JPS6125219A - Optical guide type mobile truck control equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simplify a job for attachment of marks by putting a mark displaying a drive control command on a guide line made of a light reflecting tape and detecting the mark with an optical sensor. CONSTITUTION:A mobile truck containing a mounting stage which moves up and down is driven between stations for transport work. A light reflecting tape 4 is provided on the surface of a drive path for guidance of the mobile truck. Thus the truck is driven automatically by an operation control means. This control means contains a detection part consisting of a light emitter 5 and a light sensor 6 and a drive controller H, etc. and operates and discriminates the lateral deflection amount between the tape 4 and the body of the truck. In this case, a mark m3 showing a drive control command for a branch start position, etc. at an intersection is stuck onto a line of the tape 4. While optical communication equipments 12 and 13 are provided between the truck and the ground side, and various types of information are transmitted with control by a host controller 7 and a central controller V.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to control equipment for automatically driving moving vehicles used for transporting goods, etc. Specifically, the present invention relates to control equipment for automatically driving moving vehicles used for transporting goods, etc. The present invention relates to an optically guided moving vehicle control equipment which is provided on the side of the moving vehicle and includes a steering control means for automatically driving the moving vehicle along the light reflecting tape based on information detected by an optical sensor provided on the moving vehicle side.

[Conventional technology]

In such control equipment, light-reflecting tape is installed to form bifurcated or trifurcated intersections, and moving vehicles are automatically made to go straight or branch at the intersection, or to prevent vehicles from moving at stations, etc. The vehicle is to stop automatically, and in order to do this, conventionally, a mark that displays driving control commands was placed on the side of the light-reflective tape on the road surface, and a sensor dedicated to reading the mark was moved. I try to install it on the side of the car. Incidentally, the mark is generally constructed by providing a plurality of pieces of light-reflecting tape on the road surface in a state where they form a code by arranging them front and rear or left and right.

- [Problems to be solved by the invention] According to the above conventional means, the configuration of the moving vehicle becomes complicated due to the need to provide a mark reading sensor separately from the optical sensor for steering control. Along with the disadvantages,
As mentioned above, in order to install a large number of marks made up of multiple pieces of light-reflecting tape on the road surface, they must be placed accurately while measuring the distance from the light-reflecting tape that forms the guide line. Since this is a time-consuming and troublesome work that must be done, it is also disadvantageous in terms of mark installation.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and its purpose is to enable traveling control commands to be transmitted in a state that benefits both the moving vehicle configuration surface and the mark installation surface. It is in.

[Means for solving problems]

The characteristic configuration of the optically guided mobile vehicle control equipment according to the present invention is as follows:
A mark displaying a travel control command is pasted on the surface of the light reflective tape in a state where it is positioned on the guide line formed by the light reflective tape, and based on the information detected by the optical sensor, The main feature is that a means for controlling travel is provided, and its effects are as follows.

[For production]

The optical sensor not only detects steering control information based on the light-reflecting tape, but also controls travel based on marks that display travel control commands placed on the guide line formed by the light-reflective tape. Command information is also detected.

Furthermore, the light reflective tape is placed on the guide line by being attached to the upper surface of the light reflective tape previously provided on the running road side. For example, as shown in FIG. As shown in Figure 2, compared to cutting off the light reflective tape (4) and placing the display mark (m) at the split point, it is not only easier to install the mark, but also easier to guide the mark installation location. This makes it easy to select any location on the line.

〔Effect of the invention〕

Therefore, simply by equipping a mobile vehicle with an optical sensor, it is possible to perform steering control while detecting steering control information and to perform travel control while detecting travel control command information, which improves the configuration of the mobile vehicle. In addition to being advantageous, markings can be placed at any location with a simple task, and in cases where there are many intersections or stations,
An extremely useful optically guided mobile vehicle control equipment has been obtained.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

As shown in Figs. 5 and 6, a mobile vehicle (^) equipped with a loading platform (1) that can be driven up and down is provided, and a plurality of load transfer stations (ST) are placed beside the traveling path of the mobile vehicle. It is located at the bottom and is configured so that the mobile vehicle (A) can transport various loads while traveling between stations.

The mobile vehicle (^) is composed of a pair of left and right propulsion wheels (
2) can be freely driven by a pair of electric motors (M), 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 drive 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 rotational speed for steering.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 5, a light reflective tape (4) for guiding moving vehicles is provided on the road surface side, and the moving vehicle (
A steering control means is provided so that the mobile vehicle (A) automatically travels along the light reflective tape (4), so that the moving vehicle (A) automatically travels between stations. To constitute the steering control means, a detection section consisting of a light emitting device (5) and a steering control optical sensor (6) configured as an image sensor is installed at each of the front and rear ends of the moving vehicle (A). A travel control device (H) equipped with a host controller (8) and a digital servo controller (9) is provided on the mobile vehicle side, and furthermore, an encoder (E) attached to both electric motors (M) is provided with a digital servo controller (H). Servo controller (9)
At the same time, the servo amplifier (10) for both electric motors (M) is connected to the digital servo controller (9) via the servo amplifier driver (11),
Therefore, while calculating and determining the amount of lateral deviation of the vehicle body with respect to the light reflective tape (4) using the image processing controller (8), the speeds of both electric motors (M) are operated to reduce the amount of lateral deviation to zero. It is composed of:

Also, a mark (m+) 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.
. An infrared floodlight (a ) and an infrared receiver (b),
The optical communication device (12) on the moving vehicle side is installed as the host controller (7), and the optical communication device (1
3) are respectively connected to the central control device (V) on the ground side, and based on various information such as information input to the central control device (V) and pre-stored information, the vehicles are run at intersections while branching. Move the moving vehicle (A) to the desired station (S
This allows the T) to run automatically.

That is, the optical sensor (6) detects the driving control command information by reading the mark along with the steering control information, the image processing controller (8) transmits the mark discrimination signal to the host controller (7), and the host controller (7) , transmits traveling speed information, turning information, forward/reverse information, etc. to the digital servo controller (9), which transmits selection information of the detection section to be used to the image processing controller (8), and further , the digital servo controller (9) transmits information on whether or not the vehicle is moving to the host controller (7), etc., while exchanging information between the controllers (7), (8), and (9). The driving control shown in (A) is to be carried out. However, a command information input section for the central control device (v) is provided at each station (ST), and an information input section for the host controller (7) is provided in the mobile vehicle (A).

To further explain the travel control operation based on the flowchart shown in FIG. 4, when a travel command such as destination data is transmitted to the moving vehicle (A),
6) starts to capture the image, and the light reflective tape (4)
Steering control is performed based on the measurement of the amount of deviation from the center.
Next, travel control command marks (m+), (mz)+ (
In response to the reading of the image data (m,), the vehicle branches off at intersections, decelerates near stations, and temporarily stops at stations (ST>, etc.). When there is no reflective tape (4) (
Travel control command mark (m+), (mz), (m,,
), the mobile vehicle (A) is activated only when there is an activation command (power ON signal for the mobile vehicle to run). will be run.

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 information, the vehicle is driven while determining its driving speed, steering amount, etc.

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.

Figure 2 shows the light reflective tape (4) and the travel control command marks (m,'), (m2), (-m
3), the light reflective tape (4) is composed of a black part (4b) located on both sides of a white part (4a), and
Each mark (m,), (m2), (m,) is placed between the plurality of white parts (14a) and on both sides of the black part (1
41)). However, in order to be able to measure the tape center even while passing through the installation points of each mark (m, ), (m, ), (m3), the white parts (14bL (14
The center between the lateral outer edges of b) should be aligned with the tape center.

In other words, the image processing controller (8) determines the vehicle body relative to the light reflective tape (4) based on the outside edge of the white part on both ends of the tape in the lateral middle direction in the captured image and the tape center stored in advance. Each mark (ml), (mz), (m, ).

[Another example]

Next, another example will be described.

In order to make the mobile vehicle (A) run automatically, the specific means of each part will depend on the intended use, such as making the signal transmission and reception between the mobile vehicle (A) and the central control unit (V) by guided radio system. Various changes can be made depending on the location, etc.

In addition, when configuring the mobile 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 may be used, and a scanner section that scans a laser beam in the width direction of the light reflective tape and receives the reflected light, and a signal from this scanner section that processes the signal. , a barcode league including a decoder unit that outputs steering control information or driving control command information may be used. In this case,
Information for steering control is provided with an angle sensor that scans a laser beam and detects the phase of a swinging or rotating mirror, and uses pre-memorized mirror angle information and detection information when the vehicle runs along the center of the guidance line. The calculation will be based on the mirror angle information obtained.

Mark that displays travel control commands (m,), (m,)
.

In addition to those described in the above embodiment, various types of (ff13) can be considered, such as counting marks arranged at set intervals in the direction of the travel route in order to detect the amount of movement of the vehicle along the travel route. It will be done. In addition, 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 travel control is performed even when traveling at the mark installation location, was exemplified. It may also be implemented in such a manner that no steering control is performed when the vehicle is running, and in that case, the form of the mark can be changed in various ways.

Also, display marks (m,), (m-), (m3)
To affix the mark (ml), (m-
), (m, l) may be made into an adhesive tape. However, Mark (lIll).

By attaching (mz) and (m3) in a removable manner, it may be possible to easily change the location of the mark as the layout changes.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of the optically guided mobile vehicle control equipment according to the present invention, in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a mark installation location, Fig. 2 is a plan view of the light reflective tape and the travel control command mark β, and Fig. 3 4 is a block diagram showing a specific configuration of the travel control, FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the travel control operation, FIG. 5 is a schematic plan view showing a travel route, and FIG. 6 is a schematic side view of the moving vehicle.
FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a comparative example. (4)...Light reflective tape, (6)...
Optical sensor, (mI), (m-), (1113
) -- Travel control command mark.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A light-reflecting tape (4) for guiding the moving vehicle is provided on the road surface, and the moving vehicle ( A) is an optically guided mobile vehicle control equipment equipped with a steering control means for automatically traveling, and marks (m_1)_1 (m_2), (m_3) for displaying travel control commands are attached to the light reflective tape (4). ) is attached to the upper surface of the light reflective tape (4) while being positioned on the guide line formed by the optical sensor (6), and is provided with means for controlling travel based on mark detection information by the optical sensor (6). An optically guided mobile vehicle control equipment.