阅读说明：本技术 自行走割草机 (Self-walking mower ) 是由 梅庆枭 陈伟鹏 杨德中 于 2020-08-27 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明提供一种自行走割草机,包括：主体,包括壳体,壳体具有前端和后端；切割刀片,设置连接于主体并用于切割植被；驱动轮,连接于主体,能至少驱动主体向前方运动；驱动马达,带动驱动轮转动；控制单元,连接并控制驱动马达；自行走割草机还包括位置检测模块,位置检测模块至少包括图像传感器,图像传感器具有图像传感区,图像传感区被设置在壳体后端,图像传感器以时间顺序获取图像传感区的第一位置图像信息和第二位置图像信息,其中,第一位置图像信息和第二位置图像信息具有至少一个共同特征域,控制单元根据至少一个共同特征域在时间上的运动轨迹分析获得自行走割草机的相对位移。本发明提供的自行走割草机定位精度高。(The present invention provides a self-propelled mower, comprising: a body comprising a housing having a front end and a rear end; a cutting blade configured to be attached to the body and to cut vegetation; a driving wheel connected to the main body and capable of driving the main body to move forwards at least; the driving motor drives the driving wheel to rotate; a control unit connected to and controlling the driving motor; the self-walking mower further comprises a position detection module, the position detection module at least comprises an image sensor, the image sensor is provided with an image sensing area, the image sensing area is arranged at the rear end of the shell, the image sensor acquires first position image information and second position image information of the image sensing area in time sequence, the first position image information and the second position image information have at least one common characteristic domain, and the control unit obtains the relative displacement of the self-walking mower according to the analysis of the movement track of the at least one common characteristic domain in time. The self-walking mower provided by the invention is high in positioning precision.)

1. A self-propelled lawn mower comprising:

a body comprising a housing having a front end and a rear end;

a cutting blade configured to be attached to the body and to cut vegetation;

the driving wheel is connected with the main body and can drive the main body to move forwards at least;

the driving motor drives the driving wheel to rotate;

a control unit connected to and controlling the driving motor;

the method is characterized in that: the self-propelled mowing machine further comprises a position detection module including at least an image sensor having an image sensing area provided at the rear end of the housing, the image sensor acquiring first position image information and second position image information of the image sensing area in time series, wherein the first position image information and the second position image information have at least one common feature field,

the control unit obtains the relative displacement of the self-walking mower at least according to the motion trail analysis of at least one common characteristic field in the first position image information and the second position image information of the image sensor in time.

2. A self-propelled mowing machine according to claim 1, wherein the common domain of features comprises one or more feature points.

3. A self-propelled mowing machine according to claim 1, wherein the image sensor is disposed behind the driving wheel.

4. A self-propelled mowing machine according to claim 3, wherein a distance between the image sensor and one of the driving wheels is 1.5cm or more and 3.5cm or less.

5. A self-propelled mowing machine according to claim 1, wherein: the image sensor includes a lens and a package for mounting the lens, the lens being disposed downward such that ground or vegetation can enter the image-sensing area.

6. A self-propelled mowing machine according to claim 5, wherein: the self-walking mower further comprises a grass pressing piece, when the self-walking mower runs, the grass pressing piece forms a rolling surface on vegetation, and at least part of the rolling surface is located in the image sensing area.

7. A self-propelled mowing machine according to claim 6, wherein: the grass pressing member is provided to the driving wheel.

8. A self-propelled mowing machine according to claim 6, wherein: the grass pressing piece is arranged and connected to the rear end of the shell, and the image sensor is arranged at the rear end of the shell.

9. A self-propelled mowing machine according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein:

the control unit obtains the relative displacement or position information of the self-walking mower on the x axis and/or the y axis according to the motion track analysis of at least one common characteristic field in the first position image information and the second position image information of the image sensor in time.

10. A self-propelled mowing machine according to claim 9, wherein: the position detection module comprises a height sensor for detecting the distance of the self-propelled mowing machine relative to the object corresponding to the common characteristic field on the z-axis;

the position detection module further comprises an inertial sensor for detecting the angle of the body relative to the plane of the x-axis and the y-axis;

the control unit is arranged to obtain the relative displacement or position information of the self-walking mower on the x axis and/or the y axis according to the distance of the self-walking mower on the z axis relative to the object corresponding to the common characteristic field, the angle of the main body relative to the plane where the x axis and the y axis are located, and the motion track analysis of at least one common characteristic field in the first position image information and the second position image information of the image sensor on the time.

Technical Field

The invention relates to a garden electric tool, in particular to a self-walking mower.

Background

From walking lawn mower as outdoor mowing instrument, do not need the user to operate for a long time, intelligence is convenient and receives user's favor. The relatively autonomous control mode of the self-propelled mower requires accurate judgment of the position of the self-propelled mower, so that the self-propelled mower can accurately mow in a preset mowing area, and the positioning of the self-propelled mower is particularly important. The existing self-walking lawn mower is usually positioned by GPS or path tracking. The GPS positioning mode has low accuracy, and errors of 1-2 meters often occur, so that the self-walking mower is not favorable for accurate positioning, the self-walking mower exceeds the boundary work or fails to cut, the attractiveness of the lawn is reduced, and the mowing efficiency is reduced. The path tracking and positioning of the self-walking mower refers to acquiring the linear speed and the number of rotating turns of a driving wheel of the self-walking mower, so that the accumulated displacement of the self-walking mower is deduced, the position of the self-walking mower is calculated, the lawn grass surface is slippery, the wheels easily slip, the situation that the driving wheel rotates and the actual self-walking mower does not run can be captured, and the accuracy of position judgment of the self-walking mower is reduced. In the mode of obtaining the lawn image through the image sensor and judging the displacement of the self-walking mower, the change of the vegetation and the terrain can interfere the judgment of the displacement of the self-walking mower by the image sensor, and the self-walking mower cannot be accurately positioned.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to overcome the defects in the prior art, the invention aims to provide the self-walking mower with high positioning precision.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a self-propelled mower comprising: a body comprising a housing having a front end and a rear end; a cutting blade configured to be attached to the body and to cut vegetation; a driving wheel connected to the main body and capable of driving the main body to move forwards at least; the driving motor drives the driving wheel to rotate; a control unit connected to and controlling the driving motor; the self-walking mower further comprises a position detection module, the position detection module at least comprises an image sensor, the image sensor is provided with an image sensing area, the image sensing area is arranged at the rear end of the shell, the image sensor acquires first position image information and second position image information of the image sensing area in time sequence, the first position image information and the second position image information have at least one common characteristic domain, and the control unit obtains the relative displacement of the self-walking mower at least according to the motion track of the at least one common characteristic domain in time. Optionally, the common feature domain includes one or more feature points.

Optionally, the image sensor is arranged behind the drive wheel.

Optionally, a distance between the image sensor and one of the driving wheels is greater than or equal to 1.5cm and less than or equal to 3.5 cm.

Optionally: the image sensor includes a lens and a package for mounting the lens, the lens being disposed downward such that ground or vegetation can enter the image sensing area.

Optionally: the self-propelled mower further comprises a grass pressing member, and when the self-propelled mower runs, the grass pressing member forms a rolling surface on the vegetation, and at least part of the rolling surface is located in the image sensing area.

Optionally: the grass pressing member is provided to the driving wheel.

Optionally: the grass pressing piece is arranged and connected to the rear end of the shell, and the image sensor is arranged at the rear end of the shell.

Optionally: the control unit obtains the relative displacement or position information of the self-walking mower on the x axis and/or the y axis according to the motion track analysis of at least one common characteristic field in the first position image information and the second position image information of the image sensor in time.

Optionally: the position detection module comprises a height sensor and is used for detecting the distance of the self-walking mower on the z axis relative to the object corresponding to the common characteristic field; the position detection module also comprises an inertial sensor for detecting the angle of the main body relative to the plane of the x axis and the y axis; the control unit is arranged to obtain the relative displacement or position information of the self-walking mower on the x axis and/or the y axis according to the distance of the self-walking mower on the z axis relative to the corresponding object of the common characteristic field, the angle of the main body relative to the plane where the x axis and the y axis are located, and the motion track analysis of at least one common characteristic field in the first position image information and the second position image information of the image sensor on the time.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a self-propelled lawnmower.

Fig. 2 is an operational schematic diagram of an image sensor of the self-propelled mowing machine of fig. 1.

Fig. 3a is a schematic view of a frame of a self-propelled lawn mower.

FIG. 3b is a frame schematic of an implement assembly of the self-propelled lawn mower.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of an embodiment of a self-propelled lawn mower.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of another embodiment self-propelled lawn mower.

Fig. 6 is a plan view of another embodiment self-propelled lawn mower.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of a self-propelled lawn mower with a light source filter assembly.

Fig. 8 is a plan view of another embodiment self-propelled mowing machine.

Fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of an image sensor.

FIG. 10a is a schematic diagram of the image sensor of FIG. 9 detecting relative displacement in the x-axis from the walk-behind mower.

FIG. 10b is a schematic view of the image sensor of FIG. 9 detecting relative displacement in the y-axis from the walk-behind mower.

Fig. 10c is a schematic diagram of the image sensor of fig. 9 detecting relative displacement of the self-propelled mower.

Fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of the image sensor of fig. 9 detecting relative displacement of the self-propelled mower.

FIG. 12 is a flow chart for detecting a position of the self-propelled mower.

Detailed Description

In one embodiment of the present invention, the present invention provides a self-propelled mowing machine, which can be used to automatically perform mowing in a lawn, trimming the lawn, with reference to fig. 1 to 3 b. The self-propelled mower includes at least a main body 100 and an actuator assembly 101 attached to the main body, the actuator assembly 101 including a cutting blade 110 disposed on the main body 100, typically the cutting blade 110 is disposed below the main body 100. The implement assembly 101 further includes an output motor 120 for driving the cutting blade 110 to rotate, and the cutting blade 110 is driven by the output motor 120 to rotate for cutting vegetation. The actuating assembly 101 includes a driving wheel 130 and a driving motor 140 for providing a driving force to the driving wheel 130 to rotate, the self-propelled mower includes a control unit 200 connected to the driving motor 140, and the control unit 200 controls the rotation speed of the driving wheel 130 by controlling the driving motor 140 to control the traveling state of the self-propelled mower. The self-propelled mowing machine further comprises a power supply device 800, optionally the power supply device 800 is implemented as at least one battery pack and is interfaced into the self-propelled mowing machine via a battery pack interface on the self-propelled mowing machine to power the output motor 120 and the drive motor 140.

Optionally, the actuator includes an output controller 150 for controlling the output motor 120, and a driving controller 160 for controlling the driving motor 140, the output controller 150 is connected to the control unit 200, and the control unit 200 sends commands to control the operation of the output motor 120 through the output controller 150, thereby controlling the cutting state of the cutting blade 110. The driving controller 160 is connected to control the driving motor 140, and the driving controller 160 is communicably connected to the control unit 200, so that the control unit 200 analyzes the traveling route of the self-propelled lawn mower after receiving a start instruction from a user or determining the start, and sends a traveling instruction to the driving controller 160 to control the driving motor 140 to drive the driving wheel 130 to travel.

The self-walking mower is provided with an interactive interface 210 for interacting with a user, the interactive interface 210 can display the running state information of the self-walking mower, and buttons or switches are arranged for the user to control the starting and running of the self-walking mower. The interactive interface 210 is connected to the control unit 200, and when the user transmits the control command through the button or switch, the control unit 200 obtains the control command, analyzes the control command, and outputs the control command to the corresponding controller, so as to control the operation of the self-propelled mower.

The control unit 200 is disposed in the self-propelled mowing machine, and is usually implemented by a circuit board, it is understood that at least some modules in the control unit 200 may also be installed in one or more mobile terminals, the mobile terminals serve as upper computers of the self-propelled mowing machine, and the mobile terminals may be implemented as intelligent mobile devices such as computers and smart phones. The self-propelled mower transmits a signal to the mobile terminal through the communication device, and the control unit 200 operates in the mobile terminal, calculates and analyzes the position information of the self-propelled mower, and transmits the signal to control the operation of the self-propelled mower.

The self-walking mower is provided with a position detection module 300 for detecting the position of the self-walking mower and an information acquisition module 400 for collecting position information of the self-walking mower, the information acquisition module 400 determines the current mowing path of the mower by acquiring the position information of the self-walking mower detected by the position detection module 300, and the information acquisition module 400 is connected with the control unit 200 and transmits the position information of the self-walking mower to the control unit 200. The position detection module 300 comprises at least a first positioning unit 310 and a second positioning unit 320, the first positioning unit 310 comprising a positioning sensor 311, the positioning sensor 311 may be a GPS positioning assembly or a GNSS positioning assembly for obtaining primary position information or a main position estimate from the walking mower and a starting position of the movement. The second positioning unit 320 is used to detect the precise position information of the self-propelled mowing machine, i.e. to determine the precise position information with smaller error based on the primary position information acquired by the first positioning unit 310, so as to acquire the final position estimation of the self-propelled mowing machine. The first positioning unit 310 and the second positioning unit 320 transmit the detected position information to the information collecting module 400, and the information collecting module 400 analyzes the displacement state of the self-propelled mower. The GNSS positioning components are global navigation satellite systems including American GPS, Chinese Beidou, Russian GLONASS, European Union GALILEO, regional systems such as Japanese QZSS and India IRNSS, augmentation systems such as American WASS, Japanese MSAS, European Union EGNOS, India GAGAN, and NiG-GOMSAT-1 in Nintenia.

The second positioning unit 320 includes at least an image sensor 321, the image sensor 321 is disposed on the main body 100, the image sensor 321 generates a corresponding image-sensing area 322, and acquires images within image-sensing area 322, moving from the walk-behind mower drives image sensor 321 to move, causing image-sensing area 322 to move to acquire different images, the image in the image sensing area 322 is continuously or intermittently acquired by the image sensor 321, and the first position image information 323 at the first time point and the second position image information 328 at the second time point later are acquired, the location information is obtained by obtaining at least one common feature field of the first position image information 323 and the second position image information 328, the common feature field comprising one or more feature points, and comparing the displacement state of one or more common characteristic points to obtain the displacement or relative displacement state of the self-walking mower on the ground. In one embodiment of the invention, the common feature domain may be a collection of points, lines, planes or colors within the image, such as HOG features, Haar features, LBP features, and the actual displacement from the walking mower at the corresponding time is analyzed through the motion trajectory of the common feature domain over time.

For example, referring to fig. 10a, assuming that the self-propelled mower is only relatively positioned in the x-axis, the displacement in the x-axis of the self-propelled mower can be obtained by detecting the relative displacement of the first small grass 329a in the first position image information 323 and the second position image information 328 in the x-axis; referring to fig. 10b, assuming that the self-propelled mower is only relatively positioned in the y-axis, the displacement of the self-propelled mower in the y-axis can be obtained by detecting the relative displacement of the first small grass 329a in the y-axis from the first position image information 323 and the second position image information 328. Referring to fig. 10c, assuming that the self-propelled mower has relative positions on both the x-axis and the y-axis, the vegetation area a is the first position image information 323, and the vegetation area a' is the second position image information 328, the relative positions of the self-propelled mower on the x-axis and the y-axis can be determined by the relative positional relationship between the first position image information 323 and the second position image information 328 of the small grass 329a, and the position information of the self-propelled mower can be obtained. Wherein the control unit 200 or the information collecting module 400 can establish a coordinate system to calculate the position of the self-propelled mowing machine, wherein the plane where the x-axis and the y-axis are located together is parallel to the horizontal plane. Referring to fig. 11, the first position image information and the second position image information may also be image information of other objects such as obstacles.

The image sensor is used for detecting the relative displacement of the self-walking mower, and the position information or the relative displacement on the x axis and/or the y axis of the self-walking mower is obtained by continuously or discontinuously acquiring the motion tracks of one or more common characteristic fields in the first position image information and the second position image information 328 of the vegetation on the rear side of the driving wheel through the imaging device of the image sensor. For example, the imaging device of the image sensor projects light to the vegetation near the rear side of the drive wheel, and as the travel time and the travel displacement of the self-propelled mowing machine, the movement locus of the vegetation area a and the vegetation area a ' on the image sensor film is obtained, that is, the relative displacement of the first grass 329a is obtained to obtain the relative displacement of the self-propelled mowing machine in the first time period t0, wherein the vegetation area a and the vegetation area a ' have an overlapping area and the first grass 329a is respectively at different positions of the overlapping area of the vegetation area a and the vegetation area a '; at a second subsequent time period t1, the locus of movement of the vegetation area B and vegetation area B ' over the image sensor substrate is obtained, i.e. the relative displacement of the second grass 329B is obtained to obtain the relative displacement of the self-propelled mower over the second time period, wherein the vegetation area B and vegetation area B ' have an overlapping area and the second grass 329B is at a different position over the overlapping area of the vegetation area B and vegetation area B ', respectively. It is understood that when the self-propelled mowing machine moves on the ground over time, if the self-propelled mowing machine and the image sensor (including the base sheet) mounted on the self-propelled mowing machine are regarded as stationary, and the image sensor acquires the relative displacement state of the first small grass 329a or the second small grass 329b in the first position image information and the second position image information, the displacement information of the self-propelled mowing machine on the ground can be obtained by cumulatively superimposing the displacement information of the first small grass 329a and the second small grass 329b in any segment of time.

The interval between the acquisition of the first position image information 323 and the second position image information 328 may be set according to the speed of the self-propelled mowing machine, so that the first position image information 323 and the second position image information 328 can effectively acquire a common characteristic region to determine the traveling displacement information of the self-propelled mowing machine through the common characteristic region.

Optionally, the second positioning unit 320 may further include an image sensor and a calibration device 327, wherein the calibration device 327 is configured to detect the posture information and/or the position information of the self-propelled mowing machine to compensate for an offset error calculated according to the position image information of the image sensor. The calibration device 327 may include an inertial sensor 325, which obtains the moving track of the self-propelled mowing machine through an image sensor on the self-propelled mowing machine, and further obtains the angle deviation information on the moving track of the self-propelled mowing machine through the inertial sensor 325 to correct the position information obtained by the image sensor, so as to obtain more accurate position information of the self-propelled mowing machine.

The inertial sensor detects the posture of the self-walking mower, the control unit calculates a calibration coefficient according to the posture of the self-walking mower, and the displacement of the self-walking mower is obtained according to the calibration coefficient to calibrate the position image information.

The control unit obtains the relative displacement of the self-walking mower on the x axis and/or the y axis or the position information according to the analysis of the movement track of at least one common characteristic field in the first position image information and the second position image information of the image sensor in time, and the inertial sensor can detect the angle of the main body relative to the plane where the x axis and the y axis are located.

The control unit obtains the relative displacement or position information of the self-walking mower on the x axis and/or the y axis according to the motion track analysis of at least one common characteristic field in the first position image information and the second position image information of the image sensor in time. The height sensor can measure the distance of the self-walking mower on the z-axis relative to the object corresponding to the common characteristic field. The control unit is arranged to obtain the relative displacement or position information of the self-walking mower on the x axis and/or the y axis according to the distance of the self-walking mower on the z axis relative to the corresponding object of the common characteristic field, the angle of the main body relative to the plane where the x axis and the y axis are located, and the motion track analysis of at least one common characteristic field in the first position image information and the second position image information of the image sensor on the time.

The Inertial sensor 325 may be implemented as an IMU Inertial Measurement Unit (Inertial Measurement Unit) including an accelerometer, a gyroscope for detecting angular offset information of the self-propelled mower during travel to determine the attitude of the self-propelled mower. The control unit calculates a calibration coefficient according to the posture of the self-walking mower, and calibrates the displacement of the self-walking mower obtained by the position image information according to the calibration coefficient. The inertial sensor is used for detecting the posture of the self-walking mower when the image sensor acquires the first position image information and the second position image information, so that the inertial sensor is used for analyzing and calibrating the first position image information and the second position image information.

The inertial sensor 325 transmits the detected angular deviation information of the self-walking mower to the information acquisition module 400, and the information acquisition module 400 analyzes the final displacement information of the self-walking mower according to the detected primary position information, displacement information and angular deviation information of the self-walking mower to obtain real-time accurate position data of the self-walking mower.

In order to prevent the uneven terrain of the lawn from causing errors in the detection of the position detection module 300 or the image sensor, the calibration device 327 may further include a height sensor 326 for detecting horizontal height information of the lawn, and the height sensor 326 may also be a distance sensor for measuring distance information in the height direction between the self-propelled lawn mower and the object to be measured, such as a distance measuring sensor like a TOF sensor. The TOF sensor emits light, calculates the time of emission of the light and the time difference between the reflection of the light by an object, such as a lawn or the ground, calculates the height of the lawn relative to the image sensor. The height sensor 326 can detect the distance from the self-propelled mower in the z-axis relative to the object corresponding to the common characteristic field, i.e., the distance from the vegetation to the self-propelled mower can be measured if the common characteristic field is vegetation. The control unit calculates a calibration coefficient according to the height parameter of the self-walking mower, and calibrates the displacement of the self-walking mower obtained by the position image information according to the calibration coefficient, so that the accuracy of the displacement of the self-walking mower detected by the image sensor is improved.

The height sensor 326 transmits the detected horizontal height data of the lawn relative to the image sensor to the information collection module 400, and the information collection module 400 generates a calibration coefficient for the position information detected by the position detection module 300 according to the acquired real-time height information of the self-propelled mowing machine. The position information detected by the image sensor 321 is adjusted through the calibration coefficient, so that the first position image information 323 and the second position image information 328 acquired by the image sensor 321 are prevented from being influenced by the change of the lawn height in the running process of the self-walking mower from shifting, and the acquired accurate position information has larger error. The height sensor 326 may also be used to calibrate for excessive angular deviation from the walk-behind mower detected by the inertial sensor 325 due to changes in height.

The first positioning unit 310 may be, in addition to the GPS positioning assembly or the GNSS positioning assembly mentioned above, a displacement sensor 312 for detecting a rotational speed or displacement of the driving wheel 130, and the displacement sensor 312 may be disposed on or near the driving motor 140 connected to the driving wheel 130, and the rotational speed or displacement of the driving wheel 130 may be obtained by detecting the rotational speed or displacement of the driving motor 140, or the displacement sensor 312 may be disposed on or near the driving wheel 130 for detecting the rotational speed or displacement of the driving wheel 130, thereby obtaining a main position estimate of the self-propelled mower.

For example, the driving wheels 130 are provided with two, respectively, a first driving wheel 131 and a second driving wheel 132, correspondingly, the driving motor 140 is provided with a first driving motor 141 and a second driving motor 142, the displacement sensor 312 is provided with at least two, respectively, provided in the first driving wheel 131 and the second driving wheel 132, or provided in the first driving motor 141 and the second driving motor 142, respectively, to acquire the rotation speeds of the first driving wheel 131 and the second driving wheel 132, to acquire the main position estimate of the self-propelled mower by analyzing the rotation speeds and the rotation turns of the first driving wheel 131 and the second driving wheel 132, and to acquire the accurate relative position of the self-propelled mower in conjunction with the movement locus obtained by the image sensor and the angular deviation information of the movement locus of the self-propelled mower detected by the inertial sensor 325. Alternatively, the displacement angle of the self-propelled mowing machine can be obtained by analyzing the speed difference between the first driving wheel 131 and the second driving wheel 132, and the precise relative position of the self-propelled mowing machine can be obtained by combining the rotating speed and the number of turns of the driving wheel 130.

The control unit comprises at least a position estimation main unit for establishing a main position estimation function g (x, y) from the walking mower to obtain a main position estimation from the walking mower. The control unit further comprises a position estimation auxiliary unit for establishing a position estimation auxiliary function h (x, y) according to the position image information obtained by the image sensor through the position image information obtained by the image sensor to compensate the main position estimation obtained by the position estimation main unit to obtain a final position estimation of the self-walking mower; wherein the control unit drives the at least one driving wheel towards the target position at least based on the target position command and the obtained final position estimate.

Further, the control unit 200 establishes a main position estimation function or a main position estimation function g (x, y) of the self-propelled mower according to the first positioning unit positioning data, and obtains primary position data or a main position estimation of the self-propelled mower, for example, obtains the self-propelled mower within a certain area; establishing a position estimation assistance function h (x, y) by using the position information of the second detection unit, for example, acquiring a movement locus of the self-propelled mowing machine within the area, so as to compensate the acquired primary position data or the main position estimation data, and acquiring final accurate position data of the self-propelled mowing machine. For example, the control unit establishes a main position estimation function g (x, y) of the self-propelled mowing machine according to the displacement data detected by the displacement sensor and/or the positioning data of the positioning sensor, and obtains a main position estimation of the self-propelled mowing machine; and establishing a position estimation auxiliary function h (x, y) through position information obtained by the image sensor, the inertial sensor and the height sensor, and obtaining a final position estimation of the self-walking mower by combining with the main position estimation.

The image sensor 321 includes a film and an imaging device, which may be provided as a camera, including a lens 324 and a package 325 for mounting the lens; the negative film may be an imaging substrate or a photosensitive surface 327, and the measured object or object projected from the traveling mower is sensed by the imaging device, and corresponding first position image information 323 and second position image information 328 are generated on the negative film, so as to analyze the displacement state of the traveling mower through the movement traces of one or more common characteristic fields of the first position image information 323 and the second position image information 328. The image sensor may further include a control chip or PCB board that may process the generated first position image information and second position image information 328 to analyze and calculate displacement information from the walking mower or the object under test.

During the forward travel cutting of the self-propelled mowing machine, the housing 111 has a front end corresponding to an uncut area of the cutting blade 110 and a rear end corresponding to an area of the cutting blade 110, and the housing 111 or the main body has a first edge located at the front end of the housing 111, a second edge located at the rear end of the housing 111, and a third edge and a fourth edge located between the front end and the rear end, which constitute boundaries of the housing 111 of the self-propelled mowing machine.

Optionally, the image sensor acquires position image information through a corresponding image sensing area, the image sensing area is disposed at the rear end of the main body, the image sensor acquires first position image information and second position image information of the image sensing area in time sequence, the first position image information and the second position image information have at least one common characteristic field, and the control unit analyzes a movement track of the at least one common characteristic field in the first position image information and the second position image information of the image sensor in time to obtain the relative displacement of the self-walking mower.

Optionally, referring to fig. 2, the image sensor 321 is disposed at the rear end 112 of the housing 111 or at the rear end of the self-propelled mowing machine and connected to the information collecting module 400, and an angle or a direction of the image sensor 321 can be adjusted to be relatively downward, so that the image sensing area 322 acquired by the self-propelled mowing machine is a ground surface, an image corresponding to the image sensing area 322 is a lawn during a process of moving and mowing the lawn by the self-propelled mowing machine, and the first position image information 323 and the second position image information 328 are changed images of the lawn. The image sensor 321 is arranged at the rear end of the shell 111, the cutting area of the self-walking mower is corresponded, grass is pressed flat by the self-walking mower which runs, the situation that the lawn with different heights shields the acquisition of the content of the image sensing area 322 of the image sensor 321 can be effectively prevented, and therefore the accuracy of the displacement of the self-walking mower detected by the image sensor 321 is improved.

Referring to fig. 4, the image sensor 321a may be disposed near the rear side of the driving wheel 130a or the grass pressing wheel of the self-propelled mower and connected to the information collecting module, and an image sensing area generated by the image sensor 321a corresponds to the rear side of the driving wheel 130a of the self-propelled mower, and the lens is disposed downward so that ground or vegetation can enter the image sensing area. When the self-walking mower moves to mow, the image sensor 321 acquires the image of the grassland rolled by the self-walking mower driving wheel 130a, so that the image sensing area acquired by the image sensor 321a can be less shielded by grasses with different heights or higher heights, the accuracy of the first position image information and the second position image information acquired by the image sensor 321a is improved, and the accuracy of the self-walking mower displacement judgment is improved. Optionally, the distance between the image sensor 321a and the driving wheel 130a is greater than or equal to 1.5cm and less than or equal to 3.5 cm. Within this, it is preferable that the distance between the image sensor 321a and the driving wheel 130a is less than 2cm, so that the interference of the vegetation on the detection of the image sensor 321a is reduced by pressing the driving wheel 130a down the vegetation. After the image sensor is arranged at the position, the precision of the image sensor for positioning the self-walking mower can be effectively improved, and the error is controlled within a proper precision range, such as about 3%.

In one embodiment, referring to fig. 5, the self-propelled mower is provided with a grass pressing member 500, and preferably the grass pressing member 500 is provided to the driving wheel 130b, such as a grass pressing surface or a raised surface formed on the driving wheel 130b, or the grass pressing member 500 is provided to be attached to the self-propelled mower housing 111b, and a grass pressing surface for rolling a lawn is formed by the grass pressing member 500, and the grass pressing surface has a predetermined width, so that when the self-propelled mower is driven on a vegetation, a rolling surface 510 is formed on the vegetation by the grass pressing surface of the grass pressing member 500 to lower the grass surface. And such that the image-sensing area of the image sensor 321b corresponds to the burnish 510 currently being produced from the self-propelled mower, at least a portion of the burnish being located within the image-sensing area. The interference of the grass height on the image sensor 321b for acquiring the first position image information and the second position image information can be reduced in the depressed lawn, so that the acquired first position image information and the acquired second position image information are clear and complete, and the position detection precision of the self-walking mower is improved. It can be understood that the driving wheel can be directly made into the grass pressing wheel, namely the grass pressing piece is arranged on the driving wheel, and the interference of grass height on the image information analyzed by the image sensor is also reduced. Grass pressing pieces are arranged at the rear ends of the shells, the image sensor is arranged at the rear ends of the shells, accordingly, the grass pressing pieces roll the vegetation along with running of the self-walking mower, the image sensor detects the vegetation after rolling, interference of vegetation with different heights on the image sensor is reduced, and accuracy of detection of the image sensor is improved. Optionally, the height sensor is also disposed at the rear end of the housing, near the image sensor.

In one embodiment, referring to fig. 6, a self-propelled mower creates an air flow on the main body 100c by the air flow generating device 600 and causes the air flow to flow over the surface of the image sensor 321 c. Since the image sensor 321c determines the displacement state of the self-propelled mower by displacing the common area characteristic of the first position image information and the second position image information, the imaging quality requirements for the first position image information and the second position image information are high. From walking lawn mower at the during operation, the limit is gone and is mowed, and grass bits and dust that the mowing brought are attached to image sensor 321c, and long-time accumulation can seriously influence image sensor 321 c's formation of image effect, and from walking lawn mower grass cutting work dust or grass bits that bring can shelter from image sensing district, influence formation of image result, the interference is to the judgement of self-walking lawn mower displacement. The distance between the airflow generating device 600 and the image sensor is set to be greater than or equal to 2cm and less than or equal to 8cm, and the airflow generated by the airflow generating device 600 flows away from the imaging device, so that the airflow generated by the airflow generating device 600 can drive grass clippings and dust at the front end of the image sensor 321c, and the interference of the grass clippings, dust and other objects on the detection of the image sensor 321c is reduced. The airflow generating device 600 may be a fan provided near the image sensor 321c, and continuously generates airflow when the self-propelled mower is operated, thereby reducing interference of foreign matter such as dust or grass clippings with detection by the image sensor 321 c.

The main body 100c includes an air inlet, an air outlet, and an airflow channel guiding airflow from the air inlet to the air outlet, the image sensor 321 is disposed near the air outlet of the airflow channel, and the surface of the image sensor 321 is impacted by the airflow flowing out from the air outlet. The airflow in the airflow path may be generated by the traveling state of the self-propelled mowing machine, or may be generated by an airflow generating device 600 such as a fan provided in the self-propelled mowing machine or on the housing 111 c.

Referring to fig. 7, in one embodiment, in order to optimize the image sensor 321d, a light source supplementing device 700 and a light source filtering device 710 may be provided, and the light source supplementing device 700 may emit light having a single spectrum, such as a light source like laser, and project the light to the image sensing area 322 d. The light source filtering device 710 is disposed in front of the image sensor 321d, and the light source filtering device 710 filters other light sources and only passes through the light with a single frequency spectrum, such as a light source like laser, and obtains the displacement information of the self-propelled mower by obtaining the first position image information and the second position image information of the detection light with a single frequency spectrum sent by the light source supplementing device 700, so that the accuracy of detecting the displacement position of the self-propelled mower can be improved. Specifically, the light source supplementing device 700 sends a light source with a single spectrum light to emit the single spectrum light to vegetation passing by the traveling mower; the light source filtering device 710 sets a light source that can pass light of the same spectrum as the detection light source sent by the light source supplementing device 700, so that only light having the same spectrum is acquired by the image sensor 321d and is detected and analyzed, thereby effectively reducing the influence of outdoor environment light on the measurement accuracy of the light flow sensor.

Further, the self-propelled mower further comprises an ultrasonic sensor and a collision sensor, the ultrasonic sensor and the collision sensor are used for detecting obstacles and can be in communication connection with the information acquisition module 400, the ultrasonic sensor sends ultrasonic waves and detects whether the preset path of the self-propelled mower has the obstacles or not, and position information of the obstacles is recorded. The ultrasonic waves are reflected by the obstacle and are sensed by the ultrasonic sensor, the position of the obstacle is analyzed and obtained through time interval analysis, the collision sensor senses that the shell 111 shakes or the pressure of the shell 111 changes when the self-walking mower collides with the obstacle, whether the obstacle collides is analyzed, and therefore the collision sensor can be set to be a Hall sensor for detecting the displacement state or a pressure sensor for detecting the pressure change.

Alternatively, the self-propelled mowing machine only adopts one or more image sensors to obtain the final accurate position information, namely, the final accurate position information is not obtained by adopting the fusion of the first positioning unit and the second positioning unit, but the final accurate position information is directly obtained by adopting the combination of one or more image sensors. The 3D three-dimensional scene of the position of the self-walking mower can be obtained by adopting one or more image sensors, so that the positioning information of the self-walking mower can be obtained, for example, the 3D three-dimensional scene of the position of the self-walking mower can be collected by one or more image sensors, the three-dimensional scene interacts with a map interface such as a Gaode map or a google map, so that the actual positioning information of the self-walking mower can be obtained, and the control unit of the self-walking mower drives at least one driving wheel to move towards the target position according to at least a target position instruction and the obtained final position estimation. The map interfaces such as the high-grade map or the google map can be directly arranged on a display screen of the self-walking mower or can be arranged on a display screen of a mobile device such as a mobile phone. It is to be understood that one or more image sensors may be actively steered to obtain a 3D three dimensional scene or a 360 ° three dimensional scene from a predetermined area of the walk-behind mower, without limitation.

Referring to fig. 8, the self-propelled mower further includes a plurality of image sensors 321e provided at least two of the front end 113, the rear end, and the side end 114 of the main body.

The image sensor 321e is disposed near a peripheral side edge of the main body to sense the measured object to form first position image information and second position image information in a predetermined reference plane in time series, wherein the first position image information and the second position image information have at least one common feature region including one or more feature points, wherein the peripheral side edge of the main body includes a first edge, a second edge, a third edge, and/or a fourth edge. One or more image sensors may be provided on the top side of the main or main housing and may also obtain position information from the walking mower or from the object under test, which may be vegetation or an obstacle under test on the ground. It is understood that the first edge, the second edge, the third edge, and the fourth edge refer not only to the boundary of the self-propelled mowing machine, but also include a certain position near the boundary of the mowing machine at a certain distance from the intelligent mowing boundary. Alternatively, the image sensor provided at the top side of the main body or the main casing may acquire the position information or the positioning information of the self-propelled mower or the object under test by acquiring a 3D three-dimensional scene of a position where the self-propelled mower is located or a 3D three-dimensional scene of the object under test.

The obstacle information may be acquired by the image sensor 321, one or more image sensors may be provided on a peripheral side edge of the self-propelled mower body, for example, the first edge, the second edge, the third edge, and/or the fourth edge, information of the image sensing area may be acquired by the one or more image sensors, and whether an obstacle is present in the image sensing area or whether the obstacle is present in the image sensing area, or the distance of the obstacle from the self-propelled mower, that is, position information of the obstacle may be analyzed. Preferably, at least two image sensors can be arranged, or the image sensing device is provided with a binocular camera, and the position information of the obstacle is acquired through fusion of image information of different positions acquired by the binocular camera. On the basis of the above embodiment, the control unit analyzes the path of the self-walking mower according to the analyzed position information and control instruction of the self-walking mower and the tracked displacement state of the self-walking mower, drives at least one driving wheel to move towards the target position, and drives the mowing blade to rotate.

In summary, a positioning procedure for detecting the position of a self-propelled mower is provided.

Referring to fig. 12, step S1 is executed to obtain a main position estimate of the self-propelled mowing machine by detecting a position of the self-propelled mowing machine by the positioning sensor;

executing step S2, detecting the posture of the self-propelled mower by the inertial sensor;

executing step S3, sensing the passing area of the self-walking mower through an image sensor and forming a plurality of position image information, and sensing and forming first position image information and second position image information in time sequence;

executing step S4 to obtain at least one common feature field of the first position image information and the second position image information;

executing step S5, detecting the height parameter of the self-walking mower relative to the position image information through the height sensor;

executing step S6, and calculating the displacement of the self-walking mower by combining the motion track of the common characteristic field in time, the obtained posture of the self-walking mower and the height parameter;

and executing the step S7, and finishing the final position estimation of the self-walking mower by combining the displacement of the self-walking mower acquired by the image sensor.

And step S8 is executed, whether the self-walking mower continues to walk is detected, if yes, step S1 is repeatedly executed, and if not, the process is ended.

The foregoing illustrates and describes the principles, general features, and advantages of the present invention. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that the above embodiments do not limit the present invention in any way, and all technical solutions obtained by using equivalent alternatives or equivalent variations fall within the scope of the present invention.