JP2020068897A - Cleaning robot - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a cleaning robot capable of continuing cleaning work by not regarding an obstacle of a predetermined height that can be climbed over existing on a floor surface in a construction site or the like as an obstacle, and preventing an erroneous detection by a sensor depending on an environmental temperature.SOLUTION: A distance measuring device 15 includes a measurement area sensor 15a that scans a light emitted from a light source in a horizontal direction in a predetermined angle range, and a rotation operation part 15b that reciprocates the measurement area sensor 15a in a vertical direction from a horizontal posture in a predetermined angle range, and detects presence or absence of an obstacle at a predetermined measurement distance D in the horizontal front. A robot control part 50 determines presence or absence of an obstacle by removing, from a detection object, an area lower than a virtual surface E formed at a predetermined height from a floor surface F of detection signals acquired from a reflection light by the measurement area sensor 15a.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 8

Description

  The present disclosure relates to a cleaning robot that cleans dust on a floor surface at, for example, a construction site.

  As a sweeping type cleaning robot having an automatic cleaning function and an autonomous traveling function, a cleaning robot has been proposed which can control the cleaning unit according to the situation of the floor surface or the surrounding environment to perform fine cleaning. This cleaning robot is equipped with a laser radar for detecting obstacles in the direction of travel, an ultrasonic sensor for detecting obstacles in a wide range around the robot body, a range image camera for detecting steps on the floor, and dust. (See Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-209644).

  Also, in a self-propelled cleaner that cleans the floor surface while detecting the distance to an obstacle using an ultrasonic sensor, the received wave height value of the ultrasonic sensor is set in advance to prevent false detection due to noise. There is proposed a self-propelled cleaner that recognizes an obstacle only when it is within a set range (Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-122327).

JP, 2006-209644, A JP, 2007-122327, A

When an obstacle existing in the traveling direction of the robot body is detected by a laser radar and an ultrasonic sensor, and unevenness and steps existing on the floor surface are captured by a distance image camera and determined by an image checker as in Patent Document 1, The input data taken in from the sensor is enormous, and it is not efficient for the control unit to perform the cleaning operation while performing the data processing to make a determination, and the device configuration is complicated and expensive. Further, if the amount of data taken in from the laser radar and the ultrasonic sensor is reduced in order to improve the efficiency of cleaning work, the accuracy of obstacle detection will be reduced.
Further, when the obstacle is finely detected, the frequency of the cleaning robot avoiding the obstacle and cleaning is increased. Therefore, the floor surface area, which is originally preferable for cleaning, is not yet cleaned, and the cleaning area is limited. In particular, in a construction site where there are steps or hanging holes between laid iron plates laid on the floor as obstacles, if these are detected as obstacles, the cleaning area is limited.
Further, in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2, an ultrasonic sensor is used for detecting an obstacle, but it is known that an output abnormality occurs in the ultrasonic sensor due to a change in environmental temperature used. In particular, when the environmental temperature suddenly changes, the output voltage becomes an abnormal value. Therefore, even if there is an obstacle to be avoided, if the sensor cannot detect it, there is a risk of collision with the obstacle or inoperability.

  DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION Disclosure applied to some embodiments described below is made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the disclosure is to provide a predetermined height that can be overcome on a floor surface at a construction site or the like. It is an object of the present invention to provide a cleaning robot that can continue a cleaning operation by not considering an obstacle as an obstacle and can prevent erroneous detection of a sensor that depends on environmental temperature.

The disclosure regarding some embodiments described below includes at least the following configurations.
That is, the robot body is provided with a traveling unit that autonomously travels on the floor surface and a cleaning unit that collects dust from the floor surface to clean the robot body. A distance measuring device that measures the distance to the obstacle by receiving the reflected light reflected from the distance measuring device; and a control device that receives a detection signal of the distance measuring device and controls the traveling operation of the traveling device. The distance measuring device includes a range sensor that horizontally scans light emitted from a light source within a predetermined angle range, and a rotation operation unit that reciprocates the range sensor from a horizontal attitude in a vertical direction within a predetermined angle range. And detecting the presence or absence of an obstacle at a predetermined measurement distance D in front of the light source, and the control means forms the detection signal obtained from the reflected light from the range sensor at a predetermined height from the floor surface F. Virtual surface E Ri height lower area removed from the detection target and judging the presence or absence of obstacles.
As described above, the control unit excludes an area having a height lower than the virtual surface E formed at a predetermined height from the floor surface F from the detection target obtained from the reflected light from the range sensor from an object to be detected. By determining the presence / absence, it is possible to continue the cleaning work without performing an avoiding operation for obstacles (steps, slopes, etc.) having a height that can be overcome by the traveling means.

The range sensor is scanned while reciprocating from a horizontal front reference line between an upward rotation angle θ1 and a downward rotation angle θ2, and is scanned from the intersection of the optical axis B and the virtual plane E to the downward rotation angle θ2. The presence / absence of an obstacle may be determined by excluding an area having a height lower than the virtual surface E during the period from being detected.
As a result, the presence / absence of an obstacle is determined by removing an area whose height is lower than the virtual plane E from the detection target in the range from the time when the optical axis B intersects the virtual plane E to the time of scanning to the downward rotation angle θ2. Therefore, when the optical axis B of the side sensor rotates downward from the horizontal front, the cleaning operation is performed in the front side detection area of the robot body from the measurement distance D to the sensor detection limit, excluding obstacles that can be crossed over. You can do it.

The virtual surface E is formed by a flat virtual surface E1 formed at a predetermined height H from the floor surface and a virtual surface E2 that is continuous with the flat virtual surface E1 and is inclined at an inclination angle δ that is gradually higher than the predetermined height H. The presence or absence of an obstacle may be determined by excluding an area having a height lower than the virtual plane E from the detection target while the axis B crosses the virtual plane E and is scanned up to the downward rotation angle θ2. Good.
As a result, even if the floor surface F'which is continuously inclined to the flat floor surface F at the inclination angle δ is continuous in the front direction from the front side of the robot body, the flat virtual surface E1 and the inclination angle δ are inclined to this. Since the area having a height lower than the virtual plane E2 continuous with is excluded from the detection target, it is possible to continue the cleaning work over the inclined surface within the range of the climbing ability of the traveling means.

The distance measuring device also has an ultrasonic sensor in addition to the range sensor, and the ultrasonic sensor extends upward from a horizontal posture at a position higher than a predetermined height above the floor surface F on the front surface of the robot body. It is preferable that they are arranged so as to emit ultrasonic waves toward them.
This makes it possible to ensure safety by double-detecting the presence or absence of obstacles by using the ultrasonic sensor in combination with the range sensor, and also to detect such things as glass that is difficult for the range sensor to detect. It is possible to reliably detect a transparent body or a cone to which a reflective film is attached, and avoid a collision. Further, similarly to the processing in which the range sensor does not detect an obstacle whose height is lower than the virtual surface E having a predetermined height above the floor surface F, it is possible to prevent an obstacle such as a step that can be crossed over from being detected. ..

When the output value of the ultrasonic signal falls below a predetermined value within the sensor detection range, the control means preferably restarts by turning the power source of the ultrasonic sensor OFF and then ON again. ..
As a result, if the environmental temperature suddenly changes during the operation of the cleaning robot, an output abnormality of the ultrasonic sensor may occur. At this time, if the output value of the ultrasonic signal falls below a predetermined value within the sensor detection range, the power of the ultrasonic sensor is temporarily turned off and then turned on again to ensure safety. can do.

  A wide variety of obstacles existing on the floor at the construction site can be detected with few blind spots, and the cleaning operation can be continued by not considering obstacles of a predetermined height that can be crossed over as obstacles, and the ambient temperature. It is possible to provide a cleaning robot that prevents erroneous detection of a sensor that depends on.

(A) is a side view of a cleaning robot, (b) is a front view. It is an internal view which shows the internal structure of the cleaning robot of FIG. It is a bottom view of a cleaning robot. It is explanatory drawing which shows the operation range of the ball caster and distance measuring device provided in front of the robot main body. It is a block diagram showing a control system of the cleaning robot. 6 is a block configuration diagram showing a control system centered on the ultrasonic sensor of FIG. 5. FIG. It is a flow chart which shows control operation of an ultrasonic sensor. It is a schematic diagram explaining the detection range of a side area sensor. It is a schematic diagram explaining the detection range of the side area sensor which concerns on another example. It is a schematic explanatory view which shows the transmission direction of the ultrasonic beam emitted from an ultrasonic sensor. It is a graph which shows the time change of the ultrasonic sensor output voltage with respect to the change of environmental temperature, and the time change of the output voltage of a microcomputer board accompanying a restart.

  FIG. 1A is a side view of the cleaning robot 1, and FIG. 1B is a front view. In the present embodiment, the cleaning robot 1 is used for cleaning the floor surface at a construction work site during the construction period.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the cleaning robot 1 is provided with a traveling means 3 and a cleaning means 4 on a robot body 2 having a housing shape. As shown in FIG. 3, the traveling means 3 is provided with a front wheel caster 5 (driven wheel) at the front central portion in the traveling direction on the bottom of the robot main body 2 in a plan view rectangular shape, and a pair of drive wheels 6 on both rear sides in the traveling direction. I have it. The pair of drive wheels 6 are rotationally driven through an endless timing belt 8 installed between a drive wheel motor 7 provided in the robot body 2 and a pulley. In FIG. 2, the front wheel caster 5 is a free wheel having a diameter of, for example, about 100 mm, which is supported rotatably by 360 ° about an eccentric support shaft portion 5a (vertical shaft). The front wheel casters 5 follow the traveling direction of the cleaning robot 1 and are driven to rotate. The cleaning robot 1 is used in a state where the front wheel casters 5 and the pair of drive wheels 6 are in contact with the floor surface F. Electric power is supplied to each drive wheel motor 7 from a rechargeable lithium-ion battery 24.

  The rotation amounts of the right-hand drive wheel motor 7a and the left-hand drive wheel motor 7b shown in FIG. 3 are individually controlled by a robot control unit 50 (see FIG. 5) described later. When the rotation amount of the right drive wheel motor 7a and the rotation amount of the left drive wheel motor 7b are the same, the cleaning robot 1 goes straight. When the rotation amount of the right drive wheel motor 7a is larger than the rotation amount of the left drive wheel motor 7b, the cleaning robot 1 turns so as to bend to the left. When the rotation amount of the right drive wheel motor 7a is smaller than the rotation amount of the left drive wheel motor 7b, the cleaning robot 1 turns so as to bend to the right. The diameters of the pair of drive wheels 6 and the torques of the drive wheel motors 7a and 7b are set so that even if nails or screws are dropped at the construction work site, or the floor F is inclined within a predetermined height range as described later. Even if there is an obstacle such as a portion or a step, the drive wheel 6 is designed so that it can be overcome without being locked by the obstacle.

  In FIG. 3, a ball caster 9 (auxiliary wheel: universal caster) is freely rotatable on the bottom of the robot main body 2 in a rectangular shape in a plan view, in front of the front wheel casters 5 and near the front corner of the bottom surface of the robot main body 2. Are assembled to each. As shown in FIG. 4, the height h1 of the ball caster 9 from the floor is lower than the bottom of the robot body 2 and higher than the floor F (for example, about 19 mm above the floor). The minimum height H of the bottom of the robot body 2 from the floor surface F is designed to be, for example, about 50 mm.

  As a result, when the cleaning robot 1 autonomously travels and approaches an obstacle such as a stepped portion or an inclined portion provided on the floor F from diagonally left and right, first, the ball caster 9 moves the robot body 2 to hit the obstacle. Does not stop, and the cleaning work can be continued by the ball caster 9 riding on the step surface or the inclined surface and getting over. Further, even if a through hole such as a hanging hole is formed on the floor surface F, and even if the front wheel casters 5 fall into the through hole, the pair of ball casters 9 contact the floor surface F to prevent the robot body 2 from falling. The bottom surface of the robot body 2 does not come into direct contact with the floor surface F by stopping. Therefore, by driving the pair of drive wheels 6, the front wheel casters 5 can escape from the through holes to continue the cleaning work.

  Specifically, with respect to a laid iron plate used in a construction site (for example, thickness 19 mm, 22 mm, 25 mm, etc.), the front wheel caster 5 cannot get over a step (convex portion) of 20 mm in height from the floor surface F. If the front wheel casters 5 fall into the suspension holes, the robot body 2 may be unable to run. By arranging the ball casters 9 shown in this embodiment, the front wheel casters 5 can be overlaid over the height difference of 22 mm or 25 mm which is the thickness of the iron plate, and even if the front wheel casters 5 fall into the hanging hole, the amount of depression It is possible to continue the cleaning work by escaping without reducing (about 19 mm) and fitting.

  Also, when the inclined surface approaches from the left and right diagonally in the traveling direction of the robot main body 2, the bottom of the robot main body 2 may ride on the inclined surface and become inoperable. It is possible to prevent the bottom of 2 from riding up. In particular, since the ball caster 9 has no direction of rotation, it can be driven and rotated regardless of which direction it comes in contact with an obstacle (a step surface, an inclined surface, etc.), so that the robot main body 2 can be driven without changing the traveling direction. It is possible to drive by driving the wheels 6.

  In FIG. 2, the cleaning means 4 includes a rotating brush 10 (cleaning brush), a brush drive motor 11 (see FIG. 5), and a hopper 12. The rotating brush 10 is formed in a columnar shape, and a large number of brushes are provided in a radial manner on the side surface of the columnar shape. The rotating brush 10 is arranged so that its axial direction coincides with the left and right side surfaces of the robot body 2, and is rotatably assembled around a cylindrical central axis. The rotating brush 10 is attached to the bottom of the robot body 2, and is provided with the lower side of the brush constantly contacting the floor surface F. The rotating brush 10 is rotated in the counterclockwise direction by a brush drive motor 11 (see FIG. 5) that is activated by being supplied with power from the lithium-ion battery 24, and traps dust, dirt, and the like existing on the floor surface F, Send it to the rear of the robot body 2. A hopper 12 is provided behind the rotating brush 10. The hopper 12 collects and stores dust, dirt, and the like sent to the rear of the robot body 2 by the rotation of the rotating brush 10 while sucking air. The minimum height position h2 of the cleaning robot 1 from the floor surface F is adjusted to, for example, about 31 mm. The brush drive motor 11 is controlled by a robot control unit 50 described later so as to rotate at a constant speed.

  In FIG. 3, at the bottom of the robot body 2, a pair of auxiliary brushes 13 are mounted on both sides of the front wheel caster 5 so that the width between the brushes gradually widens toward both sides in the traveling direction (arrow direction). The auxiliary brush 13 is provided in front of the rotating brush 10 and guides dust and dirt present on the floor surface F toward the rotating brush 10 as the robot body 2 travels. In FIG. 2, a pair of shield plates 14 are provided on both sides of the rotating brush 10 in the axial direction. The shield plate 14 is made of a flexible rubber plate or the like, and covers the space between the floor F and the dust so that dust and dust sent backward by the rotating brush 10 do not diffuse to both sides.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the pair of ball casters 9 are provided in front of the auxiliary brush 13 and in the vicinity of the bottom front corner of the robot body 2 in the rectangular bottom portion of the robot body 2 in plan view. As a result, the ball caster 9 first rides on the step surface, the inclined surface, or the like to get over, and thus it is possible to prevent the auxiliary brush 13 from directly hitting an obstacle such as the step portion or the inclined portion to be deformed or damaged. it can. In addition, since the auxiliary brush 13 is arranged in front of the drive wheel 6, it is possible to reduce dust adhering to the drive wheel 6 and reduce reattachment to the floor surface F.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 1B, a distance measuring device 15 is provided at the center of the front surface of the robot body 2 in the traveling direction. The distance measuring device 15 emits light and receives the reflected light reflected from the obstacle to measure the time until the reflected light is received, and measures the distance to the obstacle. In this embodiment, a laser range finder is used as the distance measuring device 15, and laser light is emitted from the light source. The distance measuring device 15 scans in the horizontal direction by, for example, reflecting laser light emitted from a light source forward by a reflecting mirror and rotationally driving by a motor incorporating the reflecting mirror. For example, the laser beam is reciprocated at a frequency of 1081 times per second from the front in the traveling direction of FIG. 4 to the left and right sides in a range exceeding 90 °, for example, and a maximum detection range of 270 °, and the laser beam is optically scanned in the horizontal direction. By doing so, the distance to surrounding objects is measured. The range of light of the distance measuring device 15 is, for example, about 30 m at maximum.

  In addition, the distance measuring device 15 reciprocates once a second with the horizontal posture of FIG. 4 set to 0 °, for example, the upward rotation angle θ1 (for example, 30 °) and the downward rotation angle θ2 (for example, 40 °), and the laser By scanning light in the vertical direction, the distance to surrounding objects can be measured. Specifically, the distance measuring device 15 is erected and fixed on a support portion 2a provided on the front surface of the robot body 2. The distance measuring device 15 includes a range sensor 15a that horizontally scans the laser beam and a rotation operation unit 15b that moves the range sensor 15a up and down. The rotary motion unit 15b includes a vertical swing motor 15c that rotates in the vertical direction within a predetermined angle range. A stepping motor, for example, is used as the vertical swing motor 15c. A motor shaft 15d (rotating shaft) of the vertical swing motor 15c is connected to the bottom of the range sensor 15a via a jig. By driving the vertical swing motor 15c, the range sensor 15a rotates about the motor shaft 15d in the vertical direction within a predetermined angle range (for example, 30 ° in the upward direction and 40 ° in the downward direction). .. In this embodiment, the range sensor 15a is configured to reciprocate in the range in which the upward rotation angle θ1 is 30 ° and the downward rotation angle θ2 is 40 ° from the horizontal posture. , Θ2 can be changed as necessary.

  As described above, since the distance measuring device 15 can scan not only in the horizontal direction but also in the vertical direction, the robot control unit 50 (see FIG. 5) causes the robot control unit 50 (see FIG. 5) to have a predetermined height H (eg, from the floor surface F shown in FIG. A process of excluding an obstacle below the virtual plane E (about 50 mm) from the detection target is performed. Specifically, the side area sensor 15a detects the presence / absence of an obstacle at the forward measurement distance D (for example, within 500 mm). When the side area sensor 15a faces downward from the horizontal posture, the side area sensor 15a detects an obstacle that can be crossed over and is within the range of height H from the floor surface F. Therefore, while the optical axis B rotates to the downward rotation angle θ2 (maximum rotation angle), the robot controller 50 does not detect the presence or absence of an obstacle in a range lower than the virtual plane E. As a result, an obstacle such as a step having a height of 25 mm (corresponding to the thickness of the laying iron plate) or less from the floor F over which the cleaning robot 1 can get over is removed from the detection target and the cleaning operation can be continued. There is.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, from the three-dimensional coordinates of the measurement point on the optical axis B scanned from the horizontal front reference line of the range sensor 15a to the upward rotation angle θ1 and the downward rotation angle θ2. The presence or absence of obstacles is detected. In FIG. 8, an area having a height lower than the virtual surface E is excluded from the detection target while the optical axis B is scanned to the downward rotation angle θ2, and the presence or absence of the obstacle is determined. For example, even if the optical axis B intersects the imaginary plane E at the intersection Z1, the obstacle 30 in the height range lower than that does not become the detection target.
Thereby, when the optical axis B of the side area sensor 15a is rotated downward from the horizontal front, it is possible to get over in the front side detection area of the robot body 2 from the measurement distance D to the sensor detection limit (downward rotation angle θ2). The cleaning operation can be performed by excluding the obstacle 30.

Further, as shown in FIG. 9, a virtual surface E in the forward direction of the robot body 2 is higher than a virtual surface E1 which is a flat surface formed at a predetermined height H from the floor surface F and a predetermined height H continuous with the virtual surface E1. May be formed by an imaginary plane E2 that is inclined at an inclination angle δ (for example, about 3 ° to 12 °) that gradually increases. That is, the presence / absence of an obstacle is determined by excluding an area whose height is lower than the virtual plane E from the detection target while the optical axis B crosses the virtual plane E2 or the virtual plane E1 and is scanned up to the downward rotation angle θ2. You may do it. The inclination angle δ of the virtual surface E2 is based on the assumption of the inclination angle of the inclined surface F ′ continuous with the flat floor surface F. For example, even if the optical axis B intersects with the virtual plane E2 at an arbitrary intersection Z2, the inclined plane F ′ in the height range lower than that does not become a detection target.
As a result, even if the floor surface F ′, which is continuous with the floor surface F that is a flat surface and is inclined at the inclination angle δ, is continuous with the side away from the robot body 2, the virtual surface having a height higher than the virtual surface E1. Since the area whose height is lower than E2 is also excluded from the detection target, the cleaning work can be continued over the inclined surface F ′ within the range of the climbing ability of the drive wheel motor 7 (traveling means).

  With the configuration described above, the distance measuring device 15 sets the distance in the angle range of −90 ° to 90 ° in the horizontal direction and 30 ° to −40 ° in the vertical direction with the straight traveling direction of the cleaning robot 1 as the base point (0 °). It is possible to measure the distance from the measuring device 15 to the object located at the front measurement distance D (for example, within 500 mm). That is, the two-dimensional arrangement of obstacles in front of the measurement distance D from the light source is measured by the reflected light of the laser light scanned in the horizontal and vertical directions from the range sensor 15a. As the range-finding sensor 15a, for example, a laser range finder having a range-finding accuracy of 0.1 to 10 m, ± 30 mm, a range-finding resolution of 1 mm, an angular resolution of about 0.25 °, and a scanning time of 25 ms is used. The distance measurement information acquired by the distance measuring device 15 is transmitted to the robot control unit 50 described later. In this way, the range sensor 15a rotates not only in the horizontal direction but also in the vertical direction, so that it is possible to detect an obstacle with a small blind spot in a wide range.

  As shown in FIG. 1B, ultrasonic sensors 16 are provided on the front surface of the robot body 2 at a plurality of positions to avoid collision with an obstacle. The ultrasonic sensor 16 measures the time until the ultrasonic wave is transmitted and the reflected wave is received to detect the distance to the obstacle without contact. The ultrasonic sensor 16 complements the detection range of the range sensor 15a and grasps the presence of the robot body 2 before contacting the obstacle without contact. In order to ensure the safety by dually detecting the presence or absence of an obstacle in combination with the range sensor 15a, a transparent body such as glass or a reflective film which is difficult to detect by the range sensor 15a is attached. Cone etc. are surely detected to avoid collision.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 10, the ultrasonic sensors 16 are provided on the front surface of the robot body 2 at a plurality of locations (for example, three locations: 16a to 16c: see FIG. 6). The ultrasonic sensor 16 is difficult to detect by the distance measuring device 15, and detects the presence or absence of an obstacle in the area on the front side in the traveling direction of the robot body 2 in a superimposed manner. Each of the ultrasonic sensors 16a to 16c is arranged at a position higher than the height H from the floor surface F, and is mounted on the mounting plate 16d so as to transmit ultrasonic waves upward from the horizontal posture. Similar to the process in which the range sensor 15a does not detect the obstacle 30 that is lower than the virtual surface E having a predetermined height H (for example, about 50 mm) above the floor surface F, it does not detect an obstacle such as a level difference that can be crossed over. To do so. The distance measurement information acquired by the ultrasonic sensor 16 is transmitted to the robot controller 50 via the microcomputer baud 25 described later (see FIG. 6).

  Further, as shown in FIG. 4, limit switches 17 are provided diagonally to the left and right of the robot body 2 at both front end portions. The limit switch 17 is, for example, a contact switch provided at the base end of the detection bar 17a having a length of about 70 mm. The limit switch 17 is provided to complement the detection ranges of the range sensor 15a and the ultrasonic sensor 16 which are non-contact sensors. For example, when the robot main body 2 goes over a step having a height of 25 mm or less and advances, obstacles present on the left and right sides in the traveling direction, and the robot main body 2 performs obstacle detection in an obstacle avoidance operation, etc. Safety is ensured by triple detection of the presence or absence of When the limit switch 17 detects an obstacle, it stops traveling in the traveling direction and prompts the robot body 2 to change direction.

  A bumper sensor 18 (contact sensor: see FIG. 5) may be provided in the elastic bumper 2b provided below the front surface of the robot body 2 shown in FIG. Similar to the limit sensor 17, the bumper sensor 18 avoids a collision when the robot body 2 is traveling and there is a foreign object such as an intermediate protrusion in the traveling direction, not only on the floor surface F. When the bumper sensor 18 detects an obstacle, the bumper sensor 18 stops traveling in the traveling direction and prompts the robot body 2 to change direction.

  For example, if the height of the obstacle is less than 50 mm from the floor F, the collision with the robot body 2 is avoided, so that the traveling direction is not changed, but the obstacle is 50 mm or more in height from the floor F. For example, since the limit switch 17 and the bumper sensor 18 can be detected, the collision is avoided by changing the traveling direction. Detection signals from the limit switch 17 and the bumper sensor 18 are transmitted to a robot controller 50 (see FIG. 5) described later.

  As shown in FIG. 3, a front wheel fall prevention sensor 19 for the driven wheels is provided on the bottom of the robot body 2 in front of the front wheel casters 5 in the traveling direction. Further, front fall prevention sensors 20a for drive wheels are provided in front of the left and right drive wheels 6 in the traveling direction, and rear fall prevention sensors 20b for drive wheels are provided in the rear of the traveling direction. Of these, the drive wheel front drop prevention sensor 20a is usually arranged at a position immediately before the drive wheel 6 in the traveling direction, but in the present embodiment, it is arranged at a position different from that. Specifically, in front of the front wheel casters 5 and in the vicinity of the ball casters 9 (in the vicinity of the bottom front corner of the robot body 2), a pair of front drop prevention sensors 20a for driving wheels are provided. An infrared sensor or the like is used as the driven wheel front fall prevention sensor 19, the drive wheel front fall prevention sensor 20a, and the drive wheel rear fall prevention sensor 20b.

  In this way, by disposing the drive wheel front fall prevention sensor 20a, the direction in which the cleaning robot 1 is difficult to be detected by the driven wheel front fall prevention sensor 19 in the opening (through hole, concave portion, etc.) existing on the floor surface, For example, when approaching from diagonally left and right, it can be detected by any of the drive wheel front fall prevention sensors 20a before the center of gravity G of the robot body 2 approaches the opening position. This prevents the center of gravity G of the robot body 2 from approaching the opening position in an unstable state (for example, the state in which the robot body 2 largely protrudes into the opening) and prevents a fall accident.

  When any one of the driven wheel front fall prevention sensor 19, the drive wheel front fall prevention sensor 20a, and the drive wheel rear fall prevention sensor 20b detects the ON state, the robot control unit 50 moves the robot body 2 in the traveling direction. It is preferable to stop the traveling operation and change the drive direction of the drive wheels 6. As a result, there are openings (through holes, recesses, etc.) in the front or rear of the traveling direction of the cleaning robot 1, so that the traveling operation is temporarily stopped and the drive direction of the drive wheels 6 is changed to prevent a fall accident. can do.

Further, the robot controller 50 advances the robot body 2 when at least one of the driven wheel front fall prevention sensor 19 and the drive wheel front fall prevention sensor 20a and the drive wheel rear fall prevention sensor 20b are both ON. Direction operation (driving wheel motor 7) is stopped and brush driving motor 11 (see FIG. 5) is stopped to stop the cleaning operation.
In this way, when both the fall prevention sensors for the forward movement direction and the backward movement direction of the robot body 2 are turned on, a floor surface condition that causes an erroneous detection, for example, a floor material having a large gloss (for example, a gloss metal material, a gloss resin) It is determined to be an abnormal situation such as a dangerous situation in which the output of the fall prevention sensor becomes small due to irregular reflection and the front and rear directions of the robot body 2 are approached by a step or the like.
When the robot control unit 50 detects such an abnormal situation, it stops the traveling of the robot body 2 and stops the cleaning operation, so that the fall prevention sensors 19, 20a, 20b are erroneous even though there is no opening or the like. It is possible to prevent the robot body 2 from falling down a step or the like without causing a malfunction such as repeating the avoidance operation by the detection, and to provide a fail-safe function.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the cleaning robot 1 includes an operation unit 21 on the rear upper surface of the robot body 2. As shown in FIG. 5, the operation unit 21 includes an operation panel 21a provided with various operation keys and a wired remote control device 21b, each of which has, for example, a power switch, an automatic operation button, an emergency stop button, a travel stop button, or a manual operation. Various input information such as moving speed and moving direction can be input. The input information of the operation unit 21 is transmitted to the robot control unit 50 described later.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the cleaning robot 1 includes a display unit 22. The display unit 22 indicates whether or not the state of the cleaning robot 1 (power ON / OFF, battery charging state, running state, standby state, filter clogging state, sensor detection abnormal state, emergency stop state, etc.) is lit, emission color, lighting or It is provided with a blinking indicator light 22a and a melody speaker 22b for notifying by sound that the cleaning robot 1 is traveling. As shown in FIGS. 1A and 2, the indicator light 22a is provided on the rear upper surface of the robot body 2 along with the wired remote controller 21b.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the cleaning robot 1 includes a lithium ion battery 24. As shown in FIG. 5, the lithium-ion battery 24 can be charged via the charger 23 by connecting the outlet to the commercial power supply AC100V. The robot control unit 50 includes a microcomputer, a CPU that controls the cleaning operation and traveling operation of the cleaning robot 1, a ROM that stores various operation programs, a temporary storage of input information, and a reading of the operation programs. It has a storage unit such as a RAM used as a work area of the CPU.

  The robot control unit 50 includes input information from the operation unit 21, various sensors (range sensor 15a, ultrasonic sensor 16, limit switch 17, bumper sensor 18 (can be omitted), driven wheel front fall prevention sensor 19, drive Detection signals from the wheel front fall prevention sensor 20a and the drive wheel rear fall prevention sensor 20b) are input. The detection signals of the ultrasonic sensors 16a to 16c are transmitted to the robot controller 50 via the microcomputer board 25 (microcontroller board). The microcomputer board 25 has a microcomputer and peripheral circuits such as input / output circuits mounted on one board. Further, the robot control unit 50 outputs a drive signal to the brush drive motor 11, the drive wheel motors 7a and 7b, and the vertical swing motor 15c to clean the display unit 22 (indicator light 22a, melody speaker 22b). A display command signal is output to notify the operation state of the robot 1. When the robot control unit 50 detects a failure of the ultrasonic sensors 16a to 16c via the microcomputer board 25, it outputs a stop signal to each drive unit to stop the cleaning operation of the cleaning robot 1. Further, as will be described later, when the microcomputer board 25 receives an abnormal output signal from the ultrasonic sensors 16a to 16c, the microcomputer boards 25 are restarted by temporarily turning off the power sources of the ultrasonic sensors 16a to 16c and then turning them on again. It has become.

The graph on the left side of FIG. 11 is experimental data when the environmental temperature is suddenly changed in a state where an obstacle is arranged at a certain distance from the ultrasonic sensor alone, and an abnormal output of the ultrasonic sensor is intentionally generated. Is. The graph on the right side of FIG. 11 shows a change over time in the output voltage value accompanied by restarting due to the detection of a sensor temperature abnormality by adding the microcomputer board in the above experiment.
The left graph of FIG. 11 shows the time change of the output voltage of the ultrasonic sensors 16a to 16c with respect to the change of the environmental temperature. It can be seen that the sensor output value drops abnormally when the environmental temperature changes suddenly.
Therefore, the microcomputer board 25 causes the output voltage value of the ultrasonic signal of any of the ultrasonic sensors 16a to 16c to exceed the upper limit value (for example, 2.5 V) shown in the left graph of FIG. If it is less than 0.05 V), it is determined that the sensor has failed, and the robot control unit 50 stops the driving of the drive wheel motor 7 and stops the automatic operation. It should be noted that obstacle detection is in an OFF state in a predetermined output range outside the sensor measurement range equal to or lower than the upper limit value.
Further, when the temperature falls below a predetermined value (for example, 0.08 V) within the sensor detection range defined by the upper limit value and the lower limit value, it is determined that the sensor temperature is abnormal, and the microcomputer board 25 causes the ultrasonic sensors 16a to 16c to supply power. Is turned off and then turned back on again to restart. This predetermined value varies depending on the sensor used, the environment used, and the like. As shown in the graph on the right side of FIG. 11, after the sensor is restarted, even if the environmental temperature suddenly changes, the time during which the sensor becomes inactive is suppressed to 2-3 seconds, and the output value of the microcomputer board 25 becomes stable. It can be seen that the sensor does not malfunction.

  As described above, when the environmental temperature suddenly changes during the operation of the cleaning robot 1, the output voltage abnormality of the ultrasonic sensors 16a to 16c may occur. At this time, if the output value of the ultrasonic signal falls below a predetermined value within the sensor detection range defined by the upper limit value and the lower limit value, the microcomputer board 25 once turns off the power source of the ultrasonic sensors 16a to 16c. The safety can be secured by restarting after returning to the ON state after returning to the ON state.

  The obstacle determination angle of the robot control unit 50 is the vertical swinging angle, and the laser sensor output value is thinned according to the data processing capacity of the CPU or the scanning time of the laser sensor is set to be less than the determination frequency. I try to reduce the calculation load.

The robot controller 50 estimates the type of object as follows and determines whether the object is an obstacle. For example, when an object is detected at a substantially equal distance in the entire vertical range of 30 ° to −40 °, it can be estimated that the object is a wall and an obstacle.
Further, when an object is detected only at a certain small range height in the vertical angle range, and the object is also detected at the same certain range height at other angles in the horizontal direction, it is detected in the air. An object with a small width is located horizontally, and it can be presumed that this object is a cone bar, that is, an obstacle to be avoided.
Further, when the object is detected at a position above a certain angle in the vertical angle range, but when it is determined that the object is located at a position higher than the entire height of the cleaning robot 1, May actually be an obstacle, and it may be determined that the area below it can be cleaned.

  When the robot controller 50 receives the direction and distance information of the obstacle from the distance measuring device 15 and / or the ultrasonic sensors 16a to 16c, the robot controller 50 determines the traveling direction so as to avoid the obstacle based on these measurement results. To do. If there is no object determined to be an obstacle, the vehicle is instructed to go straight.

  When there is an object determined as an obstacle, the robot controller 50 determines the traveling direction of the cleaning robot 1 as follows, for example. When the rightward distance and the leftward distance from the straight traveling direction are equal, it is determined that the cleaning robot 1 is approaching an obstacle such as a cone bar or a wall at a right angle, and the cleaning robot 1 bends to the left or right. Instruct to avoid obstacles.

When the distance to the right of the obstacle from the straight direction is shorter than the distance to the left, the robot controller 50 determines that the cleaning robot 1 is approaching the obstacle from the diagonally right side. Make a decision and turn left to instruct you to avoid obstacles. On the contrary, when the rightward distance from the straight traveling direction is longer than the leftward distance, the robot control unit 50 determines that the cleaning robot 1 is approaching the obstacle from the diagonally left side. Then turn to the right and instruct you to avoid obstacles.
As described above, when it is determined that the obstacle is approaching from an oblique direction, the robot control unit 50 bends in an obtuse angle on either the left or the right to bend the obstacle in a direction in which the obstacle can be avoided. Instruct them to avoid things. The above control operation may be performed by combining the detection result of the limit switch 17.
Further, when the first and second fall prevention sensors 19 and 20 detect an opening (through hole, concave portion, etc.) on the floor surface F in the traveling direction, the robot control unit 50 causes the cleaning robot 1 to be on the spot. After stopping, the rotation of the drive wheels 6 is reversed to retract the robot body 2.

  The robot controller 50 controls the drive of the brush drive motor 11 so as to rotate the rotary brush 10 at a constant speed. Further, the robot control unit 50 controls the rotation direction and the rotation amount of each of the right-side drive wheel motor 7a and the left-side drive wheel motor 7b depending on the presence or absence of an obstacle, a hanging hole, or an opening detected by various sensors. As a result, the cleaning robot 1 is controlled to switch between the straight movement, the backward movement, and the turning movement. When the movement direction instruction input by the operator is received from the operation unit 21, the movement direction instruction received from the operation unit 21 is prioritized, and the right drive wheel motor 7a and the left drive are driven based on the movement direction instruction. The amount of rotation is controlled for each of the wheel motors 7b.

  The robot control unit 50 can change the emission angle of the laser light in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction by changing the vertical movement range of the range sensor 15a of the distance measuring device 15 and the rotation range of the vertical swing motor 15c. it can. More specifically, the robot control unit 50 rotates the distance measuring device 15 in the vertical direction to change the direction, and the emission angle of the laser light from the distance measuring device 15 is set to the lower limit position (lower position) shown in FIG. The vertical swing motor 15c is drive-controlled so as to be changed in the vertical direction between the rotation angle θ2) and the upper limit position (upper rotation angle θ1). The display unit 22 receives various input information input by the operation unit 21, information about an object detected by the distance measuring device 15, and the like, and causes the display lamp 22a to light up the display or output to the melody speaker 22b for cleaning. The state of the robot 1 is displayed.

Here, an example of the control operation of the microcomputer board 25 and the robot control unit 50 when the output abnormality of the ultrasonic sensors 16a to 16c occurs will be described based on the flowchart shown in FIG. When the power of the cleaning robot 1 is turned on, the microcomputer board 25 is activated and the ultrasonic sensors 16a to 16c are activated (steps S1 and S2).
The ultrasonic sensors 16a to 16c detect the presence / absence of an obstacle existing in the front measurement range similarly to the distance measuring device 15 shown in FIG. At this time, since ultrasonic waves are transmitted upward from the horizontal posture, obstacles such as steps that can be crossed and are lower than the virtual plane E having a predetermined height H (for example, about 50 mm) from the floor F are not detected. Is becoming

  The microcomputer board 25 determines whether or not the output voltage values of the ultrasonic sensors 16a to 16c detect an abnormal value corresponding to a failure (for example, whether the output value exceeds the upper limit output value 2.5V or the lower limit output value 0.05V). It is determined (step S3). When an abnormal value is detected, it is determined that the sensor has failed, the driving wheel motor 7 is stopped through the robot control unit 50 to stop the cleaning operation, and the display unit 22 (indicator light 22a, melody speaker 22b) is stopped. An abnormal signal is transmitted to inform the operating state of the cleaning robot 1 (step S4). When the output voltage values of the ultrasonic sensors 16a to 16c do not detect the abnormal value corresponding to the failure, the cleaning operation is continued with the abnormal signal to the display unit 22 kept OFF (step S5).

  Next, the microcomputer board 25 determines whether or not a temperature abnormality has occurred in the ultrasonic sensors 16a to 16c (step S6). Specifically, the output voltage values of the ultrasonic sensors 16a to 16c are within the sensor detection range defined by the upper limit value and the lower limit value (for example, 0.05V to 2.5V), but the predetermined output voltage value (for example, 0 If it is less than 0.08 V), it is determined that a temperature abnormality has occurred. At this time, the microcomputer board 25 restarts the power source of the ultrasonic sensors 16a to 16c once turned off and then turned on again (step S7: see FIG. 6). The cleaning operation is continued during the restart operation. When the output voltage values of the ultrasonic sensors 16a to 16c are within the sensor detection range and are higher than the predetermined output voltage value (for example, 0.08V), the cleaning robot 1 continues the cleaning operation as it is and the ultrasonic waves are transmitted. The sensors 16a to 16c are operated to output ultrasonic waves, and the following obstacle detection operation is performed.

The microcomputer board 25 determines whether any of the ultrasonic sensors 16a to 16c has detected an obstacle (step S8). When an obstacle is detected, the obstacle detection signal is turned on and output to the robot controller 50 (step S9). The robot control unit 50 executes the above-described avoiding operation of the cleaning robot 1 when an obstacle is detected. If the obstacle is not detected or if the obstacle is outside the measurement range, the microcomputer board 25 determines that the obstacle detection signal is OFF and that there is no abnormality, and repeats the detection operation from step S3.
As described above, if the environmental temperature changes suddenly during the cleaning operation of the cleaning robot 1, abnormal output values of the ultrasonic sensors 16a to 16c may occur. At this time, when the output value of the ultrasonic signal falls below a predetermined value within the sensor detection range defined by the upper limit value and the lower limit value, the microcomputer board 25 once turns off the power sources of the ultrasonic sensors 16a to 16c. The safety can be secured by restarting after returning to the ON state after the start.

  Next, an example of the cleaning operation of the cleaning robot 1 will be described. The process is started when the worker turns on the power to the operation unit 21 and gives an instruction to start cleaning. With the cleaning robot 1 stopped, the distance measuring device 15 measures the distance in an angle range of −90 ° to 90 ° in the horizontal direction and −40 ° to 30 ° in the vertical direction with the straight traveling direction of the cleaning robot 1 as a base point. An object located within a space of 500 mm from the measuring device 15 can be detected. In addition, the ultrasonic sensors 16a to 16c are activated so that an object within a predetermined measurement distance can be detected. After that, the indicator light 22a of the robot controller 50 is turned on, and the information regarding the object detected by the distance measuring device 15 is displayed through the indicator light 22a and the melody speaker 22b.

  The robot controller 50 drives and controls the brush drive motor 11 to rotate the brush drive motor 11 at a constant speed. At the same time, the cleaning robot 1 is moved straight by operating the right driving wheel motor 7a and the left driving wheel motor 7b with the same amount of rotation. The cleaning robot 1 runs straight while cleaning the floor surface to detect the presence or absence of obstacles.

  Specifically, the robot control unit 50 receives the information transmitted from the distance measuring device 15 and the ultrasonic sensors 16a to 16c, and as illustrated in FIG. 4, an angle range of −90 ° to 90 ° in the horizontal direction. And the information of the object at −40 ° to 30 ° in the vertical direction is extracted. The robot controller 50 determines whether or not each of the extracted objects is an obstacle as described above. If the presence of an obstacle is not detected, the cleaning robot 1 is moved straight by operating the right-side drive wheel motor 7a and the left-side drive wheel motor 7b at the same rotation amount. At this time, the robot controller 50 excludes an obstacle below the virtual plane E having a predetermined height H (for example, about 50 mm) from the floor surface F detected by the range sensor 15a as a detection target. As a result, for example, the distance measuring device 15 does not detect a step having a height of 25 mm (thickness of the laid iron plate) from the floor surface F or less, and, for example, a hanging hole of the laid iron plate exists and the front wheel caster 5 falls. The ball caster 9 provided at the bottom of the robot body 2 supports the robot body 2, and even if a step or an inclined portion between the iron plates is approached diagonally from the front in the traveling direction, the ball caster 9 rides on the stepped surface to get over. The robot main body 2 does not come into contact with the traveling surface to be locked, and the cleaning operation can be continued while traveling over a step having a maximum height of 25 mm or less corresponding to the thickness of the spread iron plate.

  When the obstacle detection information is transmitted from at least one of the range sensor 15a or the ultrasonic sensors 16a to 16c, the robot control unit 50 determines the traveling direction based on the measurement result so as to avoid the obstacle. decide. For example, when the distance to the right of the obstacle in the straight-ahead direction is shorter than the distance to the left, it is determined that the cleaning robot 1 is approaching the obstacle from the diagonally right side, and the cleaning robot 1 moves to the left side. Control the running motion so as to bend and avoid obstacles. Specifically, by increasing the rotation amount of the right-side drive wheel motor 7a from the rotation amount of the left-side drive wheel motor 7b, the cleaning robot 1 is turned to the left to change direction and avoid obstacles.

  Further, the robot control unit 50 detects the ON state of any of the driven wheel front fall prevention sensor 19, the drive wheel front fall prevention sensor 20a, and the drive wheel rear fall prevention sensor 20b, and detects the ON state of the robot body 2. It is preferable to stop the traveling operation to and change the drive direction of the drive wheels 6. As a result, there are openings, holes, etc. in the front or rear of the cleaning robot 1 in the traveling direction, so that the traveling operation is temporarily stopped and the right drive wheel motor 7a and the left drive wheel motor 7b are rotated in the reverse direction to clean the cleaning robot 1. Can be retracted to prevent a fall accident.

Further, the robot control unit 50, when at least either the driven wheel front drop sensor 19 or the drive wheel front fall prevention sensor 20a and the drive wheel rear fall prevention sensor 20b are turned on, the drive wheel motor 7, the brush, and the brush. The drive of the drive motor 11 is stopped to stop the cleaning operation. In this way, when both the fall prevention sensors for the forward movement direction and the backward movement direction of the robot body 2 are turned on, a floor surface condition that causes an erroneous detection, for example, a floor material having a large gloss (for example, a gloss metal material, a gloss resin) If the output of the fall prevention sensors 19, 20a, 20b becomes small due to irregular reflection, or if there is a step difference in the front-rear direction of the robot body 2, it is determined to be an abnormal situation.
When such an abnormal situation is detected, the traveling of the robot body 2 is stopped and the cleaning operation is stopped, so that an erroneous operation such as repeated avoidance operation due to erroneous detection does not occur even though there is no opening or the like. In addition, it is possible to prevent the robot body 2 from falling down a step or the like, and to provide a fail-safe function.

  The robot control unit 50 determines that the cleaning is completed at the time when a preset fixed time has elapsed from the start of the process. When it is determined that the cleaning is completed, the processing is ended and the automatic operation stop of the cleaning robot 1 is stopped. At this time, since the power of the cleaning robot 1 is in the ON state, the cleaning robot 1 can be manually operated as needed, such as moving to a charging place or moving for rental collection. If it is determined that the cleaning is not completed, the cleaning operation and the obstacle detection process are repeated. The cleaning operation may be stopped when the capacity of the lithium-ion battery 24 becomes, for example, 20% or less. As a result, it becomes possible to perform cleaning as long as possible by saving power.

  As described above, the robot control unit 50 excludes, from the detection target, an area whose height is lower than the virtual plane E formed at a predetermined height from the floor surface in the detection signal obtained from the reflected light from the range sensor 15a. By determining the presence / absence of the obstacle, the cleaning work can be continued without performing the avoiding operation for each obstacle (stepped portion, inclined portion, etc.) having a predetermined height that can be overcome by the traveling means.

  Further, even if the floor surface F'which is continuously inclined to the flat floor surface F with the inclination angle δ is continuous in the front direction from the front side of the robot body 2, the flat virtual surface E1 and the inclination angle δ are formed. Since an area having a height lower than the virtual surface E2 continuous with is excluded from the detection target, the cleaning work can be continued by overcoming the inclined surface within the range of the climbing capability of the traveling means. The value of the inclination angle δ can be arbitrarily set in relation to the climbing ability of the traveling means.

  As described above, it is possible to detect a wide variety of obstacles existing on the floor surface F in a construction site or the like with a small blind spot, and to avoid an obstacle of a predetermined height that can be crossed over as an obstacle, thereby performing a cleaning operation. It is possible to provide the cleaning robot 1 in which the cleaning robot 1 can be continued and the false detection of the ultrasonic sensor 16 depending on the environmental temperature is prevented.

  The cleaning robot 1 of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various other modified examples are possible. For example, in the above-described embodiment, dust and the like are only stored in the hopper 12 after being caught by the rotating brush 10, but a vacuum motor may be installed to suck the dust and the like.

In addition, in the above-described embodiment, the information of the object in the detection range of the distance measuring device 15 in the angle range of −90 ° to 90 ° in the horizontal direction is extracted from the information received from the distance measuring device 15. Other angles may be used within the range of possible angle 270 °.
Further, the distance measuring device 15 is controlled so that the emitted light rotates vertically in the range of 30 ° from the upper direction to 40 ° of the lower direction, but the rotation range is not limited to this. Alternatively, a larger angle may be used as long as the outer casing (robot body 2) covering the distance measuring device 15 is not erroneously recognized as an obstacle. Alternatively, when the distance measuring device 15 is provided at a height position for detecting a specific obstacle (for example, a cone bar), the upward rotation angle may be a value smaller than 30 °. Further, the imaginary plane E having a height H from the floor F that can be measured by the distance measuring device 15 is not limited to a height of 50 mm, and may be smaller or larger depending on the height of an obstacle that can be overcome. Good.
Further, in the above-described embodiment, the frequency of light emitted from the distance measuring device 15 in the horizontal direction is 1081 times per second, and the frequency of vertical rotation of the distance measuring device 15 is once per second. However, it goes without saying that other values may be used.

  Further, in the above embodiment, the robot control unit 50 controls the rotation speed of the rotary brush 10 to be constant, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, when it is determined that the obstacle is dust, it is estimated that the dust is scattered on the floor surface at a place where the cleaning is performed, and the rotation speed of the rotary brush 10 is increased to improve the dust collection efficiency. Good.

  1 Cleaning Robot 2 Robot Body 2a Support 2b Bumper 3 Traveling Means 4 Cleaning Means 5 Front Wheel Caster 5a Support Shaft 6 Drive Wheel 7 Drive Wheel Motor 7a Right Drive Wheel Motor 7b Left Drive Wheel Motor 8 Timing Belt 9 Ball Caster 10 Rotating Brush (Cleaning Brush) 11 Brush Driving Motor 12 Hopper 13 Auxiliary Brush 14 Shielding Plate 15 Distance Measuring Device 15a Range Sensor 15b Rotating Motion Part 15c Vertical Swing Motor 15d Motor Shaft 16, 16a, 16b, 16c Ultrasonic Sensor 16d Mounting plate 17 Limit switch 17a Detection bar 18 Bumper sensor 19 Driven wheel front fall prevention sensor 20a Drive wheel front fall prevention sensor 20b Drive wheel rear fall prevention sensor 21 Operation part 2 a control panel 21b wired remote controller 22 display unit 22a indicating lamp 22b melody speaker 23 charger 24 lithium-ion battery 25 microcomputer board 30 obstacle 50 robot controller

Claims (5)

A cleaning robot comprising: a robot body, a traveling unit that autonomously travels on a floor surface, and a cleaning unit that collects dust from the floor surface for cleaning.
A distance measuring device that measures the distance to the obstacle by emitting light in front of the robot body and receiving the reflected light reflected from the obstacle,
A control means for receiving a detection signal of the distance measuring device and controlling a traveling operation of the traveling means,
The distance measuring device includes a range sensor that scans light emitted from a light source in a horizontal direction within a predetermined angle range, and a rotary operation unit that reciprocates the range sensor from a horizontal attitude in a vertical direction within a predetermined angle range. And detecting the presence of an obstacle at a predetermined measurement distance D in front of the light source,
The control means excludes an area having a height lower than a virtual surface E formed at a predetermined height from the floor surface F from the detection target obtained from the reflected light from the range sensor to detect presence or absence of an obstacle. A cleaning robot characterized by making a judgment.   The range sensor is scanned while reciprocating from a horizontal front reference line between an upward rotation angle θ1 and a downward rotation angle θ2, and is scanned from the intersection of the optical axis B and the virtual plane E to the downward rotation angle θ2. The cleaning robot according to claim 1, wherein an area having a height lower than that of the virtual surface E is removed from a detection target while the presence or absence of an obstacle is determined.   The virtual surface E is formed by a flat virtual surface E1 formed at a predetermined height H from the floor surface and a virtual surface E2 that is continuous with the flat virtual surface E1 and is inclined at an inclination angle δ that is gradually higher than the predetermined height H. 3. The presence / absence of an obstacle is determined by excluding an area having a height lower than the virtual plane E from the detection target while the axis B intersects the virtual plane E and is scanned up to the downward rotation angle θ2. Cleaning robot.   The distance measuring device also has an ultrasonic sensor in addition to the range sensor, and the ultrasonic sensor extends upward from a horizontal posture at a position higher than a predetermined height above the floor surface F on the front surface of the robot body. The cleaning robot according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the cleaning robot is arranged so as to emit ultrasonic waves toward it.   5. The control means restarts the power source of the ultrasonic sensor once to turn it off and then back on when the output value of the ultrasonic signal falls below a predetermined value within the sensor detection range. The described cleaning robot.