Work vehicle

Abstract

There is an autonomous traveling system including a remote operation terminal that gives an instruction regarding traveling to a work vehicle capable of autonomous traveling, and the remote operation terminal includes an emergency stop button and a pause button. The work vehicle capable of autonomous traveling performs a preset work, but when the worker performs the work in cooperation, the worker may want to temporarily stop or change the operation of the work vehicle. However, the worker cannot immediately operate the remote operation terminal because his / her hands are busy during the work. In view of this, a highly convenient work vehicle is provided.SOLUTION: In a working car equipped with a working machine W and cameras 23F and 23R on a traveling car body 2 and controlling the operation of the traveling car body 2 by a controller 21, when the controller 21 image-analyzes the photographing information of the cameras 23F and 23R and recognizes the specified operation of a worker, the operation of the traveling car body 2 is changed corresponding to the specified operation.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a work vehicle such as a tractor, a civil engineering machine, or a transport vehicle. [Background technology]

[0002] There is an autonomous driving system that has a remote control terminal that issues driving instructions to an autonomously driving work vehicle, and the remote control terminal is equipped with an emergency stop button and a pause button (see Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent Publication No. 2021-131845 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] Autonomous work vehicles perform preset tasks, but when workers work in cooperation with the vehicle, there are times when the worker wants to temporarily stop or change the vehicle's operation. However, the worker's hands are full while working and the worker cannot immediately operate the remote control terminal.

[0005] In view of the above-mentioned problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a highly convenient work vehicle. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The invention described in claim 1 is a work vehicle equipped with a work implement W and cameras 23F, 23R on a traveling body 2, and in which the operation of the traveling body 2 is controlled by a control device 21, in which the control device 21 performs image analysis of the photographic information from the cameras 23F, 23R and recognizes a specific action by a worker H, and changes the operation of the traveling body 2 in response to the specific action.

[0007] According to the invention described in claim 1, the worker H can change the operation of the traveling vehicle body 2 by performing a specific operation without operating the remote control terminal 24 or the like, which improves workability and safety.

[0008] The invention described in claim 2 is the work vehicle described in claim 1, in which the control device 21 changes the operation of the traveling body 2 by recognizing a specific operation while the traveling body 2 is traveling autonomously.

[0009] According to the invention described in claim 2, by changing the operation of the traveling vehicle body 2 by recognizing a specific action only when the traveling vehicle body 2 is traveling autonomously, it is possible to avoid malfunction of the control due to erroneous recognition, for example, when a driver is on board the work vehicle and manually operating the work vehicle.

[0010] The invention of claim 3 is the work vehicle of claim 1, in which a priority is set for the specific actions to be recognized.

[0011] According to the invention described in claim 3, by setting priorities for specific actions, unstable behavior when an ambiguous specific action is recognized can be prevented, and the operation of the traveling vehicle body 2 can be changed according to the priorities.

[0012] The invention of claim 4 is the work vehicle of any one of claims 1 to 3, in which the worker H who will recognize the specific action is specified and set.

[0013] According to the invention described in claim 4, by specifying and setting an operator H who will recognize specific actions, it is possible to prevent unstable behavior caused by discrepancies in instructions and appropriately change the operation of the traveling vehicle body 2. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0014] [Figure 1] 1 is a left side view of a work vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] This is the display screen of the meter panel or remote control terminal. [Figure 3] FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of the action in a farm field. [Figure 4] This is a table that controls the operation of the tractor for a specific motion. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0015] A tractor 1, which is an embodiment of a work vehicle disclosed in the present application, will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0016] The forward / backward direction is the direction of travel of the tractor 1 when traveling straight, with the front side of the traveling direction defined as "front" and the rear side defined as "rear." The traveling direction of the tractor 1 is the direction from the operator's seat 8 (described later) toward the steering wheel 9 when traveling straight.

[0017] The left-right direction is a direction that is horizontally perpendicular to the front-rear direction. In other words, when the operator of the tractor 1 is seated in the operator's seat 8 and facing forward, the left-hand side is the "left" side and the right-hand side is the "right" side.

[0018] The up-down direction is a direction parallel to the vertical direction. The front-rear direction, left-right direction, and up-down direction are perpendicular to each other. Note that each direction is defined for the convenience of explanation, and the present invention is not limited by these directions. In the following, the tractor 1 may also be referred to as the "machine body."

[0019] Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to the following embodiments.

[0020] <Overall structure> As shown in Fig. 1, the tractor 1 is an agricultural tractor that performs work in a field while traveling by itself. In addition to the tractor 1 having a driver (operator) on board and traveling within the field to perform predetermined work, the tractor 1 also performs predetermined work while traveling automatically within the field by controlling each part with a control device 40, which will be described later.

[0021] The tractor 1 is equipped with a working machine W at the rear of a traveling body 2, which can be raised and lowered by a lifting device 12.

[0022] <Running vehicle 2> As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle body 2 includes a vehicle frame 3, front wheels 4, rear wheels 5, a bonnet 6, an engine E, a steering section 7, and a transmission case 10.

[0023] The body frame 3 and the transmission case 10 form the main frame of the traveling body 2.

[0024] The front wheels 4 are a pair of left and right wheels, and are mainly used for steering (steered wheels). The rear wheels 5 are a pair of left and right wheels, and are mainly used for driving (drive wheels).

[0025] The tractor 1 may be configured to be switchable between two-wheel drive (2WD) in which the rear wheels 5 are driven, and four-wheel drive (4WD) in which both the front wheels 4 and the rear wheels 5 are driven. In the case of four-wheel drive (4WD), both the front wheels 4 and the rear wheels 5 are driven. The traveling body 2 may be equipped with a crawler device instead of wheels (front wheels 4 and rear wheels 5). In this case, the traveling crawler is the drive wheel.

[0026] The hood 6 is provided at the front of the vehicle body 2 so as to be able to be opened and closed freely. The hood 6 can be rotated (opened and closed) in the vertical direction with the rear part as the rotation center. When closed, the hood 6 covers the engine E mounted on the vehicle body frame 3.

[0027] The engine E is a drive source for the tractor 1 and is a heat engine such as a diesel engine or a gasoline engine.

[0028] The control unit 7 is provided on the upper part of the traveling vehicle body 2, and includes a driver's seat 8 and a steering wheel 9. The control unit 7 is covered by a cabin 7a provided on the upper part of the traveling vehicle body 2.

[0029] The driver's seat 8 is a seat for the driver. The steering wheel 9 is operated by the driver when steering the front wheels 4, which are steered wheels. The control unit 7 is provided in front of the steering wheel 9 with a meter panel 11 (display unit) that displays various information.

[0030] The control unit 7 also includes various operation levers such as a forward / reverse lever, an accelerator lever, a main speed change lever, and an auxiliary speed change lever, as well as various operation pedals such as a clutch pedal 13, a brake pedal 14, and an accelerator pedal 15.

[0031] The transmission case 10 houses a transmission (speed change mechanism). The transmission appropriately reduces the speed of power (rotational power) transmitted from the engine E and transmits it to the front and rear wheels 4, 5, which are drive wheels, and the PTO shaft 16.

[0032] A work implement W that performs work in the field is connected to the rear of the traveling body 2, and a PTO shaft 16 that transmits power to drive the work implement W protrudes rearward from the transmission case 10. The PTO shaft 16 transmits rotational power that has been appropriately reduced by the transmission to the work implement W that is attached to at least the rear of the traveling body 2.

[0033] Additionally, a lifting device 12 that raises and lowers the work implement W is provided at the rear of the traveling body 2. The lifting device 12 raises the work implement W to move it to a non-working position. The non-working position is a position where the work implement W is raised when, for example, the traveling body 2 moves backward or turns. Additionally, the lifting device 12 lowers the work implement W to move it to a ground work position.

[0034] The lifting device 12 includes a hydraulic lifting cylinder 121 , a lift arm 122 , left and right lift rods 123 , left and right lower links 124 , and a top link 125 .

[0035] A rolling cylinder is provided on one of the left and right lift rods 123, and the left and right inclination of the work machine W is adjusted by extending or retracting one of the left and right lift rods 123. That is, the control device 40 operates the rolling cylinder in response to detection of the left and right inclination of the machine body by a left and right inclination sensor provided on the machine body, thereby controlling the work machine W to be horizontal left and right, or the inclination of the work machine W can be adjusted by manually operating the rolling cylinder.

[0036] When hydraulic oil is supplied to the lifting cylinder 121, the lift arm 122 rotates around the axis AX, which serves as the pivot point, to raise the work equipment W, and when hydraulic oil is discharged from the lifting cylinder 121, the lift arm 122 rotates around the axis AX to lower the work equipment W.

[0037] A lift arm sensor serving as a lifting device sensor for detecting the rotation angle of the lift arm 122 is provided at the base of the lift arm 122 (near the axis AX).

[0038] The height of the work implement W is calculated based on the detection results of the lift arm sensor and a work implement ground height sensor attached to the work implement W, and the control device 40 operates the lifting cylinder 121 based on the detection value of the work implement ground height sensor to control the work implement W to a predetermined ground height, or the height of the work implement W can be adjusted by manually operating the lifting cylinder 121.

[0039] Here, the autonomous driving control system of the tractor 1 will be described.

[0040] The autonomous driving control system comprises a GNSS 20, a control device 21, a wireless communication device 22, a front camera 23F and a rear camera 23R mounted on the tractor 1, a control unit including various databases such as a map database and a calendar year work database, and a remote control terminal 24 such as a tablet or smartphone equipped with a wireless communication device.

[0041] The remote control terminal 24 is equipped with a control unit consisting of a hard disk, ROM, RAM, CPU, etc., a display unit (monitor) 24a consisting of a touch panel, and an operation unit 24b having various buttons such as an automatic operation switch, and can be operated by the operator to make settings and give commands for the tractor 1 to perform various tasks in the field F.

[0042] Then, the remote control terminal 24 calculates the route that the autonomously traveling tractor 1 will take to work in the field F owned by the user registered in the map database, adds the route to the map database, and transmits the map data with the route added to the autonomously traveling tractor 1.

[0043] The tractor 1 stores the map data with the route sent from the remote control terminal 24 in the control device 21, receives signals from the positioning satellite S via GNSS 20 in the field, calculates position information using the satellite positioning system, and autonomously drives along the route to perform work automatically.

[0044] If the calendar year work database in the control unit of the remote control terminal 24 contains past routes in the field F, the past routes may be used.

[0045] The front camera 23F and the rear camera 23R capture images of the entire surroundings of the tractor 1 and send the captured image information to the control device 21 successively.

[0046] 2, the control device 21 displays the received photographing information on the meter panel 11 (display unit), and also sends the photographing information to the remote control terminal 24. The remote control terminal 24 displays the received photographing information on the display unit 24a.

[0047] The control device 21 performs image analysis on the received photographic information, and if there is an obstacle or a person such as a worker, creates a detour route to avoid the obstacle or person.

[0048] Also, if there is no time or means to avoid the danger, the aircraft will be stopped to avoid the danger.

[0049] In particular, when the tractor 1 is traveling autonomously, the control device 21 controls the tractor 1 in response to a specific action (hereinafter referred to as motion) of the worker H, whose face has been recognized in advance.

[0050] That is, as shown in FIG. 3, for example, when a specific worker H raises his / her hand near the tractor 1 (behind the tractor 1 in FIG. 3), the image is captured by the front camera 23F or the rear camera 23R, and the captured image information is sent to the control device 21. The control device 21 performs image analysis of the captured image information received, recognizes that the specific worker H has raised his / her hand, disengages the main clutch to cut off drive from the engine E to the transmission case 10, and activates the brake to stop the tractor 1.

[0051] At this time, as shown in FIG. 2, the control device 21 displays "Temporarily stopped. Please check surrounding area for safety" on the meter panel 11 and the display unit 24a of the remote control terminal 24.

[0052] If worker H checks the tractor 1 and the surrounding area and is ready to continue work, he or she taps "Confirm" on the meter panel 11 or the display 24a of the remote control terminal 24, and then taps "Resume driving," and the tractor 1 starts driving and work resumes.

[0053] FIG. 4 shows a table in which the control device 21 controls the tractor 1 in response to the motion of the operator H.

[0054] In the list, the higher the column, the higher the priority. For example, because stopping the vehicle is the most important step in avoiding danger, the motion of worker H raising his hand above has the highest priority, followed by raising his hand to the side to stop the PTO rotation, and then lowering his hand diagonally downward to slow down, and so on, with the priorities determined in order as shown in the table.

[0055] Therefore, when the control device 21 controls the tractor 1 according to the motion of the worker H, even if the worker H's hands are full during work and he / she cannot immediately operate the remote control terminal 24, the worker H can change the operation of the tractor 1 by executing a specific motion without using the remote control terminal 24, which improves workability and safety.

[0056] The control of the tractor 1 by the motion of the worker H is effective only when the tractor 1 is running autonomously (automatically driven).

[0057] Therefore, by being effective only when the tractor 1 is driving autonomously (only when the automatic driving switch is operated and the tractor is in automatic driving mode), it is possible to avoid malfunction of the control due to false detection when the operator is on board the work vehicle and operating the tractor 1 manually.

[0058] Since the detected motions are prioritized, when multiple motions are detected, the control device 21 changes the operation of the tractor 1 according to the motion with the highest set priority.

[0059] The priority of the motions can be changed by the operator as needed using the table shown in Figure 4, and controls corresponding to motions can be added from the 10th place onwards as needed.

[0060] Therefore, by setting the priority of the motion, it is possible to prevent unstable behavior when the control device 21 detects an ambiguous motion, and change the operation of the tractor 1 in accordance with the priority.

[0061] Then, a specific worker H can be set from among the workers photographed by the front camera 23F and the rear camera 23R, for which motion detection is to be performed.

[0062] Therefore, by detecting a specific worker H, it is possible to prevent unstable behavior caused by discrepancies in instructions and change the operation of the tractor 1 appropriately.

[0063] In addition, in the list shown in Figure 4, in which the control device 21 controls the tractor 1 in response to the motion of the worker H, deceleration and acceleration, which are the third priority, are only possible within a certain range from a certain vehicle speed, and upper and lower limits are set for the vehicle speed to prevent danger from occurring due to the vehicle speed increasing too much.

[0064] The range of acceleration / deceleration caused by one motion detection of the worker H can be set by the remote control terminal 24, allowing for quick response to the work situation.

[0065] In addition, for the lift raising and lowering, which has the fourth highest priority, the lifting and lowering range per one motion detection of the worker H is fixed.

[0066] In addition, the engine speed increase and decrease, which is the eighth priority, is set to a fixed range of increase and decrease based on a single motion detection of the worker H.

[0067] On the other hand, when the control device 21 detects the motion of a specific worker H, it displays the operation of the tractor 1 corresponding to the motion on the meter panel 11 of the tractor 1 and the display unit 24a of the remote control terminal 24 each time, and emits a notification sound to notify that the display has been made.

[0068] Therefore, the motion of a specific worker H is accurately detected, and it is possible to immediately determine whether the desired operation of the tractor 1 will occur, resulting in safety and good workability.

[0069] The control device 21 displays the operation on the meter panel 11 and the display unit 24a of the remote control terminal 24 before operating the tractor 1, but in consideration of safety, the first priority of stopping the vehicle is to stop the tractor 1 before displaying the operation.

[0070] <Work machine W> The work implement W is a machine that performs work in a farm field. In the example shown in Fig. 1, the work implement W is a rotary tiller that performs tilling work in the farm field. The rotary tiller tills the farmland (soil) by rotating the tiller tines 50 using power transmitted from the PTO shaft 16.

[0071] Further advantages and modifications will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific details and representative embodiments shown and described above. Accordingly, various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventive concept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents. [Explanation of symbols]

[0072] 2 Running vehicle 21 Control device 23F Front camera 23R rear camera H worker W Work Machine

Claims

1. A work vehicle equipped with a working implement (W) and cameras (23F, 23R) on a traveling body (2), and in which the operation of the traveling body (2) is controlled by a control device (21), characterized in that when the control device (21) recognizes a specific action of a worker (H) by image analysis of the photographic information of the cameras (23F, 23R), it changes the operation of the traveling body (2) in response to the specific action.

2. 2. The work vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the control device (21) changes the operation of the traveling body (2) by recognizing a specific operation while the traveling body (2) is autonomously traveling.

3. 2. The work vehicle according to claim 1, wherein a priority is set for the specific actions to be recognized.

4. 4. The work vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the worker (H) who performs the recognition of the specific action is specified and set.

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