Work vehicles

Abstract

To provide a work vehicle that can reduce burdens on a worker and reduce a working time while performing work accurately.SOLUTION: A work vehicle is equipped with: a part 41 for loading cargoes on a vehicle provided on a chassis 2; a connection switching part 42 which is connected between the part 41 for loading cargoes on a vehicle and an airframe hatch 12 of an airplane 11 from which the cargoes are carried or to which the cargoes are carried, and which is used to switch cargoes; cameras 437a, 437b and 439 which are provided in the connection switching part 42 and which acquire data on surrounding object images; and a control part 220 that controls driving actuators 412, 443, 444 and 452 on the basis of acquired results by the cameras 437a, 437b and 439, so that the connection switching part 42 is moved relatively to the chassis 2. The control part 220 comprises an object image identification unit 221 having an object detection part 223 that detects an object from a distance image and a storing part 225 storing identifiers M1, M2 and M3 that are used by the object image detection part 223 in order to detect the airframe hatch 12.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 7

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a work vehicle including a luggage loading part provided on a vehicle body, and a connection replacement part that is connected between the luggage loading part and a luggage loading / unloading part at a luggage transportation destination or a luggage transportation origin and is used to replace luggage.

Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, as this type of work vehicle, there is known one that enters an airport and performs a luggage replacement operation on an aircraft fuselage (see, for example, Patent Document 1). The work vehicle of Patent Document 1 is an airport high-lift truck called a so-called catering truck or the like, and a box-shaped luggage loading part is configured to be able to move up and down with respect to the vehicle body by a scissor link type lifting mechanism. Further, this airport high-lift truck is provided with a platform as a connection replacement part that is relatively movable with respect to the luggage loading part and connects between the aircraft fuselage and the luggage loading part.

[0003] The airport high-lift truck transports an in-flight meal cart containing in-flight meals from an in-flight meal factory to an aircraft parked in the airport and runs not only within the airport but also on public roads. An operator stops the airport high-lift truck at a predetermined parking position below the entrance / exit of the aircraft fuselage, raises the luggage loading part and the platform to the height position of the entrance / exit of the fuselage, and then horizontally moves the platform to connect it to the entrance / exit. Then, through the platform and the entrance / exit, the in-flight meal cart in the luggage loading part is carried into the galley inside the fuselage. Thus, the in-flight meal cart as luggage is replaced between the luggage loading part and the fuselage as the luggage loading / unloading part.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

[0005] In conventional airport high-lift trucks, operators must raise and lower the cargo loading section and horizontally move the platform after stopping to align the platform's tip with the lower edge of the aircraft's doorway. However, this alignment process requires careful operation from the operator. If the platform's tip were to hit the aircraft's doorway or surrounding area, causing damage to the aircraft, it would significantly impact aircraft operations, thus placing a burden on the operator. Furthermore, after the operator initially adjusted the height of the cargo loading area to match the height of the aircraft's entrance, if a misalignment occurred between the cargo loading area and the entrance due to refueling or other reasons, they sometimes had to make further fine adjustments to the cargo loading area's height. This increased the operator's workload, as they had to constantly check whether the misalignment exceeded the acceptable range. Furthermore, with the aforementioned truck, when stopping at the designated position below the aircraft's aircraft entrance, once the truck approached the aircraft to a certain extent, the entrance would no longer be visible to the driver in the driver's seat. This made it difficult to determine a suitable stopping position for connecting the cargo loading section to the aircraft entrance, thus requiring another worker to guide the truck.

[0006] The present invention has been made in consideration of the circumstances described above, and aims to provide a work vehicle that can perform accurate work while reducing the burden on the worker, comprising a cargo loading section provided on a chassis, and a connecting / exchanging section connected between the cargo loading section and a cargo loading / unloading section at the destination or source of cargo, used for exchanging cargo. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The present invention provides the following means for solving the above-mentioned problems. Specifically, the first invention is characterized by comprising: a luggage loading section provided on a vehicle chassis; a connection / exchange section provided on the luggage loading section and connected between the luggage loading section and a luggage loading / unloading section at the destination or source of the luggage, used for exchanging luggage; an object image acquisition section provided on the luggage loading section and / or the connection / exchange section for acquiring data of surrounding object images; and a control unit that controls a drive actuator based on the acquisition results of the object image acquisition section and moves the luggage loading section and / or the connection / exchange section relative to the vehicle chassis.

[0008] According to the first invention, the control unit can recognize the positional relationship between the cargo loading / unloading section and the cargo loading / unloading section or connection / replacement section on behalf of the operator, using the object image acquisition unit. Based on this recognized positional relationship, the control unit can move the cargo loading / unloading section or connection / replacement section relative to the chassis to the appropriate position. In other words, the cargo loading / unloading section or connection / replacement section is automatically controlled to move based on the acquisition results of surrounding object image data by the object image acquisition unit. Moreover, since this movement control is performed without hesitation based on objective object image data, the work can be performed accurately and quickly. Furthermore, if a misalignment occurs between the height of the luggage loading section and the height of the aircraft's entrance after the luggage loading section has been initially aligned with the height of the aircraft's entrance, the control unit can recognize this misalignment using the object image acquisition unit and automatically correct the position. As a result, workers are no longer required to perform the conventional alignment operation, reducing their workload. In airport high-lift trucks, the control unit accurately aligns the platform's tip to the lower edge of the aircraft's entrance, eliminating the need for workers to manually position it. This reduces the burden on workers and shortens working time while ensuring accurate operation in transporting in-flight meal carts and other items using airport high-lift trucks.

[0009] In the second invention, in the first invention, the luggage vehicle mounting section is configured to be able to move up and down relative to the chassis by a lifting mechanism, and the control unit is configured to move the luggage vehicle mounting section in the up and down direction by controlling the drive actuator of the lifting mechanism based on the acquisition result of the object image acquisition unit.

[0010] According to the second invention, the luggage loading unit is automatically raised and lowered to precisely position itself based on the acquisition of data of surrounding objects by the object image acquisition unit. This allows for the automation of the operation of raising the luggage loading unit to the height of the aircraft's entrance after the operator has stopped the airport high-lift truck at a predetermined stopping position below the aircraft's entrance. As a result, the operator no longer needs to perform the careful operation required in the past to raise and lower the luggage loading unit, thus reducing the operator's burden.

[0011] In the third invention, the second invention further comprises a hydraulic pump for driving the drive actuator, a hydraulic control valve for switching the direction of motion of the drive actuator, and a hydraulic oil tank provided between the hydraulic pump and the hydraulic control valve. The control unit is configured to switch the hydraulic control valve while the hydraulic pump is stopped when lowering the cargo vehicle section based on the acquisition results of the object image acquisition unit, thereby releasing the hydraulic fluid from the drive actuator of the lifting mechanism into the hydraulic fluid tank.

[0012] According to the third invention, the downward position of the cargo loading unit can be adjusted based on the acquisition results of data on surrounding object images by the object image acquisition unit, without driving the hydraulic pump. In airport high-lift trucks, after the height of the cargo loading unit is initially set to the height of the aircraft's entrance, the height of the entrance may decrease due to refueling or other reasons, and the height of the cargo loading unit may need to be slightly lowered for fine adjustment. In such cases, rather than restarting the hydraulic pump, which was stopped after the initial height adjustment of the cargo loading unit, to lower the cargo loading unit by gravity by switching the hydraulic control valve can shorten the working time and save energy.

[0013] In the fourth invention, in any one of the first to third inventions, the connection replacement unit is connected to the luggage vehicle unit so as to move up and down together with the luggage vehicle unit, and at least a part of the connection replacement unit is configured to move horizontally relative to the luggage vehicle unit by a horizontal movement mechanism, and the control unit is configured to move the connection replacement unit horizontally by controlling the drive actuator of the horizontal movement mechanism based on the acquisition result of the object image acquisition unit.

[0014] According to the fourth invention, based on the acquisition of data of surrounding object images by the object image acquisition unit, the connection / replacement unit is automatically controlled to move horizontally and precisely align with the entrance / exit. As a result, in the case of airport high-lift trucks, the operator can automate the operation of stopping the truck at a predetermined stopping position below the aircraft's entrance / exit, raising the cargo loading unit to the height of the aircraft's entrance / exit, and then moving the platform, which acts as the connection / replacement unit, horizontally. Consequently, the need for the careful operation required for the horizontal control of the connection / replacement unit as in the past is eliminated, reducing the burden on the operator.

[0015] In the fifth invention, in any one of the first to fourth inventions, a display unit for displaying the direction of vehicle travel is connected to the control unit, and the control unit is configured to create stopping guide information regarding a predetermined stopping position for the loading / unloading unit based on the acquisition results of the object image acquisition unit and display it on the display unit.

[0016] According to the fifth invention, the operator can easily stop the vehicle at a predetermined stopping position by referring to the stopping guide information displayed on the display unit. Furthermore, since the display unit notifies the operator of obstacles in the direction of travel while the vehicle is coming to a stop, the operator can easily recognize approaching obstacles without having to constantly look around. As a result, in the case of airport high-lift trucks, the vehicle can be easily stopped at a predetermined stopping position without requiring another operator to guide the vehicle to the stopping position. Consequently, the number of operators required to guide the vehicle can be reduced, and the burden on the operator driving the work vehicle can be reduced.

[0017] In the sixth invention, in any one of the first to fifth inventions, the control unit includes an object image recognition unit that processes data acquired from the object image acquisition unit to recognize an object, the object image recognition unit includes a distance image generation unit that generates a distance image from the data, an object detection unit that detects the object from the generated distance image, and a storage unit that houses an identifier used by the object image detection unit for detecting the loading / unloading unit.

[0018] According to the sixth invention, the control unit can recognize not only the two-dimensional shape of an object but also the distance to the object using the object image recognition unit. Then, using the luggage loading / unloading section identifier, the position to the target luggage loading / unloading section can be accurately determined. This allows the connection / exchange section to be accurately connected to the object storage section. In the case of an airport high-lift truck, the leading edge of the platform, which serves as the connection / exchange section, can be accurately aligned with the aircraft's entrance / exit, which serves as the luggage loading / unloading section.

[0019] In the seventh invention, in the sixth invention, the identifier includes a first identifier used when the vehicle approaches the loading / unloading section by vehicle movement, and a second identifier used when moving the connection / replacement section after the vehicle has stopped at a predetermined stopping position relative to the loading / unloading section.

[0020] According to the seventh invention, even if the appearance of the cargo loading / unloading area from the object image acquisition unit differs significantly depending on whether the vehicle is approaching the loading / unloading area by driving or whether the connection / replacement unit is moved after the vehicle has stopped at a predetermined stopping position relative to the cargo loading / unloading area, the classifier is changed according to each appearance, so the position of the cargo loading / unloading area can be accurately recognized in either case. In the case of an airport high-lift truck, when the vehicle is stopped at a predetermined stopping position, if the optical axis of the object image acquisition unit is pointed in the direction of vehicle travel, only the part of the aircraft body below the entrance / exit that serves as the cargo loading / unloading area is visible. To see the aircraft's entrance / exit from this stopping position, the optical axis of the object image acquisition unit needs to be pointed diagonally upward, but the shape of the entrance / exit seen in this upward-looking position is significantly different from the shape of the entrance / exit seen from the front. In this case, if the entrance / exit were to be recognized using only a classifier for the shape of the aircraft's entrance / exit based on one of these appearances, a recognition error would occur in either the lowered or raised state of the cargo loading unit and platform. Therefore, if the object recognition unit has pre-stored identifiers for the shape of the aircraft entrance when viewed from above, and identifiers for the shape of the aircraft entrance when viewed from the front, it can accurately recognize the aircraft entrance whether the luggage loading section and platform are in a lowered or raised state.

[0021] In the eighth invention, in the seventh invention, the control unit is configured to switch between using the first identifier and using the second identifier based on the switching timing of a power changeover switch that switches between power for vehicle movement and power for moving the connection switching unit after the vehicle has stopped at the predetermined stopping position.

[0022] According to the eighth invention, the switching of the identifier of the luggage loading / unloading section required until the vehicle stops and the identifier of the luggage loading / unloading section required when moving the connection switching section after the vehicle stops can be automatically performed immediately before the start of the movement of the connection switching section. As a result, it is not necessary for the operator to manually switch the identifier, so the burden on the operator can be reduced. In addition, since there is no risk of forgetting to switch the identifier, the accuracy of the work can be improved.

[0023] In the ninth invention, in any one of the first to eighth inventions, the control unit has a communication unit for wireless communication with a management center, a position information acquisition unit is connected to the control unit, and target position information regarding the current position of the luggage loading / unloading section is transmitted from the management center to the communication unit. The control unit obtains the current position information of the vehicle from the position information acquisition unit and calculates the distance to the position of the luggage loading / unloading section based on the target position information. Then, triggered by recognizing that the vehicle has approached the luggage loading / unloading section to a predetermined distance, the control unit is configured to start recognizing the luggage loading / unloading section based on the acquisition result of the object image acquisition unit.

[0024] According to the ninth invention, it is possible to prevent the recognition of the luggage loading / unloading section based on the acquisition result of the object image acquisition unit until the vehicle approaches the luggage loading / unloading section to a predetermined distance. As a result, even if there are multiple other luggage loading / unloading sections similar to the shape of the target luggage loading / unloading section, the control unit can accurately recognize only the target luggage loading / unloading section without being confused by the other luggage loading / unloading sections. As a result, the accuracy of the work can be improved and the work time can be shortened. In the case of an aviation high-lift truck, even when it is necessary to approach a target aircraft among a plurality of aircraft of the same manufacturer model parked at an airport, it is possible to accurately recognize only the overall shape of the target aircraft and the shape of the aircraft entrance / exit.

[0025] In the tenth invention, in the ninth invention, access information including information on the position and shape of the entrance / exit in the luggage handling section is transmitted from the management center to the communication section, and the control section is configured to control the movement of the connection switching section so as to match the position of the entrance / exit based on the access information.

[0026] According to the tenth invention, it becomes possible to always obtain the latest information on the position and shape of the entrance / exit of the target luggage handling section from the management center. As a result, even if the luggage handling section that was originally planned to be at a certain position has suddenly changed to another luggage handling section, it is possible to easily recognize the entrance / exit of the other luggage handling section and accurately move the connection switching section. In the case of an airport high-lift truck, the designated parking location of the target aircraft within the airport may suddenly change due to troubles or the like. Even if it is different from the originally planned parking location before departing from the in-flight meal factory towards the airport, if the new parking location of the target aircraft is received from the airport management center immediately before or after entering the airport, it becomes possible to direct the vehicle to the new parking location without hesitation.

[0027] In the eleventh invention, in the tenth invention, when the control section moves the connection switching section by controlling the drive actuator from a position where the entrance / exit is not included in the data acquired by the object image acquisition section to the position of the entrance / exit based on the access information, if the entrance / exit is not recognized by the object detection section, the control section is configured to stop the drive of the drive actuator.

[0028] According to the 11th invention, the connection replacement unit is started to move with the position of the entrance / exit of the cargo loading / unloading section included in the loading / unloading section information transmitted from the management center as the target. If the control unit cannot recognize the shape of the entrance / exit included in the loading / unloading section information even though the connection replacement unit has moved to the position of the entrance / exit, the movement of the connection replacement unit can be stopped at that point, even if it has not reached the stroke end of the drive actuator. This prevents the connection replacement unit from moving abnormally excessively despite an error in the control unit's recognition of the entrance / exit. As a result, it is possible to prevent the connection replacement unit from hitting the cargo loading / unloading section and damaging it, thus ensuring safety. [Effects of the Invention]

[0029] According to the work vehicle of the present invention, the cargo loading unit and the connection / exchange unit are automatically controlled to move based on the acquisition results of surrounding object image data by the object image acquisition unit. In particular, since this object image acquisition unit is provided in the cargo loading unit and the connection / exchange unit that move relative to the chassis, it is possible to accurately acquire data of the object image (target) to be moved, thereby realizing highly accurate movement control. Furthermore, since the movement control is performed without hesitation based on this objective object image data, the accuracy and speed of cargo transfer operations can be greatly improved. Furthermore, even if a misalignment occurs between the height of the luggage loading section and the height of the aircraft's entrance after the luggage loading section has been initially aligned with the height of the aircraft's entrance, the control unit, equipped with the aforementioned features, can recognize this misalignment using the object image acquisition unit and automatically correct its position. As a result, the workload for workers is greatly reduced because they no longer need to perform the conventional alignment operation. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0030] [Figure 1] This is a plan view showing the movement path of a high-lift truck to which the present invention is applied. [Figure 2] This is an enlarged plan view of the main parts of Figure 1, which shows the area around the aircraft. [Figure 3]The diagram shows the above track when connected to the aircraft entrance / exit, with (a) being a side view and (b) being a top view with the canopy section omitted. [Figure 4] This is a magnified perspective view of the connection / replacement section of a high-lift truck, seen from below. [Figure 5] This is a magnified perspective view of the connection / replacement section of a high-lift truck, seen from above. [Figure 6] This is a perspective view showing an enlarged view of the power transmission mechanism of the lifting plate unit of a high-lift truck, where (a) is a perspective view from the left side of the vehicle and (b) is a perspective view from the right side of the vehicle. [Figure 7] Please check the control system of the high-lift truck. [Figure 8] This flowchart shows the control system from the moment the high-lift truck enters the airport until it connects to the aircraft entrance / exit. [Figure 9] This flowchart shows the control of the control unit for searching for aircraft entrances and exits and displaying parking guide information after the aircraft entrances and exits are recognized. [Figure 10] This is a camera image diagram showing the high-lift truck in motion as indicated by arrow C in Figure 2, captured by the first and second cameras with their optical axes oriented horizontally. [Figure 11] This is a camera image diagram showing the high-lift truck in motion as indicated by arrow D in Figure 2, captured by the first and second cameras, whose optical axes were pointed diagonally upward. [Figure 12] This is a camera image taken by the first and second cameras, whose optical axes are pointed diagonally upwards, when the high-lift truck moved to the parking position De shown in Figure 2. [Figure 13] This is a camera image taken by the third camera while the high-lift truck was raising its cargo bed at the stopping position De shown in Figure 2. [Figure 14] This is a flowchart showing the control of the cargo bed's raising mechanism by the control unit. This is a camera image taken by the third camera. [Figure 15] This is a camera image taken by the third camera when the high-lift truck raised its cargo bed to the height of the vehicle entrance at the parking position De shown in Figure 2. [Figure 16]Figure 15 shows a camera image taken by the third camera when the connection / replacement section was moved horizontally and the connecting plate was brought into contact with the floor surface of the machine's entrance / exit. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0031] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention applied to a high-lift truck (hereinafter simply referred to as "truck") 1 for airport use will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description, the front-rear, left-right, and up-down directions refer to the directions as seen from the perspective of a worker inside the driver's cab of truck 1.

[0032] As shown in Figure 1, truck 1, acting as a work vehicle, loads in-flight meal carts containing in-flight meals at the in-flight meal factory 10 outside the airport, travels along public roads and within the airport as indicated by arrow A, and moves to waiting position W to wait for the arrival of the target aircraft 11. After the arrival of aircraft 11, truck 1 moves from waiting position W in the order of arrows B, C, and D, and stops, and connection work is performed to load and unload the in-flight meal carts to the aircraft entrance 12 of aircraft 11. Truck 1 is driven by a worker, and during movement, the presence or absence of obstacles is monitored by an onboard camera (object image acquisition unit). In particular, when moving within a radius L1 centered on the aircraft entrance 12 and approaching the aircraft entrance 12 (arrows C and D), as shown in Figure 2, the target stopping position is displayed on a display unit (display) installed inside the vehicle using data from the camera, and the truck can move to this position as a target, and the connection work described above is performed after stopping. Furthermore, the display unit also shows the aircraft 11 and its surroundings via the camera, and the shooting angle is appropriately controlled to prevent the aircraft entrance 12, which is at a high position, from going out of the camera image when the aircraft approaches the parking position De, as shown in the area of ​​arrow D. The radius L1 is set to include the area around the aircraft 11 parked at the parking spot of boarding gate 16, with the aircraft entrance 12 of the aircraft 11 to be connected as the center, but not to include the area around the aircraft 19 parked at the adjacent boarding gate 18 (see Figure 1).

[0033] As shown in Figure 3(a), truck 1 comprises a drivable chassis 2, a lifting mechanism 3 provided on the chassis 2, and a cargo bed 4 provided on the chassis 2 and raised and lowered relative to the chassis 2 by the lifting mechanism 3. When truck 1 is stopped at the aforementioned stopping position De, the cargo bed 4 is raised vertically upward (arrow E1) and controlled to connect to the machine entrance 12. When the cargo bed is connected, movement control described later (arrows E2, E3, E4 in Figure 3(b) or arrow E5 in Figure 3(a)) is also performed.

[0034] The chassis 2 comprises a frame 200 extending front to rear, a driver's cab 201 located at the front of the frame 200 for operation by a worker, and running tires 202 mounted on the frame 200. A gate-shaped stopper 203 is erected behind the driver's cab 201.

[0035] The lifting mechanism 3 comprises a pair of left and right outer links 300, 300, a pair of left and right inner links 301, 301 provided inside the outer links 300, 300, and a hydraulic lifting cylinder 302 mounted between the inner links 301, 301. The outer links 300 and inner links 301 are pivotally connected at their central portions by a link shaft 303.

[0036] The cargo platform 4 comprises a cargo vehicle section 41 for accommodating the in-flight meal carts, and a connection / exchange section 42 provided at the front of the cargo vehicle section 41 and used for exchanging the in-flight meal carts with the aircraft 11. The connection / exchange section 42 comprises a base section 43 that can move relative to the cargo vehicle section 41 (chassis 2) in the left-right direction by a sliding mechanism 432, and a platform 44 provided at the front of the base section 43 that serves as a ramp between the aircraft entrance / exit 12 and the cargo vehicle section 41. The aircraft 11 is the part (cargo loading / unloading section) to which the in-flight meal carts to be exchanged are transported, either to or from.

[0037] As shown in Figure 4, the luggage loading section 41 includes a storage box 410 in which the in-flight meal cart is housed, a pair of front and rear guide rails 411, 411 on the left and right sides that are located at the bottom of the storage box 410 and have a U-shaped cross-section extending in the front and rear directions, and a hydraulic first slide cylinder 412 disposed between the front and rear guide rails 411, 411. Shutters 413 (see Figure 5) are provided at the front and rear of the storage box 410.

[0038] The upper ends of the inner link 301 and outer link 300 are connected to the front and rear guide rails 411. Specifically, the upper ends of a pair of left and right inner links 301, 301 are connected via an inner upper shaft 304, and rolling rollers 305, 305 attached to both ends of the shaft 304 are fitted into the front and rear guide rails 411, 411 so as to be able to roll. The outer link 300 is similar, although it is not shown. The tube of the first slide cylinder 412 is connected to the inner upper shaft 304, and the rod is connected to a cross member 411c that is mounted on a pair of left and right front and rear guide rails 411, 411, and the luggage loading section 41 is moved relative to the inner link 301 and outer link 300 (chassis 2) in the front and rear direction by the extension and retraction of the cylinder 412. The lower end of the outer link 300 is pivotally connected to the frame 200, and the lower end of the inner link 301 is slidably connected to the frame 200. By extending and retracting the lifting cylinder 302, the cargo bed 4 can be raised and lowered while remaining parallel to the chassis 2.

[0039] The base section 43 has a tunnel section 430 consisting of a bottom section 430a, left and right side sections 430b, 430b and a ceiling section 430c, and an overhang section 436 provided above the ceiling section 430c.

[0040] In the tunnel section 430, left and right guide rails 431 extending horizontally are provided on the lower surface of the bottom section 430a and the rear surface of the ceiling section 430c, and vertical guide rails 434, 434 extending vertically are provided on the front surfaces of the left and right sides 430b. The left and right guide rails 431 of the bottom section 430a are strip-shaped members fixed to the bottom section 430a and are placed on roller members (not shown) provided on the upper surface of the front and rear guide rails 411. The left and right guide rails 431 of the ceiling section 430c are channel members fixed to the rear surface of the ceiling section 430c and are fitted onto roller members (not shown) provided on the upper front edge of the housing box 410. The vertical guide rails 434 are formed from channel members and are provided so that the side groove portions face inward on the left and right sides.

[0041] The canopy portion 436 is formed to cover the upper part of PF44 and extend forward, and a first camera 437a and a second camera 437b, which image the area in front of the track 1, are mounted at its front end. The first camera 437a and the second camera 437b together constitute a stereo camera, and the direction of their optical axes can be changed vertically by an electrically operated camera rotation motor 438. In addition, a third camera 439, a monocular camera that images a height area equivalent to that of the tunnel portion 430, is fixed at the left-right center position on the front side of the ceiling portion 430c with its optical axis facing forward of the vehicle, and the PF44 is included in the camera image.

[0042] The slide mechanism 432 includes a ball screw (not shown) provided to span the upper ends of a pair of front and rear guide rails 411 in the left-right direction, and an electric slide motor 433 that rotates the ball screw and is provided on the outer surface of one of the front and rear guide rails 411. The nut portion of the ball screw of the slide mechanism 432 is connected to the lower surface of the bottom portion 430a of the tunnel portion 430. When the slide motor 433 is driven, the base portion 43 is moved in the left-right direction relative to the front and rear guide rails 411, and the PF 44 provided at the front of the tunnel portion 430 is also moved in the left-right direction integrally with the tunnel portion 430. Note that the state shown in the illustration is one in which the connection replacement portion 42 has been moved to the left side relative to the luggage loading portion 41.

[0043] As shown in Figures 4 and 5, the platform (hereinafter simply referred to as "PF") 44 has a base PF440, an intermediate PF441 provided in front of the base PF440 and slidable back and forth relative to the base PF440, and a tip PF442 provided in front of the intermediate PF441 and swivelable left and right relative to the intermediate PF441. The PF44 is provided on both the left and right sides of the base PF440 so as to be movable up and down relative to the upper and lower guide rails 434 via support members 435. The support member 435 is formed by assembling three frame members, a base, a vertical side, and a hypotenuse, in a triangular shape. A vertical roller section (not shown) is provided on the outer surface of the vertical frame member, and this vertical roller section is fitted into the grooves of the upper and lower guide rails 434.

[0044] The base end PF440 is a flat plate member with a roughly rectangular shape in plan view, and is fixed in place by being sandwiched between the upper edges of the bottom frame material of the left and right support members 435. A stay 446 is provided at the bottom of the base end PF440, which protrudes downward, and this stay 446 comes into contact with a gate-shaped stopper 203 (see Figure 3(a)) when the cargo bed 4 is lowered. As a result, the base end PF440 of the cargo bed 4 maintains its stopped height position, while the cargo loading section 41 can be lowered further to a stowed position. In addition, the upper and lower guide rails 434 are provided with retaining devices (not shown) at their lower ends to prevent the rollers of the support members 435 from falling off the lower ends of the upper and lower guide rails 434. Furthermore, a hydraulic second slide cylinder 443 is provided at the bottom of the base end PF440. The tube of this cylinder 443 is fixed to a cross member 443a which is mounted on a pair of left and right support members 435, 435.

[0045] The intermediate PF441 is a plate member with a roughly rectangular shape in plan view, and is fixed at both left and right edges supported by PF rail members 441a that extend front to back in a U-shape and open outwards. Intermediate bottom plates 441b, which are roughly the same shape as the intermediate PF441, are fixed to the lower surfaces of the left and right PF rail members 441a at predetermined intervals, and the intermediate PF441 and intermediate bottom plates 441b, which are integrated via the PF rail members 441a, are provided below the base PF440. In addition, a bottom roller portion 435a is provided on the inner surface of the bottom frame material of the support member 435, with the left-right direction as the axial direction, and this bottom roller portion 435a is fitted into the U-shaped portion of the PF rail member 441a, thereby being supported by the support member 435. Furthermore, the tip of the rod of the second slide cylinder 443 is attached to the underside of the intermediate bottom plate 441b, and the extension and retraction of the second slide cylinder 443 allows the intermediate PF441 to move relative to the base end PF440 in the front-rear direction.

[0046] The tip PF442 has a first PF450 that is rotatably connected to the intermediate PF441, and a second PF451 that is rotatably connected to the first PF450. The first PF450 is a plate member that is narrower in width than the intermediate PF441 and has a roughly rectangular shape in plan view. The portion of the plate excluding its tip is inserted between the intermediate PF441 and the intermediate bottom plate 441b. A first pivot shaft 445, whose axis is in the vertical direction, is fixed to the base end of the first PF450 (see Figure 3(b)), and the upper and lower ends of the first pivot shaft 445 are supported by the boss portions (not shown) of the PF441 and the intermediate bottom plate 441b. The first PF450 is rotated left and right in the horizontal plane relative to the intermediate PF441 around the first pivot axis 445 by a hydraulic first slewing motor 444 (see Figure 8, omitted in Figure 4) installed on the intermediate bottom plate 441b.

[0047] The second PF451 is a roughly trapezoidal plate member, pivotally supported by a second pivot shaft 453 located at the tip of the first PF450, and is rotated left and right in the horizontal plane relative to the first PF450 around the second pivot shaft 453 by a hydraulic second pivot motor 452 (see Figure 8) located on its lower surface. Furthermore, a transfer plate unit 455 is provided at the front of the second PF451. This transfer plate unit 455 has a transfer plate 456 provided at the front of the second PF451, and the transfer plate 456 can rotate from an upright position relative to the PF44 to a position that is almost horizontal to the PF44. Note that, at least when the loading platform 4 is in the upward movement, the shutter 413 provided on the storage box 410 is in the closed position.

[0048] Here, the rotation mechanism of the transfer plate 456 includes, as shown in Figures 6(a) and 6(b), a power transmission mechanism 457 that rotates the tip of the transfer plate 456 up and down relative to the second PF 451, and an electric transfer plate rotation motor 458 provided on the second PF 451 that drives the power transmission mechanism 457. The power transmission mechanism 457 includes a drive sprocket 457a connected to the output shaft of the transfer plate rotation motor 458, a driven sprocket 457b on the transfer plate 456 side, a chain 457c wrapped around the drive sprocket 457a and the driven sprocket 457b, a first disc 457d that rotates integrally with the driven sprocket 457b, and a second disc 457e connected to the rotation axis of the transfer plate 456 and positioned opposite the first disc 457d, and capable of relative rotation with respect to the first disc 457d.

[0049] The first disc 457d is provided with an engaging projection 457f that protrudes toward the second disc 457e. The second disc 457e has an engaging slot 457g formed along its circumference that engages with the engaging projection 457f. When the drive sprocket 457a is driven by the transfer plate rotation motor 458, the driving force is transmitted by the chain 457c, causing the engaging projection 457f to rotate. Except for the initial and final stages of rotation, the transfer plate 456 rotates with the rotating engaging projection 457f and the circumferential end of the engaging slot 457g in contact. In addition, the second PF 451, which is near the transfer plate unit 455, is provided with a pair of infrared or ultrasonic distance sensors on the left and right sides. In Figure 6, the second distance sensor 459b, located on the left side of the second PF 451, is shown as a representative example (the first distance sensor 459a is located on the right side).

[0050] In the truck 1 having the above configuration, when in motion (for example, within the range of arrows A or B in Figure 1), the cargo bed 4 is lowered and stored, the PF 44 is retracted, and the transfer plate 456 is also in an upright position relative to the PF 44.

[0051] The control system for track 1 will be explained with reference to Figure 8.

[0052] Truck 1 is equipped with a control unit 220 that receives operational signals based on image data from the first camera 437a and the second camera 437b, or the third camera 439, and performs various controls to ensure a good connection of the cargo bed 4 to the aircraft 11. The control unit 220 includes an object recognition unit 221 that performs object recognition based on image data, a body control unit 226 that outputs control signals to control valves 215 that drive motors 444, 452, etc. and cylinders 412, 443, 302, etc., a chassis control unit 227 that controls the chassis 2, and a communication unit 228 that communicates with airport facilities to acquire information.

[0053] The object recognition unit 221 includes a distance image generation unit 222 connected to the first camera 437a and the second camera 437b, an object detection unit 223 connected to the generation unit 222 and the third camera 439, a decision processing unit 224 connected to the distance image generation unit 222 and the object detection unit 223 so as to be able to input and output signals, and a storage unit 225 connected to the decision processing unit 224 and the object detection unit 223 so as to be able to input and output signals. Furthermore, the decision processing unit 224 is also connected to the mounting control unit 226 so as to be able to input and output signals, and has a processing function based on detection data acquired by sensors 459a, 459b, and 460, as well as a function to output various data within the object recognition unit 221 to the mounting control unit 226.

[0054] The distance image generation unit 222 is connected to the first camera 437a and the second camera 437b and is capable of generating a distance image containing distance information to an object by performing stereo matching processing based on a pair of image data sent from them. Stereo matching processing is a process that calculates the distance between both cameras and the object contained in the image by matching corresponding pixels between reference image data captured by one camera and comparison image data captured by the other camera to obtain the parallax, and then calculating the distance between both cameras and the object contained in the image from that parallax. As part of this stereo matching processing, a block matching method is applied to evaluate the similarity between images by cutting out a region from the images to be compared and calculating the sum of the brightness differences (SAD: Sum of Absolute Difference) for that region.

[0055] The object detection unit 223 is connected to the distance image generation unit 222 and the third camera 439. In addition to the distance image data generated by the distance image generation unit 222, it also receives image data without distance information acquired by the third camera 439. The object detection unit 223 raster scans the detection window within the input image and calculates feature quantities for each detection window region. In this embodiment, HOG (Histograms of Oriented Gradients) features are used as these feature quantities. HOG features are calculated by creating multiple blocks that histogram the luminance gradient direction in local regions (cells) of the distance image based on the luminance gradient intensity, normalizing the histograms of each block, and then concatenating them. The object detection unit 223 reads the above-mentioned feature quantities from the storage unit 225 and inputs them into one of the three types of classifiers M1, M2, and M3 described later, and sends the output score to the decision processing unit 224.

[0056] In this embodiment, the third camera 439 does not have distance information due to differences in usage compared to the first camera 437a and the second camera 437b. That is, the first camera 437a and the second camera 437b are used when the truck 1 moves from the standby position W towards the vehicle entrance / exit 12 by the operator, and distance information is required for the object recognition unit 221 to recognize the distance to the vehicle entrance / exit 12 and the presence or absence of obstacles. On the other hand, the third camera 439 is used when connecting the connection / replacement section 42 to the vehicle entrance / exit 12 after the truck 1 has stopped, and does not require distance information as it only needs to recognize the positional relationship between the vehicle entrance / exit 12 and the tip of the PF44 in two dimensions (up, down, left, and right). The third camera 439 is installed on the ceiling 430c of the tunnel section 430 to include both the vehicle entrance / exit 12 and the PF44 in the camera image and to align the vehicle entrance / exit 12 with the tip of the PF44. However, even if distance information could be measured at the mounting position of this third camera 439, it would be difficult to recognize changes in the distance of the tip of the PF44 relative to the vehicle entrance / exit 12 relative to the tunnel section 430 (because the distance relationship between the third camera 439 and the vehicle entrance / exit 12 does not change due to the expansion and contraction of the PF44). Therefore, in this embodiment, changes in the distance of the tip of the PF44 relative to the vehicle entrance / exit 12 are detected by the first distance sensor 459a and the second distance sensor 459b.

[0057] The memory unit 225 has three types of classifiers pre-stored for recognizing the aircraft entrance / exit 12 based on image data acquired by the camera. These three types of classifiers M1, M2, and M3 refer to the distant classifier M1, which is referenced at a distance from the aircraft entrance / exit 12 (for example, within the range of movement of arrow C in Figure 2), the proximity classifier M2, which is referenced when approaching the aircraft entrance / exit 12 (for example, within the range of movement of arrow D), and the horizontal classifier M3, which is referenced when arrows E1 to E4 in Figure 3. The three classifiers M1, M2, and M3 are programs whose judgment criterion parameters have been pre-trained using an SVM (Support Vector Machine) with training data consisting of HOG features from a large number of "aircraft entrance / exit" images captured by cameras 437a, 437b, and 439, and HOG features from a large number of "non-aircraft entrance / exit" images where the aircraft entrance / exit 12 is not visible. For example, "aircraft entrance / exit" images are pre-trained as a positive value of +1, and "non-aircraft entrance / exit" images as a negative value of -1. When using each classifier, it is set to output a score greater than 0 and less than 1 if the aircraft entrance / exit 12 is visible in the detection window area of ​​the raster scan of the camera image, and a score greater than -1 and less than or equal to 0 if it is not visible. The higher the recognition accuracy of the aircraft entrance / exit 12, the closer the value will be to 1, and the lower the recognition accuracy, the closer the value will be to almost 0.

[0058] In addition, the three types of classifiers M1, M2, and M3 use different types of image data for training. The image data for training the far-range classifier M1 is from the first camera 437a and the second camera 437b, whose optical axes are oriented horizontally. The image data for training the proximity classifier M2 is from the first camera 437a and the second camera 437b, whose optical axes are oriented diagonally upward. The image data for training the horizontal classifier M3 is from the third camera 439. The "aircraft entrance / exit" image to be trained may be an image of only the aircraft entrance / exit 12 (door 13), or it may be a combination of the aircraft entrance / exit 12 and the reinforcing plate 14 located directly below it.

[0059] The decision processing unit 224 processes the output values ​​of the object detection unit 223 based on the classifiers M1, M2, and M3, and sends an operation signal to the equipment control unit 226. Specifically, when using the distant classifier M1, if the value is above the positive first threshold, which is the limit value at which the aircraft entrance / exit 12 can be recognized, the decision processing unit 224 sends a judgment result to the equipment control unit 226 indicating that the aircraft entrance / exit 12 has been recognized. When using the proximity classifier M2, if the value is above the positive second threshold, which is the limit value at which the aircraft entrance / exit 12 can be recognized, the decision processing unit 224 sends a judgment result to the equipment control unit 226 indicating that the aircraft entrance / exit 12 has been recognized. Furthermore, when using the horizontal classifier M3, if the value is above the positive fourth threshold, which is the limit value at which the aircraft entrance / exit 12 can be recognized, the decision processing unit 224 sends a judgment result to the equipment control unit 226 indicating that the aircraft entrance / exit 12 has been recognized. Furthermore, when the judgment processing unit 224 is using the distant classifier M1, if the output value has dropped to a predetermined third threshold (>first threshold) that is close to the first threshold but has not yet reached the limit value at which recognition is possible, it controls the object detection unit 223 to switch the classifier used from the distant classifier M1 to the proximity classifier M2.

[0060] Next, the body control unit 226 is electrically connected to the object recognition unit 221, as well as the communication unit 228, the position information acquisition unit 229, the first distance sensor 459a, the second distance sensor 459b, and the ground sensor 460. Based primarily on the information output from these units, it is capable of autonomously controlling the electric or hydraulic actuators. The body control unit 226 is also electrically connected to the speaker 201a and the display unit 201b, and outputs the recognition results of obstacles around the truck 1 and the vehicle entrance / exit 12. Furthermore, the equipment control unit 226 is electrically connected to the equipment operation unit 230 operated by the worker, allowing the worker to manually operate each actuator by sending operation signals from the equipment operation unit 230 to the equipment control unit 226. Furthermore, the body control unit 226 is electrically connected to the chassis control unit 227, enabling it to input and output signals.

[0061] The chassis control unit 227 sends operating signals to the engine 210 and transmission 211 of the truck 1 to control their drive, performing driving control such as shifting the driving force of the engine 210 through the transmission 211 and transmitting it to the driving tires 202, and switching the PTO 212 attached to the transmission 211.

[0062] The communications unit 228 obtains aircraft information of the aircraft 11 to be connected (target position information of the horizontal coordinates of the aircraft entrance 12 to be connected among multiple aircraft entrances, type information including the type and size of the aircraft, the number of the boarding gate 16 to arrive at, the height from the ground to the aircraft entrance, the shape of the aircraft entrance, etc.) from the airport control tower 15 (see Figure 1) via radio communication and sends it to the equipment control unit 226. The above target position information is calculated by the control tower 15 based on the above type information, the relative position information of the aircraft 11 with respect to the nose wheel with respect to the aircraft entrance / exit 12 to be connected to, and the horizontal coordinate information of the parking spot (aircraft nose wheel stopping position) corresponding to the arrival boarding gate 16. Furthermore, the height from the ground to the aircraft entrance and the shape of the aircraft entrance correspond to the "loading / unloading section information" in the claim.

[0063] The position information acquisition unit 229 can obtain the position information of the truck 1 by receiving signals transmitted from positioning satellites, and sends this position information to the equipment control unit 226. In addition, the position information of the truck 1 obtained by the position information acquisition unit 229 can also be sent to the control tower 15 (see Figure 1) by the communication unit 228. By using the position information of the moving truck 1 and the target position information described above, the equipment control unit 226 can calculate the radius L1 distance of the aircraft's entrance / exit 12 and determine the position and timing for sending and receiving information with the control tower 15. Furthermore, the distance L from the position of the truck 1 to the aircraft entrance / exit 12 is continuously calculated by the equipment control unit 226, and the equipment control unit 226 can continuously send distance L information to the decision processing unit 224 of the object recognition unit 221.

[0064] The sensors 459a, 459b, and 460 described above are used when connecting the cargo bed 4 of a parked truck 1 to the aircraft entrance 12, by bringing the second PF 451 closer to the aircraft entrance 12. The first distance sensor 459a and the second distance sensor 459b each detect the distance from the tip of the second PF 451 to the aircraft 11 and send the detection result (distance data) to the equipment control unit 226. The ground contact sensor 460 is a pressure sensor or light sensor provided on the underside of the tip of the transfer plate 456. When the transfer plate 456 rotates up and down, it detects when the tip of the transfer plate 456 touches the floor surface of the aircraft 11 and outputs a signal to the equipment control unit 226, causing the equipment control unit 226 to stop driving the transfer plate rotation motor 458.

[0065] The body control unit 226 controls each of the hydraulic actuators 412, 413, ... by outputting control signals to the control valve 215. The control valve 215 is a multi-unit hydraulic valve unit, and the hydraulic pump 213 is driven by power taken out by the PTO 212, so that the hydraulic fluid from the hydraulic fluid tank 214 is supplied to the hydraulic actuators via the control valve 215.

[0066] Speaker 201a and display unit 201b are located inside the driver's cab 201, and the operator driving the truck 1 can easily stop the truck 1 at the predetermined stopping position De by moving the truck 1 toward the aircraft entrance 12 of the aircraft 11 according to the stopping guide information displayed on the display unit 201b and the sound notification from speaker 201a. In addition to the speaker 201a and display unit 201b, the driver's cab 201 is also equipped with a body operation unit 230 for raising and lowering and horizontally moving the cargo bed 4, and a PTO switch 231 for switching the PTO 212 (outputting driving force to the driving tires 202 side or the hydraulic pump 213 side).

[0067] Next, the operation of connecting track 1 to the aircraft entrance / exit 12 of airplane 11 will be explained according to the flowchart in Figure 8.

[0068] In this embodiment, the operation of truck 1 proceeds as follows: first work state (S0-S2) where the truck drives into the airport with the cargo bed 4 lowered and stowed; second work state (S3) where the truck drives to a distance of radius L1 from the aircraft entrance / exit 12 while displaying images of other vehicles working in the airport; third work state (S4-S10) where the truck approaches the aircraft entrance / exit 12 further by referring to the displayed stopping guide information; and fourth work state (S11-S23) where the truck connects the cargo bed 4 to the aircraft entrance / exit after stopping. Note that the first work state is within the range of arrow A in Figure 1, the second work state is within the range of arrow B in the same figure, the third work state is within the range of arrows C and D in the same figure, and the fourth work state is within the range of arrows E1, E2, E3, E4 and E5 in Figure 3.

[0069] In the first operational state, the equipment control unit 226 determines whether or not the truck has entered the airport based on the current position of the truck 1, which is transmitted from the position information acquisition unit 229. For example, the equipment control unit 226 determines that the truck has entered the airport when its current position is further inside the airport than the airport entrance / exit 17 (see Figure 1) (S1). After the equipment control unit 226 determines that the truck has entered the airport, it receives aircraft information of the aircraft 11 to be connected to via wireless communication with the control tower 15 (S2). This aircraft information includes target position information, model information, the number of the boarding gate 16 to which the truck will arrive, etc. By receiving the aircraft information early, the truck 1 can accurately display a desired stopping position De that can be handled in at least the third and fourth operational states. Therefore, the operator driving the truck 1 can drive the truck 1 to a suitable stopping position De with peace of mind.

[0070] In the second work state, after receiving aircraft information (S2), the truck drives while monitoring surrounding obstacles with the first camera 437a and the second camera 437b, moving to a position where it is at a radius L1 from the aircraft entrance / exit 12. The equipment control unit 226 calculates the distance L between the current position of the truck 1 sent from the position information acquisition unit 229 and the position of the aircraft entrance / exit 12 based on the aircraft information, and compares this distance L with the radius L1. If it is determined that the distance is less than the radius L1 (S3), the second work state is completed. If the truck mistakenly moves towards the aircraft 18, it will not be determined that the distance is less than the radius L1, so the second work state is not completed and the truck does not move to the third work state.

[0071] When the system transitions to the third working state (S4-S10), a search and display step (S4) is performed to accurately search for the aircraft entrance / exit 12 and, after recognizing the aircraft entrance / exit 12, to display parking guide information indicating the parking position De of the track 1. Display adjustment steps (S5-S10) are performed to maintain a good display state of the parking guide information. Each step (S4-S10) in the third working state is repeated sequentially while the track 1 is moving. In the display adjustment step, optical axis change control is also performed so that the elevation angles of the first camera 437a and the second camera 437b can be changed as the track 1 approaches the aircraft entrance / exit 12.

[0072] After truck 1 is stopped in a suitable position, the system transitions to the fourth working state (S11-S23), in which the cargo bed 4 is connected to the machine entrance / exit 12. In the fourth working state, a cargo bed raising step (S11-S15) is performed in which the cargo bed 4 is raised by the lifting mechanism 3, a left-right adjustment step (S16-S19) is performed in which the left-right position of the cargo bed 4 is adjusted, and a front-rear adjustment step (S20-S23) is performed in which the front-rear position of the cargo bed 4 is adjusted.

[0073] In the third and fourth operating states described above, multiple control operations are performed using output data from cameras 437a, 437b, 439, etc., and these will be explained below.

[0074] In the search and display step (S4), as shown in Figure 10, a search substep (S41-S45) is performed to recognize the aircraft entrance / exit 12, and an adjustment substep (S46-S48e) is performed to display parking guide information based on the data acquired in the substep.

[0075] After track 1 moves to a radius less than L1 of the aircraft entrance / exit 12 (S3), in the search substep (S41-S46), a pair of image data acquired by the first camera 437a and the second camera 437b are input to the distance image generation unit 222 (S41), and a distance image is generated by stereo matching (S42). This distance image data is input to the object detection unit 223, where the object detection unit 223 performs processing to narrow down the candidate detection area of ​​the aircraft entrance / exit 12 (S43-S45). Specifically, the decision processing unit 224 uses the distance L information that has been continuously calculated by the equipment control unit 226 since before the third work state was reached and sent from the equipment control unit 226, and with an acceptable range of Lm, it determines from the generated distance image that the area in the range of radius distance L±Lm from the aircraft entrance / exit 12 is a candidate detection area (S44). Upon receiving this judgment signal from the judgment processing unit 224, the object detection unit 223 raster scans the detection window within the candidate detection area and calculates HOG features in each detection window area (S45). This provides input data that can be input into the program of the far-field classifier M1 or the proximity classifier M2. While generating distance images of a wide area using cameras 437a and 437, by narrowing down the candidate detection area as described above, areas (distance images) where the aircraft entrance / exit 12 clearly does not exist are excluded from the scan target in advance, enabling accurate recognition of the aircraft entrance / exit 12 in a short time. The tolerance range Lm is set to a value that takes into account the error of the position information received by the position information acquisition unit 229. For example, if there is an average error of about 10m in the position detection accuracy of the position information acquisition unit 229, Lm is set to 10m.

[0076] Once the raster scan is complete and the system moves from the search substep (S41-S45) to the adjustment substep (S46-S48e) where the stopping guide information is displayed, the decision processing unit 224 determines the classifier in the memory unit 225 that the object detection unit 223 reads (S46). If track 1 has just entered an area inside the radius L1 of the vehicle entrance / exit 12 and the initial state (far-range classifier M1) has not been changed, the object detection unit 223 sends the recognition result (positive or negative value) for each area to the decision processing unit 224 based on each HOG feature quantity input to the far-range classifier M1. The decision processing unit 224 searches for and extracts areas where the output value is positive and above the first threshold (S47a). Furthermore, upon finding an area exceeding the first threshold, the body control unit 226 receives a determination from the determination processing unit 224 that it has recognized the aircraft entrance / exit 12. The body control unit 226 then displays a recognition mark H surrounding the area determined to be above the first threshold (the area recognized as the aircraft entrance / exit 12), along with target left and right lines I,I and target front and rear lines J,J based on the distance to that area, on the display unit 201b (S47c). The body control unit 226 also displays a vehicle position line K on the display unit 201, which serves as a guide for aligning the target front and rear lines J,J. These target left and right lines I,I, target front and rear lines J,J, and vehicle position line K constitute parking guide information. Furthermore, if there are multiple regions that are judged to be above the first threshold, it is preferable to display the recognition mark H in the region with the largest output value.

[0077] The operator can achieve high-precision and high-efficiency connection control of the cargo bed 4 in the fourth work state (S11-S23) by stopping the vehicle so that the recognition mark H is positioned between the two left-right target lines I, I, and the vehicle position line K indicating the position of truck 1 is positioned between the two front-rear target lines J, J. On the other hand, if no area above the first threshold is found, the judgment processing unit 224 sends a judgment result to the bodywork control unit 226 that the machine entrance / exit 12 could not be recognized, and the bodywork control unit 226 displays an error on the display unit 201b (S47d).

[0078] Here, the state in which the recognition mark H, target left and right lines I,I, and target front and rear lines J,J are displayed on the display unit 201b will be explained using Figure 9. Figure 9 is a camera image taken by the first camera 437a and the second camera 437b, whose optical axes are directed horizontally, when track 1 enters and moves within a radius L1 area from the aircraft entrance / exit 12.

[0079] When the object recognition unit 221 recognizes the vehicle entrance / exit 12, a recognition mark H is displayed, along with a pair of left and right target lines I,I extending vertically, a pair of right and left target lines J,J extending horizontally, and a vehicle position line K extending horizontally. The left and right target lines I,I are displayed symmetrically with respect to the left and right centerlines of the camera image on the display unit 201b, i.e., the left and right centers of track 1. Each of the left and right lines I,I corresponds to the left and right ends of the connecting plate 456 that has been moved left and right in the movable connecting and swapping unit 42.

[0080] Furthermore, the width of the lines I,I can be adjusted to match the distance from the first camera 437a and the second camera 437b to the machine entrance / exit 12. As described above, the left-right width, which is set based on the maximum movable position of the boarding plate 456 in the left-right direction, is set to decrease in accordance with the reduction ratio of the left-right width of the machine entrance / exit 12, which decreases as the distance from the machine entrance / exit 12 increases in the camera image. As a result, the operator driving the truck 1 can steer the truck 1 so that the recognition mark H of the machine entrance / exit 12 is within the line width of the target left-right lines I,I, and stop the truck 1 at the desired position, and the cargo bed 4 can be properly connected to the machine entrance / exit 12 in each control in the fourth work state. This desired position becomes the preferred stopping position De in this embodiment.

[0081] Furthermore, the target lines J,J are set so that when track 1 is stopped at the desired position (preferred stopping position De), the vehicle position line K falls within the width of these lines. When track 1 is far from the machine entrance / exit 12, the lines are above the vehicle position line K, and as track 1 approaches the machine entrance / exit 12, the lines move closer to the vehicle position line K. By using the two types of lines I and J described above, the driver only needs to drive towards the position displayed on the display unit 201b, eliminating the need for a separate person to indicate the stopping position De, thus reducing manpower. In the figure, the leftmost "Left and Right ×" indicates that the recognition mark H has not yet entered the target left and right lines I and I, and the rightmost "Forward and Back 20m" indicates that the track 1 needs to move 20m horizontally to the machine entrance / exit 12.

[0082] When the system moves to the adjustment substep, even if the object detection unit 223 is reading out an identifier that is not the distant identifier M1, and the truck 1 has already approached the vehicle entrance / exit 12 and the optical axes of the cameras 437a and 437b have been changed to the approach identifier M2 which is obliquely upward, the control performed by the object detection unit 223, the judgment processing unit 224, and the equipment control unit 226 will be the same as in the case of the distant identifier M1 (S48b~S48e). If the memory unit 225 malfunctions and cannot detect the correct identifier, an error will be displayed on the display unit 201b (S48e).

[0083] As shown in Figure 9, in the display adjustment steps (S5-S10) following the search display step (S4), display adjustments are made when the aircraft entrance 12, which is located at a high position on the curved surface of the aircraft 11, is approached and the aircraft entrance 12 is no longer visible in the camera images of the first camera 437a and the second camera 437b. However, this display adjustment is discontinued when the equipment control unit 226 receives a determination from the determination processing unit 224 that it cannot recognize the aircraft entrance 12, and the process moves to the stop determination control (S10). When the equipment control unit 226 receives a determination from the decision processing unit 224 that it has recognized the aircraft entrance / exit 12 (S5), it determines, based on the output data from the decision processing unit 224, whether the vertical position of the aircraft entrance / exit 12 is inappropriate in the image data from the first camera 437a and the second camera 437b.

[0084] When the cargo bed 4 is stowed, the height positions of the first camera 437a and the second camera 437b are lower than the height position of the aircraft's entrance / exit 12. If the aircraft approaches the aircraft 11 with the optical axes of cameras 437a and 437b pointed horizontally, at least a portion of the aircraft's entrance / exit 12 will be above the camera images of cameras 437a and 437b, making accurate recognition of the aircraft's entrance / exit 12 difficult or resulting in recognition errors. Therefore, the equipment control unit 226 determines whether the upper end of the aircraft entrance / exit 12 is touching the upper end of the camera image of cameras 437a and 437b, whose optical axes are oriented horizontally, and if it is touching, it determines that it is in an inappropriate state (S6). When the equipment control unit 226 determines that it is inappropriate, it outputs a signal to the camera rotation motor 438 to rotate cameras 437a and 437b upward by a predetermined angle, so that accurate recognition of the aircraft entrance / exit 12 can be maintained (for example, the state shown in Figure 11). Furthermore, if the equipment control unit 226 determines that the vertical position of the aircraft entrance / exit 12 is appropriate within the camera images of cameras 437a and 437b, it will not change the optical axes of cameras 437a and 437b.

[0085] Next, in the area of ​​the aircraft entrance / exit 12 where the recognition mark H is displayed in the camera images of cameras 437a and 437b, the judgment processing unit 224 determines (S8) whether the output value output by the object detection unit 223's distant object classifier M1 is less than the third threshold (> first threshold) and outputs this to the equipment control unit 226. If this output value is less than the third threshold, the equipment control unit 226 switches the classifier read by the object detection unit 223 to the proximity classifier M2 (S9). Note that if the proximity classifier M2 was selected in the search display step (S4), the judgment in step S8 is not performed.

[0086] The aircraft entrance / exit 12, located on the curved surface of the aircraft, has a significantly different shape when viewed from a distance from the front compared to when viewed up close from a diagonal angle below. When viewed from a diagonal angle below, for example, as shown in Figure 12, the shape of the aircraft entrance / exit 12 is much more distorted than when viewed from a distance from the front. Therefore, if the aircraft entrance / exit 12 is recognized using the same classifier as when viewed from a distance (far-view classifier M1), there is a risk of recognition errors occurring while the track 1 is moving. However, by switching from the far-view classifier M1 to the proximity classifier M2 as described above, accurate recognition can be maintained. The switch from the far-view classifier M1 to the proximity classifier M2 is performed based on a third threshold, which is reached when the output value of the object detection unit 223 using the far-view classifier M1 becomes low and the aircraft entrance / exit 12 is no longer clearly recognized. If the output value output by the classifier M1 (or classifier M2) of the object detection unit 223 is above the third threshold, the classifier is not switched.

[0087] Using an appropriate identifier, the operator drives truck 1, and based on the position information of truck 1 from the position information acquisition unit 229, the equipment control unit 226 determines whether truck 1 has stopped in a suitable position (S10) if truck 1 does not move for a predetermined time (approximately several tens of seconds) and if truck 1 is near the desired stopping position De based on the machine information. If it then determines that "it has stopped", the system moves from the third work state to the fourth work state, which is the loading platform raising step (S11-S15). In this step, the body control unit 226 determines via the chassis control unit 227 that the PTO 212 is ON (S11), and instructs the decision processing unit 224 to switch the cameras to be used from the first camera 437a and the second camera 437b to the third camera 439, to display the image acquired by the third camera 439 on the display unit 201b (S12), and to switch the classifier to be used from the proximity classifier M2 to the horizontal classifier M3 (S13).

[0088] Next, the cargo bed 4 is raised based on the signal from the equipment operation unit 30. At this time, the display unit 201b displays the rise determination line N extending left and right as shown in Figure 13. This rise determination line N is always displayed on the camera image of the third camera 439, regardless of whether the machine entrance / exit 12 is recognized or not. Since the relative height position between the tunnel section 430 to which the third camera 439 is attached and the PF44 does not change even when each actuator is driven, the vertical position of the rise determination line is set not to change.

[0089] The upward determination line N is a marker indicating that when the cargo platform 4 is stopped at a point where its vertical height matches that of the lower edge of the aircraft entrance 12 in the camera image of the third camera 439, the transfer plate 456 can be placed across the inner floor of the aircraft entrance 12 at a comfortable rotation angle (a rotation angle that allows an operator to easily push the in-flight meal cart on the transfer plate 456). The upward detection line N is drawn in the camera image of the third camera 439 at the position reached by the tip of PF44 when the tip of PF44 is extended to a distance from the stopping position De of track 1 to a distance where the boarding plate 456 can be placed. Since objects further from the camera are displayed closer to the center of the image, the upward detection line N is displayed slightly higher compared to the position of the tip of PF44 before extension.

[0090] Immediately after the loading platform 4 begins to rise, the third camera 439 is positioned below the aircraft entrance 12, and its optical axis is oriented horizontally, so the aircraft entrance 12 is not included in the camera image at all. However, as the loading platform 4 rises, the lower part of the aircraft entrance 12 comes into the camera image.

[0091] The control (S14) between the display of the upward determination line N mentioned above and the upward movement of the cargo bed 4 will be explained using Figure 14. When the system transitions to the fourth working state and switches to the third camera 439 (S12), the upward judgment line N is displayed (S141), and the image data acquired by the third camera 439 is input to the object detection unit 223 (S142). The object detection unit 223 raster scans the detection window within the camera image and calculates HOG feature quantities in each detection window region (S143). Based on the HOG feature quantities input to the horizontal classifier M3, the object detection unit 223 sends the recognition result (positive or negative value) for each region to the decision processing unit 224. The decision processing unit 224 searches for and extracts regions where the output value is positive and above the fourth threshold (S144). Furthermore, upon finding regions above the fourth threshold (S145), the equipment control unit 226 displays the recognition mark P surrounding the region determined to be above the fourth threshold (the region recognized as the aircraft entrance / exit 12) on the display unit 201b (S147a).

[0092] Then, during the continued raising of the cargo bed 4, the equipment control unit 226 determines whether the lower end of the machine entrance 12 overlaps with the rise determination line N (S147b). When the cargo bed 4 is raised to a position where the lower end of the machine entrance 12 overlaps with the rise determination line N, the height of the cargo bed 4 becomes a height that can connect to the machine entrance 12. At this time, the equipment control unit 226 stops the raising of the cargo bed 4 and generates an audio signal from the speaker 201a to indicate that the raising is complete (S147c). As shown in Figure 15, if the rise determination line N is below the lower end of the machine entrance 12 even though the machine entrance 12 is recognized, it means that the cargo bed 4 has not yet been raised to a position where it can connect to the machine entrance 12, and the lifting cylinder 302 is extended by a predetermined stroke to raise the cargo bed 4 to a predetermined height.

[0093] The platform raising step begins immediately after the platform 4 is raised. At the start, the camera image either does not include the aircraft entrance 12 at all, or only partially includes it, making it difficult to recognize the aircraft entrance 12 (S145). The equipment control unit 226 calculates the difference between the height position h1 of the moving PF44 and the height position h2 of the aircraft entrance 12 based on the aircraft information (S146a), and determines whether the calculation result h1-h2 is negative or not (S146b). Here, the height position h1 of the PF44 can be detected based on the stroke of the lifting cylinder 302. At this time, the equipment control unit 226 displays an unrecognized message on the display unit 201b (S146c) because h1-h2 will be negative while the camera image does not include the aircraft entrance / exit 12 (until the cargo bed 4 has risen to a certain extent). The unrecognized message indicates that the recognition process for the aircraft entrance / exit 12 is underway, but recognition has not been achieved because the cargo bed 4 has not risen sufficiently. After the unrecognized indication, the body control unit 226 extends the lifting cylinder 302 by a predetermined stroke to raise the cargo bed 4 to a predetermined height (S146d), and repeats the cargo bed raising step.

[0094] By repeating the above loading platform raising step, as shown in Figure 13, the camera image will include most of the aircraft entrance 12, and the decision processing unit 224 will extract the aircraft entrance 12 portion as an area above the fourth threshold and send a decision result to the equipment control unit 226 that the aircraft entrance 12 has been recognized (S145). On the other hand, there are cases where the aircraft entrance 12 is not recognized even though the loading platform 4 has risen to a height where it can connect to the aircraft entrance 12 (S145), and h1-h2 will become a positive value, causing the equipment control unit 226 to emergency stop the raising of the loading platform 4 and display an error on the display unit 201b (S146e). By emergency stopping the raising of the loading platform 4, it is possible to prevent the loading platform 4 from colliding with the wing of the aircraft 11. In addition, the error display can prompt the worker to check the equipment on the truck 1.

[0095] Once the loading platform 4 described above has finished rising, the equipment control unit 226 checks whether it recognizes the machine entrance / exit 12 (S15) in order to continue automatic control as shown in Figure 8. If it does, the left-right adjustment steps (S16-S19) and the front-rear adjustment steps (S20-S23) are performed. If it does not recognize the entrance / exit 12, the autonomous control by the equipment control unit 226 is stopped, and the operator uses the equipment operation unit 230 to manually operate the horizontal movement mechanism.

[0096] In the left-right adjustment step, the equipment control unit 226 first determines whether the boarding plate 456 is shifted left or right relative to the aircraft entrance / exit 12 (S16). While truck 1 is moving from the in-flight meal factory 10 to the parking position De in the airport, the base section 43 is centered left to right, and the PF 44 is also centered left to right. Therefore, if truck 1 can be parked without any left-right shift relative to the aircraft entrance / exit 12 (S16), the aircraft entrance / exit 12 will be located in the center left to right of the image of the third camera 439, and the center left to right of the image of the third camera 439 will match the center left to right of the recognition mark P, so the base section 43 will not slide, and the first PF 450 and second PF 451 will not rotate. However, when truck 1 stops at stopping position De, if the vehicle entrance 12 is shifted to the left or right from the left-right center of the image of the third camera 439 (S16), the equipment control unit 226 calculates the amount of deviation between the left-right center position of the image of the third camera 439 and the left-right center position of the recognition mark P. At this time, if the equipment control unit 226 determines that the deviation exceeds the allowable range, it determines whether the amount of deviation exceeds the left-right movement limit of the base unit 43 (S17).

[0097] If the mounting control unit 226 determines that the lateral movement limit of the base unit 43 has been exceeded, it rotates the first PF450 and the second PF451 by a predetermined angle until the lateral center positions of the PF44 and the connecting plate 456 align with the lateral center position of the recognition mark P (S18). Specifically, the mounting control unit 226 rotates the first PF450 and the second PF451 by a predetermined angle so that the leading edge of the second PF451 is approximately parallel to the lower edge of the aircraft entrance 12, and so that the lateral position of the second PF451 approaches the aircraft entrance 12.

[0098] On the other hand, if the mounting control unit 226 does not determine that the amount of displacement exceeds the left-right movement limit of the base unit 43, the sliding mechanism 432 moves the base unit 43 left or right by a predetermined distance until it reaches the left-right movement limit, so that the left-right center of the recognition mark P aligns with the left-right center positions of the PF 44 and the connecting plate 456 (S19). If the amount of displacement of the connecting plate 456 is determined to be within an acceptable range through the sliding movement of the base portion 43 and the pivoting movement of the first PF450 and the second PF451 (S16), the system proceeds to the front-to-back adjustment step (S20-S23).

[0099] In this step, the equipment control unit 226 determines whether the distance from the tip of the second PF451 to the aircraft entrance / exit 12 is less than the connectable distance L2, based on the distance data sent from the first distance sensor 459 and the second distance sensor 459b. If the connectable distance L2 or greater (NO in S20), the mounting control unit 226 extends one or both of the slide cylinders 412 and 443 to move the tip of the second PF451 forward by a predetermined distance (in the direction shown by arrow E4 or arrow E5 in Figure 3) (S21).

[0100] If the operation in step S21 is repeated and it is determined in step S20 that the connectable distance is less than L2, the equipment control unit 226 rotates the upright transfer plate 456 downward toward the vehicle entrance 12 to connect it (S22). The equipment control unit 226 also stops the rotation of the transfer plate 456 when the transfer plate 456 makes contact with the floor surface of the vehicle entrance 12 and a grounding signal is sent from the grounding sensor 460. Alternatively, the drive of the transfer plate rotation motor 458 may be stopped after a predetermined time delay from the timing of the grounding signal. In this case, since the portion of the second disc 457e that engages with the engaging projection 457f is an engaging elongated hole 457g, when the aircraft 11 sinks due to the loading of fuel, etc., the transfer plate 456 can be tilted slightly without moving the transfer plate rotation motor 458 in accordance with the sinking.

[0101] After the transfer board 456 is brought into contact with the floor of the aircraft entrance 12, the equipment control unit 226 drives the shutter opening / closing motor 414 to open the shutter 413 (S23). This allows movement between the luggage loading section 41 and the aircraft 11 via the PF 44 and the transfer board 456, and the in-flight meal carts are loaded and unloaded.

[0102] Furthermore, the object recognition unit 221 continues to recognize the vehicle entrance 12 even after the connecting plate 456 is connected to the entrance 12, and the equipment control unit 226 determines whether the lower end of the vehicle entrance 12 overlaps with the rise determination line N. If the lower end of the vehicle entrance 12 is lower than the rise determination line N, the equipment control unit 226 switches the control valve 215 with the hydraulic pump 213 stopped to discharge hydraulic fluid from the lifting cylinder 302 into the hydraulic fluid tank 214. At this time, by stopping the discharge of hydraulic fluid when the lower end of the vehicle entrance 12 overlaps with the rise determination line N, the cargo bed 4 can be lowered to the height of the vehicle entrance 12.

[0103] By implementing the above control, the cargo bed 4 can be connected to the aircraft (cargo loading / unloading section) 11 simply, accurately, and quickly. Furthermore, because the connection control is performed in accordance with the height position while image recognition of the aircraft entrance / exit 12, the transfer board 456 can also be made to a nearly horizontal state, making it suitable for loading and unloading in-flight meal carts. In addition, it is preferable that the first camera 437a and the second camera 43 used for image recognition, as described above, detect objects that may come into contact with the truck 1 based on the distance image generated by the distance image generation unit 222 while the truck 1 is moving from the waiting position W to the stopping position De. For example, the possibility of contact can be determined based on the size of the recognized object and the distance to the object. If such an object is determined to be present, a warning sound is emitted from the speaker 201a or a warning display surrounding the object is shown on the display unit 201b.

[0104] In this embodiment, the electric actuator is configured to include a camera rotation motor 438, a shutter opening / closing motor 414, a transfer plate rotation motor 458, or a slide motor 433. The hydraulic actuator is configured to include a first slide cylinder 412 for sliding the cargo loading section 41 in the longitudinal direction of the chassis, a second slide cylinder 443 for sliding the intermediate PF 441 forward and backward, a first swivel motor 444 for swiveling the first PF 450 of the tip PF 442 left and right, a second swivel motor 452 for swiveling the second PF 451 left and right, and a lifting cylinder 302 for raising and lowering the cargo bed 4. However, these are not limited to electric or hydraulic types and can be changed as appropriate.

[0105] Furthermore, the number and movement of the components of the platform (PF) 44 can be changed as appropriate. For example, the platform may consist of two parts, a base PF and a tip PF, or the tip PF may be configured to move only back and forth without rotating.

[0106] In this embodiment, the first camera 437a and the second camera 437b are provided on the PF 44 of the connection / replacement section 42, and the third camera 439 is provided on the base section 43 of the connection / replacement section 42. However, the number of cameras and their mounting locations are not limited to these. For example, cameras may be provided on both the connection / replacement section and the luggage loading section, or cameras may be provided only on the luggage loading section. In addition, the luggage loading section 41 is moved relative to the chassis 2 in the front-rear direction by the extension and retraction of the first slide cylinder 412, and the connection / replacement section 42 is moved relative to the chassis 2 in the left-right direction by the slide mechanism 432. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a configuration in which only one of the luggage loading section or the connection / replacement section is moved relative to the chassis is also possible.

[0107] In terms of control, in this embodiment, the operation of truck 1 consists of four work states, from the first to the fourth work state. In the third work state, the body control unit 226 uses the output data of the first camera 437a and the second camera 437b to display stopping guide information such as target left and right lines I, I on the display unit 201b. In the fourth work state, the body control unit 226 uses the output data of the third camera 439 to automatically stop the raising of the cargo bed 4 at a height that can be connected to the machine entrance / exit 12. The present invention is not limited to this, and the body control unit may also perform automatic stopping when raising the cargo bed after stopping, without displaying the stopping guide. Furthermore, the order of the cargo bed raising steps (S11~S15), left and right adjustment steps (S16~S19), and front and rear adjustment steps (S20~S23) in the fourth work state can also be changed as appropriate.

[0108] In this embodiment, the first camera 437a and the second camera 437b, which serve as the object image acquisition unit, are configured as stereo cameras. However, the object image acquisition unit may be configured using other devices that can detect the three-dimensional shape of an object and the distance to the object. For example, a 3D-LIDAR or a distance image sensor may be used as the object image acquisition unit.

[0109] In this embodiment, a chassis 2 was used in which an operator drove the truck 1 to a predetermined stopping position De relative to the airplane 11 and stopped it. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and an autonomously driven chassis may also be used.

[0110] In this embodiment, the chassis 2 of the truck 1 is equipped with an engine 210, a transmission 211, and a PTO 212 attached to the transmission 211. A PTO switch 231, which acts as a power selection switch, is configured to switch the PTO 212 (outputting driving force to either the driving tires 202 or the hydraulic pump 213). The present invention is not limited to this, and can also be applied to work vehicles that are driven by an electric motor instead of an engine, and whose hydraulic pump is driven by an electric motor dedicated to the mounted equipment, and which do not have a PTO. In this case, the power selection switch would be the main power switch for driving the mounted equipment.

[0111] In this embodiment, the high-lift truck 1 was used to transport an in-flight meal cart, but the present invention is not limited to this and can also be applied to high-lift trucks that transport in-flight items such as magazines and headphones, or to high-lift trucks that allow disabled persons in wheelchairs or on stretchers to board an airplane. Furthermore, although this embodiment describes an aviation high-lift truck as an example of a work vehicle to which the present invention is applied, the present invention is not limited to this and can be applied to various work vehicles.

[0112] For example, airport service vehicles include not only high-lift trucks that transport in-flight meal carts, but also many other types such as fuel trucks, lavatory vehicles, trash cars, and de-icing vehicles. The present invention can be applied to such airport service vehicles that require precise positioning relative to aircraft. To explain in more detail, for example, in a fuel tanker vehicle as shown in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2003-154886, a lift mechanism is provided at the rear of the vehicle, and this lift mechanism is used to raise and lower a lifter, which serves as a work platform. The lifter is also equipped with a nozzle at the end of a fuel hose. Such a fuel tanker vehicle is positioned so that the lifter is below the fuel filler port on the underside of the aircraft's wing before being parked. Then, an operator manually raises the lifter, manually positions the nozzle at the end of the fuel hose to the fuel filler port, connects it, and refuels the aircraft with fuel stored in the onboard tank. For example, the onboard tank of such a fuel tanker vehicle can be considered as the cargo loading section of the present invention, and the lift mechanism can be considered as the connection / replacement section of the present invention. When it is desired to automatically raise the lifter and automatically position the nozzle at the end of the fuel hose to the fuel filler port, the present invention can be applied by photographing the fuel filler port with a camera acting as an object image acquisition unit, and controlling the raising of the lift mechanism with a control unit based on the output data.

[0113] Furthermore, in a lavatory vehicle, such as the one shown in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2012-1104, a tank for loading wastewater from an airplane toilet is provided, and at the rear of the vehicle is a work platform and a lifting device for raising and lowering the work platform. Such a lavatory vehicle is positioned so that the work platform is below the wastewater outlet of the airplane before being stopped. Then, an operator stands on the work platform and manually raises it while connecting the end of the hose to the wastewater outlet of the airplane. The on-board tank of this lavatory vehicle is considered to be the cargo loading section of the present invention, and the lifting device is considered to be the connection and replacement section of the present invention. When it is desired to automatically raise the work platform and automatically position the end of the hose relative to the wastewater outlet, the present invention can be applied by photographing the wastewater outlet with a camera acting as an object image acquisition unit, and controlling the raising of the lifting device with a control unit based on the output data.

[0114] The present invention is applicable not only to airport work vehicles such as the fuel tankers and lavatory vehicles mentioned above, but also to various work vehicles that transport waste, parcels, mail, and the like. For example, a refuse truck as shown in Japanese Patent Publication No. 61-124402 is equipped with a refuse container for storing waste, a movable arm provided on the side of the vehicle, and a gripping device attached to the end of the movable arm for gripping the refuse container. When the refuse truck is stopped, the operator adjusts the front-to-rear position of the vehicle so that the gripping device is near the location where the refuse container will be placed. After stopping, the operator manually operates the movable arm to move the gripping device to the side of the vehicle and align it with the refuse container, causing the gripping device to grasp the refuse container. Furthermore, the operator operates the movable arm to dump the waste from the refuse container into the refuse container. In the case of such a refuse truck, the refuse container is considered to be the cargo loading section of the present invention, the movable arm is considered to be the connection and replacement section of the present invention, and the refuse container is considered to be the cargo loading and unloading section. The present invention can be applied by photographing the waste container with a camera acting as an object image acquisition unit, and then controlling the movement of the movable arm with a control unit based on the output data.

[0115] Furthermore, for example, a mobile delivery vehicle as shown in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2018-177439 can store packages in its internal space and move automatically. This mobile vehicle also includes an extendable rail section, such as a belt conveyor, installed over the delivery box section, and a storage mechanism that stores packages that have been moved to the mobile vehicle side via the extendable rail section into the internal space section. This mobile vehicle moves to the front of the delivery box at the destination and stops. After stopping, the extendable rail section is aligned with the opening and closing door of a specific locker section among the multiple locker sections provided in the delivery box. In the case of such a mobile vehicle, the internal space section is considered the package loading section of the present invention, the extendable rail section is considered the connection and replacement section of the present invention, and the locker section is considered the package loading and unloading section. The present invention can be applied by photographing the opening and closing door of the locker section with a camera acting as an object image acquisition unit, and controlling the movement of the extendable rail section with a control unit based on the output data.

[0116] -Other Embodiments- The embodiments disclosed herein are illustrative in all respects and are not intended to be restrictive. The technical scope of the present invention is not construed solely by the embodiments described above, but is defined by the claims. Furthermore, the technical scope of the present invention includes all modifications within the meaning and scope of equivalence to the claims. [Explanation of symbols]

[0117] 1. Truck (work vehicle) 2 chassis 3. Lifting mechanism 4. Cargo bed 11. Airplane (Baggage loading / unloading section) 12. Aircraft entrance / exit (entrance / exit for baggage loading / unloading area) 15. Control Tower (Management Center) 41. Luggage loading section 42 Connection and Replacement Section 43 Base section 44 Platform (PF) 201a Display section 213 Hydraulic pump 214 Hydraulic oil tank 215 Hydraulic control valve 220 Control Unit 221 Object Recognition Unit 222 Distance Image Generation Unit 223 Object detection unit 224 Decision Processing Unit 225 Storage section 226 Bodywork Control Unit 228 Communications Department 229 Location information acquisition unit 231 PTO switch (power selector switch) 412 First slide cylinder (drive actuator) 432 Slide mechanism 443 Second slide cylinder (drive actuator) 437a First camera (object image acquisition unit) 437b Second camera (object image acquisition unit) 439 Third camera (object image acquisition unit) 444 First slewing motor (drive actuator) 452 Second slewing motor (drive actuator) 456 Transit board 458 Transfer plate rotating motor De stop position H Recognition Mark P Recognition Mark I. Target left and right lines (parking guide information) J Target lines (stopping guide information) K Vehicle position line (stopping guide information) M1 Far Discriminator (Discriminator) M2 proximity discriminator (first discriminator) M3 horizontal discriminator (second discriminator) N Upward Judgment Line

Claims

1. A work vehicle that connects to an aircraft, which is the target of work within the airport, A work platform mounted on the chassis and connected to the aircraft, A location information acquisition unit that acquires location information within the aforementioned airport, A control unit that performs control to bring the aircraft closer to a desired stopping position, It includes an aircraft information input unit into which aircraft information, including the position of the parked aircraft, is input, The control unit, upon acquiring the aircraft information, controls the stopping process to bring the aircraft closer to the desired stopping position. A work vehicle characterized by its ability to output guide information.

2. The work vehicle according to claim 1, characterized in that the stopping guide information includes the desired stopping position.

3. The work vehicle according to Claim 1, characterized in that the stopping guide information indicates a target direction of travel for approaching the desired stopping position.

4. The work vehicle according to claim 1, characterized in that the control unit performs control to connect the work platform to the aircraft based on the fact that it has stopped at the desired stopping position.

5. The work vehicle according to claim 1, characterized in that the operation of connecting to the parked aircraft is performed at the desired stopping position while the vehicle is stationary.

Images