JPS61817A - Guide controller of traveling object on ground - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simplify greatly the formation of a guide route by having the external guidance at the specific parts including the curve parts, crossing parts, branch parts, etc. of a driving route and performing driving control at the rectilinear parts of the route in the form of self-guidance. CONSTITUTION:Laser beam detectors 31 and 32 detect a laser beam L when they are put on an external quide route, and this detection output is supplied to an arithmetic unit 4. The device 4 calculates the variance of a traveling object on the ground from the center of the route from said detection output. If some variance is detected, the steering angle signal needed for correction is supplied to a drive/steering controller 5. Thus the traveling object is controlled to always travel at the center of an external guide route E. An input switch circuit 6 works at the entrance and the exit of the route E to switch the input of the device 4 to the output of a direction detector 8 from the output of the detector. When the traveling object is kept on a self-guide route I consisting of a rectilinear part, the device 4 always compares the output of the detector 8 with the reference data given from a memory 7 and also controls the controller 5 so that the difference is set at zero between the output of the detector 8 and said reference data. Thus the traveling object is self-guided straight with no external guidance.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (1) Field of Industrial Application This invention is a ground vehicle equipped with a drive device, a braking device, and a running/steering control device, by using a highly directional signal wave such as a laser beam. The present invention relates to a guidance control device for guiding and controlling its operation.

(2) Conventional technologies and problems Conventionally, for the above-mentioned ground vehicles, electric guidance methods using guide wires buried underground or laid on the ground surface, and reflective tapes attached to the ground surface have been used. An optical guidance method that uses reflected light from the vehicle, or a direction detector such as a gyro mounted on the vehicle and an encoder that measures the distance traveled from the point where the direction is switched, without using guidance from outside the vehicle. There are technologies that control travel according to a predetermined program based on data, but methods using guide wires and reflective tape require a great deal of cost and effort to create, maintain, and change guidance routes, and program control methods also rely on travel distance data. There were problems such as considerable errors occurring and the program having to be changed each time the route was changed.

Therefore, in order to solve such problems, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 57-64818 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 58-13921 have been proposed.
As disclosed in Publication No. 2, a technology has been proposed to automatically guide a ground moving object using a laser beam. However, in this type of known technology, a guidance route is formed over the entire length using a laser beam. Therefore, a large number of guidance equipment units consisting of laser equipment, modulators, scanning equipment, etc. must be installed along the route, which increases costs and creates problems such as the equipment for the entire route becomes complicated. be.

This invention was made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and its purpose is to provide a guidance control device for a ground vehicle that simplifies the formation of a guidance route using highly directional signal waves such as laser beams. be.

(Means for Solving Problem 31) In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, this invention provides a highly directional a guidance signal scanning means for scanning a guidance signal according to a predetermined route pattern; a guidance signal detector attached to the ground vehicle; a direction detector attached to the ground vehicle; For a while, the output of the guidance signal detector is used as a control input, and while the ground vehicle is on the self-guidance route between the two external guidance routes, the output of the direction detector is used as the control input for the travel/steering control device. 8 of the direction detector at the turning point from the external guided route to the self guided route.
The present invention provides a guidance control device for a ground vehicle, comprising: a control device mounted on a ground vehicle and having an input switching means for storing force in the storage device;

(4) Effect In the guidance and control system for a ground vehicle of the present invention having the above-described configuration, the ground vehicle is guided along a specific route portion including a curved portion, a branch portion, an intersection portion, etc. External guidance is provided by a signal supplied from the provided guidance signal scanning means to the guidance signal detector, and in the straight path portion between these specific portions, the direction is read into the storage device when transitioning to the straight path; The control device uses this as reference data to compare the output direction data of the direction detector, and controls the travel/steering control device based on the comparison result to self-guide the ground vehicle. When entering the first external guidance section, the control device performs control again using the guidance signal supplied from the guidance signal inspection means.

(5) Embodiment In FIGS. 1 and 2, the laser beam scanning device 1 scans a sharply directional laser beam L from above the road surface G on which the ground vehicle 2 runs, for example, by aligning the center line with the laser beam L. The laser beam detector 31 and the second laser beam detector 32 are incident on the attached laser beam detector 31 and the second laser beam detector 32 as a guiding signal, and the laser beam detectors 31 and 4 Draw a pattern like the solid line in the diagram. 3 and 4 show examples of branching parts and intersections of the running route of the ground vehicle, and these parts form an external guidance route E along which the ground vehicle 2 is guided by a laser beam from the outside. There is.

Furthermore, the straight line portion indicated by the dashed line I between these external guidance routes E is a self-guidance route in which the ground vehicle 2 is self-guided according to the output from the direction sensor, which will be described later, without depending on the scanning of the laser beam. be.

The straight portion 1) and the curved portion C of the external guide path E are formed by scanning the laser beam L on a plane and on a curved surface, respectively. Note that the point indicated by the symbol X in FIG.
The intersection point of the boundary beam OL is shown. Note that it is desirable that these boundary beams UL intersect on the plane S, as shown in FIG. Moreover, each scanning range forming each external guidance path E can be scanned by separately providing the laser beam scanning device 1 shown in FIG. It is also possible to take out the image and scan it. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 2, each external guidance route E is formed by a route center signal Lc indicating the center of the route, and route width signals LL and LR scanned to the left and right of the route parallel to the route center signal Lc with a constant width d. You can also do that. In this case, a pattern with a path width as shown by the broken line in FIG. 3 is formed on the plane S.

In addition, these path center signal Lc and path width signal LL
, I-H preferably contain mutually distinguishable information.

Next, an embodiment of the control system on the ground vehicle side of the guidance control device of the present invention will be described.

In FIG. 5, the first and second laser beam detectors 31 and 32 detect the laser beam L when the ground vehicle 2 is on the external guidance path 1, and the output thereof is transmitted to the arithmetic unit 4.
supplied to Then, the arithmetic unit 4 calculates the deviation of the ground vehicle 2 from the center of the route from the outputs of the two laser beam detectors 31 and 32, and if there is a deviation, uses the steering angle signal necessary to correct the deviation to control the running and steering. Supplied to device 5.

In this way, the ground vehicle 2 is controlled to always travel in the center of the external guidance route E. In addition, the calculation device 4 controls the travel/steering control device 5 according to travel control signals such as stop, increase/deceleration, etc. carried on the beam L, and also controls the travel/steering control device 5 when the ground vehicle 2 is Even if the detectors 31 and 32 do not detect the laser beam for a certain period of time before moving to the self-guidance route (see Figures 3 and 4), such as when the ground vehicle 2 deviates significantly from the guidance route E, the ground vehicle 2 is A signal for stopping is supplied to the travel/steering control device 5. Note that the path width signal LL as shown in FIG.

In embodiments using LR, the detector 31 or 32
When detects these signals, the arithmetic unit 4 supplies an output to the travel/steering control unit 5 to increase the steering angle for direction correction.

Of the aforementioned boundary beams UL, a signal for operating the input switching circuit 6 in synchronization with the boundary beams corresponding to the entrances and exits of each external guidance path E is carried, for example, a signal for operating the input switching circuit 6. When the beam detector 3I detects this input switching signal at the exit of the external guidance path E, the input switching circuit 6 is activated and causes the memory 7 to read the current output of the direction detector at the same time as the arithmetic unit 4.
control input is switched from the output of the laser-beam detectors 31 and 32 to the output of the direction detector 8. Note that a gyro or the like can be used as the direction detector 8, and instead of emitting the input switching signal in synchronization with the boundary beam UL, the input switching circuit 6 can be used as the detector 31.
and 32 do not detect a laser beam within a predetermined period of time, such as one scanning period, the control input to the arithmetic unit 4 is switched to the output of the direction detector 8, and then the detector 31
Alternatively, a circuit may be used which operates to switch the control input again to the output of the laser beam detectors 3I and 32 when the detector 32 detects a laser beam.

The output of the direction detector read into the memory 7 is supplied to the arithmetic unit 4 as reference data.

In this way, the arithmetic unit 4 detects the direction detector 8 while the ground vehicle is on the self-guidance path I (see FIGS. 3 and 4) consisting of a straight section between the two external guidance paths E. The output and the reference data from the memory 7 are constantly compared, and the running/steering control device 5 is controlled so that the difference between them becomes zero, thereby causing the ground vehicle 2 to move toward the next external guidance route E. It is self-guided to drive in a straight line without any guidance signals. When the next external guidance path E is reached, the operation of the input switching circuit 6 causes the arithmetic unit 4 to perform external guidance control again. However, if the path width signal as shown in FIG. This is effective because even if it slips a little, it is easy to catch on the next external guidance route.

The first and second laser beam detectors 31 and 32 each include a large number of detection elements 9 such as photodiodes and phototransistors arranged in an obtuse isosceles triangle, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, respectively. The bisector of the apex angle of the two triangles is the ground vehicle 2.
They are placed at the front and rear with the bottoms facing each other and aligned with the center line of the. Note that these two detectors may be attached with their triangular directions aligned with each other.

As shown in detail in FIG. It is input to the discrimination circuit 12. The discrimination circuit 12 discriminates which detection element 9 is supplied with the output, and outputs positional deviation data corresponding to the result. When the laser beam is incident on both the first and second laser beam detectors 3I and 32, the direction of the ground vehicle 2 is determined by the combination of the outputs of the detection elements at the bottom of both detectors, and the direction of the ground vehicle 2 is determined by the two-dot chain line Q. As shown, when the laser beam is incident on only one detector, for example, the first detector 31, with a large deviation, positional deviation data is output according to the combination of outputs of the detection elements on the oblique side and the bottom side. Then, the arithmetic device 4 sends a steering angle signal to the travel/steering control device 5 (FIG. 5) so that an output is always obtained from the detection elements on the center line of the two laser beam detectors 31 and 32 according to the output data of the discrimination circuit 12. supply.

(6) Effects As explained in detail above, according to the guidance control device for a ground vehicle of the present invention, external guidance using highly directional signal waves on the traveling route of a ground vehicle is performed at curved sections and at intersections. By focusing on specific parts such as the part 1 branching part, and using a self-guiding method for the straight line between these parts, the formation of the guiding path can be greatly simplified.

1 and 2 are schematic front and side views showing the signal scanning state of the external guidance route, FIGS. 3 and 4 are plan views showing examples of external guidance and route patterns, and FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control system, FIG. 6 is a layout diagram showing the position of the laser beam detector, and FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the laser beam detector and the output processing system.

1... Laser beam scanning device, 2... Ground vehicle, 31.32... Laser beam detector, 4...
Arithmetic device, 5... Travel/steering control device, 6... Input switching circuit, 7... Memo IJ-18... Direction detector,
9...Detection element, 12...Discrimination circuit, L...Laser beam, E...External guidance path, ■...Self guidance path.

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) In a guidance control device for a ground vehicle that uses highly directional signal waves to guide and control the operation of a ground vehicle equipped with a traveling drive means, a braking means, and a travel/steering control device, Guidance signal scanning means for scanning highly directional guidance signals arranged on each of a plurality of specific external guidance routes for guiding the ground vehicle from the outside according to a predetermined route pattern; and a guidance signal attached to the ground vehicle. a detector;
The direction detector installed on the ground vehicle and the output of the guidance signal detector are used as control inputs while the ground vehicle is on the external guidance path, and the direction detector installed on the ground vehicle uses the output of the guidance signal detector as a control input while the ground vehicle is on the external guidance path. While on the guidance route, the output of the direction detector is used as a control input to switch between the arithmetic unit, storage device, and the control input for controlling the running/steering control device, and from the external guidance route to the self-guidance route. a control device mounted on the ground vehicle and having an input switching means for storing the output of the direction detector in the storage device at a turning point of the ground vehicle; (2) Claim 1, wherein the guidance signal comprises a route center signal indicating the center of each external guidance route and a route width signal scanned with a constant width on both sides of the route in parallel with the route center signal.
Guidance control device for a ground vehicle as described in . (3) Two of the above-mentioned guidance signal detectors are arranged at the front and rear of the ground vehicle with their center lines aligned with each other, and each of the guidance signal detectors is arranged in the shape of an obtuse isosceles triangle and independently detects the above-mentioned guidance. It is composed of a plurality of sensing elements capable of detecting a signal, and the arithmetic unit generates a combination of the output of the sensing element on the equilateral side and the output of the sensing element on the base of each of the guided signal detectors, or two induced signals. The ground vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising means for determining the deviation of the external guidance path of the ground vehicle from the center based on a combination of the outputs of the sensing elements on the bottom side of the detector. Guidance control device.