WO2022230395A1

WO2022230395A1 - Steering assist device

Info

Publication number: WO2022230395A1
Application number: PCT/JP2022/010988
Authority: WO
Inventors: 圭司野村; 寿治片桐; 晋妻鹿; 眞貴野津; 敏仁 ▲高▼井; 直樹野畑; 仁紀兵藤
Original assignee: 株式会社東海理化電機製作所
Priority date: 2021-04-28
Filing date: 2022-03-11
Publication date: 2022-11-03
Also published as: JP2022169844A

Abstract

[Problem] To reduce the load on a user in a steering operation. [Solution] Provided is a steering assist device added to a steering device, wherein the steering device comprises a shaft part capable of rotating along a first axis, a support part connected at one end to the shaft part, and a gripping part disposed on the other-end side of the support part and capable of rotating along a second axis different from the first axis, and the steering assist device comprises: a detection unit that detects gripping strength, which is an index of the force with which a user's hand grips the gripping unit; and a control unit that, on the basis of the detected gripping strength, generates a correction signal for correcting a steering angle set according to the rotation angle of the shaft part along the first axis.

Description

steering assist device

The present invention relates to a steering assist device.

In recent years, various input devices that accept input from users have been developed. For example, regarding a steering device for controlling the steering angle of a vehicle, Patent Document 1 below discloses a steering device having a pair of grips instead of an annular steering wheel.

JP 2005-161922 A

However, with the steering device disclosed in Patent Document 1, if the steering angle increases, there is a possibility that the operation burden on the user will increase.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to reduce the user's burden in steering operation.

In order to solve the above problems, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a steering assist device to be added to a steering device, wherein the steering device includes a shaft portion rotatable along a first axis and a is connected to the shaft portion; and a grip portion disposed on the other end side of the support portion and rotatable along a second axis different from the first axis; The auxiliary device includes a detection unit that detects a gripping strength that is an index of the force with which a user's hand grips the gripping unit, and based on the detected gripping strength, the gripping unit along the first axis. and a control unit that generates a correction signal for correcting the steering angle that is determined according to the rotation angle of the shaft.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the user's burden in steering operation.

1 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a steering system 10 according to an embodiment of the invention; FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a state in which the steering device 10 shown in FIG. 1 is rotated counterclockwise along a first axis A1; FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining a configuration example of the steering assist device 10 according to the same embodiment; FIG. An arrangement example of the steering assist device 20 according to the embodiment will be described. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation flow of the steering assist device 20 according to the same embodiment;

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the present specification and drawings, constituent elements having substantially the same functional configuration are denoted by the same reference numerals, thereby omitting redundant description.

In addition, in this specification and drawings, elements having substantially the same functional configuration may be distinguished by attaching different alphabets after the same reference numerals. For example, a plurality of elements having substantially the same functional configuration are distinguished like

grips

130a and 130b as necessary. However, when there is no particular need to distinguish between a plurality of elements having substantially the same functional configuration, only the same reference numerals are used. For example, the

grips

130a and 130b are simply referred to as grips 130 when there is no particular need to distinguish between them.

<1. embodiment>
<<1.1. Configuration Example of Steering Device 10>>
First, a steering system to which a steering assist device according to an embodiment of the present invention is added will be described.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a steering device 10 according to one embodiment of the present invention.

The upper part of FIG. 1 shows a front view of the steering device 10 in the standard state. The lower part of FIG. 1 shows a bottom view of the steering system 10 in the standard state.

Note that the above reference state is a state in which the steering device 10 is not rotated along the first axis A1.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a state in which the steering device 10 shown in FIG. 1 is rotated counterclockwise along the first axis A1.

As shown in FIG. 1, the steering device 10 includes a shaft portion 110, support portions 120 (120a and 120b), and grip portions 130 (130a and 130b).

The user operates the operation target by rotating the steering device 10 clockwise (right) or counterclockwise (left) about the first axis A1 while gripping the grip 130 . An operation target is a target operated by a user.

The first action setting of the operation target is changed based on the amount of rotation of the shaft portion 110 . Here, the amount of rotation is the difference between the rotation angle of shaft portion 110 in the reference state and the rotation angle of shaft portion 110 during operation.

The first action setting may be the setting of the movement direction of the operation target. For example, the amount of change in the moving direction of the operation target is proportional to the amount of rotation of the shaft portion 110 .

As an example, the operation target may be a vehicle. In this case, the first operating setting is the direction of travel of the vehicle (eg, steering angle). When the vehicle is traveling, if the user rotates the steering device 10 clockwise, the vehicle will turn right, and if the user rotates the steering device 10 counterclockwise, the vehicle will turn left.

The steering device 10 is installed in front of the driver's seat (that is, in the traveling direction). In the following description, with reference to the steering device 10, the direction toward the driver's seat may be referred to as the front, and the direction of travel may be referred to as the back.

The shaft portion 110 is rotatably provided along the first axis A1.

The steering angle of the steering device 10 is determined according to the rotation angle of the shaft portion 110 along the first axis A1.

For example, the steering angle determined according to the rotation angle of the shaft portion 110 along the first axis A1 may be transmitted to the control device 30, which will be described later.

In this case, the control device 30 can change the traveling direction of the vehicle by controlling the wheel angle according to the steering angle.

One end of the support portion 120 is connected to the shaft portion 110 . The support portion 120 may be an elongated member. In that case, the support portion 120 is connected to the shaft portion 110 at one end in the longitudinal direction.

In the example shown in FIG. 1, the support part 120 is a cylindrical member, and one end in the height direction is connected to the shaft part 110 . Of course, the shape of the support part 120 is not limited to a cylinder, and may be any shape such as a quadrangular prism.

As shown in the upper part of FIG. 1, the support part 120a and the support part 120b are arranged so as to face each other in a direction perpendicular to the first axis A1. Further, as shown in the lower part of FIG. 1, the support portion 120a and the support portion 120b may be inclined toward the front.

The grip part 130 is a member that is gripped by the user. The grip portion 130a is gripped by the user's right hand, and the grip portion 130b is gripped by the user's left hand.

For example, in the reference state shown in FIG. 1, the user places the thumb on the grip portion 130 and wraps the grip portion 130 from the back side to the front side via the sides with the other fingers and the palm. , and the grip portion 130 is gripped.

The grip part 130 is arranged on the other end side opposite to the one end connected to the shaft part 110 in the support part 120 .

In the example shown in FIG. 1, the grip portion 130 is arranged on the side of the end portion not connected to the shaft portion 110 in the height direction of the columnar support portion 120 .

In addition, the grip part 130 according to the present embodiment is rotatably provided along a second axis A2 (second axis A2a or second axis A2b) different from the first axis A1.

For example, the grip portion 130a may be rotatable clockwise and counterclockwise along the second axis A2a. Similarly, gripper 130b may be rotatable clockwise or counterclockwise along second axis A2b.

According to the above configuration, when the steering device 10 is rotated along the first axis A1, the grip portion 130 can be rotated in conjunction with the movement of the hand gripping the grip portion 130. Therefore, when rotating the steering device 10 along the first axis A1, it is possible to prevent the user's wrist from being unnaturally twisted, thereby facilitating the operation.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, when the steering device 10 is rotated counterclockwise along the first axis A1, it is assumed that the

gripping portions

130a and 130b rotate counterclockwise. be done.

At this time, the user holds the grip portion 130a with the thumb of the right hand positioned on the front side of the grip portion 130a, the other fingers positioned on the left side of the grip portion 130a, and the wrist positioned on the right side of the grip portion 130a. It can be held in the right hand.

In addition, the user holds grip portion 130b with the left hand in a state in which the thumb of the left hand is positioned on the back side of grip portion 130b, the other fingers are positioned on the right side of grip portion 130b, and the wrist is positioned on the left side of grip portion 130a. can be grasped by

Thus, the user can rotate the steering device 10 while comfortably gripping the grip portion 130 .

It should be noted that, as shown in FIG. 1, the grip portion 130 may be formed in a spherical shape.

In this case, it becomes easier for the user to grip the grip part 130 and to change the grip.

Of course, the shape of the grip part 130 is not limited to a spherical shape, and can take any shape such as a cube, a rectangular parallelepiped, or an ellipsoid.

The second axis A2 may be parallel to the longitudinal direction of the support portion 120. Alternatively, the second axis A2 may be orthogonal to the first axis A1. In any case, by making the angle between the first axis A1 and the second axis A2 close to a right angle, it is possible to prevent unnatural twisting of the wrist when the steering device 10 is rotated along the first axis A1. It becomes possible to

<<1.2. Configuration Example of Steering Assist Device 20>>
Next, a configuration example of the steering assist device 20 according to this embodiment will be described.

As described above, the user grips the grip portion 130 of the steering device 10 and rotates it along the first axis A1, thereby rotating the shaft portion 110 connected to the grip portion 130 and the support portion 120 via the support portion 120. It can be rotated along one axis A1.

Also, the steering angle of the steering device 10 is determined according to the rotation angle of the shaft portion 110 along the first axis A1.

The steering angle determined according to the rotation angle of the shaft portion 110 along the first axis A1 is transmitted to the control device 30.

The control device 30 can change the traveling direction of the vehicle by controlling the angles of the wheels provided on the vehicle according to the steering angle.

However, in the steering device 10 according to the present embodiment, unlike the conventional circular steering wheel, the positions to be gripped are limited to the

gripping portions

130a and 130b.

Therefore, when attempting to increase the steering angle, it is required to perform a large rotational operation along the first axis A1 while holding the

grips

130a and 130b (or either of the

grips

130a or 130b). .

　The rotation operation as described above may be a heavy burden for, for example, a small user.

The steering assist device 20 according to the present embodiment was conceived by paying attention to the above points, and effectively reduces the user's burden in steering operation.

The steering assist device 20 according to the present embodiment may be a device that is added to the steering device 10 and assists the steering operation of the steering device 10 .

A configuration example of the steering assist device 20 according to the present embodiment will be described in detail below.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram for explaining a configuration example of the steering assist device 20 according to this embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 3 , the steering assist device 20 according to this embodiment includes at least a detection section 210 and a control section 220 .

(Detector 210)
The detection unit 210 according to the present embodiment detects gripping strength, which is an index of the force with which the user's hand grips the gripping unit 130 of the steering device 10 .

In order to detect the above gripping strength, the detection unit 210 according to this embodiment may include, for example, a pressure sensor.

The detection unit 210 outputs information about the detected gripping strength to the control unit 220 .

(control unit 220)
Based on the gripping strength detected by the detection unit 210, the control unit 220 according to the present embodiment generates a correction signal for correcting the steering angle determined according to the rotation angle of the shaft unit 110 along the first axis A1. to generate

More specifically, the control unit 220 according to the present embodiment may generate a correction signal for increasing the steering angle according to the detected gripping strength.

As an example, assume that the steering angle is 100°.

Here, when the gripping strength detected by the detection unit 210 is within a specified range close to 0, the control unit 220 does not need to generate the correction signal.

On the other hand, if the gripping strength detected by the detection unit 210 is in a medium range, the control unit 220 may generate a correction signal for correcting the steering angle to, for example, 125°.

On the other hand, when the gripping strength detected by the detection unit 210 is within a range defined as high, the control unit 220 may generate a correction signal for correcting the steering angle to, for example, 150°.

Also, the control unit 220 according to the present embodiment outputs the correction signal generated as described above to the control device 30 .

The control device 30 may correct the steering angle input from the steering device 10 according to the correction signal input from the control section 220, and control the wheel angle according to the corrected steering angle.

According to the configuration described above, it is possible to effectively reduce the user's operational burden required to increase the steering angle.

In the above, the case where the relationship between the gripping strength and the degree of the steering angle corrected by the correction signal is set to be non-linear has been exemplified, but the relationship may be set to be linear.

In the above description, the correction signal generated by control unit 220 designates the value of the steering angle after correction. good.

Also, the correction signal generated by the control unit 220 according to the present embodiment may be a signal for correcting the steering angle to be smaller.

In this case, the change angle of the wheels is smaller than the steering angle, so it is effective when you want to control the progress of the vehicle more precisely.

The functions of the control unit 220 according to this embodiment are realized by various processors.

Next, an arrangement example of the steering assist device 20 according to this embodiment will be described using FIG.

FIG. 4 shows a cross-sectional view of the support portion 120 and the grip portion 130 provided in the steering device 10, and the detection portion 210 and the covering portion 230 provided in the steering assist device 20. FIG.

As illustrated, the steering assist device 20 according to this embodiment may include a covering portion 230 that covers at least a portion of the grip portion 130 .

For example, if the grip part 130 is formed spherically, the steering assist device 20 may be similarly formed spherically.

Since the steering assist device 20 has the same shape as the grip portion 130, even when the steering assist device 20 is added to the steering device 10, the user does not feel uncomfortable and does not interfere with the user's operation. effect is obtained.

Also, the detection unit 210 according to the present embodiment may be arranged on the grasping unit 130 as illustrated.

With this arrangement, the detection unit 210 can detect the gripping strength when the user grips the gripping unit 130 via the covering unit 230 .

Note that the arrangement of the detection unit 210 and the covering unit 230 shown in FIG. 4 is merely an example.

For example, the detection unit 210 according to this embodiment may be arranged inside the covering unit 230 .

Also, for example, when the detection unit 210 is realized by a sheet-like pressure sensor, the covering unit 230 does not necessarily have to be provided.

<<1.3. Operation Flow of Steering Assist Device 20 >>
Next, the operation flow of the steering assist device 20 according to this embodiment will be described in detail.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation flow of the steering assist device 20 according to this embodiment.

In the case of the example shown in FIG. 5, first, the detection unit 210 detects gripping strength, which is an index of the magnitude of the force with which the gripping unit 130 provided in the steering device 10 is gripped (S102).

Next, the control unit 220 generates a correction signal for the steering angle based on the gripping strength detected in step S102 (S104).

Subsequently, the control unit 220 outputs the correction signal generated in step S106 to the control device 30 (S106).

<2. Supplement>
Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, the present invention is not limited to such examples. It is obvious that a person having ordinary knowledge in the technical field to which the present invention belongs can conceive of various modifications or modifications within the scope of the technical idea described in the claims. It is understood that these also belong to the technical scope of the present invention.

For example, in the above embodiment, an example in which the operation target is a vehicle has been described, but the present invention is not limited to such an example. For example, the operation target may be an airplane, a ship, a robot arm, or the like. Moreover, the operation target is not limited to a physical object. For example, the operation target may be a virtual object such as a character in virtual space.

Also, a series of processes by each device described in this specification may be realized by a program stored in a computer-readable non-transitory storage medium (non-transitory computer readable storage medium). Each program, for example, is read into a RAM when executed by a computer, and executed by a processor such as a CPU. The storage medium is, for example, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a flash memory, or the like. Also, the above program may be distributed, for example, via a network without using a storage medium.

10: steering device, 110: shaft portion, 120: support portion, 130: grip portion, 20: steering assist device, 210: detection portion, 220: control portion, 230: covering portion

Claims

A steering assist device added to a steering device,
The steering device is
a shaft rotatable along a first axis;
a support part having one end connected to the shaft part;
a gripping portion disposed on the other end side of the support portion and rotatable along a second axis different from the first axis;
with
The steering assist device is
a detection unit that detects gripping strength, which is an index of the force with which a user's hand grips the gripping unit;
a control unit that generates a correction signal for correcting a steering angle that is determined according to a rotation angle of the shaft portion along the first axis, based on the detected gripping strength;
comprising
Steering aid.
The control unit generates the correction signal for correcting the steering angle to a greater extent according to the detected gripping strength.
The steering assist device according to claim 1.
The detection unit is arranged on the grip unit,
The steering assist device according to claim 1 or 2.
The steering assist device includes a covering portion that covers at least a portion of the grip portion;
further comprising
The steering assist device according to any one of claims 1 to 3.
The covering portion and the grip portion are spherically formed,
The steering assist device according to claim 4.