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EP-4404020-B1 - AUTONOMOUS MINING VEHICLE

EP4404020B1EP 4404020 B1EP4404020 B1EP 4404020B1EP-4404020-B1

Inventors

  • MACHII KIMIYOSHI
  • UOTSU SHINICHI

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20220323

Claims (7)

  1. An autonomous travelling mine vehicle comprising: a vehicle body (102); an own vehicle position measuring sensor (107) that measures a position of the vehicle body (102); a travelling route setting device (203) that sets a scheduled route (1101) of the vehicle body (102); and a vehicle controller (202) that controls an advancing direction and a velocity of the vehicle body (102) according to the position of the vehicle body (102) measured by the own vehicle position measuring sensor (107) and the scheduled route (1101), wherein a surrounding monitoring sensor (108) that measures a three-dimensional point cloud of a terrain profile around the vehicle body (102) is provided, and the travelling route setting device (203) is configured to calculate an undetected area (602) representing a terrain profile part that the surrounding monitoring sensor (108) cannot measure, calculate an alternative route (1704) on which the vehicle body (102) can travel without passing through the undetected area (602) on a basis of positional relationship between the undetected area (602) and the vehicle body (102), and update the scheduled route (1101) with the alternative route (1704).
  2. The autonomous travelling mine vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the surrounding monitoring sensor (108) is a ranging sensor that measures a distance to a terrain profile around the vehicle body (102).
  3. The autonomous travelling mine vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the travelling route setting device (203) is configured to store a point cloud map (301) representing a terrain profile around the vehicle body (102), and calculate, as the undetected area (602), an area that is unable to be collated with the point cloud map (301) among the three-dimensional point cloud.
  4. The autonomous travelling mine vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the travelling route setting device (203) is configured to assign the three-dimensional point cloud to each cell of a grid map (601), group adjacent cells to which the three-dimensional point cloud is assigned, and calculate, as the undetected area (602), an area having a line connecting edge points of the groups with each other as a boundary.
  5. The autonomous travelling mine vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the travelling route setting device (203) is configured to calculate disappearance time of the undetected area (602) and passage time of the undetected area (602) in the scheduled route (1101), not to calculate the alternative route (1704) in a case where the passage time is equal to or more than the disappearance time, and to calculate the alternative route (1704) in a case where the passage time is shorter than the disappearance time.
  6. The autonomous travelling mine vehicle according to claim 5, wherein the travelling route setting device (203) is configured to calculate, as an optimum vehicle velocity, a travelling velocity of the vehicle body (102) such that the passage time and the disappearance time are equal to each other, to calculate, as a first travelling time, a travelling time to a predetermined destination in a case where the scheduled route (1101) is travelled on at the optimum vehicle velocity, to calculate, as a second travelling time, a travelling time to the destination in a case where the alternative route (1704) is travelled on, not to update the scheduled route (1101) with the alternative route (1704) in a case where the first travelling time is equal to or less than the second travelling time, and to update the scheduled route (1101) with the alternative route (1704) in a case where the first travelling time is longer than the second travelling time, and the vehicle controller (202) is configured to control a vehicle velocity of the vehicle body (102) to the optimum vehicle velocity in a case where the scheduled route (1101) is not updated with the alternative route (1704) by the travelling route setting device (203).
  7. The autonomous travelling mine vehicle according to claim 6, wherein the vehicle controller (202) is configured to stop the vehicle body (102) in a case where neither the alternative route (1704) nor the optimum vehicle velocity is calculated by the travelling route setting device (203).

Description

Technical Field The present invention relates to an autonomous travelling mine vehicle such as a dump truck. Background Art For example, Patent Document 1 is a prior art document disclosing the background art of the present technical field. Patent Document 1 describes "a mining work vehicle including: a stereo camera device that includes first and second cameras capable of acquiring image information ahead of the travelling direction; a difference-free area identification section that scans, for each noticed pixel, regarding to which position in two-dimensional image information acquired by the second camera corresponds to a local area in two-dimensional image information acquired by the first camera, sets a specified value indicating that there is no corresponding point for the noticed pixel when the corresponding local area is not sensed in image information acquired by the second camera, and identifies an area occupied by the pixel for which the specified value is set as a difference-free area; and an obstacle area identification section that identifies the difference-free area as an obstacle area with a high probability of the presence of an obstacle when the number of pixels of the difference-free area in the image information is larger than a predetermined value". Document JP 2016 024685 A describes an autonomous travelling vehicle. Prior Art Document Patent Document Patent Document 1: Patent No. 6385745 Summary of the Invention Problem to be Solved by the Invention At mine sites, for example, a mine vehicle such as an autonomous travelling dump truck is used to improve productivity. In the autonomous travelling dump truck, operation management is performed using control information, and in order to secure the safety of travelling, autonomous travelling is controlled by constantly grasping the surrounding situation during the travelling of each autonomous travelling dump truck and detecting the presence or absence of obstacles and other vehicles. On the other hand, in off-road environments such as mine sites, dust is frequently generated and obstacles hidden by the dust cannot be detected in some cases. In view of this, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique that uses a stereo camera to define an area where a corresponding point cannot be obtained as a dust area when the number of pixels of the area is larger than a predetermined value, and determines whether or not the dust is caused by vehicle travelling by using the size and positional-relationship of the detected obstacle, thereby enabling avoidance of the vehicle. However, in Patent Document 1, it is only possible to avoid the obstacle and is not assumed to pass through the area where the dust is generated. Thus, work efficiency decreases each time dust is generated. In addition, when using a LiDAR, there is a possibility that point cloud data in a dust generation area cannot be acquired due to a decrease in laser transmittance caused by dust. Also in this case, the mine vehicle stops and decelerates each time to wait for the dust to disappear, and thus the work efficiency decreases. The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide an autonomous travelling mine vehicle that can suppress a decrease in work efficiency when dust is generated at a work site. Means for Solving the Problem In order to achieve the object, the present invention provides an autonomous travelling mine vehicle including: a vehicle body; an own vehicle position measuring sensor that measures a position of the vehicle body; a travelling route setting device that sets a scheduled route of the vehicle body; and a vehicle controller that controls an advancing direction and a velocity of the vehicle body according to the position of the vehicle body measured by the own vehicle position measuring sensor and the scheduled route, in which a surrounding monitoring sensor that measures a three-dimensional point cloud of a terrain profile around the vehicle body is provided, and the travelling route setting device is configured to calculate an undetected area representing a terrain profile part that the surrounding monitoring sensor cannot measure, calculate an alternative route on which the vehicle body can travel without passing through the undetected area on the basis of positional relationship between the undetected area and the vehicle body, and update the scheduled route with the alternative route. According to the present invention configured as described above, since the scheduled route is updated with the alternative route on which the vehicle body can travel without passing through the undetected area on the basis of the positional relationship between the undetected area and the vehicle body, a decrease in work efficiency can be suppressed when dust is generated at a work site. Advantages of the Invention According to the autonomous travelling mine vehicle of the present invention, it is possible to suppress a decrease i