Agricultural Machine Path Realignment for Autonomous Travel Resumption
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing agricultural machines struggle to smoothly transition back to autonomous travel after interrupting it, often causing the vehicle to deviate from the target travel path and requiring manual intervention to realign.
Innovation Solution
The agricultural machine is equipped with an autonomous travel controller that performs line alignment by adjusting the vehicle's position and orientation relative to the planned travel path, using a K-turn maneuver to bring the vehicle back on course if deviations exceed predetermined thresholds.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If autonomous travel is interrupted and resumed without line alignment, then the resumption process is simple and quick, but the vehicle deviates from the target travel path
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs line alignment as a preliminary action before resuming autonomous travel. When the travel switch is operated to resume autonomous travel, the autonomous travel controller first determines whether line alignment is necessary by checking if deviations exceed thresholds, then executes the line alignment maneuver (such as K-turn) to realign the vehicle with the target travel path before continuing normal autonomous travel. This ensures the vehicle is properly aligned before resuming, preventing path deviation.
2Manufacturing precision
If line alignment is performed every time autonomous travel is resumed, then alignment precision is improved, but the complexity of the resumption process increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system changes the control parameters dynamically based on the operational state. When resuming autonomous travel, the controller checks whether positional deviation or orientational deviation exceeds a predetermined threshold. Only when the threshold is exceeded does the system execute line alignment maneuvers. This conditional approach adjusts the control behavior based on the actual deviation parameters, performing line alignment only when necessary rather than every time, thus balancing precision with system simplicity.
3Manufacturing precision
If the vehicle moves closer to the planned travel line manually before resuming autonomous travel, then alignment precision is improved, but the operational time required increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses feedback from deviation detection to automatically determine whether line alignment is needed. When the travel switch is operated to resume autonomous travel, the autonomous travel controller calculates the positional deviation and orientational deviation from the target travel path. Based on this feedback, the system automatically decides whether to perform line alignment or resume normal travel, eliminating the need for manual alignment operations and reducing the time required for resumption while maintaining appropriate alignment precision.
Data Source
AI summary
An agricultural machine includes a vehicle body, a travel switch operable to issue a command to start autonomous travel of the vehicle body, and an autonomous travel controller to perform autonomous travel of the vehicle body based on a planned travel line when the command is issued. When the command is issued by operating the travel switch, if at least one of a positional deviation between the planned travel line that is selected and the vehicle body and an orientational deviation between the planned travel line and an orientation of the vehicle body is greater than or equal to a corresponding one of respective first thresholds, the autonomous travel controller is configured or programmed to perform line alignment to make the positional deviation and the orientational deviation less than the respective first thresholds.