Process for navigating an unmanned vehicle and a vehicle for the same
First Claim
1. An unmanned vehicle, comprising:
- a control unit which controls a steer angle and revolutions of at least one wheel of the vehicle, and in which a freely determinable path to be travelled by the vehicle as well as positions of objects in a vicinity of the area of the path are stored in memory;
a first sensor unit coupled to the control unit, said first sensor unit sensing a path covered by the vehicle and the direction of the covered path, the output signal of the first sensor unit being fed to the control unit;
a second sensor unit coupled to the control unit, the second sensor being used as a data correction gathering mechanism, the output signals of the second sensor unit being fed to the control unit, the second sensor unit having at least three sensors which measure distances between the vehicle and objects in the area of the path, one of said sensors measuring a corresponding first distance in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the vehicle, and the other two of said sensors measuring second and third distances to objects in the vicinity of the area of the path in the direction of the transverse axis of the vehicle, whereby the second and third distances which are offset in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the vehicle are measured to one object in the vicinity of the path;
wherein the control unit compares at least the second and third distances measured by the second sensor unit with expected distances to the stored position of the objects in the vicinity of an expected position and a desired alignment of the vehicle based on the output signals of the first sensor unit and corrects the actual position and the actual alignment of the vehicle at at least one of predeterminable time intervals and at certain points of the path based on the comparison.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed is a process for navigating an unmanned vehicle over a predeterable course, respectively such a vehicle. A steering and control unit determines by a first sensor at least the stretch covered and detects by at least one second sensor objects in the vicinage the position of which is stored in the steering and control unit and which serve the purpose of checking the position of the vehicle computed on the basis of the covered stretch. In accordance with the present invention the distance of the vehicle from the objects in the vicinage stored with their exact position in relation to the planned path in the steering and control unit is ascertained by the second sensor at points on the path spaced at intervals. The ascertained distance is compared with the stored distance of the planned coordinates of the point on the path from the object in vicinage.
145 Citations
32 Claims
-
1. An unmanned vehicle, comprising:
-
a control unit which controls a steer angle and revolutions of at least one wheel of the vehicle, and in which a freely determinable path to be travelled by the vehicle as well as positions of objects in a vicinity of the area of the path are stored in memory; a first sensor unit coupled to the control unit, said first sensor unit sensing a path covered by the vehicle and the direction of the covered path, the output signal of the first sensor unit being fed to the control unit; a second sensor unit coupled to the control unit, the second sensor being used as a data correction gathering mechanism, the output signals of the second sensor unit being fed to the control unit, the second sensor unit having at least three sensors which measure distances between the vehicle and objects in the area of the path, one of said sensors measuring a corresponding first distance in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the vehicle, and the other two of said sensors measuring second and third distances to objects in the vicinity of the area of the path in the direction of the transverse axis of the vehicle, whereby the second and third distances which are offset in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the vehicle are measured to one object in the vicinity of the path; wherein the control unit compares at least the second and third distances measured by the second sensor unit with expected distances to the stored position of the objects in the vicinity of an expected position and a desired alignment of the vehicle based on the output signals of the first sensor unit and corrects the actual position and the actual alignment of the vehicle at at least one of predeterminable time intervals and at certain points of the path based on the comparison. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
-
Specification