Trial manufacturing research on an autonomous snowplow and snow melter with the intercommunication function of Personal Handy-phone System

随着日本老年人家庭的急剧增加，近年来老年人在寒冷地区除雪时发生的事故也在增加。多功能扫雪机有许多控制杆，老年人很难操作，因为控制杆需要技巧和力量。因此，在这项研究中，一个新开发的自主扫雪机和融雪器的性能，可以很容易地处理，是安全的，进行了评估。本研究介绍了一个自动测试模型的操作实验结果，该模型配备了用于识别地标的视觉传感器和融雪器，该融雪器可以利用废气的泡沫进行高速高效的融雪工作。在实验中，自主扫雪机的运动能够通过使用视觉传感器和地标正确地沿着目标路径沿着移动，不均匀。此外，由于自动监测系统能够预测工作的危险性，因此提高了工作的安全性。利用排气的泡沫的融雪速度比没有泡沫的情况快10倍。在未来的研究中，将努力缩短视觉传感器的图像处理时间，将通过优化地标的设计和结合控制技术来缩短。

With dramatic increase in the households with elderly people in Japan, accidents by elderly people while removing snow in cold regions have been increasing recently. The operation of a multifunctional snowplow, which has many control levers, is difficult for elderly people because of the skill and power required to control the levers. In this study, therefore, the performances of a newly developed autonomous snowplow and a snow melter, that can be handled easily and are safe, were evaluated. This study presents experimental results on the operation of an autonomous test model equipped with a vision sensor for recognition of landmarks and a snow melter that can carry out high-speed and efficient snow melting work by utilizing foam of the exhaust gas.In the experiments, the locomotion of the autonomous snowplow was correctly able to move along the target path by using a vision sensor and landmarks even if the course was slippery and uneven. In addition, the safety of the work was improved because the automatic monitoring system was able to forecast the danger of the work. The snowmelt speed by utilizing the foam of the exhaust gas becomes, 10 times farther than the case in which there is no foam. In future research, efforts will be made to shorten the time for image processing by the vision sensor will be shorten by optimizing the design of landmarks and by combining control techniques.