Route designing system, route planning system, and route designing method

Abstract

To provide correction of a partial route when a different limit is imposed only on a specific area of an autonomous conveyance system.SOLUTION: This route designing system comprises: a reference point management unit that manages a plurality of reference points so as to prevent interference between an autonomous mobile body and an obstacle; a basic parameter management unit that manages a basic parameter applied to an entire route for connecting a traveling start point and a traveling end point; an entire route designing unit that designs the entire route on the basis of the position of the reference point and the basic parameter; a local parameter management unit that manages a local parameter applied to a local region which is a partial region of the entire route; a local route designing unit that corrects a local route in the local region on the basis of the entire route and the local parameter; an evaluation unit that evaluates smoothness of the entire route on the basis of the corrected local route; a display route designing unit that designs a display route in accordance with the evaluation result of the evaluation unit referring to the entire route; and a display unit that displays the display route.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a route design system, a route planning system, and a route design method. [Background technology]

[0002] With the labor shortage caused by the declining birthrate and aging population and the expansion of the e-commerce market, labor saving and work efficiency in logistics warehouses and factories are becoming issues. To solve these issues, the introduction of autonomous transport systems that utilize autonomous robots (hereinafter referred to as vehicles), such as AGVs (Automated Guided Vehicles), which can operate unmanned, is being promoted.

[0003] In recent years, with the increase in logistics within factories, it has become common for vehicles to be equipped with sensors such as laser scanners and cameras and to apply SLAM (Simultaneous Localization And Mapping) technology, eliminating the need for dedicated equipment such as magnetic tape.

[0004] Furthermore, autonomous transport systems often control multiple vehicles to flexibly respond to on-site logistics volume. Therefore, to ensure safer and more efficient transport, it is necessary to design the target flow line (target route) of each vehicle in advance to some extent.

[0005] In the aforementioned route design, field users often use dedicated route design GUI tools to set virtual lines (routes) on a map. In this case, users must design a route that will allow them to reach their destination as quickly as possible without interfering with surrounding obstacles. In addition, in some cases, it may be necessary to set intersections where routes intersect to avoid collisions and interference between vehicles.

[0006] On the other hand, factories and warehouses are often densely packed with processing machines, material handling equipment, shelves, and other storage equipment, resulting in narrow and complicated roads. In such complex environments, on-site users may end up designing a route that gets too close to an obstacle unless they have a detailed understanding of the vehicle's dynamic characteristics, including the minimum turning radius, as well as the vehicle width and how the vehicle length changes depending on whether it is towing an object.

[0007] In this case, the on-site user would have to actually test drive the vehicle and correct the route by trial and error whenever excessive proximity to an obstacle was confirmed, which could require a significant amount of man-hours before on-site operation could begin.

[0008] Patent Document 1 proposes a technology that connects manually set reference points and then smooths the entire route by minimizing or maximizing a specific evaluation function until there is no interference with surrounding obstacles above a specified value. On-site users only need to set a rough route for the area they want to pass through, and the system can automatically correct the entire route. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0009] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2018-69428 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0010] Considering the actual field where the autonomous transport system operates, there may be cases where different restrictions are imposed on the maximum speed or maximum turning radius in specific areas. Also, because certain obstacles have moving parts, the on-site user may want to estimate the approachable distance around that obstacle higher than for other obstacles, depending on their judgment. In this way, in the actual field, the constraints (upper and lower limits) when smoothing may differ for each area.

[0011] However, the technology in Patent Document 1 focuses only on smoothing the entire route, and the parameters (such as the weights of the evaluation function) used during smoothing are the same for the entire route. Therefore, it is difficult to correct a partial route using only the technology in Patent Document 1.

[0012] An object of the present invention is to perform partial route correction in a route design system. [Means for solving the problem]

[0013] A route design system according to one aspect of the present invention is a route design system that designs a route for an autonomous mobile body to travel in an operational environment, and is characterized by having: a reference point management unit that manages a plurality of reference points between the start point and end point of travel of the autonomous mobile body so that the autonomous mobile body does not interfere with obstacles; a basic parameter management unit that manages basic parameters that are applied to an overall route connecting the start point and end point of travel; an overall route design unit that designs the overall route based on the positions of the reference points and the basic parameters; a local parameter management unit that manages local parameters that are applied to local areas that are part of the overall route; a local route design unit that corrects local routes within the local areas based on the overall route and the local parameters; an evaluation unit that evaluates the smoothness of the overall route based on the corrected local route; a display route design unit that designs a display route based on the evaluation result of the evaluation unit by referring to the overall route; and a display unit that displays the display route. [Effects of the Invention]

[0014] According to one aspect of the present invention, a partial route correction can be performed in a route design system. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0015] [Figure 1] This is a conceptual diagram of an automated transport system using AGVs in warehouses and factories. [Figure 2A] This is a conceptual diagram of an AGV used in warehouses and factories. [Figure 2B] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the internal processing configuration of an in-vehicle controller. [Figure 3] 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the overall configuration of a route planning system according to an embodiment; [Figure 4] This is a conceptual diagram showing the input results of reference points and intersection nodes and their design screen. [Figure 5A] This is a conceptual diagram of a driving route automatically generated based on reference points (an enlarged view of a specific area in Figure 1). [Figure 5B] 10 is a conceptual diagram showing a local correction area specified by a user and a discontinuous part of a path near a path boundary during partial correction. [Figure 6A] FIG. 10 is a conceptual diagram of the overall route design process. [Figure 6B] FIG. 10 is a conceptual diagram of the overall route design process. [Figure 7A] FIG. 10 is a conceptual diagram of the overall route design process. [Figure 7B] FIG. 10 is a conceptual diagram of the overall route design process. [Figure 8] 1 is a flowchart showing a processing flow of a route design system according to an embodiment. [Figure 9] FIG. 10 is a conceptual diagram showing a local correction region designated by a user. [Figure 10] FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing expanded local regions and the results of local path design within each local region. [Figure 11] FIG. 10 is a conceptual diagram of a function that displays route design results for multiple patterns and allows on-site users to select the desired route. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Example]

[0016] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to Figures 1 to 10. Note that in this embodiment, an explanation will be given for an example of inter-process transport within a factory.

[0017] FIG. 1 illustrates an operational environment 100 of a transport system in a factory that is assumed in the present invention and this embodiment.

[0018] For example, a plurality of vehicles 101 (vehicles 101B and 101C) with differential two-wheel drive, the details of which are shown in Fig. 2, are used for transportation work. There are various modes of transportation, and in some cases, a load is towed as shown in Fig. 1, or loaded on top of the vehicle, as in 102.

[0019] The vehicle 101 is controlled by wireless communication from a control server 300, which will be described later. In addition, a display 306 (hereinafter, referred to as the display unit 306) for displaying the operation status is also provided, on which the results of the route design and the operation status of each vehicle (such as the planned route and task execution status) calculated by the control server can be confirmed.

[0020] In the operational environment 100, a vehicle 101 travels along a basic route made up of nodes 111 and edges 112. The nodes 111 represent destination information, and the edges 112 represent a rough travel route. In actual operation, the control server 300 outputs instructions to each vehicle 101 to move from node to node.

[0021] Examples of instructions include an instruction to transport parts from node 103N in receiving area 103 to node 104N in parts storage 104, or an instruction to transport products from node 105N in product storage area 105 to node 106N in shipping area 106. Also, if the same task is assigned again, the vehicle will travel the reverse route. In addition, depending on the situation, a vehicle charging station 107 may be the starting point or destination of the trip.

[0022] Note that the nodes and links shown in Figure 1 are merely schematic diagrams, and an actual operation site will be equipped with processing machines, shelves, carts, pallets, etc. Therefore, depending on the driving area, it is possible that there will be a series of narrow passages 108 with an aisle width wide enough for only one vehicle 101 to travel through. For these reasons, in order to enable the vehicle to reach its destination more quickly without interfering with surrounding obstacles, it is necessary to design a route that combines dense nodes and curved links, as shown in Figure 5A (described below), before starting operation, rather than a route consisting of simple straight links and sparse nodes as shown in Figure 1.

[0023] The present invention is a technology that is applied to the above-mentioned route design. Hereinafter, the configuration of a vehicle (autonomous moving body) that is used in the present invention will be described, and then the detailed configuration of a route design system will be described.

[0024] A conceptual diagram of a vehicle 101 used in this embodiment is shown in Figure 2A. In this embodiment, a differential two-wheel vehicle is used as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this and can handle vehicles with various drive modes such as omni-wheel and mecanum wheel types. Here, x, y, and θ in the figure are the x and y coordinates of the robot, and θ is the orientation (direction) of the robot. Self-position calculation, which will be described later, means obtaining the current values ​​of (x, y, θ).

[0025] FIG. 2B shows a functional block diagram for explaining the control operation of the vehicle 101. The vehicle 101 is equipped with an on-board controller 201 that performs control calculations. The on-board controller 201 is composed of a target route management unit 202, on-board sensors 203, a driving map management unit 204, a control command generation unit 205, a self-position calculation unit 206, and a communication unit 209 that communicates with the control server. The vehicle 101 also includes a drive unit 207 and an encoder 208. An overview of each function will be described below.

[0026] The target route management unit 202 receives a target route planned on the control server side, which will be described later, via the communication unit 209. The target route is a set of nodes and links designed by the route design system of the present invention, and receives sequentially updated information from the control server PC (route design system).

[0027] The on-board sensor 203 corresponds to an external sensor mounted on the vehicle 101, and in this embodiment, as an example, a LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) is mounted. The LiDAR is a sensor that measures the distance to an object present within the irradiation range while changing the irradiation angle of a laser beam.

[0028] The driving map management unit 204 manages a driving map that shows obstacle information in the operating environment 100. The map is created in advance before the start of operation using SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) with input of measurement data acquired during driving from the on-board sensor 203 (LiDAR) and vehicle travel distance information acquired from the encoder 208 (described later). Creating a grid map using SLAM is a known technique, so a description thereof will be omitted.

[0029] In addition, the map image created by the SLAM is also shared with the control server PC (route design system) before operation begins, and the route design system designs the route based on the map image.

[0030] The self-position calculation unit 206 is a function that combines the measurement results obtained from the on-board sensor 203 and the encoder 208 to calculate the vehicle's own position (the coordinate values ​​x, y) and direction θ. Specifically, map matching technology is used. Map matching is a technology that takes the measurement information (point cloud set by LiDAR) acquired by the on-board sensor 203 and the driving map as input, and estimates the vehicle position on the driving map by utilizing the similarity between the point cloud set and the driving map. As the self-position estimation technology using map matching is also a publicly known technology, a detailed description will be omitted.

[0031] The control command generation unit 205 is a function that performs calculations related to vehicle driving control. Here, the target route and the vehicle's own position are input, and calculations are performed to determine control commands for following the target route, more specifically, the speed v and angular velocity ω. For example, a process can be considered in which the node that constitutes the target route and is closest to the vehicle's own position is set as the target node, and the speed v and angular velocity ω are sequentially calculated to reach the target node.

[0032] The drive unit 207 has a function of converting a command value input from the control command generation unit 205 into a predetermined current value in order to transmit power to the drive wheels of the vehicle 101. In addition, an encoder 208 provided on the drive wheels acquires the amount of rotation of the drive wheels and estimates the travel distance and current speed of the vehicle. The estimated values ​​are sent as response values ​​from the drive unit 207 to the control command generation unit and self-position estimation unit.

[0033] The above is an overview of the functions provided in the vehicle 101 and the on-board controller 201. Next, an overview of the automated guided vehicle system and an overview of the route planning system (functions) in the control server PC, which is the main focus of the present invention, will be described.

[0034] The present invention considers a case where, when generating a route for a vehicle 101 to travel in an operational environment 100, an on-site user partially corrects the route in accordance with on-site rules or the wishes of the on-site user after generating the entire route once. In this case, when correcting the route within a local correction area specified by the on-site user, the object is to prevent the route around the boundary of the local correction area from becoming excessively distorted (the route becoming difficult for the vehicle to follow).

[0035] Here, Fig. 5A shows the result of generating the overall route, and Fig. 5B shows the result of correcting (partial correction) the route within a local area separately set by the on-site user (see 502 in Fig. 5B).General partial correction is limited to the area set by the on-site user, so if the constraints within the local area are stricter than the overall constraints, in some cases the route near the boundary may become discontinuous or make a sharp turn, as shown in 503 in Fig. 5B, and the present invention is aimed at solving this problem.

[0036] In the following, a specific configuration of a route planning system for solving the above-mentioned problems and the actual processing flow will be described.

[0037] FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of a route planning system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0038] The route planning system in this embodiment is composed of a control server PC (hereinafter referred to as a route design PC) 300, the on-board controller 201, and a vehicle 101. As described above, the route design PC 300 generates a travel route for the entire environment of an autonomous mobile object including the vehicle 101.

[0039] The route design system is internally composed of an instruction unit 301, a reference point management unit 302, a basic parameter management unit 303, an overall route design unit 304, a display route design unit 305, a display unit 306, a local parameter management unit 307, a local route design unit 308, an application range expansion unit 309, an evaluation unit 310, and a communication unit 311. In Figure 3, lines with arrows indicate the flow of data. Below, an overview of each functional block of the route design system 300 will be described based on the configuration example in Figure 3.

[0040] Reference numeral 400 in FIG. 4 shows an example of a GUI (Graphical User Interface) that represents the instruction unit 301 and the display unit 306 of the present invention.

[0041] A frame 400 in the figure shows an example of a screen to be displayed on an external display (display unit 306). Based on a map image 401 of the entire site created by the map management unit 204, the site management user designs a route using a screen display 402 that enlarges the map image 401. The map image on the top row represents the display unit, and the set of buttons and number bars on the bottom row represent the GUI of the instruction unit 301.

[0042] The basic flow of route design (basic flow of the instruction unit 301) is to press the Add Reference Point or Add Intersection button, then move the icon 403 on the display unit 306 with the attached mouse or the like, and place the rough location where you want the vehicle to pass as a reference point 404 or an intersection 405. After that, by pressing the Execute Overall Correction button, a route that connects the start point and end point as shown in Figure 5 is automatically generated. The generated route displays route information that shows the actual changes in vehicle posture, etc., based on, for example, the vehicle width and shape that were set in advance (see Figure 5: 501). Note that Figure 5 only shows an example of the route results that are displayed, to avoid cluttering the illustration.

[0043] The instruction unit 301 also has an instruction interface for local area correction. Specifically, when the partial area selection button in the lower part of FIG. 4 is pressed, a rectangular area such as the rectangle 406 shown in the screen display 402 is displayed, and the user sets the area for which partial correction is desired (for which the route is to be redesigned with different constraint parameters) by changing the size and position of the rectangular area. Note that, as will be described in detail later, the selection policy for the partial correction area is not limited to a rectangle, and it may also be possible to select, for example, a specific obstacle or a node constituting the route. Hereinafter, in this embodiment, local route correction is performed using rectangular area selection as an example.

[0044] The reference point management unit 302 is a database that manages the reference point positions input by the operation of the on-site user via the command unit 301. Since reference points may be added or deleted as appropriate according to instructions from the on-site user, the contents of the database are also defined and updated according to instructions from the user.

[0045] The basic parameter management unit 303 manages smoothing parameters used in the overall route design unit (described later), safety margin parameters indicating the margin distance from obstacles, etc. Automatically generated routes are basically generated based on the management parameters.

[0046] The overall path design unit 304 automatically generates a path from the start point to the end point based on the reference point positions, start point positions and attitudes, and end point positions and attitudes information managed by the reference point management unit 302, and the path design parameters managed by the basic parameter management unit 303. There are various automatic generation algorithms, but in this embodiment, as an example, a quadratic programming problem, which is one of the mathematical optimization algorithms, is used.

[0047] More specifically, the route is designed to pass as close to the reference points as possible, while avoiding excessive proximity to surrounding obstacles, to ensure a smooth overall route. Note that "smoothness" refers to the degree of change in curvature. The algorithm will be described in detail below, with the help of Figures 6 and 7. Automatic route generation is broadly comprised of three processes (steps).

[0048] In step 1, the reference points managed by the reference point management unit 302 are input, and a simple interpolated path is created by connecting the reference points. The simple interpolated path is created using, for example, a (cubic) spline interpolation or B-spline interpolation method. In this embodiment, the B-spline interpolation method is used. B-spline interpolation is an interpolation method that always passes through only the start point and end point, but does not guarantee that other reference points will pass through. However, the interpolated path has continuous curvature changes, making it possible to obtain a smooth path.

[0049] Therefore, as an example, a route from an arbitrary intersection to another intersection, or a route from an arbitrary intersection to the travel end position (reference point) is created using B-spline interpolation. An example of the generated route is shown in Figure 6A.

[0050] In Figure 6A, 601 indicates an intersection node, 602 indicates a reference point node, 603 indicates a B-spline interpolated path, and 604 indicates an obstacle area. Note that various spline interpolation algorithms are well-known techniques, so details will be omitted. By performing this processing, a smooth path that is easy for a vehicle to follow can be obtained, but since it is merely a simple interpolation, interference with surrounding obstacles is not taken into consideration, and in some cases, as shown in Figure 6A, the interpolated path may interfere with an obstacle or come too close.

[0051] Therefore, in step 2, the simplified interpolation path is divided into equal parts at arbitrary intervals, and a search is performed at arbitrary intervals in the direction perpendicular to each reference position to calculate the path boundary positions. An example is shown in Figure 6B.

[0052] In this embodiment, the simple route 603 is divided into 0.1 m intervals, and each is set as a reference point 605. Based on the direction to the adjacent reference point, search points 606 (circles in the figure) are prepared in the perpendicular direction of each reference point, also at 0.1 m intervals.

[0053] The search point is shifted one by one in both directions relative to the reference point, and the search continues until it reaches the point where it interferes with an obstacle. At this time, if the critical approach distance (called a safety margin here) to the obstacle is defined in the route design parameters, the search point that takes into account the distance of the safety margin from the search point that interfered with the obstacle is set as the route boundary point 607 (the shaded circle in the figure).

[0054] If a reference point is already interfering with an obstacle, such as reference point 605B, a route boundary point will be generated in one direction relative to the direction of the reference point. In this case, the search point located further away is designated as boundary search point 607B on the right side of the route travel direction, and the nearby search point is designated as route boundary point 607C on the left side.

[0055] Finally, in step 3, as mentioned above, a smooth path is calculated using mathematical optimization based on quadratic programming while observing the constraint of not interfering with obstacles. An example of the designed evaluation function J is shown in the following equation 1. Note that st in equation 1 represents the constraint condition formula for the evaluation function J.

[0056]

number

[0057] Note that d in Equation 1 indicates the amount of movement of the reference point in the perpendicular direction calculated in step 2. Therefore, the route boundary position information obtained in step 2 can be used as a constraint condition for this evaluation function. Specifically, the amount of movement of d is the minimum value d based on the position of the route boundary. cmin , maximum value d cmax can be constrained as This allows for the generation of smooth paths while respecting constraints (safety margins) to avoid collisions with obstacles.

[0058] An example of the generated route is shown in 701 in Fig. 7A. A smooth route is generated by changing each reference point 605 only by the amount of movement d in the direction perpendicular to each reference point. Fig. 7B illustrates each symbol in equation 1. The above is the details of the processing by the overall route design unit 304.

[0059] The display route design unit 305 displays route information generated by the overall route design unit, specifically, route information that allows the user to see actual changes in vehicle posture, etc., based on the node positions and their curvatures, and taking into account the vehicle width and shape set in advance. As mentioned above, Figure 5A is an example of a displayed route.

[0060] The local parameter management unit 307 stores various parameters related to local correction when a local path correction request is issued from the user side via the instruction unit 301. Specifically, these are the position coordinates of a rectangle set by the user and smoothing parameters that are applied only within the rectangular area.

[0061] The local route design unit 308, application range extension unit 309, and evaluation unit 310 are the main focus of the present invention, and will be described in detail in the processing flow described below, but only an overview will be given here. The local route design unit 308 performs smoothing processing only within the rectangular region based on the rectangular region information and local smoothing parameters managed by the local parameter management unit 307. The smoothing processing is basically the same as that of the overall route design unit.

[0062] The application range expansion unit 309 expands the area corrected by the local route design unit 308 in the route travel direction by a specific increment size, and performs route correction again within the newly set expanded area (performing the processing of the local route design unit 308).

[0063] The evaluation unit 310 evaluates the smoothness of the entire route based on the result of the initial local route correction and the result of the route corrected within the area expanded by the application range expansion unit, using the expanded local area as a reference. As an example of the evaluation index, an evaluation value indicating the curvature and degree of curvature change handled by the overall route design unit 304, or the simple sum of the distances between nodes (total route length) is used.

[0064] The communication unit 311 transmits route information, specifically node and link information, along which the vehicle 101 (only) will travel to the target route management unit 204 via the communication unit 209 provided in the vehicle controller 201 side.

[0065] This completes the outline of the route design system. Hereinafter, the overall flow of the route design system and the details of the local route design unit 308, the application range extension unit 309, and the evaluation unit 310 will be explained using Figures 9, 11 to 13 based on the flowchart shown in Figure 8. Note that the route design system (processing on the control server side) targets the process from step 803 in the flowchart in Figure 8, but in the embodiment, the explanation will be based on the process of preparing a site map image, which serves as a basis for route design, on the vehicle side.

[0066] First, the on-site user prepares a site map to be input into the route design system (control server PC) (process 801). The site map is a map stored in the map information management unit of the vehicle 101. As mentioned above, a map is generated using SLAM using sensor data obtained from the on-board sensors. Then, the process proceeds to 702.

[0067] In process 802, the on-site user transfers the map image information data created in process 801 to the local route planning system (control server PC). The transfer may be performed via network communication using a communication unit, or data stored in an external recording medium may be read by the control server PC.

[0068] The subsequent processing is performed on the route planning system (route planning application). First, in process 803, the on-site user starts the route planning system and reads the map image transmitted from the vehicle in process 802. An example of the screen after reading the map image is as shown in Figure 4.

[0069] In process 804, the on-site user corrects the on-site map image as necessary. On-site map images are generally black and white binary images, and by correcting black areas using a paint tool or dedicated image processing software, the shape of obstacles, etc. can be edited.

[0070] Furthermore, if there is an area where vehicles are prohibited from entering, such as a part of the shipping area 106 shown in Fig. 1, the on-site user can decide to paint the area black so that a route is not generated in that area in the subsequent route design process. After the map image editing is completed, the process proceeds to 805.

[0071] In process 805, the on-site user saves the map image corrected in process 804. The above is the preparation to be carried out before the route design process.

[0072] The following steps 806 to 810 are executed by the overall route design unit 304, and are repeatedly executed until the required number of routes are designed according to the operational mode of the site.

[0073] In process 806, the on-site user sets a group of parameters to be input into the route planning process. As mentioned above, the parameters include vehicle class parameters such as vehicle width and length, driving performance parameters such as the vehicle's minimum turning radius and maximum angular velocity, and various weighting parameters for the evaluation function during smoothing. The setting methods include the buttons and numeric bar shown in the lower part of Figure 4, as well as direct input of numerical values ​​into dedicated text boxes (not shown in Figure 4).

[0074] In process 807, the on-site user adds intersections and reference points using the GUI. The user changes the position of the pointer displayed on the screen and adds markers shown in 404 in Figure 4 (Figure 4: 404 (reference point node), Figure 5: 405 (intersection node)). Intersections indicate points that must be passed through a set position within a specific deviation (the point must be passed through). On the other hand, reference points are merely points that guide the trajectory of the route and indicate points that do not necessarily need to be passed through.

[0075] In process 808, the on-site user sets the start and end points and the orientation. As an example of the start point, the intersection position is one example, and if it is necessary to pass through it in a specific orientation, an arrow indicating the direction of travel is added to the intersection as shown in 407 in Figure 4. The same is true for the end point, and in this case, a constraint is set so that the reference point (end point position) is always passed through.

[0076] In process 809, the on-site user presses the overall correction execution button on the GUI to trigger automatic route generation. Details of the process are as shown in the overall route design unit 304.

[0077] In process 810, the on-site user checks whether the route design for the entire site is complete. If it is not complete, the on-site user repeats processes 806 to 809 to design routes for different areas. At this time, the route design parameters may be changed as appropriate in process 806 depending on the route to be created. Furthermore, since the shape of the overall route changes depending on the positions of intersections and reference points, the user may add reference points as appropriate or change the positions of intersections, depending on their judgment, and repeatedly adjust the route until the desired shape is achieved from the start point to the end point.

[0078] The above is the details of the process for route design for the entire site. The following describes the process flow of the local route design function, which is the main focus of this invention. As an example of an assumed use case, consider a case where the overall shape of the overall route created in the previous processing is good, but you want to modify it partially with different constraints.

[0079] Specifically, as shown in Figure 9, consider a situation where you want to set a large (wide) safety margin 902 (limit approach distance to the obstacle) only for a specific obstacle 901 (fixed machine on site) in consideration of the human work area, etc.

[0080] In process 811, the on-site user sets the area they wish to correct. One possible setting method is to provide an interface in the GUI that allows them to set a specific rectangular area, and the user can then draw a rectangle around the area they want to correct. As mentioned above, the setting method is not limited to this; for example, it is also possible to select a specific obstacle, or to select nodes that make up the route. In either selection method, the set of nodes adjacent to the selected range / obstacle is calculated. In the following, local route correction is performed using the rectangular area shown in 903 in Figure 9.

[0081] In process 812, the on-site user sets the parameters to be used when correcting the local route. The operation of this process is basically the same as that of process 806. However, as in the use case described above, it is necessary to set a large (wide) safety margin, so it is conceivable that stricter conditions will be set compared to the parameters used when designing the overall route.

[0082] In process 813, the local region to be optimized is expanded. The expansion increment is, for example, 0.1 m. Here, as shown in Figure 10, the local region set in process 712 is expanded by 0.1 m in the direction of the path (Figure 10: 1001 indicates the expansion direction). Then, the process proceeds to 814.

[0083] In process 814, local regions are generated for both the region 903 (region before expansion) set in process 811 and the region 1002 (region after expansion) expanded in process 813. At this time, the details of the route design process are the same as those in the overall route design section, but the positions and orientations of the start and end points are the boundary points between the set local region and the original overall route. The generated routes are shown as Figure 10:1003 (dotted line) for region 903 and Figure 10:1004 (solid line) for region 1002. Then, the process proceeds to 815.

[0084] In process 815, the two local paths obtained in process 814 are evaluated. As an example, the evaluation here is based on the smoothness and distance of the entire path. More specifically, the sum of the two terms shown in equation 1 above is used as the evaluation value. However, the path 1003 (dotted line) generated in the pre-expansion region is evaluated based on the path (including part of the original overall path) within the expanded region 1002 (solid line).

[0085] Then, it is determined which of the two paths has the smaller evaluation value. If the evaluation value of the expanded path is smaller, the process returns to 813 and the region is expanded again. If the evaluation value of the expanded path is larger, it is determined that the previous expanded region is the local region that makes the entire path the smoothest, and the process proceeds to 816.

[0086] In process 816, the on-site user checks whether local route correction for the entire site is complete. If not, the on-site user repeats processes 811 to 814 to correct the route for a different area. Note that whether the correction is complete or not is left to the discretion of the on-site user.

[0087] In process 817, the on-site user saves the designed route information. Note that the route data is, for example, numerical data consisting of position, attitude (azimuth angle), curvature, and target speed at 0.1 m intervals.

[0088] The above is the flow of the local route design process. In this embodiment, the overall route design process shown in steps 806 to 809 and the local route design process shown in steps 811 to 815 may be performed as appropriate until the route shape desired by the on-site user is obtained.

[0089] The generation policy (correction policy) of the overall route and local route in this embodiment is merely an example, and other modes may be used. For example, it is possible to set only intersections (start and end points) without relying on reference points, automatically design the route between them using a graph search algorithm such as the A* algorithm or Dijkstra's algorithm, and smooth the route using the method described in the overall route design unit 304 in this embodiment.

[0090] Furthermore, the smoothing process using quadratic programming described in the overall route design unit 304 depends on the length of the route to be created, the step size (search width) of the boundary search, etc., but basically a solution can be found (a route can be generated) in several hundred milliseconds, or at the latest in several seconds. Therefore, for example, a mechanism may be devised in which parameters for multiple patterns are set in the basic parameter management unit 303, the route design results for each parameter are displayed simultaneously on the display unit 306, and the on-site user can select the desired route via the instruction unit 301.

[0091] Here, FIG. 11 shows a conceptual diagram of the display result that expresses the above content.

[0092] Route 1101 is a route that prioritizes route length and smoothness, route 1102 is a route that prioritizes route length only (smoothness is not evaluated), route 1103 is a route that has a large safety margin and runs as close to the center of the route as possible, and route 1104 is a route that has been smoothed based on a route created by a graph search algorithm and does not depend on the reference point 402 (601) set by the on-site user.

[0093] The route 1104 can present detours that the on-site user could not have considered, or routes that allow the on-site user to reach the destination more quickly, thereby increasing the information available to the on-site user to make decisions when aiming for more efficient current operations.

[0094] The on-site user may select a desired route from these routes using the selection icon 403 (1105 in FIG. 11) on the screen of the GUI (instruction unit 301) shown in FIG. 4. In addition, local route correction may be performed using the content of this embodiment based on the selected route.

[0095] In the above embodiments, there are cases where processing performed by executing a program is described. Here, a computer executes the program using a processor (e.g., a CPU or a GPU) and performs processing defined by the program using storage resources (e.g., a memory) and interface devices (e.g., a communication port). Therefore, the entity performing the processing by executing the program may be the processor. Similarly, the entity performing the processing by executing the program may be a controller, device, system, computer, or node having a processor. The entity performing the processing by executing the program may be any computing unit, and may include a dedicated circuit that performs specific processing. Here, the dedicated circuit may be, for example, an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), or a CPLD (Complex Programmable Logic Device).

[0096] A program may be installed on a computer from a program source. The program source may be, for example, a program distribution server or a computer-readable storage medium. When the program source is a program distribution server, the program distribution server may include a processor and a storage resource for storing the program to be distributed, and the processor of the program distribution server may distribute the program to be distributed to other computers. In addition, in an embodiment, two or more programs may be realized as one program, or one program may be realized as two or more programs.

[0097] Specifically, the instruction unit 301, reference point management unit 302, basic parameter management unit 303, overall route design unit 304, display route design unit 305, display unit 306, local parameter management unit 307, local route design unit 308, application range expansion unit 309, evaluation unit 310, and communication unit 311 shown in Figure 3 are configured by a processor executing a program.

[0098] According to the above embodiment, it is possible to guarantee the optimality of the entire route (smoothness, route length, etc.) while taking into consideration the local route modification requests of the on-site user. Therefore, it is possible to design a route that takes into consideration the overall productivity while taking into account the user's requests and on-site rules that apply only to specific areas, and this improves on-site operational efficiency. [Explanation of symbols]

[0099] 100 Driving environment (operating environment) 101 Vehicle (differential wheel type AGV) 201 In-vehicle controller 301 Instruction section 301 Reference point management department 303 Basic Parameter Management Unit 304 Overall Route Planning Department 305 Display Route Design Department 306 Display section 307 Local Parameter Management Unit 308 Local Route Planning Department 309 Expanded Scope of Application 310 Evaluation Department 311 Communications Department

Claims

1. A route design system that designs a route for an autonomous moving body to travel in an operational environment, a reference point management unit that manages a plurality of reference points between a travel start point and a travel end point of the autonomous moving body so that the autonomous moving body does not interfere with an obstacle; a basic parameter management unit that manages basic parameters applied to the entire route connecting the travel start point and the travel end point; an overall route design unit that designs the overall route based on the positions of the reference points and the basic parameters; a local parameter management unit that manages local parameters applied to a local region that is a part of the entire path; a local path design unit that corrects a local path within the local region based on the overall path and the local parameters; an evaluation unit that evaluates the smoothness of the overall path based on the corrected local path; a display route design unit that designs a display route according to the evaluation result of the evaluation unit by referring to the entire route; a display unit that displays the display path; A route design system comprising:

2. The overall route design unit 2. The route design system according to claim 1, wherein the entire route is designed so as to minimize or maximize a predetermined evaluation function.

3. The local parameter management unit 2. The route design system according to claim 1, wherein a partial rectangular area of ​​a part of the entire route is used as the local area, and the local parameters different from the basic parameters are managed.

4. The local parameter management unit 2. The route design system according to claim 1, wherein the local parameters are applied to the local region in response to a local route correction request.

5. The local route design unit 2. The route planning system according to claim 1, wherein the local route is corrected by setting weights of evaluation values ​​that constitute a predetermined evaluation function.

6. The local route design unit 6. The route design system according to claim 5, wherein the local route is corrected by setting a plurality of weights for the evaluation values.

7. The display route design unit As the display routes, at least a first display route that prioritizes smoothness of the entire route, a second display route that prioritizes the route length of the entire route, and a third display route that prioritizes a safety margin of the entire route are designed; The display unit The route design system according to claim 1, wherein any one of the first display route, the second display route, and the third display route is displayed in a selectable manner.

8. The display route design unit 8. The route planning system according to claim 7, characterized in that the second display route is designed as the shortest route connecting only the travel start point and the travel end point.

9. The route design system according to claim 1, further comprising an application range extension unit that automatically extends the local region by changing the local parameters to generate an application range extension region, and corrects the local route within the application range extension region.

10. The application range extension unit The route design system according to claim 9 , wherein the application range extension region is generated by successively changing the range of the local region based on the entire route that includes the local region.

11. The application range extension unit 10. The route design system according to claim 9, wherein the application range extension region is generated by determining the range of the local region that minimizes or maximizes a predetermined evaluation function.

12. The application range extension unit The evaluation function is 12. The route planning system according to claim 11, wherein a plurality of evaluation values ​​are used, including a change in curvature of the route, a difference in the change in curvature, a length of the route, and a positional deviation from the reference point.

13. The evaluation unit The route planning system according to claim 9, wherein the smoothness of the overall route is evaluated based on the local route within the corrected application range extension region.

14. The route design system according to claim 1; an autonomous mobile body controller that controls the autonomous mobile body; A route planning system comprising:

15. A route design method for designing a route along which an autonomous moving body travels in an operating environment, comprising: a reference point management step of managing a plurality of reference points by a reference point management unit so that the autonomous moving body does not interfere with an obstacle between a travel start point and a travel end point of the autonomous moving body; a basic parameter management step of managing, by a basic parameter management unit, basic parameters applied to the entire route connecting the travel start point and the travel end point; an overall route design step of designing the overall route by an overall route design unit based on the positions of the reference points and the basic parameters; a local parameter management step of managing, by a local parameter management unit, local parameters applied to a local region that is a partial region of the entire route; a local route design unit that corrects a local route within the local region based on the overall route and the local parameters; an evaluation step of evaluating the smoothness of the overall path based on the corrected local path by an evaluation unit; a display route design step of designing a display route according to the evaluation result of the evaluation unit by a display route design unit with reference to the entire route; a display step of displaying the display path by a display unit; A route design method comprising:

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