JPH07219632A - Unit and method for operation management control - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To find a basic route which has no opposite-run section and never blocks an escape path for a waiting unmanned vehicle by providing a means which detects a loop for circulation on a travel path, setting its direction, and searches for a travel course along it to the operation management control unit for plural unmanned vehicles which travel among plural nodes. CONSTITUTION:The control unit and method are equipped with an operation control data memory 103 which stores the movement courses, movement order, etc., of the respective unmanned vehicles, a conveyance indication table memory 104 which stores the positions, conveyance destinations, etc., of conveyed bodies, an unmanned vehicle data memory 105 which stores the states of the current positions, movement directions, etc., of the respective unmanned vehicles, and a memory 106 which stores the coordinates of the respective nodes on the travel path, their connection relation and direction, the cost, etc. A control part 107 consists of a CPU, etc., and is functionally divided into an operation programming part 108, a path arrangement part 109, a path search part 110, and a loop candidate detection part 111. A travel path for each unmanned vehicle is found by directing the travel path so that the unmanned vehicle circulates on the travel path, so the movement is never stagnated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an operation management control device and method for managing the operation of an automatic guided vehicle and determining the transfer route in an unmanned transfer system for factories and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 10 is a system configuration diagram of an automatic carrying system having a plurality of unmanned vehicles. In this figure, 5
0 is an operation management control device that manages the unmanned transportation system,
Reference numeral 101 is a corridor type traveling path, and # 1, # 2, ..., # 5 are unmanned vehicles. Also, 1, 2, ...
Nodes scattered on 01, unmanned vehicles # 1 to # 5
Performs stop, turn and load / unload operations at these nodes. In addition, the operation management control device 5
0 determines the traveling route and the moving order of each of the unmanned vehicles # 1 to # 5, and transmits the result by communication means such as radio. The unmanned vehicles # 1 to # 5 receive the transmission signal and move in the route and in the order indicated by the reception signal.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the operation management control device 50. In this figure, 51 is an operation planning unit, 52 is a route planning unit, and 53 is a route searching unit. The route search unit 53 and the route planning unit 52 determine the movement routes (basic routes) of the unmanned vehicles # 1 to # 5 so that they do not travel in the same traveling section in opposite directions.

The operation planning unit 51 includes the unmanned vehicles # 1 to #.
The movement of No. 5 is temporally examined, and if the movement becomes immovable, the route is changed / added, the movement order is regulated, and the movement impossible is eliminated. For details of the determination of the route and the movement order, refer to the operation management control device (Japanese Patent Application No. 5-3109).
32).

[0005]

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of a process performed by the operation management control device 50, and FIG. 12A shows a basic route obtained by the route search unit 53 and the route planning unit 52. . In this figure, unmanned vehicles # 1 to #
The travel route of No. 5 is shown by a solid line, a dotted line, a broken line, a one-dot chain line, and a two-dot chain line, for example, and the basic route of the unmanned vehicle # 1 is nodes 13, 12, 11 ,.

The operation planning unit 51 makes an operation plan based on this basic route and temporally checks the movement of each unmanned vehicle # 1 to # 5. Here, the unmanned vehicle # 2, which has finished moving at the node 16 and is in the standby state, interferes with the movement of the unmanned vehicle # 5. The car # 3 interferes with the movement of the unmanned vehicle # 1 and therefore tries to evacuate from the node 3 → 2 → 1 and the unmanned vehicle # 4, which is in the standby state at the node 5, interferes with the movement of the unmanned vehicle # 1. Therefore, node 5 → 4 → 18
And unmanned vehicle # 4 at node 18 unmanned vehicle # 5
Node 18 → 17 → 16 → 1
5 → 1. Further, the unmanned vehicle # 2 interferes with the evacuation of the unmanned vehicle # 4 in the node 1, so the node 1 → 2 is evacuated (see FIG. 1).
2 (b)).

In this situation, unmanned vehicle # 3 is unmanned vehicle #
2 becomes an obstacle and cannot be evacuated to node 1, and unmanned vehicle # 1 cannot proceed to node 2 which is the movement target. Also, unmanned vehicle # 2
Since the left and right sides are sandwiched by unmanned vehicles # 4 and # 3, they cannot evacuate to another node. As a result, the movement planning unit 51 enters an immovable state that cannot be resolved.

In this way, when the basic route is simply determined so that there is no reverse traveling section, a plurality of unmanned vehicles gather at specific nodes on different routes, and the immobility cannot be eliminated by evacuation operation or the like. Can be considered.

The present invention has been made under such a background, and there is no reverse traveling section, and further, operation management capable of obtaining a basic route that does not block the escape route of an unmanned vehicle in a standby state An object is to provide a control device and a method thereof.

[0010]

The invention according to claim 1 is
A plurality of nodes, which are stop positions, and an operation management control device that controls the operation of a plurality of unmanned vehicles traveling on a traveling path that is a connecting path that connects the nodes, a loop that detects a loop circulating through the traveling path. The detecting means, the directing means for setting a direction to the loop detected by the loop detecting means, and the route searching means for searching the traveling route of the unmanned vehicle along the direction set by the directing means. It is characterized by that.

The invention according to claim 2 is an operation management control method for controlling the operation of a plurality of unmanned vehicles traveling on a traveling path consisting of a plurality of nodes at stop positions and a connecting path connecting the nodes, A first step of obtaining a straight line section of the traveling road, a second step of forming a loop by connecting the straight line sections obtained in the first step, and an orientation to the loop obtained in the second step And a fourth step of orienting the connecting path in the same direction corresponding to the oriented loop obtained in the third step, and along the direction oriented in the fourth step. And a fifth step for obtaining a route along which an unmanned vehicle travels.

[0012]

According to the first aspect of the invention, the loop detecting means detects a loop circulating in the traveling path, the directing means directs the loop, and the route searching means determines each unmanned vehicle according to the directing. Therefore, even when a plurality of unmanned vehicles concentrate on a specific node, it is possible to obtain a travel route in which the movement of the unmanned vehicles is not delayed.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the straight line sections of the traveling road are obtained in the first step, the loops are formed by the combination of the straight line sections in the second step, and the loops are formed in the third step. Orientation, and in the fourth step, orienting each connection according to that orientation,
In the fifth step, the travel route of each unmanned vehicle is obtained in accordance with the direction of the connected road, so that the traveling of the unmanned vehicle is not delayed even when a plurality of unmanned vehicles concentrate on a specific node. You can get the route.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the operation management control device 102 according to this embodiment. In this figure, 103 is an operation control data memory, which stores the movement route, movement order, etc. of each unmanned vehicle. Reference numeral 104 denotes a conveyance instruction table memory, which stores a position of a conveyed object, a conveyance destination, and the like. Reference numeral 105 denotes an unmanned vehicle data memory, which stores states such as the current position and moving direction of each unmanned vehicle. 106
Is a travel route data memory, which stores the coordinates of each node on the travel route, their connection relations, directions, costs, and the like.
Here, the cost is an index indicating the ease of travel such as the traveling time between adjacent nodes, and the cost of each connection path (hereinafter,
It is set in advance for each scene). One scene consists of two arcs in opposite directions. For example, the scene between nodes 1 and 2 is node 1 → 2 and node 2
→ has an arc of 1.

Reference numeral 107 is a control unit for determining the optimum traveling route and operation sequence of the unmanned vehicle. This control unit 10
7 is composed of a CPU and the like, and functionally the operation planning unit 1
08, the route alignment unit 109, the route search unit 110, and the loop candidate detection unit 111. These operation planning unit 108, route alignment unit 109, route search unit 11
0 and the loop candidate detection unit 111 will be described in detail below.

A: Route Search Unit 110 First, the route search unit 110 obtains all routes connecting a starting point (node) and a target point (node) according to a route search instruction supplied from the route alignment unit 109. Next, the costs of the respective routes are added up from the costs stored in the travel route data memory 106, and the route with the lowest cost is selected. However, when the route search instruction includes the direction information indicating the later-described direction, the route that moves the oriented scene in the opposite direction is not selected.

The route (initial route) obtained by the above method is output to the route alignment unit 109. Note that the route created here does not take into consideration the competition with the traveling routes of other unmanned vehicles.

B: Loop candidate detecting section 111 The loop candidate detecting section 111 performs the loop candidate detecting process described below according to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, in step Sa1, all the straight line sections in which the respective scenes of the road are connected in a straight line as long as possible are obtained. However, a scene that satisfies the conditions of 1) bidirectional traveling 2) the route connecting the end points of the scene exists other than that scene is targeted. Here, a scene that does not satisfy the condition 2) is referred to as a single-line section.

Next, in step Sa2, adjacent ones of the end points of the straight line section obtained in the previous step Sa1 are connected to each other with one scene sandwiched therebetween, and a loop formed thereby is set as a loop candidate.

Then, in step Sa3, clockwise (CW) from the loop candidate obtained in the previous step Sa2.
Loop candidates in two directions, ie, counterclockwise (CCW), are created.

The loop candidates obtained by the above processing are stored in the traveling road data memory 106.

C: Route Alignment Unit 109 The route alignment unit 109 performs a route alignment process described below according to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, in step Sb1, an instruction is given to the above-mentioned route searching section 110 to obtain an initial route. At this time, no orientation is given to each scene on the traveling path 101.

Next, in step Sb2, a counter is prepared for each of the straight line sections detected by the loop candidate detecting section 111, and its value is set to "0". At this time, two counters, the + direction and the − direction, are prepared for each straight line section. Further, the straight line section and the loop candidate are stored in the traveling road data memory 106.

In step Sb3, the scene included in the initial path obtained in step Sb1 is extracted, and if there is a straight line section including this, the counter in the same direction as that is incremented (+1). In this way, all scenes are examined and the value of the counter is updated in a timely manner.

In step Sb4, the count results obtained in step Sb3 are compared, and the straight line section having the largest difference between the counter values in the + direction and the-direction is selected.

In step Sb5, the case where the straight line section is not found in the previous step Sb4 is detected, and when this is detected, the process proceeds to step Sb8.

In the next step Sb6, the above step Sb
The straight line section is oriented in the direction of the counter having the larger counter value of the straight line section selected in b4.

Then, in step Sb7, the straight line section oriented in the previous step SP6, another straight line section forming a loop, and a scene connecting these two straight line sections are aligned with the direction of the straightened line section. To direct. Then, if there is another straight line section that forms a loop with the newly straightened straight section, the same direction is performed. In this way, the orientation is repeated as much as possible, and the process returns to step Sb4. That is, the processes from step Sb4 to step Sb7 are repeatedly executed until there is no target straight line section.

In step Sb8, even if the scenes are taken out in the order in which they are oriented and the scenes are prohibited from passing, the following two conditions 1) If an unmanned vehicle enters the starting point (node) of the arc, move to another There is a node that can. 2) An unmanned vehicle can move to the end point (node) of the arc. If both are satisfied, the arc is prohibited. If an arc that does not satisfy the above two conditions is prohibited, movement of the unmanned vehicle at the start point and the end point of the arc will be hindered.

Next, in step Sb9, the route search unit 110 again finds the route of each unmanned vehicle on the oriented traveling route. As a result, when there is no reverse traveling section on the traveling route, the traveling route becomes the basic route, and the process ends.

If there is a reverse traveling section, the following processing is performed. First, based on the initial route, a section in which the unmanned vehicles move in opposite directions (reverse section) is obtained.

The costs of the sections in the opposite direction of the route of each unmanned vehicle are added up, and the unmanned vehicle (unmanned vehicle of interest) having the highest cost is selected.

Then, a route which has not been oriented yet in the reverse direction section of the route of the unmanned vehicle of interest is oriented in the direction opposite to the moving direction of the unmanned vehicle to make one way. This orientation is in addition to the orientation of the straight sections described above or the orientation already made in.

A search instruction is issued to the route search unit 110, and routes of all unmanned vehicles are recalculated on this oriented traveling route. Here, if there is an unmanned vehicle for which a route is not required, cancel the orientation performed in, set the unmanned vehicle with the next largest cost to the unmanned vehicle selected next in as the unmanned vehicle of interest, and perform the process again. To do.

Then, the backward section is obtained based on the route. Here, if there is no reverse direction section, the traveling route at that time becomes the final basic route, and the process is terminated. When there is a reverse direction section, the process returns to and is repeated until the reverse running section disappears.

By the route alignment process described above, a basic route having no reverse traveling section is obtained, and the basic route is output to the operation planning unit 108 described below.

C: Motion Planning Unit 108 The motion planning unit 108 temporally checks the movement of each unmanned vehicle based on the basic route supplied from the route alignment unit 109, adjusts the movement order, and if necessary. Plan the movement of all unmanned vehicles to the target point by changing or adding routes. It should be noted that the route search in the operation planning unit 108 is performed by the route search unit 1 in the already-oriented traveling route.
10 and the route alignment unit 109.

The operation planning process performed by the operation planning unit 108 will be described below. First, each unmanned vehicle is sequentially moved based on the moving time (cost) of each scene of the basic route and the traveling route described above. During this time, if there is another unmanned vehicle in the waiting state after the work is completed at the destination of the unmanned vehicle that is moving, a route (evacuation route) for evacuating the unmanned vehicle in the waiting state to another node is calculated. , Add the evacuation route to the route of the waiting unmanned vehicle.

In the above process, when a plurality of unmanned vehicles are crowded in a small area and the so-called evacuation operation cannot be carried out on the planned route, a so-called deadlock situation occurs. First, adjust the moving order of each unmanned vehicle. That is, the deadlock is attempted to be canceled by changing the passage order of the nodes.

When the deadlock cannot be eliminated by the above processing, the bypass route of the unmanned vehicle that causes the deadlock is obtained, and it is attempted to eliminate the deadlock by exchanging it with the current route.

In the case where the detouring operation cannot be taken even in the above process, a shunting route for temporarily retreating to another node is added to the route of the appropriate unmanned vehicle, and after the shunting, the route is relinquished to another unmanned vehicle and then again. Try to eliminate the deadlock by moving along the original route.

The above processes (1) to (3) are repeated to make an operation plan. However, if the deadlock cannot be resolved, the process ends with a failure of the operation plan.

D: Operation Example 1 The operation of the operation management control device 102 described above will be described using the ladder type traveling path 101 shown in FIG. 4 (a).

The loop candidate detecting section 111 reads the scene structure of the traveling road 101 from the traveling road data memory 106 and performs the above-described loop candidate detecting process (FIG. 2).

First, in step Sa1, the following 2
One straight line section is obtained (thick line in Fig. 4 (a)). Straight section: Node 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14 Straight section: Node 15-16-17-18-19-20-21-22 -23-24-25
-26-27-28

Next, in step Sa2, nodes 1 and 15, 14 and 28, which are the end points of the straight line section, are described.
Are connected to each other to create one loop candidate.

Then, in step Sa3, node 1 → 2
→ 3 → ・ ・ ・ → 13 → 14 is shown as a straight line section + and the opposite direction is shown as a straight line section-, and similarly, nodes 15 → 16 → 17 → ・ ・ ・ →
If 27 → 28 is represented by a straight line section + and the opposite direction is expressed by a straight line section −, the following two loop candidates are obtained. Loop candidate (CW): straight line section-> straight line section + loop candidate (CCW): straight line section + → straight line section-

The above processing results are shown in the traveling path data memory 10
6 is stored. Here, if the passage between the nodes 20 and 21 is prohibited (see FIG. 5), the nodes 6 and 7 are
3 scenes between the nodes 7 and 8 and between the nodes 21 and 22 are single-line sections and therefore cannot be included in the straight-line section. Therefore, four straight line sections shown by the bold lines in FIG. 4 are obtained. Straight section: Node 1-2-3-4-5-6 Straight section: Node 8-9-10-11-12-13-14 Straight section: Node 15-16-17-18-19-20 Straight section: Node 22-23-24-25-26-27-28

Then, the loop candidate is obtained from the straight line section and from, and the loop candidate is obtained from the straight line section from. Loop candidate (CW): Straight line section-> Straight line section + Loop candidate (CCW): Straight line section + → Straight line section-Loop candidate (CW): Straight line section-> Straight line section + Loop candidate (CCW): Straight line section + → Straight line Section −

Next, the route alignment unit 109 issues a search instruction to the route search unit 110 according to the route alignment processing (see FIG. 3) to obtain the initial route shown in FIG. 6A (step Sb).
1). In this figure, the routes of the unmanned vehicles # 1 to # 6 are shown by solid lines, dotted lines, broken lines, one-dot chain lines, two-dot chain lines, and bold lines. The route that moves to node 3 which is a point via node 4 is set as the initial route.

Then, in step Sb3, the counter is incremented, and for example, the scene between the nodes 3 and 4 is included in the traveling routes of the unmanned vehicles # 1 and # 2, and the unmanned vehicles # 1 and # 2 are in that route. Is moved in the-direction, 2 is added to the value of the counter in the-direction of the straight section. Further, in this scene, since the unmanned vehicle # 6 moves in the + direction, the counter in the + direction of the straight section is further incremented. The counting result of the counter at this time is shown below. Counter value of straight line section + = 5, counter value of straight line section− = 8 Counter value of straight line section + = 0, counter value of straight line section− = 18

The difference between the counter values of the straight line section is 3, and the difference between the counter values of the straight line section is 18, so that the straight line section is selected (step Sb4).

Then, in step Sb6, the straight line section is oriented in the-direction.

In the next step Sb7, the straight line section is +
The scene between nodes 1 and 15 is directed in the direction of node 15 → 1 and the scene between nodes 14 and 28 is directed in the direction of node 14 → 28 (FIG. 6).
(B) Thick arrow).

Then, in step Sb9, the node 10,
A reverse traveling section is detected between 24 and so on, and in order to eliminate the reverse traveling section, orientation is added to the nodes 10 → 24 and 22 → 8, and the route searching unit 110 re-determines the route.

FIG. 6 (c) is an operation diagram showing the resulting basic route. The directions of the routes of all the unmanned vehicles are the same as the directions of all the directed scenes, and the reverse traveling section is also present. Does not exist.

Then, the operation planning unit 108 adds the evacuation route to the above-mentioned basic route and completes the planning of the route to the target point of all unmanned vehicles and the movement order. In this way, each route is set so that it can travel around the straight line segment that is a loop candidate, so even if unmanned vehicles concentrate on neighboring nodes, movement will not be delayed, and unmanned vehicles waiting Evacuation can be performed sequentially.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a result of simulating the operation plan of the operation management control device on the traveling path 101. In this figure, the planning method 2 is the method of the operation example described above, and the planning method 1 is the route alignment processing (see FIG. 3).
This is a method of obtaining the basic route only in step Sb9.
That is, the planning method 1 is a method of obtaining the basic route so that there is no reverse traveling section. In addition, the number of running unmanned vehicles is sequentially increased from 1 to 10, and simulations are performed 10,000 times each. At this time, the starting point and the target point of each unmanned vehicle are randomly set.

"Success" is the number of successes of the operation plan,
"Completed" means the time when all unmanned vehicles have moved or performed work (transfer at the target point for 5 seconds) and waited,
“Arrival” is an average of the times when unmanned vehicles are in standby, “Wait” is the average time spent waiting for each unmanned vehicle to move to the target point, and “Evacuation” is each unmanned vehicle It is the average time required to evacuate after finishing the work.

As shown in this figure, in the planning method 1, there are cases in which the operation planning fails when the number of unmanned vehicles is 7 to 10, but in the planning method 2, it succeeds in all cases. Also regarding the completion time, the number of unmanned vehicles is 7
When there are more than the number of units, Planning Method 2 is completed faster.

E: Operation Example 2 Here, a loop candidate detection process and a route alignment process of the operation management control device 102 on the general travel path 130 shown in FIG. 8 will be described.

In the case of the traveling path 130, the single track section is detected between the nodes 7 and 14 by the loop candidate detection process (see FIG. 2).
Between nodes 13 and 14, between nodes 14 and 15, node 1
1 and 12, between nodes 12 and 24, between nodes 19 and 2
There are a total of 8 scenes between 0, between nodes 20 and 21, and between nodes 23 and 24, and the following eight straight line sections are obtained. Straight Section: Node 1-2-3-4-5 Straight Section: Node 6-7-8-9-10-11 Straight Section: Node 16-17-18 Straight Section: Node 3-9-16 Straight Section: Node 4-10-17 Straight section: Node 5-11-18 Straight section: Node 21-22-23 Straight section: Node 25-26-27

The following loop candidates are obtained by combining these straight line sections. Loop candidate: {Straight line section, straight line section} Loop candidate: {Straight line section, straight line section} Loop candidate: {Straight line section, straight line section} Loop candidate: {Straight line section, straight line section} Loop candidate: {Straight line section, straight line section}

Here, only a part (nodes 9-10-11) of the straight line section included in the loop candidate contributes to the loop formation (see FIG. 8).

Next, an initial route as shown in FIG. 9A is obtained by the route alignment process (see FIG. 3). In this figure, the routes of the unmanned vehicles # 1 to # 5 are respectively indicated by solid lines, dotted lines, broken lines, one-dot chain lines, and two-dot chain lines. A route is set which moves through the nodes 3 and 2 to the node 1 which is the target point.

Next, in step Sb3, the value of the counter is updated at appropriate times, and the following counting result is obtained. Counter value of linear section + = 3, counter value of linear section- = 3 Counter value of linear section + = 5, counter value of linear section = 2 Counter value of linear section + = 0, counter value of linear section- = 1 straight line section + counter value = 1, straight line section − counter value = 0 straight line section + counter value = 0, straight line section − counter value = 0 straight line section + counter value = 2, straight line section − counter value = 0 counter value of straight line section + = 0, counter value of straight line section = 1 counter value of straight line section = 0, counter value of straight line section = 0

As a result, in step Sb6, the straight line section is first determined in the + direction. Then, another straight line section of the loop candidate including the straight line section is defined in the − direction from the loop candidates, and a straight line section of the loop candidate is similarly defined in the − direction (step Sb7).

Returning to step Sb4 again, a straight line section is selected from straight line sections which have not yet been oriented,
Oriented in the + direction. Then, the straight line segment of the loop candidate is set in the − direction.

By repeating this processing, the straight line section is sequentially set to +, the straight line section is set to −, and the straight line section is set to +. The loop candidate is CW orientation order 1 The loop candidate is CCW orientation order 2 The loop candidate is CCW orientation order 3 The loop candidate has a CW orientation ranking of 4. The loop candidate has a CW orientation ranking of 5.

In step Sb8, arcs 1 → 2, 2 → 3, 3 → 4, 4 → 5, 5 → 11, 11 → 10, 10 → 9, 9 → opposite to those directions.
8, 8 → 7, 7 → 6, 6 → 19 → 16, 16 → 17, 17 → 18, 18 → 11,
11 → 10, 10 → 9 5 → 4, 11 → 5, 18 → 11, 17 → 18, 10 → 17, 4 → 10 3 → 4, 4 → 10, 10 → 17, 17 → 16, 16 → 9, 9 → 3 21 → 22, 22 → 23, 23 → 27, 27 → 26, 26 → 25, 25 → 21 are tried to be prohibited in order. However, arc 5
→ 4, 11 → 5, 17 → 16, 16 → 9, step Sb
Since the two conditions described in the description of 8 are not satisfied, the traffic is not prohibited. FIG. 9B is a diagram showing the result of this orientation, and the direction is indicated by an arrow.

Next, the basic route as shown in FIG. 9C is obtained. In this figure, the route of each unmanned vehicle is shown in FIG.
The line type is the same as that of the initial route in (a). Also,
Compared to the initial route, this basic route shows that the routes of unmanned vehicles # 3, # 4, and # 5 are unmanned vehicles # 3: notebook 5 → 11 → 18 → 17 to 5 → 4 → 3
→ 9 → 10 → 11 → 18 → 17 Unmanned vehicle # 4: Notebook 3 → 9 → 8 → 7 → 14 → 13 to 3 → 2 → 1
→ 6 → 7 → 14 → 13 Unmanned vehicle # 5: Notebook 8 → 2 → 3 → 4 → 5 to 8 → 9 → 10
→ 11 → 5 has changed. Further, since the passage of the node 11 → 5 is not prohibited, the basic route of the unmanned vehicle # 5 can be obtained.

[0074]

As described above, according to the present invention, each unmanned vehicle is oriented to the traveling road so that it can circulate on the traveling road, and the traveling route of each unmanned vehicle is obtained according to the orientation. Even in the case where a plurality of unmanned vehicles concentrate on a specific node, it is possible to obtain a travel route in which the movement of the unmanned vehicles is not delayed, and thus it is possible to prevent the inoperable state.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an operation management control device 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
It is a block diagram of 02.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a loop candidate detection process.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a route alignment process.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a straight line section (a) and a loop candidate (b) detected by a loop candidate detection process on the traveling road 101 in the operation example 1;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a straight line section and a loop candidate detected by a loop candidate detection process on a traveling path 120.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an initial route (a), an orientation (b), and a basic route (c) in the operation example 1;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a result of simulating the operation of the operation management control device 102.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing loop candidates detected by a loop candidate detection process on the traveling path 130 in the operation example 2;

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an initial route (a), an orientation (b), and a basic route (c) in the operation example 2;

FIG. 10 is a system configuration diagram of an unmanned vehicle transport system.

FIG. 11 is a block configuration diagram of an operation management control device 50.

FIG. 12 is an operation example of the operation management control device 50, and is a diagram showing a basic route (a) and a deadlock state (b).

[Explanation of symbols]

 101, 120, 130 Roads # 1, # 2, ... Unmanned vehicle 102 Operation management control device 103 Operation control data memory 104 Transport instruction table memory 105 Unmanned vehicle data memory 106 Traveling road data memory 107 Control section 108 Operation planning section 109 Route Alignment Unit 110 Route Search Unit 111 Loop Candidate Detection Unit

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An operation management control device for controlling the operation of a plurality of unmanned vehicles traveling on a traveling path consisting of a plurality of nodes at stop positions and a connecting path connecting the nodes, and circulating the traveling path. A loop detecting means for detecting a loop, an orienting means for setting a direction to the loop detected by the loop detecting means, and a route for searching a traveling route of the unmanned vehicle along the direction set by the orienting means. An operation management control device comprising: a search means. 2. An operation management control method for controlling the operation of a plurality of unmanned vehicles traveling on a traveling path including a plurality of nodes at stop positions and a connecting path connecting the nodes, wherein a straight section of the traveling path is provided. And a second step of forming a loop by connecting the straight line sections obtained in the first step, and a third step of directing the loop obtained in the second step. A fourth step of orienting the connecting path in the same direction corresponding to the oriented loop obtained in the third step, and the unmanned vehicle traveling along the direction oriented in the fourth step And a fifth step of obtaining such a route, and an operation management control method.