JPH05119832A - Unmanned carrying car and its guidance method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a malfunction and a function stop caused by undetectability due to a stain of a guide, etc., and to normally run the unmanned carrying car. CONSTITUTION:A guide laid on the road surface is detected by a guide sensor 1. A guide running device 2 executing steering and running along the guide, based on its information is provided in the unmanned carrying car. Also, this unmanned carrying car is provided with a device 6 for storing information of a running path, a device for measuring a car body position, a guideless running device 8 for executing steering so that a result of measurement of the car body position coincides with a position of a path shown by path information, a steering switching device 9 for switching the steering to that which is executed by the guide running device 2, and that which is executed by the guideless running device 8 in accordance with a detected state of the guide, and a device for comparing the result of measurement of the car body position and the running path information.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention prevents an erroneous operation or a function stop due to undetectability due to stains on a guide in an unmanned conveyance device that travels along a guide arranged on the floor of a factory or warehouse. However, the present invention relates to a method for guiding an automated guided vehicle that enables normal traveling.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In order to improve work efficiency and to save labor in factories, warehouses, etc., on the floor surface of factories, warehouses, etc., an unmanned guided vehicle should be preliminarily set on a running route so that it can run on a designated article carrying route. It has a guide. An unmanned guided vehicle detects a guide by a sensor and travels along the guide to unmannedly carry and carry in and carry out articles according to a predetermined carrying route.

[0003]

In the conventional method relying on the constant guide, if the guide is soiled or peeled off, the sensor cannot detect the guide and the guided vehicle cannot be guided. If an unmanned guided vehicle is run without being guided, it will be stray and dangerous. Therefore, in the past, it was stopped and the guide was manually detected to recover. Such damage to the guide often occurs at a branch portion or a curved portion of the route where the guide and the track of the wheels of the automatic guided vehicle interfere with each other. Therefore, the bifurcation and the curved part may be guided according to pre-stored route information without relying on the guide, and guideless traveling may be performed to guide the vehicle body. There was a risk of deviating from the route, and a means to prevent this was needed.

According to the present invention, the steering is switched to the steering by the guideless traveling device to continue the traveling only at the portion where the detection becomes impossible due to the abnormality of the guide, so that the stop is avoided and the corresponding route information is obtained. The purpose is to register the abnormal guide portion and notify it to the outside after the work is completed to prevent danger and to quickly and easily perform recovery.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to achieve the above object, and a device for storing route information indicating a position of a traveling route in an automatic guided vehicle and a vehicle body position measured from a wheel rotation amount. Device, a guideless traveling device that steers the vehicle body position measurement result to match the travel route information, and steering is switched between the guide traveling device output and the guideless traveling device output depending on the guide detection state. A steering switching device and a device for comparing the measurement result of the vehicle body position and the information of the traveling route are provided, and when the guide sensor can detect the guide, the guide is judged to be normal and steering is performed with the output of the guide traveling device. If the guide cannot be detected, the guide judges that the guide is abnormal and switches to steering with the output of the guideless traveling device to drive the abnormal portion of the guide without straying and at the same time Previously registered the occurrence of de abnormality in the path information, and it has to notify the abnormality guide to the outside resulting in a single carrying operation after completion home station,
If the guide can be detected but the route is different from the stored information, it is judged to be a route error, the subsequent work is interrupted, the guide is traveled to the specified address, and the route information is calibrated at the specified address. Resume work. After the work is completed, the point is to return to the home station and notify the location of the route error.

[0006]

[Function] By providing route information indicating the position of the traveling route to the automatic guided vehicle in advance and collating it with the information obtained by the guide sensor of the automatic guided vehicle and the information obtained by measuring the position, the guide cannot be detected due to stains or peeling. Even if the unmanned vehicle becomes unusable, the unmanned guided vehicle itself detects the abnormality and switches the steering method to drive the vehicle. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the conventional stop due to the inability to guide. Further, since the location of the abnormality is stored and notified to the outside, the recovery can be easily performed.

[0007]

The present invention will be described below with reference to the illustrated embodiments. In FIG. 1, A is a guide which is previously arranged along the traveling route on the floor surface of a factory or warehouse, and B is an automated guided vehicle which is guided by the guide A and travels. In the automatic guided vehicle B, a guide sensor 1 that detects a deviation between the guide and the vehicle body and outputs a deviation and a detection state of the guide, and a guide traveling device 2 that calculates a steering command value so that the deviation between the guide and the vehicle body becomes zero. When,
A travel control device 3 that controls the drive control motor 4 is provided.
Further, the drive motor 4 generates power to drive the drive wheels 12 via the differential gear 13 and the axle 14, and the steering motor 5 provided in the automatic guided vehicle B rotates the steered wheels 18 in response to a steering command. To do.

The route information storage device 6 stores route information such as the position of the traveling route and the traveling speed. Also, the occurrence of a guide error or erroneous branch is registered in the route information. Information on the guide abnormality and erroneous branch is notified to the outside using a display, a communication device, and a warning light, and the position measuring device 7 measures the current position of the automatic guided vehicle. A guideless traveling device 8 that calculates a steering command so that the current position by the position measuring device 7 is along the traveling route position of the route information is also provided.

The steering switching device 9 sends a steering command of the guide traveling device when the guide is normally detected by the detection state signal of the guide output from the guide sensor 1, and when an abnormality occurs in the guide, the steering switching device 9 When the detection is impossible, the steering command of the guideless traveling device is switched and output to the steering motor 5 to control the turning amount of the steered wheels. When a guide abnormality occurs, a guide abnormality registration signal is output to register the occurrence of the guide abnormality in the route information storage device 6. Comparator 10
Is to compare the position of the route stored while traveling along the guide with the measured value of the position of the vehicle body, and if they are different from each other, determine that the route is incorrect and output a registration signal to the route information storage device 6.

The address mark sensor 11 detects an address mark indicating the update point of the route information. Further, as shown in FIG. 1, driving wheels 12 and 12 are provided in the lower part of the automatic guided vehicle B in addition to the steered wheels 18, and the driving wheels 12 are driven by a drive motor 4 via a differential gear 13 and an axle 14. As described above, the encoder 15 for measuring the positions of the both axles 14 is connected between the axle 14 and the encoder 15 via the pulley 16 and the belt 17, and the signal of the encoder 15 is applied to the position measuring device 7. Do like this.

The display 19 displays the route information in which a guide abnormality or a route error has occurred during traveling, and the communication device 20
Transmits the same data as above to other automated guided vehicles and management computers. Further, the warning light 21 informs an operator of the occurrence of an abnormality, and the warning light 21 is provided in the automatic guided vehicle B.

The operation of the apparatus configured as described above will be described below. The automatic guided vehicle B steers according to a command from the guide traveling device so that the deviation from the guide A becomes zero, and travels on the guide. At the same time, the current position is sequentially measured, and a steering command for guiding the vehicle body so that the current position information matches the stored position information of the route is calculated by the guideless traveling device.

When an abnormality occurs in the guide during traveling and it becomes impossible to detect the guide, the steering is switched to the command of the guideless traveling device to travel in the abnormal section of the guide. At this time, the occurrence of abnormality is registered in the route information storage device. When the abnormal section is passed and the guide can be normally detected again, the steering is returned to the command of the guide traveling device and the traveling is continued.

While the vehicle is traveling by the guide traveling device, the current position obtained by the position measurement is compared with the stored position of the route, and if they are different, it is determined that the current traveling route is incorrect,
The occurrence of a route error is registered in the route information storage device. Then, the subsequent work is interrupted and the vehicle travels to a predetermined address. After calibrating the route information at the predetermined address, the work is restarted.

The automatic guided vehicle returns to the home station after a series of operations, lights a warning light, and calls attention.
Information on the route where a guide error or route error has occurred is sent to the outside through a display or communication device.

[0016]

According to the present invention, even if an abnormality occurs in the guide and it becomes impossible to detect the abnormality, the guide instruction is switched to the instruction of the guideless traveling device based on the stored route information and position measurement. Allows you to continue running,
It is possible to prevent congestion of continuing vehicles without stopping as in the past. Further, since the route information storing the location where the guide abnormality or the route error occurs is output, there is an advantage that the abnormal location can be easily found and repaired.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a method for guiding an automated guided vehicle according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating switching of a guidance method according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an operation flow chart of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the present invention when a guide is abnormal.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of an operation when a conventional guide is abnormal.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a problem when guideless traveling is performed at all branch portions.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Guide Sensor 2 Guide Travel Device 3 Travel Control Device 4 Drive Motor 5 Steering Motor 6 Route Information Storage Device 7 Position Measuring Device 8 Guideless Travel Device 9 Steering Switching Device 10 Comparator 11 Address Mark

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An automated guided vehicle having a guide traveling device which detects a guide laid on a road surface by a guide sensor and steers the vehicle based on the information to travel along the guide.
A device that stores information about the traveling route, a device that measures the vehicle body position, and a guideless traveling device that performs steering so that the measurement result of the vehicle body position matches the position of the route indicated by the route information,
An unmanned conveyance characterized by comprising a steering switching device for switching steering between a guide traveling device and a guideless traveling device depending on the detection state of the guide, and a device for comparing the vehicle body position measurement result and traveling route information. car. 2. An automatic guided vehicle having a guide traveling device which detects a guide laid on a road surface by a guide sensor, steers the vehicle based on the information, and travels along the guide.
When the guide sensor can detect the guide, the guide is judged to be normal and the steering switching device is switched so that the guide traveling device performs steering, and when the guide sensor cannot detect the guide, The guide judges that it is abnormal and switches to steering by the guideless traveling device to drive the abnormal part of the guide without relying on the guide, and at the same time, register the abnormal part of the guide in the travel route information to continue traveling, If it can be detected, but the position is different from the stored information, it is judged as a route error and registered in the route information, the subsequent work is interrupted, the vehicle travels along the guide to the predetermined address, and the route is set at that address. After calibrating the information, the work is restarted, and after the completion of one transfer work, it is returned to the home station, and the route information of the abnormal place is displayed on a display or a communication device. Induction method AGV, characterized in that it has to inform to the outside.