JPS59121506A - Controller for self-traveling dolly - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce construction expenses considerably, by providing an optical reflective tape along one of plural parallel courses and picking up and detecting this tape with a camera to run a truck. CONSTITUTION:Plural, for example, 4 parallel courses are provided on the floor of a building where a load is preserved, and an unattended vehicle 2a is guided along these courses. Optical reflective tapes 6 provided along courses are picked up and detected by a camera 3 mounted on the vehicle 2a to control this guide. In this case, tapes 6-1 and 6-2 are stuck to only two courses out of said parallel courses, and tapes are stuck to only guide parts of entrances and exits and are omitted in other parts with respect to other courses. On the course where the tape is omitted, the vehicle 2a inclines the camera 3 at an angle theta to pick up and detect the tape 6-1 of the side course, and the guide of the vehicle 2a is controlled.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] The present invention relates to a self-propelled trolley control device.

Conventionally, as an optical guidance method for unmanned vehicles, an optical reflective tape (hereinafter referred to as the tape) 1 is pasted on the building side and a linear camera (hereinafter referred to as the camera) mounted on the vehicle 2 is used as shown in the perspective view of Figure 1. )3 captures this chi 7''1, and uses its output waveform to calculate the position of the tape image 1' within the field of view 3',
A method is known in which the relative position of the vehicle and the room steering tape is calculated and the vehicle 2 is guided along the tape 1.

However, in such a method, if there are many travel routes, it is necessary to tape all of the travel routes, so if the route is long, the construction cost will be enormous.

In response to this situation, Honkomei aims to provide a self-propelled trolley control device that will greatly reduce construction costs. 16. The optical reflective tape provided at The vehicle is caused to travel along the tape by detecting the relative position of the vehicle with respect to the tape, wherein one or more unmanned vehicles each traveling along a plurality of courses parallel to each other are connected to the plurality of unmanned vehicles. The optical reflective tape KM is provided along one of the courses of the optical reflective tape KM.

One embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.8F! 2
The figure is a plan view of a warehouse building, FIG. 3 is a plan view showing an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to the building shown in FIG. 2, and FIG.
5 is a side view of the truck on course CZ in FIG. 4, and FIG. 6 is a block diagram of the control circuit of the vehicle in FIG. 4.

In FIGS. 2 to 6, the same symbols as in FIG. 1 indicate the same members as in FIG. There are four parallel courses CI, C2, and C3 on the floor of building 4.
, C4 are provided, but while -2 tapes 6-1 and 6-2 are attached to courses C2 and C4 respectively, courses CI and C3 have tapes 6-1 and 6-2 attached to the courses at the entrances and exits of buildings. There is only a tape 6 for guiding, and no longitudinal tape is provided. 7 is a lighting device linked to the camera 3;

8 is a camera drive unit for changing the viewing direction θ of the camera 3; 010 is a camera control unit, which includes a motor drive unit 12 such as a motor M and a rotation angle detection unit 13 such as an encoder E;
The direction θ of the camera 3 is controlled by receiving a course command from a control device (not shown). Normally, course commands are given by radio signals etc. from the ground. Reference numeral 11 denotes an illumination control unit which controls the amount of illumination light depending on the course since the object distance becomes large when traveling along a tape that is not directly below the camera 3. 1
4 is a camera signal processing unit that amplifies the signal of the camera 3, removes noise, etc. 15 is a tape position deviation division unit 81 that calculates the relative position between the tape and the vehicle according to the course command. 16 is a phloem on the vehicle side. , the movable wheels are steered in response to the positional deviation signal from the tape positional deviation calculation unit I5, and the vehicle is caused to travel along the commanded course.

In such a device, as shown in FIG. 4, when the vehicle travels on the course CI, the camera 3 is tilted laterally at an angle θ so that the tape 6-1 of the course C2 is included in its field of view. .

At this time, θ is set to 10=A, where h is the height of the camera, and t is the course interval.

Therefore, in the case of a vehicle traveling on course C2, θ=
It becomes O.

In FIG. 6, when a course instruction for the vehicle to travel is given to the camera control unit 10 by a radio signal etc. from ground equipment, the camera control unit 10 controls the camera 3 (fixed to the camera) according to the instructed course. A command is issued to the motor drive unit 12 to tilt the lighting device 7 (the same applies to the lighting device 7). When the motor is driven, a signal output from the encoder is detected by the rotation angle detection section 13, and if the rotation angle matches a value corresponding to the course, a signal is output from the camera control section 10 to the motor drive section. Commands to I2 are stopped. When the angle is set, TeruulJ Tsukuda 181fl wholesale! 1 also sets the illuminance secondary leg to the illumination device 7 according to the course (in other words, the angle of the sword fr, f).

On the other hand, apart from these, the course instruction is input to the tape position deviation calculation unit 15, and the position deviation calculation unit I5 accordingly receives a signal from the tape (in other words, a signal from the camera) as appropriate according to the course. can be processed.

In this way, the vehicle is controlled by the control circuit shown in FIG. 6, so that both the vehicle traveling on course 1 and the vehicle traveling on course C2 are guided by Q-GLO 1 stuck along course C2, and are guided to the respective commanded courses. Can you drive?

Similarly, a vehicle traveling on the course C3 can also be guided by the tape 6-1.

Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to cause a vehicle to run along a plurality of parallel courses using the same tape, thereby achieving the excellent effect of greatly reducing the cost of installing the tape. .

[Brief explanation of drawings]

An unmanned vehicle I-perspective view by Kigami Tou Va Hibiki Hari Mote Baso Han Nagi Azo, Fig. 2 is a plan view of a warehouse building, and Fig. 3 is an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to the building shown in Fig. 2. FIG. 4 is a partially enlarged sectional view taken along rv-IV in FIG.
FIG. 1A45 is a 1-plane view of the truck on course C7 in FIG. 4, and FIG. 6 is a block diagram of the control circuit of the vehicle in FIG. 4. 1...Tape, 2...Vehicle, 2a...Vehicle, 3.
...Camera, 3'...Field of view, 4...Building, 5...Load, 6.6-1゜6-2...Tape, 6-1'...Imaging, 7...Lighting Device, 8...Camera drive unit, IO/
...Camera control section, 11...Lighting side (goods) section, 12.
...Motor drive section 2, 13...Rotation angle detection section, 14.
... Camera signal processing unit, 15... Chive position deviation calculation unit, 16... Vehicle control unit, CI, C2, C3, C4.
··course. Sub-agent Patent Attorney Suzue Takehiko Fig. 1 43'-15'' Fig. 2 Fig. 3 Old Fig. 6 Fig. 4 Fig. 5

Claims (1)

[Claims] A camera attached to an unmanned vehicle captures an image of an optical reflective tape provided along the course, and uses the original position of the vehicle to guide the vehicle along the tape. In the vehicle, one or more unmanned vehicles traveling along a plurality of courses parallel to each other are attached to an optical reflective tape provided along one of the plurality of courses. A self-propelled trolley control device characterized in that the self-propelled trolley is made to travel based on the respective bases.