JPH063561B2 - Unmanned vehicle taxiway - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a guideway for guiding an unmanned vehicle for automatically carrying luggage in an office, a factory, or the like.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, a method of using a belt-shaped light reflection plate, a metal plate, or a magnetic plate as a marker has been proposed as one of the methods for guiding an unmanned vehicle, and some of them have been put to practical use. (For example, automatic transfer technology:
These are P.268 issued by Trikeps Co., Ltd., Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-059808, etc.) In these, the sign body is installed substantially continuously along the running path of the unmanned vehicle, and the unmanned vehicle is equipped with a photoelectric sensor, a metal sensor, a magnetic sensor. The position deviation from the sign body is detected by using, for example, and steering is performed according to the position deviation detection signal, whereby the vehicle automatically travels along the traveling path.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, these conventional taxiways set a specific course according to, for example, the arrangement of devices in the factory, and set the sign body along this course, so that FMS (multi-product small-quantity production) has become particularly common in recent years. However, if the layout of the device is changed and the layout is changed frequently, it is necessary to re-install the sign body each time.

In view of the above-mentioned drawbacks, an object of the present invention is to provide a taxiway that can cope with a change in the traveling course of an unmanned vehicle without changing the installation position of the marker.

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention comprises an array combination of a labeled body and a non-labeled body using a material that can be detected by electrical, magnetic, optical or other means, and continuously connects between each labeled body and the unlabeled body. The guide line for an unmanned vehicle is characterized in that the boundary line is formed in a grid shape, and a guide line along the boundary line is provided on the road surface.

[Action]

The operation of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 (a) and (b) and FIGS. 7 (a) and (b). Now, assume that an unmanned vehicle automatically travels between three stations, and the position of station S ₂ is shown in Fig. 6 (a).
Consider the case where the position is changed to the position S _{2 ′ in} FIG. 6 (b).

Conventionally, as shown in the same figure, depending on the change of the station position, the sign body 1 is newly installed again or added to deal with it. On the other hand, in the present invention, FIG.
As shown in (a) and (b), the labeled body 1 is preliminarily arranged so that the edges thereof, that is, the boundaries between the labeled body 1 and the unlabeled body 2 form a grid pattern, and are adjacent to each other or at right angles to each other on the plane coordinates. Since they are continuous, the unmanned vehicle 3 can run unmanned vertically and horizontally by performing steering while detecting the amount of deviation from the end side of the sign body 1 by the sign body sensor 4 mounted on the vehicle body. According to the invention, the taxiways of the unmanned vehicle 3 are configured substantially in a grid. Therefore, it is only necessary to change the course as shown in FIGS. 7 (a) to 7 (b) for changing the station position as shown in FIGS. 6 (a) to 6 (b). This can be dealt with without re-installing the marker 1.

〔Example〕

 An embodiment of the present invention will be shown below.

FIG. 1 shows the arrangement of a tile-shaped magnetic marker 1 in which ferrite powder is solidified with a resin and a general floor tile (non-marker). By simply arranging the markers 1 and the tiles 2 alternately in a plane, the end sides of the markers 1, that is, the boundaries between the markers 1 and the tiles 2 can be easily made into a grid pattern.

On the other hand, the unmanned vehicle 3 is equipped with a magnetic sensor 4 for detecting the magnetic marker 1. The magnetic sensor 4 used in this embodiment is composed of two magnetic detection elements having detection characteristics as shown in FIG.
It consists of 4a and 4b. The detection elements 4a and 4b are fixed to the unmanned vehicle 3 so as to be symmetrically positioned on both sides of the taxiway (that is, the boundary line) when the displacement is zero.

The sum Va + Vb of the outputs of both detection elements 4a and 4b has the output characteristics shown in FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b) with respect to the positional deviation from the taxiway, and the unmanned vehicle 3 uses this output signal. The vehicle automatically travels by steering while detecting the direction and the amount of displacement.

As shown in FIG. 3, the magnetic sensor 4 is located in the area A in FIG. 1 (FIG. 3 (a)) and in the area B (FIG. 3 (b)). The magnitude relationship between the magnitudes Va and Vb of the outputs of the detection elements 4a and 4b is reversed. Therefore, it is possible to detect the movement of the area, that is, the passage of the intersection on the taxiway, based on the magnitude relation between the detection outputs Va and Vb. Also, the fourth
As shown in the figure, in areas A and B, the output V _{0 of the} magnetic sensor is
Although the inclination of (V ₀ = Va + Vb) with respect to the positional deviation x is reversed, it can be corrected by knowing the current area as described above.

As shown in FIG. 4, the magnetic detection element 5 is mounted on the unmanned vehicle 3 at a position different from that of the detection element 4 in order to confirm the passage of the intersection and to determine the area. Area V when Vd is Vd <0, area B when Vd> 0
As described above, the detection output Vd polarity can also be used.

Next, an example of the running operation of the unmanned vehicle 3 will be described.

Now, as shown in Figure 5, there are three stations on the course.
Consider the case where S _{1 to} S ₃ are placed. As a course to go from station S ₁ to S ₃ , for example, the intersection is P ₁₁ → P ₂₁
-> P _31- > P _41- > P _42- > P _43- > P ₄₄ The course to pass through is set in advance, and for the unmanned vehicle 3, as an operation command corresponding to this course, That operation command sequence is written in the table in the storage device. When the running instruction from the stations S ₁ to S ₃ is input, the unmanned vehicle 3 selects the above-mentioned command sequence as an operation command corresponding to the instruction input, and performs the operation according to this command to execute the operation according to this command. Automatically drive up to ₃ .

In the present invention, since the grid-like taxiway is constructed when the sign is constructed, the course from station S ₁ to S ₃ is not limited to the above example.For example, intersection P ₁₁ → P ₁₂ → P ₁₃ → P Many courses can be selected, such as ₁₄ → P ₂₄ → P ₃₄ → P ₄₄ or intersections P ₁₁ → P ₁₂ → P ₁₃ → P ₂₃ → P ₃₃ → P ₃₄ → P ₄₄ . Therefore,
Even if there are multiple unmanned vehicles, if the unmanned vehicles memorize the operation command sequences corresponding to these multiple courses and select the appropriate one according to the situation, they will not collide with each other. It is also possible to drive to the station.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the station position is S ₂
Even if it is changed from S _{2 ′} to S _{2 ′} , it is not necessary to re-install the magnetic marker 3, and the operation command sequence stored in the unmanned vehicle is Just change to.

As described above, according to the present invention, by alternately arranging the magnetic markers and tiles on a plane, it is possible to easily obtain a grid-shaped guide path.

In the above examples, the magnetic label was used as the label, but the label is not limited to this, for example,
Even if the light reflecting plate uses a metal plate as a marker and this is detected by a photoelectric sensor or a metal sensor, it is clear that the same effect can be obtained.

〔The invention's effect〕

According to the present invention, it is possible to easily install a grid-shaped unmanned vehicle taxiway, whereby it is possible to easily cope with a change in the traveling course.

Further, since it is possible to set a plurality of routes to the same station, it becomes possible to efficiently run a plurality of unmanned vehicles.

Therefore, according to the present invention, there is an effect that it is possible to immediately respond to changes in the arrangement of devices in the factory, changes in the layout, and the like.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an embodiment of the arrangement of a guideway according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a view showing an example of detection characteristics of a magnetic detection element, and FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b) are magnetic sensor FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of detection characteristics, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a method for detecting the arrangement pattern of magnetic markers, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a grid-like guide path obtained by the present invention, and FIG. (a), (b) is a figure which shows the conventional taxiway, FIG. 7 is a figure which shows a grid-shaped taxiway. 1 ... Marker, 2 ... Tile, 3 ... Unmanned vehicle, 4 ... Magnetic sensor, 4a, 4b, 5 ... Magnetic detection element, S _n (n = 1, 2, ...) ... Station, P _{m, n} (m = 1,2, ..., n = 1,2, ...) ... Taxiway intersection

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An array combination of a labeled body and a non-labeled body using a material that can be detected by electrical, magnetic, optical or other means, and between each labeled body and the unlabeled body. A guideway for an unmanned vehicle, characterized in that a continuous boundary line is formed in a grid pattern and a guideway is provided along the boundary line on the road surface.