Patent ID: 8712623

Claim:
An apparatus for controlling an autonomous operating vehicle having a prime mover, a driven wheel connected to the prime mover and an operating machine, the vehicle autonomously traveling in a travel-scheduled area to perform operation using the operating machine by driving the prime mover, comprising: a geomagnetic sensor having x-axis, y-axis and z-axis outputs, mounted on the vehicle and responsive to a magnet embedded in the travel-scheduled area; an angular velocity sensor adapted to detect an angular velocity generated about z-axis that goes through a center of gravity of the vehicle and is perpendicular to a travel direction of the vehicle; a wheel speed sensor adapted to produce an output indicative of a wheel speed of the driven wheel of the vehicle; a map information storage adapted to define the travel-scheduled area and store map information including an embedded position of the magnet indicated with an x-y coordinate position; an absolute direction and position detector adapted to detect an absolute direction based on the output of the geomagnetic sensor, detect an approach direction to the magnet by comparing the output of the geomagnetic sensor with a pre-stored output pattern, and detect a position of the vehicle in the travel-scheduled area based on the detected approach direction and the map information; a direction and distance calculator adapted to calculate a traveling direction based on the output of the angular velocity sensor and a traveled distance based on the output of the wheel speed sensor; and an operation controller adapted to control the operation performed through the operating machine in the travel-scheduled area in accordance with a preset operation program based on the detected absolute direction, the detected position of the vehicle in the travel-scheduled area, the calculated traveling direction and the calculated traveled distance.