Riderless vehicle steering control apparatus
This patent describes a vehicle steering control apparatus for following a riderless vehicle along a reference path defined by a guide tape installed on a flat plane, the guide tape having a reflection coefficient different from the flat plane, the riderless vehicle having a bottom surface facing downward, comprising: a sensor assembly mounted on the vehicle bottom surface, the sensor assembly including a sensor units arranged on a line, each sensor unit including a downward-facing light emission element and a downward-facing light receipt element sensitive to a light ray received thereon, each sensor unit being operable to cause the corresponding light emission element to emit a light ray and the corresponding light receipt element to generate a sensor signal corresponding to a sensed light intensity; a control circuit responsive to the sensor signal from each sensor unit for providing a command signal; the vehicle including steering means responsive to the command signal for correcting vehicle steering to hold the vehicle in alignment over the reference path; and a drive circuit means for operating the respective sensor units in a predetermined sequence.
- Assignee:
- Kabushiki Kaisha Meidensha, Tokyo
- Patent Number(s):
- US 4775023
- OSTI ID:
- 6888233
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
330601* -- Vehicle Design Factors-- Body & Chassis
42 ENGINEERING
420800 -- Engineering-- Electronic Circuits & Devices-- (-1989)
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
990220 -- Computers
Computerized Models
& Computer Programs-- (1987-1989)
COMPUTERIZED CONTROL SYSTEMS
CONTROL SYSTEMS
ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS
ELECTRONIC GUIDANCE
LIGHT SOURCES
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
METERS
OPERATION
ORIENTATION
RADIATION SOURCES
VEHICLES