Working robot

• US 4,994,970 A
• Filed: 07/24/1989
• Issued: 02/19/1991
• Est. Priority Date: 08/16/1988
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Imada, Makoto, Kamimura, Kenji, Takeda, Toru, Noji, Akio
• Primary Examiner(s): MacDonald, Allen R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Davis, George
• Application Number:
  US07/383,496
• Time in Patent Office: 575 Days
• Field of Search: 901/1, 901/14, 901/15, 901/47, 364/513, 364/424.02, 56/10.2, 180/167, 180/168, 180/169, 318/568.12
• US Class Current: 701/25
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0244 using reflecting strips
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0255 using acoustic signals, e.g. ultra-sonic singals sonar systems designed for anti-collision purposes G01S15/93
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/027 comprising intertial navigation means, e.g. azimuth detector inertial navigation G01C21/16; inertial navigation combined with non-inertial navigation instruments G01C21/165

Abstract

A moving type working robot comprises a vehicle provided with a means for setting a traveling course between a position of stopping its working operation and an accumulating/replenishing place on the basis of positional information of the position where the working was stopped and the position of the place where the material loaded on the vehicle is to be accumulated/replenished. The positional information is stored in storing means and a control means is provided for traveling the vehicle from said accumulating/replenishing place to said position at which the working had been stopped, or vice versa, along said traveling course when the amount of the material loaded on the vehicle has reached a predetermined value.

Claims

1. A moving type working robot comprising a vehicle that moves within a working region defined by at least three reference points disposed adjacent a periphery of said working region, said vehicle having first detecting means for detecting a position of said vehicle relative to said reference points, said first detecting means including means for detecting an advance direction of said vehicle with respect to said reference points, first control means on said vehicle for controlling a travelling direction of said vehicle on a basis of information from said first detecting means, said vehicle being operative to perform a predetermined working operation as it moves within said working region and being loaded with a material whose amount changes with progress of said predetermined working operation, second detecting means on said vehicle for detecting the amount of said material loaded on said vehicle, said second detecting means being operative to provide an output which indicates that the amount of said material loaded on said vehicle has changed to a predetermined value, means for stopping the working operation of said vehicle in response to said output from said second detecting means during said working operation, memory means for storing the position and the travelling direction of said vehicle with respect to said reference points when said working operation is stopped, means for storing the position of an accumulating/replenishing place where the material loaded on said vehicle is to be accumulated or replenished, means for setting a travelling course extending between the position at which the working operation was stopped and the position of said accumulating/replenishing place, and second control means on said vehicle for travelling said vehicle along said travelling course from said position at which the working operation was stopped to said accumulating/replenishing place where the material loaded on the vehicle is to be accumulated or replenished.

2. A moving type working robot as claimed in claim 1 including third control means on said vehicle for travelling said vehicle along a return path from said accumulating/replenishing place to said position at which the working operation had been stopped in response to an output from said second detecting means indicating that the amount of said material loaded on the vehicle has been restored to an initial predetermined value.

3. A moving type working robot as claimed in claim 2 including means on said vehicle responsive to information provided by said first detecting means and information stored in said memory means for resuming said working operation when said vehicle has reached a position along said return path corresponding to the position at which the working operation was stopped.

4. A moving type working robot as claimed in claim 1 wherein the material loaded on said vehicle increases in amount with progress of said working operation, said means for stopping said working operation being responsive to an output of said second detecting means indicating that the amount of said material loaded on the vehicle exceeds a predetermined value.

5. A moving type working robot as claimed in claim 1 wherein the material loaded on said vehicle decreases in amount with progress of said working operation, said means for stopping said working operation being responsive to an output from said second detecting means indicating that the amount of said material loaded on said vehicle has decreased to at least at a predetermined value.