Work machine

Abstract

To provide a work machine capable of detecting various types of abnormalities occurring in excavation work and soil discharge work at an early stage in automatic excavation discharge control.SOLUTION: A work machine determines whether or not an abnormality of a work (task) has occurred based on a planned topographic displacement position and a planned change amount of soil before starting automatic operation, and an actual topographic displacement position and an actual change amount of soil before and after the automatic operation in the inside of a topographic change monitoring area. When it is determined that an abnormality of the work (task) has occurred, an external system is notified of the occurrence of the abnormality, and the automatic operation of the work machine is stopped.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a work machine that automatically performs excavation and soil discharge work, for example. [Background technology]

[0002] BACKGROUND ART One type of work in which a hydraulic excavator, which is a work machine, is used is excavation and dumping work in which earth and sand are excavated using a bucket provided on the work device and the excavated earth and sand are dumped onto the bed of a transport vehicle (for example, a dump truck).

[0003] Research is being conducted into the automation of such excavation and dumping operations.If an abnormality occurs during an automatically controlled excavation and dumping operation (automatic excavation and dumping operation), such as soil spilling from the bucket and falling to a location other than the intended dumping location, or the soil around an excavated hole or trench collapsing, continuing the operation as planned could result in the work taking significantly longer than planned to complete, or it could require manual removal of the soil, resulting in reduced work efficiency.

[0004] Japanese Patent No. 7076020 (Patent Document 1) discloses a technology for determining whether the execution of an operation plan will be hindered when an abnormal object is detected. In this patent document 1, work content is selected according to the work sequence in the work plan, and an operation plan is created. When an abnormal object is detected, it is determined whether the execution of the operation plan will be hindered by the presence of the abnormal object, and if it is determined that the operation will be hindered, it is further determined whether the hindered work can be divided into a range that includes the abnormal object and a range that does not include the abnormal object, and if it is determined that the work can be divided, an operation plan is created for a range that does not include the abnormal object.

[0005] Japanese Patent No. 6424238 (Patent Document 2) discloses a technique for determining which work machines should be switched from automatic control to remote control using work progress or estimated completion time. In this patent document 2, the work progress and estimated completion time for each of multiple work machines are calculated, the work progress or estimated completion time for each of the multiple work machines is compared, and the work machine selected based on the comparison results is switched from automatic control to remote control. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0006] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 7076020 [Patent Document 2] Patent No. 6424238 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0007] The technology described in Patent Document 1 can prevent a decline in work efficiency when an abnormal object is detected. However, with the technology described in Patent Document 1, the occurrence of an abnormality that reduces work efficiency can only be determined when an abnormal object is detected. Furthermore, the technology described in Patent Document 2 can prevent a decline in work efficiency by remotely assisting a work machine whose work progress is unsatisfactory. However, with the technology described in Patent Document 2, the difference in work progress between normal and abnormal conditions is not apparent until the work has progressed to a certain extent, so it takes time to detect an abnormality. Furthermore, neither technology takes into account abnormalities such as soil spilling from the bucket and falling to a location other than the intended discharge location, or soil collapsing around an excavated hole or trench. Therefore, if such an abnormality occurs, manual soil removal may be required after the automatic excavation and discharge operation is completed, potentially reducing work efficiency. Therefore, it is desirable to be able to detect various types of abnormalities at an early stage in automatic excavation and discharge operations.

[0008] The present invention has been made with the aim of solving the above-mentioned problems, and aims to provide a work machine that can detect the occurrence of abnormalities and the type of abnormality during automatic excavation and discharge work at an early stage, thereby preventing a decline in work efficiency. [Means for solving the problem]

[0009] In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a work machine that plans a motion trajectory of a work device based on task information, controls the operation of the work device based on the planned motion trajectory, and automatically performs excavation and dumping work, and includes an input unit to which the task information including information on at least one of an excavation area where excavation work is to be performed and an earth dumping area where earth dumping work is to be performed, a current terrain acquisition unit that acquires the current terrain around the work machine, a motion planning unit that plans the motion trajectory of the work device based on the task information, an automatic operation control unit that controls the operation of the work device based on the motion trajectory, and a control unit that controls the operation of the work device based on the motion trajectory. and an abnormality occurrence determination unit that acquires pre-operation terrain, which is the current terrain before the work machine performs excavation and dumping work, and post-operation terrain, which is the current terrain after the work machine performs the excavation and dumping work, determines whether or not an abnormality has occurred in the excavation and dumping work performed by the work machine based on estimated terrain change information calculated from the pre-operation terrain and the task information or the operation trajectory, and actual terrain change information calculated from the pre-operation terrain and the post-operation terrain, and notifies an external system of the occurrence of an abnormality if it determines that an abnormality has occurred in the excavation and dumping work. [Effects of the Invention]

[0010] According to the present invention, a work machine can be provided that can prevent a decline in work efficiency by detecting and notifying the occurrence of an abnormality and the type of abnormality during automatic excavation and discharge work at an early stage.

[0011] Problems, configurations, and effects other than those described above will become apparent from the following description of the embodiments. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0012] [Figure 1] Diagram of a hydraulic excavator. [Figure 2A] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a controller for controlling a hydraulic excavator together with a hydraulic drive unit. [Figure 2B] Detailed view of the solenoid valve unit. [Figure 3] FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of a controller according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of each region in the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 5] 10 is a flowchart for determining whether an abnormality has occurred in a task in the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 6] FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a change in a task in the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 7] FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram of a controller according to a second embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 8] 10 is a flowchart for determining whether an abnormality has occurred in a task according to a second embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 9] FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of a controller according to a first modification of the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 10] 10 is a flowchart for determining whether an abnormality has occurred in a task in Modification 1 of the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 11] FIG. 10 is a functional block diagram of a controller according to a second modification of the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 12] 10 is a flowchart for determining whether an abnormality has occurred in a task in a second modification of the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 13] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of each region in Modification 2 of the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 14] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of resetting an excavation area in a second modified example of the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 15] 10 is a flowchart for determining whether an abnormality has occurred in a task in Modification 3 of the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 16] 10A and 10B are diagrams showing an example of a leveling operation in Modification 3 of the first embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0013] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In each drawing, parts having the same function are given the same reference numerals, and repeated description may be omitted. Note that, although the following describes an example of a hydraulic excavator equipped with a bucket 10 as a working implement (attachment) at the tip of the working device, the present invention may also be applied to work machines equipped with attachments other than buckets. Furthermore, the present invention may be applied to work machines other than hydraulic excavators as long as they have an articulated working device configured by connecting multiple link members (attachments, arms, booms, etc.).

[0014] In addition, in this document, the meanings of the words "on," "above," and "below" used in conjunction with terms indicating a certain shape (e.g., target surface, design surface, etc.) are defined as follows: "on" means the "surface" of the certain shape, "above" means "a position higher than the surface" of the certain shape, and "below" means "a position lower than the surface" of the certain shape. In the following description, when there are multiple identical components, an alphabet may be added to the end of the reference number (number), but the alphabet may be omitted to refer to the multiple components collectively. For example, when there are two pumps 2a and 2b, they may be collectively referred to as pump 2.

[0015] [First embodiment] <Basic configuration of hydraulic excavator> FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a hydraulic excavator according to a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2A is a diagram showing a controller for the hydraulic excavator according to the first embodiment of the present invention together with a hydraulic drive system, and FIG. 2B is a detailed diagram of a solenoid valve unit 160 in FIG. 2A.

[0016] In FIG. 1, the hydraulic excavator 1 is made up of an articulated front working implement 1A and a vehicle body 1B. The vehicle body 1B is made up of a lower traveling structure 11 that travels using left and right traveling hydraulic motors 3a, 3b (right traveling hydraulic motor 3a, left traveling hydraulic motor 3b), and an upper rotating structure 12 that is attached to the lower traveling structure 11 and rotates using a swing hydraulic motor 4. The front working implement 1A is made up of multiple connected driven members (a boom 8, an arm 9, and a bucket 10) that each rotate in the vertical direction. The base end of the boom 8 is rotatably supported via a boom pin (not shown) at the front of the upper rotating structure 12. The arm 9 is rotatably connected to the tip of the boom 8 via an arm pin (not shown), and the bucket 10 is rotatably connected to the tip of the arm 9 via a bucket pin (not shown). The boom 8 is driven by a boom cylinder 5, the arm 9 is driven by an arm cylinder 6, and the bucket 10 is driven by a bucket cylinder 7.

[0017] An engine 18, which is a prime mover mounted on the upper rotating body 12, drives the hydraulic pump 2. The pressurized oil discharged from the hydraulic pump 2 is supplied to the right traveling hydraulic motor 3a, the left traveling hydraulic motor 3b, the swing hydraulic motor 4, the boom cylinder 5, the arm cylinder 6, and the bucket cylinder 7 via flow control valves 15a, 15b, 15c, 15d, 15e, and 15f (FIGS. 2A and 2B). The supplied pressurized oil causes the boom cylinder 5, the arm cylinder 6, and the bucket cylinder 7 to extend and retract, thereby rotating the boom 8, the arm 9, and the bucket 10, respectively, and changing the position and attitude of the bucket 10. The supplied pressurized oil also rotates the swing hydraulic motor 4, causing the upper rotating body 12 to swing relative to the lower traveling body 11. The supplied pressurized oil then rotates the right traveling hydraulic motor 3a and the left traveling hydraulic motor 3b, causing the lower traveling body 11 to travel.

[0018] More specifically, as shown in FIG. 2A, an engine 18, which is a prime mover mounted on the upper rotating body 12, drives hydraulic pumps 2a, 2b and a pilot pump 48. The hydraulic pumps 2a, 2b are variable displacement pumps whose displacements are controlled by regulators 2aa, 2ba, and the pilot pump 48 is a fixed displacement pump. The hydraulic pumps 2a, 2b and the pilot pump 48 draw and discharge hydraulic oil from a tank 180. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2A, a control signal output from a controller 40 is input to the regulators 2aa, 2ba. Although a detailed configuration of the regulators 2aa, 2ba is omitted, the discharge flow rates of the hydraulic pumps 2a, 2b are controlled in response to the control signal.

[0019] The pump line 130, which is the discharge pipe of the pilot pump 48, passes through the lock valve 39 and is then connected to each electromagnetic proportional valve in the solenoid valve unit 160. In this example, the lock valve 39 is a solenoid-operated directional control valve, and its electromagnetic driver is electrically connected to a position detector of a gate lock lever (not shown) located in the operator's cab 14 (FIG. 1). The position of the gate lock lever is detected by the position detector, and a signal corresponding to the position of the gate lock lever is input from the position detector to the lock valve 39. When the gate lock lever is in the locked position, the lock valve 39 closes and the pump line 130 is blocked, and when the gate lock lever is in the unlocked position, the lock valve 39 opens and the pump line 130 is opened. In other words, when the pump line 130 is blocked, operation by the operating devices 22 and 23 is disabled, and operations such as traveling, swinging, and excavation are prohibited.

[0020] Pressure sensors 16a to 16f and 16k to 16l are provided to the swing hydraulic motor 4, boom cylinder 5, arm cylinder 6, and bucket cylinder 7 so as to detect their operating pressures. The pressure sensors 16a to 16f and 16k to 16l detect the pressures in the input and output lines of the swing hydraulic motor 4, and the pressures on the bottom and rod sides of the boom cylinder 5, arm cylinder 6, and bucket cylinder 7, respectively, and output them as electrical signals to the controller 40 (in FIG. 2A, the connection lines from the pressure sensors 16a to 16f and 16k to 16l to the controller 40 are not shown due to space limitations).

[0021] Pressure sensors 16g to 16j are provided in the flow paths connecting the traveling hydraulic motors 3a, 3b and the flow control valves 15e, 15f so that the operating pressures of the traveling hydraulic motors 3a, 3b can be detected. The pressure sensors 16g to 16j detect the pressures in the input and output lines of the traveling hydraulic motors 3a, 3b, and output them as electrical signals to the control controller 40 (in FIG. 2A, the connection lines from the pressure sensors 16g to 16j to the control controller 40 are not shown due to space limitations).

[0022] In automatic operation control, flow control valves 15a, 15b, 15c, 15d, 15e, and 15f are driven by pilot hydraulic signals generated by electromagnetic proportional valves 50a to 55b (FIG. 2B) in electromagnetic valve unit 160, and operate right traveling hydraulic motor 3a, left traveling hydraulic motor 3b, swing hydraulic motor 4, boom cylinder 5, arm cylinder 6, and bucket cylinder 7. Electromagnetic proportional valves 50a to 55b in electromagnetic valve unit 160 are controlled by control signals output from controller 40.

[0023] As shown in FIG. 1, a boom angle sensor 30 is attached to the boom 8, an arm angle sensor 31 is attached to the arm 9, and a bucket angle sensor 32 is attached to the bucket link 13 so that the rotation angles of the boom 8, arm 9, and bucket 10 can be measured. A vehicle body inclination angle sensor 33 is attached to the upper rotating body 12 to detect the inclination angle of the upper rotating body 12 (vehicle body 1B) relative to a reference plane (e.g., a horizontal plane), and a vehicle body position detection device 36 (e.g., a GNSS receiver and a processing device) is attached to detect the position of the vehicle body 1B.

[0024] A swing angle sensor 34 is attached to the swing center shaft so that the relative angle between the upper swing body 12 and the lower running body 11 can be measured.

[0025] Installed within the operator's cab 14 provided on the upper rotating body 12 are a right travel lever 23a (FIG. 1) for operating the right travel hydraulic motor 3a (lower traveling body 11), a left travel lever 23b (FIG. 1) for operating the left travel hydraulic motor 3b (lower traveling body 11), a right operating lever 22a (FIG. 1) for operating the boom cylinder 5 (boom 8) and the bucket cylinder 7 (bucket 10), and a left operating lever 22b (FIG. 1) for operating the arm cylinder 6 (arm 9) and the swing hydraulic motor 4 (upper rotating body 12). Hereinafter, the right travel lever 23a, the left travel lever 23b, the right operating lever 22a, and the left operating lever 22b may be collectively referred to as operating devices 22, 23.

[0026] The operating devices 22, 23 are of an electric lever type and generate an electric signal corresponding to the amount and direction of operation by the operator. The electric signal thus generated is input to the control controller 40, which outputs an electric signal to the solenoid valve unit 160 to drive the solenoid proportional valves 50a-55b in accordance with the operation input to the operating devices 22, 23. In accordance with the input electric signal, the solenoid proportional valves 50a-55b supply pilot hydraulic signals to the hydraulic drive units 150a-155b of the corresponding flow control valves 15a-15f via pilot lines 140a-145b, and the pilot hydraulic signals are used as control signals to drive these flow control valves 15a-15f (FIGS. 2A and 2B).

[0027] The engine 18 is equipped with an engine control controller 470 that controls the rotation speed of the engine 18 in response to a control signal from the control controller 40, and an engine rotation speed detection device 490 that is a rotation sensor for detecting the engine rotation speed (FIG. 2A).

[0028] The work implement attitude detection device 60 (FIG. 3) is made up of a boom angle sensor 30, an arm angle sensor 31, a bucket angle sensor 32, and a vehicle body tilt angle sensor 33. These angle sensors 30, 31, 32, and 33 function as attitude sensors for the front work implement 1A.

[0029] The terrain detection device 70 (FIG. 3) is composed of a distance measurement sensor 70a and a distance measurement sensor 70b (FIG. 1) mounted on the upper rotating body 12. These distance measurement sensors 70a and 70b measure the distance to the ground around the hydraulic excavator 1, thereby measuring the terrain around the hydraulic excavator 1. In this embodiment, the terrain detection device 70 is mounted on the hydraulic excavator 1, but it may also be installed at a construction site or on another machine such as a drone. Furthermore, the type of sensor constituting the terrain detection device 70 may be a sensor other than a distance measurement sensor, such as a LiDAR or a stereo camera, as long as it can detect the terrain, and the number of sensors is not limited to the above.

[0030] <Solenoid valve unit 160> As shown in FIG. 2B, the solenoid valve unit 160 is composed of solenoid proportional valves 50a-55b that reduce the pilot pressure from the pilot pump 48 and output it to pilot lines 140a-145b. Pressure sensors 17a-17l are provided on the pilot lines 140a-145b to detect the output pressure of the solenoid proportional valves 50a-55b. The solenoid proportional valves 50a-55b are at their minimum opening when not energized, and the opening increases as the current, which is the control signal from the controller 40, increases. In this manner, the opening of each solenoid proportional valve 50a-55b corresponds to the control signal from the controller 40. In the solenoid valve unit 160 configured as described above, when the controller 40 outputs a control signal to drive the solenoid proportional valves 50a-55b, pilot pressure can be generated even when the corresponding operating devices 22, 23 are not operated by an operator, thereby forcibly operating each actuator (3-7).

[0031] <External System 200> The external system 200 (FIG. 3) is composed of a user interface device used by an administrator, a management system server, etc. The administrator transmits task information to the hydraulic excavator 1 via the user interface device. Here, task information is information necessary for work performed by automatic operation, and in the case of automatic excavation and discharge work, includes information on the excavation area indicating the area where earth and sand are to be excavated and information on the discharge area indicating the area where the excavated earth and sand are to be discharged. The task information may be transmitted directly to the hydraulic excavator 1 from the management system server, etc. The user interface device, the management system server, etc. are equipped with a monitor, and can display information related to the automatic operation of the hydraulic excavator 1.

[0032] <Controller 40> 3 is a functional block diagram of the control controller 40. The control controller 40 includes a position and attitude calculation unit 43, an electromagnetic proportional valve control unit 44, an actuator control unit 81, an operation planning unit 90, an automatic operation control unit 91, an input unit 100, a current topography acquisition unit 102, a monitoring area setting unit 105, and an abnormality occurrence determination unit 108.

[0033] Task information including information on the excavation area and the soil release area is input to the input unit 100 from the external system 200 .

[0034] Based on the information on the excavation area and the soil discharge area from the input unit 100, the monitoring area setting unit 105 sets a terrain change monitoring area, a planned decrease area where the amount of soil (volume of soil) is planned to decrease, a planned increase area where the amount of soil is planned to increase, and a planned unchanged area where the amount of soil is planned to remain unchanged. Figure 4 is an explanatory diagram of each area. Figure 4 is a diagram of each area viewed from above, but each area also extends in the vertical direction (direction perpendicular to the paper surface). The planned decrease area is set to include the entire excavation area, the planned increase area is set to include the entire soil discharge area, the terrain change monitoring area is set to include the entire planned decrease area and the entire planned increase area, and the planned unchanged area is set as the area obtained by excluding the planned increase area and the planned decrease area from the terrain change monitoring area. Furthermore, the shape of each area may be defined as a rectangular parallelepiped or cylinder as shown in Figure 4, or may be defined as a sphere or other shape.

[0035] The position and attitude calculation unit 43 calculates the position coordinates of the hydraulic excavator 1, the attitude of the front working implement 1A, and the position of the toe of the bucket 10 based on information from the working implement attitude detection device 60 and the vehicle body position detection device .

[0036] The current terrain acquisition unit 102 calculates terrain information around the hydraulic excavator 1 based on information from the terrain detection device 70.

[0037] The abnormality occurrence determination unit 108 calculates the change in soil volume of the estimated terrain change information and the change in soil volume of the actual terrain change information in each of the areas planned to decrease, planned to increase, and planned to remain unchanged based on information from the operation planning unit 90, the current terrain acquisition unit 102, and the monitoring area setting unit 105, determines whether an abnormality has occurred in the task, and notifies the external system 200 if it is determined that an abnormality has occurred in the task.

[0038] Based on the task information acquired from the input unit 100, the motion planning unit 90 calculates the position coordinates of the hydraulic excavator 1 and the attitude of the front working implement 1A at each time point during the operation from excavation to discharge, and the motion trajectory, which is the trajectory of the toe position of the bucket 10, and outputs this as a motion plan to the automatic operation control unit 91 and the abnormality occurrence determination unit 108.

[0039] The automatic operation control unit 91 calculates speed commands for each of the hydraulic actuators 3a, 3b, 4, 5, 6, and 7 based on the operation plan information from the operation planning unit 90, the position coordinates of the hydraulic excavator 1 from the position and attitude calculation unit 43, the attitude of the front working implement 1A, and the position of the toe of the bucket 10, and outputs the speed commands to the actuator control unit 81.

[0040] The actuator control unit 81 calculates target pilot pressures for the flow control valves 15a, 15b, 15c, 15d, 15e, and 15f (FIGS. 2A and 2B) of the hydraulic actuators 3a, 3b, 4, 5, 6, and 7 based on the speed commands for the hydraulic actuators 3a, 3b, 4, 5, 6, and 7 output from the automatic operation control unit 91, and outputs the calculated target pilot pressures to the electromagnetic proportional valve control unit 44.

[0041] The electromagnetic proportional valve control unit 44 calculates control signals for each of the electromagnetic proportional valves 50a to 55b (FIG. 2B) based on the target pilot pressures for each of the flow control valves 15a, 15b, 15c, 15d, 15e, and 15f (FIGS. 2A and 2B) output from the actuator control unit 81.

[0042] <Flow of determining whether an abnormality has occurred> FIG. 5 shows a flow of the controller 40 determining whether an abnormality has occurred in a task.

[0043] In S100, the input unit 100 acquires task information including information on the excavation area and the soil release area input from the external system 200.

[0044] In S110, the current terrain acquisition unit 102 acquires pre-operation terrain, which is current terrain information about the surroundings of the hydraulic excavator 1 before the execution of the automatic operation, from the terrain detection device 70. In this embodiment, the hydraulic excavator 1 measures the surrounding terrain using a sensor, but terrain information measured by another measurement system may be acquired from a server or the like.

[0045] In S120, the monitoring area setting unit 105 sets a terrain change monitoring area, a planned decrease area, a planned increase area, and a planned unchanged area based on the task information acquired in S100.

[0046] In S130, based on the task information acquired in S100, the motion planning unit 90 calculates a motion trajectory (motion plan) which is the position coordinates of the hydraulic excavator 1, the attitude of the front working implement 1A, and the trajectory of the position of the toe of the bucket 10 at each time point during the motion from excavation to dumping.

[0047] In S140, the abnormality occurrence determination unit 108 calculates the soil volume change amount of the estimated terrain change information for each of the planned decrease area and planned increase area set in S120, based on the pre-operation terrain acquired in S110 and the operation plan calculated in S130. Here, the soil volume change amount of the estimated terrain change information represents an estimated value of the change in the volume of soil and sand before and after the excavation and release operation.

[0048] In S150, the automatic operation control unit 91 calculates the target speeds of the hydraulic actuators 3a, 3b, 4, 5, 6, and 7 based on the operation plan results calculated in S130, and executes the automatic operation (automatic excavation and release of soil).

[0049] In S160, the current terrain acquisition unit 102 acquires from the terrain detection device 70 the post-operation terrain, which is current terrain information around the hydraulic excavator 1 after the series of automatic operations from excavation to discharge have been executed.

[0050] In S180, the abnormality occurrence determination unit 108 calculates the amount of change in soil volume of the actual terrain change information for each of the planned decrease area, planned increase area, and planned unchanged area set in S120, from the pre-operation terrain acquired in S110 and the post-operation terrain acquired in S160. Here, the amount of change in soil volume of the actual terrain change information represents the actual amount of change in the volume of soil before and after the excavation and release operation.

[0051] In S190, the anomaly occurrence determination unit 108 compares the amount of soil change in the estimated terrain change information for the planned reduction area calculated in S140 with the amount of soil change in the actual terrain change information for the planned reduction area calculated in S180, and determines whether the difference is equal to or greater than a first threshold. If the determination in S190 is YES, the process proceeds to S200, and if the determination is NO, the process proceeds to S210.

[0052] In S200, if the determination in S190 is YES, the abnormality occurrence determination unit 108 notifies the external system 200 that an abnormality has occurred in the excavation work among the tasks.

[0053] In S210, the anomaly occurrence determination unit 108 compares the amount of soil change in the estimated terrain change information for the planned expansion area calculated in S140 with the amount of soil change in the actual terrain change information for the planned expansion area calculated in S180, and determines whether the difference is equal to or greater than a second threshold. If the determination in S210 is YES, the process proceeds to S220, and if the determination is NO, the process proceeds to S230.

[0054] In S220, if the determination in S210 is YES, the abnormality occurrence determination unit 108 notifies the external system 200 that an abnormality has occurred in the soil release work among the tasks.

[0055] In S230, the anomaly occurrence determination unit 108 determines whether the amount of change in soil volume in the actual terrain change information for the planned unchanged area calculated in S180 is a decrease and whether the amount of decrease is equal to or greater than a third threshold. If the determination in S230 is YES, the process proceeds to S240, and if the determination is NO, the process proceeds to S250.

[0056] In S240, if the determination in S230 is YES, the incident occurrence determination unit 108 notifies the external system 200 that an incident of terrain collapse has occurred in the task.

[0057] In S250, the anomaly occurrence determination unit 108 determines whether the amount of change in soil volume in the actual terrain change information in the expected unchanged area calculated in S180 has increased and whether the increase is equal to or greater than a fourth threshold value. If the determination in S250 is YES, the process proceeds to S260.

[0058] In S260, if the determination in S250 is YES, the incident occurrence determination unit 108 notifies the external system 200 that an incident of a landslide has occurred in the task.

[0059] <Actions and Effects> Fig. 6 shows task anomalies detected by the control system configured as above during the automatic excavation and discharge work of the hydraulic excavator 1.

[0060] An administrator or a management system inputs task information. In Fig. 6, an excavation and dumping task is input to the hydraulic excavator 1. In the excavation and dumping task, an excavation area and a dumping area are input as task information.

[0061] Next, the current terrain acquisition unit 102 acquires the pre-operation terrain, which is terrain information around the hydraulic excavator 1 before the automatic operation is performed.

[0062] Next, based on the input task information, a terrain change monitoring area, a planned decrease area, a planned increase area, and a planned unchanged area are set.

[0063] Next, based on the input task information, an operation plan is made from excavation to dumping, and the abnormality occurrence determination unit 108 calculates the change in soil volume of the estimated terrain change information in the planned decrease area and planned increase area based on the pre-operation terrain and the operation plan.

[0064] Next, the operations from excavation to soil discharge are automatically performed based on the operation plan. The excavation operation and soil discharge operation will not be particularly described in this embodiment.

[0065] After the series of automatic operations from excavation to soil discharge is completed, the current topography acquisition unit 102 acquires the post-operation topography, which is topography information around the hydraulic excavator 1 after the automatic operation has been executed.

[0066] Next, the abnormality occurrence determination unit 108 calculates the amount of change in soil volume of the actual terrain change information in each of the planned decrease area, planned increase area, and planned unchanged area from the pre-operation terrain and post-operation terrain.

[0067] Next, the anomaly occurrence determination unit 108 compares the soil volume change amount in the estimated terrain change information for each area with the soil volume change amount in the actual terrain change information to determine whether an anomaly has occurred in the task. As shown in Figure 6(a), if the actual excavated soil volume is much less than the soil volume estimated from the pre-operation terrain and the operation plan because the soil was harder than expected, for example, the difference between the soil volume change amount in the estimated terrain change information and the soil volume change amount in the actual terrain change information in the area to be reduced is equal to or greater than the first threshold, so a determination of YES is made in S190, and in S200 the external system 200 is notified that an anomaly has occurred in the excavation work of the task. 6(b), if the amount of soil actually discharged into the planned increase area is much less than the amount of soil estimated from the pre-operation terrain and the operation plan because the excavated amount was small or soil spilled from the bucket 10 while moving the bucket 10 to the discharge position, the difference between the amount of soil change in the estimated terrain change information and the amount of soil change in the actual terrain change information in the planned increase area is equal to or greater than the second threshold, so S210 determines YES, and S220 notifies the external system 200 that an abnormality has occurred in the discharge operation of the task. If, as shown in FIG. 6(c), soil in the planned unchanged area collapses and flows into the planned decrease area where excavation has already been performed, the change in soil volume in the actual terrain change information for the planned unchanged area has decreased, and the amount of change is equal to or greater than the third threshold, so S230 determines YES, and S240 notifies the external system 200 that an abnormality has occurred in the task, such as a terrain collapse. 6(d), in a case where soil spills from the bucket 10 while the bucket 10 is being moved to the release position after excavation, the soil volume change in the actual terrain change information for the planned unchanged area has increased, and the amount of change is equal to or greater than the fourth threshold, so S250 determines YES, and S260 notifies the external system 200 that an abnormality has occurred in the task, such as soil spillage. In some cases, multiple types of abnormality occurrences are notified at the same time.

[0068] In this way, by determining the occurrence of an abnormality from the amount of change in soil volume in each area, various types of abnormalities related to work can be detected.

[0069] By configuring the control system as described above, it is possible to prevent a decline in work efficiency by detecting and notifying the occurrence of abnormalities in tasks during automatic excavation and discharge work and the type of abnormality at an early stage.

[0070] [Second embodiment] A second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to Figures 7 and 8. In the second embodiment, only the differences from the first embodiment will be described.

[0071] <Controller 40> 7 is a functional block diagram of the controller 40 in the second embodiment. The controller 40 includes a position and attitude calculation unit 43, an electromagnetic proportional valve control unit 44, an actuator control unit 81, an operation planning unit 90, an automatic operation control unit 91, an input unit 100, a current topography acquisition unit 102, a monitoring area setting unit 105, an abnormality occurrence determination unit 108, and an actual excavation volume estimation unit 109.

[0072] Based on information from the operation planning unit 90, the current terrain acquisition unit 102, the monitoring area setting unit 105, and the actual excavation volume estimation unit 109, the abnormality occurrence determination unit 108 calculates the change in soil volume of the estimated terrain change information and the change in soil volume of the actual terrain change information in each of the areas planned to be reduced, planned to be increased, and planned to remain unchanged, determines whether or not an abnormality has occurred in the task, and if it determines that an abnormality has occurred in the task, notifies the external system 200 and outputs an automatic operation stop signal to the automatic operation control unit 91.

[0073] The automatic operation control unit 91 calculates speed commands for each of the hydraulic actuators 3a, 3b, 4, 5, 6, and 7 based on the operation plan information from the operation plan unit 90 and the position coordinates of the hydraulic excavator 1, the attitude of the front working implement 1A, and information on the position of the toe of the bucket 10 from the position and attitude calculation unit 43, and outputs the calculated speed commands to the actuator control unit 81. Furthermore, if the abnormality occurrence determination unit 108 determines that an abnormality has occurred in the task, the automatic operation control unit 91 stops the automatic operation by setting the speed commands for each of the hydraulic actuators 3a, 3b, 4, 5, 6, and 7 to 0 based on a signal from the abnormality occurrence determination unit 108.

[0074] The actual excavation volume estimation unit 109 calculates the volume of soil that has actually been excavated based on information from the current topography acquisition unit 102 and the position and orientation calculation unit 43 .

[0075] <Flow of determining whether an abnormality has occurred> FIG. 8 shows a flow of the controller 40 determining whether an abnormality has occurred in a task.

[0076] In S150, the automatic operation control unit 91 calculates the target speeds for each hydraulic actuator 3a, 3b, 4, 5, 6, and 7 based on the operation plan results calculated in S130, and executes the automatic operation (automatic excavation and release of soil). While the automatic operation is being executed, the actual excavation volume estimating unit 109 acquires the position coordinates of the hydraulic excavator 1, the attitude of the front working implement 1A, and the position of the toe of the bucket 10 from the position and attitude calculating unit 43.

[0077] In S170, the actual excavation volume estimator 109 calculates the volume of the current terrain that exists above the trajectory of the toe of the bucket 10, based on the information on the pre-operation terrain acquired in S110, the position coordinates of the hydraulic excavator 1 during execution of the automatic operation, the posture of the front working implement 1A, and the position of the toe of the bucket 10, thereby calculating the volume of soil actually excavated by the automatic operation. Note that while this embodiment illustrates a method of calculating the actual excavation volume based on the current terrain information before execution of the automatic operation, the position coordinates of the hydraulic excavator 1 during execution of the automatic operation, the posture of the front working implement 1A, and the position of the toe of the bucket 10, other methods may be used to estimate the actual excavation volume. For example, a method may be used in which the weight of the soil that entered the bucket 10 during excavation is calculated from the operating pressure of the boom cylinder 5, and the weight of the soil is divided by the density to calculate the actual excavation volume.

[0078] In S270, the anomaly occurrence determination unit 108 compares the actual excavation volume calculated in S170 with the soil volume change volume of the actual terrain change information in the planned reduction area calculated in S180 to determine whether the difference is equal to or greater than a fifth threshold, and compares the actual excavation volume calculated in S170 with the soil volume change volume of the actual terrain change information in the planned increase area calculated in S180 to determine whether the difference is equal to or greater than a fifth threshold. If both of the determinations in S270 are YES, the process proceeds to S280, and if at least one of the determinations is NO, the process proceeds to S290.

[0079] In S280, if the determination in S270 is YES, the abnormality occurrence determination unit 108 notifies the external system 200 that an abnormality has occurred in the acquisition of topographical information (such as the current topographical information acquisition unit 102).

[0080] In S290, the incident occurrence determination unit 108 determines whether any incident has occurred. That is, it determines whether a YES determination has been made in any of S190, S210, S230, S250, and S270. If a YES determination is made in S290, the process proceeds to S300.

[0081] In S300, if the determination in S290 is YES, the anomaly occurrence determination unit 108 notifies the external system 200 of the parts of the system that should be checked in accordance with the content of the anomaly determined in S190, S210, S230, S250, and S270. Note that the parts of the system that should be checked may be selected in accordance with the anomaly that occurred in S190, S210, S230, S250, and S270 from a table prepared in advance that shows combinations of the anomaly that has occurred and the parts that should be checked.

[0082] In S310, the automatic operation control unit 91 receives the automatic operation stop signal from the abnormality occurrence determination unit 108 and stops the automatic excavation and release of soil.

[0083] <Actions and Effects> An administrator or a management system inputs task information. In Fig. 6, an excavation and dumping task is input to the hydraulic excavator 1. In the excavation and dumping task, an excavation area and a dumping area are input as task information.

[0084] Next, the current terrain acquisition unit 102 acquires the pre-operation terrain, which is terrain information around the hydraulic excavator 1 before the automatic operation is performed.

[0085] Next, based on the input task information, a terrain change monitoring area, a planned decrease area, a planned increase area, and a planned unchanged area are set.

[0086] Next, based on the input task information, an operation plan is made from excavation to dumping, and the abnormality occurrence determination unit 108 calculates the change in soil volume of the estimated terrain change information in each area of ​​the planned decrease area and the planned increase area based on the terrain before operation and the operation plan.

[0087] Next, operations from excavation to soil discharge are performed automatically based on the operation plan. During execution of the automatic operation, the actual excavation volume estimator 109 acquires the position coordinates of the hydraulic excavator 1, the attitude of the front working implement 1A, and the position of the toe of the bucket 10 from the position and attitude calculator 43. The excavation operation and soil discharge operation will not be particularly described in this embodiment.

[0088] After the series of automatic operations from excavation to soil discharge is completed, the current topography acquisition unit 102 acquires the post-operation topography, which is topography information around the hydraulic excavator 1 after the automatic operation has been executed.

[0089] Next, the actual excavation volume estimation unit 109 calculates the volume of soil actually excavated by the automatic operation from the information on the terrain before operation, the position coordinates of the hydraulic excavator 1 during automatic operation, the attitude of the front working implement 1A, and the position of the toe of the bucket 10.

[0090] Next, the abnormality occurrence determination unit 108 calculates the amount of change in soil volume of the actual terrain change information in each of the planned decrease area, planned increase area, and planned unchanged area from the pre-operation terrain and post-operation terrain.

[0091] Next, the anomaly occurrence determination unit 108 compares the soil volume change amount in the estimated terrain change information for each area with the soil volume change amount in the actual terrain change information to determine whether an anomaly has occurred in the task. As shown in Figure 6(a), if the actual excavated soil volume is much less than the soil volume estimated from the pre-operation terrain and the operation plan because the soil was harder than expected, for example, the difference between the soil volume change amount in the estimated terrain change information and the soil volume change amount in the actual terrain change information in the area to be reduced is equal to or greater than the first threshold, so a determination of YES is made in S190, and in S200 the external system 200 is notified that an anomaly has occurred in the excavation work of the task. 6(b), if the amount of soil actually discharged into the planned increase area is much less than the amount of soil estimated from the pre-operation terrain and the operation plan because the excavated amount was small or soil spilled from the bucket 10 while moving the bucket 10 to the discharge position, the difference between the amount of soil change in the estimated terrain change information and the amount of soil change in the actual terrain change information in the planned increase area is equal to or greater than the second threshold, so S210 determines YES, and S220 notifies the external system 200 that an abnormality has occurred in the discharge operation of the task. If, as shown in FIG. 6(c), soil in the planned unchanged area collapses and flows into the planned decrease area where excavation has already been performed, the change in soil volume in the actual terrain change information for the planned unchanged area has decreased, and the amount of change is equal to or greater than the third threshold, so S230 determines YES, and S240 notifies the external system 200 that an abnormality has occurred in the task, such as a terrain collapse. As shown in Figure 6(d), if soil spills from the bucket 10 while the bucket 10 is being moved to the release position after excavation, the change in soil volume in the actual terrain change information for the area to be unchanged will increase, and the amount of change will be equal to or greater than the fourth threshold, so S250 will determine YES, and S260 will notify the external system 200 that an abnormality in soil spillage has occurred in the task.Furthermore, if the current topography has not been measured or if communication for exchanging measured topography information has been interrupted, there will be a large difference between the actual excavation volume and the amount of change in soil volume in the actual topography change information for the planned reduction area, and there will also be a large difference between the actual excavation volume and the amount of change in soil volume in the actual topography change information for the planned increase area, so S270 will be judged as YES and S280 will notify the external system 200 that an abnormality has occurred in the acquisition of topography information (such as the current topography acquisition unit 102). There may be cases where multiple types of abnormalities are notified at the same time.

[0092] Next, the abnormality occurrence determination unit 108 determines whether any abnormality has occurred. If even one abnormality has occurred, a YES determination is made in S290, and in S300, the external system 200 is notified of the parts of the system that should be checked depending on the content of the abnormality that has occurred. Furthermore, in S310, the abnormality occurrence determination unit 108 outputs an automatic operation stop signal to the automatic operation control unit 91, thereby stopping the automatic excavation and release of soil.

[0093] In this way, by determining the occurrence of an anomaly from the change in soil volume in each area, it is possible to detect not only anomalies related to work but also various types of anomalies related to the control system. It is also possible to present areas of the control system that should be checked depending on the type of anomaly.

[0094] By configuring the control system as described above, it is possible to prevent a decline in work efficiency by detecting and notifying the occurrence of abnormalities in tasks during automatic excavation and discharge work and the type of abnormality at an early stage.

[0095] [Variation 1] A first modification of the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to Figures 9 and 10. In the first modification, only the differences from the first embodiment will be described.

[0096] In the above embodiment, an example has been described in which the abnormality occurrence determination unit 108 determines whether or not an abnormality has occurred in a task by calculating the amount of soil change in the estimated terrain change information in the planned decrease area and planned increase area from the pre-operation terrain and the planned operation trajectory (operation plan) and comparing it with the amount of soil change in the actual terrain change information, but the abnormality occurrence determination unit 108 can also determine whether or not an abnormality has occurred in a task from the pre-operation terrain and task information.

[0097] <Controller 40> FIG. 9 is a functional block diagram of the controller 40 in the first modification of the first embodiment.

[0098] The abnormality occurrence determination unit 108 calculates the change in soil volume of the estimated terrain change information and the change in soil volume of the actual terrain change information in each of the areas planned to decrease, planned to increase, and planned to remain unchanged based on information from the input unit 100, the current terrain acquisition unit 102, and the monitoring area setting unit 105, determines whether an abnormality has occurred in the task, and notifies the external system 200 if it determines that an abnormality has occurred in the task.

[0099] <Flow of determining whether an abnormality has occurred> FIG. 10 shows a flow of the controller 40 determining whether an abnormality has occurred in a task.

[0100] In S140, the abnormality occurrence determination unit 108 calculates the amount of change in soil volume in the estimated terrain change information for the planned reduction area and planned increase area set in S120, based on the task information acquired in S100 and the pre-operation terrain acquired in S110. At this time, the amount of change in soil volume in the estimated terrain change information for the planned reduction area and planned increase area for one excavation operation, calculated based on the task information, may be the volume of the bucket 10, for example.

[0101] In S190, the anomaly occurrence determination unit 108 compares the amount of soil change in the estimated terrain change information for the planned reduction area calculated in S140 with the amount of soil change in the actual terrain change information for the planned reduction area calculated in S180, and determines whether the difference is equal to or greater than a first threshold. If the determination in S190 is YES, the process proceeds to S200, and if the determination is NO, the process proceeds to S210. Note that the first threshold in this modified example is preferably set to a value larger than the first threshold in the first embodiment.

[0102] In S210, the anomaly occurrence determination unit 108 compares the amount of soil change in the estimated terrain change information for the planned expansion area calculated in S140 with the amount of soil change in the actual terrain change information for the planned expansion area calculated in S180, and determines whether the difference is equal to or greater than a second threshold. If the determination in S210 is YES, the process proceeds to S220, and if the determination is NO, the process proceeds to S230. Note that the second threshold in this modified example is preferably set to a value larger than the second threshold in the first embodiment.

[0103] <Actions and Effects> An administrator or a management system inputs task information. In Fig. 6, an excavation and dumping task is input to the hydraulic excavator 1. In the excavation and dumping task, an excavation area and a dumping area are input as task information.

[0104] Next, the current terrain acquisition unit 102 acquires the pre-operation terrain, which is terrain information around the hydraulic excavator 1 before the automatic operation is performed.

[0105] Next, based on the input task information, a terrain change monitoring area, a planned decrease area, a planned increase area, and a planned unchanged area are set.

[0106] Next, the abnormality occurrence determination unit 108 calculates the amount of change in soil volume in the estimated terrain change information for the area to be reduced and the area to be increased based on the input task information and the pre-operation terrain. At this time, the amount of change in soil volume in the estimated terrain change information for the area to be reduced and the area to be increased in one excavation calculated based on the task information may be, for example, the volume of the bucket 10.

[0107] Next, the operations from excavation to soil discharge are performed automatically. The excavation and soil discharge operations will not be specifically described in this modified example.

[0108] After the series of automatic operations from excavation to soil discharge is completed, the current topography acquisition unit 102 acquires the post-operation topography, which is topography information around the hydraulic excavator 1 after the automatic operation has been executed.

[0109] Next, the abnormality occurrence determination unit 108 calculates the amount of change in soil volume of the actual terrain change information in each of the planned decrease area, planned increase area, and planned unchanged area from the pre-operation terrain and post-operation terrain.

[0110] Next, the anomaly occurrence determination unit 108 compares the amount of soil change in the estimated terrain change information for each area with the amount of soil change in the actual terrain change information to determine whether an anomaly has occurred in the task. As shown in Figure 6(a), if the amount of soil actually excavated is much less than the amount of soil estimated from the task information and the pre-operation terrain because the soil was harder than expected, for example, the difference between the amount of soil change in the estimated terrain change information for the area to be reduced and the amount of soil change in the actual terrain change information is equal to or greater than the first threshold, the determination in S190 is YES, and the external system 200 is notified in S200 that an anomaly has occurred in the excavation work of the task. 6(b), if the amount of soil actually discharged into the planned increase area is much less than the amount of soil estimated from the task information and the pre-operation terrain because the amount of excavated soil was small or soil spilled from the bucket 10 while moving the bucket 10 to the discharge position, the difference between the amount of soil change in the estimated terrain change information for the planned increase area and the amount of soil change in the actual terrain change information is equal to or greater than the second threshold, so S210 determines YES, and S220 notifies the external system 200 that an abnormality has occurred in the discharge operation of the task. If, as shown in FIG. 6(c), soil in the planned unchanged area collapses and flows into the planned decrease area where excavation has already been performed, the change in soil volume in the actual terrain change information for the planned unchanged area has decreased, and the amount of change is equal to or greater than the third threshold, so S230 determines YES, and S240 notifies the external system 200 that an abnormality has occurred in the task, such as a terrain collapse. As shown in FIG. 6(d), if soil spills from the bucket 10 while the bucket 10 is being moved to the release position after excavation, the soil volume change in the actual terrain change information for the planned unchanged area has increased, and the amount of change is equal to or greater than the fourth threshold, so S250 returns YES, and S260 notifies the external system 200 that an abnormality such as soil spillage has occurred in the task. These abnormality notifications may include notifications of multiple types of abnormality occurrences at the same time. It is preferable that the thresholds used for the determinations in S190 and S210 in this modified example be set to values ​​larger than those in the first embodiment.

[0111] In this way, by determining the occurrence of an anomaly from the change in the amount of soil in each area based on task information, various types of anomalies related to work can be detected.

[0112] [Variation 2] A second modification of the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to Figures 11 to 14. In the second modification, only the differences from the first embodiment will be described.

[0113] In the first embodiment described above, if soil spills from the bucket 10 while the bucket 10 is being moved to the release position after excavation, the abnormality occurrence determination unit 108 notifies the occurrence of a soil spill abnormality in S260 and terminates the processing. However, in this modified example 2, the location where the soil has spilled is identified and automatic excavation is performed on the spilled soil.

[0114] <Controller 40> FIG. 11 is a functional block diagram of the controller 40 in the second modification of the first embodiment.

[0115] The anomaly occurrence determination unit 108 calculates the amount of change in soil volume in the estimated terrain change information of the planned unchanged area and the amount of change in soil volume in the actual terrain change information based on the operation trajectory of the operation planning unit 90 and information from the current terrain acquisition unit 102 and the monitoring area setting unit 105, identifies the location of the sediment spill, and if the location of the sediment spill is within the automatic excavation operation range of the hydraulic excavator 1 (see FIG. 13), generates task information in which an excavation area is set to include the location of the sediment spill (the discharge area is not changed), and outputs this to the operation planning unit 90. This makes it possible to perform automatic excavation of the sediment where the sediment spill has occurred.

[0116] <Flow of determining whether an abnormality has occurred> FIG. 12 shows a flow of the controller 40 determining whether an abnormality has occurred in a task.

[0117] If the determination in S250 is YES, the process proceeds to S260, where the incident occurrence determination unit 108 notifies the external system 200 of the occurrence of an earth and sand spill incident.

[0118] Thereafter, in S320, the abnormality occurrence determination unit 108 identifies the location of the landslide, by determining a location where the topography has changed within an area that is expected to remain unchanged as the location of the landslide, as shown in FIG.

[0119] In S330, the anomaly occurrence determination unit 108 determines whether the location of the soil spill is within the automatic excavation operation range. The automatic excavation operation range is, for example, as shown in FIG. 13 , a region within the planned unchanging area that is equal to the angular range through which the upper rotating body 12 rotates when the bucket 10 passes along the operation trajectory planned by the operation planner 90. The automatic excavation operation range may be set using other setting methods. For example, the automatic excavation operation range may be set to an area in which a predetermined width is set on the operation trajectory through which the bucket 10 passes, or may be set to the range through which the bucket 10 actually passed based on measured attitude information (the calculation result of the position and attitude calculation unit 43) during operation. If the answer is YES in S330, proceed to S340; if the answer is NO, end the processing.

[0120] In S340, the abnormality occurrence determination unit 108 sets the area including the location of the soil spill as a new excavation area (see FIG. 14), outputs the discharge area to the operation planning unit 90 as task information without changing it, and performs automatic excavation in accordance with the processing of the operation planning unit 90 and the automatic operation control unit 91. Note that the automatic excavation performed in S340 may be configured to set the excavation area to an area that includes the location of the soil spill, set the discharge area to the excavation area acquired in S100, and move the spilled soil to the original excavation area.

[0121] <Actions and Effects> An example of operation when a landslide occurs as shown in FIG. 13 will be described.

[0122] An administrator or a management system inputs task information. In this modification, an excavation and dumping task is input to the hydraulic excavator 1. In the excavation and dumping task, an excavation area and a dumping area are input as task information, as shown in FIG. 13 .

[0123] Next, the current terrain acquisition unit 102 acquires the pre-operation terrain, which is terrain information around the hydraulic excavator 1 before the automatic operation is performed.

[0124] Next, based on the input task information, an operation plan is made from excavation to dumping, and the abnormality occurrence determination unit 108 calculates the change in soil volume of the estimated terrain change information in each area of ​​the planned decrease area and the planned increase area based on the terrain before operation and the operation plan.

[0125] Next, the operations from excavation to soil discharge are automatically performed based on the operation plan. The excavation operation and soil discharge operation will not be specifically described in this modified example.

[0126] After the series of automatic operations from excavation to soil discharge is completed, the current topography acquisition unit 102 acquires the post-operation topography, which is topography information around the hydraulic excavator 1 after the automatic operation has been executed.

[0127] Next, the abnormality occurrence determination unit 108 calculates the amount of change in soil volume of the actual terrain change information in each of the planned decrease area, planned increase area, and planned unchanged area from the pre-operation terrain and post-operation terrain.

[0128] Next, the abnormality occurrence determination unit 108 compares the amount of change in soil volume in the estimated terrain change information for each area with the amount of change in soil volume in the actual terrain change information, and determines whether or not an abnormality has occurred in the task.

[0129] Next, in S250, it is determined that an earth and sand spill has occurred, and in S260, the earth and sand spill incident is notified to the external system 200.

[0130] The location of the spilled soil is identified in S320, and it is determined in S330 whether the location is within the automatic excavation operation range. In this example, the location of the spilled soil is within the automatic excavation operation range as shown in Figure 13, so it is determined that the spilled soil is within the automatic excavation operation range, and the process proceeds to S340.

[0131] Next, the abnormality occurrence determination unit 108 outputs task information to the operation planning unit 90, specifying an excavation area that includes the location of the soil spill and an earth-releasing area that is the same area as the automatic excavation earth-releasing area, and performs automatic excavation to excavate the location of the soil spill.

[0132] In this way, spillage of soil during automatic excavation by the hydraulic excavator 1 is determined from the change in the amount of soil in the planned unchanging area, and automatic excavation is performed on the spilled soil, thereby eliminating the need to manually move the spilled soil and improving work efficiency.

[0133] [Variation 3] A third modification of the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to Figures 15 and 16. In the third modification, only the differences from the second modification will be described.

[0134] In the second modification, the abnormality occurrence determination unit 108 is configured to automatically excavate spilled earth and sand in S340, but in the third modification, automatic leveling is performed instead of automatic excavation.

[0135] <Flow of determining whether an abnormality has occurred> FIG. 15 shows a flow of the controller 40 determining whether an abnormality has occurred in a task.

[0136] In S350, the anomaly occurrence determination unit 108 sets the location of the spilled soil as a leveling area (see FIG. 16 ) and outputs task information for performing automatic leveling to the operation planning unit 90. The task information for performing automatic leveling includes, for example, a leveling area and a soil destination area. The leveling area is the area that contains the spilled soil that is the target of automatic leveling. The soil destination area is the destination to which the spilled soil is moved. For example, this area may be fixed and set to either the excavation area or the dumping area during automatic excavation. Alternatively, the soil destination area may be set to the excavation area or the dumping area, whichever is closer to the location of the spilled soil. The difference in meaning between automatic excavation and automatic leveling in this embodiment will be described below. Automatic excavation refers to the operation of scooping soil into the bucket 10 and moving it, while automatic leveling refers to the operation of moving the soil using the toe of the bucket 10 without scooping it into the bucket 10, or the operation of shaping the soil into a flat surface.

[0137] <Actions and Effects> An example of operation when a landslide occurs as shown in FIG. 13 will be described.

[0138] An administrator or a management system inputs task information. In this modification, an excavation and dumping task is input to the hydraulic excavator 1. In the excavation and dumping task, an excavation area and a dumping area are input as task information, as shown in FIG. 13 .

[0139] Next, the current terrain acquisition unit 102 acquires the pre-operation terrain, which is terrain information around the hydraulic excavator 1 before the automatic operation is performed.

[0140] Next, based on the input task information, an operation plan is made from excavation to dumping, and the abnormality occurrence determination unit 108 calculates the change in soil volume of the estimated terrain change information in each area of ​​the planned decrease area and the planned increase area based on the terrain before operation and the operation plan.

[0141] Next, the operations from excavation to soil discharge are automatically performed based on the operation plan. The excavation operation and soil discharge operation will not be specifically described in this modified example.

[0142] After the series of automatic operations from excavation to soil discharge is completed, the current topography acquisition unit 102 acquires the post-operation topography, which is topography information around the hydraulic excavator 1 after the automatic operation has been executed.

[0143] Next, the abnormality occurrence determination unit 108 calculates the amount of change in soil volume of the actual terrain change information in each of the planned decrease area, planned increase area, and planned unchanged area from the pre-operation terrain and post-operation terrain.

[0144] Next, the abnormality occurrence determination unit 108 compares the amount of change in soil volume in the estimated terrain change information for each area with the amount of change in soil volume in the actual terrain change information, and determines whether or not an abnormality has occurred in the task.

[0145] Next, in S250, it is determined that an earth and sand spill has occurred, and in S260, the earth and sand spill incident is notified to the external system 200.

[0146] The location of the spilled soil is identified in S320, and it is determined in S330 whether the location of the spilled soil is within the automatic excavation operation range. In this example of operation, since the relationship between the location of the spilled soil and the automatic excavation operation range is as shown in Figure 13, it is determined that the location of the spilled soil is within the automatic excavation operation range, and the process proceeds to S350.

[0147] Next, the abnormality occurrence determination unit 108 designates the area including the location of the soil spill as a leveling area, outputs task information to the operation planning unit 90 with the excavation area acquired in S100 as the destination area for soil movement, and performs automatic leveling to level the location of the soil spill.

[0148] In this way, spillage of soil during automatic excavation by the hydraulic excavator 1 is determined from the change in the amount of soil in the expected unchanging area, and the spilled soil is automatically leveled, thereby eliminating the need to manually move the spilled soil and improving work efficiency.

[0149] By configuring the control system as described above, it is possible to prevent a decline in work efficiency by detecting and notifying the occurrence of abnormalities in tasks during automatic excavation and discharge work and the type of abnormality at an early stage.

[0150] [summary] As described above, the work machine (hydraulic excavator 1) of this embodiment is a work machine that plans a motion trajectory of a work device based on task information, controls the operation of the work device based on the planned motion trajectory, and automatically performs excavation and dumping work, and includes an input unit 100 to which the task information including information on at least one of an excavation area where excavation work is to be performed and an earth dumping area where earth dumping work is to be performed, a current terrain acquisition unit 102 that acquires the current terrain around the work machine, a motion planning unit 90 that plans a motion trajectory of the work device based on the task information, an automatic operation control unit 91 that controls the operation of the work device based on the motion trajectory, and a control unit that controls the current terrain acquisition unit 102. The control device (control controller 40) has an acquisition unit 102 that acquires pre-operation topography, which is the current topography before the work machine performs the excavation and dumping work, and post-operation topography, which is the current topography after the work machine performs the excavation and dumping work, and an abnormality occurrence determination unit 108 that determines whether or not an abnormality has occurred in the excavation and dumping work performed by the work machine based on estimated terrain change information calculated from the pre-operation topography and the task information or the operation trajectory, and actual terrain change information calculated from the pre-operation topography and the post-operation topography, and notifies an external system 200 of the occurrence of an abnormality if it is determined that an abnormality has occurred in the excavation and dumping work.

[0151] The estimated terrain change information and the actual terrain change information include the amount of change in the volume of soil and sand in a specified area, and the control device (control controller 40) further includes a monitoring area setting unit 105 that sets a terrain change monitoring area including at least one of an area where the volume of soil and sand is expected to decrease, an area where the volume of soil and sand is expected to increase, and an area where the volume of soil and sand is expected to remain unchanged, based on information on at least one of the excavation area and the dumping area, and the abnormality occurrence determination unit 108 determines whether an abnormality has occurred in the excavation and dumping work based on the amount of change in the volume of soil and sand included in the estimated terrain change information and the amount of change in the volume of soil and sand included in the actual terrain change information in each area within the terrain change monitoring area.

[0152] The abnormality occurrence determination unit 108 determines whether an abnormality has occurred in the excavation work of the excavation and release work based on the change in the volume of soil and sand contained in the estimated terrain change information in the area to be reduced and the change in the volume of soil and sand contained in the actual terrain change information.

[0153] The abnormality occurrence determination unit 108 determines whether an abnormality has occurred in the soil dumping work of the excavation and soil dumping work based on the change in the volume of soil and sand contained in the estimated terrain change information in the planned expansion area and the change in the volume of soil and sand contained in the actual terrain change information.

[0154] If the change in the volume of soil and sand included in the actual terrain change information in the planned unchanged area is a decrease, the abnormality occurrence determination unit 108 determines whether or not an abnormality such as a collapse of the terrain has occurred from the amount of decrease, and if the change in the volume of soil and sand included in the actual terrain change information in the planned unchanged area is an increase, it determines whether or not an abnormality such as a landslide has occurred from the amount of increase.

[0155] The control device (control controller 40) further includes an actual excavation volume estimation unit 109 that calculates the volume of soil and sand excavated by the work machine, and the abnormality occurrence determination unit 108 determines whether an abnormality has occurred in the current terrain acquisition based on the amount of change in the volume of soil and sand contained in the estimated terrain change information in the area scheduled to decrease, the amount of change in the volume of soil and sand contained in the estimated terrain change information in the area scheduled to increase, and the volume of soil and sand excavated by the work machine calculated by the actual excavation volume estimation unit 109.

[0156] The abnormality occurrence determination unit 108 determines whether an abnormality has occurred in the current terrain acquisition based on the difference between the change in the volume of soil and sand included in the estimated terrain change information in the area to be reduced and the volume of soil and sand excavated by the work machine calculated in the actual excavation volume estimation unit 109, and the difference between the change in the volume of soil and sand included in the estimated terrain change information in the area to be increased and the volume of soil and sand excavated by the work machine calculated in the actual excavation volume estimation unit 109.

[0157] The anomaly occurrence determination unit 108 notifies the external system 200 of the parts of the system that should be checked according to the content of the determined anomaly.

[0158] In the monitoring area setting unit 105, the planned reduction area is set to include the entire excavation area, the planned increase area is set to include the entire soil release area, the terrain change monitoring area is set to include the entire planned reduction area and the entire planned increase area, and the planned unchanged area is set as the area obtained by excluding the planned reduction area and the planned increase area from the terrain change monitoring area.

[0159] When the abnormality occurrence determination unit 108 determines that an abnormality has occurred in the excavation and release work, the automatic operation control unit 91 stops the operation of the work machine.

[0160] When the abnormality occurrence determination unit 108 determines that an abnormality in soil spillage has occurred, it identifies the location of the soil spillage and outputs information about the excavation area including the location of the soil spillage (soil) to the operation planning unit 90 as the task information.

[0161] The task information includes information on the leveling area where leveling work will be performed, and when the abnormality occurrence determination unit 108 determines that an abnormality has occurred in a soil spill, it identifies the location of the soil spill and outputs information on the leveling area including the location of the soil spill (or the soil) to the operation planning unit 90 as the task information.

[0162] In other words, within the terrain change monitoring area, the system determines whether an abnormality has occurred in the work (task) based on the location of the terrain change and the amount of change in soil volume planned before the start of automatic operation, and the actual location of the terrain change and the amount of change in soil volume before and after automatic operation.If it determines that an abnormality has occurred in the work (task), it notifies an external system of the occurrence of the abnormality and stops the automatic operation of the work machine.

[0163] According to this embodiment, a work machine (hydraulic excavator 1) can be provided that can prevent a decline in work efficiency by detecting and notifying the occurrence of abnormalities in tasks during automatic excavation and discharge work and the type of abnormality at an early stage.

[0164] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments and includes various modifications. For example, the above-described embodiments have been described in detail to clearly explain the present invention, and are not necessarily limited to those including all of the described configurations. Furthermore, it is possible to replace part of the configuration of one embodiment with the configuration of another embodiment, or to add the configuration of another embodiment to the configuration of one embodiment. Furthermore, it is possible to add, delete, or replace part of the configuration of each embodiment with other configurations.

[0165] Furthermore, the functions of the controllers of the above-described embodiments may be implemented in hardware, for example, by designing some or all of them as integrated circuits. Alternatively, the functions may be implemented in software, with a processor interpreting and executing a program that implements each function. Information such as the programs, tables, and files that implement each function can be stored in a storage device within the controller, a hard disk, a solid-state drive (SSD), or other storage media, such as an IC card, SD card, or DVD. [Explanation of symbols]

[0166] 1... Hydraulic excavator (work machine) 1A...Front work device (work device) 1B...Body 3...Travel hydraulic motor 4...Slewing hydraulic motor 5...Boom cylinder 6...Arm cylinder 7...Bucket cylinder 8...Boom 9...Arm 10...Bucket 30...Boom angle sensor 31...Arm angle sensor 32...Bucket angle sensor 36...Vehicle position detection device 40...Controller (control device) 43…Position / orientation calculation unit 44...Electromagnetic proportional valve control section 60...Working device attitude detection device 70...Terrain detection device 81...Actuator control section 90...Motion planning section 91...Automatic operation control unit 100...Input section 102…Current terrain acquisition department 105…Monitoring area setting section 108...Abnormality Determination Unit 109...Actual excavation amount estimation section 200...External system

Claims

1. A work machine that plans a motion trajectory of a work device based on task information, controls the operation of the work device based on the planned motion trajectory, and automatically performs excavation and discharge work, an input unit to which the task information including information on at least one of an excavation area where excavation work is performed and an earth-discharging area where earth-discharging work is performed is input; a current terrain acquisition unit that acquires the current terrain around the work machine; a motion planning unit that plans a motion trajectory of the work device based on the task information; an automatic operation control unit that controls the operation of the working device based on the operation trajectory; a current terrain acquisition unit that acquires pre-operation terrain, which is the current terrain before the work machine performs excavation and dumping work, and post-operation terrain, which is the current terrain after the work machine performs excavation and dumping work, and an abnormality occurrence determination unit that determines whether or not an abnormality has occurred in the excavation and dumping work performed by the work machine based on estimated terrain change information calculated from the pre-operation terrain, the task information, or the operation trajectory, and actual terrain change information calculated from the pre-operation terrain and the post-operation terrain, and that notifies an external system of the occurrence of an abnormality if it determines that an abnormality has occurred in the excavation and dumping work.

2. 2. The work machine according to claim 1, the estimated terrain change information and the actual terrain change information include a change in the volume of earth and sand in a predetermined area; The control device further includes a monitoring area setting unit that sets a topography change monitoring area including at least one of a planned decrease area where the volume of sediment is expected to decrease, a planned increase area where the volume of sediment is expected to increase, and a planned unchanged area where the volume of sediment is expected to remain unchanged, based on information on at least one of the excavation area and the soil release area; a construction machine characterized in that the abnormality occurrence determination unit determines whether an abnormality has occurred in the excavation and discharge work based on the amount of change in the volume of soil and sand included in the estimated terrain change information and the amount of change in the volume of soil and sand included in the actual terrain change information in each area within the terrain change monitoring area.

3. 3. The work machine according to claim 2, The abnormality occurrence determination unit determines whether an abnormality has occurred in the excavation work of the excavation and release work based on the amount of change in the volume of soil and sand included in the estimated terrain change information in the expected reduction area and the amount of change in the volume of soil and sand included in the actual terrain change information.

4. 3. The work machine according to claim 2, The abnormality determination unit determines whether an abnormality has occurred in the soil dumping work of the excavation and soil dumping work based on the amount of change in the volume of soil and sand included in the estimated terrain change information in the planned expansion area and the amount of change in the volume of soil and sand included in the actual terrain change information.

5. 3. The work machine according to claim 2, The abnormality occurrence determination unit determines whether or not an abnormality such as a terrain collapse has occurred, if the change in the volume of soil and sand included in the actual terrain change information in the planned unchanged area is a decrease, from the amount of decrease, and determines whether or not an abnormality such as a soil spill has occurred, if the change in the volume of soil and sand included in the actual terrain change information in the planned unchanged area is an increase, from the amount of increase.

6. 3. The work machine according to claim 2, The control device further includes an actual excavation volume estimating unit that calculates the volume of earth and sand excavated by the work machine, The abnormality occurrence determination unit determines whether an abnormality has occurred in the current terrain acquisition based on the amount of change in the volume of soil and sand included in the estimated terrain change information in the area to be reduced, the amount of change in the volume of soil and sand included in the estimated terrain change information in the area to be increased, and the volume of soil and sand excavated by the work machine calculated by the actual excavation volume estimation unit.

7. 3. The work machine according to claim 2, a work machine characterized in that, in the monitoring area setting unit, the planned reduction area is set to include the entire excavation area, the planned increase area is set to include the entire soil release area, the terrain change monitoring area is set to include the entire planned reduction area and the entire planned increase area, and the planned unchanged area is set as the area obtained by excluding the planned reduction area and the planned increase area from the terrain change monitoring area.

8. 3. The work machine according to claim 2, A work machine characterized in that, when the abnormality occurrence determination unit determines that an abnormality has occurred in the excavation and discharge work, the automatic operation control unit stops the operation of the work machine.

9. 6. The work machine according to claim 5, A work machine characterized in that, when it is determined that an abnormality has occurred in a soil spill, the abnormality determination unit identifies the location of the soil spill and outputs information about the excavation area including the location of the soil spill to the operation planning unit as the task information.

10. 6. The work machine according to claim 5, The task information includes information about a leveling area where the leveling work is to be performed, When the abnormality occurrence determination unit determines that an abnormality has occurred in a landslide, it identifies the location of the landslide and outputs information about the leveling area including the location of the landslide to the operation planning unit as the task information.

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