JPS61110209A - Controlling facility of optically guided moving car - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To maintain a smoothly running condition of a moving car and to reduce its power consumption, by making autonominous running control which locks the steering operation when the deviating amount from the reference line of its running route detected by an optical sensor is small and performing running control in accordance with detected deviating amounts when the deviat ing amounts are large. CONSTITUTION:When a running command is transmitted to a moving car A, its steering operation is made in accordance with the measured value of a deviating amount from the center of the light reflecting tape 4 measured by an optical sensor 6. When the detected value is smaller than a prescribed value, the steering operation is locked at the current position and straight advancing by autonominous running control is maintained. When the deviating amount is larger than the set value, the steering operation is switched in accordance with the deviating amount so as to run the car A along a reference line Mc. Therefore, a smooth running condition is maintained and, at the same time, the power consumption required for running the car A is reduced.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an optically guided moving vehicle control equipment for automatically driving a moving vehicle used for transporting goods, etc. Optical guidance type, comprising: an optical sensor for detecting optical guidance information for guidance provided on the mobile vehicle side; and a travel control means for automatically driving the mobile vehicle along the travel route based on the detection information of the optical sensor. Concerning mobile vehicle control equipment.

[Conventional technology]

In such optically guided moving vehicle control equipment, optical guidance information that serves as a guide for the traveling route is obtained by an optical sensor provided on the moving vehicle side, for example, based on information detected by a guiding line formed by a light reflective tape or a laser beam light. The vehicle will be steered and controlled so that it automatically travels along the route. Conventionally, for example, the center of the light-reflecting tape is set as a reference line, and when the tape detection signal from the optical sensor deviates from this reference line, steering control is immediately performed to correct the traveling direction.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

According to the above conventional means, if the driving direction deviates even slightly from the driving path, the driving direction is immediately controlled to be corrected to the direction of the reference line of the driving path, so steering control for this purpose is constantly performed, and the actuator The frequency of operation also increases.

Therefore, there are disadvantages in that the running state of the mobile vehicle tends to become unstable and that power consumption for operating the actuator increases.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to maintain smooth running conditions and to reduce power consumption required for running.

[Means for solving problems]

The characteristic configuration of the optically guided mobile vehicle control equipment according to the present invention is as follows:
Based on the detection result of the amount of deviation from the reference line of the driving route by the optical sensor, if the amount of deviation is small, autonomous driving control is performed to lock the steering operation, and if the amount of deviation is large, the detection In order to perform travel control based on the amount of deviation, a means is provided for automatically switching the type of travel control in accordance with the detected amount of deviation with respect to the reference line, and its effects are as follows.

[For production]

In other words, when the deviation of the driving path from the reference line is small, autonomous driving control is performed that locks the steering operation, for example, when the vehicle is traveling straight, the steering is fixed at the neutral position and the vehicle is simply driven straight. When the deviation from the reference line becomes large, steering control is performed based on the result of detection of the deviation from the reference line by the optical sensor, as in the conventional case.

〔Effect of the invention〕

Therefore, when the deviation with respect to the traveling path is small, steering control is not substantially performed, so the operation of the actuator is fixedly stopped during this autonomous driving control, and the meandering of the moving vehicle is reduced. The state becomes stable and no power is wasted.

As a result, an optical vehicle guidance system with great practical advantages as a whole has been obtained.

〔Example〕

, Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, a mobile vehicle (A) equipped with a loading platform (1) that can be driven up and down is installed, and a plurality of load transfer stations (ST) are placed along the travel path of the mobile vehicle. It is arranged so as to be located at the folded part so that the mobile vehicle (A) can carry out the work of transporting each rice while traveling between stations.

The mobile vehicle (A) includes a pair of left and right propulsion wheels (
2) can be driven independently by a pair of electric motors CM), and a pair of left and right caster-type idle wheels (3) are provided at the front and rear ends of the vehicle body to control the rotation of the left and right propulsion wheels (2). The structure is such that the two electric motors (M) are operated to change speeds so as to provide a difference in speed for steering.

As shown in Figures 1 and 3, a light reflective tape (4) for configuring the moving vehicle guidance line is provided on the running road surface, and the moving vehicle (A) is automatically guided along the light reflective tape (4). A moving vehicle (A) is provided with means for controlling the steering so as to run.
The system is designed to run automatically between stages. The steering control means includes a light emitting device (5) that emits light toward the light reflective tape (4) and an image sensor for reading travel control information from the light reflective tape (4). Tape detection units (SF) and (SE) consisting of a light sensor (6) and a host controller (7), an image processing controller (8), and a digital servo are installed below the front and rear ends of the moving vehicle (A). Travel control device equipped with controller (9)! (H) is provided on the moving vehicle side, and furthermore, an encoder (e) attached to both electric motors (M) is connected to a digital servo controller (9).
At the same time, the servo amplifier (lO) for both electric motors (M) is connected to the digital servo controller (9) via the servo amplifier driver (11),
Therefore, the image processing controller (8) is configured to change the speed of both electric motors (M) in order to make the amount of lateral deviation of the vehicle body relative to the light reflective tape (4) zero.

It should be noted that the rain detection sections (Sr) and (SR) are designed such that the one on the front side is selectively used when the vehicle is moving forward, and the one on the rear side is selectively used when the vehicle is moving backward.

Also, a mark (mI) for displaying travel control commands such as a stop position of the mobile vehicle (A) with respect to the station (ST), a branch start position at an intersection, and a deceleration travel start position.
, (m-), (w-) are attached to the reflective tape (4), and various information such as destination data and turning data can be transmitted from the ground side to the moving vehicle side, and
In order to transmit various information such as station arrival data and intersection arrival data from the moving vehicle side to the ground side, optical communication devices (12) and (13) consisting of an infrared emitter (a) and an infrared receiver (b) are used. ) are provided on the moving vehicle side, the ground side station section, and the intersection section, respectively, and the moving vehicle side optical communication device F (12) is installed on the host controller (7
), and the ground-side optical communication equipment (13) are respectively connected to the ground-side central control device (V).
Based on various information such as information input to V) and information stored in advance, the mobile vehicle (A) can automatically travel to a desired station (ST) while branching at intersections. .

In other words, one optical sensor (6) detects travel control command information by reading marks together with steering control information derived from a tape detection section located in front of the traveling direction, and an image processing controller (8) detects mark discrimination. The signal is transmitted to the host controller (7), and the signal is transmitted to the host controller (7).
) transmits traveling speed information, turning information, forward and backward movement information, etc. to the digital servo controller (9), and the digital servo controller (9) transmits selection information of the detection section to be used to the image processing controller (8). ,moreover,
The digital servo controller (9) transmits information on whether or not the moving vehicle ( A) The driving control is performed. However, each station (ST) is provided with a command information input unit for the central controller (V),
In addition, the information input section for the host controller (7) is
Prepare the moving vehicle (A).

To further explain the above travel control operation, when a travel command such as destination data is transmitted to the moving vehicle (A), image capture by the optical sensor (6) is started, and image capture is started from the center of the light reflective tape (4). Steering control is performed according to the measurement of the amount of deviation, and then control instruction marks (mI), (m-)
, (m3), branching at the intersection, decelerating near the station, and stopping at the station (ST).
) etc. will be temporarily stopped. In addition, when starting the image capture, if there is no light reflective tape (4) (control instruction mark (ml), (wt), (
m-)), the mobile vehicle (A) is made to make an emergency stop to increase safety, and the mobile vehicle (A) is activated only when there is a start command (power ON signal for the mobile vehicle to run). It will be driven.

Furthermore, based on the flowchart shown in FIG. 4, the above traveling control operation will be explained.
4) as a reference line (Mc), detect the horizontal deviation amount (Δ) of the captured image by the optical sensor (6) with respect to the reference line (M,), and calculate this deviation amount (Δ
) is larger than a predetermined value (Δ.), steering control is performed so that the mobile vehicle (A) follows the reference line 0+c) based on the deviation amount (Δ). On the other hand, if the detected deviation amount (Δ) is smaller than the predetermined value (Δ.), the speed change operation of both electric motors (M) is stopped and the steering operation is fixed at the current position. Autonomous running control (n) is performed to lock the direction of the vehicle to maintain straightness. That is, the steering control type is automatically switched based on the magnitude of the deviation amount (Δ) with respect to the reference line (M,).

Furthermore, to explain the above-mentioned branching, as the moving vehicle (A) arrives near the intersection, the optical communication device (1)
2), (13) changes the turning pattern to the moving vehicle (A
), and based on this, the vehicle is driven while determining the travel speed, steering amount, etc. It should be noted that during this turn, if the detected deviation amount (Δ) is small based on the magnitude of the deviation amount (Δ) with respect to the reference line (Me), the autonomous running control will be performed.

Although the explanation of the above control operation has been omitted, each moving vehicle (A) is given a car number in advance,
Each mobile vehicle (
A)'s current location along with the machine number and central control unit (
The information is transmitted to V), and the entire mass moving vehicle (A) is monitored by the central control device (V). Furthermore, when multiple vehicles (A) arrive at one merging intersection, the optical communication devices (12) and (13) give start/stop commands to the vehicles (A) to avoid collisions. It turns out.

The light-reflecting tape (4) and the control instruction marks (IL+), (II+ri, (+w3)) attached thereto are not shown, but the light-reflecting tape (4) is placed on both sides of the white part with high light reflectance. It is constructed by locating a black part with low light reflectance, and each mark (m+), (+112), (
a+-) is formed into parallel stripes along the longitudinal direction of the guideway by arranging a white part as a band-like part with high light reflectance and a black part as a band-like part with low light reflectance.

However, in order to be able to measure the tape center even while passing through the installation points of each mark υ, (II+2), and (+113), the center between the lateral outer edges of the white part located on both ends in the tape width direction should be Try to match the center.

In other words, the image processing controller (8) determines the width of the vehicle body relative to the light reflective tape (4) based on the outside edge of the white part on both ends in the tape width direction in the captured image and the tape center stored in advance. Each mark (wI), (m2), (m-) is determined by so-called pattern recognition, which calculates and determines the amount of deviation and also compares and determines the captured image with a reference pattern for mark reading stored in advance.
The purpose is to determine the

[Another example]

Next, another embodiment will be described.

When performing the autonomous driving control, the driving direction is more likely to deviate at a branch point or a curved part of the road than when driving on a straight part, so the reference line (M, ) may be set smaller than in the case of a straight road.

Furthermore, when setting the reference line (n,), instead of the center of the light reflective tape (4), it is shifted laterally by a predetermined amount, that is, the reference line (Mc) is set in an offset state. Good too.

To configure the tape detection section (SF), (s*), the front and rear rain detection sections (Sr
).

The light reception information from (S,) may be selectively read, or the light from the light emitting section (5) may be selectively emitted.

In order to make the moving vehicle (A) travel automatically, the guide line is changed to a structure formed by the light reflective tape (4), and a beam-shaped light such as a laser beam is emitted along the travel path to form the light guide line. A configuration may also be adopted in which the deviation from this beam light is detected by a light sensor such as an image sensor. Further, the specific means of each part can be changed in various ways depending on the intended use, such as allowing signal transmission and reception between the moving vehicle (A) and the central control device (V) to be carried out by an inductive radio system.

In addition, when configuring the moving vehicle (A), the specific configuration for steering, accessory devices provided for work, etc. can be changed in various ways depending on the purpose of use.

Further, as the optical sensor (6), a COD camera is generally used, but a sensor having other configurations may also be used. For example, a camera equipped with an image pickup tube or a plurality of photodiodes arranged in an array may be used, or a scanner that scans a laser beam in the width direction of the optical reading guide and receives the reflected light. A barcode league may be used, which includes a decoder section and a decoder section that processes signals from the scanner section and outputs steering control information or traveling control command information.

In this case, the steering control information is obtained by installing an angle sensor that scans the laser beam and detects the phase of the oscillating or rotating mirror. It is calculated based on the mirror angle information and the detected mirror angle information.

Also, control instruction mark (mI), (wt), (+1
As for 13), in addition to those mentioned in the above embodiments, there are various other possible methods, such as counting marks placed side by side at a set interval in the direction of the travel route in order to detect the amount of movement of the moving vehicle along the travel route. . Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the case where the amount of lateral deviation from the tape center can be calculated and determined from the mark reading image, that is, the case where the steering control is performed even when traveling at the mark installation location was exemplified. It may also be implemented in a form in which no steering control is performed when driving (and in that case, the mark form can be changed in various ways.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show an embodiment of the optically guided moving vehicle control equipment according to the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing a traveling route, FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of the moving vehicle, and FIG. 3 is a specific example of traveling control. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration and a flowchart showing the travel control operation. (4)...Light reflective tape, (6)...
Optical sensor, (A)...Moving vehicle, (Mc)...
...Reference line, (Δ) ...Deflection amount.

Claims (1)

[Claims] An optical sensor (6) for detecting light guidance information for guiding the mobile vehicle (A) along the traveling route is provided on the mobile vehicle side, and the mobile vehicle (A) is guided based on the detection information of the optical sensor (6). )
An optically guided mobile vehicle control facility equipped with a travel control means for automatically traveling along a travel route, the optical guided vehicle control equipment comprising:
Based on the detection result of the amount of deviation (Δ) with respect to the reference line (M_c) of the driving path in step 6), if the amount of deviation (Δ) is small, autonomous driving control is performed to lock the steering operation, and the deviation is If the displacement amount (Δ) is large, the detected deviation amount (Δ)
An optically guided mobile vehicle control facility is provided with means for automatically switching the travel control format in accordance with the detected deviation amount (Δ) with respect to the reference line (M_c) in order to perform travel control based on the reference line (M_c).