US 12,268,112 B2
System to adjust object detection direction for agricultural machine
Kenji Tamatani, Sakai (JP); Yuji Okuyama, Sakai (JP); Kazuo Sakaguchi, Sakai (JP); and Yusuke Takahashi, Sakai (JP)
Assigned to KUBOTA CORPORATION, Osaka (JP)
Filed by KUBOTA CORPORATION, Osaka (JP)
Filed on Jun. 14, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/839,535.
Claims priority of application No. 2021-103303 (JP), filed on Jun. 22, 2021; and application No. 2021-103304 (JP), filed on Jun. 22, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2022/0400598 A1, Dec. 22, 2022
Int. Cl. A01B 69/00 (2006.01); A01B 63/00 (2006.01); A01B 69/04 (2006.01)
CPC A01B 69/008 (2013.01) [A01B 63/008 (2013.01); A01B 69/001 (2013.01)] 8 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system to adjust an object detection direction for an agricultural machine, the system comprising:
a traveling vehicle body to travel;
a detector to detect objects in a surrounding area of the traveling vehicle body, an object detection direction and an object detection range of the detector being swingable up and down;
a detection adjuster to adjust the object detection direction of the detector;
a position sensor to use a satellite positioning system to detect a position of the traveling vehicle body; and
a controller configured or programmed to acquire information relating to an entrance/exit of an agricultural field located between the agricultural field and a road outside the agricultural field by reading the information from a memory or a storage which stores the information or by receiving, via a communication device, the information from a computer or a storage which stores the information; wherein
the detection adjuster is operable to perform a first adjustment when the traveling vehicle body is traveling toward a land surface of the entrance/exit and a distance from the position of the traveling vehicle body detected by the position sensor to a start point of the land surface of the entrance/exit included in the information acquired by the controller is equal to or less than a predetermined value, the first adjustment being an adjustment in which the object detection adjuster orients the detection direction toward an end point of the land surface of the entrance/exit by causing the object detection range to move upward or downward; and
the detection adjuster is operable to perform a second adjustment when the traveling vehicle body is traveling on the land surface of the entrance/exit, the second adjustment being an adjustment in which the object detection adjuster orients the detection direction toward the end point of the land surface of the entrance/exit or a space forward of the end point in a direction of travel of the traveling vehicle body by causing the object detection range to move upward or downward.