Human-Powered Vehicle Control Using Real-Time Road Object Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing human-powered vehicles lack the ability to flexibly adapt their control systems to changing driving environments, such as road conditions and obstacles, which can impact safety and efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A control device for human-powered vehicles equipped with an electronic controller that analyzes real-time images from a camera to obtain road object information and control electric components like braking, gear shifting, and rider posture adjustment based on detected environmental conditions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If real-time image analysis is implemented to detect road objects, then safety and adaptability are improved, but device complexity and energy consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The electronic controller serves multiple functions: it controls electric components (brakes, gears, posture adjustment) and simultaneously performs image analysis by integrating the camera functionality. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate dedicated processing units, thereby improving safety through comprehensive monitoring while limiting the increase in device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses the vehicle's existing electronic controller to process camera images and control electric components, rather than adding separate dedicated hardware for each function. The controller serves itself by handling both control and detection tasks, which improves reliability while minimizing additional complexity.
2Reliability
If real-time image analysis is implemented to detect road objects, then safety and adaptability are improved, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The electronic controller that already consumes energy for controlling electric components is utilized to perform image analysis as well. By making the controller serve dual purposes, the patent avoids adding separate power-intensive processing units, thereby improving safety while limiting the increase in overall energy consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The electronic controller is designed to perform multiple functions including controlling brakes, gears, posture adjustment, and analyzing camera images. This multi-functionality allows the system to improve safety through real-time monitoring without proportionally increasing energy consumption, as the same processor handles multiple tasks.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple electric components are controlled based on driving-environment information, then adaptability and ease of operation are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The electronic controller is designed to control multiple electric components (brakes, gear-shifting device, rider-posture adjusting device) from a single unit. This centralized control approach improves adaptability by allowing coordinated adjustment of multiple systems based on driving conditions, while avoiding the complexity of multiple independent control systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines the control of brakes, gear-shifting, and rider-posture adjustment into a single electronic controller that receives driving-environment information and coordinates all electric components. This merging of control functions improves adaptability while managing device complexity through integration rather than multiplication of control units.
Data Source
AI summary
A control device for a human-powered vehicle includes an electronic controller and a detector. The electronic controller is configured to obtain driving-environment information relating to driving environment of the human-powered vehicle. The driving-environment information includes road object information relating to road objects. The electronic controller is configured to control an electric component based on the driving-environment information. The electronic controller is configured to obtain the driving-environment information based on a detection result of the detector. The detector includes a camera configured to capture a real-time image of at least one of a forward view, a rearward view, a right view, and a left view of the human-powered vehicle. The electronic controller is configured to receive the real-time image from the camera. The electronic controller is configured to analyze the real-time image to obtain the road object information relating to the road objects around the human-powered vehicle.