveling work system comprising the autonomous traveling work device according to any one of <7> to <9> and a control means for controlling the autonomous traveling work device.
<2A> A method of operation using the autonomous navigation operation system described in <1A>,
A work method in which a work vehicle in the autonomously traveling work device performs a target work by autonomously traveling in a manner that fills in a specified work target area.
<3A> The method according to <2A>, wherein the intended work is mowing.

The present invention provides an autonomous working device that can avoid tipping and move on its own even when the traveling surface has an inclined topography or has steps, and an autonomous working system equipped with the same.

FIG. 1 is a conceptual explanatory diagram of an autonomous navigation and operation system according to the present invention. 1A and 1B are schematic diagrams of an autonomous mobile working device according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1A and 1B are front views showing the autonomous mobile working device according to an embodiment of the present invention when traveling, in which (a) shows the device traveling on a convex ground surface, and (b) shows the device traveling on a concave ground surface. FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram (plan view) of an autonomous mobile working device according to another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram (plan view) of an autonomous mobile working device according to another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram (plan view) of an autonomous mobile working device according to another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram (plan view) of an autonomous mobile working device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

The following describes an embodiment of the present invention. In the following description, as an example of an autonomously traveling working device of the present invention, a working vehicle in the autonomously traveling working device is a working vehicle (hereinafter, "grass-cutting vehicle") that is equipped with a traveling body and a grass-cutting device, and uses GPS radio signals from GPS satellites to autonomously travel based on position information obtained by the RTK-GPS method; however, the present invention is not limited to this aspect shown in this embodiment.

[Embodiment 1 of the present invention]
FIG. 1 is a conceptual explanatory diagram of an autonomous navigation and operation system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The autonomous mobile operation system 1 is mainly composed of GPS satellites 10, a fixed station 20 that receives GPS radio waves from the GPS satellites 10 via a GPS antenna, and an autonomous mobile operation device 30 that receives the GPS radio signal from the GPS satellites 10 at a GPS receiver and travels autonomously. Note that the numbers of GPS satellites 10, fixed stations 20, and autonomous mobile operation devices 30 in Figure 1 are merely examples and are not limited to the numbers shown in the figure.

The autonomously traveling working device 30 of this embodiment is a grass cutter that can travel autonomously within a designated area, and is mainly composed of two grass cutting vehicles 31a, 31b and a rod-shaped connecting member 32 that connects them. The grass cutting vehicle 31a is equipped with a GPS device that detects its current position based on an RTK-GPS, and is autonomously controlled by a microcomputer and sensors. The detailed configuration of the autonomously traveling working device 30 will be described later.

In the autonomous driving work system 1 of this embodiment, a fixed station 20 is installed together with an autonomous driving work device 30 having a work vehicle (grass cutting vehicle 31a) equipped with a GPS device, and stationary positioning is performed before use. The fixed station 20 then wirelessly transmits position correction data to the work vehicle (grass cutting vehicle 31a) to determine the position of the work vehicle (grass cutting vehicle 31a) in real time. Using this method, positioning accuracy on the order of centimeters can be achieved in real time.

The grass-cutting vehicles 31a and 31b that make up the autonomously traveling work device 30 each have a traveling body and a grass-cutting device (not shown), and are vehicles that cut grass while traveling. The traveling body and the grass-cutting device will be described later.

The grass cutting vehicle 31a is a master machine, and is equipped with a GPS device having a GPS receiver that receives GPS radio waves from GPS satellites 10 via a GPS antenna A1. The grass cutting vehicle 31a receives GPS radio waves from GPS satellites 10 and radio waves from a fixed station 20, and is equipped with a radio navigation device (GPS device) for automatic driving and sensor devices necessary for autonomous driving, making it an autonomous driving type, and can perform RTK positioning based on position information from GPS satellites 10 and other information, and travel with centimeter-order positioning accuracy in real time.

The GPS device, also known as a radio navigation device, includes a GPS antenna A1 and a GPS receiver, receives GPS radio waves from GPS satellites 10, calculates and determines the current position of the work vehicle (grass cutting vehicle 31a in this embodiment), and performs unmanned operation using radio navigation.

In the grass cutting vehicle 31a of this embodiment, the GPS device installed is of a single frequency type, but it may be of a double frequency type or a multi-frequency type that uses three or more frequencies. Note that the GPS satellite 10 transmits two different frequencies, L1 wave (1575.42 MHZ) and L2 wave (1227.60 MHZ), and the system that receives only the L1 wave is called the single frequency type.

The grass-cutting vehicle 31a has a wireless communication antenna A2 that receives wireless communication emitted from a wireless communication antenna B1 installed on the fixed station 20, and travels while performing RTK positioning based on position information from GPS satellites 10, etc.

In addition to the wireless communication antenna B1 used to transmit correction data to the work vehicle (grass-cutting vehicle 31a), the fixed station 20 is also provided with a GPS antenna B2 for receiving GPS radio waves. GPS radio waves from the GPS satellite 10 are received by antenna B2, and the exact latitude and longitude of the fixed station's location and correction data are transmitted. The work vehicle (grass-cutting vehicle 31a) receives the data by antenna B1 and corrects its own position information.

The running body of the grass cutting vehicle 31a may also be equipped with sensors and cameras to complement the autonomous driving using a GPS device. It may also be equipped with a radio control function for when autonomous driving is not suitable, such as when moving between work sites.

The grass-cutting vehicle 31b is a slave machine that is connected to the master machine, the grass-cutting vehicle 31a, via a connecting member 32 and operates using radio signals from the grass-cutting vehicle 31a. It has the same configuration as the grass-cutting vehicle 31a, except that it does not have a GPS device and has the function of receiving and operating using radio signals from the grass-cutting vehicle 31a, and it follows and runs alongside the grass-cutting vehicle 31a using radio signals from the grass-cutting vehicle 31a.

In this embodiment, the grass-mowing vehicle 31b is not equipped with a GPS device, but may have the same configuration as the grass-mowing vehicle 31a, with the grass-mowing vehicles 31a and 31b functioning as the master device and the slave device, respectively.
In addition, in this embodiment, the grass-mowing vehicle 31b is configured to follow and run alongside the grass-mowing vehicle 31a using a wireless signal from the grass-mowing vehicle 31a, but the grass-mowing vehicle 31b may be configured to have the function of operating using a wired signal from the grass-mowing vehicle 31a, or the grass-mowing vehicle 31b (slave machine) may not be provided with a communication function and may be configured to follow and run alongside the grass-mowing vehicle 31a using only the connecting member 32.

The target work area of the autonomous mobile work system 1 of this embodiment depends on the performance of the GPS satellites 10, the fixed stations 20, and the autonomous mobile work devices 30 (the number of GPS satellites 10, the position of the fixed stations 20, the performance and number of the autonomous mobile work devices 30, the performance of the installed GPS devices, etc.), but can be a wide area of, for example, about 10 km x 10 km.

The working method (operating method of the autonomously traveling work device 30) of the autonomously traveling work system 1 of this embodiment is not limited as long as it can mow the grass in the work target area, but typically, the method involves the grass cutting vehicle 31a of the autonomously traveling work device 30 autonomously traveling in a manner that fills in the specified work target area based on position information obtained by the RTK-GPS method, thereby mowing the grass in the work target area.

In the autonomous driving work system 1 of this embodiment, for example, the work area can be acquired and generated from a map information web service. As described above, the autonomous driving work system 1 uses RTK-GPS positioning and can obtain positioning accuracy on the order of centimeters in real time, so the work plan for the autonomous driving work device 30 is expressed in latitude and longitude and can be managed on the web, making it possible to carry out precise grass cutting work.

The configuration of the autonomous mobile working device 30 according to the present invention is described in detail below.

Figure 2 shows a schematic diagram of the autonomous mobile working device 30 according to this embodiment ((a) perspective view, (b) plan view). Note that in Figure 2, the GPS antenna A1 and the wireless antenna A2 of the grass cutting vehicle 31a are omitted from the illustration.

As shown in FIG. 2, in the autonomous working device 30 of this embodiment, two grass-cutting vehicles 31a, 31b are arranged at a predetermined distance from each other and connected in parallel via a rod-shaped connecting member 32.

The running machine body in the grass cutting vehicles 31a and 31b of this embodiment can be appropriately selected from a running machine body of the same configuration as that used in conventionally known grass cutting vehicles having a driving means such as an engine or electric motor and a running means such as tires. Note that the running machine bodies in the grass cutting vehicles 31a and 31b may be the same or different as long as it does not impair the purpose of the present invention, but it is preferable that they are the same, and the same running machine body is used in this embodiment.

The dimensions of the running body of the grass cutting vehicles 31a and 31b in this embodiment are 60 cm (length) x 50 cm (width) x 40 cm (height), but other running bodies can also be used.

The grass cutting device mounted on the traveling body has a cutting blade for cutting grass, is equipped with a mechanism for following the traveling road surface, and is appropriately selected from conventionally known grass cutting devices that can be mounted on the traveling body depending on the type and size of the traveling body. In this embodiment, the same traveling body is used.

In addition to the GPS device and the mowing device, the running body of the grass cutting vehicle 31a is also equipped with devices (and optional devices) necessary for autonomous driving. Examples include a 3D gyro sensor, a touch panel for operation and settings, a control unit including a calculation unit, an omnidirectional camera for obstacle recognition, an infrared laser obstacle sensor, motor-controlled drive wheels and rudder, etc.

In addition, the running body of the grass-cutting vehicle 31b can be equipped with devices (and optional devices) necessary for autonomous running similar to those of the grass-cutting vehicle 31a.

Note that the grass-cutting vehicle 31a and the grass-cutting vehicle 31b may have the same configuration or different configurations, as long as they are capable of being coupled together and traveling autonomously.

The connecting member 32 is a rigid rod-shaped body that connects the grass cutting vehicle 31a and the grass cutting vehicle 31b arranged at a predetermined distance, and therefore can absorb vehicle shaking caused by the shape of the work site (ground) compared to when there is only one grass cutting vehicle. This allows the autonomously traveling work device 30 (grass cutting vehicles 31a, 31b) to travel autonomously and stably to perform grass cutting work even on a work site (topography) with undulating or sloping terrain such as a bank or a work site (topography) with steps, making it less likely for the vehicle to tip over.

In this embodiment, the traveling body of each of the grass mowing vehicles 31a and 31b is provided with a mounting device that can detachably engage with the connecting member 32. In this embodiment, although not shown, a known mounting device of the type that attaches the grass mowing vehicles 31a and 31b to the connecting member 32 with bolts and nuts is used.
By using such detachably engageable mounting fixtures, the distance between the grass cutting vehicles 31a and 31b can be set to any distance by using connecting members 32 of different lengths. The distance between the grass cutting vehicles 31a and 31b is set within a range in which the vehicles do not tip over during autonomous driving, taking into account various conditions such as the shape of the work site (ground).
For example, the distance between the grass-cutting vehicle 31a and the grass-cutting vehicle 31b may be set to a narrower distance so that grass is less likely to be left uncut on the travel path when the vehicle is traveling autonomously to perform grass-cutting work, or, to further prevent grass from being left uncut, the vehicle may be operated so that, assuming round-trip travel, even if grass is left uncut on the travel path between the grass-cutting vehicle 31a and the grass-cutting vehicle 31b on the outbound journey, either the grass-cutting vehicle 31a or the grass-cutting vehicle 31b will drive over the uncut grass on the return journey.

The distance between the grass-cutting vehicle 31a and the grass-cutting vehicle 31b is, for example, 45 cm when the running body size is as described above (60 cm x 50 cm x 40 cm).

In this embodiment, as described above, the attachments are used to attach the grass-cutting vehicles 31a and 31b to the connecting member 32 with bolts and nuts, but other attachments may be used as long as they are capable of engaging the grass-cutting vehicles 31a and 31b with the connecting member 32.

The connecting member 32 in this embodiment also has a joint 32a, which is a shock-absorbing means. In this embodiment, 32a is a joint mechanism (rotation mechanism) that is provided in the center of the connecting member 32 and can rotate only in a specific direction, and is attached to the grass-cutting vehicles 31a and 31b so that they can rotate vertically. By having such a joint 32a, the two grass-cutting vehicles 31a and 31b that make up the autonomous mobile work device 30 can run following the shape of the ground even when running over uneven ground as shown in Figures 3(a) and (b), which prevents the device from tipping over, and the blade portion (not shown) of the grass-cutting device can be operated along the ground, which reduces the amount of grass left uncut on the running path compared to when the joint mechanism (rotation mechanism) is not included.

The autonomously traveling work device according to the present invention can also be arranged with grass-cutting vehicles other than the autonomously traveling work device 30 described above. As described above, by providing a mounting fixture that can detachably engage a connecting member on the traveling body of the grass-cutting vehicle, it is possible to connect multiple grass-cutting vehicles in any arrangement. In this case, it is preferable that there are three or more work vehicles, and that the configuration includes two or more work vehicles (grass-cutting vehicles in the above embodiment) connected in parallel.

4, there is an autonomous mobile working device 30A in which three grass cutting vehicles 31c, 31d, and 33e are connected in parallel by a connecting member 32. The configuration of the connecting member 32 is similar to that of the autonomous mobile working device 30, and therefore a description thereof will be omitted.
In the autonomously mobile working device 30A, at least one of the grass-cutting vehicles 31c, 31d, and 33e has a GPS device, similar to the grass-cutting vehicle 31a described above, and the autonomously mobile working device 30A can be caused to travel autonomously based on position information obtained by the RTK-GPS system, similar to the autonomously mobile working device 30.

In the autonomous mobile working device 30A, three grass-cutting vehicles 31c, 31d, and 33e are connected in parallel at a predetermined interval, which increases the area that can be mowed in one run, improving work efficiency. Note that four or more grass-cutting vehicles may be connected in parallel as long as this does not impair the purpose of the present invention.

Also preferred is a configuration in which two grass-cutting vehicles 31c, 31d are connected in parallel, such as the autonomously mobile work device 30B shown in Figure 5 and the autonomously mobile work device 30C shown in Figure 6, and one grass-cutting vehicle 33e is connected in front of the grass-cutting vehicles 31c, 31d (in the direction of travel).
In the case of the autonomously mobile work devices 30B and 30C, the grass cutting vehicle 33e positioned in front makes the movement of the autonomously mobile work device more stable, making it possible for the autonomously mobile work device to travel autonomously even when the work site (ground) is undulating or sloped (especially on a slope).

In addition, in the above-mentioned autonomous mobile work device 30, it is necessary to set the vehicle interval so that no grass is left uncut between the running paths of the grass-cutting vehicles 31a and 31b connected in parallel, but in the autonomous mobile work devices 30B and 30C, the grass-cutting vehicle 33e arranged in front of the grass-cutting vehicles 31c and 31d prevents grass from being left uncut between the running paths of the grass-cutting vehicles 31c and 31d. Therefore, in the autonomous mobile work devices 30B and 30C, the interval between the grass-cutting vehicles 31c and 31d can be set larger than in the case of the grass-cutting vehicles 31a and 31b of the autonomous mobile work device 30, so that the area that can be mowed in one run increases, improving work efficiency.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the above embodiments are merely examples of application of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the technical scope of the present invention to the specific configurations of the above embodiments. In particular, matters not explicitly disclosed in the embodiments disclosed herein, such as the dimensions, weight, and volume of specific components, do not deviate from the scope of ordinary practice by a person skilled in the art, and values that a person of ordinary skill in the art could easily imagine can be adopted.

For example, in the above embodiment, an example was shown in which a work vehicle using the RTK-GPS method, which is a high-precision satellite positioning system, is used as the "autonomous working device having two or more work vehicles capable of autonomous driving and a connecting member that connects the two or more work vehicles", but this is not limiting. For example, the Michibiki positioning augmentation service method may be used as the high-precision satellite positioning system, or it may be used in combination with other satellite positioning systems and other sensors such as physical contact sensors and optical sensors.
Furthermore, an autonomously traveling working device that travels autonomously using only physical sensors such as contact sensors and optical sensors may be used without using the satellite positioning system itself.

In addition, in the above embodiment, a grass cutting device is provided on each of the grass cutting vehicles 31a and 31b that constitute the autonomously traveling work device 30, but a chain-type weed cutting mechanism may be provided between the grass cutting vehicles 31a and 31b.

In addition, in the above embodiment, an example was shown in which an "autonomous working device having two or more work vehicles capable of autonomous driving and a connecting member connecting the two or more work vehicles" was used for mowing purposes, but the working equipment in the work vehicles can be changed appropriately to one suitable for the intended work and the device can be used for purposes other than mowing, and the application of a mechanism for connecting two or more work vehicles with a connecting member can be expected to increase stability and improve functionality.

Examples include autonomous spray vehicles used for disinfection, and autonomous inspection vehicles used at construction sites, etc.

The autonomous mobile work device may also be provided with multiple work devices. For example, a configuration may be provided in which two work vehicles are each provided with a sprayer with multiple nozzles, for the purpose of mowing grass in rice paddies and the like, and for the purpose of spraying disinfectants or herbicides. Alternatively, a chain-type weeding mechanism may be provided between the two work vehicles. This eliminates the need for people to enter the rice paddies, allowing for efficient weeding.

In the above embodiment, a rod-shaped connecting member is shown as the connecting member for connecting the work vehicles, but other connecting members can also be used. For example, the autonomously traveling work device 40 shown in FIG. 7 is a work device in which the work vehicles 41a, 41b, 41c, and 41d are connected by a plate-shaped connecting member 42, and although not shown, each of the work vehicles 41a, 41b, 41c, and 41d is fixed to the plate-shaped connecting member 42 by bolts and nuts. In the autonomously traveling work device 40, the plate-shaped connecting member 42 can be used to mount various work machines. For example, by mounting a spraying mechanism 43 and a tank 44 on the plate-shaped connecting member 42, the autonomously traveling work device 40 can be used as a work device that sprays fertilizers, pesticides, disinfectants, etc. stored in the tank 44 with the spraying mechanism 43.

In addition, while the above embodiment shows an example of an autonomous working device intended for outdoor use, it can also be used indoors. Examples include an autonomous cleaning vehicle and an autonomous transport cart used in logistics warehouses, etc.

1 Autonomous traveling operation system 10 GPS satellite 20 Fixed station 30, 30A, 30B, 30C Autonomous traveling operation device 31a Grass cutting vehicle (equipped with GPS device)
31b Grass-cutting vehicle 31c, 31d, 31e Grass-cutting vehicle 32 Connecting member 33 Joint 40 Autonomous traveling work device 41a, 41b, 41c, 41d Work vehicle 42 Connecting member (plate-shaped)
43 Spraying mechanism 44 Tank A1 GPS antenna A2 Wireless communication antenna B1 Wireless communication antenna B2 GPS antenna G Ground

Claims (4)

The present invention provides a vehicle driving method and a vehicle control system for driving a vehicle using a work vehicle.
The connecting member has a shock absorbing means, the shock absorbing means is provided at a central portion of the connecting member and rotates in a vertical direction relative to the ground ;
The work vehicle is a work vehicle equipped with a traveling body and a grass cutting device,
At least one of the work vehicles is an autonomously traveling work vehicle that travels autonomously while wirelessly communicating with external devices using a satellite positioning system, is equipped with a GPS device that detects its current position based on an RTK-GPS function, and is an autonomously traveling work vehicle that travels autonomously while performing RTK positioning . The autonomous mobile work device according to claim 1, wherein the connecting member is detachably engageable with the two work vehicles. 3. An autonomously traveling work system comprising the autonomously traveling work device according to claim 1 or 2 , and a control means for controlling the autonomously traveling work device. A method of operation using the autonomous mobile operation system according to claim 3 , comprising:
A work method in which a work vehicle in the autonomously traveling work device performs a target work by autonomously traveling in a manner that fills in a specified work target area.