US 10,308,348 B2 · Unmanned moving vehicle piloting method and unmanned moving vehicle watching device

Abstract

An unmanned moving vehicle piloting method and an unmanned moving vehicle watching device enabling it to pilot an unmanned moving vehicle, while keeping in visual contact with the vehicle from the vicinity of the vehicle from a third person viewpoint. In the vicinity of an unmanned moving vehicle, a watching aircraft is positioned, which is an unmanned aerial vehicle and includes a single or a plurality of rotors and image capturing means capable of capturing an image of surroundings of the watching aircraft and is able to stand still at one point in the air and piloting the unmanned moving vehicle, while viewing a third person viewpoint image captured by the watching aircraft. Moreover, the watching aircraft includes accompanying flight means for causing the watching aircraft to fly automatically, following movement of an unmanned moving vehicle. This enables the manipulator to concentrate solely on piloting the unmanned moving vehicle.

Claims11

Dependent claims

An unmanned moving vehicle piloting method using the following:

a watching aircraft, which is an unmanned aerial vehicle, the watching aircraft including a single or a plurality of rotors and image capturing means capable of capturing an image of surroundings of the watching aircraft, and is able to stand still at one point in the air;
a maneuvering terminal capable of remotely manipulating an unmanned moving vehicle by wireless communication;
and
a display device which is wirelessly connected with the watching aircraft and capable of displaying an image captured by the image capturing means,
the unmanned moving vehicle piloting method comprising:
a step of making the watching aircraft hover in the vicinity of the unmanned moving vehicle;
a step of displaying an image of the unmanned moving vehicle captured by the image capturing means on the display device;
and
a step of enabling an operator to operate the maneuvering terminal to manipulate the unmanned moving vehicle while the operator is observing the image of the unmanned moving vehicle that is captured by the watching aircraft on the display device.

6 more elements

An unmanned moving vehicle watching device comprising:

a watching aircraft, which is an unmanned aerial vehicle, the watching aircraft including a plurality of rotors, a control unit which controls flight by the plurality of rotors, and image capturing means capable of capturing images of an unmanned moving vehicle;
and
a maneuvering terminal capable of remotely manipulating the unmanned moving vehicle by wireless communication;
and
a display device capable of displaying the images of the unmanned moving vehicle, which the watching aircraft captures by the image capturing means,
wherein the control unit includes accompanying flight means for causing the watching aircraft to fly automatically, following movement of an unmanned moving vehicle which is an object for image capturing, and is configured to enable an operator to operate the maneuvering terminal to manipulate the unmanned moving vehicle while the operator is observing the image of the unmanned moving vehicle that is captured by the watching aircraft on the display device.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Unmanned moving vehicle piloting method and unmanned moving vehicle watching device

Life of this patent

Unmanned moving vehicle piloting method and unmanned moving vehicle watching device

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims11