JPH07253815A - Automonous running working truck - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the degree of completion of a job and to reduce the job time by judging an area not worked yet when an obstacle is detected and controlling a running section so as to avoid the unworked area without being intruded to the worked area. CONSTITUTION:When an obstacle sensor provided to the working truck is not set, the job is continued. When the sensor is set, a moving distance from a job start point or a U-turned point is compared with a length of a wall in parallel with a running path. When the length of the wall is longer, it is judged that the truck encounters an object 17, and it is informed to an external device and the avoidance to an unworked area is started. When the avoidance is finished, the truck returns to the original running path and the restoration is continued. On the other hand, when the moving distance is equal to or shorter than the length of the wall, it is judge that the truck does not encounter the obstacle 17 but reaches the opposite wall. Then whether or not the position is the job end position is discriminated, and when the position is the job end position, the work is finished, and when the position is not the job end position, the truck is moved by a width of a work section 13 toward the unworked area and makes a U-turn.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an autonomously traveling work vehicle for performing work such as lawn mowing, cleaning, wax coating and chemical spraying indoors or outdoors.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the field of conventional autonomous working vehicles, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 5-43125, when an obstacle is found on a traveling route, the obstacle is located on the right side in front of the vehicle body. There is a known obstacle avoidance method that detects whether the vehicle is on the left side or on the left side and performs an avoiding operation in a direction in which the avoidance distance becomes shorter as shown in FIG.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional autonomous work vehicle, the avoidance direction is determined only by the relative positional relationship between the work vehicle and the obstacle, so that the work is completed in the area where the work has already been completed. There was a case that the work vehicle stepped into the area where the work had been completed, and it was necessary to redo the work again. Further, there is a problem that it is necessary to accurately memorize all the areas stepped in by the avoidance operation in order to redo the work.

A first object of the present invention is to improve the degree of completion of the work by avoiding rework of the work as much as possible, and
An object of the present invention is to provide an autonomously traveling work vehicle capable of reducing work time.

A second object of the present invention is to, when an unknown obstacle is found in the work area, remove the obstacle, add the obstacle on the map, or perform work if necessary. An object of the present invention is to provide an autonomous traveling work vehicle that makes it possible to re-instruct a portion that has been left over by an avoidance operation by issuing a new instruction after the end.

[0006]

In order to achieve the first object, the autonomous traveling work vehicle of the present invention has an unworked area based on obstacle detection means for detecting obstacles, work information and current information. And a control means for controlling the traveling part of the work vehicle based on the judgment of the judgment means, and when the obstacle detection means detects an obstacle, the judgment means does not work. It is characterized in that the traveling section is controlled so as to judge an area and to avoid the unworked area side by the control means without invading the already-worked area.

In order to achieve the above second object,
The autonomous traveling work vehicle of the present invention is characterized by having means for notifying the outside that an obstacle that does not exist in the information on the region to be traveled is encountered.

[0008]

According to the structure of the present invention, the autonomous vehicle determines the unworked area from the already-worked area information and the current position information, and when the obstacle is found on the travel route, the area where the work has already been completed. Avoid obstacles to the unworked area side without invading.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, the autonomous traveling work vehicle is the wax application work vehicle, but if the configuration of the working unit described later is changed, the invention is also applicable to an autonomous traveling work vehicle for other purposes such as lawn mowing, cleaning, and spraying of chemicals. Needless to say, can be applied.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing the structure of a wax application work vehicle (hereinafter simply referred to as a work vehicle) in this embodiment.

The work vehicle body 1 is composed of a traveling section, a working section, and a control section. The traveling unit includes drive wheels 2 for traveling the work vehicle body 1, a drive motor 14 for driving the drive wheels 2,
The work vehicle body 1 includes steered wheels 3 for changing the traveling direction, and a drive motor 14 and a battery 11 for supplying electricity to the sponge rotation motor 7.

The working unit includes a wax tank 4, a pump 5,
It is composed of a tube 6, a sponge rotation motor 7, and a sponge 8. The wax in the wax tank 4 is dripped onto the sponge 8 through the tube 6 by the pump 5. While the sponge 8 is rotated by the sponge rotation motor 7, the dropped wax is applied to the floor surface.

The control unit includes a control circuit 9 for controlling the work vehicle as a whole, a storage / calculation unit 15, a gyro sensor 10 for detecting the direction of the vehicle body, and a drive wheel rotation speed detector connected to the drive wheels 2. 16 (for example, an encoder), an obstacle detection sensor 12 that detects that the work vehicle encounters an obstacle
(For example, a mechanical switch, a pressure sensor, or the like is used as the contact sensor, or an ultrasonic sensor, an infrared sensor, a TV camera, or the like is used as the non-contact sensor.), The drive motor 14, the sponge rotation. The motor 7 and the pump 5 are connected to the control circuit 9 and operate by a signal from the control circuit 9. The control circuit 9 is a storage arithmetic unit 15
It is connected to the. A gyro sensor 10 and a drive wheel rotation speed detector 16 are also connected to the storage / calculation device 15.

Furthermore, the fact that an unknown obstacle is found in the work area of the work vehicle body 1 is communicated to the outside (person, controller, etc.).
There is also installed a device 18 (communication device, lamp, etc.) for informing the user.

The work vehicle is stored in the storage / calculation unit 15 based on the outputs from the gyro sensor 10 and the drive wheel rotation speed detector 16.
You can calculate and store your own orientation and position.

A general CPU and a memory are used for the storage / calculation device 15, and as a method of storing the position of the work vehicle, the rotation speed of the drive wheel detected by the drive wheel rotation speed detector 16 and the gyro are detected. A method of calculating absolute coordinates by the CPU from the rotation angle of the work vehicle measured by the sensor 10 and storing the absolute coordinates in the memory as a combination of the coordinate value of the work vehicle and the traveling direction (direction), or movement from the work start position. It is stored in memory as a combination of distance and rotation angle, and if necessary, CP
A method of calculating absolute coordinates with U can be considered.

Information about the route the work vehicle itself has traveled (absolute coordinates of a point where the vehicle has already traveled and changes in the traveling direction) is also stored in the memory at any time.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a work procedure in the work area of the work vehicle. The same parts as those in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals.

As shown in FIG. 2, the work vehicle calculates a travel route by referring to a map given in advance and the current position of the travel vehicle calculated by the gyro sensor 10 and the drive wheel rotation speed detector 16. Then, while reciprocating, the work section 13 performs work in order from the corner of the area.

Further, the work vehicle 1 does not calculate the traveling route by itself, but an external traveling control device calculates a map and position information of the traveling working vehicle, and transmits the calculated traveling route to the traveling working vehicle. Such a configuration may be used. With such a configuration, when a plurality of work vehicles are simultaneously operated, the plurality of work vehicles can be controlled by one external traveling control device without providing a CPU for each work vehicle. Further, since the work vehicle can be made smaller and lighter, it is possible to enter a narrow space in the work area, and further, it consumes less power and is economical.

FIG. 2 will be described in more detail. In this example,
The work vehicle 1 starts work from the upper left corner in FIG. 2, and first travels downward in FIG. 2 parallel to the left (right) side wall. When the work vehicle 1 reaches the lower wall, it moves rightward by the width of the work section and makes a U-turn. After that, drive up this time. While repeating this reciprocating motion, it goes to the work end point.

In the course of this work, when the work vehicle 1 finds an unknown obstacle 17 on the traveling route which is not present on the map by the obstacle detection sensor 12, it is shown in FIG. 3 (b). As shown, the work vehicle is avoided toward the unworked area side (in the example of FIG. 2, the right side of the drawing). If there is no room for the avoidance route on the unworked area side, there is no choice but to notify the outside by using a communication device or the like to seek instructions.

The obstacle avoidance operation after determining which side the unworked area is is described in the conventional avoidance operation (for example, in Japanese Patent Publication No. 43125/1993 described in "Prior Art"). The detailed description is omitted here.

Whether or not there is room for an avoidance route on the side of the unworked area can be determined by comparing the present position of the work vehicle with a map of a work area to be traveled which is given in advance.

A method for calculating which side the unworked area is will be described. The work vehicle 1 knows the current position (coordinates) of itself and the absolute values of the posture angle. Also, information (absolute coordinates) about the route that the work vehicle has traveled.
Since it has also been obtained, it is possible to recognize which side the unworked area is by checking the map of the work area to be traveled which is given in advance.

The above method will be described in detail with reference to the example of FIG. 2. In the working direction (from left to right in the example of FIG. 2) and in the traveling direction of the work vehicle 1 (upward in the example of FIG. 2). , Or downward), it is possible to recognize which of the left and right sides is the unworked area in the traveling direction of the work vehicle 1 (in the example of FIG. 2, the work is performed from the left side to the right side in FIG. 2). Therefore, when the work vehicle 1 is traveling downward, the unworked area is on the left side in the traveling direction, and when the work vehicle 1 is traveling upward, the right side is the unworked area in the traveling direction. Can be recognized).

Alternatively, if the information about the absolute coordinates of the current position of the work vehicle 1 and the route along which the work vehicle has traveled (absolute coordinates of the point where the work has already been completed) is known, the obstacle 17 can be obtained. When encountering, it is possible to recognize which side of the left and right absolute coordinates of the current position is the unworked area (in the example of FIG. 2, since all the absolute coordinates of the colored work end area are stored, When you encounter an obstacle, you can recognize which side of the current position is the unworked area).

Alternatively, as still another method, if the absolute coordinates of the current position of the work vehicle 1 are known in the state where the work order represented by the absolute coordinates is stored in the storage / calculation device 15 in advance, the obstacle 17 is encountered. At this time, it is possible to recognize which side of the left and right absolute coordinates of the current position is the unworked area. That is, if the absolute coordinates of the current position and the left and right absolute coordinates of the current position are compared, one of the left and right is a point (coordinate) at which the work is performed earlier than the current position, and the other is later than the current position. It should be the point (coordinates) where the work will be performed. That is, it is possible to recognize that the point (coordinates) where the work is performed later than the current position is the unworked area.

Next, a series of work operations of this work vehicle will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, an object (person, controller, etc.) externally monitoring the work vehicle issues a signal to the work vehicle to notify the start of work (step # 1).
The work vehicle receiving this work start signal advances to the work start point (step # 2). The work vehicle that has reached the work start point moves forward while applying wax parallel to one side of the work area (step # 3).

Next, it is judged whether or not the obstacle sensor provided on the work vehicle is turned on (step # 4), and turned on.
If not, return to step # 3 to continue the work.
If the obstacle sensor is ON in the judgment of step # 4, the moving distance from the work starting point or the point where the U-turn is made in step # 9 described later is compared with the length of the wall parallel to the traveling route ( Step # 5), if the wall is longer,
It is determined that an obstacle has been encountered, the outside is notified that the obstacle has been encountered, and at the same time, the avoidance operation to the unworked area is started (step # 6). When the avoidance operation is completed, the vehicle returns to the original travel route (step # 7), and then returns to step # 3 to continue the work.

If it is determined in step # 5 that the moving distance is the same as the wall length (or the wall length is shorter), it is determined that the other wall has been reached without encountering an obstacle. And then
Determine if that position is the work end position (step #
8) If it is the work end position, the work is ended (step # 10). When it is determined in step # 8 that it is not the work end position, the work portion is moved to the unworked area side by the width of the working portion and makes a U-turn (step # 9). Then step # 3
Return to and continue the work.

In the flow chart of FIG. 4 described above,
As a method to judge whether an obstacle was encountered or a wall on the opposite side was reached when the obstacle sensor was turned on, this method is compared with the length of the wall parallel to the traveling route. However, the method of comparing with a map given in advance may be used.

[0033]

As described above, according to the present invention, during the obstacle avoidance operation in the autonomous traveling work vehicle, it is possible to avoid the obstacle without the traveling portion of the work vehicle trampling the working area in a rough manner. it can.

Therefore, it is possible to improve the degree of completion of the work and shorten the work time by avoiding the rework of the work as much as possible.

Further, if the fact that an unknown obstacle is found in the work area is notified to the outside, if necessary,
It is possible to remove obstacles, add obstacles to the map, give instructions again after the work is completed, and perform the work again on the portion where the work is left over by the avoidance operation.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of a wax application vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing a travel route in a work area of a wax application work vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing an obstacle avoidance method in a conventional example (a) and an embodiment (b) of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a series of operations of the wax application vehicle according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Autonomous traveling work vehicle main body 2 Drive wheel 9 Control circuit 10 Gyro sensor 12 Obstacle detection sensor 13 Working unit 15 Memory arithmetic unit 16 Drive wheel rotation speed detector

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An autonomous traveling work vehicle having a traveling unit and a working unit for automatically performing work while traveling in a work area, obstacle detection means for detecting an obstacle, work information and current information. From this, it has a judgment means for judging an unworked area, and a control means for controlling the traveling unit based on the judgment of the judgment means, and the judgment means when the obstacle detection means detects an obstacle. In the above, the autonomous traveling work vehicle is characterized in that the unworked area is determined, and the traveling unit is controlled by the control means so as to avoid the unworked area without entering the already worked area. 2. A travel direction detection sensor for detecting a traveling direction of the traveling unit, wherein the work information is a work direction given in advance, and the current information is the travel direction detected by the direction detection sensor. 2. The traveling direction of the section
The autonomous vehicle described. 3. A direction detection sensor that detects a traveling direction of the traveling unit, a traveling distance detection sensor that detects a traveling distance of the traveling unit, and a traveling direction of the traveling unit and a traveling distance of the traveling unit. And a working area storage means for storing the absolute coordinates of the working area, the work information is absolute coordinates of the working area stored in the working area storage means, the current information Is an absolute coordinate of the current position calculated from the traveling direction of the traveling unit and the traveling distance of the traveling unit, The autonomous traveling work vehicle according to claim 1. 4. A direction detection sensor for detecting a traveling direction of the traveling unit, and a traveling distance detection sensor for detecting a traveling distance of the traveling unit, wherein the work information is a work based on absolute coordinates given in advance. The autonomous running work vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the current information is an absolute coordinate of a current position calculated from a traveling direction of the traveling unit and a traveling distance of the traveling unit. 5. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for notifying the outside that an obstacle which is not included in the information on the area to be traveled stored in the travel information storage means has been encountered. Autonomous work vehicle. 6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising means for notifying outside that the avoidance is not possible when there is no room for the avoidance route in avoiding the unworked area. Item 7. The autonomously traveling work vehicle according to Item 5.