Agricultural machine

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2021191408-A1
Application number	US-202017115888-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 9, 2020
Priority date	Dec 19, 2019
Publication date	Jun 24, 2021
Grant date	—

Abstract

An agricultural machine includes a swath information acquiring module, a first determining module to determine a traveling path of an automatic operation based on a position of a swath, a setting module to set a work continuation width based on the traveling path, a second determining module to determine, when there is a manual operation by a worker during the automatic operation, whether the agricultural machine during the manual operation is within the work continuation width, and an executing module to execute the automatic operation. The executing module restores the agricultural machine to the traveling path after a termination of the manual operation and continues the automatic operation when the agricultural machine is within the work continuation width, and cancels the automatic operation when the agricultural machine is determined to be not within the work continuation width.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An agricultural machine including an automatic steering function that causes the agricultural machine to automatically travel on a path, the agricultural machine comprising:
a swath information acquiring module configured or programmed to acquire a position of a swath; a first determining module configured or programmed to determine a traveling path of an automatic operation according to the automatic steering function based on the position of the swath; a setting module configured or programmed to set a work continuation width based on the traveling path; a second determining module configured or programmed to determine, when there is a manual operation by a worker during the automatic operation, whether a position of the agricultural machine during the manual operation is within the work continuation width; and an executing module configured or programmed to execute the automatic operation according to the automatic steering function; wherein the executing module is configured or programmed to restore the agricultural machine to the traveling path after a termination of the manual operation and continue the automatic operation according to the automatic steering function, when the second determining module determines that the agricultural machine is within the work continuation width, and cancel the automatic steering function at a time when the second determining module determines that the agricultural machine is not within the work continuation width.

2 . The agricultural machine of claim 1 , wherein the executing module is configured or programmed to restore the agricultural machine to the traveling path via a path determined based on at least any of a current position of the agricultural machine, a traveling direction of the agricultural machine, a distance between the agricultural machine and the traveling path, a resuming distance set in advance, and an angular velocity of a steering wheel during the manual operation.

3 . The agricultural machine of claim 1 , wherein the executing module is configured or programmed to cancel the automatic steering function when an angular velocity of a steering wheel during the manual operation is a predetermined value or more.

4 . The agricultural machine of claim 1 , wherein
the agricultural machine is communicable with a Farm Management Information System in which an external device performs a centralized control of information detected via sensors; and the swath information acquiring module is configured or programmed to acquire, from the Farm Management Information System, the position of the swath based on information on a formation process of a target swath.

5 . The agricultural machine of claim 1 , wherein the first determining module is configured or programmed to determine a subsequent traveling path based on a traveling footprint on which the agricultural machine traveled on the swath by the manual operation in a certain section.

6 . An agricultural machine including an automatic steering function that causes the agricultural machine to automatically travel on a path, the agricultural machine comprising:
a swath information acquiring module configured or programmed to acquire a position of a swath; a first determining module configured or programmed to determine a traveling path of an automatic operation according to the automatic steering function based on the position of the swath; an executing module configured or programmed to cause the agricultural machine to travel on the traveling path by the automatic operation according to the automatic steering function; and a traveling-footprint acquiring module configured or programmed to acquire an actually-traveled footprint in a first section up to a current time; wherein the first determining module is configured or programmed to determine a subsequent traveling path based on the traveling footprint acquired by the traveling-footprint acquiring module for every second section after the automatic operation is started.

7 . The agricultural machine of claim 6 , wherein
the first determining module is configured or programmed to determine the traveling path by machine learning using a deep learning model; and the deep learning model outputs the traveling footprint by using the traveling footprint and a peripheral environment state in the first section as inputs.

8 . The agricultural machine of claim 6 , wherein the first determining module is configured or programmed to approximate the traveling footprint by a sine wave and determine the approximated sine-wave path as the traveling path.

9 . The agricultural machine of claim 6 , further comprising:
a setting module configured or programmed to set a work continuation width based on the traveling path; and a second determining module configured or programmed to determine, when there is a manual operation by a worker during the automatic operation, whether a position of the agricultural machine during the manual operation is within the work continuation width; wherein the executing module is configured or programmed to restore the agricultural machine to the traveling path after a termination of the manual operation and continues the automatic operation according to the automatic steering function, when the second determining module determines that the agricultural machine is within the work continuation width, and cancel the automatic steering function at a time when the second determining module determines that the agricultural machine is not within the work continuation width.

10 . The agricultural machine of claim 6 , wherein the first determining module is configured or programmed to determine the traveling path based on information used to determine the traveling path before a startup of the agricultural machine, after the startup of the agricultural machine.

11 . A work vehicle including an automatic steering function that causes the work vehicle to automatically travel on a path, the work vehicle comprising:
a setting module configured or programmed to enable and disable of the automatic steering function; an executing module configured or programmed to execute the automatic steering function when the setting module enables the automatic steering function; a determining module configured or programmed to determine whether a steering operation of the work vehicle is performed by a worker; and an interruption button configured or programmed to interrupt the automatic steering function; wherein the executing module is configured or programmed to cancel the automatic steering function, when the determining module determines that the steering operation is performed during the execution of the automatic steering function, without the interruption button being actuated; and the executing module is configured or programmed to suspend the automatic steering function, when the determining module determines that the steering operation is performed with the interruption button being actuated, and resume the automatic steering function after the interruption button is no longer actuated.

12 . The work vehicle of claim 11 , wherein
the executing module is configured or programmed to derive an optimal path to restore the work vehicle to the path based on a position of the work vehicle at a timing when resuming the automatic steering function, and the given path; and the executing module is configured or programmed to then cause the work vehicle to travel on the optimal path and to return to the path.

13 . The work vehicle of claim 11 , wherein the interruption button is provided at a steering wheel.

14 . The work vehicle of

Assignees

• Kubota Kk

Inventors

• Hayashida Shogo
• Umemoto Susumu
• Ishikawa shinnosuke
• Yuasa Junichi

Classifications

• G05D1/81

  Handing over between on-board automatic and on-board manual control · CPC title

• G05D1/648

  Performing a task within a working area or space, e.g. cleaning · CPC title

• A01B69/008 Primary

  automatic · CPC title

• A01B69/001

  Steering by means of optical assistance, e.g. television cameras (steering devices for road marking vehicles E01C23/163) · CPC title

• G05D1/0219 Primary

  ensuring the processing of the whole working surface · CPC title