JP7515260B2 - Agricultural vehicle - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an agricultural work vehicle that automatically travels through a field to perform field work.

Patent Document 1 discloses a rice transplanter in which automatic travel in an outer periphery area, the outermost periphery of which is the boundary line of the field, is performed by circular travel along the boundary line of the field in the outer periphery area, and automatic travel in an inner area located inside the outer periphery area is performed by repeating straight travel in the inner area and turning travel in the outer periphery area. The automatic work travel of this rice transplanter is performed with a pre-generated travel path as a target. The travel path is divided into a non-work travel path for non-work travel in which the planting device is in a raised state, and a work travel path for work travel in which the planting device is in a lowered state. When transitioning from non-work travel to work travel, the planting device automatically changes its position from a raised state to a lowered state. The planting device's rise and descent are notified by an audio output device.

JP 2018-000039 A (paragraphs 0092-0122)

In the rice transplanter according to Patent Document 1, the planting device descends when switching from non-work travel based on the non-work travel path to work travel based on the work travel path. Therefore, if the distance between the set work travel path and a boundary object such as a bank that defines the border of the field is not accurate, there is a problem that the lowered planting device may interfere with the boundary object such as a bank, causing damage to the planting device.

The objective of the present invention is to provide an agricultural work vehicle that can automatically travel in a field and that lowers the working equipment when traveling for work, thereby minimizing interference between the working equipment and boundary objects, etc.

An agricultural work vehicle according to the present invention that automatically travels in a field divided into an outer periphery along the boundary line of the field and an inner region located inside the outer periphery includes a work implement that is mounted on the body so as to be able to be raised and lowered, a body position calculation unit that calculates a body position that is the position of the body in the field, a travel path generation unit that generates a travel path that is a target for automatic travel based on a field map, an automatic travel control unit that automatically travels the body based on the travel path, and a detection unit that detects an automatic temporary stop that involves a stop that is performed before switching from non-work travel with the work implement raised to automatic work travel with the work implement lowered. and an automatic work driving management unit for controlling the automatic work driving to start conditions for transitioning from the automatic temporary stop state to the automatic work driving on the next straight circuit path, which is performed after a field corner turn travel by the non-work driving with the work device raised on a straight circuit path in the outer circumferential area from the automatic temporary stop state based on detection of the automatic temporary stop in the automatic work driving in the outer circumferential area to the next straight circuit path , the start conditions for the automatic work driving including a pre-automatic start operation by the driver to confirm that the work device will not interfere with boundary objects along the field even if it is lowered.

According to this configuration, in the state of automatic temporary stop with vehicle stop performed before transitioning to automatic work driving, the driver must perform an automatic pre-start operation to start automatic work driving. This automatic pre-start operation by the driver is an operation indicating that it has been confirmed that the work equipment will not interfere with boundary objects, etc., even if it is lowered. By including an operation indicating this confirmation as a start condition for automatic work driving, automatic work driving will not start even if other start conditions are met, unless an operation indicating this confirmation is performed, and as a result, the work equipment will not be lowered. During this automatic temporary stop, the driver can confirm whether the work equipment will not interfere with boundary objects, etc., even if it is lowered. If it is confirmed that there will be no interference, the driver performs an operation to allow the work equipment to be lowered. This causes the agricultural work vehicle to transition from an automatic temporary stop state to automatic work driving. If the driver determines that the work equipment will interfere with boundary objects, etc., the driver performs interference avoidance action to avoid this interference.

When the driver confirms that the working equipment will not interfere with any boundary objects when lowered, the automatic pause state can be switched to automatic work driving, and the working equipment can be lowered. For this reason, it is advantageous to employ the driver's operation to lower the working equipment as an operation before the automatic start. Therefore, in one preferred embodiment of the present invention, the operation before the automatic start is a lowering operation to lower the working equipment.

Of course, it is also possible to configure the system so that the working equipment is automatically lowered and automatic work driving begins even if the driver does not perform the operation to lower the working equipment, as long as the driver performs an operation indicating that the working equipment will not interfere with boundaries or the like when lowered. Therefore, in one preferred embodiment of the present invention, the pre-automatic start operation is an operation indicating that the lowered position of the working equipment has been confirmed.

One of the interference avoidance actions when the driver judges that the working equipment will interfere with a boundary object or the like is for the driver to change the travel route set for the next automatic work drive so as to avoid interference between the working equipment and the boundary object or the like. When the travel route is changed in this way, the lowered working equipment is prevented from interfering with the boundary object or the like. In other words, when the driver judges that the working equipment will interfere with the boundary object or the like, one of the suitable pre-automation start operations for starting the automatic work drive is a travel route change operation. For this reason, in one suitable embodiment of the present invention, the pre-automation start operation includes changing the travel route to change the lowering position. In that case, if the working equipment does not interfere with the boundary object or the like, changing the travel route is unnecessary, so the driver performs an operation that does not require changing the travel route.

In this invention, a pre-automation start operation by the driver is required to transition from an automatic pause state to automatic work driving, so the driver must be aware of this operation. For this reason, in one preferred embodiment of the present invention, the automatic work driving management unit notifies the driver that a pre-automation start operation is required.

In one preferred embodiment of the present invention, the field is divided into an outer peripheral area along the boundary line of the field and an inner area located inside the outer peripheral area, the automatic driving work in the inner area is performed by repeating straight driving in the inner area and turning driving in the outer peripheral area, the automatic driving work in the outer peripheral area is performed by circular driving along the boundary line in the outer peripheral area, and the automatic pre-start operation becomes the starting condition at the time of transition to the automatic work driving in the outer peripheral area. In an agricultural work vehicle working in a field, an event in which the lowered working device is damaged most often occurs when starting circular driving along the boundary line defined by the bank in the outer peripheral area. For this reason, it is reasonable to set the automatic pre-start operation as the starting condition for transitioning from the automatic pause state to automatic work driving at the time of transition to automatic work driving in the outer peripheral area.

Events in which the working equipment is damaged by lowering can also occur if there is a travel obstacle in the field that impedes work travel. In other words, if the accuracy of the travel path to avoid the travel obstacle is insufficient, the lowering working equipment will interfere with the travel obstacle, damaging the working equipment. For this reason, in one preferred embodiment of the present invention, the pre-automatic start operation becomes the start condition when transitioning to the automatic work travel on an obstacle avoidance travel path to avoid a travel obstacle present in the field.

FIG. 1 is a side view of a rice transplanter, which is an example of an agricultural vehicle. 11 is a flowchart showing the flow of seedling planting work using automatic travel. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an arrangement of an obstacle detector; FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing division of a field into areas in which a travel route is set. This is an explanatory diagram explaining the circular driving route set in the outer periphery area and the driving of the rice transplanter. This is an explanatory diagram explaining the round-trip travel route set in the internal area and the travel of the rice transplanter. FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram illustrating idle running on a straight route in a round-trip running route. FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of descent safety confirmation control. FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram illustrating another example of the descent safety confirmation control. FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram illustrating the functional parts of the control system of the rice transplanter.

As an embodiment of the agricultural work vehicle according to the present invention, a riding rice transplanter is taken up and described below. This rice transplanter can automatically travel in a field bounded by a boundary object. In this specification, unless otherwise specified, "front" means forward in the fore-and-aft direction (travel direction) of the machine body, and "rear" means rearward in the fore-and-aft direction (travel direction) of the machine body. Furthermore, left-right or lateral direction means the transverse direction of the machine body (machine body width direction) perpendicular to the fore-and-aft direction of the machine body. "Up" or "down" refers to the positional relationship in the vertical direction (perpendicular direction) of the machine body, and indicates the relationship in height above the ground.

Figure 1 is a side view of the rice transplanter. The rice transplanter is equipped with a riding type four-wheel drive running machine body (hereinafter referred to as machine body 1). Machine body 1 is equipped with a parallel quadruple link type link mechanism 11 connected to the rear of machine body 1 so that it can be raised and lowered and swung, a hydraulic lifting cylinder 11a that drives the link mechanism 11 to sway, a seedling planting device 3 (an example of an agricultural material application device) which is an example of a working device connected to the rear end of the link mechanism 11 so that it can roll, and a fertilizer applicator 4 installed from the rear end of machine body 1 to the seedling planting device 3.

The vehicle 1 is equipped with wheels 12, an engine 13, and a hydraulically variable transmission 14 as mechanisms for traveling. The wheels 12 include left and right front wheels 12A that can be steered, and left and right rear wheels 12B that cannot be steered. The engine 13 and the variable transmission 14 are mounted on the front of the vehicle 1. Power from the engine 13 is supplied to the front wheels 12A, rear wheels 12B, etc. via the variable transmission 14, etc.

As an example, the seedling planting device 3 is configured for eight rows of planting. The seedling planting device 3 is equipped with a seedling loading platform 31, a planting mechanism 32 for eight rows, etc. Note that the seedling planting device 3 can be changed to a two-row, four-row, six-row, etc. planting format by controlling the row clutches (not shown).

The seedling platform 31 is a base on which eight rows of mat-shaped seedlings are placed. The seedling platform 31 moves back and forth in the left-right direction with a constant stroke corresponding to the left-right width of the mat-shaped seedlings, and the vertical feed mechanism 33 vertically feeds each mat-shaped seedling on the seedling platform 31 toward the bottom end of the seedling platform 31 at a specified pitch each time the seedling platform 31 reaches the left-right stroke end. The eight planting mechanisms 32 are rotary type and are arranged in the left-right direction at a constant interval corresponding to the spacing between the planting rows. Then, each planting mechanism 32 cuts one seedling from the bottom end of each mat-shaped seedling placed on the seedling platform 31 using power from the machine body 1, and plants it in the muddy area after leveling.

The seedling planting device 3 is equipped with a seedling amount adjustment function that adjusts the amount of seedlings taken by the planting mechanism 32. The planting mechanism 32 takes out and plants one seedling through a seedling removal opening formed in a guide rail that slides and guides the lower end of the seedling placement table 31. The amount of seedlings taken is adjusted by changing the position of the seedling placement table 31 and the guide rail that slides and guides the lower end of the seedling placement table 31 up and down.

As shown in FIG. 1, the fertilizer application device 4 includes a horizontally long hopper 41, a dispensing mechanism 42, an electric blower 43, multiple fertilizer application hoses 44, and a furrow former 45 for each row. The hopper 41 stores granular or powdered fertilizer. The dispensing mechanism 42 is operated by power transmitted from the engine 13, and dispenses a predetermined amount of fertilizer for two rows from the hopper 41. The fertilizer application device 4 has a dispensing amount adjustment function that changes the amount of fertilizer dispensed by the dispensing mechanism 42.

The blower 43 is powered by a battery (not shown) mounted on the machine body 1 and generates a transport wind that transports the fertilizer dispensed by each dispensing mechanism 42 toward the muddy surface of the field. By intermittently operating the blower 43, etc., the fertilizer applicator 4 can be switched between an operating state in which a predetermined amount of fertilizer stored in the hopper 41 is supplied to the field at a time, and a non-operating state in which supply is stopped.

The fertilizer hoses 44 guide the fertilizer transported by the conveying wind to the furrow formers 45. Each furrow former 45 is attached to each leveling float 15. Each furrow former 45 rises and falls together with each leveling float 15, and when the leveling floats 15 are on the ground during work travel, they form fertilizer furrows in the muddy parts of the rice paddy and guide the fertilizer into the furrows.

The machine body 1 is provided with a driving section 20 at its rear side. The driving section 20 is provided with a steering wheel 21 for steering the front wheels, a main speed change lever 22 for adjusting the vehicle speed by changing the speed of the continuously variable transmission 14, an auxiliary speed change lever 23 for changing the speed of the auxiliary speed change lever, and a work operation device 25 consisting of a manual operation tool for raising and lowering the seedling planting device 3 and switching the operating state. Furthermore, a general-purpose terminal 9 is provided in front of the driver's seat 16. The general-purpose terminal 9 is provided with an alarm device that displays various information to notify the operator and a touch panel that accepts input of various information. Furthermore, a spare seedling frame 17 for storing spare seedlings is provided in front of the driving section 20.

The steering wheel 21 is connected to the front wheels 12A via a steering mechanism (not shown), and the steering angle of the front wheels 12A is adjusted by rotating the steering wheel 21. A steering motor M1 is also connected to the steering mechanism, and during automatic driving, the steering motor M1 operates based on a steering signal to adjust the steering angle of the front wheels 12A. In addition, a gear shift motor M2 for automatically operating the main shift lever 22 is also provided, and during automatic driving, the gear shift position of the continuously variable transmission 14 is adjusted by the gear shift motor M2 operating based on a gear shift signal.

An extension frame 17a is provided on the top of the spare seedling frame 17, extending upward. Attached to this extension frame 17a are a stacked light 18 with multiple color lamps arranged vertically to notify the outside of the rice transplanter's status, and a positioning unit 8. The positioning unit 8 outputs positioning data for calculating the position and orientation (aircraft orientation) of the vehicle 1. The positioning unit 8 includes a satellite positioning module 8A that receives radio waves from satellites of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), and an inertial measurement module 8B that detects the three-axis tilt and acceleration of the vehicle 1.

An example of the processing procedure for seedling planting work that combines automatic and manual driving by this rice transplanter is shown in Figure 2. This processing procedure includes pre-work process #A, map creation process #B, boundary line calculation process #C, route generation process #D, work start point guidance process #E, inner reciprocating planting process #F, and outer periphery planting process #H. Note that the term "straight ahead" in this invention does not mean traveling in a strictly straight line, but also includes traveling that makes a large curve or serpentine traveling.

In pre-operation process #A, communication checks are performed between the units of the rice transplanter's control system and the positioning unit 8. Furthermore, since the rice transplanter is remotely controlled using a remote control 90 (see FIG. 1) and obstacles are detected by an obstacle detector 80 (see FIG. 3), the functions of the remote control 90 and the obstacle detector 80 are also checked as pre-operation. As shown in FIG. 3, the obstacle detector 80 in this embodiment is a sonar type, and consists of four front sonars 80f whose detection range is in front of the machine body 1, two side sonars 80s whose detection range is on the left and right of the machine body 1, and two rear sonars 80r whose detection range is in front of the machine body 1.

Map creation process #B is a process for measuring the map of the field being worked on, that is, the outer shape of the field. As shown in FIG. 4, a travel trajectory (teaching travel trajectory) is calculated based on the position signal from the positioning unit 8 obtained when the rice transplanter travels manually (map creation teaching travel) along boundary objects such as levees that bound the field, that is, along the outermost periphery of the field. From this travel trajectory, a field contour line is generated as map information of the field, that is, a field map.

In boundary calculation process #C, as shown in FIG. 4, a boundary line indicating the position of the machine 1 at the limit where the rice transplanter can avoid contact with boundary objects in the field is calculated from the travel trajectory calculated in map creation process #B. During normal travel of the rice transplanter, the rice transplanter will not come into contact with boundary objects such as ridges unless the position of the machine 1 crosses this boundary line (also called the border line). When the position of the machine 1 reaches the boundary line, the machine 1 is forced to stop. A safety distance is added to prevent the rice transplanter from coming into contact with boundary objects such as ridges even if unexpected slippage or steering uncertainty occurs, and the final position of the boundary line is determined.

In route generation process #D, a driving route that is the target for automatic driving is created by a specified algorithm within the field that is defined based on the field map created in map creation process #B. The driving route that is generated for automatic driving to plant seedlings is described below.

As a result, the field scene defined by the field map is divided into an outer periphery and an inner region, as shown in FIG. 4. The generated travel routes consist of a circular travel route set in the outer periphery (see FIG. 5) and a round trip travel route set in the inner region (see FIG. 6). In addition, a work start point guidance route (see FIG. 6) is also set on one side of the outer periphery. The rice transplanter first performs seedling planting work in the inner region along the round trip travel route (referred to as the inner work travel mode), and then performs seedling planting work in the outer periphery along the circular travel route (referred to as the circular work travel mode).

The circular travel path shown in FIG. 5 consists of a circular straight path that runs parallel to the field boundary (bank) and a direction change path that incorporates forward and backward movement to connect the circular straight paths. In FIG. 5, the circular straight path is given the symbol R1, and the direction change path is given the symbol R2. The round trip travel path shown in FIG. 6 consists of a number of straight paths that are approximately parallel to each other and a turning path (U-turn path) that connects the straight paths. In FIG. 6, the straight paths are given the symbol R3, and the turning paths are given the symbol R5. Planting of seedlings starts from the work start point, which is the position where planting work along each straight path starts, and planting of seedlings ends at the work end point (which is also the turning start position), which is the position where planting work along the straight path ends. In FIG. 6, the work start point, which is the start position of planting work in the inner area, is given the symbol WS, and the planting end point, which is the end position of planting work in the inner area, is given the symbol WE. Furthermore, FIG. 6 shows a work start point guidance route (given the symbol R6 in FIG. 6) from the waiting position of the rice transplanter near the entrance/exit to the work start point, which is the travel start position of the round-trip travel route.

In work start point guidance process #E, the rice transplanter, which has completed map creation teaching travel and is stopped at the standby position near the entrance/exit, automatically travels to the travel start position, which is the starting point of the seedling planting work, along the work start point guidance route, which is the travel route to the travel start position. At that time, automatic travel using this work start point guidance route (work start point guidance travel) is permitted when the condition that the rice transplanter body 1 at the standby position is in a specific position and in a specific direction that has been determined in advance is satisfied.

In the inner reciprocating planting process #F, the travel mode becomes the internal work travel mode, and the machine automatically travels along the reciprocating travel path shown in FIG. 6. The machine performs the automatic travel work (seedling planting work) in the internal area from the work start point to the planting end point by repeating straight travel (work travel) and turning travel (non-work travel). Note that when the field is large, the inner reciprocating planting process includes the seedling supply process #G.

When the inner reciprocating planting process #F ends at the planting end point, the travel mode becomes the circular work travel mode, and the outer periphery planting process #H, which is the automatic travel work (seedling planting work) in the outer periphery area along the circular travel path shown in FIG. 5, is executed. In this embodiment, the circular travel path consists of the inner circular travel path of one inner revolution that is traveled first, and the outer periphery travel path of one outer revolution that is traveled after that. Basically, the end position of the outer periphery travel path is the entrance/exit of the field, so after the seedling planting work along the outer periphery travel path, the rice transplanter leaves the field through the entrance/exit. The seedling planting work along the inner circular travel path is performed by automatic travel. Since the seedling planting work along the outer periphery travel path requires precise travel, even if it is automatic travel, manned automatic travel with a driver on board as a supervisor is preferable.

In the travel path patterns shown in Figures 5 and 6, the planting end point of the round-trip travel path, the start point of the circular travel path, and the end point of the circular travel path are located near the entrance and exit of the field. It is fine if the number of straight paths in the round-trip travel path is an even number, but if the number of straight paths is an odd number, the planting end point of the round-trip travel path will be on the opposite side of the entrance and exit. To avoid this inconvenience, as shown in Figure 7, a straight path other than the final straight path (given the symbol Ln in Figure 7), for example, the straight path given the symbol Ln-1 in Figure 9, is run empty without work (non-seedling planting work), and after running the next straight path (the final straight path given the symbol Ln in Figure 7), the straight path on which it was run empty is run while planting seedlings. As a result, the planting end point of the final straight path is reversed to the entrance and exit side. In the example of Figure 7, the position of the planting end point moves by the planting width. To avoid this, select another straight route as the free straight route.

The outer perimeter travel route is created to match the travel trajectory during map creation teaching travel, so if the vehicle travels while accurately following the outer perimeter travel route, the vehicle 1 will not come into contact with ridges, etc. However, while the vehicle travels with the seedling planting device 3 elevated during map creation teaching travel, the vehicle travels with the seedling planting device 3 elevated when traveling along the outer perimeter travel route. For this reason, depending on the position of the vehicle 1, if the seedling planting device 3 is lowered at the start of traveling along the outer perimeter travel route, the seedling planting device 3 may come into contact with the ridge. To avoid this, when traveling along the outer perimeter travel route, the driver checks the safety of lowering the seedling planting device 3 during the automatic temporary stop that is performed before switching to work travel. During the automatic temporary stop, the seedling planting device 3 is elevated.

An example of the descent safety confirmation control consisting of this automatic temporary stop, confirmation of descent safety by the driver, and the start of automatic work travel after confirmation will be described with reference to FIG. 8. In FIG. 8, before the machine body 1 enters the field corner, the seedling planting device 3 is raised at point P1, and a direction change travel, which is a non-work automatic travel, is performed. The direction change travel is performed with the straight travel route R21 from point P1 to point P2 and the reverse turning travel route R22 from point P2 to point P3 as the travel targets. At this point P3, the next circumferential straight travel route of the circumferential travel route is captured, so that automatic work travel with the seedling planting device 3 lowered can be started, but at point P3, the machine body 1 is temporarily stopped. In this automatic temporary stop state, a notification is made requesting the driver to determine whether it is safe to lower the seedling planting device 3 here. If the driver determines that there is no problem, the driver performs an operation to lower the seedling planting device 3 (lowering the work device as an operation before automatic start). This operation allows the start of automatic work driving.

This descent safety confirmation control is executed when transitioning from non-work travel (which may be automatic or manual) in which the seedling planting device 3 is raised to automatic work travel in which the seedling planting device 3 is lowered in an area where a circular travel route is set.

Next, an example of descent safety confirmation control executed in a region other than the region where the outer circumferential travel path is set will be described with reference to FIG. 9. FIG. 9 shows descent safety confirmation control in an obstacle avoidance travel path for avoiding a travel obstacle existing in the straight path of the round-trip travel path in the internal region. When the automatic straight work travel aiming at the straight path of the round-trip travel path is performed up to point Q1 just before the travel obstacle, the seedling planting device 3 is raised, and backward turning travel is performed up to point Q2 using the backward turning travel path R31, which is non-work automatic travel, and further forward turning travel is performed up to point Q3 using the forward turning travel path R32. At this point Q3, the next straight path is captured, so that the automatic work travel with the seedling planting device 3 lowered can be started, but at point Q3, the machine body 1 is temporarily stopped. In this automatic temporary stop state, a notification is made requesting the driver to determine whether the lowered seedling planting device 3 will not interfere with the travel obstacle even if the automatic work travel is continued. If the driver determines that there are no problems, the driver performs an operation to lower the seedling planting device 3 (pre-automatic start operation). This operation allows the start of automatic operation travel.

Figure 10 shows a control block diagram of the control system of this rice transplanter. The control system of the rice transplanter consists of a control device 100 that controls various operations of the rice transplanter, a general-purpose terminal 9 that can exchange data with the control device 100, and a remote control 90. Signals from the positioning unit 8, the work operation device 25, the travel sensor group 28, the work sensor group 29, and the obstacle detector 80 are input to the control device 100. Control signals from the control device 100 are output to the travel equipment group 1A and the work equipment group 1B.

The group of driving devices 1A includes, for example, a steering motor M1 and a gear shift motor M2. Based on a control signal from the control device 100, the steering motor M1 is controlled to adjust the steering angle, and the gear shift motor M2 is controlled to adjust the vehicle speed.

The work equipment group 1B includes, for example, a lifting cylinder 11a that adjusts the elevation of the seedling planting device 3, a seedling harvesting amount adjustment device that adjusts the amount of seedlings harvested by the planting mechanism 32, and a feed amount adjustment device that changes the amount of fertilizer fed by the feed mechanism 42.

The group of travel sensors 28 includes various sensors that detect the steering angle, vehicle speed, engine RPM, and other conditions and their corresponding settings. The group of work sensors 29 includes various sensors that detect the conditions of the link mechanism 11, the seedling planting device 3, and the fertilizer application device 4.

The control device 100 includes a driving control unit 6, a work control unit 51, a vehicle position calculation unit 52, a driving route management unit 53, a driving control state detection unit 55, an automatic work driving management unit 56, an input signal processing unit 50a, and a communication unit 50b.

The general-purpose terminal 9 connected to the control device 100 via an in-vehicle LAN is equipped with a field information storage unit 91, a field map creation unit 92, a driving route generation unit 93, a boundary calculation unit 94, and a driving trajectory generation unit 95. The field information storage unit 91 stores information about the field, such as the planting species, the entrance (exit) position of the field, and the position where seedlings can be supplied. The field map creation unit 92 performs the map creation process described using FIG. 2.

The travel route generation unit 93 divides the field into an outer periphery and an inner region based on the field map created by the field map creation unit 92, and generates a circular travel route for traveling in the outer periphery and a round trip travel route for the inner region. The outer periphery travel route of the circular travel route is created by reusing the travel trajectory of the map creation teaching travel. Furthermore, if a travel obstacle is detected in the field by the map creation teaching travel, the travel route generation unit 93 also creates a travel route that avoids this travel obstacle.

The boundary calculation unit 94 performs the boundary calculation process described using step #C in FIG. 2. The map creation process by the field map creation unit 92 and the boundary calculation process by the boundary calculation unit 94 require a travel trajectory during map creation teaching travel. The travel trajectory generation unit 95 generates a travel trajectory of the machine 1 based on the machine position calculated by the machine position calculation unit 52.

The input signal processing unit 50a processes signals from various sensors, switches, levers, etc. provided in the rice transplanter and transfers them to the functional units built into the control device 100. The communication unit 50b has a wireless communication function and performs data communication with the outside, for example data communication with the remote control 90, and the received data is transferred to the input signal processing unit 50a.

The driving control unit 6 is equipped with an automatic driving control unit 6A, a manual driving control unit 6B, and a control management unit 6C. The automatic driving control unit 6A performs speed control and steering control during automatic driving. Steering control is performed so as to reduce the lateral deviation and azimuth deviation calculated based on the target driving route set by the driving route management unit 53 and the aircraft position.

In automatic driving, the work control unit 51 automatically controls the work equipment group 1B based on a program that has been given in advance, and in manual driving, it controls the work equipment group 1B based on the driver's operation. In the above-mentioned descent safety confirmation control, in the automatic driving mode, the seedling planting device 3 is lowered by the driver's operation using the work operation device 25.

The aircraft position calculation unit 52 calculates the map coordinates (aircraft position) of the aircraft 1 based on the satellite positioning data successively sent from the positioning unit 8. The driving route management unit 53 receives and manages various driving routes generated by the driving route generation unit 93 from the general-purpose terminal 9, and sequentially sets driving routes that are targets for steering the aircraft in the automatic driving mode.

The driving control state detection unit 55 detects the driving control state and the work control state based on the control information handled by the control device 100. In particular, the driving control state detection unit 55 detects an automatic temporary stop accompanied by a stop that is performed before transitioning from non-work driving with the seedling planting device 3, which is the work device, raised, to automatic work driving with the seedling planting device 3 lowered. This automatic temporary stop is detected based on the driving route on which the machine 1 is traveling, the machine position, and detection signals from the driving sensor group 28 and the work sensor group 29.

When the driving control state detection unit 55 detects an automatic pause, the automatic work driving management unit 56 checks whether the conditions for starting automatic work driving to transition from an automatic pause state to automatic work driving are met. The conditions for starting automatic work driving include various signals required for automatic work driving being input to the control device 100, a driving route for automatic work driving being captured, and an operation of the work operation device 25 by the driver to lower the seedling planting device 3 as a pre-automatic start operation (an example of a pre-automatic start operation).

Furthermore, when an automatic temporary stop is detected, the automatic work driving management unit 56 issues a notification to the driver requesting him/her to confirm safety and operate the work operation device 25 to lower the seedling planting device 3. This notification is issued via the display, speaker, etc. of the general-purpose terminal 9.

[Another embodiment]
(1) In the above embodiment, the operation of the work operating device 25 for lowering the seedling planting device 3 was used as the pre-automatic start operation, but other operations of the seedling planting device 3, such as the operation of each row clutch, may be used in addition to this operation. Another pre-automatic start operation is an operation for changing the travel path to change the lowered position of the seedling planting device 3. When it is not necessary to change the lowered position of the seedling planting device 3, an operation that does not require changing the travel path is performed as the pre-automatic start operation. The pre-automatic start operation as a confirmation operation to confirm that there is no problem with the lowered position of the work device may be an input operation on the touch panel of the general-purpose terminal 9.
(2) In the above embodiment, the field map creation unit 92, the driving route generation unit 93, the boundary calculation unit 94, and the driving trajectory generation unit 95 are implemented in the general-purpose terminal 9, but at least some of them may be implemented in the control device 100, or may be implemented in an external management computer capable of exchanging data with the control device 100. Conversely, the automatic work driving management unit 56 and the driving control state detection unit 55 may be implemented in the general-purpose terminal 9.
(3) The steering angle on the turning path by the automatic driving control unit 6A may be controlled to follow the generated turning path, or it may be controlled to use a predetermined steering angle to result in a specified turning path.
(4) In the above embodiment, a rice transplanter is used as the agricultural work vehicle. However, the agricultural work vehicle may be a fertilizer applicator, a tractor, a direct seeding machine, or a spraying (dispersing) management machine.

The configurations disclosed in the above embodiment (including other embodiments, the same applies below) can be applied in combination with configurations disclosed in other embodiments, so long as no contradiction arises. Furthermore, the embodiments disclosed in this specification are merely examples, and the present invention is not limited to these embodiments. They can be modified as appropriate within the scope of the purpose of the present invention.

The present invention can be applied to autonomous agricultural vehicles.

1: Machine 3: Seedling planting device (agricultural material administration device, work device)
6: Travel control unit 6A: Automatic travel control unit 6B: Manual travel control unit 6C: Control management unit 8: Positioning unit 25: Work operation device 51: Work control unit 52: Machine body position calculation unit 53: Travel route management unit 55: Driving control state detection unit 56: Automatic work travel management unit 80: Obstacle detector 90: Remote control 91: Field information storage unit 92: Field map creation unit 93: Travel route generation unit 94: Boundary calculation unit 95: Travel trajectory generation unit 100: Control device

Claims (7)

An agricultural work vehicle that automatically travels in a field divided into an outer periphery area along a boundary line of the field and an inner area located inside the outer periphery area,
A working device provided on the machine body so as to be capable of ascending and descending;
a machine position calculation unit that calculates a machine position that is the position of the machine in the field;
a driving route generating unit that generates a driving route that is a target for automatic driving based on a farm field map;
an automatic driving control unit that automatically drives the vehicle based on the driving route;
a driving control state detection unit that detects an automatic temporary stop accompanied by a stop that is performed before transitioning from non-work traveling with the working device raised to automatic work traveling with the working device lowered;
an automatic work driving management unit that includes, based on detection of an automatic temporary stop in the automatic work driving on the next straight-line path in the outer circumferential area after a field corner turn by non-work driving with the work equipment raised on the straight-line path in the outer circumferential area from the automatic temporary stop in the automatic work driving on the next straight-line path in the outer circumferential area, a pre-automatic start operation by a driver to confirm that the work equipment will not interfere with boundary objects along the field even if it is lowered. The agricultural work vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the pre-automatic start operation is a lowering operation that lowers the work implement. The agricultural work vehicle according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the pre-automatic start operation is an operation indicating that the lowered position of the work implement has been confirmed. The agricultural work vehicle according to claim 3, wherein the pre-automatic start operation includes changing the travel path to change the lowering position. The agricultural work vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the automated work driving management unit notifies the driver to request the automatic pre-start operation. An agricultural work vehicle that automatically travels in a field,
A working device provided on the machine body so as to be capable of ascending and descending;
a machine position calculation unit that calculates a machine position that is the position of the machine in the field;
a driving route generating unit that generates a driving route that is a target for automatic driving based on a farm field map;
an automatic driving control unit that automatically drives the vehicle based on the driving route;
a driving control state detection unit that detects an automatic temporary stop accompanied by a stop that is performed before transitioning from non-work traveling with the working device raised to automatic work traveling with the working device lowered;
and an automatic work driving management unit that includes an automatic pre-start operation by a driver to confirm the safety of lowering the work equipment as a start condition of the automatic work driving for transitioning from the automatic pause state to the automatic work driving based on the detection of the automatic pause,
In the agricultural work vehicle, the pre-automatic start operation becomes the start condition when transitioning to the automatic work driving on an obstacle avoidance driving path for avoiding a driving obstacle present in the field. The agricultural work vehicle according to claim 6, wherein the automatic pre-start operation by the driver includes at least one of a lowering operation for lowering the work implement, an operation indicating that the lowered position of the work implement has been confirmed, and a change in the travel path to change the lowered position.

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