JPH0371311A - Index moving device for running vehicle for work - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate the need of laying an exclusive rail in order to move an index, and to extremely simplify the movement of the index by moving the index, while drawing it by a movement of a string-like body. CONSTITUTION:An index 9 is connected to a string-like body 8 drawn out of a moving device. For instance, in the case of performing it to a sulky rice- planting machine, a camera 2 is loaded on the center part in the width direction of a running machine body 1, and an image recognition processing function for bringing an image photographed by this camera 2 to recognition processing is provided. On the other hand, pulleys 7a, 7b are provided on left and right supports 7 against the direction in which the running machine body 1 runs, and between these pulleys 7a, 7b, the string-like body 8 such as a rope, a wire, or a belt, etc., is extended round, and to this string-like body 8, the index 9 is connected. In such a way, the movement of the index 9 can be executed simply without necessitating an exclusive rail.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Field of Application] The present invention relates to an index moving device for a work vehicle for automatically controlling the distance from the index by calculating the distance from the index.

[Prior Art and Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Today, much research is being conducted to automatically perform higher-precision travel control in work vehicles such as agricultural vehicles. Among these devices, attempts have been made to automatically control work by setting a pre-installed index as a target and confirming the current position based on this index. However, when the work travel position changes every time the work is reversed, such as when working in a field, it is necessary to move the indicator position accordingly, and therefore, conventional methods have been proposed in which the indicator is moved. In all of these, dedicated rails were laid on ridges, etc., and the indicators were moved by running on these rails. However, laying dedicated rails requires a large investment in equipment, and most of these equipment must be installed.

When fields are located in various locations, it is necessary to lay dedicated rails for each field, which poses a problem that is extremely impractical.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In view of the above-mentioned circumstances, the present invention was devised for the purpose of providing an index moving device for a work vehicle that can eliminate these drawbacks. In a work vehicle configured to photograph indicators placed in a field with a camera installed on the moving body, and perform image recognition processing to perform automatic control, the indicators are attached to a string-shaped device pulled out from a moving device. It is characterized by being connected to the body.

With these configurations, the present invention enables the indicator to be moved simply without requiring a dedicated rail.

[Example] Next, a case in which an embodiment of the present invention is applied to a riding rice transplanter, which is an example of a working vehicle, will be described below based on drawing 1. A camera 2 is mounted on the center of the traveling aircraft 1 in the width direction, and a CCD (Ch
It has an image sensor function (abbreviation for arge coupled device, charge-coupled device), but as for image recognition function, it uses BSO (abbreviation for Bii, Sin, an electro-optic crystal that exhibits photoconductivity) image. It goes without saying that the image processing function may be performed using a conversion element function, and the present invention is not limited to such an image processing function.

A control unit 3 for controlling such image recognition processing is mounted on the traveling aircraft l. The traveling aircraft 1 is further equipped with an unmanned traveling system 4, which controls an actuator for steering control and a clutch for changing traveling gears based on control commands from the controller 3 on the aircraft side. various actuators such as actuators for planting clutch switching, accelerator control actuators, brake control actuators, and work part elevation control actuators (all not shown)
The traveling aircraft 1 is further equipped with a wireless transceiver 5 that outputs control signals from the aircraft controller 3.

On the other hand, 7 is a support that is planted at each of the four corners of the field ridge, and among these supports 7, pulleys 7a and 7b are provided on the left and right supports 7 with respect to the direction in which the traveling body 1 runs,
Between these pulleys 7a and 7b, a string-like body 8 is formed of an appropriate string-like member such as a lobe, a wire, or a belt.
is suspended, and an indicator 9 is connected to this string-like body 8.

Here, the indicator 9 is formed into a spherical shape, and its surface is colored so that it can be easily distinguished from the field environment.

When specifically selecting this color, we took into account the field environment (natural environment), which includes brown ground, green seedlings, yellow rice, and white, gray, and blue skies. It is preferable to use a different color that is distinct from the other color, and more preferably one of the three primary colors of light (red, green, and blue). Therefore, in consideration of this, in the embodiment, the entire body is colored red.

Among the pulleys, one of the pulleys 7a is connected to a motor 11 that is driven in response to a control command from a drive control section 10 to constitute an index moving device. As described later, the string-like body 8 is linked to the drive of the motor 11.
moves, thereby causing the indicator 9 to move while being pulled by the string-like body 8.

Here, the parking control of the motor 11, that is, the movement control of the finger 419, is performed by the rotation@control unit 10, which controls the transmission/reception Ia on the traveling aircraft 1 side.
When a control command is received from the fuselage-side control unit 3 transmitted from the control unit 5, an opening command is output to the motor 11 based on the control command. ), and the opening control unit 10 controls the motor 11 to move by the amount of movement designated by the aircraft control unit 3 based on the rotation amount detection value from the detection sensor 12. The structure is such that a so-called feedback control is performed in which an opening control command is output.

By the way, regarding the amount of movement of the indicator 9, the aircraft side control unit 3 has information on the number of rows planted by the planting work unit 13 (for example, when the planting work unit 13 plants 4 rows, 5 rows, 6 rows). Row number setting device 14. Planting row spacing (e.g. 28 (1m, 30a1)
．． 33 (row spacing set as 1 m), the row spacing setting device 15, and setting which index is to be targeted among the pair of indicators 9 as described above (outward travel with only the first indicator 9). a finger m setting switch 16 for switching between settings for a return stroke using only the second finger eA9, or a reciprocating stroke that targets both indicators 9; an automatic changeover switch 17 for switching between automatic and manual; Various switches and setting devices such as an index movement switch 18 for manually controlling the moving direction of the index are provided.

Furthermore, the principle method of image processing in the aircraft controller 3 will be briefly described in accordance with an embodiment. First, the image taken by camera 2 has 256 x 256 pixels vertically and horizontally.
As an element image! ! The index area in one image is calculated by counting how many elements are recognized as "red" among these elements. Aircraft 1
The distance to is calculated. In other words, in the image taken by the camera 2, when the distance is X from the index 9, the area of the index 9 is calculated in advance to be A, and this is set. This setting may actually be measured on site. However, since the size of the index 9 does not change, it goes without saying that it can be calculated in advance by calculation, and the area of the index 9 recognized in this way at Hikoro is inversely proportional to the square of the distance.
Therefore, when actually driving, calculate the distance from index 9! When located at position iiiy, if the area of index 9 counted from the image is B, then the formula (y/x)”=:A/B is established, and from this, y=x (A /B)"", and the distance of the traveling aircraft 1 from the index 9 can be calculated in this way.

Based on this, it is possible to perform arbitrary automatic travel control on the traveling aircraft with the index 9 in its own direction. For example, if it is determined that the traveling aircraft 1 has reached the reverse position, a buzzer or the like will notify you of this fact. In the unmanned driving system 4, a control command indicating that the reverse position has been reached is input from the aircraft side control unit 3 to the unmanned driving system 4. In this case, various actuator controls necessary for suspending the planting work, such as raising and lowering the planting work machine 17, switching the planting clutch, steering operation, etc., are performed to rotate and restart the planting work. Of course, the details will be omitted.

Furthermore, at the same time as the turn, the traveling aircraft 1 is reversed, and as a result, the target first or second index 9 is switched to the opposite side.
is set to both FA mark positions and the automatic changeover switch After that, a movement control signal is output to the waste movement control section 10 in order to automatically move the index 9 that has been targeted until now to the next index position. In that case, the amount of movement of the index 9 is calculated by the row spacing x the number of rows x 2J, and a control command is output to move the index 9 by the calculated amount of movement. If set to , the machine-side control unit 3 is set so that the finger s9 can be manually moved while the index moving switch 8 is being operated.

In the embodiment of the present invention configured as described above, the current distance from the index 9 is calculated based on the image of the index 9 taken by the camera 2, and various work travel controls are performed based on this. It can be done automatically, but indicator 9
moves while being pulled by the movement of the string-like body 8.

In other words, the indicator 9 is moved by being pulled by the string-like body 8, rather than being moved by a dedicated rail laid on a ridge or the like as in the past. Therefore, the indicator moving equipment is extremely simplified, and it is easy to assemble and disassemble, and it can be easily transferred between fields. It will be sufficient to prepare an assembly set of

Note that the present invention is of course not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and the point is that the index is connected to a string-like body connected to a moving device, and moved by following the movement of the string-like body. Therefore, when the indicator 9 moves in the air as in the first embodiment, the indicator position may shift up and down due to slack in the string-like body 8, and therefore, As in the second embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the indicator 9 may be formed not from a sphere but from a rod-shaped body, which may be colored appropriately.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 4, the indicator 9 may be configured to move on the ground. In this case, if the indicator 9 is mounted on the aircraft body 20, smooth movement of the indicator 9 is possible. Further, the indicator 9 may be colored as described above, or may be equipped with a light emitting means 21 such as a light bulb as shown in FIG. 5. In this case, the indicator function can be improved by causing the light emitting means 21 to blink using the rotating reflector 22 or the 1 transmitter 23.

Furthermore, the means for moving the string-like body is not limited to one that uses a single string-like body as described above.

By connecting two or more string-like bodies, it is possible to eliminate the problem of tilting the index. Furthermore, the string-like body is not limited to the endless body system in which the string-like body is suspended between a pair of pulleys as in the first embodiment, but is also a string-like body with an indicator 9 connected to the tip as shown in FIG. The indicator may be moved by wrapping the string 8 with a string moving device constituted by the wrapping means 22.

[Operations and Effects] In short, since the present invention is configured as described above, the movement of the index photographed by the camera mounted on the traveling aircraft can be effected by moving the string-like body to which the index is connected. will be done. As a result, it is no longer necessary to lay dedicated rails on the ridge to move the indicators as in the past, making the indicator moving equipment extremely simple, easy to assemble and disassemble, and easy to transport between fields. As a result, the economic burden is small, and it is sufficient to prepare an assembly set of - sets of indicators, rather than just fraud.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show an embodiment of the index moving device for a working vehicle according to the present invention, in which the upper figure is an explanatory diagram of the operation when viewed from a plane while the working vehicle is traveling, and the second figure is an operational diagram showing the working traveling state as seen from a plane. 3 is a schematic front view of the indicator section showing the second embodiment, FIG. 4 is a schematic front view of the indicator section showing the third embodiment, and FIG. 5 X and Y are the fourth embodiment. FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional enlarged view of an indicator section showing an embodiment, FIG. 6 x, y, and z are a schematic front view of an indicator section showing a fifth embodiment, and FIG. 7 is a front view of an aircraft-side control section. FIG. 8 is a flowchart for moving the index. In the figure, l is a traveling aircraft body, 2 is a camera, 3 is a control unit, 8 is a string-like body, 9 is an index, and 11 is a motor. Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 3 8v7J

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a work vehicle configured to take pictures of indicators placed in a field with a camera installed on the moving body, and perform image recognition processing to perform automatic control, the indicators are attached to a string-shaped device connected to a moving device. An index moving device for a work vehicle, characterized in that it is connected to the body.