Back to results
US 12,564,136 B2Granted
Mower, mowing system, and drive control method
AssigneeToyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsShinsuke Sato, Takehito Sakakibara
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A mower includes: driving devices respectively provided on a right side and a left side of the mower and configured to be driven independently; and one or more processors configured to: estimate a gradient of a slope on a travel path; and drive the driving devices with different driving forces on the right side and the left side based on the estimated gradient such that the mower does not slip down the slope when the mower travels in a direction crossing the slope.
Claims9
A mower comprising:
- driving devices respectively provided on a right side and a left side of the mower and configured to be driven independently;
- a triaxial acceleration sensor;
- and
- one or more processors configured to:
- estimate a gradient of a slope on a travel path;
- drive the driving devices with different driving forces on the right side and the left side based on the estimated gradient such that the mower does not slip down the slope when the mower travels in a direction crossing the slope;
- perform first estimation for estimating the gradient based on acceleration information acquired by the triaxial acceleration sensor;
- perform second estimation for estimating a gradient of a unit area in a captured image including the travel path acquired in advance based on height information of the travel path that is based on point cloud data in the captured image;
- and
- switch the gradient estimated by the first estimation and the gradient estimated by the second estimation for use based on a predetermined condition when an angle difference between a roll angle R and an estimated inclination angle θ is equal to or larger than a predetermined degree,
- wherein the inclination angle θ=tan−1((|z2−z1|)/M)×180/π.
8 more elements
A mowing system comprising:
- an external device configured to:
- estimate a gradient of a slope on a travel path;
- and
- output information on the estimated gradient;
- and
- a mower provided separately from the external device, wherein the mower includes:
- driving devices respectively provided on a right side and a left side of the mower and configured to be driven independently;
- a triaxial acceleration sensor;
- and
- one or more processors configured to:
- receive the output information;
- and
- drive the driving devices with different driving forces on the right side and the left side based on the received information such that the mower does not slip down the slope when the mower travels in a direction crossing the slope;
- perform first estimation for estimating the gradient based on acceleration information acquired by the triaxial acceleration sensor;
- perform second estimation for estimating a gradient of a unit area in a captured image including the travel path acquired in advance based on height information of the travel path that is based on point cloud data in the captured image;
- and
- switch the gradient estimated by the first estimation and the gradient estimated by the second estimation for use based on a predetermined condition when an angle difference between a roll angle R and an estimated inclination angle θ is equal to or larger than a predetermined degree,
- wherein the inclination angle θ=tan−1((|z2−z1|)/M)×180/π.
15 more elements
A drive control method for a mower, the mower including driving devices respectively provided on a right side and a left side of the mower and configured to be driven independently, the drive control method comprising:
- estimating a gradient of a slope on a travel path based on acceleration information obtained by a triaxial acceleration sensor on the travel path or height information of the travel path that is based on point cloud data in a captured image acquired in advance for the travel path;
- driving the driving devices with different driving forces on the right side and the left side based on the estimated gradient such that the mower does not slip down the slope when the mower travels in a direction crossing the slope,
- performing first estimation for estimating the gradient based on acceleration information acquired by the triaxial acceleration sensor;
- performing second estimation for estimating a gradient of a unit area in a captured image including the travel path acquired in advance based on height information of the travel path that is based on point cloud data in the captured image;
- and
- switching the gradient estimated by the first estimation and the gradient estimated by the second estimation for use based on a predetermined condition when an angle difference between a roll angle R and an estimated inclination angle θ is equal to or larger than a predetermined degree,
- wherein the inclination angle θ=tan−1((|z2−z1)/M)×180/π.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.