JP2001347079A - Constitution of automatic running toy running in a zigzag among arranged poles and method of controlling the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automatic running toy performing more interesting motion than just avoiding obstacles. SOLUTION: The swiveling direction of the toy is changed when a sensor detects a pole outside the swiveling of the toy, and the toy is made to run in a zigzag among arranged poles.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic traveling toy equipped with a sensor and a control circuit to detect an obstacle and travel.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When an obstacle ahead of a traveling direction is detected by an ultrasonic sensor or an optical sensor, a U-turn is performed. By turning to the right if it is on the left, obstacles were avoided. With this control, the vehicle travels in a room or the like at random avoiding obstacles or walls.

[0003]

There is a lack of interest in the operation simply by running around avoiding obstacles, and there is no room for incorporating the competitiveness of running time.

[0004]

Means for solving the problems A control is performed in which poles are arranged side by side and zigzag is sewn between the poles, and each time a pole outside the turn is detected, the turning direction is switched to a direction turning around the detected pole. I decided to do. The outer pole detected while turning around a certain pole, that is, the next pole turning around the pole, is changed by this control, and the poles turning around the pole are switched one after another. Can be run in a zigzag pattern.

FIG. 1 shows a state in which the main body 1 moves along loci indicated by arrows 1a, 1b, 1c and 1d. 1a to 1
It turns counterclockwise around b and the pole 2a, and when it detects the pole 2b at 1b, it switches to clockwise turning from 1b to 1c. At 1c, the pole 2c is detected, and the counterclockwise turning is performed to reach 1d. As a configuration for performing this operation, a sensor capable of detecting a pole on the left and right is provided, and a traveling system capable of controlling turning to the left and right by a control circuit is controlled.

[0006] The interval between the arranged poles needs to be longer than the product of the present invention can pass through, and is also limited by the effective distance of the sensor for detecting the pole. The poles to be arranged need not necessarily be arranged in a straight line in a line as long as the interval is within the allowable range. The poles may be bent to some extent, may be looped so as to have no end, or may be forested. In addition, when the forest is established, the route that passes is not limited to the cycle but may be random.

When turning left and right, the turning may be performed at a constant curvature. However, a sensor that can identify the distance to the pole is used. In some cases, by performing control to change the curvature so as to make a small turn, an effect of position correction that allows the main body to pass near the center between the poles can be obtained.

This will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 (a)
In FIG. 2, the position of the main body 1a is shifted upward in the paper between the poles 2a and 2b, and the distance to the pole 2b is short when the pole 2b is detected in 1a. The turning radius can be reduced corresponding to this short distance, and the vehicle can move along the trajectory indicated by the arrow and pass through the main body 1b near the center between the next poles 2b and 2c. In FIG. 2B, similar pole rows 2a, 2
b and 2c show cases where the main body 1a is shifted downward in the drawing. Pole 2 when pole 2b is detected
A large turn is performed in accordance with the distance to the pole b, and the main body 1b can be passed near the center between the next poles 2b and 2c. When the curvature of the turning is constant, the pole interval is limited by the turning radius. By performing this control, the allowable range of the pole interval can be expanded.

[0009]

FIG. 3 is a side view and a top view of an embodiment of the present invention. The upper side is a side view and the lower side is a top view. Motors 6a, 6b
, And two reduction gear systems independent of each other in the gear box 5. The rotation of the motor 6a is reduced and the rotation of the tires 4a and 6b is reduced and transmitted to the tire 4b. A control circuit 9 including a microcomputer, a sensor circuit, a motor drive circuit, and the like is provided on a front surface of the gear box 5, and a caster 8 is provided behind the control circuit.
The sensors 3a and 3b are mounted on the left and right sides of the control circuit 9 so as to face diagonally forward. The battery 7 is arranged on the caster 8. The right and left, the front and the rear are to the right and left of the vehicle for the occupant of the vehicle and the forward and rearward in the traveling direction as in the front and rear. In this figure, the left is the front and the right is the rear. The complexity of the control is such that it can be performed by a dedicated logic circuit, and it is not always necessary to mount a microcomputer in the control circuit 9.

The motors 6a, 6
The currents of the pulses sent to the respective b are amplified by a motor drive circuit to drive the motors 6a and 6b. PWM control for changing the number of revolutions of the motor 6 by changing the on / off ratio of the pulse is performed. That is, the rotation of the two left and right tires 4a and 4b can be independently controlled by the control circuit 9. When the high-speed rotation speed of the outer tire 4 at the time of turning is the outer rotation speed, and the inner speed is the low-speed inner rotation speed, the right tire 4b is turned to the inner rotation speed, and the left tire 4a is turned to the outer rotation speed. That is, the vehicle turns clockwise and turns left if the rotation speeds of the left and right tires are switched. The angle of the rear caster 8 changes following the turning motion of the tires 4a and 4b.

The two sensors 3a and 3b have the same configuration.
The configuration of the sensor 3 will be described with reference to FIG. L of light emitting element
The ED 10 and the phototransistor 11 as a light receiving element are arranged in pairs. LED 10 is a super-high brightness L of visible light
The phototransistor 11, which uses an ED and has a high directivity with a narrow irradiation range, is inserted into a light-shielding cylinder 12 having a matte black inner side. The light-shielding cylinder 12 is for shielding unnecessary light from areas other than the light-receiving area of the phototransistor 11 where light spot measurement is to be performed. L
The direct light from the ED 10 is also shielded and does not enter the phototransistor 11. In this embodiment, visible light is used in view of the fascination with which light can be seen, but infrared light may be used. Infrared light is generally less affected by external light and reliability is improved. Although the LED 10 may be a laser LED that can emit a perfect parallel light beam, its necessity is low because the distance is short.

FIG. 5 shows a light beam 13 emitted from the LED 10.
It seems that the spotlight hits pole 2 and becomes a spotlight. In this state, a part of the light emitted from the LED 10 and irregularly reflected on the pole 2 returns to the phototransistor 11 and enters as a light. This return light is large when the distance between the sensor 3 and the pole 2 is short, and attenuates as the distance increases. By setting the color to a specific color that reflects the light from the LED 10 well, for example, white, and the like, the presence of the pole 2 can be detected and the distance can be identified by detecting the return light. Since the sensor 3 is mounted diagonally forward to the left and right, the light beam 13 is emitted diagonally forward, and if the pole 2 blocks the light beam 13 before that, the pole 2 can be detected.

FIG. 6 shows the operation and control of this embodiment. FIG. 6 shows an operation when the main body 1 moves as 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, and 1e while the poles 2a, 2b, and 2c are arranged. A light beam 13 emitted from the LED 10 of the sensor 3 is drawn obliquely forward from the main body 1. Although the light beam 13 actually has a width, it is omitted in this figure and is drawn by a line. Since the unnecessary one of the left and right light beams 13 is turned off, it is not emitted simultaneously from both sides.

Reference numeral 1a denotes a state where the vehicle is turning counterclockwise around the pole 2a, and a light beam 13a is emitted from the right side so that the pole 2b outside the turn can be detected. The light beam 13b hits the pole 2b from the point 1a and goes around the pole 2a to reach 1b, and its presence is detected. Here, since the role of the light beam 13 from the right side is over, it is turned off.

At 1b, control is performed to switch to clockwise turning so as to turn around the pole 2b. Simply changing the pulse duty of the PWM control between the inner rotation speed and the outer rotation speed on the left and right causes a delay in the operation until the switched rotation is stabilized due to the inertia of the conventional rotation. In order to quickly change the turning direction, the motor 6 on the outer side of the turn is accelerated and the motor 6 on the inner side is accelerated.
A certain period is provided for performing an operation of completely turning off or short-circuiting to act as a brake. It moves from 1b to 1c during this fixed period.

At a step 1c, a constant pulse duty is supplied so as to rotate clockwise at an outer rotational speed and an inner rotational speed. When the rotational speeds of the left and right tires 4 are stabilized at a constant outer rotational speed and inner rotational speed, the curvature becomes constant and the vehicle turns in a circular orbit. At 1c, emission of the light beam 13c is started from the left side so that the outer pole 2c in the clockwise direction can be detected. At this time, the pole 2a is located behind the light beam 13c, and the pole 2a is not erroneously detected. 1c
To 1d, and detects the pole 2c when the light beam 13d hits the pole 2c. Here, the same processing is performed in the form where the left and right are switched in the processing from 1b, and the processing reaches 1e. Thereafter, the same processing is repeated counterclockwise and clockwise.

FIG. 7 shows the operation when the end of the row of poles arranged in a row by the above control is reached, and the trajectory is drawn by arrows. After passing between the pole rows 2a, 2b, 2c, and 2e in a zigzag manner, detecting the terminal pole 2e and starting to turn clockwise, the clockwise turning is continued until the pole 2c is detected. When the pole 2c is detected, the turning direction is switched, and the turn is made around the pole 2e. Eventually, a zigzag pass between the pole rows repeats a reciprocating motion of folding at the end pole. The turn at the end of the pole train requires a long traveling distance, and the operation can be stopped at the end of the pole train by identifying this with a microcomputer.

In this embodiment, the rotation speed of the tire 4 is controlled by the PWM control of a one-way signal flow from the microcomputer. The number of revolutions will fluctuate, which will cause the turning radius to fluctuate.
If a photo interrupter or the like is provided to detect the rotation of the motor 6 and provide an input to the control circuit 9 so that accurate rotation speed control can be performed, the turning radius can be stabilized. In addition, the turning radius can be stabilized even when a running system including front wheels and rear wheels is used as in an automobile and a steering system in which the angle of a tire is changed using a servomotor is used.

[0019]

The operation is interesting. It can be a competition that competes for time to pass through a course where predetermined poles are arranged.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the operation of the product of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an effect of control for changing a turning radius according to a distance to a pole 2. FIG.

FIG. 3 is a side view and a top view showing the configuration of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a side view showing the configuration of the sensor 3.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an operation state of the sensor 3.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing control and operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the trajectory of the product of the present invention when the end of the pole row is reached.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Main body 2 Pole 3 Sensor 4 Tire 5 Gear box 6 Motor 7 Battery 8 Caster 9 Control circuit 10 LED 11 Phototransistor 12 Light shielding tube 13 Light beam

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A sensor (3) having a traveling system capable of controlling turning to the left and right, and detecting the presence of a pole (2) on the left and right.
When the sensor (3) outside the turn detects the pole (2) during turning, control is performed to switch the turning direction to the turning direction around the pole (2). An autonomous toy that alternates between clockwise and counterclockwise turns through zigzag. 2. A sensor (3) having a distance discriminating function with respect to a pole (2) is provided. According to the detected distance to the pole (2), a turning with a small radius is performed when the distance is short, and a turning is large when the distance is long. The self-propelled toy according to claim 1, wherein control is performed to change the curvature of the turning so as to perform the control.