JPS63156203A - Autonomous working vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To execute work in a work area where obstacles exist, by providing means which goes round along the outside peripheral wall surface of the work area to generate a map of the work area and obstacles or the like with a recognizing sensor and plural proximity sensors. CONSTITUTION:A working vehicle 1 runs clockwise in the work area to detect the wall surface with contact sensors 6-8 and samples information of the advance direction and the covered distance by encoders 9 and 10 attached to driving wheels 2 and 3 and a gyrocompass 11 while going round by a control means, and the map of the external form is stored in a memory 24. Distance sensors 13 and 14 recognize the distance to an obstacle in each running position by a detecting part 16, a waveform shaping circuit 17, an interface 18, and a timer 27 at the time of going along the outside wall of the work area, and information calculated by an operation processor 23 is stored as the map of internal obstacles in the memory 24.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] What) Industrial Field of Application The present invention relates to an independent working vehicle in which a working means provided on the working vehicle itself senses the working area and automatically works;
For example, it is suitable for automatic work such as painting, cleaning, floor polishing, and watering.

(b) Conventional technology Conventionally, various ideas have been made regarding this type of work vehicle.

For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 59-99507 discloses a method for a working vehicle to memorize the general shape of a working area. In this method, a direction sensor and a distance sensor are installed to recognize the general shape, but when traveling along the general shape, the work vehicle itself automatically moves based on the sensor output. It's not something you do. However, during the teaching period of the general shape, work is not done, and work at the corners of the work area becomes a problem later.

Japanese Patent Publication No. 60-52443 discloses that a map of a closed space can be created with relatively high accuracy and the work can be carried out, but many sensors are used for sensing, and the work vehicle The configuration is complex and expensive. Also, during map creation and work, while touching the outer wall of a closed space,
It does not go all the way around the work area, but targets walls surrounding a closed space, so it is inefficient for six jobs.

@Fat “Sensor Technology j April 1984 issue (Tol.

The floor cleaning robot described on pages 52 to 56 of 4.N14) performs cleaning work by circling the outer circumference of the work area, but if there are obstacles inside the work area, it is necessary to create an accurate map. I can't do it.

(c) While the invention is trying to solve one point, the present invention has been invented in view of the above points, and at the same time creates an outline map of the work area by going around the work area in close proximity to the outer wall surface of the work area. It is an object of the present invention to provide a self-supporting work vehicle configured to be able to create a map of obstacles, etc. inside a work area using a recognition sensor and a map creation means mounted on a worker.

(2) Means of running to solve the problem In order to solve the problem, the self-supporting work vehicle according to the present invention is provided with a self-supporting work vehicle that is close to a wall that partitions a work area, and moves the work vehicle's main body toward the surface of the river so as to detect the wall surface. six plurality of proximity sensors attached to the work area; a recognition sensor mounted on the work vehicle for recognizing the work area; a means for creating a map of the work area based on the outputs of the contact sensor and the recognition sensor; means for controlling the traveling of the work vehicle body within the work area based on the work area, and a work means for performing work when the work vehicle body moves, and based on the output of the proximity sensor, the work vehicle is controlled to work while approaching the wall surface based on the output of the proximity sensor. By going around the outside station of the area, an outline map of the work area is created, and at the same time, a map of obstacles etc. inside the work@furnace is created from the detection output f of the recognition sensor.

(E) Function: When the work vehicle is mounted on the river surface, it detects the wall that partitions the work area based on the output of the proximity sensor, and when going around the wall, the proximity sensor installed on the front of the work vehicle , detects the wall in front of the work vehicle, and changes the traveling direction of the work vehicle to the right when it rotates clockwise once, and to the left when it rotates counterclockwise.
Controls the travel control means of the work vehicle body.

The proximity sensor attached to the side of the work vehicle body detects the side wall of the work vehicle body, and as the work vehicle body moves along this wall surface, when the proximity sensor does not detect the side wall surface, , the travel control means is controlled so that the work vehicle body approaches the side wall surface. In this case, the contact sensor on the side is attached to the left side of the working vehicle main body when the contact sensor is to be rotated once clockwise, and is attached to the right side of the working vehicle main body when the contact sensor is to be rotated once counterclockwise.

Next, if the wall surface breaks off from the direction of travel and continues into the blind spot from the current position h1, the side proximity sensor will not detect the wall surface for a long time, and the time it will not detect the wall surface will exceed a certain period of time. If it gets too long, turn the work vehicle clockwise by 1
The traveling direction of the work vehicle body is bent to the left when making a turn, and to the right when making one turn counterclockwise, until the proximity sensor on each side detects a wall surface. However, if multiple proximity sensors are attached to one side of the side, if the front proximity sensor on the side is not detecting the wall and the later proximity sensor is detecting the wall, the wall may be At that point, the vehicle stops, and from the current position, it determines whether it is in a blind spot and controls it to turn until the proximity sensor in front of the side detects a wall, as described above.

While applying pressure in this way, the proximity sensor autonomously goes around the outer circumference, and the map-making sensor detects the distance and direction of movement at any time, and creates an outline map of the work area. Recognize the external shape of the work area. Also,
The recognition sensor detects the distance to obstacles inside the work area, the current position, and the direction of travel, creates an internal map of the work area, and recognizes the positions of obstacles, etc. within the area. Since the outer shape is recognized as it travels, it automatically stops when it returns to its original position, that is, once it has gone around the outer circumference. After the map is created, the worker moves the work vehicle over the entire work area while working.

(f) Example An embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the working vehicle. In this drawing, a pair of motors (not shown) that individually drive the drive wheels f21 and +31 of the working vehicle main body m, a working means (4), and a control means (4) that controls these motors and the working means (4) are shown. 6) etc. The working means (4) is a cleaning device in this embodiment and consists of a suction port, a dust collection fan and its motor. f211i1 is the above drive wheel +21
These casters support the work vehicle main body fil together with F3.1, and are rotatably provided at the rear end of the main body.

The work vehicle itself has contact sensors tel, (71, (gl
It is also equipped with an encoder (9) attached to each drive wheel +21, +31, and a gyro compass n1 (1cil and a gyro compass n1 that detects the direction). On the other hand, there are distance sensors 61m and 61H that detect obstacles inside the work area by reflecting sound waves. This encoder, gyro compass, and distance sensor are a recognition sensor (1
61.

The contact sensor (61%) detects the wall surface of the working area by each output of 71 and +81, and based on this detection, the control means (5) controls the movement of the working vehicle body +1.

Also, based on the output of the recognition sensor, the map creation means (l
A map of the work area is created using the map.

A block diagram showing the relationship between the recognition sensor H and the map creation means is shown in FIG. According to this drawing, each encoder +
91, the output of flCI is detected by the detection unit 0.

The detected output is waveform-shaped by a waveform shaping circuit αη, and is inputted to a counter 61 via an interface, and this counter counts the number of output pulses per unit time. Mana, distance sensor to detect inside the work area ^
3S (14 (Use distance sensor α4 to make one turn clockwise around the outer circumference of the work area, use distance sensor α4 to make one turn counterclockwise.) emits a sound wave, and when the sound wave is reflected, it returns The signal of the transmission timing and reception timing of this sound wave is detected by the detection
This timer measures the time it takes for the sleep waveform shaping to be given and the reflected sound waves to return, and the time is measured by this timer.
) is sent to the outside of the calculation unit, where it is recognized as the distance between the distance and the obstacle. Furthermore, the output of the gyro compass fnl is detected by the detection unit, and is input to the calculation unit in the same way as the counter output via the transducer I2]1, the A/D converter and the interface 01. . In this case, the output of each encoder (9), (10) is
), the linear traveling distance and radius of rotation, etc. can be calculated using the calculation unit force).
For each drive wheel (2), the output of the gyro compass (1) is used, taking into account the occurrence of +31 slips, etc.

Arithmetic section! The calculation result of step 23) is stored outside the memory section.

Next, the operation of the work vehicle main body fl) will be explained based on a work area - as shown in FIG. 3, in which there are rectangular obstacles (M+) (M2) inside and at the corners. It is assumed that the vehicle travels clockwise in this work area Q (toward), starting from point P1.

At this starting point P1, the contact sensor (7) in front of the side surface detects the wall surface W1, and the work vehicle main body m moves forward. Point P2,
At P3, P4, and P6, the front contact sensor (6) detects the front wall surfaces w2, vr3, w4, and W6, and the work vehicle body 11) #i stops and retreats a certain distance. It then rotates 90 degrees to the right and stops. Here, when the front contact sensor ()) detects the wall surface, the work vehicle main body (1) moves forward. When reaching point 75, the contact sensor (8) detects the wall surface W4.
is no longer detected, the robot temporarily stops, rotates to the left on the spot, and moves forward along the wall surface W5. When driving like this, the traveling direction information from the gyro compass (11) and the encoder [9]
! By sampling the mileage information based on +01 and its counter value, a map of the travel trajectory is stored in the memory (24).

In this way, the working vehicle body (1) makes one revolution around the wall surface WKG that partitions the working area (271), and during this traveling, the working vehicle (1)
4) cleans the corner near the wall surface W.

On the other hand, the distance sensor QIQ4) is also constantly working and Pl, P
2. ...P6. When traveling along the outer wall (G) with a dense working area on the path of Pi, there are obstacles (M) at each traveling position.
1) is recognized by the detection unit αQ1 waveform shaping circuit αη, interface 0 tank and timer η. Based on this distance information, the surface shape and position of the internal obstacle are calculated by the arithmetic processing unit with reference to the position information of the working vehicle main body 11) at that time. The information not calculated in this way is stored in the memory unit as a map of internal obstacles.

By returning the work vehicle main body (1) to point P1 in this manner, one round trip is completed, and an outline map of the work area and a map of the inside of the area are created. Once this map is created, the work vehicle itself is moved in order to work efficiently in this work area (a).

FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of the traveling of the work vehicle main body fi+. In this drawing, "sensor ONJ" refers to the generation of sensor output, "to the right" and "to the left" refer to a course change to the right or left, respectively, "right TURN" and "left Tt7RN"
Jke refers to an on-the-spot rotation to the right or left.゛Also,
Actions at line throw points P2, P3.1'4, and P6, ■ is action that violates the wall surface WK, ■ is action that moves to point P5,
(2) shows the operation when the work vehicle main body f1) is not in contact with the wall surface W at the time of creating the outline map.

Note that the work vehicle main body H may be driven by an on-board battery or by external power outside the work vehicle main body.

(g) Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the present invention, a working vehicle can be realized that can travel close to a wall that partitions a working area and can work even in a working area where the outline of the working area is mapped.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention, in which Figure 1 is a principle model diagram of a working vehicle, Figure 2 is a block diagram showing the relationship between recognition sensors and map creation means, Figure 3 is a model diagram of a working area, Figure 4 is a flowchart of the traveling of the work vehicle main body. fil...Work vehicle main body, tilt t71t fsl
... Contact sensor, O ... Recognition sensor, □□□...
・Working area, (to)... Wall surface, Audience... Map creation means, (5)... Control means, (4)... Working means.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) Multiple proximity sensors installed on the circumferential surface of the work vehicle body to detect the wall surface that separates the work area, and a plurality of proximity sensors mounted on the work vehicle body to recognize the work area. means for creating a map of the work area based on the outputs of the proximity sensor and the recognition sensor; means for controlling the movement of the work vehicle within the work area based on the map; and work means for performing work during transition. and, based on the output of the proximity sensor, create an outline map of the work area while moving close to the wall surface of the work area,
A self-supporting work vehicle characterized in that a map of obstacles, etc. inside the work area is created based on the detection output of the recognition sensor. (2) The map creation means corrects the map when a proximity sensor detects an obstacle during traveling work of the work vehicle within the work area based on the map. Self-supporting work vehicle as described in section.