JPS6062907A - Mowering robot - 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 relates to a lawn mowing robot.

Mowing grass in vast areas such as parks and golf courses requires a lot of manpower and time, and on golf courses during the daytime, it becomes an obstacle to golf play and is also dangerous. Therefore, it would be convenient if the lawn mowing robot could be used unattended at night. The present invention
Avoiding obstacles without deviating from the work area, moving under self-control, mowing the grass within the area unmanned at night, collecting the cut grass and depositing it in an approximately fixed amount at an appropriate location. The purpose is to provide a lawn mowing robot that can.

Examples of the present invention will be described. First, to explain the present invention in detail, in FIG. 1 and FIG.
A driving device 3 and a control device 4 are mounted on a trolley 2 having a mower 2, a lawnmower 5 is mounted on the lower part of the trolley 2, and a plurality of mowers are mounted on the periphery to detect the boundary of the lawn mowing work area and obstacles such as trees and ponds. A detector 6 is provided at the rear, and a storage section 7 for temporarily storing mown lawn debris is provided at the rear of the lawn mower 5. A means 8 for feeding lawn mowing waste is provided. Furthermore, it is desirable that an engine or a fully loaded motor as a power source and a battery for control power supply be suitably mounted on the trolley 2 as a power source, and the battery for control power supply be charged while the vehicle is running, similar to a general automobile. A control device 4 having a microcomputer performs sequence control of the power equipment when starting and stopping the lawn mowing robot, control of the robot's posture (running angle) when changing the running direction, and abnormality monitoring. It is also convenient and convenient to equip the control device 4 with a simple wireless device so that it can send an alarm to a nearby management office in the event that the robot is unable to run due to a breakdown or other reasons. .

The lawn mower 5 installed at the bottom of the trolley 2 may be of any existing type, such as a rotary set, clipper type, reel type, etc., but here, a reel type lawn mower will be described. A reel-shaped rotary blade 9 and a cover 10 that covers it from above.
A reel mower 12 having a fixed blade 11 attached to the lower part of the cover 10 is supported by a pair of rotatable rollers 13 provided before and after the reel mower 12, and the lawn is mowed by the rotary blade 9 and fixed blade 11 of the mower 120. It will be done.

The mowed lawn mower is sent to the storage section 7 by the lawn mower supply means 8. For example, the mowing disease feeding means 8 has one end connected to the suction side of the suction fan 14 and the other end connected to the cover 1.
The lawn mowing disease is sent into the storage part 7 through a suction pipe 15 connected to the vacuum pump 0 and a discharge pipe 16 whose one end is connected to the discharge side of the suction fan 14 and the other end is connected to the upper part of the storage part 7. The storage section 7 is a box having an inclined lid 17, and as shown in FIG. 3, is pivotably supported at the upper end of a support rod 18, and is usually attached to a lever 19 and a roller 20 at its tip.

Therefore, it is held almost horizontally, and when more than a predetermined amount of lawn mowing disease is accumulated and the robot comes to a predetermined position, the lever 19 will fall and the box will tilt due to its own weight, and the lid, which is pivotally supported at its upper end, will swing freely. 17, the direction of inclination is reversed and it opens under its own weight, allowing the mowing disease to be discharged. Thereafter, by returning the lever 19 to its original position, the box body is held horizontally and the lid 17 is closed by its own weight. The detector 6 has a magnetic sensor for detecting the boundary of the working area and an ultrasonic sensor for detecting obstacles within the area, and continuous markers made of steel wire or the like are laid in advance at the boundary of the working area.

The ultrasonic sensor may be omitted if markers can be placed around all obstacles. In preparation for unexpected obstacles, it is recommended to install a buffer section and a limit switch 21 around the lawn mowing robot as a safety device in the event of a collision, so that it can suddenly stop or change the running direction. desirable.

Next, an embodiment of the lawn mowing robot operation control method according to the present invention will be described. 4 and 5, the lawn mowing robot is moved by self-propulsion or transport to the starting point n within the work area boundary 22, performs predetermined preparations and inspections, turns in the desired direction, and then switches the automatic operation start switch. The drive device 3 is activated to start automatic operation. The lawn mowing robot mowing the lawn while moving straight ahead, and when it reaches the work area boundary n, it is detected by the markers and detectors 6 and K installed there, and turns around, mowing the lawn while changing its running direction by 180 degrees, and then reverses itself. The lawn mower is mowed while changing direction, and when the reversal is completed, the lawn mower is mowed while going straight again, and the same operation is repeated. For a 180° reversal, if the operating speed of the steering device is kept constant, determine the number of wheel rotations for each of the time the steering device is rotated in the steering direction, the time it is held as it is, and the time it is returned to its original position. This can be detected by an encoder and processed by a microcomputer in the control device 4 to perform a steering operation. When a predetermined amount or more of lawn mowers has accumulated in the storage section 7, for example, in the case of a golf course, the lawn mowers are discharged onto the ground outside the fairway immediately after the robot turns over, and after they have dried appropriately and become less bulky, they are collected separately. to collect. If there are no obstacles, the mowing robot reaches the vicinity of the work area boundary on the opposite side of the starting point 230, and when reversing becomes impossible, this is set as the stopping point 24, and the driving device 3 stops, and the lawn mowing robot stops.

If there is an obstacle 25 on the way, it is detected by the detector 6 and the mowing robot is reversed as in the case at the work area boundary 22. In this case, the uncut portion is cut separately. The operating method 'is not limited to such sequential turn-back operation, but it is also possible to freely run in random directions within the work area within a predetermined period of time. If the stop condition is met at a point other than the stop point 24, for example, if the predetermined time is exceeded after running at random, or if any other failure occurs, the drive device stops and the lawn mower robot stops, and at the same time the simple wireless device sends an activation signal. and notify the nearby management office.

If a magnetic sensor or an ultrasonic sensor is used as a detector, it has the advantage of being able to mow the lawn even at night when it is too dark for humans to do the work, and if the operation is repeated sequentially, there will be less unmown grass. c (, the waste of mowing once mowed twice is also 1x <Mowing can be done efficiently.When targeting a golf course, when the robot finishes mowing the fairway of the course and stops, it moves to a certain position. It is desirable to be automatically guided to the next course, move along a predetermined ν path, and mowing the lawn again, but it is also possible to use an alarm to notify the management office and have the night shift staff guide the next course. good.

According to the present invention, a lawn mower is provided at the bottom of a self-driving trolley equipped with a control device and a drive device, a detector is provided at the periphery of the trolley, and lawn mowing work area boundaries and obstacles detected by the detector are provided. Since the lawn mowing is performed while moving while avoiding objects using the control device and drive device, there is no need for manpower to mow the lawn, and it is possible to mow the lawn at night without any hindrance to the use of the area during the day. A storage section is provided at the rear to temporarily store the mowed lawn, and a means for feeding the mowed lawn into the storage section is provided, so that the mowed lawn is immediately stored in the storage section and the mowed lawn can be returned to the storage section later. There is no need to rake the lawn, and the lawn mower does not settle between the lawns and cause harm, and can exhibit great effects.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings are for detailed explanation of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view, FIG. 2 is a plan view, FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged side view, FIG. 4 is a flowchart, and FIG. 5 is a plan view. It is a diagram. In each drawing, ■ is a wheel, 2 is a trolley, 3 is a drive device,
4 is a control device, 5 is a lawn mower, 6 is a detector, 7 is a storage unit,
8 is a lawn mowing side feeding means, 9 is a rotary blade, 10 is a cover, 11
12 is a fixed blade, 12 is a remois, 13 is a roller, 14 is a suction fan, 15 is a suction pipe, 16 is a discharge pipe, 17 is a lid,
18 is a support rod, 19 is a lever, 20 is a roller, 21 is a buffer section and limit switch, 22 is a work area boundary, 23
indicates a starting point, a road indicates a stopping point, and 25 indicates an obstacle.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A lawnmower is installed at the bottom of a trolley that is equipped with a control device and a drive device and runs automatically, and a detector is installed around the periphery of the trolley. The lawn mower is mowed while moving in an avoidance manner by a drive device, and the rear part of the trolley is provided with a storage part for temporarily storing the cut grass clippings, and has a means for feeding the lawn clippings to the storage part. Features: Lawn mowing robot.