TWI741807B - Automatic following system for unmanned vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

An automatic following system for unmanned vehicle includes a portable electronic device, at least one automatic following shopping vehicle, and a valuation device. The portable electronic device is carried by a user and used to send out a request signal containing identification information. The automatic following shopping vehicle includes a navigation device body and a storage container. The navigation device system is used to receive the request signal and bind the portable electronic device according to the identification information to automatically follow the portable electronic device to move. The storage container is arranged on the main body of the navigation device. The evaluation device is set in the automatic follow-up shopping cart, and is used to scan the barcode of the product to be purchased to generate a total price calculation result.

Description

Auto-following system for unmanned vehicle

The present invention relates to an automatic following system, in particular to an automatic following system of an unmanned vehicle.

In daily life, when people enter a hypermarket, they usually use shopping carts for shopping. In order to avoid the shopping cart from hitting people or other shopping carts, the common way to use the shopping cart is to place the shopping cart in front of the user. , And travel in the form of a cart, so that the shopping cart can be controlled within the line of sight to not collide with other people, the shopping cart or the goods on the shelf.

As mentioned above, although moving the shopping cart as a trolley can greatly avoid collisions, but also because the shopping cart is in front of the user, it will cause the user to create a distance from the product directly in front of the user, only through sideways. In addition, since the general shopping cart occupies a certain volume, it is not easy for the user to turn the cart, and it is easy to collide with the shelf at the corner, or even collide with the goods stacked in the corner.

On the other hand, when adults are shopping with children, adults often need to control the movement of the shopping cart. Usually they can only ask the children to follow by themselves, and there is no way to hold them by themselves. It is easy to cause the children to get lost or collide. Accident.

In view of the prior art, the existing shopping carts are often bulky and difficult to manipulate, and will hinder the distance between the user and the product, and may even cause accidents due to the need to control the shopping cart and fail to take care of young children; For this reason, the main purpose of the present invention is to provide an automatic follow-up system for an unmanned cart, which can control the shopping cart to automatically follow the user, thereby freeing the user's hands.

In order to solve the problems of the prior art, the necessary technical means adopted by the present invention is to provide an automatic follow-up system for unmanned vehicles. The auto-following system of the trolley includes a portable electronic device, at least one auto-following shopping cart, and a valuation device.

The portable electronic device is carried by a user and moves with the user, and is used to send out a request signal, and the request signal carries identification information. The auto-following shopping cart includes a navigation device body and a storage container.

The navigation device system is used to receive the request signal and bind the portable electronic device according to the identification information to automatically follow the portable electronic device to move. The storage container is arranged on the main body of the navigation device and has an accommodating space.

The evaluation device is installed in the automatic follow-up shopping cart, and when at least one of the commodities to be purchased is placed in the accommodating space, it is used to scan the barcode of the commodity to be purchased to generate a total price calculation result.

Among the auxiliary technical means derived from the above-mentioned necessary technical means, the automatic follow-up system of the unmanned vehicle further includes a control background, which is connected to the valuation device by communication, and has a built-in product database. The product database contains a plurality of corresponding The product price of the product and a plurality of promotional information corresponding to the product.

In addition, the evaluation device includes a scanning module, a processing module, and a display module. The scanning module is used to scan the barcode of the product to be purchased to obtain at least one scan information. The processing module is electrically connected to the scanning module, and is connected to the control background in communication, and is used to obtain at least one corresponding commodity price from the commodity price based on the scanning information, and perform the sum calculation on the price of the commodity to be purchased. Get the total price calculation result. The display module is electrically connected to the processing module to display the total price calculation result. In addition, the valuation device further includes a switching interface, which is electrically connected to the processing module, and includes an accumulation option and a deduction option. When the accumulation option is selected, the processing module will receive the price of the product to be purchased The total price calculation result is generated by adding up. When the deduction option is selected, the processing module deducts the received price of the commodity to be purchased from the total price calculation result.

Among the auxiliary technical means derived from the above-mentioned necessary technical means, the automatic follow-up system of the unmanned vehicle further includes a plurality of positioning modules, which are installed in the business premises and are electrically connected to the control background for positioning the portable The electronic device and automatically following the shopping cart respectively generate a following target position and at least one unmanned vehicle position, and transmit the following target position and the unmanned vehicle position to the control background.

Preferably, the control background further includes a map database, which is electrically connected to the communication module, and includes a movable area, a temporary stop area and a standby area, and an automatic navigation module of the navigation device body A following path is planned based on the following target position, the position of the unmanned vehicle, and the movable area, so as to follow the user's movement in the movable area. When the automatic navigation module receives a waiting signal sent by the portable electronic device, it plans a temporary stop path according to the following target position, the unmanned vehicle position and the temporary stop area, so that the unmanned vehicle position enters the temporary stop area and is on standby. The automatic navigation module is preset to drive the navigation device body to wait for the request signal to be received in the standby area.

In addition, the navigation device body further includes a power monitoring module, which is electrically connected to the automatic navigation module to drive one of the navigation device bodies to store power, and send a charging signal when the power storage is lower than a safe power storage. To the automatic navigation module, when the automatic navigation module receives the charging signal, it drives the navigation device body to move to the standby area for charging.

As mentioned above, since the automatic following shopping cart of the present invention uses a portable electronic device to send a request signal for the navigation device body to bind, the navigation device body can effectively drive the automatic following shopping cart to follow the portable electronic device. The user allows the user to perform shopping without both hands; in addition, since the present invention also has a valuation device, the user can scan the barcode of the product through the scanning module to know the product price and the total price calculation result. In this way, the user can clearly know the total price of the purchased goods, and then the budget can be controlled more accurately, and the convenience of use can be effectively improved.

The specific embodiments adopted in the present invention will be further explained by the following embodiments and drawings.

Please refer to the first and second figures. The first figure is a system diagram showing the automatic following system of the unmanned vehicle provided by the preferred embodiment of the present invention; the second figure shows the unmanned automatic following system provided by the preferred embodiment of the present invention. The three-dimensional schematic diagram of the auto-following shopping cart of the auto-following system of the trolley. As shown in the first and second figures, an unmanned load-carrying automatic following system 100 includes a portable electronic device 1, an automatic following shopping cart 2, a positioning module 3, a control background 4, and a valuation Device 5. Among them, the automatic follow-up system 100 for unmanned vehicles is applied to a business place (not shown in the figure), and the business place stores a plurality of commodities (not shown in the figure), and each commodity has a commodity barcode (not shown in the figure).

The portable electronic device 1 is carried by a user and moves with the user, and is used to send a request signal S1, and the request signal S1 carries identification information. Among them, the portable electronic device 1 may be, for example, a portable device or wearable device with a communication function, such as a smart phone, a smart bracelet, or a smart watch.

The auto-following shopping cart 2 includes a navigation device body 21 and a storage container 22. The navigation device body 21 includes an automatic navigation module 211 and a power monitoring module 212. The automatic navigation module 211 is used to receive the request signal S1 and bind the portable electronic device 1 according to the identification information contained in the request signal S1, and then automatically follow the portable electronic device 1 to move; wherein, the automatic The navigation module 211 is communicatively connected to the portable electronic device 1 through the control background 4, but is not limited to this. In other embodiments, the automatic navigation module 211 may also be communicatively connected to the portable electronic device 1 through Bluetooth and other short-range wireless communication technology. Portable electronic device 1. In addition, the automatic navigation module 211 is actually mainly composed of components such as a processor, a driving motor component, and an anti-collision sensor. Therefore, the navigation device body 21 is, for example, an automated guided vehicle (AGV). I won't go into details here.

The power monitoring module 212 is electrically connected to the automatic navigation module 211 to drive the power storage of one of the navigation device main bodies 21, and when the power storage is lower than a preset safe power storage, it sends a charging signal S2 to automatic Navigation module 211.

The storage container 22 is fixedly arranged on the main body 21 of the navigation device, and has an accommodating space (not shown in the figure).

The positioning module 3 is installed in the business premises and is electrically connected to the control background 4 for positioning the portable electronic device 1 and the automatic following shopping cart 2 to generate a following target position and an unmanned vehicle position respectively, and Follow the target position and the unmanned vehicle position to the control backstage 4. In this embodiment, the positioning module 3 uses a WiFi device to locate the following target position of the portable electronic device 1 and the position of the unmanned car automatically following the shopping cart 2, but it is not limited to this. In other embodiments, the positioning The module 3 can also be positioned using devices such as Bluetooth or RFID.

Please continue to refer to the third figure. The third figure is a schematic diagram showing the movable area, the temporary stop area and the standby area of the automatic following system of the unmanned vehicle provided by the preferred embodiment of the present invention corresponding to the map of the business place. As shown in the first figure and the third figure, the control backend 4 includes a communication module 41, a map database 42 and a product database 43. The communication module 41 is communicatively connected to the portable electronic device 1, the automatic navigation module 211 and the positioning module 3.

The map database 42 is electrically connected to the communication module 41 and includes a movable area 421, a temporary stop area 422 and a standby area 423. Wherein, when the automatic navigation module 211 receives the request signal S1 sent by the portable electronic device 1, the automatic navigation module 211 binds the portable electronic device 1 according to the identification information contained in the request signal S1, and then according to A following path is planned following the target location, the unmanned vehicle location and the movable area 421, so that the automatically following the shopping cart 2 follows the user carrying the portable electronic device 1 in the movable area 421 to move.

When the automatic navigation module 211 receives a waiting signal sent by the portable electronic device 1, it plans a temporary stop path according to the following target position, the unmanned vehicle position and the temporary stop area 422, so as to automatically follow the shopping cart 2 to enter The stop area 422 is on standby. The automatic navigation module 211 presets that the navigation device main body 21 waits for receiving the request signal S1 in the standby area 423. In addition, when the automatic navigation module 211 receives the charging signal S2, it drives the navigation device body 21 to move to the standby area 423 for charging.

The commodity database 43 includes a plurality of commodity prices 431 corresponding to the commodity and a plurality of promotion information 432 corresponding to the commodity. In practical application, the commodity price 431 corresponding to each commodity is related through the commodity barcode on the commodity, that is, the commodity price 431 is set and stored through the code represented by the commodity barcode. The promotion information 432 is a promotion plan of the corresponding product.

In addition, in other embodiments, when the accommodating space of the storage container 22 is full of commodities, the user can also send a vehicle replacement signal (not shown) to the automatic navigation module 211 through the portable electronic device 1 to Make the automatic navigation module 211 control to automatically follow the shopping cart 2 to move to the temporary stop area 422 or the standby area 423 to wait, and even move to wait near the cashier, and notify another automatically follow the shopping cart 2 to automatically follow the user through the control background 4 .

Please continue to refer to the fourth figure. The fourth figure is a schematic plan view of the appraisal device of the automatic following system of the unmanned vehicle provided by the preferred embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Figures 1 to 4, the appraisal device 5 is set in the auto-follow shopping cart 2, and is used to scan the product to be purchased when at least one of the products to be purchased is placed in the accommodating space. The bar code generates a total price calculation result. The evaluation device 5 includes a processing module 51, a scanning module 52, a switching interface 53 and a display module 54.

The processing module 51 is communicatively connected to the communication module 41 of the control backend 4, and the scanning module 52 is electrically connected to the processing module 51, and is used to scan the product barcode of the product to be purchased to obtain at least one scan information, thereby enabling The processing module 51 obtains at least one corresponding commodity price to be purchased from the commodity price 431 according to the scanned information. The switching interface 53 is electrically connected to the processing module 51, and includes an accumulation option 531 and a deduction option 532. The accumulation option 531 is marked with the text "Swipe to add up" in the fourth figure to prompt the user, and the deduction option 532 In the fourth figure, there is a text prompting the user with "refund deduction"; among them, when the accumulation option 531 is selected, the switching interface 53 will send a switching command S3 to the processing module 51 to scan in the scanning module 52 When the product barcode of the product to be purchased, the processing module 51 is made to add the price of the product to be purchased from the control background 4 according to the product barcode to generate a total price calculation result. When the deduction option 532 is selected, the switching interface 53 will send The instruction S3 is switched to the processing module 51, so that when the scanning module 52 scans the product barcode of the product to be purchased, the processing module 51 obtains the price of the product to be purchased from the control background 4 according to the product barcode to deduct from the total price calculation result. The display module 54 is electrically connected to the processing module 51 for displaying the total price calculation result.

In addition, in other embodiments, the navigation device body 21 and the evaluation device 5 can also be an integrated design. For example, the evaluation device 5 is embedded in the frame of the navigation device body 21 in the form of a touch panel, and the navigation device body 21 It can be an L-shaped structure, whereby the evaluation device 5 can be integrated through a raised bracket, and it can also support the fixed storage container 22 through an L-shaped structure, and is not limited to the implementation aspect described in this embodiment.

In summary, since the shopping cart of the prior art only needs to be moved by means of a manual cart, the user’s hands cannot do other things. In contrast, the automatic following shopping cart of the present invention uses The portable electronic device sends a request signal for the navigation device body to bind, so the navigation device body can effectively drive the shopping cart to follow the user carrying the portable electronic device, so that the user can proceed without hands Shopping behavior; in addition, because the present invention also has a price evaluation device, the user can scan the barcode of the product through the scanning module to know the product price and the total price calculation result, so that the user can clearly know the purchased product The total price of the product can be used to control the budget more accurately, and effectively improve the convenience of use.

Based on the above detailed description of the preferred embodiments, it is hoped that the characteristics and spirit of the present invention can be described more clearly, and the scope of the present invention is not limited by the preferred embodiments disclosed above. On the contrary, the purpose is to cover various changes and equivalent arrangements within the scope of the patent for which the present invention is intended.

100: Auto-following system for unmanned vehicles 1: Portable electronic device 2: Automatically follow the shopping cart 21: Navigation device body 211: Auto Navigation Module 212: Power monitoring module 22: storage container 3: positioning module 4: Control the background 41: Communication module 42: Map Database 421: movable area 422: Temporary Stop Area 423: Standby area 43: Commodity database 431: Commodity Price 432: Promotional Information 5: Valuation device 51: Processing module 52: Scanning module 53: switch interface 531: accumulation option 532: deduction option 54: display module S1: Request signal S2: Charging signal S3: Switch command

The first figure is a system schematic diagram showing the automatic following system of an unmanned load-carrying vehicle provided by a preferred embodiment of the present invention; The second figure is a three-dimensional schematic diagram showing the automatic following shopping cart of the automatic following system of the unmanned load car provided by the preferred embodiment of the present invention; The third figure is a schematic diagram showing the movable area, the temporary stop area and the standby area of the automatic following system of the unmanned load vehicle provided by the preferred embodiment of the present invention corresponding to the map of the business premises; and The fourth figure is a schematic plan view of the evaluation device of the automatic following system of the unmanned load-carrying vehicle provided by the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

100: Auto-following system for unmanned vehicles

1: Portable electronic device

21: Navigation device body

211: Auto Navigation Module

212: Power monitoring module

3: positioning module

4: Control the background

41: Communication module

42: Map Database

421: movable area

422: Temporary Stop Area

423: Standby area

43: Commodity database

431: Commodity Price

432: Promotional Information

5: Valuation device

51: Processing module

52: Scanning module

53: switch interface

54: display module

S1: Request signal

S2: Charging signal

S3: Switch command

Claims (6)

An automatic follow-up system for unmanned vehicles is applied to a business place where a plurality of commodities are stored, and each of the commodities has a commodity bar code. The automatic follow-up system for unmanned vehicles includes: a portable electronics The device is for a user to carry and follow the user to move, and is used to send a request signal, the request signal carries an identification information; at least one automatic shopping cart, including: a navigation device body, is used to receive the Request a signal, and bind the portable electronic device according to the identification information to automatically follow the portable electronic device to move; and a storage container is arranged on the navigation device body and has an accommodating space; a plurality of positioning modules The group is set in the business place to locate the portable electronic device and the at least one automatic follow-up shopping cart to generate a follow-up target position and at least one unmanned vehicle location, respectively, and combine the follow-up target position and the at least one autonomous vehicle The position of an unmanned vehicle is sent out; a control background is connected to the portable electronic device, the at least one automatic shopping cart and the positioning modules, and a product database and a map database are built in. The commodity database contains a plurality of commodity prices corresponding to the commodities, the map database contains a movable area and a temporary stop area, and an automatic navigation module of the navigation device body is based on the following target position, the at least one The location of the unmanned vehicle and the movable area plan a following path, so that the at least one free vehicle The shopping cart follows the user in the movable area, and when the automatic navigation module receives a waiting signal sent by the portable electronic device, it is based on the following target position and the at least one unmanned A temporary stop path is planned for the car position and the temporary stop area, so that the at least one unmanned vehicle position enters the temporary stop area on standby; and a valuation device is installed in the at least one automatic follow-up shopping cart and is in the merchandise When at least one commodity to be purchased is placed in the accommodating space, it is used to scan the barcode of the commodity on the at least one commodity to be purchased to generate a total price calculation result. For example, in the automatic follow-up system of the unmanned vehicle described in claim 1, the product database further includes a plurality of promotional information corresponding to the products. The automatic follow-up system for an unmanned vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the valuation device includes: a scanning module for scanning the barcode of the at least one commodity to be purchased to obtain at least one scan information; The module is electrically connected to the scanning module and communicatively connected to the control background for obtaining the corresponding price of at least one commodity to be purchased from the commodity prices according to the at least one scanning information, and combining the at least one commodity price A total price calculation result is obtained by adding up the prices of commodities to be purchased; and a display module is electrically connected to the processing module to display the total price calculation result. The automatic following system for an unmanned vehicle according to claim 3, wherein the evaluation device further includes a switching interface, which is electrically connected to the processing module, and includes an accumulation option and a deduction option. When the accumulation option is selected, the processing module will add the received price of the at least one commodity to be purchased to generate the total price calculation result. When the deduction option is selected, the processing module will receive The price of the at least one commodity to be purchased is deducted from the calculation result of the total price. The automatic following system for an unmanned vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the map database further includes a standby area, and an automatic navigation module of the navigation device body is preset to control the navigation device body in the standby area Waiting to receive the request signal. The automatic following system for an unmanned vehicle according to claim 5, wherein the navigation device body further includes a power monitoring module, which is electrically connected to the automatic navigation module for controlling a storage of the navigation device body When the power storage is lower than a safe power storage, a charging signal is sent to the automatic navigation module. When the automatic navigation module receives the charging signal, it controls the navigation device body to move to the standby area Charge it.

Images