JP7018831B2 - Work vehicle - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a work vehicle that performs work while autonomously traveling.

Conventionally, a technique for autonomously traveling a vehicle has been used. As an example of such an autonomously traveling vehicle, for example, there is a working vehicle that travels unmanned while performing a predetermined work (for example, mowing) in a vast field. As a technique of this kind, for example, there is one described in Patent Document 1.

The unmanned traveling work vehicle described in Patent Document 1 is configured to include an electric motor mounted on a vehicle body and energized from a battery, and a prime mover mounted on the vehicle body, and the motor drives wheels to travel in a work area. While doing so, the work is performed by driving the work machine mounted on the vehicle body with an electric motor.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2013-164741

As described above, the technique described in Patent Document 1 drives a working machine mounted on a vehicle body to perform work. However, for example, when the work is mowing work as described in Patent Document 1, the work vehicle may perform the work in a place out of the reach of the user, and further, the work is performed in a state where there is no user around. Sometimes it is done. On the other hand, there may be undulations in the work area that hinder the running of the work vehicle, and if the user is not nearby, the work vehicle may ride on such undulations and may not be able to continue running. ..

Therefore, there is a demand for a work vehicle that can prevent the work vehicle from being unable to continue traveling.

The characteristic configuration of the work vehicle according to the present invention is a work vehicle that performs work while autonomously traveling, and is mounted on a vehicle body and driven by a traveling drive mechanism, and a drive wheel unit mounted on the vehicle body to perform the work. A work unit to be performed, a battery mounted on the vehicle body, a motor to which power is supplied from the battery to drive the work unit, and an inclination of the vehicle body with respect to a horizontal plane while performing the work are detected. Based on the tilt sensor, the captured image acquisition unit that acquires the captured image of the surrounding scene of the vehicle body during the work, and the detection result of the tilt sensor and at least one of the captured images. A determination unit that determines whether or not the work can be continued while the autonomous traveling is performed, and a stop unit that stops the driving of the drive wheel unit when the determination unit determines that the work cannot be continued. , The identification information acquisition that acquires the preset identification information of the rechargeable battery by the charger that can charge only the battery having the preset identification information provided in the base station that returns while traveling autonomously. The identification information determination unit for determining whether or not the preset identification information acquired by the identification information acquisition unit matches the identification information of the battery mounted on the vehicle body, and the identification information determination unit. The point is that the unit includes a permission unit that permits charging of the battery when it is determined that the preset identification information matches the identification information of the battery mounted on the vehicle body .

With such a characteristic configuration, if it is determined that the running of the work vehicle that is autonomously running cannot be continued, the autonomous running of the work vehicle can be stopped. Therefore, it is possible to ensure the safety of the work vehicle and prevent the work vehicle from being unable to continue running. Further, by avoiding the situation where the work vehicle cannot travel or enter the place where the work vehicle cannot travel, it is possible to prevent the failure or damage of each part of the work vehicle.
Further, with such a configuration, when the charger and the battery do not correspond to each other, it is possible to prevent the battery from being charged. Therefore, even if the work vehicle is stolen, the battery cannot be charged at the stolen destination, so that the theft can be prevented. Further, according to this configuration, the charger and the battery can be automatically authenticated without the user being present.

Further, it is preferable that the determination unit determines that the work cannot be continued when the inclination of the vehicle body detected by the inclination sensor becomes equal to or more than a preset value.

With such a configuration, when an unexpected movement of the work vehicle is detected, the work vehicle can be stopped immediately.

Further, it is preferable that the determination unit determines that the work cannot be continued when the distance to the object included in the captured image acquired by the captured image acquisition unit is equal to or less than a preset value.

With such a configuration, it is possible to recognize an obstacle around the work vehicle and automatically avoid a collision with the obstacle.

Further, the determination unit calculates the gradient of the planned travel location located in front of the traveling direction based on the captured image acquired by the captured image acquisition unit, and when the gradient is equal to or higher than a preset value, It is preferable to determine that the work cannot be continued.

With such a configuration, for example, when the slope in front of the work vehicle is steep, it is possible to prevent the vehicle from entering the steep slope. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the work vehicle from getting stuck or tipping over.

It is a side view of a work vehicle. It is a top view of a work vehicle. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the main part of a work vehicle schematically. It is a figure which showed the judgment example by the judgment part. It is a figure which showed the judgment example by the judgment part. It is a figure which showed the judgment example by the judgment part. It is a figure which showed about the charge of a battery.

The work vehicle according to the present invention is configured to avoid being unable to continue traveling. The work vehicle performs the work while autonomously traveling, but in the following, the lawn mowing work will be described as an example of the work performed by the work vehicle. Here, the "autonomous traveling" according to the present embodiment means an object (for example, an object (for example, a sensor output, an image captured by a camera, etc.) along a traveling path set based on the output of a device mounted on a work vehicle. For example, driving while avoiding obstacles). Such a work vehicle corresponds to a so-called autonomous robot.

FIG. 1 shows a side view of the work vehicle 1 according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 2 shows a plan view of the work vehicle 1. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the work vehicle 1 includes wheels 2 and a machine body 3. The wheel 2 is composed of a first wheel 2A (an example of a drive wheel unit) on one end side in the vehicle length direction and a second wheel 2B on the other end side in the vehicle length direction. The first wheel 2A and the second wheel 2B are provided in pairs on the left and right along the width direction of the vehicle body, respectively. In the present embodiment, the first wheel 2A is configured as a drive wheel and a steering wheel provided on the rear side in the traveling direction of the work vehicle 1, and is driven by a travel control device 10 described later. The second wheel 2B is configured as a so-called caster wheel provided on the front side in the traveling direction of the work vehicle 1. Therefore, when the left and right wheels of the first wheel 2A are rotating in the same direction at a constant speed, the vehicle travels straight, and when the left and right wheels of the first wheel 2A are rotating in the same direction at different speeds. Is in a state of being steered to the slower speed side of the left and right wheels of the first wheel 2A. Further, when the left and right wheels of the first wheel 2A rotate at a constant speed in different directions, the work vehicle 1 can rotate on the spot. It has been described that the first wheel 2A and the second wheel 2B are provided in pairs on the left and right along the width direction of the vehicle body, but this is an example. For example, the first wheel 2A and the second wheel 2B are provided according to the size of the vehicle body. It is possible to configure the two wheels 2B so that the numbers are different from each other, or it is possible to configure each of the two wheels 2B to have one or three or more.

The machine body 3 includes a pair of motors 4 that are power sources for the first wheels 2A, a battery 5 that stores electric power to supply electric power to the electric devices of the motor 4 and the work vehicle 1, and a travel that controls the running of the work vehicle 1. A motor 6 is provided, which is driven by a control device 10 (an example of a traveling drive mechanism) and a motor 6 that drives a lawn mowing device 53 (an example of a work unit) having a mowing blade 54 used for mowing, which is driven by electric power supplied from a battery 5. There is.

Further, the aircraft 3 is provided with a satellite positioning module 99 configured as a GNSS module. The satellite positioning module 99 has a satellite antenna for receiving GPS signals and GNSS signals (referred to as "GPS signals" in this embodiment). The satellite positioning module 99 can include an inertial navigation module incorporating a gyro acceleration sensor and a magnetic orientation sensor in order to complement satellite navigation. Of course, the inertial navigation module may be provided at a place different from the satellite positioning module 99. The GPS signal acquired by the satellite positioning module 99 is used for autonomous traveling of the work vehicle 1 described above.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of a main part of the work vehicle 1 of the present embodiment. The work vehicle 1 is configured to include each functional unit of the tilt sensor 21, the captured image acquisition unit 22, the determination unit 23, and the stop unit 24 in addition to the above-mentioned functional unit, and each functional unit is a traveling unit of the work vehicle 1. It is constructed with hardware, software, or both with a CPU as a core member in order to perform various processes related to control. Note that FIG. 3 also shows the above-mentioned traveling control device 10, the motor 4, and the first wheel 2A.

The tilt sensor 21 detects the tilt of the vehicle body with respect to the horizontal plane during work. In this embodiment, the work is a lawn mowing work. The inclination of the vehicle body with respect to the horizontal plane is the degree of inclination of the vehicle body with respect to the horizontal plane. Therefore, the inclination sensor 21 detects the degree of inclination of the vehicle body during the lawn mowing operation. It is preferable that such an inclination sensor 21 is configured by using, for example, a known acceleration sensor. The detection result of the tilt sensor 21 is transmitted to the determination unit 23, which will be described later.

The captured image acquisition unit 22 acquires an captured image of a scene around the vehicle body during work. The captured image of the surrounding scene of the vehicle body is an image of the surrounding scene seen from the work vehicle 1, and such a captured image is, for example, the front end portion, the rear end portion, and the left and right of the work vehicle 1. It is advisable to provide a camera at the side end of the camera and to acquire an image captured by capturing the surrounding scene with this camera. Of course, it is also possible to configure with a single camera. Such a captured image may be a still image or a moving image. The captured image acquired by the captured image acquisition unit 22 is transmitted to the determination unit 23, which will be described later.

The determination unit 23 determines whether or not the work can be continued while autonomously traveling, based on at least one of the detection result of the tilt sensor 21 and the captured image. The detection result of the tilt sensor 21 is the detection result of the tilt of the vehicle body with respect to the horizontal plane by the tilt sensor 21. The captured image is an image obtained by capturing a scene around the vehicle body acquired by the captured image acquisition unit 22. The determination unit 23 will continue in the future based on at least one of the detection result of the inclination of the vehicle body with respect to the horizontal plane by these inclination sensors 21 and the image of the surroundings of the vehicle body acquired by the captured image acquisition unit 22. Then, it is determined whether or not it is possible to drive autonomously while mowing the lawn.

It is preferable that the determination unit 23 determines that the work cannot be continued when the inclination of the vehicle body detected by the inclination sensor 21 becomes equal to or more than a preset value. The "preset value" may be set based on the value when the work vehicle 1 becomes difficult to run due to the vehicle body tilting with respect to the horizontal plane. Specifically, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, the determination unit 23 may determine that it is difficult for the work vehicle 1 to travel when the inclination of the vehicle body with respect to the horizontal plane becomes a predetermined angle θ. This makes it possible to prevent the work vehicle 1 from tipping over.

Further, the determination unit 23 can determine that the work cannot be continued when the distance to the object included in the captured image acquired by the captured image acquisition unit 22 is equal to or less than a preset value. .. The object included in the imaging may be a moving object or a stationary object, but such an object is a known image as to whether or not the captured image acquired by the captured image acquisition unit 22 includes the object. If it is determined by the recognition process and then it is determined that the captured image contains an object, the distance between the object and the work vehicle 1 may be calculated. As a result, as shown in FIG. 5, when there is, for example, a pebble 89 in front of the work vehicle 1 in the traveling direction, the work vehicle 1 can be stopped at a position in front of the work vehicle 1 by a predetermined distance.

Returning to FIG. 3, the determination unit 23 further calculates the gradient of the planned travel location located in front of the travel direction based on the captured image acquired by the captured image acquisition unit 22, and the gradient is equal to or higher than the preset value. If this is the case, it can be configured to determine that the work cannot be continued. The slope of the planned travel site located ahead in the travel direction is included in the captured image, and is an inclination with respect to the horizontal plane of the work site where the work vehicle 1 is expected to travel from now on. Such a gradient can be publicly calculated by image recognition processing. As described above, the "preset value" may be set based on the value when the work vehicle 1 becomes difficult to run due to the vehicle body tilting with respect to the horizontal plane. As a result, as shown in FIG. 6, it is possible to avoid a situation in which the work vehicle 1 is stopped before approaching a steep slope and the work vehicle 1 cannot travel because the vehicle body is tilted too much. The determination result of such a determination unit 23 is transmitted to the stop unit 24 described later.

The stop unit 24 stops the drive of the first wheel 2A when the determination unit 23 determines that the work cannot be continued. As described above, the determination result of the determination unit 23 is a result of determination based on at least one of the detection result of the tilt sensor 21 and the captured image acquired by the captured image acquisition unit 22. When the determination unit 23 transmits the result of the determination that the work vehicle 1 cannot continue to travel while mowing the lawn, the stop unit 24 transmits the motor 4 to the travel control device 10. Instruct to stop driving. According to this instruction, the motor 4 is stopped and the first wheel 2A is stopped. Therefore, the work vehicle 1 can be stopped on the spot.

When the work vehicle 1 is stopped, the operation may be suspended until the user arrives on the spot, and in the future, the direction in which the vehicle can travel is determined based on the captured image, and the vehicle travels in that direction. It may be configured in.

Here, the work vehicle 1 performs work while autonomously traveling (in this embodiment, lawn mowing work), but starts from the base station 200 (see FIG. 7) at the start of the work, and becomes the base station 200 after the work is completed. It is configured to go back. The work vehicle 1 is configured so that the battery 5 can be charged at the base station 200. Hereinafter, charging of the battery 5 will be described.

As shown in FIG. 7, the base station 200 in which the work vehicle 1 returns while autonomously traveling is provided with a charger 201 capable of charging the battery 5. A connection terminal 7 that can be connected to the terminal of the charger 201 is provided at the front end of the work vehicle 1, and the terminal of the charger 201 and the connection terminal 7 are fitted by moving the work vehicle 1 forward and stopping at the base station 200. It is preferable to configure it so as to do so.

In the present embodiment, the battery 5 is mounted on the work vehicle 1, and unique identification information (for example, an identification number) is set in the battery 5 in advance. The charger 201 is not configured to be able to charge any battery 5, but is configured to be able to charge only the battery 5 having preset identification information. Specifically, the identification information unique to the battery 5 may be stored, and the charger 201 may be configured to store the identification information of the battery 5 that can be charged by the charger 201.

In the present embodiment, the identification information acquisition unit 202 mounted on the work vehicle 1 acquires preset identification information of the battery 5 to which the charger 201 can be charged. That is, as described above, the charger 201 stores the identification information of the battery 5 that can be charged by the charger 201, but the identification information acquisition unit 202 stores the identification information of the charger 201. 201 acquires the identification information of the rechargeable battery 5. The acquired identification information is transmitted to the identification information determination unit 203, which will be described later.

The identification information determination unit 203 determines whether or not the preset identification information mounted on the work vehicle 1 and acquired by the identification information acquisition unit 202 matches the identification information of the battery 5 mounted on the vehicle body. .. As described above, the identification information determination unit 203 is transmitted from the identification information acquisition unit 202 to the identification information of the battery 5 that can be charged by the charger 201, which is stored in the charger 201, and is set in the battery 5. Acquires the unique identification information. The identification information determination unit 203 determines whether or not the two identification information match. The determination result is transmitted to the identification information determination unit 203 to the permission unit 204 described later.

The permission unit 204 is mounted on the work vehicle 1, and when it is determined by the identification information determination unit 203 that the identification information preset by the identification information determination unit 203 matches the identification information of the battery 5 mounted on the vehicle body, the permission unit 204 is attached to the charger 201. On the other hand, charging of the battery 5 is permitted. The permission unit 204 matches the identification information of the battery 5 that can be charged by the charger 201 and the unique identification information set in the battery 5 stored in the charger 201 from the identification information determination unit 203. When the determination result indicating that the battery is used is transmitted, the charger 201 is given permission to charge the battery 5. As a result, the battery 5 is charged.

With such a configuration, it is possible to prevent the battery 5 from being charged with a standard inappropriate for charging. Further, for example, even if the work vehicle 1 is stolen, the battery 5 cannot be charged at the stolen destination, so that the use of the work vehicle 1 can be hindered. Therefore, theft can be prevented.

[Other embodiments]
In the above embodiment, the work vehicle 1 has been described as being driven by the motor 4, but the work vehicle 1 can be driven by an engine, or can be driven by both the motor 4 and the engine.

In the above embodiment, the identification information acquisition unit 202, the identification information determination unit 203, and the permission unit 204 are described as being mounted on the work vehicle 1, but the identification information acquisition unit 202, the identification information determination unit 203, and the permission unit 204 are all mounted. Can be configured to be provided in the base station 200, or at least a part thereof can be configured to be provided in the base station 200.

In the above embodiment, the work has been described as a lawn mowing work, but other work may be used.

The present invention can be used for a work vehicle that works while autonomously traveling.

1: Work vehicle 2A: First wheel (driving wheel unit)
5: Battery 6: Motor 10: Travel control device (travel drive mechanism)
21: Tilt sensor 22: Captured image acquisition unit 23: Judgment unit 24: Stop unit 53: Grass mowing device (working unit)
200: Base station 201: Charger 202: Identification information acquisition unit 203: Identification information determination unit 204: Permit unit

Claims (4)

It is a work vehicle that works while driving autonomously.
A drive wheel unit mounted on the vehicle body and driven by a traveling drive mechanism,
A work unit mounted on the vehicle body and performing the work,
The battery mounted on the vehicle body and
A motor that is powered by the battery and drives the work unit,
An inclination sensor that detects the inclination of the vehicle body with respect to the horizontal plane while performing the above work, and
An image capture image acquisition unit that acquires an image captured by capturing a scene around the vehicle body during the work.
A determination unit for determining whether or not the work while autonomously traveling can be continued based on the detection result of the inclination sensor and at least one of the captured images.
A stop unit for stopping the driving of the drive wheel unit when the determination unit determines that the work cannot be continued.
An identification information acquisition unit that acquires the preset identification information of a battery that can be charged by a charger that can charge only the battery having preset identification information provided in the base station that returns while traveling autonomously. When,
An identification information determination unit that determines whether or not the preset identification information acquired by the identification information acquisition unit matches the identification information of the battery mounted on the vehicle body.
When the identification information determination unit determines that the preset identification information matches the identification information of the battery mounted on the vehicle body, the permission unit that permits charging of the battery and the permission unit.
A work vehicle equipped with. The work vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit determines that the work cannot be continued when the inclination of the vehicle body detected by the inclination sensor becomes equal to or more than a preset value. According to claim 1 or 2, the determination unit determines that the work cannot be continued when the distance to the object included in the captured image acquired by the captured image acquisition unit is equal to or less than a preset value. The work vehicle described. The determination unit calculates the gradient of the planned travel location located in front of the traveling direction based on the captured image acquired by the captured image acquisition unit, and when the gradient is equal to or higher than a preset value, the operation is performed. The work vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein it is determined that the vehicle cannot be continued.

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