INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the corresponding Japanese Patent Application No. 2019-002962 filed on Jan. 10, 2019, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present disclosure relates to a carriage towed by a traveling device capable of autonomous travel, and a transport system including the traveling device and the carriage.

Description of the Background Art

An autonomous travel robot (a transport system) that includes: a traveling device having a drive device and a wheel; and a carriage coupled to the traveling device and that travels autonomously while the traveling device tows the carriage has been known. In the transport system, the traveling device is accommodated in a manner to crawl under the carriage and coupled to the carriage. The traveling device moves while towing the carriage.

In the transport system, the traveling device is provided with a detector that detects an obstacle. The detector, for example, emits search light over a predetermined angle and detects reflected light, so as to detect presence or absence of the obstacle and measure a distance to the obstacle. However, in the conventional transport system, since the carriage is arranged above the traveling device, search light is blocked by the carriage, which causes a problem of degraded detection accuracy of the obstacle.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure has a purpose of providing a carriage and a transport system capable of preventing obstacle detection accuracy of a detector provided in a traveling device from being degraded.

A carriage according to an aspect of the present disclosure is a carriage that is towed and moved by a traveling device including a driving wheel, and includes: a traveling wheel provided in the carriage; a coupling part coupled to the traveling device; and a passage which is provided on a side surface of the carriage and through which light emitted from a detector passes, the detector being provided in the traveling device to detect an obstacle around the traveling device.

A transport system according to another aspect of the present disclosure is a transport system that includes a carriage and a traveling device traveling while towing the carriage. The detector is arranged on an advancing direction side of the traveling device and an opposite side of the advancing direction. The two detectors are arranged at positions, heights of which from a floor surface differ from each other. On the side surface, the recesses are provided at positions in different heights from each other so as to correspond to the two detectors.

The present disclosure can provide the carriage and the transport system capable of preventing the obstacle detection accuracy of the detector provided in the traveling device from being degraded.

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description with reference where appropriate to the accompanying drawings. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any or all disadvantages noted in any part of this disclosure.

