JPS60184311A - Automatic running work machine - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides an automatic driving work vehicle, specifically, a predetermined range of work areas along the boundary between a rice processing work area and a processed work area.
In order to automatically drive based on a travel order sequence for a plurality of predetermined travel journeys and a direction change sequence for moving to the next journey after completing one travel journey,
The present invention relates to an automatic traveling work vehicle equipped with a pair of tracing sensors that detect the boundary and means for automatically operating the steering based on the boundary detection result by the cono sensor.

Conventionally, this type of self-driving work vehicle, for example, a ground work vehicle such as a lawnmowing work vehicle, has been equipped with this technology to automatically perform ground work within a predetermined range of work area, with the surrounding area being treated as a work area in advance. The work area is divided in advance into a plurality of traveling strokes corresponding to the working width, and control is performed to automatically travel while sequentially moving between the plurality of traveling strokes.

In each of the above-mentioned travel steps, based on the boundary detection result between the treated work area and untreated work area in each process by the above-mentioned scanning sensor, the sensor detects when the sensor has deviated from the boundary in order to automatically travel along this boundary. When detected, steering control is performed to automatically correct the traveling direction so that the vehicle body aligns with the boundary by steering in the opposite direction to the direction of the deviation.

However, because the boundary is detected by detecting whether the driving area is an untreated working area or a treated working area, the continuity of the boundary may deteriorate depending on the condition of the working area. However, in the past, regardless of the conditions of the work site, the steering operation to align the vehicle body with the boundary was performed at a fixed steering angle that was patterned in advance, which resulted in the following inconveniences. .

That is, when mowing the lawn, for example, the boundary of Vc is discontinuous due to the density and density of the grass in the work area, and therefore the steering operation is performed at a constant steering angle without dealing with the discontinuity of the boundary caused by the density and density of the grass. If the control was performed, the 38 compliance with the boundary would be poor, the vehicle body would meander more often, and the appearance of the work traces would be poor in some cases.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and its purpose is to provide an automatic driving work vehicle equipped with a steering operation means that can easily follow boundaries even when the conditions of the work site are unfavorable. It's about doing.

In order to achieve the above object, the self-traveling work vehicle according to the present invention is provided with a distance sensor that continuously detects the travel distance, and while traveling within each travel section where each stroke is divided into double attack sections in advance, the untreated work vehicle is The state of the unprocessed work site is repeatedly sampled by a scanning sensor on the work site side to detect the state of the work site for each traveling section, and in the next step, the steering operation angle to align with the previous month e boundary is adjusted as described above. The present invention is characterized in that it is provided with means for automatically setting the setting based on the detection result of the work ground condition for each traveling section.

Because of the above characteristics, the following excellent effects have been achieved.

In other words, the steering angle for automatically traveling along the boundary is automatically set depending on the condition of the work site, that is, the boundary condition, so that the automatic vehicle can travel in a straight line regardless of the condition of the work site. I was able to run.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the front and rear wheels (2) of the vehicle body 0+.

The lawn mowing device (4) is suspended in the middle part of (8) so as to be movable up and down, and also has the configuration described later for determining the boundary fL) between the uncut area fBl and the mown area tc), which are the boundaries of the working area. The following tracing sensors (5), (5) are provided on the left and right sides of the vehicle body fi + front, respectively, and the boundary (Ll) detected by the tracing sensor + 5], (51) is controlled based on the steering control and is capable of automatically traveling a predetermined driving course. It constitutes a lawn mowing work vehicle as a traveling work vehicle.

Further, the vehicle body (1) is provided with a distance sensor (6) that generates a predetermined number of pulse signals per unit travel distance (j,) in order to continuously detect the travel distance (1) of the vehicle body fi+.
In addition to providing a fifth wheel (6A) as a
In order to detect the direction (azimuth) of the magnetic field, a geomagnetic sensor that detects the force position by detecting changes in the intensity of the geomagnetic field is provided as an azimuth sensor (7).

In addition, the aforementioned wheel t21 * f2+ and rear wheel +318
(31 is configured such that both front and rear wheels +211!a) can be steered in the same direction to move parallelly without changing the direction of the vehicle body +11, and also move the front and rear wheels in parallel. Ring (2).

By steering (3) in a relatively opposite direction, it is possible to turn with a very small turning radius.

The copying sensor ff1lth, two optical sensors (
As shown in FIG. support frame (
A U-shaped sensor frame + 9) @ 191 is placed at the tip of each sensor frame (8) in contact with the vehicle body il + in the left-right direction, and a light emitting element (P, ) is placed on the inner facing surface of this sensor frame (9), respectively. A light-receiving element (P,) is provided as a pair, and the light-emitting element (Pρ and the light-receiving element (P,)
By sensing the presence or absence of grass passing between the ground and the ground, it is possible to distinguish between uncut land + Bl and mowed land (C).

Note that the copying sensor (5) is an optical sensor (S,
), (S, ), and any type of sensor including contact type and non-contact type may be used.

The discrimination signals of unmown land (Bl and mowed land tcl) obtained from the light receiving elements (P, Therefore, the signal is in the form of a discontinuous pulse.Therefore, the signal is configured to be inputted to the control device (10) described later after performing an integration process to convert it into a continuous signal for each color.

To integrate the output signal (C,) of the light receiving element (P,), as shown in FIG. 8, the number of output pulses of the distance sensor (6) is counted and a preset count value (
A programmable counter 01) that outputs a carry signal (C,) every time N,) and a seven-live flip-flop (]21 that is reset by the carry signal (C;) of the counter (11) of are provided. , ) output signal (
CI) VC is configured to reset the counter (fil) and reset the 7 lip 70 tab (la) to 7, and this counter (11) and the flip 70 tab (
12I is configured as a digital filter (13) to obtain continuous boundary (Ll) discrimination signals (C4) corresponding to the respective states of the unmowed area (Bl) and the mown area tel.

The operation of this digital filter (131) will be briefly explained below.

The counter (11) is repeatedly reset by the output pulse signal (C,)K of the light receiving element (P,) regardless of the count value (regardless of the time interval), and the flip 70 knob (
121 has been set. Then, when the grass is gone and this pulse signal (C1) becomes 11 L I+ level, and after traveling a predetermined distance (l.), the counter (111) reaches the count value (N ), the counter (11) outputs a carry signal (C1) and the slip-flop (12) is reset. The output of Tsubu+121 contains a separate signal (C) that continuously repeats the H level corresponding to the grass detection state, that is, the detection of an unmowed field fBl, or the L level corresponding to the grassless state, that is, the detection of a mown field (C).
0) is obtained.

Hereinafter, a control system for controlling the travel of the lawn mowing vehicle will be described based on the parameters detected by the tracing sensors (5), (5), distance sensor (6), and force position sensor +71 VC configured as described above.

As shown in FIG. 8, the main part of the control system is a control device 110) composed of a microcomputer.
Each of the above sensors +Ill l +511 tel I
[Signals from 71 are input, and each of these sensors (
5), (5)* (In order to automatically control the traveling direction and traveling speed of the vehicle body fi+ by calculating the detected parameters of 81 and f71, the front and rear wheels +21, +
31 hydraulic shillings for each steering operation +141
1 [Electromagnetic that operates 151, -<fllitr
+19 and the motor t191 that operates the shift position of the hydraulic continuously variable transmission 1181.

In Fig. 8, (R,), (R,) are the front and rear wheels (21,
control device 11 by detecting the actual steering angle of i8).
0) with a potentiometer for feedback to
Similarly, (R1) is a transmission device (a potentiometer that detects the old transmission position).

Hereinafter, the boundary (1
, ) Based on the detection results, the vehicle body fil is located at the boundary (L).
Steering operation angle (θ) when automatically traveling along K
A means for automatically setting the integral time constant (τ) of the digital filter u3, that is, the preset value of the programmable kakuta (11), according to the state of the working ground, that is, the density of the grass, will be explained. do.

As shown in FIG.
J), and while driving in each section (is), detect changes in the signal (C,) for each flJ signal from the one-force tracing sensor (5) on the front P uncut land iBl side. The density and density of the grass in the section (Is) that is currently being traveled is detected by repeated sampling, and when driving in the same section (Is) in the next trip, the steering operation angle is adjusted based on the detection result of the density and density. (Noto counter (11J preset value automatically V
C. It is configured to be changed.

That is, the combination of the respective boundary signals (C0) and (c) from the two optical sensors (S,) and (S,) constituting the copying sensor (5) on the uncut field fil side is "H>1
, rr H+1 is the predetermined interval (l/)
A predetermined ratio (e.g. 80%) to the sampling number of
If the grass is dense, it is determined that the grass is dense, and at least one of the two optical sensors (S,), (S,)
11, the sampling frequency is a predetermined ratio (for example, 50%).
) or above, it is determined that the grass is sparse, and in other cases, it is determined that the grass is in a normal intermediate state of 78 levels.

Then, the steering operation angle (θ) and the preset value of the counter (11) are automatically switched to the values described below in accordance with the results of determining whether the grass is dense, medium, or sparse.

The steering operation angle (θ) is, when the grass is dense,
A large angle (θ1), for example, about 10 degrees, is made in both directions of the unmowed field fB) and the mown field (C),
In the middle, when operating in the direction of uncut land + B), an angle (θρ, for example 1
5 degrees, and when operating in the direction of the mowed field (Ci, perform the operation at an angle (θ:) slightly smaller than the above-mentioned large angle (θ,), for example, 8 degrees; if the grass is sparse, perform the operation in the unmowed field IB) ) direction for each angle change (θl).

(θI) at an even larger angle (θ0, e.g. 20 degrees), the smallest angular change (θ:) in the C1 direction, e.g. 7 degrees, and correspond to each discrimination result in order to operate the steering respectively. This is the best setting.

Similarly, the brisset M of the counter (111) is set in three stages corresponding to each discrimination result, such that the integration time constant (τ) is short when the grass is dense and becomes long when the grass is sparse. It should be switched to .

By the way, the reason why the steering operation angle (θ) is not the same in the direction of the unmowed area IB) and the mowed area fcl when the grass is not dense is to improve the tracking convergence with respect to the boundary L). It is.

Then, as shown in FIG. 5, the steering operation angle (and the time setting &(τ), which is the preset value of the counter (11), corresponding to the result of determining the density and density of the grass are converted into cheagles in advance and sent to the control device (10). I remember it internally.

Incidentally, FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the control device 11O) described above.

Further, the settings of the steering operation angle (θ) and the integral time constant (r) corresponding to the grass density determination result may be set using the table of values shown in this example, or may be further subdivided.
Alternatively, the settings may be automatically set continuously by calculation or the like.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of the automatic driving vehicle according to the present invention, and FIG. 1 is an overall plan view of the lawn mowing vehicle, FIG. 2 is a front view of the main parts of the scanning sensor, and FIG. 8 is a block diagram of the control system. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of work place state detection, FIG. 5 is a table of control parameters, and FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the control device. (5)...Copying sensor:6)...
Distance sensor, fB)... Pregnant work area, (C
)...Mechanized work area, (L)...Boundary, <1)...Movement distance, (M)...Travel section, (θ) ...Steering operation angle. Agent Patent Attorney Osamu Kitamura

Claims (1)

[Claims] A predetermined range of work areas is set along the boundary fL) between the untreated work area (B) and the treated work area 1c), and a predetermined travel order sequence for a plurality of travel strokes is completed. In order to automatically travel based on the direction change sequence for later moving to the next step, a pair of tracing sensors fil and fit detect the boundary fL) and the detection results of the boundary fLl by the sensors (5) and (5). The vehicle is equipped with a distance sensor (6) that continuously detects the travel path M (/l), and is equipped with a distance sensor (6) that continuously detects the travel path M (/l), and divides each stroke into multiple sections in advance. While traveling within the traveling section (Is), the state of the unprocessed work area IBI is repeatedly sampled by the scanning sensor (5) on the side of the unprocessed working area fR1, and the work for each traveling section (Is) is performed. The ground condition is detected, and in the next step,
Steering operation to align with the boundary II,)
An automatic traveling work vehicle characterized in that it is provided with means for automatically setting an angle (θ) based on a detection result of a work site state in each traveling section (Isi solution).