JPH0852278A - Self-propelled vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide turbo-acceleration without performing an excess operation of using hands and feet while a vehicle is traveling and to allow an operator to devote himself to a traveling operation more eagerly in a self-propelled vehicle used in a play field, etc. CONSTITUTION:A vehicle body 3 is allowed to travel by driving a front wheel 1 by rotating a motor 7. When the operator 4 sounds 'turbo', etc., comparatively loudly, it is collected by a microphone 25, and a response voice such as 'okay', etc., is sounded from a headphone 24, then, the motor 7 starts to rotate at high speed, and the high speed traveling i.e., turbo-traveling of the vehicle body 3 can be performed. The operator 4 is allowed to devote himself to the traveling since the turbo-acceleration can be executed by using a voice without using complicated operations of the hands and feet.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a self-propelled vehicle installed in a game hall or other facilities, and more particularly to a self-propelled vehicle which is driven by an electric motor in accordance with an operator's operation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a self-propelled vehicle of this type, there is widely known one in which a motor is rotated at a constant speed by depressing an accelerator pedal, and the rotation of the motor is used as a power source. However, in this type of self-propelled vehicle, the traveling speed is always set to a constant value, so that there is a problem in that the traveling is not enjoyable.

Further, as a conventional self-propelled vehicle, an acceleration button is specially prepared, and when the operator presses the acceleration button, the motor is rotated at a high speed to accelerate the vehicle. Something that has been done is also known.
According to this self-propelled vehicle, compared to the above-described conventional self-propelled vehicle in which the traveling speed is always constant, the traveling modes of the vehicle are diversified and the enjoyment of traveling is increased. However, the operation of pressing a button when accelerating a vehicle has reduced interest for operators who are enthusiastic about traveling.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is possible to accelerate a vehicle without performing extra operations using the limbs during traveling. In addition, the acceleration operation is performed based on the voice of the operator, so that the operator can be more enthusiastic about traveling.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a self-propelled vehicle according to the present invention is provided with a voice generated by an operator in a self-propelled vehicle which is driven by an electric motor and travels according to an operation of an operator. A sound collection unit that receives and outputs a signal, a voice determination circuit that determines whether or not a voice is generated by an operator based on the output signal of the sound collection unit, and a rotation speed of the electric motor based on the output signal of the voice determination circuit. And a control circuit for controlling. The control circuit is characterized by rotating the electric motor at a high speed when a predetermined voice is output from the operator.

The sound collecting means can be constituted by, for example, a microphone provided on the vehicle body of a self-propelled vehicle, a headphone mounted on the head of the operator, particularly on the ear. It is desirable to use headphones in order to increase emotional involvement of the operator in traveling.

The voice discriminating circuit discriminates whether or not a voice is generated by the operator, and various concrete circuit configurations can be selected. The simplest configuration example is
It is possible to employ a circuit configuration that makes a determination based on the strength of the collected sound and the length of the collected sound.

In addition to the above construction, a sounding means for generating a sound is provided, and the control circuit causes the electric motor to rotate at a high speed when a predetermined sound is emitted from the operator and an acceleration response sound is output from the sounding means. It can also be controlled to occur. In the case of this configuration example, the sound generating means can be configured by headphones, and the sound collecting means can be configured by a microphone integrally provided with the headphones.

Further, in addition to the above structure, an accelerator pedal for rotating the electric motor at a high speed is provided, and the following control is performed by the control circuit, that is, the accelerator pedal is depressed and a predetermined voice is emitted from the operator. It is also possible to control the electric motor to rotate at high speed when it is turned on.

[0010]

When the operator operating the self-propelled vehicle produces a predetermined voice, the voice is received by the sound collecting means and converted into an electric signal. The voice discriminating circuit discriminates based on the signal whether or not a predetermined voice is emitted from the operator, and outputs the discrimination result to the control circuit. When it is determined that there is a predetermined sound, the control circuit changes the rotation speed of the electric motor that is the power source to a high speed. As a result, the self-propelled vehicle runs at high speed in response to the voice generated by the operator. This is a drive comparable to the so-called turbo accelerated drive in an actual automobile. According to the present invention, the operator accelerates the self-propelled vehicle by generating a predetermined voice, for example, by making a "turbo" shout, without performing an extra operation using the limbs during the running game. it can. This action allows the operator to easily engage in running in a very natural manner.

[0011]

1 shows an embodiment of a self-propelled vehicle according to the present invention. In this self-propelled vehicle, a vehicle body frame 3 is supported by one front wheel 1 and two rear wheels 2. The front wheel 1 is connected to the steering wheel 6 via the steering mechanism 5. Further, the front wheels 1 are rotationally driven by an electric motor 7 which is a drive source. The operator 4 sits on the seat 8, puts a headphone 24 as a sounding means on his / her ear, and further holds a microphone 25 as a sound collecting means provided in the headphone on his / her mouth to hold the steering wheel 6 for steering.

As shown in FIG. 2, on the operation panel surface 13 provided with the handle 6, a turbo remaining amount display section 9 for displaying how many times the turbo action can be performed later, a start button 10, A turbo button 11 and a speaker 12 as a sounding means are provided. Two pedals, an accelerator pedal 14 and a brake pedal 15, are provided on the body frame 3 near the operation panel surface 13.

In FIG. 1, a bumper 17 supported by a damper member 16 made of rubber or the like is arranged around the body frame 3, and four corners of the bumper 17 are
A collision sensor 19 is arranged via a cushioning material 18 such as rubber. The collision sensor 19 may be a sensor having any structure as long as it is a sensor that performs a switching operation when a pressing force equal to or larger than a reference set value is applied to the bumper 17.
For example, a type in which a pair of electrode plates are opposed with a rubber or other elastic body sandwiched between them, and both electrodes are closed and energized when a pressing force exceeding an allowable limit value that elastically deforms the elastic body is applied. Sensors can be used.

The rear wheels 2 are, as shown in FIG. 3, casters 2.
It is attached to the lower surface of the vehicle body frame 3 via 0. The caster 20 includes a bearing 21 and a support frame 22. The support frame 22 can freely rotate about the central axis L1 extending in the vertical direction by the action of the bearing 21. Further, the rear wheel 2 is supported by the support frame 22 and can freely rotate about an axle ω extending in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the drawing. Reference numeral 23 indicates a floor.

Although not shown in FIG. 1, a control circuit for controlling the operation of each part is arranged at an appropriate position on the body frame 3. This control circuit can be configured using a computer as shown in FIG. 6, for example. In this embodiment, the output signals of the accelerator pedal 14, the brake pedal 15, the turbo button 11, the start button 10 and the collision sensor 19 are sent to the CPU (central processing unit) 26 via the interface.

The output signal of the microphone 25 is sent to the audio level comparison circuit 27, and the output signal of the audio level comparison circuit 27 is sent to the CPU 2 via the interface.
Sent to 6. The voice level comparison circuit 27 has a comparator therein and determines whether the output signal of the microphone 25 is larger or smaller than the reference set value. That is, the voice level comparison circuit 27 determines whether or not the volume of the voice generated by the operator 4 (FIG. 1) is higher than the reference set value, and the determination result is determined by the CPU 26.
Send to.

Inside the voice ROM 28 connected to the CPU 26, necessary voice information is stored at a predetermined address. For example, voice information such as "Aiyo" is stored as an acceleration response voice as a reply corresponding to the turbo acceleration command. Further, voice information such as "Itete" is stored as a voice corresponding to the collision, that is, a collision response voice.

The CPU 26 outputs the output signal corresponding to the volume higher than the reference volume from the speed calculator and the voice level comparison circuit 27 for calculating the speed corresponding to the depression amount of the accelerator pedal 14 and the brake pedal 15, That is, at least two calculation units of the voice time calculation unit that calculates the time during which the volume higher than the reference volume is continuously generated are configured. The CPU 26 controls the number of rotations of the motor 7 that is a power source, and adjusts the type of sound produced from the headphones 24 and the speaker 12 based on the calculation results of these calculation units.

The operation of the self-propelled vehicle having the above structure will be described below.

First, when the start button 10 (FIGS. 2 and 6) is pushed by the operator 4 (FIG. 1), the respective parts of the self-propelled vehicle are brought into a starting state. And first,
When the front wheels 1 are directed straight ahead and driven by the motor 7 to rotate the front wheels 1, the vehicle body frame 3 goes straight as indicated by an arrow A in FIG. At this time, the rear wheel 2 takes a position parallel to the front wheel 1.

In FIG. 1, the operator 4 has a handle 6
When, for example, is turned to the left, the front wheels 1 rotate leftward as viewed from the operator 4, as indicated by arrow B in FIG.
As a result, the vehicle body frame 3 changes its course to the left, and at this time, an inertial force is applied to the vehicle body frame 3 in the direction of arrow G, that is, in the direction perpendicular to the traveling direction. Due to this inertial force, the rear wheel 2 rotates clockwise about the bearing center axis L1 by an appropriate angle, and then advances in the direction of arrow C. As a result, the rear part of the vehicle body frame 3 largely laterally moves as indicated by arrow D. To the operator 4, this movement is felt as if the rear part of the vehicle body had slipped.

Thereafter, if the front wheels 1 are turned in the opposite direction as indicated by the broken line E in FIG. 5 by turning the handle 6 in the opposite direction, the vehicle body frame 3 moves diagonally rightward as indicated by the arrow C. After that, when the front wheels 1 are gradually returned in the straight traveling direction as shown in FIG. 4 by operating the steering wheel 6, the rear wheels 2 are gradually returned to the straight traveling position shown in FIG. 4, and the body frame 3 is allowed to travel straight again. Become. In this case, if the operator 4 strengthens the driving force of the motor 7 and pulls the vehicle body frame 3 with a large force by the front wheels 1, the rear wheels 2 can be returned to the straight traveling state in a short time. That is, the body frame 3 can be turned with the sideslip kept small. On the other hand, when the vehicle body frame 3 is pulled by the front wheels 1 with a weak driving force, the vehicle body frame 3 largely skids and then returns to the straight traveling state. How the body frame 3 is turned while sliding sideways depends on how the operator 4 applies the driving force to the front wheels 1 and how the handle 6 is turned.

The self-propelled vehicle of this embodiment is provided with a so-called turbo traveling function in order to diversify traveling modes. The turbo traveling function is to instantly raise the rotation of the motor 7 to a high speed to drive the self-propelled vehicle at a high speed for a predetermined time. When attempting to execute this turbo traveling, the operator 4 presses the turbo button 11 (FIG. 2) on the operation panel surface 13 or produces a voice at a volume higher than a predetermined level. The word of the sound generated here is not limited to a specific type, but it is desirable to set it to a word such as “turbo” in the sense that the operator 4 is absorbed in traveling.

When the turbo button 11 is pressed, the CPU 26 in FIG. 6 performs the calculation for acceleration in the speed calculation unit, and the motor 7 is instantly started to rotate at high speed, whereby the self-propelled vehicle is driven. High-speed traveling, that is, transition to turbo traveling. This turbo traveling continues for a predetermined time, for example, 5 seconds, and then returns to the normal speed.

On the other hand, when the operator 4 emits a "turbo" voice, the voice is received by the microphone 25 and converted into a voice signal which is an electric signal. In FIG. 6, this audio signal is compared with the reference volume signal by the audio level comparison circuit 27, and an audio signal larger than this reference volume signal is sent to the audio time calculation unit of the CPU 26. The voice time calculation unit calculates the duration of the transmitted voice signal, and when the duration is a predetermined time, for example, 0.7 to 0.9 seconds or more, the operator 4 performs turbo traveling. It is judged that there was an order. When it is determined that the instruction has been given, turbo traveling of the self-propelled vehicle is executed in the same manner as when the turbo button 11 is pressed. Further, before the motor 7 starts to rotate at high speed for turbo traveling, acceleration response voice information, for example, voice information of "Aiyo" is read from the voice ROM 28, and is read from the headphones 24 and the speaker 12 of the operation panel surface 13.
A reply voice "Aiyo" is generated. That is, the operator 4 "turbo" at a predetermined volume or more and for a predetermined time or more.
The self-propelled vehicle starts turbo-driving after the reply "Aiyo" from the self-propelled vehicle.

The number of times the turbo traveling can be executed is set in advance to a predetermined number, for example, about 10 times.
Each time the turbo traveling is executed according to the command from, the turbo remaining amount, that is, how many times the turbo traveling can be performed later is displayed on the turbo remaining amount display portion 9. Further, although the self-propelled vehicle can be turbo-run only by pressing the turbo button 11 or uttering the operator 4, in order to match the actual running state of the vehicle,
It is desirable to perform turbo travel when the accelerator pedal 14 is stepped on at a predetermined angle or more and when the turbo button 11 or the vocalization operation is further performed.

As described above, in the present embodiment, both the loudness of the sound collected by the microphone 25 and the sounding time are compared with the reference volume signal and the reference duration, respectively, and the comparison result is shown. Based on operator 4
It is determined whether or not there is a turbo travel command from. That is, both the voice level comparing circuit 27 and the voice time calculating section constitute a voice discriminating circuit. When the environment in which the self-propelled vehicle is installed is noisy, the reference volume signal is set high to prevent malfunction due to noise.

While the self-propelled vehicle is traveling, the self-propelled vehicle collides with a curb on the course or an appropriate obstacle. The collision is detected by the collision sensors 19 installed at the four corners of the body frame 3. When the collision is detected, the CPU 26 reads the collision response voice information from the voice ROM 28, for example, the voice information of “Itete”, and causes the headphones 24 and the speaker 12 of the operation panel surface 13 to generate a response voice of “Ayo”. . As a result, the operator 4 can be further absorbed in traveling.

The present invention has been described above with reference to the preferred embodiments, but the present invention is not limited to the embodiments and can be variously modified within the technical scope described in the claims. For example, from the three-wheel structure shown in FIG.
A four-wheel structure with two front wheels can be used. Also,
The vehicle body frame 3 can have any structure and shape other than the structure and shape shown in FIG. 1. Further, the steering device 5 and the front wheel drive means are not limited to particular ones.

[0030]

According to the self-propelled vehicle of claim 1, while the self-propelled vehicle is traveling, the self-propelled vehicle is so-called without any extra operation using the limbs. Turbo acceleration can be performed. Moreover, since the acceleration operation is performed based on the voice of the operator, the operator can be more enthusiastic about traveling.

According to the self-propelled vehicle of the second aspect, the voice of the operator can be accurately discriminated with a simple circuit configuration.

According to the self-propelled vehicle of the third aspect, it is possible to perform light and enjoyable traveling.

According to the self-propelled vehicle of the fourth aspect, the operator can always take a free posture even when performing the turbo traveling using the voice, which facilitates the maneuvering operation.

According to the self-propelled vehicle of the fifth aspect, it is possible to obtain a realistic sensation when the vehicle is actually running.

According to the self-propelled vehicle of the sixth aspect, the traveling modes can be further diversified, and the operator can be further absorbed in traveling.

[0036]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a self-propelled vehicle according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a main part of the self-propelled vehicle.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing another main part of the self-propelled vehicle.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a state in which the self-propelled vehicle travels straight.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing a state where the self-propelled vehicle skids.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a control circuit for controlling the operation of the self-propelled vehicle.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Front Wheel 2 Rear Wheel 3 Body Frame 4 Operator 5 Steering Mechanism 6 Handle 7 Electric Motor 8 Seat 9 Turbo Remaining Indicator 10 Start Button 11 Turbo Button 12 Speaker (Sound Generator) 13 Operation Panel Surface 14 Accelerator Pedal 15 Brake Pedal 16 Damper Member 17 Bumper 18 Buffer material 19 Collision sensor 24 Headphones (sound generating means) 25 Microphone (sound collecting means)

Front page continued (72) Inventor Tatsuya Yamazaki 2-8-5 Tamagawa, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Namco Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Harazo Watanabe 2-8-5 Tamagawa, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Namco Co., Ltd.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. In a self-propelled vehicle that is driven by an electric motor to travel according to an operator's control, a sound collecting unit that receives a sound generated by the operator and outputs a signal, and an operator based on an output signal of the sound collecting unit. It has a voice discriminating circuit that discriminates whether or not a voice is generated from the operator, and a control circuit that controls the rotation speed of the electric motor based on the output signal of the voice discriminating circuit. A self-propelled vehicle characterized by causing an electric motor to rotate at high speed when is emitted. 2. The self-propelled vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the voice discrimination circuit discriminates the operator's voice based on the strength and length of the collected sound. 3. The self-propelled vehicle according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising sound generating means for generating a voice, wherein the control circuit rotates the electric motor at a high speed when a predetermined voice is emitted from an operator. A self-propelled vehicle characterized in that an acceleration response voice is generated from a sounding means as well. 4. The self-propelled vehicle according to claim 3, wherein the sounding means is a headphone and the sound collecting means is a microphone provided integrally with the headphone. 5. The self-propelled vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein an accelerator pedal for rotating an electric motor at a high speed is provided, and the control circuit is configured such that the accelerator pedal is depressed. A self-propelled vehicle characterized in that an electric motor is rotated at a high speed when a predetermined voice is emitted from an operator. 6. The self-propelled vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising a collision sensor that detects a collision, and the control circuit detects the collision by the collision sensor. A self-propelled vehicle characterized in that a collision response voice is sometimes generated from a sounding means.