JPH07203706A - Autonomous travel working vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an autonomous travel working vehicle capable of autonomously traveling along the boundary between a worked land and an unworked land, having economic efficiency and not contaminating the worked land. CONSTITUTION:This autonomous travel working vehicle photographs the boundary part between a worked land C and an unworked land B by a CCD camera 26 with advance of a vehicle, detects a position of each ball 40 placed along a boundary L between the worked land and the unworked land in the previous working lane traveling in a photographed image picture, recognizes deviation of a body from a target position by comparing a line connecting these positions with a preset target line and autonomously travels by controlling a steering mechanism based on the recognized data. In the autonomous travel, balls 40 are newly placed on the boundary between the worked land and the unworked land at the opposite side of the advance direction of the vehicle by a ball placing device 11a (11b) to provide the next operating lane travel and the balls 40 placed on the worked land during the previous operating lane travel are recovered by a ball recovering device 20a (20b) and supplied through a ball feed pipe 25 to the ball placing device.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention detects the boundary between an unworked site and an already-worked site in a work area, and autonomously travels along the detected boundary to perform the next work lane. Regarding work vehicles.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for an autonomous vehicle that is autonomously autonomously traveling, there is a technique in which an electric wire is buried underground and a magnetic sensor detects a magnetic field generated by the electric wire as self-position detection for autonomous traveling. Although proposed (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-
No. 312610), a golf course, a river embankment, a field such as a park, etc., where an autonomous traveling area is large, such as an autonomous traveling vehicle that performs unmanned work such as mowing and lawn mowing.
It is difficult to embed the electric wire in the whole area, and the installation cost becomes large.

In order to deal with this, a boundary portion between an unworked site as an unprocessed work site and an already worked site as a processed work site is imaged by an image pickup means such as a monitor camera, and the imaged image is taken. An autonomous traveling work vehicle has been developed which detects a boundary position from the vehicle and autonomously travels along the boundary to perform the work of the next work lane.

Regarding this boundary detection, JP-A-61-1
In Japanese Patent No. 39304, a boundary portion is imaged by a monitor camera, the imaged image is binarized by an average lightness difference, binarization is performed, the positive and negative signs of a differential value are detected, and the sign is compared with a traveling direction of a vehicle. A technology for identifying whether a work / unworked / boundary or an unworked / worked / boundary is found, finding only a boundary required in the current work process, and autonomously traveling along the boundary is disclosed. .

[0005]

However, in the copying traveling by the image processing as in the above-mentioned prior art example, the lightness difference at the boundary between the unworked site and the already-worked site may occur under a light amount such as cloudy weather. However, if the boundary between the already-worked site and the not-worked site is detected based on this difference in brightness, an erroneous detection occurs, which makes it difficult to follow along the boundary between the already-worked site and the unworked site.

To cope with this, white powder having a large difference in brightness from the work site, for example, lime powder, is sprayed on the boundary between the already-worked site and the unworked site at the time of traveling work, and at the time of the next work lane traveling. ,
In the image of the boundary part, the brightness difference between the work site and the white line due to the lime powder scattered along the boundary is large, so the white line is reliably detected, and the false detection of the boundary between the already-worked site and the unworked site is possible. It is possible to prevent it, but when working in a vast work area, it is necessary to mount a large amount of lime powder on the autonomous traveling work vehicle, which causes an increase in vehicle weight and when the traveling drive source is an engine. Fuel efficiency deteriorates, power consumption increases when used as a motor, and the lime powder that has been sprayed once is wasted, which is disadvantageous in terms of economic efficiency. To pollute the, for example, an autonomous traveling work vehicle that performs cleaning work by autonomous traveling,
In a field such as a golf course, it detects a cut boundary between an already-cut land that has been used as a work site and an uncut land that has not been used as a work site, and autonomously runs along this boundary to cut grass and lawn. There is an inconvenience that cannot be applied to an autonomous traveling work vehicle or the like that performs work.

In view of the above circumstances, the present invention provides an autonomous traveling work vehicle which reliably performs autonomous traveling along the boundary between an unworked site and an already-worked site, is excellent in economic efficiency, and does not pollute the work site. The purpose is to provide.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is to image a boundary portion of a work area and an unworked area in a work area by an image pickup means, and based on the imaged image of a vehicle body with respect to the boundary position. In an autonomous work vehicle that recognizes the deviation and controls the steering mechanism based on the deviation of the vehicle body from the boundary position to follow the boundary along the boundary, in the opposite direction to the traveling direction of the vehicle Placement means for placing a sign body on the work site along the boundary of the road, and a work laser by copying traveling.
When traveling, the collecting means for collecting the marker placed on the work site during the previous traveling of the work lane, the supplying means for supplying the recovered marker to the placing means, and the boundary imaged by the imaging means. Image processing that detects the position of the sign placed on the work site from the image of the part and compares the line connecting the positions of the sign with a preset target line to recognize the deviation of the vehicle body from the target position Means and a contouring travel control means for controlling the steering mechanism based on the boundary recognition data obtained by the image processing means.

[0009] It is desirable that the surface of the above-mentioned marker be colored with a large difference in brightness from the work site.

Further, it is desirable to use a spherical body as the above-mentioned marking body, and further it is desirable to use an eccentric center of gravity ball whose center of gravity is eccentric from the center of gravity.

[0011]

In the above-mentioned autonomous traveling work vehicle, as the vehicle travels, the image of the boundary between the existing work site and the unworked site is imaged by the image pickup means, and from the imaged image, the existing work is carried out during the previous work lane travel. The position of the sign body placed on the work site along the boundary between the ground and the unworked place is detected, and the line connecting the plurality of mark body positions is compared with a preset target line to detect the position of the vehicle body relative to the target position. The shift is recognized, the steering mechanism is controlled based on this recognition data, and autonomous traveling is performed along the boundary. In addition, at this time, in preparation for the next work lane traveling, the marking means is placed by the placing means along the boundary between the existing work site and the non-work site on the side opposite to the traveling direction of the vehicle, and the previous work record is performed. The sign body placed on the work site during traveling is collected by the collecting means provided in the autonomously-operated work vehicle and supplied to the placing means via the supply means.

Further, by providing the surface of the sign with a color having a large difference in brightness from the work site, the sign can be surely recognized from the image of the boundary image.

Further, by using a sphere as a label,
It becomes easy to collect the labeled bodies and supply the labeled bodies to the mounting means. Furthermore, by using the eccentric ball as the spheres, the rolling of the spheres immediately stops when the spheres are placed on the work site, and it is appropriate. The deviation of the sphere from the position is suppressed.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The drawing shows an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 shows a D-GP.
Left and right side view of lawnmower equipped with S mobile station and D-GP
FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing the S fixed station, FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the mounting position relationship of each mechanism and device in the lawn mower, and FIG.
4 is an explanatory view showing the structure of the ball mounting device, FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing the structure of the ball collecting device, FIG. 5 is a plan view of the ball collector, and FIG. 6 is a cross section showing each mode of the eccentric gravity ball. FIG. 7, FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a control device, FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a steering system, FIG. 9 is a circuit configuration diagram of an imaging control unit, FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing a traveling route and a work area, and FIGS. 13 is a flow chart of the main control routine, FIGS. 14 and 15 are flow charts of the autonomous traveling control routines, and FIG. 16 is a D-GPS wireless communication routine.
FIG. 17 is a flow chart of the chin, FIG. 17 is an explanatory view showing the state of the first outer peripheral cutting in the work area, and FIG. 18 is a boat placed on the work site in the image taken by the CCD camera.
FIG. 19 is an explanatory view showing the relationship between a straight line approximation formula obtained from each ball position and a target straight line. FIG.
20 and 21 are explanatory views showing a captured image and a linear approximation relationship, FIG. 20 and FIG. 21 are explanatory views showing a vehicle shift state at the end of the work lane of one stroke by grass and lawn mowing work, and FIG. It is explanatory drawing of a lawn mowing work state.

In FIGS. 1 (a) and 1 (b), reference numeral 1 indicates an autonomous traveling work vehicle that is self-propelled and is unmanned. In this embodiment, it is a lawn mowing work vehicle for performing grass / lawn mowing work on a golf course or the like. Yes, in the grass / lawn mowing work area, the grass is moved along the cut mark boundary between the already-cut land (worked land) and the uncut land (unworked land).
Mow the lawn. This lawnmower vehicle 1 is driven by an engine and can control the steering angles of the front and rear wheels independently, and is a satellite radio wave for receiving a radio wave from a satellite to measure its own position. It is equipped with a receiver, dead reckoning sensor for measuring the current position based on driving history, and sensor for detecting running obstacles. A placing means for placing a body, an image capturing means for capturing an image of a boundary portion between the already-cut land and the uncut land, recognizing the marker body from the captured image, and performing a copying traveling along the cut boundary. A collecting means for collecting a marker placed on the work site during traveling of the work lane by copying traveling, a previous traveling of the work lane, and a supply for supplying the collected marker to the placing means. Means etc. are installed,
Highly accurate autonomous driving can be performed.

In the present embodiment, the satellite radio receiver is a GPS receiver for receiving radio waves from GPS satellites to measure its own position, and position observation is carried out by a fixed station arranged at a known point. So as to feed back the correction information (differential information) to the mobile station, so-called differential GPS (hereinafter abbreviated as D-GPS).
Is a mobile station GPS receiver for.

As is well known, factors of GPS positioning errors include satellite and receiver clock errors, satellite orbit errors, ionospheric radio wave delay, atmospheric radio wave delay, and multipath. In addition, the largest error factor is selectable availability (S / A)
There is a deliberate deterioration in accuracy called by the operator. Of the errors due to these factors, the in-phase error can be removed by using the correction information corresponding to each satellite captured by the fixed station at a known point, and the positioning accuracy at the mobile station is about several meters. Can be dramatically improved.

For this reason, the lawnmower vehicle 1 has an antenna 2 for a mobile station GPS receiver and an antenna 3 for a wireless communication device for receiving differential information from a fixed station.
And (3) are installed upright, and at a known location outside the vehicle,
As shown in, an antenna 51 of the fixed station GPS receiver,
Fixed station 5 with an antenna 52 of a wireless communication device for transmitting differential information to a mobile station GPS receiver
0 is placed.

As the dead reckoning sensor, a geomagnetic sensor 4 and a wheel encoder as an example of a vehicle speed sensor.
And a contactless sensor 6a, 6b such as an ultrasonic sensor or an optical sensor as the obstacle detection sensor is attached to the front and rear parts of the lawn mowing work vehicle 1. Contact type sensors 7a and 7b using micro switches or the like are attached to the front and rear ends of the lawnmower working vehicle 1.

Further, a cutting blade mechanism 9 having a plurality of cutting blades 9a such as mowers for carrying out grass / lawn mowing work is provided below the vehicle body 1a of the lawn mowing work vehicle 1, Power is transmitted to the cutting blade mechanism 9 via the PTO shaft of the transmission, a hydraulic clutch mechanism (not shown), a universal joint, etc. in the power transmission mechanism that transmits power from the vehicle-mounted engine to the front and rear wheels 10a, 10b, and transmission (not shown). The cutting blades 9a are rotated through a mechanism to cut grass and lawn.

As the above-mentioned placing means, two sets of ball placing devices 11a and 11b are provided, and the ball placing devices 11a and 1b are provided.
1b is a wheel 10b, as shown in FIG. 1 (b) and FIG.
10a and the cutting blade mechanism 15 are attached to the right side of the vehicle body 1a at positions where they do not interfere with each other, and an eccentric center of gravity ball 40 as a marking body is attached to the cut land C and the uncut land B during traveling of grass and lawn mowing work.
It is placed intermittently on the work site along the boundary L of the cut mark. As shown in FIG. 3, each ball mounting device 11a, 11b is
A ball delivery pipe 12 is provided which is fixed to the vehicle body 1a, inclines downward, and delivers an eccentricity ball 40 to the side opposite to the vehicle traveling direction. A tip end of the ball delivery pipe 12 is provided with a hinge mechanism 13 therebetween. A slop 14 is installed so that it can swing freely.
A small wheel 15 that rolls on the tip of the roller 14 while touching the work area
Is provided on the side surface, and the discharged eccentric center of gravity ball 40 is surely placed on the work site along the cut line boundary and the guide portion 14a is formed in order to improve the placement position accuracy of the ball 40. Then, the slop 14 swings in accordance with the ups and downs of the work site, and the eccentric ball 40 constantly fed is stably placed on the work site. Further, since the eccentric ball 40 is intermittently placed on the work site, a piston 17 vertically operated by a linear solenoid 16 which is operated at regular intervals is provided at the bottom of the ball delivery pipe 12 in the middle thereof. It is arranged.

In addition, at the time of grass / lawn mowing work by the forward movement F of the lawn mowing work vehicle 1, a ball placing device 11a for sending an eccentric center of gravity ball 40 to place the eccentricity ball 40 on the rear side of the vehicle is used.
At the time of grass / lawn mowing work by reverse R, the other ball placing device 11b is used. In addition, in the present embodiment, in the grass / lawn mowing work by the lawnmower work vehicle 1 following the cut boundary, the already-cut land C is always positioned on the left outer side of the vehicle body 1a. And the eccentric center of gravity ball by the ball mounting devices 11a and 11b.
As shown in FIG. 2, the mounting position of the ball 40 is a position on the inside of the wheel 40 where the wheel 40 is not trampled by the wheels 10b and 10a, and damage and scattering of the ball 40 by the cutting blade mechanism 9 is caused. In order to prevent this, it is set behind the cutting blade mechanism 9 with respect to the vehicle traveling direction.

As the recovery means, two sets of ball recovery devices 20a and 20b are provided on the left side of the vehicle body 1a (see FIG. 1).
(A), FIG. 2). During grass / lawn mowing work by copying traveling forward F, a ball collecting machine 20a that collects the ball 40 placed on the front side of the vehicle is used, and the grass by rearward R is used.・
The other ball collecting machine 20b is used during lawn mowing.
As shown in FIG. 4, each of the ball collecting devices 20a and 20b has a previous work level when the work range is traveled by copying.
The ball collector 21 that collects the eccentric ball 40 placed on the work site during traveling, and the ball 4 that collects the ball 4 by the ball collector 21.
0 is conveyed to the ball storage section 24 fixed to the vehicle body 1a,
It is composed of a screw conveyor 22 pivotably supported by a storage portion 24. The ball collector 21 is a screw
It is rotatably supported by the tip of the conveyor 22 and is grounded on the work site to rotate as the vehicle advances. As shown in FIG. 5, the ball 40 placed on the work site is mounted on the vehicle. With the guide plates 23 gathered on the ball collector 21 as it progresses,
The balls 40 gathered by the guide plate 23 are attached to the groove 21.
The screw conveyor 2 is clamped by a and is rotated by the rotation.
Transfer to 2. The ball 40 held in the groove 21a of the ball collector 21 is provided with the claw 22a of the screw conveyor 22.
It is scraped off into the screw conveyor 22 by the screw conveyor 22 and is conveyed to the ball reservoir 24 by the rotation of the screw 22b.

Here, in the grass / lawn mowing work by the traveling of the lawn mowing vehicle 1, the lawn mowing work vehicle at the time of the last work lane traveling is realized in order to realize the lawn mowing overlap amount O in order to prevent the uncut portion. Each cutting blade 9 of the cutting blade mechanism 9 with respect to the vehicle body position 1
It is necessary to drive the vehicle at a position where the lawn mowing overlap amount O is subtracted from the mowing width W by a. Therefore, from the image obtained by imaging the boundary portion between the already-cut land C and the uncut land B with the CCD camera as an image pickup means described later, the controller 60 places the image on the work site along the cut-line boundary L. Each ball 4
It is set so that the position of each ball is detected by recognizing 0 and the line connecting the ball positions is linearly approximated by a linear approximation formula, and a preset lawn mowing overlap amount O is obtained. Then, the steering mechanism is controlled so that the straight line obtained by the linear approximation formula matches the target straight line. That is, the position of the cut boundary L is indirectly recognized by detecting the position of the ball 40 placed along the cut boundary L between the already-cut land C and the uncut land B, and each ball is recognized. By controlling the steering mechanism so that the straight line obtained by the straight line approximation formula connecting 40 and the target straight line are made to travel, the contour travel along the cut boundary L is performed.

Therefore, when the work lane travels in the copying travel, the ball mounting device 11a is used in the previous work lane travel.
The ball 40 placed on the work site is moved by the step (11b).
As shown in FIG. 2, the ball is mounted on the ball mounting device 11a (11b) parallel to the vehicle body centerline M in the front-rear direction of the lawnmower working vehicle 1 so as to be collected by the ball collecting machine 20b (20a). Outlet center line N1 and ball recovery machine 20a (20
Width Q with groove 21a centerline N2 of ball collector 21 in b)
Is set to a value similar to the value obtained by subtracting the overlap amount O from the cutting width W.

Further, in order to supply the eccentric center of gravity balls 40 stored in each of the ball storage parts 24 to the ball mounting devices 11a and 11b, they are connected to the bottom of the storage part 24 as a supply means. Balls connected to the ball delivery pipes 12 so as to communicate with each other.
The ball supply pipe 25 rolls the eccentric center ball 40 by its own weight by setting the ball reservoir 24 side higher than the ball delivery pipe 12 side. Is configured to be supplied to the ball delivery pipe 12.

Since the eccentric center of gravity ball 40 decenters the center of gravity from the spherical center, as shown in FIG. 6 (a), one of the two resin hollow hemispheres 41a, 41b, which has a large specific gravity, such as lead, is used. , The weight 42 of iron or the like is embedded or engaged, or screwed as shown in FIG. 3B, and these hemispheres 41a and 41b can be easily joined to each other.
Further, as shown in FIG. 3C, a sphere is prepared by injecting a mixture 44 in which powder having a large specific gravity such as lead or iron is mixed into a resin adhesive (adhesive) which is cured with time into the resin hollow sphere 43. Four
It may be adapted to the automation of the eccentric center of gravity ball 40 by being configured after the adhesive is hardened in the inside of 3. Further, as shown in FIG. 3D, when forming a hollow resin spherical body, if the hollow portion 45 is eccentric by blow molding or the like and the center of gravity is eccentric with respect to the center of gravity, the eccentric center of gravity is reduced. -The rule 40 can be configured more simply.

In addition, the eccentric center of gravity ball 40 is not limited to these structures, and may be variously adopted as long as the center of gravity is eccentric from the spherical center.

The eccentric center of gravity ball 40 has a large difference in lightness with respect to the work site (green, yellowish green, dead leaf color), for example, white, on the surface thereof. , Or the difference in brightness due to the difference in brightness is surely recognized. Further, since the eccentric center of gravity ball 40 is a sphere, it can be easily collected by the collecting devices 20a, 20b, and after being collected by the collecting devices 20a, 20b, the placing device 11a, 20b can be easily mounted.
It can be supplied to 11b and is easy to handle. Further, as described above, when the positions of the balls 40 are detected by image processing and the straight line approximation formulas connecting the positions of the balls are obtained, if the balls 40 are scattered left and right, the cut boundary Although an accurate straight-line approximation formula along L cannot be obtained, the accuracy of the sprinting travel is reduced. Even if there is an inclination, the rotation immediately stops after being sent from the ball placing devices 11a and 11b to the work place and stops there, and the land is not scattered to the left and right in the vehicle advancing direction. Since it is placed at an appropriate position along the cut boundary L with the uncut land B, an accurate linear approximation formula along the cut boundary L can always be obtained, and a reduction in the copy traveling accuracy is prevented.

A CCD camera 26 using, for example, a solid-state image pickup device (CCD) is adopted as the image pickup means and is fixed to the left side surface of the vehicle body 1a of the lawnmower work vehicle 1 and is fixed to the vehicle body 1a.
Is rotatably installed on the upper end of the arm 27 extending to the left side of the arm via a rotating mechanism 28 (FIG. 1 (a),
See FIG. 2). The CCD camera 26 is rotated by a step motor 28a, which will be described later, in the rotation mechanism section 28, and is rotated and corrected to a predetermined position when the vehicle is moving forward in copying travel, and the front of the vehicle is imaged and placed on the work site. The boundary portion between the already-cut land C and the uncut land B including the ball 40 is imaged, and the boundary portion on the vehicle rear side is imaged when the vehicle travels backward in copying travel.
It is rotated once, and is similarly corrected and fixed in a predetermined position. Further, the CCD camera 26 images the boundary portion between the already-cut land C and the un-cut land B both when the vehicle is moving forward and when moving backward in copying, so that the predetermined mounting height h, the angle of view θA, and the angle of attachment θB are set. Have.

Further, as shown in FIG. 7, the lawnmower working vehicle 1 is equipped with a controller 60 composed of a plurality of microcomputers and the like.
A CD camera 26 and a sensor / actuator are connected to each other, and the control device 60 causes the control unit 60 to capture an image of an already-worked land (already-cut land C) and an unworked land (un-cut land B). From the image of the boundary part with and, the sign body (eccentric gravity ball 40) placed along the boundary (cut mark boundary L) on the work site.
And a function as an image processing means for recognizing the displacement of the vehicle body with respect to the target position by comparing a line connecting a plurality of respective marker positions with a preset target line, and this recognition data. Based on this, a function as a copy traveling control means for controlling a steering mechanism described later is realized. Further control device 6
A mobile station GPS receiver 30 and a wireless communication device 31 for receiving differential information from the fixed station 50 are connected to 0, and a self-positioning function by D-GPS, a self-positioning function by dead-reckoning navigation, and autonomous traveling are performed. It is designed to realize an autonomous traveling control function for controlling.

Specifically, the image pickup control section 61 for controlling the CCD camera 26 and processing the signals from the CCD camera 26, the detection sections for processing the signals of the respective sensors and actuators, that is, dead reckoning position detection. Part 62, DG
A PS position detector 63 and an obstacle detector 64 are provided, and the image pickup controller 61 and the detectors 62, 6 are also provided.
A traveling control unit 65 for performing traveling control and the like based on the data obtained by 3, 64, and a work data storage unit in which a work data map referred to by this traveling control unit 65 is stored. 66, a vehicle control unit 67 for performing vehicle control according to an instruction from the traveling control unit 65, and
Based on the output from the vehicle control unit 67, the lawn mower 1
A drive control unit 68, a marker control unit 69, a steering control unit 70, and a cutting blade control unit 71 are provided for driving each of the mechanical units.

In the image pickup control section 61, the CCD based on the data of the traveling direction of the vehicle at the time of copying traveling in the work area.
The step motor 2 in the rotation mechanism section 28 is used for the camera 26.
The CCD camera 26 is rotated by 8a and the rotation angle of the CCD camera 26 detected by the rotation angle sensor 29 is corrected to match a preset angle in accordance with the forward and backward movement of the vehicle to fix the image pickup direction of the CCD camera 26. The position of the eccentric gravity ball 40 placed on the work site is detected from the image of the boundary between the already-cut land C and the uncut land B captured by the camera 26, and the positions of the respective balls 40 are connected. A straight-line approximation formula is obtained, and this straight-line approximation formula data is output to the traveling control unit 65.

The dead reckoning position detecting section 62 integrates the vehicle speed detected by the wheel encoder 5 to obtain the traveling distance, and accumulates the traveling distance in correspondence with the change in the traveling direction detected by the geomagnetic sensor 4. As a result, the travel history from the reference point is calculated, the current position of the vehicle is measured, and the positioning data is output to the travel control unit 65. The sensor for recognizing the traveling direction is not limited to the geomagnetic sensor 4, and a gyro or the like may be used.

The D-GPS position detecting section 63 includes a group of GPS satellites captured through the mobile station GPS receiver 30 (at least four in the case of three-dimensional positioning and at least three in the case of two-dimensional positioning). ) Navigation Messe from 200-
In other words, the position of the vehicle is determined from the positioning information such as the satellite clock correction coefficient, orbit information, satellite calendar, and satellite placement, and the differential information received from the fixed station 50 via the wireless communication device 31. It measures with accuracy and outputs the positioning data to the traveling control unit 65.

The fixed station 50 for the D-GPS position detector 63 is a D-to which a fixed station GPS receiver 53 is connected.
GPS fixed station 54, D-GPS for transmitting differential information from this D-GPS station 54
The information transmitter 55 includes a wireless communication device 56 connected to the D-GPS information transmitter 55.

In the D-GPS fixed station section 54, the positioning information from the satellite group 200 received via the fixed station GPS receiver 53 is processed to create differential correction data. The differential correction data is converted into wireless communication packet data in the D-GPS information transmitting section 55 and transmitted via the wireless communication device 56.

In this embodiment, the D-GPS fixed station 50 is installed at an arbitrary position as a specific device for the mobile station of the lawnmower work vehicle 1. It is also possible to use an existing D-GPS fixed station equipped with a wireless station for transmitting the information, or an existing D-GPS fixed station for transmitting differential information via a communication satellite.

The obstacle detecting section 64 detects an unpredictable obstacle by the non-contact type sensors 6a, 6b and the contact type sensors 7a, 7b, and outputs a detection signal to the traveling control section 65.

In the traveling control unit 65, the image pickup control unit 6
1. Dead reckoning position detection unit 62, D-GPS position detection unit 6
Each positioning data from No. 3 is appropriately selected, the error amount between the current position of the own vehicle and the target position is calculated by referring to the work data of the work data storage unit 66, and the traveling route and the vehicle are calculated. Determine control instructions.

In this case, when moving to the work area,
The positioning accuracy in the D-GPS position detecting unit 63 is compared with a set level, and when the set level is satisfied, the positioning data from the D-GPS position detecting unit 63 is used, and when the set level is not satisfied, The autonomous traveling control is performed using the positioning data from the dead reckoning position detecting unit 62. Then, in the grass / lawn mowing work in the work area, the straight line approximation formula from the imaging control unit 61 is compared with a preset target straight line formula, and the straight line obtained by the straight line approximation formula matches the target straight line by the target straight line formula. Control the copying travel. When an obstacle is detected by the obstacle detection unit 64,
Instruct to avoid obstacles or stop the vehicle.

The work data storage unit 66 is composed of a ROM area in which fixed data is stored and a RAM area in which work data under control is stored.
Topographic data of the work area for grass and lawn mowing work in the M area
Data and terrain data of the entire area including a plurality of work areas are stored in advance. In the RAM area, as described later, in order to correct positioning data by dead reckoning, D- GPS positioning data and the like are stored.

In the vehicle control unit 67, the instruction from the traveling control unit 65 is converted into a specific control instruction amount, and the drive control unit 68, the marker control unit 69, the steering control unit 70, the cutting blade control unit 71. Output to. As a result, the drive control unit 68 causes the speed change actuator, the forward / reverse switching actuator,
A traveling control actuator 32 such as a throttle actuator or a brake actuator is controlled to control the vehicle traveling, and a hydraulic pump 33 is controlled to generate a hydraulic pressure for driving each functional unit. In the body control unit 69,
By selectively driving the linear solenoid 16 in the ball mounting devices 11a and 11b, the ball mounting devices 11a and 11
In addition to controlling the mounting of the ball as a marker on the work site by means of b, the ball is controlled via the respective hydraulic control valves 34a and 34b.
The control of the ball collecting devices 20a and 20b for collecting the balls placed on the work site is performed by supplying and shutting off the hydraulic pressure for operating the screw 22a of the screw conveyor 22 in the ball collecting devices 20a and 20b. The steering control unit 70
Then, steering control (steering amount feedback control) is performed via the front wheel steering hydraulic control valve 36a and the rear wheel steering hydraulic control valve 36b based on the outputs from the front wheel steering angle sensor 35a and the rear wheel steering angle sensor 35b. Then, the cutting blade control unit 71 controls the cutting blade mechanism 9 by operating the hydraulic clutch mechanism via the cutting blade control hydraulic control valve 37.

As shown in FIG. 8, the steering system of the lawnmower working vehicle 1 includes a hydraulic pump 33 driven by an engine E.
Is connected to a front wheel steering hydraulic control valve 36a and a rear wheel steering hydraulic control valve 36b which are controlled by the steering control section 70, and the front wheel hydraulic cylinder 38a and the rear wheel are connected to the respective hydraulic control valves 36a and 36b. Hydraulic cylinders 38b are connected to the respective hydraulic cylinders 38a, 38b.
Thus, the front wheel steering mechanism 39a and the rear wheel steering mechanism 39b are independently driven.

When the steering angles of the front and rear wheels detected by the steering angle sensors 35a and 35b attached to the steering mechanisms 39a and 39b are input to the steering control section 70,
The steering control unit 70 controls the steering mechanisms 39a and 39b through the hydraulic control valves 36a and 36b so as to eliminate the deviation between the detected steering angle and the target steering angle.

FIG. 9 shows a specific circuit configuration of the image pickup control section 61. The image pickup control section 61 has a CPU 80, a RAM 81 for holding work data, fixed data for control and control. A ROM 82 in which a program is stored, various data, and an I / O interface 83 for inputting / outputting control signals are connected to a microcomputer via a data bus 84 and an address bus 85. Configured as the center. When the traveling control unit 65 instructs the copying traveling, a control signal is output from the I / O interface 83 to the step motor 28a via the step motor drive circuit 86 based on the vehicle traveling direction data. The step motor 28a is operated to move the CCD camera 26 toward the front of the vehicle when the vehicle is moving forward so that the angle of the CCD camera 26 detected by the rotation angle sensor 29 matches a preset angle according to the vehicle moving forward. When the vehicle is moving backward, the CCD camera 26 is directed toward the vehicle rear side, and the angle detected by the rotation angle sensor 29 is corrected so as to match a preset angle according to the vehicle moving backward.
After the position of the D camera 26 is corrected and fixed, the CCD camera 26 is operated to control the image pickup, the imaged image stored in the video memory 87 is processed, and the ball 40 in the image is recognized and the ball is recognized. The position of 40 is detected, the linear approximation formula connecting the positions of the balls 40 is obtained, and the data of the linear approximation formula is output to the traveling control unit 65.

The video signal from the CCD camera 26 is amplified by the amplifier 88 and supplied to the synchronizing circuit 89 and the A / D converter 90, respectively. The synchronizing circuit 89 separates the synchronizing signal from the video signal to generate a timing signal, and the A / D
It is supplied to the converter 90 and the address control circuit 91.

The A / D converter 90 converts the video signal from the amplifier 88 into a digital image in synchronization with the timing signal and outputs it to the switching circuit 93 via the data bus 92. Further, the address control circuit 91 generates address data in synchronization with the timing signal, and the address bus 94
Is supplied to the switching circuit 93 via.

The switching circuit 93 selectively stores one of the data bus 84 and the address bus 85 on the CPU 80 side and the data bus 92 and the address bus 94 on the A / D converter 90 side in the video memory 87. While address data is being supplied from the address control circuit 91 to the switching circuit 93, the data bus 92 on the A / D converter 90 side is connected to the video memory 87 and the image data is connected. The CPU 80 is prohibited from accessing the video memory 87 during this period.

When the supply of the video signal from the CCD camera 26 is stopped and the video memory 87 of the CPU 80 can be accessed, the image data is read from the video memory 87, and this image data is read. The position of the ball 40 in the image which has been processed is detected, a straight line approximation formula connecting the positions of the balls 40 is calculated, and a straight line approximation formula from the I / O interface 83 to the traveling control unit 65 is calculated. Data is output.

The case where unmanned grass / lawn mowing work is performed on a plurality of divided work areas as shown in FIG. 10 will be described below. In this case, assuming that the lawnmower vehicle 1 is waiting at an arbitrary preparation position 100 before starting work,
The movement to the first work area 102, the grass and lawn mowing work in this work area 102, the movement from the work area 102 to the next work area 108, the grass and lawn mowing work in this work area 108, and the movement to the return position 110 It is performed autonomously according to the programs shown in FIGS.

First, in the main control routine shown in FIGS. 11 to 13, in step S101, the G-DPS is used to measure the preparation position 100 which is the current self position. For this position measurement, D-GPS positioning data such as latitude and longitude (altitude data is also added if necessary) is used as work data storage unit 6
It is performed by converting into the data of the geodetic system stored in 6. In addition, the data conversion to this geodetic system is DG
It may be performed by the PS position detection unit 63 or the travel control unit 65.

Then, in step S102, the work data
The topographical data of the first work area 102 is read out by referring to the data storage unit 66, a route 101 from the measured preparation position 100 to the work start point is generated, and the process proceeds to step S103. In step S103, the autonomous traveling control routine of FIGS. 14 and 15 described later is executed to move the vehicle to the work start position,
In step S104, the cutting blade control hydraulic control valve 37 is opened to supply the hydraulic pressure to the hydraulic clutch mechanism to operate the cutting blade 9a to start the grass / lawn mowing work. DG by referring to the work area data stored in 66
The outer periphery of the route 103 is cut along the work area by PS / dead reckoning (see FIG. 17).

That is, in step S105, the self-position is detected by D-GPS or dead reckoning during autonomous driving as in step S103 described above, and then in step S106, the work data in the work data storage unit 66 is detected. Work area 10
The amount of error from the current position with respect to the path 103 along the boundary of 2 is obtained.

Then, the process proceeds to step S107, and the step
The steering amount for each target steering angle of the front and rear wheels is determined according to the error amount obtained in S106, and in step S108, the front wheel steering mechanism is operated via the front wheel steering hydraulic control valve 36a and the rear wheel steering hydraulic control valve 36b. 39a and the rear wheel steering mechanism 39b are respectively driven, and the front wheel steering angle sensor 35a and the rear wheel steering angle sensor 35b detect the respective steering angles of the front and rear wheels 10a and 10b to perform control so as to obtain the target steering angle.

After that, the process proceeds to step S109, and it is checked whether or not the end point P0 of the outer circumference cutting in the work area has been reached from the current vehicle position based on the positioning data, and the end point P is determined.
When it has not reached 0, the process returns to the above-mentioned step S105 to continue the outer peripheral cutting work, and when it reaches the end point P0 of the outer peripheral cutting, the process proceeds from step S109 to step S110 and is stored in the work data accumulating unit 66 in advance. The vehicle direction is changed based on the set data, and only the first work lane of the route 104 in the work area travels straight at a constant speed (for example, 3 to 6 km / h) by D-GPS / dead reckoning. In order to carry out grass and lawn mowing work along the cutting line and to move along the cut mark boundary L between the already cut land C and the uncut land B from the next work lane, the ball placing device is operated to activate the marker. Center of gravity ball 40 as
Are placed on the work site.

That is, since the grass and lawn mowing work of the first work lane is performed while the vehicle is moving forward, in step S111, the eccentric gravity ball 40 is sent to the rear side of the vehicle and placed on the work site. The ball mounting device 11a is selected, and the ball mounting device 11a is selected.
Operation is started, the vehicle position is detected by D-GPS / dead reckoning in step S112, and the data set in the work data storage unit 66 is referred to in step S113 to determine the outer peripheral cutting end point. The error amount of the current self-position with respect to the straight traveling route in the section a (see FIG. 10) from P01 to the work lane terminal point P1 is obtained, and in step S114, the target steering angles of the front and rear wheels are determined according to the error amount. The steering amount with respect to is determined, and in step S115, the front and rear wheel steering mechanisms 39a and 39b are driven via the respective hydraulic pressure control valves 36a and 36b to perform control so as to obtain the target steering angle.

Then, in step S116, it is checked whether or not the work lane end point P1 has been reached from the current vehicle position based on the positioning data. If the end point P1 has not been reached, the process returns to step S112, and the vehicle travels straight ahead. The grass and lawn mowing work and the ball placing device 11a continue to place the ball on the work site, and when the work lane end point P1 is reached, the process proceeds from step S116 to step S117. Placement device 11a
Stop the operation of.

Therefore, in the first work lane, the grass and lawn mowing work is performed by the forward movement of the vehicle and straight traveling at a constant speed.
Further, at this time, the linear solenoid 16 of the ball mounting device 11a is operated at regular intervals, so that the piston 17 is vertically moved at regular intervals and the eccentric ball 40 is delivered to the rear side of the vehicle. The eccentric ball 40 is placed on the work site along the cut boundary L between the already-cut land C and the uncut land B at a predetermined interval to prepare for the next running run of the work lane. .

In this embodiment, the boundary portion between the already-cut land C and the uncut land B including the ball 40 placed on the work site is CC.
In the image captured by the D camera 26, each ball 4
Since the deviation of the vehicle body during traveling is determined based on the linear approximation formula connecting the positions of 0, D is set in the first work lane.
-It is necessary to drive in a straight line using GPS and dead reckoning.

The placement interval K between the balls placed on the work site is set by reducing the traveling speed of the vehicle or by shortening the output cycle time of the ON / OFF signal to the linear solenoid 16. If the length is set to be short, the traveling accuracy of copying based on the ball 40 as a sign is improved, but on the other hand, the required number of the balls 40 is increased and the traveling speed is increased or the linear solenoid 16 is used. When the signal output cycle time is set to be long and the mounting interval is set to be long, the required number of the balls 40 is reduced, but the copying traveling accuracy is reduced. For this reason,
The ball mounting interval K is preferably several tens of cm to several m.
Further, if the traveling speed of the lawn mowing vehicle 1 is too slow, the grass / lawn mowing work efficiency is deteriorated, and if it is too fast, uneven cutting occurs. Therefore, it is desirable that the traveling speed is about 3 to 6 km / h. The output cycle time of the ball mounting devices 11a and 11b with respect to the linear solenoid 16 is set.

Then, the end point P1 of the first work lane
In step S117, after the operation of the ball placing device 11a is stopped, the process proceeds to step S118, the vehicle shift processing is performed, the vehicle is shifted to the next work lane, and the steering mechanisms 39a and 39b are operated. Control is performed to follow the path 105 along the cut line boundary L between the already-cut land C and the uncut land by the previous grass / lawn mowing work at a constant speed (for example, 3 to 6 km / h).

Next, in step S119, the image pickup direction of the CCD camera 26 is corrected by driving the step motor 28a according to the forward / backward movement state of the lawn mowing work vehicle 1, and after correction, CC
The D camera 26 is operated. That is, when it is determined that the vehicle is in the forward direction F based on the vehicle forward / backward movement control data in the control device 60, the CCD camera 26 is moved forward of the vehicle so as to reach the set angle position preset in the work data storage unit 66. When it is determined that the vehicle is moving backward R, the CCD camera 26 is turned to the rear of the vehicle and the boundary portion between the already-cut land C and the uncut land B including the eccentricity ball 40 placed on the work site. To start imaging. As a result, the video signal from the CCD camera 26 is appropriately written in the video memory 87 as image data. Then, in step S120, whether or not the work lane of this time is the final work lane in this grass / lawn mowing work area is determined by, for example, the current vehicle position data and the work data accumulation unit. Check by comparing with the geodetic data of the work area stored in 66.

When it is determined that the current work lane is not the final work lane and there is another work lane, the process proceeds to step S121, in accordance with the forward / backward traveling state of the vehicle. When the vehicle is moving forward, only the ball recovery device 20a and the ball mounting device 11a are activated, and when moving backward, the other ball is recovered.
Only the ball collecting device 20b and the ball mounting device 11b are activated. At the final work lane (see Fig. 1
0, there is no next work lane, and there is no need to place the ball 40 as a marker on the work site. Therefore, the process proceeds to step S122, and the vehicle moves forward and backward. Only one of the ball recovery devices 20a and 20b is selected according to the state, and the operation is started.

Then, the process proceeds to step S123, where the image data of the boundary between the already-cut land C and the uncut land B imaged by the CCD camera 26 is read out from the video memory 87. Each eccentric gravity ball 4 being imaged
0 is recognized by the spherical shape of the ball 40, the difference in brightness with respect to the work site, the difference in luminance gradation, or the like (see FIG. 18A), and as shown in FIG. The center position G of all the balls 40 on the image is obtained with the lower left corner of the origin as the origin, the vertical axis of the image as Y, and the horizontal axis as X, and the least squares method or Hough transform is performed from the position G of each of these balls. Approximate straight line y = ax connecting each ball 40 by
Calculate + b.

Here, since the eccentric center of gravity ball 40 is always placed on the working ground along the cut boundary L between the already-cut land C and the uncut land B at a substantially constant interval, The straight line approximation formula connecting the balls 40 above indirectly cuts the boundary L
The position of can be recognized.

Then, the process proceeds to step S125, and the straight line obtained by the straight line approximation formula y = ax + b and the target straight line y on the image preset according to the traveling direction of the vehicle as shown by the broken line in FIG. 18 (b). = Cx + d, and the deviation amount Z and deviation angle θ of the straight line from the straight line approximation formula with respect to the target straight line
And the deviation amount Z and the deviation amount Z are used to recognize how much the vehicle body 1a is deviated in which direction. You can see if they are out of alignment.)

That is, as shown in FIGS. 19 (a) and 19 (b), the CCD camera 26 is mounted at a height h above the ground with an included angle θB, and the field of view of the work site imaged by the CCD camera 26. S, the projection line of the optical axis F on the work site is FX
Then, the projection line FX has a deviation σ1 from the camera center and is parallel to the projection line FX on the work ground straight line Lh, and the projection line FX has a deviation σ2 from the camera center at a predetermined angle θ.
The straight line La intersecting at D is obtained as image data as shown in FIG. 7C due to the influence of the spherical aberration of the lens of the CCD camera, and as shown in FIG. A straight line can be approximated on the X and Y coordinates with the origin at the lower left corner of the screen.

Therefore, in consideration of the mounting state of the CCD camera 26 to the vehicle body 1a (ground height h, angle of attachment θB, angle of view θA, etc.), the vehicle body position for obtaining a predetermined lawn mowing overlap amount O by experiments etc. in advance. Then, the CCD camera 26 captures an image of the boundary between the already-cut land C and the uncut land B including the ball 40 placed on the work site, and at this time, a straight line approximation is made by each ball 40 on the image. The straight line obtained by the formula is stored as a target straight line in the ROM area of the work data accumulating unit 66 in advance, and is obtained by the straight line approximation formula obtained from the position of each ball 40 on the image during the copying run. The steered angles of the front and rear wheels 10a and 10b are set so that the obtained straight line coincides with the target straight line.
By correcting by controlling a and 39b, a predetermined lawn mowing operation is performed along the cut line boundary L between the already-cut land C and the uncut land B.
It becomes possible to carry out grass and lawn mowing work for the next work lane by carrying out profiling with the burlap amount O.

Since the image of the target straight line is horizontally reversed when the vehicle is moving forward and when it is moving backward, it is necessary to change the target straight line when the vehicle is moving forward and when it is moving backward.

Then, based on the recognition result in step S125, the target steering angles of the front and rear wheels 10a, 10b are set in step S126 so as to correct the deviation of the vehicle body 1a. The target rudder angle is set, for example, by referring to a table stored in advance in the work data storage unit 66 using the deviation angle θ and the deviation amount Z as parameters.

Thereafter, in step S127, the signals from the front and rear wheel steering angle sensors 35a and 35b are input to calculate the steering angles of the front and rear wheels 10a and 10b, respectively.
The process proceeds to S128, in which the front wheel steering angle and the front wheel target steering angle are first compared. When it is determined that the front wheel steering angle is equal to or larger than the front wheel target steering angle, the process proceeds to step S129, the front wheel steering hydraulic control valve 36a is turned off, and the front wheel steering mechanism 39a is turned on via the front wheel hydraulic cylinder 38a. To decrease the steering angle of the front wheel 10a, and when the front wheel steering angle is smaller than the front wheel target steering angle, the process proceeds to step S130, and the front wheel steering hydraulic control valve 36a is turned on to increase the steering angle of the front wheel 10a. Control.

Next, the process proceeds to step S131, the rear wheel steering angle and the rear wheel target steering angle are compared, and if the rear wheel steering angle is equal to or larger than the rear wheel target steering angle, step S132
Then, the rear wheel steering hydraulic control valve 36b is turned off and the rear wheel steering mechanism 39b is operated via the rear wheel hydraulic cylinder 38b to reduce the steering angle of the rear wheel 10b so that the rear wheel steering angle is the target rear wheel. When the steering angle is smaller than the steering angle, the process proceeds to step S133, and conversely, the rear wheel steering hydraulic control valve 36b is turned on to control the steering angle of the rear wheel 10b to be increased. Then, in step S134, it is determined whether the preset control interval has elapsed,
Until the control interval elapses, step S127-
By repeating S134, the rudder angle feedback control is continued so that the rudder angles of the front and rear wheels 10a and 10b match the target rudder angle, and when the control interval elapses, the process proceeds to step S135, where the current position of the vehicle is, for example, Detected by the current self-positioning data, in step S136, it is judged whether or not the current vehicle position has reached the end point of this work lane, and
If it has not reached the end point of
Return to 23.

As a result, the recognition of the displacement of the vehicle body 1a with respect to the boundary of the cut mark and the steering angle control based on this displacement recognition are repeated at fixed intervals determined by the control interval, and the cut land C
The lawn mowing work vehicle 1 follows the cutting boundary B between the uncut area B and the uncut area B to perform grass / lawn mowing.

Eventually, when the work lane end point of one stroke (one row) due to the copy traveling is reached, the process proceeds from step S136 to step S137, the image pickup by the CCD camera 26 is stopped, and in step S138, it is operated at present. The operation of the ball collecting device 20a or 20b and the ball mounting device 11a or 11b which are present is stopped.

Then, in step S139, it is determined whether or not all work for one section (work area 102) has been completed from the current vehicle position. When all the work in the work area 102 has not been completed yet, the process returns to step S118, the vehicle shift processing is performed, and the grass / lawn mowing work is performed by following the traveling of the next stroke (next work lane).

As shown in FIG. 20, when the work lane end point P2 of one stroke of grass / lawn mowing work by the forward movement F of the lawn mowing work vehicle 1 is reached, the work data accumulated by the work data accumulating portion 66 is used. -Based on the control data and preset control data, in order to prevent uncut grass and grass at the end point position, the robot continues to move forward to point P3, and then moves backward from point P3 to point P2. Then, the steering mechanism 39a, 39b is controlled through the hydraulic control valves 36a, 36b and the cylinders 38a, 38b at the position P4 where the vehicle moves forward from the point P2 to the right and obtains a predetermined lawn mowing overlap amount O. So that the vehicle body 1a is in a parallel state with the previous work lane traveling, that is, each cutting blade 9
After laterally shifting the lawnmower work vehicle 1 by the amount obtained by subtracting the lawn mowing overlap amount O from the width W by a, the vehicle is set to the reverse R state, and the steps S119 to S139 are executed.
An image of the rear of the vehicle is taken by the CCD camera 26, and a linear approximation formula is obtained from the positions on the image of each ball 40 placed on the work site by the ball placing device 11a during the previous traveling of the work lane. , Each of the steering mechanisms 39a, 3a so that the straight line obtained by this straight line approximation formula coincides with the target straight line when the vehicle is moving backward.
By controlling 9b, grass and lawn mowing work is performed by following along the cut boundary L. At this time, the ball collecting device 20b collects the ball 40 placed on the work site during the previous traveling of the work lane, and the ball placing device 11b collects the next work lane. The ball 40 is newly placed on the work site along the cut trace boundary L between the already-cut land C and the uncut land B in preparation for the copying travel of FIG.

Further, as shown in FIG. 21, the lawnmower work vehicle 1
When the work lane end point P5 of one stroke of grass / lawn mowing work is reached by the reverse R, the work data accumulating unit 6 is similarly operated.
In order to prevent the grass and lawn from being left uncut at the end point position, the robot retreats to point P6 as it is, then moves forward to point P5, and moves backward from point P5 to the right rear, based on the data of No. −
At the position P7 for obtaining the barlap amount O, the steering mechanisms 39a, 39
By controlling b, the vehicle body 1a is brought into a parallel state with the previous traveling of the work lane, this time the vehicle is set in the forward traveling state, the front of the vehicle is imaged by the CCD camera 26, and the vehicle is traveled backward during the previous traveling of the work lane. -A linear approximation formula is obtained from the position on the image of each ball 40 placed by the ball placement device 11b, and steering mechanisms 39a, 39b are arranged so that the straight line obtained by this linear approximation formula coincides with the target straight line when the vehicle is moving forward. Is controlled to travel along the cut line boundary L to perform grass / lawn mowing work for this work lane. At this time, the ball 40 placed previously is collected by the ball collecting device 20a, and the ball mounting device 11a prepares a ball along the cut mark boundary L in preparation for the next work lane traveling. −
The rule 40 is newly placed on the work site.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 22, the lawn mowing work vehicle 1 travels along a line while alternately repeating forward movement and backward movement to perform grass / lawn mowing work in the work area 102.

Then, steps S118 to S139 are repeated until the work in one section (work area 102) is completed, and the grass and lawn mowing work in one section is continued by the follow-up movement by forward and backward movement, and all the work in one section is performed. When the cutting operation is completed, the cutting blade control hydraulic control valve 37 is closed to stop the operation of the cutting blade mechanism 9, and the process proceeds from step S139 to step S140 to determine whether or not the work for all the sections is completed. Here, since the work in the next work area 108 has not been completed yet, the process returns to step S102 described above, and if the route 107 from the work area 102 to the work area 108 is generated by the same procedure, the steps shown in FIGS. 1
Next work area 108 according to the autonomous traveling control routine of FIG.
Then, the grass and lawn mowing work in the work area 108 is performed.

When the work of all the sections is finished, the process proceeds from step S140 to step S141, and the work data storage unit 6
When the route 109 to the return position 110 is generated with reference to FIG. 6, the vehicle moves to the return position 110 in accordance with the autonomous traveling control routine of FIGS. 14 and 15 in step S142, ends the routine, and stops the vehicle. Let

Next, the routes 101, 103, 104 and 10 by the autonomous traveling control routine shown in FIGS.
The autonomous running in 7, 109 will be described. In the main control routine described above, the route 10 is calculated from the positioning data of the self position and the work data of the work data storage unit 66.
1, 103, 104, 107, 109 are generated, but the routes 101, 103, 104, 107, 1 are generated.
09 itself may be stored in the work data storage unit 66 in advance.

In the self-position measurement by D-GPS, much better accuracy can be obtained as compared with the case of a single GPS, but it is necessary for autonomous traveling control depending on the satellite capturing state and the radio wave receiving state. The accuracy required for timing may not be obtained. Therefore, when the current D-GPS accuracy information is obtained in step S201, in step S202
This accuracy information is compared with a prescribed position accuracy evaluation set value stored in advance in the work data storage unit 66, and step S2
At 03, it is determined whether or not the positioning accuracy of D-GPS satisfies the set level.

When the positioning accuracy of the D-GPS satisfies the set level, the process proceeds to step S204, and the moving speed of the lawnmower work vehicle 1 is set to the normal speed stored in the work data storage unit 66. (For example, 5 km / h), and in step S205, when the error amount of the vehicle position is obtained from the position information of the G-DPS and the route information, step S206
Then, the steering amounts of the front and rear wheels are determined according to the error amount.

Next, in step S207, the front wheel steering mechanism 39a and the rear wheel steering mechanism 39b are respectively driven via the front wheel steering hydraulic control valve 36a and the rear wheel steering hydraulic control valve 36b to obtain the target steering angle. Control, step S208
Then, the current position measured by D-GPS is compared with the target position, and it is determined in step S209 whether or not the target position has been reached. As a result, when the target position is not reached,
Returning to step S204, the vehicle continues traveling while positioning the current position by the D-GPS, and when the target position is reached, the vehicle is stopped and the routine is exited in step S225.

On the other hand, if the positioning accuracy of the D-GPS does not satisfy the set level in step S203, the process branches from step S203 to step S210 and the dead reckoning autonomous driving is performed. That is, in step S210, by setting the moving speed of the vehicle to the low speed (for example, 3 km / h) stored in the work data storage unit 66, the cumulative error of dead reckoning caused by the slip of the vehicle is reduced. Then, in step S211, the error amount of the vehicle position is obtained from the position information and the route information based on dead reckoning.

Next, in step S212, the steering amounts of the front and rear wheels are determined in accordance with the error amount. In step S213, the front wheel steering mechanism 39a is operated via the front wheel steering hydraulic control valve 36a and the rear wheel steering hydraulic control valve 36b. The rear wheel steering mechanism 39b is driven to control the target steering angle. Then, in step S214, the current position by dead-reckoning and the target position are compared, and in step S215, it is determined whether or not the target position has been reached.

When the target position is not reached, the process returns from step S215 to step S210 to continue autonomous traveling while positioning the current position by dead reckoning. When the target position is reached, the process proceeds from step S215 to step S216. When is stopped, the current position is measured by the D-GPS and the positioning data is stored in the RAM area of the work data storage unit 66 in step S217.

Then, the process proceeds to step S218, and the preset data accumulation set time is compared with the data accumulation time set in step S217, and it is checked in step S219 whether the set time has elapsed. . Then, when the set time has not elapsed, the process returns to step S217 to continue accumulating the positioning data by the D-GPS, and when the set time elapses, the accumulation of the positioning data by the D-GPS ends. Proceed to step S220.

In step S220, the accumulated positioning data by D-GPS is averaged, and the current position is obtained from this average value. Then, the process proceeds to step S221, the current position is compared with the target position, and in step S222. , Determine whether the true target position has been reached. As a result, when it is determined that the true target position is reached, when it is determined that the vehicle is stopped and the routine is exited in step S225 described above and the true target position is not reached, When the dead reckoning positioning data is corrected by the average value of the positioning data by D-GPS in step S223, the process proceeds to step S224, a route to the true target position is generated, and the process returns to step S210. The traveling is restarted, and the above processing is repeated until the true target position is reached.

That is, even if the positioning accuracy of the D-GPS deteriorates, the positioning accuracy can be improved by staying at a certain point and continuing the measurement for a predetermined time, which is required by the D-GPS during autonomous traveling. If the position accuracy is not obtained, the dead-reckoning navigation is performed to the target position and then stopped, and in the stopped state, the D-GPS positioning data is accumulated for a set time and the average value is taken to obtain the accurate current position. You can know. If the dead-reckoning position is displaced, the dead-reckoning positioning data is corrected by the average value of the set times of the D-GPS positioning data.
It is possible to always perform accurate autonomous driving.

Data communication between the fixed station 50 and the mobile station in D-GPS is carried out by packet data by the D-GPS wireless communication routine shown in FIG. In this data communication, the mobile station GPS receiver 30 is initialized in step S301, and the fixed station GPS receiver 53 is initialized by data transmission via the wireless communication devices 31 and 56 in step S302. , Proceeds to step S303 to obtain the differential information from the fixed station 50 by wireless data communication.

Next, in step S304, the D-GP
In the S position detection unit 63, the differential information from the fixed station 50 is applied to the positioning data obtained from the mobile station GPS receiver 30, and the differential operation is performed to measure the own vehicle position. Then, the positioning information is transmitted to the travel control unit 6
When sent to step 5, the process returns to step S303 to repeat the next data processing. In this case, the differential calculation with the fixed station 50 may be performed by a function unique to the mobile station receiver 30.

In this embodiment, in the grass and lawn mowing work, the uncut land B is always on the right side of the lawn mowing work vehicle 1 with respect to the already cut land C, and the ball collecting devices 20a, 20b and the CCD are provided. The cameras 26 are installed on the left side of the vehicle body 1a and the ball mounting devices 11a and 11b are installed on the right side of the vehicle body 1a (see FIG. 2).
On the other hand, the uncut land B may be on the left side in the forward direction (right side in the reverse direction). In this case, the ball collecting device 2
0a, 20b and the CCD camera 26 are installed on the right side of the vehicle body 1a, and the ball mounting devices 11a, 11b are installed on the left side of the vehicle body 1a.

In this embodiment, one CCD camera 2 is used.
6 includes a ball 40 placed on the work site by changing its direction in accordance with the traveling direction of the vehicle during sprinting so as to face the front of the vehicle when the vehicle moves forward and to the rear of the vehicle when the vehicle moves backward. Although the image of the boundary between the already-cut land C and the uncut land B is taken, as shown in FIGS. 23 and 24, the CCD cameras 26a, 26 are provided on the left and right sides of the vehicle body 1a, respectively.
CCD camera 26a installed on the front side of the vehicle body with b attached
As a result, the image of the boundary portion between the already-cut land C and the un-cut land B including the ball 40 placed on the work area in front of the vehicle during the forward traveling of the vehicle during copying is imaged, and the CCD camera 26 installed at the rear side.
Similarly, when the vehicle is moving backward, the image of the boundary portion behind the vehicle may be taken. In this case, a rotation mechanism section 28 for rotating the CCD camera and a step motor 28
a, the rotation angle sensor 29 becomes unnecessary, and the step motor drive circuit 86 in the image pickup control section 61 becomes unnecessary. Then, step S1 in the main control routine described above.
In 19, depending on the traveling direction of the vehicle, only the CCD camera 26a installed on the front side is operated when the vehicle is moving forward, and only the CCD camera 26b installed on the rear side is operated when driving the vehicle backward.

Further, in the present embodiment, the movement from the preparation position 100 to the work area 102, the movement between the work areas 102 and 108, the first outer peripheral cutting in each work area 102 and 108 and the work of the first work lane. Travel and work area 108
From D to GPS to the return position 110, unmanned autonomous driving is performed by D-GPS or dead reckoning. However, these may be manned.

Further, as shown in FIG. 25, in the image taken by the CCD camera 26, the positions of, for example, the two balls 40 closest to the vehicle are sequentially detected, and the two ball centers G are detected. A connecting line y is obtained, and the steering mechanism 39 is adjusted so that the line y coincides with a preset target straight line y0.
By controlling a and 39b, it becomes possible to travel along a curved boundary. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 26, in the grass / lawn mowing area, the grass / lawn mowing is cut in a spiral manner.
In this case, the grass and lawn mowing on the first circumference of the outer circumference is performed by D-GPS or dead reckoning, and the ball placing device 11 is installed along the boundary between the already-cut land C and the uncut land B. BO
The ball 40 is mounted, and the CCD camera 26 images the boundary portion including the ball 40 mounted on the work site from the second circumference onward.
As described above, by controlling the steering mechanisms 39a and 39b, it becomes possible to follow the cut boundary L. In this case, the ball 40 is formed along the cut mark boundary L behind the vehicle body in the traveling direction.
Ball mounting device 11 for mounting the vehicle, one ball collecting device 20 for collecting the ball 40 mounted in front of the vehicle traveling direction, and one CCD camera for imaging the front of the vehicle It is sufficient to fix the CCD camera 26 toward the vehicle body traveling direction because the traveling direction is always constant during the copying travel, and the rotation mechanism portion 28 for rotating the CCD camera 26 can be used. Etc. can be omitted. Also, because it travels in a circular fashion,
In the above-mentioned main control routine, the ball mounting is started at the same time as the outer circumference cutting, the operation of the ball collecting device 20 is started from the second circumference, and the straight traveling processing of steps S110 to S116, step S117, The vehicle shift process of step S118 is unnecessary, and since the CCD camera 26 is fixed, step S119 is also unnecessary. Then, since there is only one ball placing device 11 and one ball collecting device 20, step S120
Steps S122 to S122 are also unnecessary, and if it is determined in step S136 whether or not the work is completed, the process proceeds to step S137 when it is determined that the work for one section is completed, and accordingly step S139 is unnecessary.

Further, although the example applied to the lawnmower working vehicle has been described above, the present invention is not limited to this, and for example,
It is applied to an autonomous mobile work vehicle that performs cleaning work on the floor surface, etc., a sign is placed at the boundary between the already-cleaned work site and the uncleaned work site, travels along the boundary in the same manner as described above, and the work records are sequentially processed. -You can also proceed with the cleaning.

The marking body is not limited to the eccentric center of gravity ball, but may be a sphere, a cone, a cylinder, a polygon, or the like.

[0100]

As described above, according to the present invention, the image of the boundary between the existing work site and the unworked site is imaged by the image pickup device as the vehicle travels, and the previous work record is taken from the imaged image.
The position of the sign placed on the work site along the boundary between the already-worked site and the unworked site is detected during traveling, and the line connecting the positions of multiple sign objects is compared with the preset target line. The displacement of the vehicle body with respect to the target position is recognized, and the steering mechanism is controlled based on this recognition data to follow along the boundary, so that autonomous traveling is reliably carried out along the boundary between the existing work site and the unworked site. It is possible to improve the accuracy of the copy traveling and improve the workability. Further, at this time, in preparation for the next work lane traveling, the marking means is placed along the boundary between the already-worked site and the unworked site on the side opposite to the traveling direction of the vehicle by the mounting means, and the previous work is performed. Since the marker placed on the work site during lane traveling is collected by the collecting means provided in the autonomous traveling work vehicle and supplied to the above-mentioned placing means via the supplying means, it is mounted on the autonomous traveling work vehicle. The number of markings is minimal, the increase in vehicle weight is suppressed, and since the markings are used repeatedly, they are economically efficient and do not pollute the work site.

Further, by providing the surface of the sign body with a color having a large lightness difference from the work site, the sign body can be surely recognized from the image of the boundary portion, and can be used as a reference for copying travel in the picked-up image. It becomes possible to reliably detect the position of the sign body, and the accuracy of the copy traveling is improved.

Further, by using a sphere as the above-mentioned marker, it becomes easy to collect the marker placed on the work site and to supply the recovered marker to the mounting means, and it is easy to handle the marker. This can be realized by simplifying the configurations of the collecting means for collecting and the mounting means for mounting the marker on the work site.

Further, by using the eccentric ball as the sphere, the rolling of the sphere immediately stops when the sphere is placed on the work site, and the sphere from the proper position along the boundary between the existing work site and the unworked site. Deviation is suppressed, and each
The line connecting the position of the vehicle is always obtained as a line parallel to the boundary between the work site and the unworked site. Since the line is compared with the target line to recognize the deviation of the vehicle body, It is possible to properly recognize the displacement of the vehicle body, and thereby, it is possible to further improve the copy traveling accuracy.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a lawnmower equipped with a D-GPS mobile station and D-
Explanatory drawing showing fixed station for GPS

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a mounting position relationship of each mechanism and device in the lawnmower work vehicle.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a ball mounting device.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a ball recovery device.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the ball collector.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing each mode of the eccentric center of gravity ball.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a control device.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a steering control system.

FIG. 9 is a circuit configuration diagram of an imaging control unit.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing a travel route and a work area.

FIG. 11: Flow chart of main control routine

FIG. 12 Flow chart of main control routine (continued)

FIG. 13 Flow chart of main control routine (continued)

FIG. 14: Flow chart of autonomous traveling control routine

[Fig. 15] Flow chart of autonomous driving control routine (continued)

FIG. 16 is a flowchart of a D-GPS wireless communication routine.
To

FIG. 17 is an explanatory view showing the state of the first outer peripheral cutting in the work area.

FIG. 18 is an explanatory view showing the relationship between the ball placed on the work site, the linear approximation formula obtained from each ball position, and the target straight line in the image captured by the CCD camera.

FIG. 19 is an explanatory diagram showing a relationship between a mounting state of a CCD camera, a captured image, and a linear approximation.

FIG. 20 is an explanatory view showing a vehicle shift state at the end of a work lane for one stroke by grass / lawn mowing work.

FIG. 21 is an explanatory diagram showing a vehicle shift state at the end of the work lane for one stroke by grass / lawn mowing work.

FIG. 22 is an explanatory diagram of a grass / lawn mowing work state by copying traveling.

FIG. 23 is a right side view of the lawn mower showing another example of mounting the CCD camera.

FIG. 24 is a plan view of a lawn mowing vehicle showing another example of mounting a CCD camera.

FIG. 25 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of image processing.

FIG. 26 is an explanatory diagram when the grass and lawn mowing work is performed on the ring cutting.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Lawn mowing work vehicle (autonomous traveling work vehicle) 1a Vehicle body 11a, 11b Ball mounting device (mounting means) 20a, 20b Ball collecting device (collecting means) 25 Ball supply pipe (supplying means) 26 CCD Cameras (imaging means) 39a, 39b Steering mechanism 40 Eccentric gravity balls (signs) 60 Control devices 102, 108 Working area B Uncut land C Cut land

Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Office reference number FI Technical display area G06T 1/00

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A boundary portion between an already-worked site and an unworked site in a work area is imaged by an imaging means, a displacement of a vehicle body with respect to a boundary position is recognized based on the captured image, and steering is performed based on the displacement of the vehicle body with respect to the boundary position. In an autonomous mobile work vehicle that controls the mechanism and follows the boundary, mounts a marker on the work site along the boundary between the existing work site and the unworked site on the side opposite to the traveling direction of the vehicle. Placing means, a collecting means for collecting the marker placed on the work site during the previous traveling of the work lane when the work lane travels by copying traveling, and supplying the collected marker to the above-mentioned placing means. The position of the marker placed on the work site is detected from the image of the boundary imaged by the supply means and the image capturing means, and the line connecting the plurality of marker positions is compared with the preset target line. Image to recognize the displacement of the car body from the target position And management means, recognition de were obtained by the image processing unit - autonomous work vehicle, characterized in that it comprises a scanning running control means for controlling the steering mechanism on the basis of the data, the. 2. The autonomous traveling work vehicle according to claim 1, wherein a surface of the sign body is colored with a large difference in brightness from the work site. 3. The autonomous traveling work vehicle according to claim 1, wherein a sphere is used as the marker. 4. The autonomous traveling work vehicle according to claim 3, wherein an eccentric center of gravity ball whose center of gravity is eccentric from the center of gravity is used as the sphere.