JPS61196306A - Guide controller for traveling object - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the stop positioning accuracy of a traveling object by attaching an automatic zoom mechanism at the front of an image pickup device which picks up the drive path surface of the traveling object and controlling said zoom mechanism in response to the detected traveling speed of the object. CONSTITUTION:The detection signal given from a traveling speed detector consisting of a rotary encoder 28a and a traveling speed converter 28b is transmitted to a picture processing part 19 via a traveling speed command signal generator 27. The focal distance of an automatic zoom mechanism 20 is changed in response to the speed of an unmanned truck. The mechanism 20 reduces or enlarges the picture signal of an image pickup device 6a. An optimum subject area of the device 6a can be set by the speed of the unmanned truck. Thus it is possible to detect a track shift and the traveling state of the truck with high accuracy.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Application of the Invention] The present invention relates to guidance control*[C] of a moving body for running and steering a moving body such as an automatic guided vehicle traveling along a scheduled travel route.

[Background of the invention]

2. Description of the Related Art Various types of guiding devices for a moving object that cause the moving object to travel along a planned travel route are known.

In this, a mark for traveling on the traveling road is pasted, this mark is input as an image by an imaging device (for example, an ITV camera), and this image signal is arithmetic processed to calculate the traveling state quantity of the moving object ( There is a system that calculates the trajectory (kk, attitude angle, etc.) from the planned travel route, and uses these driving state quantities to determine steering accuracy and guide the moving body. A technique for guiding and controlling a moving object by inputting images of marks on a road surface is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Publication No. 57-10445. Furthermore, there is also a system that uses a mirror and an ITV camera to visually recognize two fields of view, near and far, in a continuous guidance zone on the road surface to guide a moving object with high precision. This is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 155419/1983.

Now, in the conventionally known guidance control bag 511t of this type, the limb image area captured by the imaging device and the resolution of image conversion are fixed regardless of the magnitude of the traveling speed. For this reason, during high-speed travel of the moving object and low-speed travel for stopping positioning,
The problem remains that the detection accuracy of the traveling state at is the same, and that there is a limit to improving the accuracy of stop positioning. In other words, in order to avoid large meandering, the object area of the imaging device is uniquely determined, taking into consideration the steering performance of the moving body during high-speed running, and the trajectory deviation n1l (meandering It) due to the steering performance of the moving object. Resolution (wa/bit)
is normally set to n, and the resolution necessary for highly accurate position detection cannot be obtained when the serpentine is small and when traveling at low speeds where stop positioning is required.

[Objective of the Invention] An uninvented object of the present invention is to provide a guidance control device for a movable body that can stop the movable body at the stop position I with high precision.

[Summary of the invention]

The uninvented invention is to attach an automatic zoom mechanism for reducing or enlarging the image to the front of an imaging device that captures an image of the traveling road surface, and a speed detector for detecting the traveling speed of the moving object, and the output of the speed detector is reduced. and a zoom control section that controls the automatic zoom mechanism to enlarge the image accordingly.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail based on specific examples.

First of all, %Figure 3? The overall configuration of an automatic guided vehicle, which is a type of moving object, will now be explained. FIG. 3 is an overall perspective view. Reference numeral 1 denotes an automatic guided vehicle, which travels on a running path 2. 3 is a white line drawn on both sides of the driving path 2. 4a and 4b are driving path 2
Marks 4a and 4h are pasted on the vehicle 1, and the automatic guided vehicle 1 travels using these marks 4a and 4h. 6a and 6b are vertical imaging devices installed at the front and rear of the automatic guided vehicle 1;
The marks 4a and 4b are each imaged from t. 5a,
5b indicates the field of view of the imaging devices i 6 a and 6 b. 7a.

7b is a steering mechanism attached to the front and rear running wheels 9a, 9b. 8 is a running device for running the automatic guided vehicle 1, and includes a running motor and running wheels 9a. 9a and 9b are running wheels provided at the rear of the surface, and 10a and 10b are subordinate wheels provided on the left and right sides.

Reference numeral 11 denotes a control panel, which includes a control unit for inputting steering signals and running signals and controlling the steering mechanisms 7a, 7b and the running device 18. Reference numeral 12 denotes a data processing unit that processes data, and calculates the driving state I from the imaged information (iiQi image information).
It includes an image processing unit that calculates t (trajectory deviation 01 from the planned travel route, attitude angle, and amount of movement), and a control calculation unit that calculates a control signal from the travel state quantity. 13 is a batch 'J-device for supplying electric power to each device; 4 is a loading platform; and 15 is a wireless device for receiving travel command signals from a ground communication station.

Next, an embodiment of the present invention for guiding such an automatic guided vehicle will be described. FIG. 1 is a drawing showing an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, in order to simplify the explanation, only the imaging device [a] is shown, and the disclosure of the imaging device 6b is omitted. 1
2 is a data processing section, which includes the image processing section [9] and the control amount calculation section 25, as described above. The control amount calculation unit 25 is composed of a processor, a program memory, and a data memory, and performs travel control I based on the input travel state f (for example, trajectory deviation y, attitude angle, movement x, etc.).
It has a function of calculating I (for example, the steering command to the steering motor 7a, the start of low-speed operation of the travel motor 8a for stop positioning, and the timing of brake cooperation) and outputs it to the control unit 26#. A/D converter 16 converts the analog image signal into a digital signal. The image memory 17 stores one frame of the digital image signal. Image processing unit] 9 is a program memory 18 for storing programs.
b, and the processing procedure t of the program memory 18b.Accordingly, the speed signal from the running speed command signal and the image signal from the image memory 17, which will be described later, are input, and the processing of the image signal, the calculation of the running state quantity, and various calculation processes are performed. image processor 1
8c and a data memory 18 for storing those signals.
It consists of a.

Although not shown, the imaging device ii 6 a is composed of a solid-state imaging device, a load resistor, a preamplifier, and the like. 20 is
This is an automatic zoom mechanism that adjusts the focal length of the lens to reduce or enlarge the subject 5a. 24 is automatic zoom mechanism 2
This is a part of the zoom drive side that drives the servo motor 21.0. Amplifier 22. It is composed of a zoom signal generation circuit (D/A converter) 23. 27 roughly converts the signals of the traveling speed detector (rotary encoder 28a and traveling speed converter 28b that converts the pulse signal of the encoder into a traveling speed signal) that detects the traveling command signal of the control amount calculating section 25 and the traveling speed. In particular, it is a travel speed command signal device that transmits to the image processing section 9.

The basic guiding operation in this first embodiment is as follows. First, when a travel command is given from the outside, the control amount calculation unit 25 causes the moving body to start traveling toward the commanded position. That is, the control amount calculation section 25 outputs a speed command to the control section 26, and the control section 26 drives the traveling motor 8m according to this speed command. One movement of the traveling motor 8a transmits the rotational driving force of the traveling wheels 9aC, thereby causing the automatic guided vehicle to travel, and based on the command of the stop positioning signal, the driving of the traveling motor 8a is stopped and the brake mechanism 8b performs a braking operation. Implement. The image processing unit 19 also inputs an image signal of the white line 3 and the mark 4a on the road in the visual field 5a from the imaging device WL6a, and transmits the image signal to the A/D converter 1.
At step 6, the signal is converted into a digital signal (binarized signal), subjected to preprocessing such as noise removal, and then stored in an image memory 17. Image processor 18c is program memory 18b
tC Following step 1 of the program, the image signal is read out, the running state 1a4Ili of the automatic guided vehicle 1 is calculated, and after being temporarily stored in the data memo J8a, it is output to the control IT calculation unit 25. . The control Ill calculation unit 25 receives input r,
Running condition 11it? Based on this, a steering command or a steering device is calculated and outputted to the control section 26. The control section 26 uses this signal to drive the steering mechanism 7a. With these, the automatic guided vehicle 1 travels along the planned travel route 2t to the destination.

The detection signal of the traveling speed detector is transmitted to the traveling speed command signal device 27.
The signal is transmitted to the image processing unit 9 through the image processing unit 9, and is used for adjusting the automatic zoom mechanism 2o to reduce or enlarge the image signal of the imaging device gL6a, which will be described later.

Now, in order to accurately detect the above-mentioned track deviation and the running condition of the stopped position in FIG. Requires setting.

Therefore, the focal length of the automatic zoom mechanism is changed depending on the traveling speed. In other words, the adjustment is made such that the slower the speed, the more enlarged the image is input to the imaging device 6a via the automatic zoom mechanism 20. FIG. 2 shows an image input portion in such a case. Reference numeral 29 is a binarized image for one frame captured by the imaging device f6a. The diagonally shaded areas 30a to 30c are large areas (2
The other areas are areas where the reflected light is small (areas where the value is 0 in the binary image). 3
] is the center address of the binarized image signal in the middle image portion, and 32a to 32c are the center position addresses of the mark images 30a to 30c at high speed, medium speed, and low speed, respectively. pixel for each trajectory deviation)'I −y−
is the value obtained by adding the center address from each position address, and each of the orbital deviation amounts 1yI=-1ya is obtained by the following equation.

l ylga 1lXyr = ”Xyt
(])! 7. = δis X) II = '・Xy
-(2) However, δl l, δ4. δl$ is the pixel unit size (m/bit) at high speed, medium speed, and low speed; 1. ．．
1. ．． 1. is fast.

The maximum object size (dragon) at medium speed and low speed, the maximum number of pixels for a person, and y·+Y''+Y- are the trajectory deviation pixels (bit) at high speed, medium speed, and low speed.

Therefore, depending on the traveling speed CV, <V, (vt), the maximum object dimension C1, <1. <1. ) is set r, the resolution of the image signal of the imaging device 6aa (pixel unit dimension)
is all<δ1. <δ1. As a result, the accuracy of detecting mold during running at low speeds is improved.

Next, the automatic zoom operation according to the speed in the first embodiment of FIG. 1 will be explained using FIG. 6. When activation is instructed by an operator or the like, initial settings are made on the circuits of the image processing section and the control amount calculation section (step F10). Next, in order to operate the automatic zoom lens mechanism by the image processing section, a zoom signal f at high speed is set (step F20).

The signal f is converted into an analog signal by a zoom signal generation circuit, and the servo motor is operated based on the operating device.
Perform automatic zooming (step F30). At the same time, a table of high-speed zoom constants (pixel unit size δ1.) is set in the program of the image processing section. (Step F40).

Then, in step F50, if the traveling speed is a high speed command and the signal from the traveling speed detector is a high speed signal, the process proceeds by one step in F130, otherwise, it is n.

Proceed to the next step. In step F60, it is determined whether or not the vehicle is running at a medium speed, and if so, step F70 is executed.
Proceed to. In step F70, the medium-speed zoom signal f is set, and then in step F80, the automatic zoom mechanism is operated based on the operation of the servo motor, and the medium-speed zoom constant (pixel unit size δ!self) is set. (Step F90).

Otherwise, the setting of the low-speed zoom signal f (step F100), the expansion and contraction operation of the automatic zoom lens mechanism based on the operation of the servo motor (step FIIO), and the setting of the low-speed zoom constant (pixel unit dimension δl) (step F]
20). In step Ft30, input of image signals from the imaging device is started.

Since the input image signal is an analog signal, the stiffness is converted into a digital signal (step F] 40). At this time, lσ processing such as noise removal and binarization processing is performed, and the preprocessed image signals are sequentially stored in the image memory (step F150). After this storage, it is determined whether the input image signal is a line image or a mark image (Step F)
70).

Based on the image judgment, in step F180, in the case of a line image, the trajectory deviation y and the attitude angle ψ are calculated. In the case of a mark image, the movement alx is calculated in addition to t'1#.

Then, the amounts of running portions are transferred from the image processing section to the control intermittent calculation section. If the transfer is completed in steps F200 and F210 and the vehicle is running, the process returns to step F50 again. In this way, the image is enlarged (or reduced) according to the scrolling speed.

FIG. 4 shows the relationship between travel speed and zoom focal length. That is, as the traveling speed decreases, the automatic zoom mechanism is adjusted to enlarge the image in steps. In the above example, the image is enlarged stepwise as the traveling speed decreases, but this may be done by continuously adjusting the angle as shown in FIG. 5.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, it is possible to improve the accuracy of stop positioning of a moving body.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the trajectory deviation r on the image and signals, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of an automatic guided vehicle, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the relationship between traveling speed and focal length, and FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the operation in the embodiment of FIG. 1. ]...Automated guided vehicle, 4a, 4b...Mark, 6a, 6b...Imaging device, 8...
- Traveling device, 9a. 9b... Running wheel, ]]... Control unit, ]
2...Data processing unit, 19...Image processing unit, 20...Automatic zoom mechanism, 21...
...Servo motor, 22...Amplifier, 23...
...Zoom signal generation circuit, 24.Zoom control section, 25..Control interval calculation section, 26..
Control unit, 27... Traveling speed command signal device, 28b
・・・・・・Traveling speed converter. Fang 1 figure Spear 4 figure λn Long return running combination O 6 figure

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An imaging device that captures an image of a mark on a running road, an image processing unit that calculates a running state quantity of a moving object based on the captured image signal, and a control that inputs the running state quantity and calculates a control amount. and a quantity calculation unit, and performs guidance control of a moving object using the control amount, in which an automatic zoom mechanism for reducing or enlarging an image is attached to the front of the imaging device, and a speed for detecting the traveling speed of the moving object. A guidance control device for a moving body, comprising: a detector; and a zoom control unit that controls the automatic zoom mechanism to enlarge the image as the output of the speed detector becomes smaller.