JPH03150607A - Guidance device for automatic running working vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To interruptedly bury metallic pieces by controlling steering based on the result of comparison between a stored average azimuth and the azimuth detected by an azimuth sensor at the time when a metal detecting sensor fails to detect a metallic piece. CONSTITUTION:When a metal detecting sensor 8 reaches a part above the interval between metallic pieces 6 and 6 after passing above the metallic piece 6 in accordance with advance of an automatic running lawn mower 1 and the sensor 8 fail to detect the metallic piece 6, the average azimuth stored in a storage part 11 is called and is compared with the detected azimuth detected by an azimuth sensor 9. A steering control signal to equalize the average azimuth and the detected azimuth is outputted from a guide controller 18 to a steering device 5. The automatic running lawn mower 1 straightly goes along the extension of the metallic piece 6 which is detected just before. Thus, metallic pieces can be interruptedly buried.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a guidance device for an autonomous working vehicle.

Conventional technologyCurrently, autonomous driving vehicles for uneven terrain are being developed that apply autonomous vehicle control technology to carry out tasks such as mowing lawns unmanned within golf course courses without the need for operators to operate them. Development and practical application are underway.

The guidance system for such self-driving work vehicles consists of a continuous magnet, a continuous induction cable through which a low-frequency current is passed, and other derivatives buried underground in the work area.

Generally, a guidance device is provided in which an automatic traveling work vehicle is provided with a sensor for detecting these guiding bodies, and the steering control is performed so that the guiding body is positioned at the center of the automatic traveling work vehicle based on the detection result by the sensor.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention In order to bury continuous derivatives along the trajectory of an automated driving vehicle in a vast place such as a golf course, large-scale construction work must be carried out and a large amount of money will be required. Capital investment is required. Moreover, when a magnet is used, the price of the magnet itself is high, and when an induction cable is used, power supply equipment is required, which requires an even larger investment in equipment.

Furthermore, when a magnet is buried, it becomes impossible to reliably detect the magnetism emitted by the magnet due to variations in magnetic strength and a decrease in magnetism due to demagnetization, which in turn makes it impossible to perform reliable guidance. There is.

Means for Solving the Problem A large number of metal pieces are intermittently buried underground in the work area where the automated driving work vehicle is run along the trajectory of the automated driving work vehicle, and metal detection is performed to detect the metal pieces. A sensor and an azimuth sensor for detecting the traveling direction of the automatic traveling work vehicle are provided in the automatic traveling work vehicle, and an average value of the detection results of the direction sensor when the metal detection sensor is detecting the metal piece. a calculation unit that calculates the average direction;
and a storage unit that stores the average direction, and controls the steering of the automatic traveling work vehicle based on the detection result from the metal detection sensor, and when the metal detection sensor can no longer detect the metal piece. is provided with a steering control section that controls the steering of the automatic traveling work vehicle based on a comparison result between the average azimuth stored in the storage section and the detected azimuth detected by the azimuth sensor.

Further, a drive unit for moving the metal detection sensor in the left-right direction is provided, and a determining means is provided for determining the amount of deviation between the detection position of the metal piece by the metal detection sensor and the automatic traveling work vehicle.

In addition, a plurality of metal detection sensors are arranged along the left and right direction perpendicular to the direction of movement of the automated driving work vehicle, and a comparison means is used to compare the detection outputs from the metal detection sensors, and the detection output reaches the maximum value. Discrimination means for determining the amount of deviation between the metal detection sensor and the automatic traveling work vehicle is provided.

When the working metal detection sensor is detecting a metal piece, the steering control section performs steering control of the automatic traveling work vehicle based on the detection result from the metal detection sensor.

In addition, when the direction sensor detects the direction of movement of the autonomous driving work vehicle and the metal detection sensor detects a metal piece, the average value of the detection results from the direction sensor is calculated by the calculation section to determine the average direction. This average orientation is stored in the storage unit.

When the self-driving work vehicle intermittently travels between buried metal pieces and the metal detection sensor cannot detect the metal pieces, the average direction stored in the memory unit and the detected orientation detected by the orientation sensor, and the steering control unit performs steering control of the automatic traveling work vehicle based on the comparison result.

Also, when the automatic traveling work vehicle is driven while moving the metal detection sensor in the left and right direction by the drive unit.

The detection accuracy of metal pieces by the metal detection sensor is improved, and furthermore, the position of the detected metal piece and the amount of deviation from the automatic traveling work vehicle is determined by the discrimination means, and the steering is performed based on the discrimination result from the discrimination means 1. The control unit performs steering control of the automatic traveling work vehicle.

In addition, by running an automated driving vehicle with multiple metal detection sensors arranged along the left and right directions perpendicular to the direction of travel of the automated driving vehicle, even if the automated driving vehicle skids, Detection of metal pieces is easily performed, and the detection outputs from multiple metal detection sensors are compared by a comparison means, and the deviation amount between the metal detection sensor with the maximum detection output and the automatic traveling work vehicle is determined. is determined by the determining means. Then, based on the determination result from the determination means, the steering control section performs steering control of the automatic traveling work vehicle.

Embodiment An embodiment of the invention set forth in claim 1 will be described based on FIGS. 1 to 4. A mower 4 is located between the front wheels 2 and the rear wheels 3 on the abdomen of the self-driving lawn mower l, which is a self-driving work vehicle.
The self-propelled lawn mower 1 is equipped with a steering device 5 that allows the front wheels 2 to run.

On the other hand, a large number of metal pieces 6 and 7 are intermittently buried underground in the work area where the automatic lawn mower 1 travels along the trajectory of the automatic travel lawn mower 1. As shown in Fig. 4, the metal pieces 7 formed in a semicircular arc shape are buried at the edges of the work area, and the metal pieces 6 formed in a straight line shape are buried in other areas. It is buried. In addition, the distance between the linear metal pieces 6 buried along the running direction of the automatic driving lawn mower l is set longer than that of the automatic driving lawn mower 1, and the distance between the linear metal pieces 6 and the semicircular arc The distance from the metal piece 7 is set very short.

Next, a metal detection sensor 8 for detecting the metal pieces 6 and 7 is provided at the front lower part of the automatic traveling lawn mower 1, and a geomagnetic sensor 8 is provided at the rear upper part of the automatic traveling lawn mower 1. A direction sensor 9 is provided which detects the direction of movement of the automatic lawn mower l by detecting the direction of movement of the automatic lawn mower l. Furthermore, the automatic traveling lawn mower 1 includes the metal detection sensor 8.
a calculation unit 10 for calculating the average value of the detection results of the orientation sensor 9 while the vehicle is running while detecting the metal pieces 6 and 7 to obtain an average orientation; and a storage unit 11 for storing the average orientation. and is provided.

Here, as shown in FIG. 3, the metal detection sensor 8 includes an oscillating section 12 that oscillates an electric signal, a transmitting coil 13 that generates a high-frequency magnetic field by the electric signal oscillated from the oscillating section 12, and a transmitting coil 13 that generates a high-frequency magnetic field by the electric signal oscillated from the oscillating section 12. A pair of receiving coils 14.
15, an amplifier 16 that amplifies the difference between the electrical signals generated from the receiving coils 14 and 15, and a detector 17 that detects the amplified signal.

Furthermore, the self-driving lawn mower 1 includes the detector, 17
A steering control signal for positioning the metal piece 6° 7 directly below the metal detection sensor 8 is output to the steering device 5 based on the detection signal from the metal detection sensor 8. , 7 can no longer be detected, a steering control signal is output to the steering device 5 to match the average azimuth stored in the storage section 11 with the detected azimuth detected by the azimuth sensor 9. A guidance controller 18, which is a steering control section, is provided.

In such a configuration, when performing work with the automatic mower l, the automatic mower l is run from a starting point along the buried metal pieces 6 and 7. When the vehicle starts running, the metal detection sensor 8 detects the first metal piece 6.
is detected, and if the metal piece 6 is shifted in the left-right direction from the position directly below the metal detection sensor 8, a detection signal corresponding to the amount of shift is output from the detector 17. When this detection signal is input to the guidance controller 18, a steering control signal based on this detection signal is output from the guidance controller 18 to the steering device 5, and the automatic mower 1 moves the metal piece 6 being detected. The steering is controlled so that it is always positioned directly below the metal detection sensor 8. On the other hand, the direction sensor 9 constantly detects the direction of movement of the automatic mower 1, and the average direction is the average value of the detection results from the direction sensor 9 when the metal detection sensor 8 detects the metal piece 6. is calculated in the calculation unit 10, and the calculated average direction is stored in the storage unit 1.
1 is stored.

When the automatic lawnmower l moves forward and the metal detection sensor 8 passes above the metal pieces 6 and reaches the upper part between the metal pieces 6 and is no longer able to detect the metal pieces 6, The average azimuth stored in the storage unit 11 is retrieved, and this average azimuth is compared with the detected azimuth detected by the azimuth sensor 9.

Then, a steering control signal for matching these average orientations with the detected orientation is output from the guidance controller 18 to the steering device 5, and the automatic mower 1 follows the extension line of the metal piece 6 that was detected just before. Go straight along.

If the automatic lawn mower l advances further and the metal detection sensor 8 detects the next metal piece 6, the steering control of the automatic lawn mower l based on the detection signal from the detector 17 is restarted. . On the other hand, the average orientation stored in the storage unit 11 is canceled, and the calculation of the average orientation based on the detection result of the orientation sensor 9 and the storage of the calculated average orientation are restarted.

Note that when traveling from the semicircular arc-shaped metal piece 7 toward the straight metal piece 6 at the edge of the work area, the distance between these metal pieces 6 and 7 is set to be extremely short. Based on the average direction while traveling along the metal piece 7 and the detected direction after passing the metal piece 7, the distance traveled is extremely short, and the automatic lawn mower l is able to drive before it deviates from the trajectory it should travel on. Since the linear metal piece 6 is detected, turning at the end of one work area is smoothly performed along the trajectory to be traveled.

Next, an embodiment of the invention according to claim 2 will be described based on FIGS. 5 and 6. In addition, the same parts as those explained in FIGS. 1 to 4 are indicated by the same reference numerals, and the explanation will be omitted (the same applies hereinafter).

A motor 19, which is a drive unit, is attached to the front central part of the automatic lawn mower 1, and a lever 21 extending horizontally is attached to the lower end of a rotating shaft 20 of the motor 19, which has an axis in the vertical direction. One end of the lever 21 is fixed, and a metal detection sensor 8 for detecting the metal pieces 6 and 7 is attached to the other end of the lever 21.

Further, a potentiometer 22 for detecting the rotational position of the lever 21 is attached to the upper part of the motor 19. Then, it is connected to the metal detection sensor 8 and the potentiometer 22, and from the detection result of the potentiometer 22 when the metal detection sensor 8 detects the metal piece 6.7, the detected metal pieces 6, 7 are detected.
Discrimination means 23 is provided for discriminating the amount of deviation between the position and the center position of the automatic mower 1. When the metal detection sensor 8, which rotates around the rotating shaft 20 of the motor 19, passes above the metal pieces 6 and 7, the metal pieces 6 and 7 move relatively, and the high-frequency magnetic field is disturbed. ,
The metal pieces 6 and 7 are detected by electrically capturing the disturbance.

In such a configuration, when performing work using the automatic lawn mower (1), the automatic lawn mower (1) is run along the metal pieces 6 and 7 buried underground, and the motor 19 is driven to remove the metal pieces. The detection sensor 8 is rotated within a horizontal plane. The rotating metal detection sensor 8 detects the metal pieces 6 and 7 when it passes above the metal pieces 6 and 7, and the potentiometer 22 detects the rotational position of the lever 21 at that time, and the detection result from the potentiometer 22 is detected. Based on this, the determination means 23 determines the amount of deviation in the horizontal direction between the detected position of the metal piece 6.7 and the center position of the self-propelled lawn mower 1. When the discrimination signal is input to the guidance controller 18, the guidance controller 18 outputs a redirection control signal to the steering device 5 based on this discrimination signal, and the automatic mower 1
The steering control is performed so that the metal piece 6 being detected is positioned at the center of the automatic lawnmower 1. In addition, metal detection sensor 8
The metal pieces 6 and 7 can be detected over a wide range because they rotate about the rotating shaft 20 of the motor 19 as a fulcrum.

In this embodiment, the metal detection sensor 8 is rotated by the motor 19 to move the metal detection sensor 8 in the left-right direction, but it is also possible to move the metal detection sensor 8 back and forth in the left-right direction using a link mechanism. You can.

Next, an embodiment of the invention according to claim 3 will be described based on FIGS. 7 and 8. At the front lower part of the self-driving lawn mower 1, as shown in FIG.
a, 8b, 8c, 8d, and 8e are arranged. Furthermore, the automatic traveling lawn mower l includes each of the metal detection sensors 8.
Comparing means 2 is connected to the detectors 17 of metal detection sensors 8a to 8e and compares the detection outputs from the metal detection sensors 8a to 8e.
4, and a determining means 25 for determining the amount of deviation between the metal detection sensor whose detection output has reached the maximum value and the center position of the automatic mower 1.

In such a configuration, when performing work using the automatic lawn mower 1, the automatic lawn mower 1 is made to travel along the metal piece 6.7 buried underground. When the vehicle starts traveling from the starting point, the metal detection sensors 8a to 8e first detect the metal pieces 6 and 7, and the detection outputs from each of the metal detection sensors 8a to 8e are compared by the comparison means 24, and further,
The determining means 25 determines the amount of deviation between the metal detection sensor whose detection output is the maximum value and the center position of the automatic mower 1 . Then, a discrimination signal corresponding to the amount of deviation is sent to the discrimination means 25.
is output to the guidance controller 18 from the guidance controller 18 to the steering device 5 based on this discrimination signal.
A steering control signal is output, and the automatic driving lawn mower 1 is steered so that the metal pieces 6 and 7 being detected are located at the center position of the automatic driving lawn mower 1. In addition, the metal detection sensor 8a~
Since a plurality of the metal pieces 8e are arranged along the left and right direction, the metal pieces 6 and 7 can be detected over a wide range, and even if the automatic mower 1 skids significantly, the metal pieces 6 will continue to be detected. , 7 can be detected, and the work can be continued smoothly.

Effects of the Invention The present invention, as described above, intermittently buries a large number of metal pieces underground along the trajectory of the automatic traveling work vehicle,
By running an autonomous work vehicle along these metal pieces, the amount of capital investment can be significantly reduced compared to the case where a continuous guide such as a continuous magnet or a continuous induction cable is buried along the travel trajectory. can be reduced to,
Furthermore, compared to the case where magnets are buried, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of a situation in which automatic steering becomes impossible due to variations in magnetism or a decrease in magnetism. In addition, when the metal detection sensor is unable to detect a metal piece, the steering control unit performs automatic driving operations based on the comparison result between the average direction stored in the memory and the detected direction detected by the direction sensor. By controlling the steering of the vehicle, the vehicle can be reliably driven automatically along a predetermined travel trajectory even though metal pieces are being buried intermittently. Furthermore, by detecting metal pieces while moving the metal detection sensor left and right, it is possible to greatly expand the metal piece detection range and improve detection performance when driving at low speeds. By arranging the detection sensors in the left-right direction, even if the autonomous driving work vehicle deviates significantly from its original trajectory due to skidding, etc., the metal detection sensor can detect metal pieces and continue steering control. It has the effect of being able to.

[Brief Description of the Drawings] Figures 1 to 4 show an embodiment of the invention as claimed in claim 1. Figure 1 is a block diagram showing a control system, and Figure 2 is a block diagram showing an autonomous lawn mower. 3 is a block diagram showing the internal structure of the metal detection sensor, FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the buried state of the metal piece, and FIGS. 5 and 6 are one embodiment of the invention as claimed in claim 2. An example is shown in FIG. 5 as a side view of an automatic lawnmower, FIG. 6 as a block diagram of the control system, and FIGS. 7 and 8 as an embodiment of the invention as claimed in claim 3. FIG. 7 is a front view of the self-driving lawn mower, and FIG. 8 is a block diagram of the control system. 1... Self-driving work vehicle, 6, 7... Metal piece, 8...
・Metal detection sensor, 8a to 8e...Metal detection sensor,
9... Direction sensor, 10... Calculation unit, 11... Storage unit, I8... Steering control unit, 19... Drive unit, 23
...discrimination means, 24.comparison means, 25..discrimination means Applicant: Ishikawajima Shibaura Machinery Co., Ltd."6"O""C濶"U Old

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A metal that intermittently buries a large number of metal pieces underground in a work area where an automatic driving work vehicle is to be driven along the trajectory of the automatic driving work vehicle, and detecting the metal pieces. A detection sensor and an azimuth sensor that detects the traveling direction of the automatic traveling work vehicle are provided in the automatic traveling work vehicle, and an average value of the detection results of the direction sensor when the metal detection sensor is detecting the metal piece. and a storage section that stores the average orientation, and controls the steering of the self-driving work vehicle based on the detection result from the metal detection sensor. When the sensor is no longer able to detect the metal piece, steer the autonomous working vehicle based on the comparison result between the average orientation stored in the storage unit and the detected orientation detected by the orientation sensor. A guidance device for an automatic traveling work vehicle, characterized in that it is provided with a steering control section for controlling the vehicle. 2. A drive unit for moving the metal detection sensor in the left-right direction is provided, and a determination means is provided for determining the amount of deviation between the detection position of the metal piece by the metal detection sensor and the automatic traveling work vehicle. The guidance device for an automatic traveling work vehicle according to claim 1. 3. A plurality of metal detection sensors are arranged along the left and right direction perpendicular to the direction of movement of the automatic traveling work vehicle, and a comparison means is used to compare the detection outputs from the metal detection sensors, and the detection output reaches the maximum value. 2. The automatic traveling work vehicle guiding device according to claim 1, further comprising a determining means for determining the amount of deviation between the metal detection sensor and the automatic traveling work vehicle.