Safety divice and picking lift with the same

Abstract

To more accurately determine the condition of an operator and a belt such as whether or not the operator wears the belt.SOLUTION: A safety device comprises a belt 11 fitted to an operator O, an imaging unit 14 to take the image of a driving cab, and an attachment determination unit 15 to determine whether or not the operator wears the belt 11. A wearing determination unit 15 comprises a collection unit to collect the condition images of the operator O and the belt 11, a learning model generation unit to generate and store the learning model by machine learning, an acquisition unit to acquire the present condition images of the operator O and the belt 11 by the imaging unit 14, a prediction unit to predict the conditions of the operator O and the belt 11 by inputting the present image acquired from the acquisition unit into the learning model generated by the learning model generation unit, and a determination unit to determine whether to warn the operator O based on the prediction.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a safety device for preventing an operator boarding an operating platform of a picking lift from falling off the operating platform, and a picking lift equipped with the same.

Background Art

[0002] A picking lift includes an operating platform that can move up and down along a mast, and a pair of left and right forks protruding rearward from the operating platform. In the cargo handling work by the picking lift, a pallet is inserted into the forks, and the operating platform with the operator on it moves to a high place so that the operator can load and unload goods between the shelf and the pallet.

[0003] For example, as in Patent Document 1, the picking lift is provided with a safety device having a belt worn by the operator and a connecting portion that connects the belt and the picking lift so that the operator does not fall from the operating platform to the floor surface.

[0004] By the way, the operator may find the work of wearing the belt troublesome or dislike being restricted, and may perform the cargo handling work on the high operating platform without wearing the belt on the body. Since this work is very dangerous, in Patent Document 1, the safety device includes a wearing determination unit that determines whether the operator is wearing the belt, and warns the operator to wear the belt based on the determination result of the wearing determination unit to prevent the operator from falling accident.

[0005] The wearing determination unit of the safety device determines whether the operator is wearing the belt by detecting a mark attached to the belt with an image reading device. However, depending on the position of the belt worn by the operator, there has been a problem that it is difficult for the image reading device to detect the mark or there is a false detection.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0006] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2015-224114 [Summary of the Invention] [Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

[0007] Therefore, the problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a safety device that can more accurately determine the state between an operator and a belt, such as whether the operator is wearing the belt, and a picking lift equipped with the same. [Means for Solving the Problems]

[0008] In order to solve the above problems, the safety device according to the present invention is a safety device for preventing an operator boarding the driver's cab of a picking lift from falling, a belt worn by the operator, an imaging unit that images the driver's cab, and a wearing determination unit that determines whether the operator is wearing the belt, and includes The wearing determination unit includes a collection unit that collects an image of the state between the operator and the belt, a learning model generation unit that generates and stores a learning model by machine learning, an acquisition unit that acquires an image of the current state between the operator and the belt by the imaging unit, a prediction unit that predicts the state between the operator and the belt by inputting the current image acquired from the acquisition unit into the learning model generated by the learning model generation unit, and a determination unit that determines whether to warn the operator based on the prediction unit.

[0009] Preferably, the state between the operator and the belt includes a state in which the operator is in the middle of wearing the belt.

[0010] In addition, the picking lift according to the present invention is the above safety device, A warning unit that warns the operator to wear a belt, and a vehicle control unit that controls the warning unit.

[0011] Preferably, when the wearing determination unit determines that the belt is not worn by the operator, the vehicle control unit operates the warning unit. Thereafter, when it is determined that the operator is in the middle of wearing the belt, the warning unit is operated until a predetermined set time elapses. When the set time elapses, the warning unit is stopped and the operation of the picking lift is controlled to be disabled.

Effect of the Invention

[0012] In the safety device according to the present invention and the picking lift equipped with the same, it is possible to more accurately determine whether the operator is wearing a belt.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0013]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Embodiment for Carrying Out the Invention

[0014] Hereinafter, based on the drawings, an embodiment of the safety device according to the present invention and a picking lift equipped with the same will be described.

[0015] As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the picking lift 1 includes a vehicle body portion 2 that houses a traveling portion 21, a hydraulic portion 22, etc., a mast 3 erected behind the vehicle body portion 2, an operator's cab 4 that moves up and down along the mast 3, and a pair of left and right forks 8 that protrude rearward from the operator's cab 4. The traveling portion 21 includes a traveling motor for rotating the wheels, a swivel motor for swiveling the wheels, etc. The hydraulic portion 22 includes a hydraulic tank, a hydraulic pump, etc. for raising and lowering the operator's cab 4.

[0016] The operator's cab 4 has a floor frame 5, a front frame 6, a head guard 7, and an operation panel 9 provided on the front frame 6. The operation panel 9 is provided with a key switch for starting the picking lift 1, as well as a handle and a lever for instructing the traveling of the picking lift 1 and the raising and lowering of the operator's cab 4.

[0017] The picking lift 1 is provided with a safety device 10, and the safety device 10 includes a belt 11, a connecting portion 12, and a winding portion 13. The belt 11 is worn around the waist of the operator O boarding the operator's cab 4. One end of the connecting portion 12 is attached to the belt 11, and the other end is attached to the winding portion 13.

[0018] Also, the winding portion 13 is fixed to the head guard 7 of the operator's cab 4. From the winding portion 13, a portion up to 1 m from one end of the connecting portion 12 is always pulled out, and when tension is applied, the remaining portion is pulled out according to that tension. And when a large tension is applied to the connecting portion 12, the winding portion 13 suppresses the pulling out of the connecting portion 12, so that even if the operator O falls from the high operator's cab 4, the operator O is suspended near the operator's cab 4 and does not collide with the floor surface.

[0019] In the handling operation by the picking lift 1, the pallet P is inserted into the forks 8, and the operator's cab 4 on which the operator O has boarded moves to a high place, so that the operator O can perform a handling operation of loading and unloading the high-place cargo B between the shelf and the pallet P.

[0020] The safety device 10 includes an imaging unit 14 composed of a CCD camera or the like. The imaging unit 14 is provided below the operation panel 9 and is directed so as to capture the lower body of the operator O who has boarded the driver's cab 4, and is capable of determining the state of the operator O and the belt 11. The imaging unit 14 is configured to acquire image data at predetermined intervals, such as 30 frames per second.

[0021] The safety device 10 includes a belt detection unit 16. The belt detection unit 16 includes a locking portion such as a hook provided at the upper part of the front frame 6 of the driver's cab 4 so as to be able to hold the belt 11. Further, the belt detection unit 16 is provided with a weight sensor, a vibration sensor, or the like on the locking portion such as a hook, and is capable of detecting the belt 11 held by the locking portion. When the operator O removes the belt 11 from the body and hooks the belt 11 on the belt detection unit 16, the belt detection unit 16 can detect the belt 11 and detect that the belt 11 is not worn by the operator O.

[0022] Further, the safety device 10 includes a wearing determination unit 15. The wearing determination unit 15 is composed of a microprocessor (MPU), and based on the image captured by the imaging unit 14, determines the state of the operator O and the belt 11, such as whether the belt 11 is worn by the operator O, and is configured to determine the control of the picking lift 1, such as whether to warn the operator O.

[0023] The picking lift 1 includes a warning unit 25. The warning unit 25 is configured to warn the operator O to wear the belt 11 when the belt 11 is not worn by the operator O. The warning unit 25 is composed of a lamp, a buzzer, or the like provided on the front frame 6 of the driver's cab 4, and warns the operator O to wear the belt 11 by lighting, sounding, or the like.

[0024] The picking lift 1 is provided with a vehicle control unit 20. The vehicle control unit 20 consists of a microprocessor (MPU) and may be integrally configured with the wearing determination unit 15. The vehicle control unit 20 is configured to control the traveling unit 21, the hydraulic unit 22, and the warning unit 25 based on an instruction from the operation panel 9 by the operator O, the detection result of the belt detection unit 16, and the determination result of the wearing determination unit 15.

[0025] As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, there are the following five states of the operator O and the belt 11. (1) As shown in FIG. 3(A), the state where the operator O is not on the driver's seat 4 and the belt 11 is held by the belt detection unit 16 is defined as the "first state". (2) As shown in FIG. 3(B), the state where the operator O is not on the driver's seat 4 and the belt 11 is not held by the belt detection unit 16 is defined as the "second state". (3) As shown in FIG. 3(C), the state where the operator O is on the driver's seat 4 and the belt 11 is not worn by the operator O is defined as the "third state". (4) As shown in FIG. 4(D), the state where the operator O is on the driver's seat 4 and the belt 11 is worn by the operator O is defined as the "fourth state". (5) As shown in FIG. 4(E), the state where the operator O is on the driver's seat 4 and the belt 11 is being worn by the operator O is defined as the "fifth state".

[0026] As shown in FIG. 5, the wearing determination unit 15 includes a collection unit 40 that collects the feature amounts of the images of the states (the first to fifth states) of the operator O and the belt 11 as input data of the teacher data 46. The feature amount is a value obtained by quantifying the features of the object in the image and extracting it from the image by a general method.

[0027] The wearing determination unit 15 includes a learning model generation unit 41 that performs machine learning on the teacher data 46 collected by the collection unit 40 and generates and stores a learning model by the machine learning. In the present embodiment, the learning model generation unit 41 performs supervised learning using the teacher data 46 that associates the states (first to fifth states) of the operator O and the belt 11 with the feature amounts of the images. The learning model outputs, as output data, the states (first to fifth states) of the operator O and the belt 11 according to the feature amounts of the images, using the teacher data 46 generated by the learning model generation unit 41.

[0028] The learning model generation unit 41 uses a machine learning algorithm such as a general neural network. The learning model generation unit 41 generates a learning model that estimates an output from an input, that is, a learning model that outputs output data when input data is input.

[0029] The wearing determination unit 15 includes an acquisition unit 45 that acquires, at predetermined time intervals, an input data ID that is a feature amount based on the current image captured by the imaging unit 14.

[0030] The wearing determination unit 15 includes a prediction unit 42 that predicts, as output data OD, the states (first state to fifth state) of the operator O and the belt 11 by applying the learning model generated by the learning model generation unit 41 to the current input data ID acquired by the acquisition unit 45.

[0031] The wearing determination unit 15 includes a determination unit 43. The determination unit 43 recognizes the states (first state to fifth state) of the operator O and the belt 11 at the current time based on the output data OD predicted by the prediction unit 42, and determines to issue a warning to the operator O to wear the belt 11 or the like. The vehicle control unit 20 is configured to control the warning unit 25 or the like based on the determination of the determination unit 43.

[0032] As shown in FIG. 6, the picking lift 1 provided with the safety device 10 executes the following control.

[0033] Operator O turns on the key switch to activate the picking lift 1 (step S1). Then, the imaging unit 14 images the driver's cab 4, and the mounting determination unit 15 acquires the captured images from the imaging unit 14 at predetermined intervals.

[0034] The mounting determination unit 15 determines whether the belt 11 is shown in the image from the imaging unit 14 (step S2). When the belt 11 is shown in the image, the mounting determination unit 15 determines whether the belt 11 is worn by the operator O (step S3). When in the fourth state (Fig. 4(D)) where the belt 11 is worn by the operator O, the vehicle control unit 20 controls to enable the operations of the traveling unit 21 and the hydraulic unit 22 (step S4).

[0035] When the mounting determination unit 15 determines that the belt 11 is not shown in the image (step S2), or that although the belt 11 is shown in the image, the belt 11 is not worn by the operator O (step S3), it determines whether the belt 11 is held by the belt detection unit 16 (step S5).

[0036] After determining whether the belt detection unit 16 holds the belt 11 (step S5), when in the first state (Fig. 3(A)) where the belt 11 is held by the belt detection unit 16, it controls to disable the operations of the traveling unit 21 and the hydraulic unit 22 (step S11).

[0037] Also, after determining whether the belt detection unit 16 holds the belt 11 (step S5), when it is determined to be in the second state (Fig. 3(B)), the third state (Fig. 3(C)) or the fifth state (Fig. 4(E)) where the belt 11 is not held by the belt detection unit 16, the vehicle control unit 20 controls to operate the warning unit 25 (step S6).

[0038] After the warning unit 25 operates, the wearing determination unit 15 determines whether it is the fifth state (FIG. 4(E)) in which the belt 11 is being worn by the operator O (step S7). When the wearing determination unit 15 determines that it is the fifth state (FIG. 4(E)) in which the belt 11 is being worn by the operator O, the vehicle control unit 20 controls to stop the warning unit 25 (step S8).

[0039] Also, when the wearing determination unit 15 determines that it is the third state (FIG. 3(C)) in which the belt 11 is not being worn by the operator O (step S7), the vehicle control unit 20 starts counting the time in that state (step S9), returns to step S6, and the operation of the warning unit 25 continues. Then, when the counted time is less than a predetermined set time, the operations of steps S6, S7, and S9 are repeated.

[0040] When the counted time elapses the predetermined set time (step S9), the vehicle control unit 20 stops the operation of the warning unit 25 (step S10), disables the operations of the traveling unit 21 and the hydraulic unit 22 (step S11), and controls so that the key switch is turned off (step S12). As a result, the operator O cannot operate the picking lift 1.

[0041] As described above, the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described, but the configuration of the present invention is not limited to these embodiments. For example, it can be changed as follows.

[0042] The wearing determination unit 15 may determine whether the belt 11 is not worn by the operator O and whether the belt 11 is worn by the operator O, without only determining whether it corresponds to the first to fifth states.

[0043] Further, without determining whether the belt detection unit 16 holds the belt 11, based on the image from the imaging unit 14, the wearing determination unit 15 may determine whether the belt 11 is held by a locking portion such as a hook.

[0044] Further, the wearing determination unit 15 may be configured to map and divide into the first to fifth states by unsupervised learning or semi-supervised learning in addition to supervised learning as in the above embodiment.

[0045] Furthermore, the warning unit 25 may be configured such that a warning mark or the like is displayed on the display unit of the operation panel 9 in addition to the lamp or buzzer as in the above embodiment.

[0046] The effects of the present invention will be described.

[0047] The safety device 10 according to the present invention is a safety device 10 for preventing an operator O riding on the driver's cab 4 of the picking lift 1 from falling, and includes a belt 11 worn by the operator O, an imaging unit 14 that images the driver's cab 4, and a wearing determination unit 15 that determines whether the operator O is wearing the belt 11. The wearing determination unit 15 includes a collection unit 40 that collects images of the state of the operator O and the belt 11, a learning model generation unit 41 that generates and stores a learning model by machine learning, an acquisition unit 45 that acquires an image of the current state of the operator O and the belt 11 by the imaging unit 14, and a prediction unit 42 that predicts the state of the operator O and the belt 11 by inputting the current image acquired from the acquisition unit 45 into the learning model generated by the learning model generation unit 41. Based on the prediction unit 42, a determination unit 43 that determines whether to warn the operator O is provided.

[0048] As described above, since the wearing determination unit 15 of the safety device 10 predicts the state of the operator O and the belt 11 based on the image by the imaging unit 14 and the learning model, regardless of the position of the belt 11 worn by the operator O, the state of the operator O and the belt 11, such as whether the operator O is wearing the belt 11, can be determined more accurately.

[0049] Preferably, the state of the operator O and the belt 11 includes a state in which the operator O is in the middle of wearing the belt 11.

[0050] As a result, when the wearing determination unit 15 determines that the operator O is in the middle of wearing the belt 11, although the belt 11 is not worn by the operator O, the operator O is in a state of trying to wear the belt 11. Based on this state, the operation of the picking lift 1 can be performed more appropriately.

[0051] In addition, the picking lift 1 according to the present invention includes the above-described safety device 10, a warning unit 25 that warns the operator O to wear the belt 11, and a vehicle control unit 20 that controls the warning unit 25.

[0052] In this way, since the wearing determination unit 15 of the safety device 10 determines the state of the operator O and the belt 11, regardless of the position of the belt 11 worn by the operator O, the state of the operator O and the belt 11 can be determined more accurately. Therefore, based on this determination result, the warning unit 25 can appropriately warn the operator O to wear the belt 11.

[0053] Preferably, when the wearing determination unit 15 determines that the belt 11 is not worn by the operator O, the vehicle control unit 20 operates the warning unit 25. Then, when it is determined that the operator O is in the middle of wearing the belt 11, the warning unit 25 is operated until a predetermined set time elapses. When the set time elapses, the warning unit 25 is stopped and the operation of the picking lift 1 is controlled to be disabled.

[0054] Accordingly, when the wearing determination unit 15 determines that the belt 11 is not worn by the operator O, it is possible to appropriately warn the operator O to wear the belt 11. When it is determined that the operator O is in the middle of wearing the belt 11, since the operator O is trying to wear the belt 11, by stopping the warning by the warning unit 25, it is possible to prevent the operation of the operator O from wearing the belt 11. Then, the vehicle control unit 20 counts the state in which the operator O is in the middle of wearing the belt 11, and when the set time elapses, it is determined that the operator O cannot wear the belt 11. Therefore, the operation of the picking lift 1 can be disabled to prevent the operator O from falling.

Explanation of Signs

[0055] 1 Picking Lift 4 Driver's Cab 10 Safety Device 11 Belt 14 Imaging Unit 15 Wearing Determination Unit 20 Vehicle Control Unit 25 Warning Unit 40 Collection Unit 41 Learning Model Generation Unit 42 Prediction Unit 45 Acquisition Unit 43 Decision Unit O Operator

Claims

1. A safety device for preventing an operator boarding the operator's cab of a picking lift from falling, comprising: a belt worn by the operator; an imaging unit for imaging the operator's cab; a wearing determination unit for determining whether the operator is wearing the belt, wherein the wearing determination unit comprises a collection unit for collecting an image of the state of the operator and the belt; a learning model generation unit for generating and storing a learning model by machine learning; an acquisition unit for acquiring an image of the current state of the operator and the belt by the imaging unit; a prediction unit for predicting the state of the operator and the belt by inputting the current image acquired from the acquisition unit into the learning model generated by the learning model generation unit; and a determination unit for determining whether to warn the operator based on the prediction unit. The safety device is characterized by the above.

2. The state of the operator and the belt includes a state in which the operator is in the process of wearing the belt. The safety device according to claim 1, characterized by the above.

3. The safety device according to claim 1 or 2, a warning unit for warning the operator to wear the belt; and a vehicle control unit for controlling the warning unit. The picking lift is characterized by the above.

4. When the wearing determination unit determines that the belt is not worn by the operator, the vehicle control unit operates the warning unit. Thereafter, when it is determined that the operator is in the process of wearing the belt, the vehicle control unit operates the warning unit until a predetermined set time has elapsed. When the set time has elapsed, the vehicle control unit stops the warning unit and controls the operation of the picking lift to be disabled. The picking lift according to claim 3, characterized by the above.

Images