JPH0340842B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] The present invention is applicable to the automobile industry, machinery industry, electrical industry,
This invention relates to a light beam guiding device for unmanned vehicles developed with the aim of unmanned work and labor saving in various fields such as transportation and distribution centers.

As a light beam guiding device for an unmanned vehicle, there have conventionally been devices having the gist of the configurations described in the following [] and [].

[] A device that emits a light beam such as a laser beam to a high place that is quite far from the floor, and a mechanism that projects the light beam emitted from this device in a fan shape toward the floor along the driving line of the unmanned vehicle. is in place.

[] The unmanned vehicle side is equipped with a sensor that receives a light beam and detects the amount of lateral displacement of the vehicle body with respect to the light beam, and means that automatically controls steering based on the detection result of this sensor.

In such a conventional optical beam guiding device, the following
There were drawbacks as shown in (a), (b), and (c).

(b) If a transfer device such as a handling machine or an inspection monitoring device such as a temperature measuring device or a VTR camera is installed on the upper part of the unmanned vehicle, the sensor installation position may be affected by the transfer device, inspection monitoring device, etc. It needs to be placed in a higher position where it will not be blocked by the sensor, and a long mounting frame is required to mount the sensor, which not only makes the entire vehicle bulky but also tends to be expensive. .

(b) Since the light beam is directed toward the floor and projected in a fan shape, the projection angle inevitably increases, and as a result, the farther the unmanned vehicle is from the installation location of the light beam generator, the harder the sensor detects it. Because the time is short, especially when a scanning image sensor is used as the sensor, a complex control circuit for capturing the sensor output is required, such as a control circuit that significantly increases the scanning speed.

(c) Since there is a high possibility that the light beam will hit people's eyes,
A path structure is required to avoid the light beam, which tends to reduce work efficiency.

The present invention has an object to improve the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks by rational modification of the scanning mechanism.

The characteristic configuration of the light beam guiding device for an unmanned vehicle according to the present invention, which has been made to achieve such an object, is that the light beam generating device and the light beam emitted from this device are directed to the ground side in a direction parallel to the road surface and in a longitudinal direction. A light projection mechanism is installed that emits light along the traveling line of the unmanned vehicle in a wide parallel beam state, and the unmanned vehicle side receives the wide light beam and determines the lateral displacement of the vehicle body with respect to the light beam. The present invention is provided with a sensor for detecting the amount and a means for automatically controlling the steering based on the detection result of the sensor.

The functions and effects of the above characteristic configuration are as follows.

[Effect]

The light beam emitted from the light beam generator is turned into a wide parallel beam parallel to the traveling road surface and in the longitudinal direction by the light projection mechanism, and is projected along the traveling line of the unmanned vehicle. be illuminated. In order to drive the unmanned vehicle along this light beam, the steering of the unmanned vehicle is controlled based on the detection result of the sensor that detects the amount of lateral displacement from the light beam.

〔effect〕

(b) There is no need to install sensors on top of transfer equipment, inspection monitoring equipment, etc. as in the past, and the sensor mounting frame can also be small, making the overall vehicle body more compact and reducing costs. be able to.

(b) It becomes possible to lengthen the detection time of the sensor as much as possible, and it is possible to easily configure a control circuit for capturing the sensor output.

(c) The possibility of light beams such as laser beams hitting people's eyes is extremely low, making it possible to adopt a path configuration with the highest work efficiency.

(e) By making the light beam a wide parallel beam in the vertical direction, errors in light beam detection are less likely to occur even if the height of the sensor changes due to road surface conditions or vehicle body vibrations. .

Hereinafter, embodiments of the configuration of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, steering/running wheels 2, 2 are located at both sides in the vehicle width direction at the front and rear center of the vehicle body frame 1.
, and freely directional driven wheels 3 rotatable around a vertical axis are arranged on both sides of the vehicle body frame 1 in the vehicle width direction, thereby providing an unmanned vehicle A that can move forward and backward. It consists of

To configure a laser guiding device which is an example of such a light beam guiding device for the unmanned vehicle A, on the ground side, at both ends of the reciprocating travel line of the unmanned vehicle A, a laser beam generator 4 and this device 4 are installed. A mechanism 5 is provided which transforms the laser beam B emitted from the vehicle into a vertical slit-like wide parallel beam and projects it along the traveling line.

The light projecting mechanisms 5, 5 are each composed of a combination of two expander lenses 5A, 5B, one condensing lens 5C, and one cylindrical lens 5D.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, on the unmanned vehicle A side, the laser beam B is detected depending on which of the light receiving elements such as photodiodes arranged in parallel in the left and right directions receives the slit-shaped wide laser beam B. A light-receiving sensor 6 using a scanning photodiode array that detects the amount of lateral displacement of the aircraft relative to the aircraft, and a transmitter/receiver 7 that exchanges information such as destination data and detected travel address between a control device (not shown) on the ground side, and the above-mentioned Based on the detection signal of the sensor 6 and the input signal of the transmitter/receiver 7, the above-mentioned steering/travel is performed so that the aircraft automatically follows the laser beam B and decelerates and stops at a desired position on the travel line. ring 2,
a drive circuit 9 for motors 8, 8, which are respectively linked to motors 2 and 2;
9 and a control calculation device 10 using a microcomputer that outputs control signals.

The sensors 6 are installed at the front and rear of the vehicle body frame 1 and at the center in the vehicle width direction where the influence of rolling is least. In this way, by detecting the running state of the aircraft in relation to laser beam B at two points, front and back, it is possible to instantly detect a momentary slip on one wheel and quickly deal with it, thereby further improving the guidance performance of unmanned vehicles. can.

Further, by making the laser beam B a wide parallel beam in the vertical direction, the laser beam B can be reliably received even if the height of the sensor 6 from the ground changes due to road surface conditions, vibrations of the vehicle body, etc.

Furthermore, since the laser beam generators 4 are installed at both ends of the reciprocating travel line, it is possible to insert two unmanned vehicles A, and if only one unmanned vehicle A is traveling, it is possible to prevent people, forklifts, etc. Even if the laser beam B crosses the path, one side of the laser beam B can be detected, so
It is possible to suppress as much as possible the unmanned vehicle A from stopping unexpectedly based on the derailment signal.

Note that the width of the laser beam B does not need to be particularly narrow. Even if the width is to a certain extent, the center of the laser beam B can be determined from the detection range of the sensor 6 as shown in FIG. That is, when the distance from the end of the photodiode array 6 to one side of the laser beam B is l ₁ and the distance from the other side of the laser beam B is l ₂ , the center of the laser beam B is l ₁ +l ₂ /2. Become.

Thereby, even if the width of the laser beam B changes due to manufacturing errors, the center can be determined accurately.

Further, as the sensor 6, a solid-state imaging device such as an image sensor or a CCD may be used. In this case, as shown in FIG.
A focusing glass 11 that receives the light and a condensing lens 12 that focuses the beam image of the focusing glass 11 on the light receiving part of the element, or as shown in FIG. It is best to carry out using

FIG. 7 shows another embodiment of the light projecting mechanism 5, which is composed of a vibrating mirror 5E that scans the laser beam B in a slit shape, and a concave mirror 5F that is mirror-finished (aluminum evaporated) on cylinder glass. be.

Furthermore, other light beams such as infrared light may be used instead of laser beams.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 4 show an embodiment of the laser guidance system for an unmanned vehicle according to the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of the entire structure, FIG. 2 is a front view of the sensor, and FIG. 3 is a control system diagram. , FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the principle of calculation of the light beam center position. 5 to 7 show different embodiments, and FIGS. 5 and 6 are side views of the light receiving section, and FIG.
The figure is a side view of the light projection mechanism. A...Unmanned vehicle, 4...Light beam generator, 5...
...Lighting mechanism, 6...Sensor.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An unmanned vehicle A with a light beam generator 4 and a light beam emitted from the device 4 turned into a wide parallel beam parallel to the traveling road surface and in the longitudinal direction on the ground side.
A light projecting mechanism 5 that projects light along the traveling line of the unmanned vehicle A is provided, and a sensor 6 and a sensor that receive a wide light beam and detect the amount of lateral displacement of the vehicle body with respect to the light beam are installed on the unmanned vehicle A side. 6. A light beam guiding device for an unmanned vehicle, which is equipped with means for automatically controlling steering based on the detection result of step 6. 2. The light beam guiding device for an unmanned vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the light beam is projected from both the front and rear directions of the unmanned vehicle A, and the sensors 6 are disposed at the front and rear of the unmanned vehicle A.