JP2006004334A - Autonomous traveling robot - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To instruct a different working content in each working region, instruct a plurality of working contents in one working region, and enable autonomous traveling to a predetermined working position by specifying a working content. <P>SOLUTION: When an infrared receiver 4 receives an infrared signal, this robot analyzes a received signal, and controls the travel according to the travel command when recognizing that it is a travel command. A self-position measuring means measures a self-position sequentially. When a registered command is determined to be a registered command of a working position, a position information storage means stores the present self-position acquired by the self-position measuring means as the working position information. When the registered command of the working content is recognized to be received, a working content storage means stores the working content corresponding to the registered command in a storage section. When the working content registered in the storage section is selected, the robot is guided to the predetermined position based on the working position information corresponding to the selected working content, and the registered working content is executed at this position. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an autonomous traveling robot that moves to a specified position while performing autonomous traveling and performs work.

Conventionally, as an autonomous traveling robot that performs work while autonomously traveling, it travels on a traveling route that connects between a preset reference position and the entrance / exit of the work area, thereby creating a map showing the layout of the entrance / exit of the work area Thereafter, it is known that the vehicle can reliably travel between the reference position and the entrance / exit of the work area based on this map (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
JP2002-287824

  However, in such a case where only the position of the entrance / exit of the work area is stored as a map, different work contents are designated for each work area, or a plurality of work contents are designated in one work area. It was not possible to deal with it.

  In the present invention, by registering work positions and work contents in association with each other, different work contents can be instructed for each work area, or a plurality of work contents can be instructed in one work area. Provided is a self-running robot that can autonomously travel to a predetermined work position simply by specifying its contents.

  The present invention relates to a traveling means for traveling a robot body having a function of executing various operations, an input means for inputting an operation signal by a user, and a traveling means according to a traveling command set by an operation signal input from the input means. Teaching travel mode for controlling the travel, travel control means for travel control of the travel means by the work travel mode for travel control of the travel means according to the travel plan, self-position measuring means for measuring the self-position during travel of the robot body, When the travel control means is in the teaching travel mode, the position information storage means for registering the self-position measured by the self-position measurement means in the storage unit as work position information when the robot body reaches an arbitrary position, and the travel control means teach Work content storage means for registering the work content to be executed at the measured self position in the storage mode in the storage unit in the running mode; When the operation content registered in the above is selected, the travel plan creating means for extracting the work position information for executing the selected work content from the storage unit and creating a travel plan based on the extracted work position information And in the work travel mode, the travel control means guides the robot body to a work position for executing the selected work content by controlling the travel means according to the travel plan created by the travel plan creating means, Is to execute the work contents registered at this work position.

  According to the present invention, by registering work positions and work contents in association with each other, different work contents can be instructed for each work area, or a plurality of work contents can be instructed in one work area. It is possible to autonomously travel to a predetermined work position simply by specifying the work content.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 are diagrams showing the configuration of an autonomous mobile robot. An operation panel 2 is arranged at the upper front of a casing 1 having a substantially circular lower portion and a substantially hemispherical upper portion, and an image is taken at the center of the front surface. The camera 3 is arranged, the infrared receiver 4 is arranged at the top, and a plurality of traveling sensors 5 are arranged at the lower part extending from the front surface to the side surface. For example, three of the traveling sensors 5 are arranged at predetermined positions at a position that can be seen from the front, and two are arranged at predetermined intervals on the left and right side surfaces.

  Housed in the housing 1 are a cleaner motor 6, a fan 7 that rotates by the motor 6, and a dust collection chamber 9 that sucks and collects dust from a suction port 8 provided at the bottom by the rotation of the fan 7. A pair of drive wheels 10, a travel motor 11 that rotationally drives the drive wheels 10, and an encoder 12 that detects the amount of rotation of the drive wheels 10 are housed.

  A driven wheel 13 whose direction freely changes is attached to the center of the rear end of the bottom of the housing 1. The housing 1 houses a circuit board 14 incorporating control circuit components such as a CPU, ROM, and RAM, and a battery 15 that supplies power to each unit. The infrared receiver 4 receives an infrared signal from a control device 16 such as a remote control device.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control unit, 21 is a CPU constituting the control unit main body, 22 is a ROM in which a program for controlling the respective units by the CPU 21 is stored, and 23 is a storage unit and performs various processes. A RAM 24 having a memory for storing data is used for signal input / output processing to the operation panel 2, imaging camera 3, infrared receiver 4, travel sensor 5, cleaner motor 6, travel motor 11, and encoder 12. I / O port to perform. The CPU 21, ROM 22, RAM 23, and I / O port 24 are electrically connected via a bus line 25.

  FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram functionally showing the configuration of the control unit. This autonomously traveling robot functionally includes an instruction means 31, an imaging means 32, a travel means 33, a travel control means 34, a communication control means 35, The self-position measuring means 36, the position information storage means 37, the work content storage means 38, the execution result confirmation means 39, and the travel plan creation means 40 are configured.

  The instruction means 31 is composed of a complex of the operation panel 2, CPU 21 and ROM 22, the imaging means 32 is composed of the imaging camera 3, and the traveling means 33 is composed of the drive wheel 10 and the traveling motor 11, The travel control means 34 is composed of a composite body of the CPU 21, ROM 22, and RAM 23, and the communication control means 35 is composed of a composite body of the infrared receiver 4, CPU 21, ROM 22, and RAM 23.

  The self-position measuring means 36 is constituted by a complex of the encoder 12, CPU 21, and ROM 22, the position information storage means 37 and the work content storage means 38 are constituted by the RAM 23, and the execution result confirmation means 39 is the operation The travel plan creation means 40 is composed of a composite of the CPU 21, ROM 22, and RAM 23. The instruction means 31 and the communication control means 34 serve as input means for inputting an operation signal from the user.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure when the user registers the work position and the work content corresponding to the work position in the storage unit of the autonomous running robot, and FIG. 6 shows the signal receiving process performed by the autonomous running robot at that time. It is a flowchart shown.

  In step S1, the user places the autonomous traveling robot at a predetermined reference position which is also a standby position, and then in step S2, operates the operation panel 2 to set the autonomous traveling robot to the teaching traveling mode. Then, in step S3, the user causes the autonomous mobile robot to travel to a place where it is desired to store it as a work position while repeating button operations such as forward, stop, and turn by the control device 16. The position that the user wants to set as the work position includes, for example, an appropriate position in the room to be monitored, an appropriate position in the room to be cleaned, a position to be passed when traveling from the reference position to the room to be monitored and the room to be cleaned, etc. is there.

  When the infrared receiver 4 of the communication control means 35 receives the infrared signal transmitted from the control device 16 in step S11, the autonomous mobile robot analyzes the received signal in step S12.

  Subsequently, in step S13, when it is recognized that the button operation of the control device 16 is a travel command, the autonomous traveling robot performs travel control according to the travel command by the travel control means 34 in step S14. That is, in the teaching travel mode, the travel control unit 34 determines the necessary rotational speed of the left and right drive wheels 10 according to the travel command, and the travel motor 11 rotates the drive wheels 10. As a result, traveling control such as going straight, turning right, turning left, and stopping becomes possible.

  Then, while traveling, the autonomous mobile robot sequentially measures its own position by the self-position measuring means 36 in step S15. The self-position measuring means 36 acquires the rotation amount of the drive wheel 10 from the output from the encoder 12 and calculates the movement distance of the autonomous traveling robot from the rotation amount. Thereby, the position coordinates of the current location can be obtained as a “relative coordinate value” from the reference position.

  When it is determined in step S4 that the autonomous mobile robot has reached the work position, the user uses the control device 16 in step S5 to control the attitude of the autonomous mobile robot, that is, the direction, and to determine a predetermined direction. To go to. If it is determined in step S6 that the posture control is finished, an operation for registering the work position and posture is performed in step S7. In this operation, for example, a work position registration button of the control device 16 is pressed.

  When the user presses the work position registration button of the control device 16, the autonomous mobile robot recognizes that the registration command has been received in step S16. When it is determined in step S17 that the registration command is a work position registration command, in step S18, the current self-position acquired by the self-position measuring unit 36, that is, the relative position coordinate value from the reference position. Is stored in the storage unit of the RAM 23 by the position information storage means 37 as work position information.

  At the same time, the posture information of the autonomous mobile robot directed in a predetermined direction at the current self position is also stored in the storage unit as additional information by the position information storage means 37. The purpose of use of the posture direction is, for example, to set a camera photographing posture in a patrol monitoring operation described later, and the posture can be relatively obtained from the output from the encoder 12. Note that a gyro sensor may be separately mounted to measure the posture.

  Next, a user performs operation which registers the work content in the registered work position in step S8. The registration is performed, for example, by selecting a button to which a desired work content is assigned from among a plurality of buttons to which various work contents are assigned in advance in the control device 16, and pressing the selected button. . For example, “tour monitoring”, “automatic cleaning”, “relay point”, and the like are assigned to the buttons.

  When the user presses the work content registration button of the control device 16, the autonomous mobile robot recognizes that the work content registration command has been received in step S19. In step S 20, the work content corresponding to the registration command is stored in the storage unit of the RAM 23 by the work content storage unit 38.

  For example, when the purpose is to sequentially shoot the camera while patroling, the designation of “patrol monitoring” is stored as the work content, and when the purpose is automatic cleaning, the designation of “automatic cleaning” is stored as the work content. . If the purpose is to set a relay point that should be passed when traveling from the reference position to the target work position, the designation of “relay point” is stored as the work content.

  If it is determined in step S9 that the registration of all work positions and work contents has been completed, the user operates the operation panel 2 of the autonomous mobile robot to release the teaching mode in step S10. If it is determined that an unregistered position still remains, the process returns to step S3 and the same operation procedure is repeated. Through the above registration work, the work position where the autonomous mobile robot works and the work content are registered in the storage unit.

  Next, a specific example in which the autonomous traveling robot sets the work position and the work content will be described. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, a case will be described in which four rooms A, B, C, and D are circulated, and an operation for performing camera shooting in the center of each room and an operation for cleaning each room are set simultaneously. The positions P1, P2, P3, P4, P5, P6, P7, and P8 provided at the entrances and exits of each room indicate work positions that are registered as relay points that pass without performing work. A position P0 indicates a standby position or a reference position as a starting point of the autonomous mobile robot.

  The autonomous traveling robot waiting at the reference position P 0 is set to the teaching traveling mode by operating the operation panel 2, and then starts traveling by operating the button of the control device 16. At this time, as shown in FIG. 8, the position information storage unit 37 registers the position coordinate of the reference position P 0 as the “reference coordinate value” and the “direction value” as the orientation direction in the storage unit 23 a in the RAM 23. The work content storage means 38 registers the work content at this time as “none”.

  When the autonomous mobile robot travels from the position P0 to P1, the work position information and the work content are registered at the position P1. As the work position information to be registered at this time, a “relative coordinate value” from the reference position is registered. Also, the posture direction is not registered. In addition, the work content at this time is registered as “relay point” in order to make it a simple passing point.

  Next, the autonomous traveling robot is driven and operated from the position P1 to the position PA in the center of the room A. When reaching the position PA, the autonomous traveling robot is pointed in the direction to be photographed, and then the work position information and the work content are registered. . As the work position information to be registered at this time, “relative coordinate value” from the reference position is registered, and “direction value” is registered as the posture direction. In addition, “patrol monitoring” is registered as the work content at this time. Also, automatic cleaning is registered as another work content at the same position PA. That is, as shown in FIG. 8, “automatic cleaning A” is registered together with “tour monitoring” as work contents for the position PA. The position coordinates are the same, and there is no posture direction in the case of automatic cleaning.

  This registration operation is performed from the position PA in the order of P 2 → P 3 → P B → P 4 → P 5 → PC → P 6 → P 7 → PD → P 8 as indicated by the dotted arrows in the figure. At the positions PB, PC, and PD, two work contents of patrol monitoring and automatic cleaning are registered. When automatic cleaning is registered, the rooms A, B, C, and D are distinguished from the automatic cleaning A to D by the button operation of the control device 16 so that the rooms A, B, C, and D can be distinguished. Thereby, it becomes possible to autonomously travel to the corresponding room only by specifying the room to be cleaned later. After the registration of all necessary positions is completed, the autonomous traveling robot is returned to the reference position P0 to cancel the teaching traveling mode.

Next, the control when the autonomous traveling robot executes patrol monitoring will be described.
When the autonomous traveling robot waits at the reference position P0 and reaches a preset time by a clock function provided in the RAM 23 or the like, the traveling plan creation unit 40 and the traveling control unit 34 perform the control shown in FIG. The monitoring function is activated. When the patrol monitoring function is activated, the autonomous traveling robot is set to the autonomous traveling mode.

  In this patrol monitoring function, first, the autonomous traveling robot selects “patrol monitoring” from the work contents registered in the storage unit 23a of the RAM 23 by the travel plan creation means 40 in step S21, and in step S22. Then, all the searched “patient monitoring” work positions are extracted.

  Subsequently, in step S23, the autonomous traveling robot searches all “relay points” registered in the teaching traveling mode of the “tour monitoring” from the storage unit 23a of the RAM 23 by the traveling plan creation means 40, In S24, work positions of all searched “relay points” are extracted. Then, in step S25, a travel plan for patrol monitoring is created based on all the extracted work positions for “patient monitoring” and the work positions of all “relay points”. This travel plan starts from the reference point P0, travels in the order of work positions P1, PA, P2, P3, PB, P4, P5, PC, P6, P7, PD, P8, and returns to the reference point P0. It is. In step S26, the traveling control means 34 starts traveling for patrol monitoring.

  In the autonomous traveling mode, the traveling control unit 34 performs traveling control so as to guide the autonomous traveling robot to the work position according to the traveling plan. That is, the traveling control means 34 guides the autonomous traveling robot from the reference position P0 to the work position P1 of the “relay point” when the traveling for the patrol monitoring is started.

  In step S27, the autonomous mobile robot always determines whether or not the work position has been reached while traveling, and if it determines that the work position has been reached, the work content specified at that work position in step S28. Is a “relay point”. When the work content is “relay point”, the work is not executed, and the travel control means 34 travels toward the next work position PA.

  If it is determined in step S27 that the work position has been reached and it is determined in step S28 that the work content is not a “relay point”, it is determined that “patrol monitoring” has reached the designated work position PA. In step S29, the posture is controlled to a “direction value” corresponding to the work position PA, and in step S30, camera shooting is performed. The photographed image is stored in the RAM 23, and the user can read and confirm the image after the work is completed.

  Next, in step S31, it is determined whether or not the “tour monitoring” has been completed for all work positions included in the travel plan. Since “tour monitoring” has not yet been performed on the work positions PB, PC, and PD, the traveling is continued in step 26 and headed to the next work position PB via P2 and P3. When it is determined in step S27 that the work position PB has been reached, the posture is controlled to a “direction value” corresponding to the work position PB in step S29, and camera shooting is performed in step S30.

  Then, until such “tour monitoring” is completed for all work positions included in the travel plan, the control in steps S26 to S30 is repeated. If it is determined that the “tour monitoring” has ended, the routine returns to the reference position P0, and the traveling is ended.

  When the traveling is completed, the execution result confirmation unit 39 calls the date and time from the internal clock function, and records the work content and result together with the date and time in the storage unit provided in the RAM 23. When the result is NG, an NG code indicating the cause is also recorded.

  Further, when the autonomous traveling robot wants to automatically clean the rooms A, B, C, and D, the user designates automatic cleaning A, B, C, and D by operating the buttons on the control device 16. As a result, the autonomous mobile robot travels to the designated room and cleans the room by the same procedure as in the patrol monitoring.

  For example, when the automatic cleaning of the room A and the room C is executed, the automatic cleaning A and the automatic cleaning C are designated by the button operation of the control device 16. As a result, the automatic cleaning function is activated in the travel plan creation means 40 and the travel control means 34. When the automatic cleaning function is activated, the autonomous traveling robot is set to the autonomous traveling mode.

  In this automatic cleaning function, first, the travel plan preparation means 40 travels from the reference point P0 in the order of the work positions P1, PA, P2, P3, P4, P5, PC, P6, P7, and P8. Create a travel plan to return to The autonomous traveling robot is preset by the traveling control means 34 to clean the inside of the room A after traveling from the reference position P0 to the working position PA of the room A via the working position P1 according to the traveling plan. Drive according to the cleaning pattern.

  The autonomous traveling robot drives the cleaner motor 6 and sucks dust from the suction port 8 while traveling according to the cleaning pattern. As cleaning in this case, the autonomous traveling robot stores the size of each room, the position of obstacles, etc. in advance as a map. Also, as a cleaning pattern, for example, running and cleaning the room while meandering Is set. Therefore, the cleaning is performed according to the map of the room A and the cleaning pattern.

  Then, after the cleaning of the room A is completed, after returning to the work position PA, after traveling to the work position PC of the room C via the work positions P2, P3, P4, P5, the inside of the room C is cleaned. Here, the cleaning is performed according to the map of the room C and the cleaning pattern. When the cleaning of the room C is completed, the room C returns to the work position PC, and then returns to the reference position P0 via the work positions P6, P7, and P8.

  In this case, when the running for automatic cleaning is completed, the execution result confirmation unit 39 calls the date and time from the internal clock function, and records the work content and result together with the date and time in the storage unit provided in the RAM 23. To do. When the result is NG, an NG code indicating the cause is also recorded.

  Then, when the user operates the operation panel 2 later, the execution result confirmation unit 39 calls the work contents and results executed from the storage unit together with the date and time, and displays on the display unit provided on the operation panel 2 as shown in FIG. To display. Thereby, the user can confirm the result of the work performed.

  In this way, the work position and the work content can be registered in correspondence. Then, different work contents such as “tour monitoring” and “automatic cleaning” can be registered for each of the rooms A, B, C, and D serving as work areas, and can be instructed and executed. Thereby, versatility can be improved.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, for each of the rooms A, B, C, and D, “automatic cleaning A”, “automatic cleaning B”, “automatic cleaning C”, and “automatic cleaning D”, respectively. The work contents to be distinguished can be registered. For example, when “automatic cleaning A” is designated by this registration, the travel planning means 40 makes a travel plan based on the work position where “relay point” is designated and the work position where “automatic cleaning A” is designated. create. The autonomous traveling robot travels autonomously from the reference position P0 to the work position PA in the room A by the traveling control means 34, and then travels according to the cleaning pattern. In this way, the autonomous mobile robot can automatically clean the room A.

  Further, a position for avoiding an obstacle between the reference position and the position to be monitored or the position to be cleaned can be registered as a “relay point” and passed through that position. When traveling toward the work position via this relay point, obstacles such as room walls can be avoided and the work position can be reached in a short time. For example, if there are no relay points, if work points are registered in different rooms, the vehicle travels along a straight route connecting these work points. Since the wall of the room exists as an obstacle in this straight path, there is a possibility that the target work point may not be reached depending on the obstacle avoidance method. In addition, the registration of the relay points, which are positions for passing through, can be performed in the same way as the registration of the work positions, which are positions for performing monitoring, cleaning, etc., so that the registration of these positions is easy and the configuration is also Simple.

The front view of the autonomous running robot which concerns on embodiment of this invention. The partially cutaway side view which shows the internal structure of the autonomous running robot which concerns on the embodiment. The block diagram which shows the hardware constitutions of the control part of the autonomous running robot which concerns on the embodiment. The functional block diagram which shows functionally the structure of the control part of the autonomous running robot which concerns on the embodiment. The flowchart which shows the operation procedure when a user registers the positional information on a work position, and the work content in the position in the memory | storage part of an autonomous running robot in the embodiment. The flowchart which shows the signal reception process by the autonomous running robot which concerns on the embodiment. The figure for demonstrating the specific example in which the autonomous running robot sets a work position and work content in the embodiment. The figure which shows the memory | storage part which registered work position information and the work content in the autonomous running robot which concerns on the embodiment. The flowchart which shows the patrol monitoring control by the autonomous running robot which concerns on the embodiment. The figure which shows the example of a display of the work execution result of the autonomous running robot which concerns on the embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 3 ... Imaging camera, 4 ... Infrared light receiver, 10 ... Driving wheel, 11 ... Traveling motor, 12 ... Encoder, 21 ... CPU, 22 ... ROM, 23 ... RAM, 34 ... Traveling control means, 36 ... Self-position measuring means, 37: Position information storage means, 38: Work content storage means.

Claims (4)

Traveling means for traveling a robot body having a function of performing various operations;
An input means for inputting an operation signal by a user;
Travel in which the travel means is travel-controlled by a teaching travel mode in which the travel means is travel-controlled in accordance with a travel command set by an operation signal input from the input means, and a work travel mode in which the travel means is travel-controlled in accordance with a travel plan. Control means;
A self-position measuring means for measuring a self-position during travel of the robot body;
Position information storage means for registering the self-position measured by the self-position measuring means in the storage unit as work position information when the robot body reaches an arbitrary position in the teaching travel mode when the travel control means is;
Work content storage means for registering work content to be executed at the measured self-position in the storage unit in the travel mode when the travel control means is in the teaching travel mode;
When the operation content registered in the storage unit is selected, work position information for executing the selected work content is extracted from the storage unit, and a travel plan is created based on the extracted work position information. A travel plan creation means,
In the work travel mode, the travel control means guides the robot body to a work position for executing the selected work content by controlling the travel means according to the travel plan created by the travel plan creation means, An autonomous traveling robot characterized in that the main body executes the work content registered at this work position.   2. The autonomous traveling robot according to claim 1, further comprising communication control means for performing communication with the outside, wherein the travel command is selected based on an external input such as a command or setting information acquired by the communication control means. The work content storage means is a work content that specifies that the work position stored in the position information storage means is to be passed as a relay point without executing the work at the work position, or the work executed at the work position. Register and memorize the work contents that specify the contents,
The travel plan creation means designates the work contents that match the work contents set by the operation signal input from the input means and the relay point among the work contents stored in the work content storage means. 2. The work content is selected, a work position corresponding to the selected work content is extracted from the position information storage means, and a travel plan is created based on the extracted work position. Autonomous traveling robot.   2. The autonomous traveling robot according to claim 1, further comprising execution result confirmation means for registering a result executed by the robot main body based on work contents in a storage unit and outputting the registered contents for confirmation.

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