JPH03219308A - Device for instructing control indication for moving vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the setting space of a sensor and labor for the execution of equip ment by displaying plural kinds of information based upon the combination of bright ness levels and display colors of plural mark chips arranged in a close state to consti tute a mark and using an image pickup means capable of simultaneously reading out the brightness levels or display colors of respective mark chips as a sensor. CONSTITUTION:The mark (m) is constituted so as to display plural kinds of information based upon the combination of the brightness levels or display colors of plural mark chips m1 to m4 and the sensor 7 is constituted as the image pickup means capable of simultaneously reading out the brightness levels or display colors of the mark chips m1 to mn. An image processor 1 connected to a control device 8 discriminates whether reference position information painted like gratings by a set color in each image pickup processing is included within an image pickup screen or not, and when the information is included, decodes control information based upon the colors and arrangement pattern of plural mark chips m1 to m4. Consequently, the setting space of the mark (m) and the mark reading sensor and labor for the execution of the equipment can be reduced.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention is characterized in that a mark for displaying control information for a moving vehicle is provided on the ground side, and an optical sensor for reading the mark is provided on the moving vehicle. The present invention relates to a control information indicating device for a mobile vehicle.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, in the above-mentioned control information indicating device for a moving vehicle, a plurality of mark pieces constituting the mark are arranged at intervals, and a mark reading sensor reads each mark piece separately. In addition, it was composed of a plurality of sensors (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-39006).

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

According to the conventional configuration, since a plurality of mark pieces constituting one mark are arranged apart from each other, there is a disadvantage that the mark installation space and the sensor installation space become large.

Furthermore, since there are a plurality of sensors, it takes time and effort to adjust the reading sensitivities of the plurality of sensors to be equal, and construction of the equipment is troublesome.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and its purpose is to reduce the installation space for marks and sensors for reading the marks, and to reduce the time and effort required for equipment construction. It is in.

[Means to solve the problem]

The control information indicating device for a moving vehicle according to the present invention is provided with a mark for displaying control information for the moving vehicle on the ground side, and an optical sensor for reading the mark is provided on the moving vehicle. Its characteristic structure is as follows.

That is, the mark is configured to display a plurality of types of information based on a combination of the brightness or display color of a plurality of marks and strips arranged in close contact, and the sensor The imaging means is configured to be able to read the brightness or display color of the mark piece at the same time.

[For production]

By configuring the mark to display multiple types of information based on a combination of the brightness or display color of multiple mark pieces arranged in close proximity, for example, if multiple mark pieces are arranged in advance, In this state, one mark can be placed in a small space. By configuring the sensor as an imaging means that can read the brightness or display color of a plurality of mark pieces at the same time, it is possible to reduce the effort of adjusting the installation position of the sensor, adjusting the sensitivity, etc.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As a result, it is possible to reduce the installation space for the mark and the sensor for reading the mark, and also to reduce the time and effort required to construct the equipment.

〔Example〕

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

As shown in FIG. 17, a line (L) for guiding a moving vehicle is provided along the traveling route of the moving vehicle (A) with intersections, and the line (L) is provided along the traveling route of the moving vehicle (A), including intersections, and marks the beginning of branching and merging at intersections. The moving vehicle (A) determines the stopping position etc. on the route.
A mark (m) for indicating the line (L) is provided on the road surface on the lateral side of the line (L). Further, a load transfer station (ST) is provided at a sideways portion of the travel route, and the moving vehicle (ST) is located at the station (ST).
For A), a ground-side communication device (14) is installed to instruct the ground-side central controller (MC) with various command information such as branching/merging directions and the next station (ST) to stop at. It is being

To explain the line (L), a line (L) for guiding moving vehicles is formed by painting a part of the road surface to a predetermined width with paint of a color different from that of the road surface. There is.

To explain the mark (m), see Figures 1 to 1.
As shown in Figure 6, it is formed into a square plate shape in plan view,
In addition, by dividing the surface into four squares and using each divided square as one mark piece, a plurality of mark pieces (at to +m4) can be arranged closely. It is configured.

By painting each of the mark pieces (m+ to +114) in a set color, a so-called Carla code that displays 16 types of code information as a whole is formed. However, basically, each mark piece (m+ to 14) constituting one mark (+s) is formed in the same color, but by changing the overall color, the plurality of mark pieces (m+ to 14) forming one mark (+s) can be Even if the mark pieces (IIll to 14) are arranged in the same way, different control information can be displayed.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 1, the boundary part of each of the mark pieces (m+ to +114) and the outer shape part of the mark (m) are
It is colored in a square shape with a color different from the color of each of the mark pieces (m, to ms), and this field-shaped display part is located at the reading position of the mark (n+), that is, the moving vehicle (A )
This allows it to be used as reference position information. The configuration of the sensor for reading the mark (m) will be described later.

To explain the mobile vehicle (^), as shown in FIGS. 17 and 18, there is a propulsion wheel that also serves as a steering wheel and is supported on the front side of the vehicle body by a steering electric motor (4) so that its direction can be changed. Wheels (2) are provided so that they can be driven and stopped by a traveling electric motor (3), and a pair of left and right driven wheels (5) are provided on the rear side of the vehicle body. The color steering control sensor (6) detects the line (L) based on the received light color, with its light receiving surface facing downward of the vehicle body,
A color image sensor (7), which is provided so as to change direction integrally with the propulsion wheel (2) and serves as an imaging means for reading the mark (m), has its imaging surface facing downward from the vehicle body, It is located at the bottom of the vehicle.

Further, a vehicle body side communication device (1b) for the ground side communication device (14) is provided in the sideways portion of the vehicle body where the station (ST) is located, and each of the sensors (6).

(7) and the communication device (l4), (l
b) A control device also serving as a steering control means (
8) is provided. In FIG. 18, (9) is a drive device for the traveling motor (3), (10) is a drive device for the steering motor (4), and (11) is a drive device for the image sensor (7). The above image information is processed to create the mark (
+n) is an image processing device for determining display contents.

To explain the steering control sensor (6), the first
As shown in FIGS. 7 to 19, the steering control sensor (6) is installed so that its widthwise center is located on the widthwise center of the line (L). .

The inner two (S) are four color sensors that output the received color information as three color signals of red, green, and blue, which constitute the three primary colors of colored light.

(S3) is located on both left and right edges of the line (L),
Moreover, the outer two pieces (Sl) and (S4) are on the line (L
) for illuminating the line (L), the floodlights (12 ) is provided.

That is, in a state where the center of the steering control sensor (6) in the vehicle width direction is located on the center of the line (L), the two inner color sensors (sz), (S
l) receives the reflected light from the line (L), and
A state in which the two outer color sensors (S, ) and (S4) do not receive reflected light from the line (L) is determined as a state in which they are properly aligned with the line (L). It has become.

In FIG. 19, (13) is the color sensor (Sυ).

(sz), (S3), (S4) amplifiers for amplifying the received light signals for each color; (14) is the amplifier (1);
An A/D converter (15) converts the output voltage for each color from A/D converter (15) to the color sensor (Sυ, (S2)) based on the output signal from the A/D converter (14).
The colors received by , (S3), and (S4) are the three primary colors (
Three pairs of color signals (R) for determining whether the color is red, green, or blue.

This is a color discrimination device that outputs (G) and (B).

To explain the color discrimination device (15), in order to eliminate fluctuations in the amount of received light, for example, the color sensor (s) input via the A/D converter (14)
, (sz), (Sol), (S4) The average amount of light received is calculated based on the sum of the three signal levels corresponding to the three primary colors (red, green, blue), etc. The color of the received light is determined based on the ratio of the signal levels.

Next, the mark (m
) reading process will be explained.

The image sensor (7) is configured to repeatedly image a predetermined range of the traveling road surface at a set period. Therefore,
Image processing bag-1 (11) connected to the control device (8)
) determines whether or not the reference position information painted in the shape of a square in the set color is present in the image capture screen by, for example, a technique such as pattern matching, for each image capture process, and determines whether or not the reference position information is present in the image capture screen. In some cases, the displayed control information is deciphered based on the color and arrangement pattern of the plurality of mark pieces (m+ to m4) constituting the mark (m).

Hereinafter, a process for automatically driving the mobile vehicle (A) based on information from the steering control sensor (6) and the image sensor (7) will be described.

First, steering control for automatically driving the mobile vehicle (^) along the line (L) will be explained.

For example, if the line (L) is colored red, three pairs of color signals (R), (G), (B) are output from the color discrimination device (15). Based on whether or not the red signal (R) is output,
The four color sensors (Sl) and (St).

It is determined whether or not each of (Sl), (Sl) is in the detection state of the red line (L), and these four color sensors (Sl), (St), (Sl),
Based on the combination of line detection states of (Sl),
The operation of the steering motor (2) is controlled so that the vehicle body is maintained along the line (L).

However, when branching or merging at the intersection, as the image sensor (7) reads the mark (+w) indicating the starting point of branching or merging, the direction corresponding to the commanded branching or merging direction is determined. , the four color sensors (S
1), (St), (Ss), and (S4).
The vehicle is steered so that it travels along either the left or right edge of L) to pass through the intersection.

To explain, the four color sensors (Sl), (
5m), (Sl), (Sl) (7) Two inside of my house (Sri.

(S,) maintains the line detection state and the outer two (S,)
l), (Sl) is driven so as to maintain the line non-detection state, since there are parts where the lines intersect at intersections, all color sensors may become line detection state, or the line may not be detected. It becomes impossible to determine which sensor to drive in. Therefore, if you travel along the left edge of the line (L), you will be able to branch or merge to the left, and if you travel along the right edge of the line (L), you will be able to branch or merge into the intersection. When passing through, the four color sensors (Sl), (Sg), (53), (Sl) 17)
Using two sensors on either the left or right side, which is the branching or merging direction, the outer sensor maintains the line non-detection state and the inner sensor maintains the line detection state. Steering control is performed by switching the combination of sensors to be used based on the information of the mark (a+) read by the image sensor (7).

Based on the information read by the image sensor (7) and the information instructed via the communication devices (I4) and (Ib), the mobile vehicle (A) is guided along the specified travel route at the intersection. The station (ST) The mobile vehicle (A) is made to travel automatically during this time, and is also able to carry out the work of transporting each load.

[Another example]

In the above embodiment, the line (L) and the mark (n) are colored to have a color configuration, but for example, it may be configured in a so-called monochrome format so that they can be read based only on the brightness of reflected light. You can. Also, mark (s+)
The number of mark pieces (-weight to mz) constituting the mark may be any number from two to more depending on the maximum setting number of control information.

Further, in the above embodiment, the case where the steering control sensor (6) and the image sensor (8) for reading the mark (lin) are separately provided is illustrated, but for example, as shown in FIG. , the mark (n+) is formed on a part of the line (L) as a mark (S,) of a different color from this line (L), so that one image sensor is used for both line detection and mark detection. You can do it like this.

Incidentally, in the case where the mark (III) formed integrally with the line (L) is a count mark provided at every predetermined distance to determine the position on the travel route or an address mark to determine the address, If the color of the mark is made white, which includes all colors that can be detected by the image sensor, the marking (s) can be made at the same time without interfering with the steering control for automatically traveling along the line (L). Information can be read.

4.Also, in the above embodiment, the case where the mobile vehicle (A) is made to travel automatically along the line (L) is illustrated, but the present invention is applicable to the case where the mobile vehicle (A) is made to travel autonomously. It is also applicable, and the specific configuration of the sensor, the mobile vehicle (A
), the specific configuration of the travel route, etc., and the specific configuration of each part necessary for carrying out the present invention can be changed in various ways.

Incidentally, although reference numerals are written in the claims section for convenient comparison with the drawings, the present invention is not limited to the structure shown in the accompanying drawings.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show an embodiment of the control information indicating device for a mobile vehicle according to the present invention, and FIGS. 1 to 16 are enlarged plan views of mark display patterns, and FIG. 17 is a schematic plan view showing the layout of a travel route. , Figure 18 is a block diagram of the control configuration, Figure 19 is a block diagram of the control configuration.
The figure is a block diagram showing the configuration of a color sensor, and FIG. 20 is an explanatory diagram of another embodiment. (7)...Sensor. (A)...Moving vehicle, (m)...Mark, (+ to m4)...
...Multiple mark pieces.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A mark (m) for displaying control information for the moving vehicle (A) is provided on the ground side, and an optical sensor (7) for reading the mark (m) is provided on the moving vehicle (A). A control information indicating device for a vehicle, the mark (m
) is a plurality of mark pieces (m_1
The sensor (7) is configured to display a plurality of types of information based on a combination of brightness or display color of the plurality of mark pieces (m_1 to m_4).
A control information indicating device for a moving vehicle, which is configured as an imaging means that can read the brightness or display color of a vehicle at the same time.