Movable Body Obstacle Detection Speed Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing movable bodies, such as electric wheelchairs, face challenges in preventing collisions when obstacles like pedestrians move out of the detection area or approach from a blind angle, as the maximum speed restriction is lifted, leading to potential collisions.
Innovation Solution
A movable body equipped with a detecting device that uses a 3D measurement area sensor to detect obstacles in both a primary and secondary detection area, restricting the driving amount to prevent collisions even when obstacles move relative to the detection area, and maintaining this restriction for a predetermined time after the obstacle has moved out of the primary area.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If the maximum speed restriction is released when the obstacle moves out of the detecting area, then the traveling speed of the movable body can be increased, but the safety against moving obstacles is deteriorated
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by maintaining the speed restriction for a predetermined time period even after the obstacle has moved out of the detecting area. This anticipates the possibility that the obstacle may re-enter the detection area or that the detection system may temporarily lose track of the obstacle, ensuring continuous safety protection while allowing speed recovery after the safety period expires.
Solution Approach 2:
The speed restriction control is made dynamic by adjusting it based on the real-time position of the obstacle relative to the detecting area. When the obstacle is detected, speed restriction is applied; when the obstacle moves out, the restriction is maintained for a predetermined time then released. This dynamic adjustment resolves the contradiction between maintaining safety and enabling speed increase.
2Difficulty of detecting and measuring
If the detecting area is expanded to cover blind angles, then the detection capability is improved, but the device complexity is increased
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of expanding the detecting area in the horizontal plane to cover blind angles, the invention extends the detection coverage in the time dimension by maintaining speed restriction for a predetermined period after obstacle detection. This temporal extension effectively compensates for spatial detection gaps without requiring additional sensors or expanding the physical detecting area.
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3
Figure 4A~4B
AI summary
The movable body, equipped with a detecting device which detects an obstacle, is provided which can safely and securely travel, even in the case where an obstacle detected in a detectable area by the detecting device, moved out of the area and approaches the movable body. An electric wheel chair which is an example of the movable body, includes an obstacle existence detecting portion which detects whether any obstacle exists or not in a first area extending along in a traveling direction of the predicted course of the electric wheel chair predicted based on the input information from the operating device and a second area which is a surrounding area of the electric wheel chair located within a predetermined distance therefrom and a driving amount restricting portion which restricts the driving amount of the driving device to a restricting driving amount when an obstacle is detected in either one of the first and the second areas by the obstacle existence detecting portion.