JP2910244B2 - Unmanned traveling work vehicle - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an unmanned traveling lawn mower which performs straight-line control and turning control of a section taught by an operator based on detection values of various sensors, and in particular, automatically works.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as this type of lawn mower, a riding lawn mower in which an operator operates on a vehicle body or a walking lawn mower in which an operator stands on the ground and operates the vehicle body is known.

[0003]

The conventional lawn mower requires manual operation since the operator performs the operation of driving and mowing, and must be performed by a person skilled in the operation. Therefore, if the operator instructs a predetermined section, a technical problem to be solved arises in order to be able to perform the work automatically without any trouble,
An object of the present invention is to solve this problem.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been proposed in order to achieve the above object, and detects the running of a vehicle body.
The moving distance sensor that emits and the one that detects the traveling direction of the vehicle body
Equipped with a position sensor and a control unit that switches the forward / backward direction of the vehicle.
The section taught by the operator is controlled by straight-ahead control and turning control.
An unmanned traveling work vehicle traveling while performing
The traveling work vehicle detects the slip state of the vehicle body when turning
Detecting means for detecting a slip state of the vehicle body.
Switch the vehicle forward or backward slightly when
After that, start turning again so that the car can turn
It is intended to provide a configured unmanned traveling work vehicle.

[0005]

The left and right drive wheels are driven separately by independent motors, respectively, to move the vehicle forward and backward and to turn left and right. The direction of travel of the vehicle is detected by a direction sensor,
The traveling direction of the vehicle body is corrected by a command from the control means. The moving distance of the vehicle body is calculated based on the number of rotations of the moving distance sensor, and the vehicle body turns at a point where the vehicle travels from one end to the other end of each side of the section taught by the operator. This and
Slips on the drive wheels due to turf conditions, uneven terrain, etc.
May occur. In such a case, temporarily stop turning.
And move the unmanned traveling lawn mower forward or backward slightly, and then turn it again.
The times are performed. Thus, the turning operation is performed smoothly.
You.

[0006] Thus, the lawn mowing operation is performed while traveling unattended in the taught section.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. For convenience of explanation, the related items are the same.
It will be explained sometimes. FIGS. 1 and 2 show an unmanned traveling lawn mower 1 in which drive wheel motors 3 and 4 are fixed at front left and right positions of a vehicle body 2 and drive wheels 5 and 6 are respectively attached to the respective motors.
Attach. The drive wheel motors 3 and 4 can be driven separately on the left and right sides, and the left and right drive wheels 5 and 6 are independently rotated forward or reverse.

[0008] An engine 7 is mounted in the center of the vehicle body 2.
The blade 8 exposed on the lower surface of the vehicle body 2 is rotated to cut grass, and an alternator 9 provided above the engine 7 is driven to generate power. A blade clutch 10 provided on the side of the engine 7 has a blade clutch motor 11.
To turn on / off the power transmitted from the engine 7 to the blade 8.

A caster 12 is provided at the rear center position of the vehicle body 2, and the rotation of a caster turning motor 13 is reduced by a gear 14 so that the caster 12 can be turned left and right.
The rotation angle of the caster 12 is detected by a potentiometer 15. On the other hand, a moving distance sensor 16, a direction sensor 17, and an obstacle sensor 18 are provided at an intermediate position between the left and right driving wheels 5, 6. The moving distance sensor 16 is rotatably formed on the ground, and rotates with the movement of the vehicle body 2, and calculates the moving distance based on the number of rotations. The azimuth sensor 17 detects which azimuth of east, west, north and south by detecting geomagnetism. The obstacle sensor 18 emits infrared rays, ultrasonic waves, or the like, and detects an obstacle based on the reflected wave. The obstacle sensor 18 is rotated in the horizontal direction by an obstacle sensor rotation motor 19, and the obstacle sensor vertical movement motor ( (Not shown)
Is formed so that the height from the ground can be changed. The rotation angle of the obstacle sensor 18 is detected by a potentiometer 20. Reference numeral 21 denotes an inclination sensor, which detects the inclination of the vehicle body 2 on the left and right.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a control unit for controlling the motors and the sensors. The command input from the receiver is determined by the control unit based on the detection values of the sensors and the potentiometers, and the motors are operated. Then, the unmanned traveling lawn mower 1 is controlled. FIG. 4 shows the appearance of the operation panel, in which 22 is forward, 23 is backward, 24 is turning left, 25
Is an operation button for turning right. In addition, a start button 26 and a stop button 27 of the teaching process described later,
And an azimuth correction button 28.
9 displays various messages or data. 30
Is an antenna, and the command on the operation panel is
It is launched from 0 and received by the receiver shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 shows a field, in which an unmanned traveling lawn mower 1 performs lawn mowing work in a section formed by two vertical and horizontal sides. FIG. 6 is a flow chart of the main processing routine. Referring to FIG.
1, the unmanned traveling lawn mower 1 is set in a direction along the vertical side.
Then, it is checked whether or not the correction of the azimuth sensor has been completed (step 101). If the correction has not been completed, the azimuth correction has been performed (step 102). If the correction has been completed, whether or not teaching has been performed. Is checked (step 103).

Here, the teaching will be briefly described. The unmanned traveling lawnmower 1 travels from the corner P1 to the corner P2 in the reference direction from the corner P1 to the corner P2 on the vertical side 31 of the field indicated by the solid line in FIG. The vertical side distance Y is measured by a sensor.
Then, at the corner P2, 90 degrees counterclockwise from the reference direction in the figure.
°, the vehicle travels along the side 32 of the field indicated by the solid line from the corner P2 to the corner P3, and the lateral distance X is detected by the moving distance sensor.
Is measured, and the area of the section in which lawn mowing should be performed is instructed to the unmanned traveling lawn mower 1.

If the teaching is not completed in step 103, a teaching process is performed (step 10).
4) When the teaching is completed, an obstacle around the vehicle body is checked by the obstacle sensor (step 1).
05). If an obstacle is found, an obstacle avoidance process is performed (step 106), and if there is no obstacle, step 10 is executed.
Check whether or not to go straight at 7. When the vehicle can go straight, the vehicle body is not steered by the straight traveling control (step 108). When the vehicle cannot go straight, it is checked whether or not to turn (step 109). When turning, the vehicle body is turned by 90 ° by turning control (step 110), and when moving the cutting width, the process proceeds from step 111 to step 112 to perform a cutting width moving process.

It is checked whether or not unmanned traveling has been completed through the above processing (step 113). When traveling in the designated section of the field has been completed, normal stop processing is performed (step 114). If not, after performing the system abnormal stop processing (step 115), step 1
Return to 01. Next, the teaching process will be described in more detail. As shown in the flowchart of FIG. 7, it is checked whether or not the azimuth correction has been performed at the start of the teaching process (step 201), and the teaching process cannot be started until the azimuth correction is performed (step 202). The teaching process is started from the corner P1 of the field, and the vertical side distance is measured first (steps 205 to 215). When both the left and right drive wheels 5 and 6 are rotated forward and the blade clutch 10 is turned on (steps 207 and 208), the unmanned traveling lawn mower 1 cuts while traveling forward along the vertical side 31 of the field. Work on. At this time, the current azimuth is calculated several times by the azimuth sensor 17 every time the vehicle travels for a certain distance, and the average value thereof is set as the reference azimuth (steps 209 and 21).
0). Then, the vehicle advances while correcting the direction to follow the reference azimuth (step 211). When reaching the corner P2, the vertical side distance Y is measured, saved in the memory, and the vertical side distance measurement ends (step 212). 215). Corner P2
Then, the blade clutch 1
0 is set to "OFF" to perform a manual turning (steps 212 and 2).
13).

As described above, after the measurement of the vertical side distance is completed, the horizontal side distance is measured (steps 216 to 22).
7). After performing the manual turning, the vehicle body is + 90 ° with respect to the reference azimuth (in FIG. 5, 90 ° counterclockwise from the reference azimuth).
The swivel control is performed to perform the turn (steps 218 and 219), and the unmanned traveling lawn mower 1 is moved to the side 32 of the field.
The mowing operation is performed while traveling forward along (steps 220 to 222). Then, the vehicle advances forward while performing a direction correction so that the vehicle body is set to the reference direction + 90 ° by the direction sensor 17 every time the vehicle travels a predetermined distance (step 22).
3), when reaching the corner P3, the lateral side distance X is measured,
The data is saved in the memory and the measurement of the lateral distance is completed (steps 224 to 227).

In this manner, the vertical side distance Y and the horizontal side distance X are measured, and the cutting width moving distance W determined by the rotating diameter of the blade 8 is also used as a reference for cutting as shown by a chain line in FIG. The number of normal stop turns until the end of the process is calculated (step 228). Then, at the corner P3, the vehicle body makes a turn at + 180 ° with respect to the reference direction (a position rotated 180 ° counterclockwise from the reference direction in FIG. 5, that is, a direction opposite to the reference direction), and the teaching process ends. (Steps 229 to 234). In the above teaching process,
The operator sets the unmanned traveling lawn mower 1 at the corner P1 of the field in the reference direction, and then performs the straight-line control and the turning control while automatically correcting the azimuth to perform the teaching process. . In addition, when the unmanned traveling lawn mower 1 stops after the teaching start or turns at the corners P2 and P3, the blade clutch 10 is temporarily turned off, and the blade 8 is controlled not to continue rotating at the same point. I have.

In the above-described main processing routine, as shown in FIG. 8, teaching is performed from the corner P1 of the field to the corner P3 via the corner P2, and then the presence or absence of an obstacle is detected from the corner P3. The straight running control and the turning control are repeated while doing so. FIG. 9 is a flowchart of the straight-ahead control, in which the current azimuth is measured by the azimuth sensor 17 at regular intervals during the straight-ahead travel (steps 301 to 304), and the average azimuth is calculated to obtain a reference azimuth or a reference azimuth + 180 ° To correct the direction (step 305). This direction correction is performed by turning off either the left driving wheel motor 3 or the right driving wheel motor 4 and turning the vehicle body toward the turned off driving wheel. When the straight running is completed, the blade clutch 10 is turned off.
To stop the unmanned traveling lawn mower 1 and shift from the straight running control mode to the turning control mode (steps 306 to 31).
0).

If the direction is corrected at one time during the straight-ahead control, hunting occurs in the vehicle body, and there is a possibility that lawn mowing may be disturbed. Therefore, on-time control is performed for a fixed time or a fixed distance. For example, as shown in FIG. 10, one of the drive wheel motors is continuously turned on, and the other drive wheel motor is turned on for a fixed time t for each fixed distance d so that the left and right drive wheels 5 and 6 have different rotational speeds. To correct the body direction. or,
The on-time time t is varied according to the magnitude of the azimuth deviation angle,
The on-time time t may be shortened as the azimuth shift angle increases, so that abrupt direction correction may be suppressed.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of the turning control. When turning the unmanned traveling lawn mower 1, first, the left and right driving wheels 5 and 6 are temporarily stopped and the blade clutch 1 is turned off.
0 is set to "OFF", and the presence or absence of the first turn flag is checked (steps 401 to 403). For example, at the point P4 in FIG.
From 3, the process proceeds to step 406, and since the counter of the number of turns for turning is 1, in step 407, the left driving wheel is reversed and the right driving wheel is rotated forward until the current direction becomes the reference direction −90 °, Turn the vehicle toward P5.

From the point P4 to the point P5, it moves by a cutting width moving process which will be described later. At the point P5, since the turning initial flag is present and the counter of the number of turns for turning is 1, the steps 403 to 410 are performed. Then, the left drive wheel is reversed and the right drive wheel is rotated forward until the current direction becomes the reference direction, and the vehicle body is turned toward the point P6. Then, 1 is subtracted from the counter of the number of normal stop turns calculated in the teaching process (step 41).
2), reset the first turn flag and shift to the straight control mode (steps 413 to 415).

From the point P5 to the point P6, the vehicle body is moved forward by the above-mentioned straight-ahead control, and at the point P6, the control is again shifted to the turning control. At this point, the process proceeds from step 401 to step 403, where the first turn flag is set again, and 1 is added to the counter of the number of turns for turning (steps 404 to 405). Accordingly, the counter of the number of turns for turning is 2, and in step 408, the current direction is set to the reference direction-
The left drive wheel is rotated forward and the right drive wheel is reversed until 90 ° is reached, and the vehicle body is turned toward the point P7.

From the point P6 to the point P7, it moves by the cutting width moving process. At the point P7, since the turning initial flag is provided and the counter of the number of turns for turning is 2,
The process proceeds from step 403 to step 411, in which the left drive wheel is rotated forward and the right drive wheel is reversed until the current azimuth becomes the reference azimuth + 180 °, and the vehicle body is turned toward the point P8.

At the turning point, the left and right drive wheels 5, 6
Is rotated in the opposite direction, and the turning center is set at substantially the center of the vehicle body. Therefore, the turning radius is extremely small and the turning operation can be performed quickly. Therefore, there is no error in the measurement of the moving distance due to the turn, and the measurement accuracy is improved. Further, when the unmanned traveling lawn mower 1 is temporarily stopped during the straight running control and the turning control, the blade clutch 10 is always turned off so that the lawn is not excessively cut at the same point.

On the other hand, in the above-mentioned turning, for example, when the blade moves from the point P4 to the point P5 by the cutting width of the blade, a cutting width moving process is performed according to the flowchart of FIG. Later, the turning control and the straight traveling control are performed again. Then, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 13, the counter of the number of normal stop turns calculated in the teaching process is checked, and when the counter becomes zero, the left and right driving wheels are stopped and the blade clutch is set to "disengage" (step 601 to 603), clear all control modes, and move on to the next operation (step 604).
605).

Here, as shown in FIG. 14, when the obstacle 33 exists in the work section, the unmanned traveling lawn mower 1 bypasses the obstacle 33 by the obstacle avoidance processing. FIG. 15 shows a flowchart of the obstacle avoidance processing. The obstacle sensor 18 checks whether the obstacle 33 is ahead (steps 701 to 705). The cutting width moving process, the straight running control, and the turning control are repeated until the obstacle is avoided (steps 706 to 716).

Thereafter, when the obstacle 33 no longer exists in front of the reference direction, the unmanned traveling lawn mower 1 moves the obstacle 33
, The obstacle avoidance return process is performed to return the vehicle body of the unmanned traveling lawn mower 1 by an amount corresponding to the obstacle avoidance moving distance K (steps 717 to 722). Then, the obstacle avoidance processing ends (steps 723 to 725). The obstacle sensor 18 can be rotated in the horizontal direction by an obstacle sensor rotation motor 19, and the height of the ground can be changed by an obstacle sensor vertical movement motor. Can be detected. Therefore, in combination with the movement distance sensor 16, the size of the obstacle 33 can be accurately detected with only one obstacle sensor 18, and the obstacle avoidance process can be performed smoothly.

FIG. 16 is a flow chart of the system abnormal stop processing. When an abnormality occurs during unmanned running in the main processing routine, the left and right drive wheels are stopped and the blade clutch is turned off to set all control modes. Is cleared (steps 801 to 814). FIG. 17 is a flowchart of the turning correction processing. When the left and right driving wheels 5 and 6 are turned in the opposite direction and turned 90 °, a slip occurs in the driving wheels 5 and 6 due to the condition of the turf, unevenness of the terrain, and the like. Sometimes. In such a case, the turning operation is temporarily interrupted, the unmanned traveling lawn mower 1 is moved forward or backward a little, and the turning operation is performed again (steps 901 to 908). At that time, if the caster is fixed in one direction, the caster acts as a brake and the turning accuracy deteriorates. However, in the present invention, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. Therefore, the caster 12 is turned to the left when the body turns right, and the caster 12 is turned to the right when the body turns left (steps 1001 to 1001).
1004), the turning operation is smooth. Therefore, the accuracy of the turning control is improved, and damage to the turf can be prevented.
When the turning operation is completed and the vehicle enters the straight traveling state, the caster 12 is returned to the straight traveling direction as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 19 (steps 1011 to 1012). Therefore, the caster 12 can be fixed in the straight traveling state without swinging left and right during the straight traveling control, so that the straightness of the vehicle body 2 can be improved.

On the other hand, when turning the unmanned traveling lawn mower 1 by turning control, if the turning is continuously performed to the target direction, the vehicle body 2 may turn too much due to inertia. When that happens,
The turning is temporarily stopped slightly before the target azimuth, the azimuth is read again after waiting for a predetermined time, and the turning is controlled. FIG. 20 is a flowchart of the turning control,
If described in conjunction with the operation diagram of FIG. 21, for example, at the point P4, since there is no turning first flag yet, step 11
From 03 to 1106, since the counter of the number of turns for turning is 1, the vehicle body is turned until the azimuth (reference azimuth -90 ° -α) slightly before the target azimuth (reference azimuth -90 °) (step) 1107). Therefore, weighting is performed for a certain period of time to reduce the inertia of the vehicle body (step 1108).
Thereafter, turning is performed until the target azimuth (reference azimuth −90 °) is reached (step 1109), thereby improving the turning accuracy. Another point P5 (steps 1114 to 111)
6) Similarly, at point P6 (steps 1110 to 1112) and at point P7 (steps 1121 to 1123), control is performed so as to temporarily stop turning slightly short of the target direction and reduce the inertia of the vehicle body. .

Here, as shown in FIG. 22, when the field is inclined, the traveling direction of the unmanned traveling lawn mower 1 gradually shifts to a lower slope side (right side in the figure) during straight traveling. .
Therefore, the inclination angle θ is detected by the inclination sensor 21 provided on the vehicle body 2, and when the inclination angle θ exceeds the fixed angles + θ ₁ and −θ ₁ within the range considered to be flat as shown in FIG.
The tilt control as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 24 is performed.

First, the inclination angle θ is detected by the inclination sensor 21.
When −θ ₁ ≦ θ ≦ + θ ₁ , it is determined that the vehicle is substantially flat, and the left and right drive wheel motors 3 and 4 are continuously turned on to continue straight traveling (step 1201).
１２０1205). When the inclination angle theta is greater than + theta _1, it is determined that the right inclined as shown in FIG. 22, FIG. 2
As shown in FIG. 5, the right drive wheel motor is continuously turned on, and the left drive wheel motor is turned on for a fixed time t. (Steps 1206 to 1215). On the other hand, when the inclination angle θ is −θ
_If it is smaller than ₁ , it is determined that the vehicle is leaning to the left, and as shown in FIG. 26, the right drive wheel motor is turned on for a certain time t, and the left drive wheel motor is continuously turned on. (Steps 1207 to 1211). The length of each of the on-time times t is appropriately changed depending on the magnitude of the inclination angle θ. Thus, in the case of the right inclination, the rotation speed of the right driving wheel 6 becomes larger than that of the left driving wheel 5 and acts so as to turn the vehicle body 2 to the left side. Keep running. On the other hand, when the vehicle is tilted leftward, the rotation speed of the left drive wheel 5 becomes larger than that of the right drive wheel 6, and the unmanned traveling lawn mower 1 is operated to turn rightward by turning the vehicle body 2 to the right. maintain. Further, the same effect can be obtained by performing the motor speed control by changing the rotation speed of the motor itself instead of the on / off control of the left and right drive wheel motors 5 and 6, and the inclination angle θ becomes the limit value. When it exceeds, control may be performed so as to stop the vehicle body to prevent the vehicle from overturning.

The present invention can be variously modified without departing from the spirit of the present invention, and it goes without saying that the present invention extends to the modified ones.

[0032]

The left and right driving wheels are driven by independent motors.
Driven separately to move the vehicle forward and backward and to the left and right
Make a turn. The direction of travel of the vehicle is detected by the direction sensor.
And correct the traveling direction of the vehicle body by the command of the control means.
You. The travel distance of the vehicle is based on the rotation speed of the travel distance sensor
Of each side of the section taught by the operator
The vehicle turns at the point where it travels from the end to the other end.
At this time, the drive wheels may not slide due to turf conditions, uneven terrain, etc.
Lips may occur. In such a case, turn
Suspend and move the unattended running lawn mower a little forward or backward,
Turn again. Thus, the turning operation can be performed smoothly.
Done. As a result, the accuracy of the turning control is improved, and
No damage is caused.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an unmanned traveling lawn mower.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the unmanned traveling lawn mower.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a control unit that controls each motor and each sensor.

FIG. 4 is a front view of an operation panel.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a work section in a field.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a main processing routine.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a teaching process.

FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a straight traveling control, a turning control, and a cutting width moving process.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of straight-ahead control.

FIG. 10 is a timing chart of straight-ahead control.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of turning control.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of a cutting width moving process.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart of a normal stop process.

FIG. 14 is a plan view illustrating an operation of avoiding an obstacle.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of an obstacle avoidance process.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart of a system abnormal stop process.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart of a turning correction process.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart of a turning caster driving process.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart of a straight caster return process.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart of another embodiment of the turning control.

FIG. 21 is a conceptual diagram illustrating another embodiment of the turning control.

FIG. 22 is a rear view of the unmanned traveling lawn mower in which a field is inclined.

FIG. 23 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an angle regarded as flat.

FIG. 24 is a flowchart of tilt control.

FIG. 25 is a timing chart of a right tilt state in the tilt control.

FIG. 26 is a timing chart of a left tilt state in tilt control.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Unmanned running lawn mower 2 Body 5, 6 Drive wheel 12 Caster 16 Moving distance sensor 17 Direction sensor 18 Obstacle sensor

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Akihiko Oka 1 Yachikura, Tobe-cho, Iyo-gun, Ehime Prefecture Iseki Agricultural Machinery Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-60-47606 (JP, A) JP-A-1-195513 (JP, A) JP-A-60-93522 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) A01B 69/00 A01D 34/64 G05D 1/02

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A moving distance sensor for detecting running of a vehicle body.
And a direction sensor for detecting the traveling direction of the vehicle, and a front of the vehicle
A control unit that switches the reverse direction is provided, and the operator teaches
In a section that has been moved while performing straight-ahead control and turning control
An unmanned traveling work vehicle, wherein the unmanned traveling work vehicle has a body turning
Having detecting means for detecting a slip state of the vehicle body at the time of turning,
When the detecting means detects a slip state of the vehicle body,
Switch to slightly forward or reverse, and then start turning again.
It is configured to be able to turn the body first
Unmanned autonomous operating vehicle to.