Detailed Description
The present invention will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, which are provided for illustration and description purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention.
Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of an automatic working equipment system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The automatic working equipment system is arranged on the ground or other surface, in this embodiment the ground area is divided into a working area 5 and a non-working area, the boundary line between the working area 5 and the non-working area forming a boundary line 9. The working area 5 is the working range of the automatic working device 1, and the boundary line 9 may be defined by an electric wire, an obstacle, or a virtual line. The automatic working apparatus system includes an automatic working apparatus 1 and a base station 3. The automatic working device 1 may be an automatic mower, an automatic vacuum cleaner, an automatic lawnmower, or the like. In the present embodiment, the automatic working apparatus 1 is an automatic lawnmower, and the base station 3 is disposed on the peripheral boundary line 9 of the working area.
Referring to fig. 2 and 4, the automatic working apparatus 1 has a housing 11, and an image pickup device 15 and a light source device 17 mounted on the housing 11, the image pickup device 15 picks up an image of an area in front of the automatic working apparatus 1, and the light source device 17 illuminates an image pickup range of the image pickup device 15.
The automatic working device 1 further comprises a walking module 23, a working module 19, an energy module 21 and a main control module 30. The main control module 30 is connected with the walking module 23, the energy module 21, the working module 19, the light source device 17 and the image acquisition device 15, and controls the automatic working equipment to work.
The main control module 30 can automatically turn on or/and turn off the light source device 17 according to the ambient illumination condition of the automatic working device 1. The main control module 30 includes a storage unit 301, a calculation unit 302, and a control unit 303.
The storage section 301 stores data required in the calculation and control process. The data included in the storage unit 301 include: a preset first illuminance threshold VOAnd a second illuminance threshold VCN initial ambient illuminance values v sampled over a period of time ti(i =1,2, … n). First illuminance threshold VOAnd a second illuminance threshold VCIs set according to the illumination requirement of the image acquisition device 15 in normal operation, and the first illumination threshold value VOLess than a second illumination threshold VC. The image capturing devices 15 of different types or different accuracies have different illumination requirements during normal operation, and thus the corresponding first illumination threshold V is differentOAnd a second illuminance threshold VCThe specific values of (A) may also vary. For example, when image capture device 15 selects Sony HDR-PJ790E, first luminance threshold VOSet to 6lux or 8lux, second illumination threshold VCSet to 12lux or 15 lux; when the image acquisition device 15 adopts the Sony SNC-CH140, the first illumination threshold VOSet to 0.3lux or 0.5lux, second illumination threshold VCSet to 2lux or 5 lux.
The calculation unit 302 calculates the initial ambient illuminance value v from the storage unit 301iThe illuminance value V of the environment in which the automatic working apparatus 1 is located is calculated by a specific calculation method. Preferably, the specific method employs an integral average method: by counting n initial ambient illuminance values v of the samplei(i =1,2, … n) to obtain an ambient illuminance value of t time periodOther types of calculation methods may be used for certain methods, e.g. interpolation to obtain vn-1/2And vn+1/2And then obtaining an ambient illuminance value by an averaging methodThe specific time t and the number n are set according to the line of the image capturing device 15, for example, the specific time is 1 second, and the number of capturing the initial ambient illuminance values is 25 or 50.
Control unit 303 compares first illuminance threshold VOAnd a second illuminance threshold VCAnd the size of the environmental illumination value V controls the on/off of the light source device 17. When the ambient illuminance value V is less than the first illuminance threshold value VOThen, the control unit 303 controls the light source device 17 to be turned on; when the ambient illuminance value V is greater than the second illuminance threshold value VCAt this time, the control unit 303 controls the light source device 17 to be turned off. The control unit 303 also controls the walking module 13, the image capturing device 15, the operation module 19, and the energy module 21.
The work module 19 is used to perform predetermined work. In this embodiment, the working module 19 is embodied as a cutting module, comprising a cutting member (not shown) for cutting grass and a cutting motor (not shown) for driving the cutting member.
The energy module 21 is used to supply energy for the operation of the automatic working device 1. The energy module 21 may be gasoline, a battery pack, or the like. The energy module 21 in this embodiment comprises a rechargeable battery pack disposed within the housing 11. At the time of operation, the battery pack releases electric power to maintain the operation of the automatic operation device 1. When the battery pack is not in operation, the battery pack can be connected with an external power supply to supplement electric energy. In particular, for a more intelligent design, the autonomous working device 1 can find itself the base station 3 to supplement the energy when detecting the lack of charge of the battery pack.
The traveling module 23 includes a wheel set 13 and a traveling motor (not shown in the drawings) that drives the wheel set 13. There are many ways of setting the wheel set 13. Typically the wheel set 13 comprises drive wheels driven by a walking motor, which may number 1,2 or more, and auxiliary wheels 133 assisting the support housing 11. Here, the normal traveling direction of the automatic working apparatus 1 is defined as the front of the automatic working apparatus 1, and the side opposite to the front is the rear of the automatic working apparatus 1, and the automatic working apparatus 1 further includes left and right sides between the front and rear based on the defined front and rear directions of the automatic working apparatus 1. As shown in fig. 3, in the present embodiment, the automatic working apparatus 1 has 2 driving wheels, a left wheel 131 on the left side and a right wheel 132 on the right side, respectively. The left wheel 131 and the right wheel 132 are symmetrically disposed about the central axis of the automatic walking device 1. The left and right wheels 131, 132 are preferably located at the rear of the housing 11 and the auxiliary wheels 133 at the front, although in other embodiments the positions may be replaced or the number of wheels may be changed to reposition them.
In the present embodiment, each of the left and right wheels 131 and 132 is coupled with a driving motor to realize a differential output for controlling steering. The driving motor can be directly connected with the driving wheel, and a transmission device such as a common planetary gear train in the technical field can also be arranged between the driving motor and the driving wheel. In other embodiments, there may be 2 drive wheels and 1 drive motor, in which case the drive motor drives the left wheel 131 via the first transmission and the right wheel 132 via the second transmission. I.e. the same motor drives the left wheel 131 and the right wheel 132 through different transmissions.
As shown in fig. 3 and 4, the image capturing device 15 is mounted on the front upper portion of the housing 11, preferably centrally located, to capture images of the area in front of the housing 11. In the present embodiment, the capturing range of the image capturing device 15 is a fixed area, such as a fixed viewing angle range of 90 degrees to 120 degrees. In other optional embodiments, the viewing range may also be movable, and a certain angle range within the viewing angle range may be selected as the actual viewing range, for example, a 90-degree range located in the middle of the 120-degree viewing angle range may be selected as the actual viewing range.
The collection range of the image collection device 15 includes a rectangular DCIJ region in fig. 3, and the DCIJ region is located on the ground right in front of the automatic walking device 1 and is separated from the automatic walking device 1 by a short distance to form a blind area d. The central axis of the DCIJ region coincides with the central axis of the housing 11 of the automatic traveling apparatus 1, and the width of the DCIJ region is slightly larger than the width of the automatic traveling apparatus 1.
As shown in fig. 3 and 4, the light source device 17 is mounted above the front of the image pickup device 15, preferably centrally disposed, illuminating the image pickup range of the image pickup device 15. In the present embodiment, the front end of the light source device 17 is flush with the front end of the image capturing device 15, the central axis of the light source device 17 and the central axis of the image capturing device 15 are parallel to each other, and the irradiation range of the light source device 17 covers the capturing range of the image capturing device 15. As shown in fig. 3, the illumination range of the light source device 17 includes a rectangular EMNF region, the EMNF region covers the acquisition range DCIJ region of the image acquisition device 15, and the length and width of the EMNF region are greater than or equal to those of the DCIJ region.
As shown in fig. 5, in the second embodiment, the light source device 17 is mounted above the front of the image pickup device 15, preferably centrally disposed, illuminating the image pickup range of the image pickup device 15. In the present embodiment, the front end of the light source device 17 is advanced from the front end of the image capturing device 15, the central axis of the light source device 17 is parallel to the central axis of the image capturing device 15, and the irradiation range of the light source device 17 covers the capturing range of the image capturing device 15.
As shown in fig. 6, in the third embodiment, two light source devices 17 are provided, and are mounted on the front portion of the housing 11 at upper positions, and are symmetrically mounted on the left and right sides of the image capturing device 15, respectively, to irradiate the image capturing range of the image capturing device 15. In the present embodiment, the front ends of the left light source device 171 and the right light source device 172 are aligned with or advanced (not shown in the figure) from the front end of the image capturing device 15, the central axes of the left light source device 171 and the right light source device 172 are parallel to the central axis of the image capturing device 15, and the irradiation range in which the left light source device 171 and the right light source device 172 are overlapped covers the capturing range of the image capturing device 15.
In the above embodiment, the relative installation positions of the light source device 17 and the image capturing device 15 are preferable, and a plurality of light source devices 17 may be arranged around the image capturing device 15 as long as the capturing range of the image capturing device 15 can be illuminated. In the above embodiments, it is preferable that the irradiation range covers the acquisition range, and of course, in other practical embodiments, the irradiation range may be slightly smaller than the acquisition range.
In the above embodiment, in order not to interfere with the color of the image captured by the image capturing device 15, the light source device 17 is preferably a white light type light source device having a color temperature range of 3000K to 6000K. Of course, other light source arrangements that do not interfere with the image color are also useful.
In the above embodiment, when the image capturing device 15 is provided with an element that can sense infrared light, the light source device 17 may be replaced with an infrared light emitting device that generates infrared light. The infrared light emitting device can be an LED infrared lamp, a micro-array LED infrared lamp, a halogen filtering type infrared lamp, a laser infrared lamp and the like.
In the above embodiment, the power supply of the light source device 17 is provided by the energy module 21, and there is no need to separately provide a power supply to provide the energy source of the light source device 17.
Referring to fig. 7, the present invention further provides a method for automatically controlling the turning on and off of the light source device 17. The invention discloses a method for automatically controlling the opening and closing of a light source device, which comprises the following steps:
step S101: the initial ambient illuminance value v in the region of the acquisition range DCIJ of the image acquisition device 15 is acquired by the image acquisition device 15 or an illuminance sensor (not shown in the figure).
Step S102: the main control module 30 obtains an ambient illuminance value V by a specific calculation method, where the ambient illuminance value V is used for calculating a first illuminance threshold VOOr/and a second illumination threshold VCAnd (6) comparing. In the present invention, integration is preferably employedAverage method: within a specific time t, specific n initial ambient illuminance values v are obtained by step S101i(i =1,2 …, n), ambient illuminance valueOther types of calculation methods may be used for certain methods, e.g. interpolation to obtain vn-1/2And vn+1/2And then obtaining an ambient illuminance value by an averaging methodThe specific time t and the number n are set by the image acquisition device, for example, the specific time t is 1s, and the number n of the acquired initial environment illumination values is 25 or 50.
First illuminance threshold VOAnd a second illuminance threshold VCThe setting of (1) is set according to the requirement of normal operation of the image acquisition device on illumination intensity, and the first illumination intensity threshold value V of the image acquisition devices of different types or different precisions on the light source deviceOAnd a second illuminance threshold VCWith some difference, the first illumination threshold VOLess than a second illumination threshold VC. For example, when image capture device 15 selects Sony HDR-PJ790E, first luminance threshold VOSet to 6lux or 8lux, second illumination threshold VCSet to 12lux or 15 lux; when the image acquisition device 15 adopts the Sony SNC-CH140, the first illumination threshold VOSet to 0.3lux or 0.5lux, second illumination threshold VCSet to 2lux or 5 lux.
Step S103: the main control module 30 compares the ambient illuminance value V with the first illuminance threshold value VOThe size of (2). The ambient average illuminance value V is less than or equal to a first illuminance threshold value VOThe light source device 17 needs to be activated to indicate that the current ambient light does not meet the illumination required by the image capturing device 15 to work normally. When V is<VOIf yes, the process goes to step S104; when V is more than or equal to VOThen, the process proceeds to step S105.
Step S104: the main control module 30 controls the light source device 17 to be automatically turned on to provide light for the image acquisition device 15. After the opening is completed, the process again proceeds to step S103.
Step S105: the main control module 30 compares the ambient illuminance value V with the second illuminance threshold value VCThe size of (2). The environment average illuminance value V is greater than the second illuminance threshold value VCThe current ambient light can sufficiently satisfy the illumination required by the image capturing device 15 to operate normally, and the light source device 17 needs to be turned off to save energy. When V is>VCIf yes, the process goes to step S106; when V is less than or equal to VCThen, the process proceeds to step S103.
Step S106: the main control module 30 controls the light source device 17 to be automatically turned off. After the shutdown is completed, the process again proceeds to step S103.
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the specific steps of the method for automatically controlling the turning on and off of the light source device in the present invention may have other variations, and the specific structure of the automatic working apparatus 1 may have many variations, but the main technical features of the technical solution adopted by the method are the same as or similar to those of the present invention, and all of the technical features are within the scope of the present invention.