JPH06202732A - Moving body operating device and security robot using same - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily and effectively detect obstacles to easily operate a moving body by providing one of sensor groups in the upper part of the moving body so that ultrasonic waves are radiated downward from the horizontal direction and providing the other in the lower part so that ultrasonic waves are radiated upward from the horizontal direction. Further, the respective sensors are provided to be able to oscillate in a horizontal face. CONSTITUTION:A detector 35 which detects whether obstacles exist in the front of a robot or not consists of two upper and lower oscillating bodies 201 and 203, and each of oscillating bodies 201 and 203 is provided with six ultrasonic sensors 205. A shaft 207 coupling the oscillating bodies 201 and 203 is rotated and oscillated by a step motor 209. Each of shaking bodies 201 and 203 consists of right and left plate-shaped bodies 201R and 201L and a center wedge type shielding body 201c, and three ultrasonic transducers 205u, 205m, and 205d are attatcched to the upper stage, the middle stage, and the lower stage of each of plate-shaped bodies 201R and 201L. Ultrasonic transducers 205u, 205m, and 205d are so provided that their angles are 0 deg., 25 deg. down, and 41 deg. down to the horizontal direction.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an operation device for a moving body that moves on a floor or the ground, and a security robot for monitoring a factory, hospital or the like using the operation device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Some autonomous mobile robots are provided with ultrasonic sensors for detecting obstacles. As a method or device for detecting obstacles in this kind of robot, one ultrasonic sensor with a narrow directivity scans a two-dimensional horizontal plane in all directions around the axis of the robot, and a large number of directions on the outer circumference of the robot. An ultrasonic sensor having a narrow property is provided in the same plane to scan around the axis of the robot, or a pair of ultrasonic sensors that can be rotated up and down as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-116205. There is a device which is provided at a point separated by a predetermined distance in the height direction to detect the distance to an obstacle.

Since the former two robots scan only in the horizontal plane, they cannot efficiently detect an obstacle placed at an appropriate height above the floor. The robot described last can calculate the distance to the obstacle, but complicated calculation is required for the calculation, and it may be difficult to detect the presence or absence of the obstacle depending on the shape.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention overcomes the drawbacks of the prior art in that obstacles in front of a robot are detected by limiting them to objects of a specific shape, or that complicated calculations are required for detection. It is a solution.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a moving vehicle body with a plurality of ultrasonic sensors, and one of the plurality of ultrasonic sensors has a sensor group above the moving body. A sensor is provided to emit ultrasonic waves downward from the horizontal, and the other sensor group is provided below the moving body so as to emit ultrasonic waves from the horizontal upward, and each ultrasonic sensor is in a horizontal plane. Made swingable.

[0006]

[Function] Among the plurality of ultrasonic sensors, one group is provided downward in the upper portion of the moving vehicle body, and the other group is provided upward in the lower portion, so that it is sandwiched between the upper portion and the lower portion. Obstacles can be easily detected, and since the ultrasonic sensor oscillates within an appropriate angle range, obstacles in front can be detected.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a front view of a security robot using the navigation device according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a side view of FIG. 1 and 2, the bogie frame 11
A front wheel 13 and a drive wheel 15 are provided on both sides on the lower side. The drive wheels 15 are independently driven by a drive motor 17 and can move forward and backward, so that the carriage can turn as well as move forward and backward. Each of the drive wheels is provided with an encoder device 19 for measuring the rotation speed. A control panel 31 is provided on the front surface of the bogie frame 11, and an obstacle detection device 35 for detecting an obstacle in front of the front surface is provided on the panel 31. The details of the detection device 35 will be described later. Tactile sensor 3 on the lower front to prevent collision
7 is provided. A bumper switch is provided at the tip of the tactile sensor 37, and when the bumper switch hits an obstacle, the clutch 23 is activated and the robot is stopped. After that, the robot retreats, turns, and the like by a built-in or external control device.

The drive wheel 15 is provided with an encoder brush 21 for measuring the rotational speed.

Further, a laser sensor 51 for detecting the position of the robot is provided on the head of the trolley frame, and laser light is emitted upward by the laser sensor 51, and a predetermined position in the building, for example, It is reflected by a laser light reflection plate 53 (not shown) provided at a position where the robot passes. When the laser sensor 51 detects the reflected laser light, it can be confirmed that the robot is at that position. The two laser sensors 51 are provided at appropriate intervals,
By this, the orientation of the robot can be detected. That is, the reflecting plate 53 is formed in a cross shape, and the cross-shaped vertical lines and horizontal lines can be distinguished from each other. For example, the width of the vertical line is wide and the width of the horizontal line is narrow. The vertical line is easily reflected and the reflected light is strong, but the horizontal line is partially diffused, or the reflection coefficient is small and the reflection is slightly weak and the reflected light is weak. It is provided so that it can be distinguished by such means.

It should be noted that even a cross-shaped reflecting plate whose vertical and horizontal lines cannot be distinguished may be distinguished by utilizing the data recorded in the internal memory.

Further, an antenna 71 for transmitting a video wave and an antenna 73 for transmitting and receiving a sound wave with the outside are provided above the dolly. Further, a video camera 75 and a transceiver 77 are provided at appropriate positions. Image information captured by the video camera 75 is transmitted from a video antenna 71 to a console 101 shown in FIG. 3 installed in a proper place in the same building through a video transmitter 79 provided below the video camera 75. It The transceiver 77 and the voice antenna 73 allow communication with the console. A modem 81 for converting electric current and voice is provided below the panel 31. Further, this robot has a microprocessor (not shown) built therein, and is used for communication with the outside and necessary control of the robot itself.

Further, this robot has the console 1
Hardware and software are provided so that the control can be performed by 01.

A cleaner 91 for cleaning the floor surface and a hopper 93 for collecting dust are provided below the carriage frame 11, and the cleaner 91 is a vacuum motor 9 provided substantially in the center.
5 can collect dust on the floor.

A power source for driving the drive motor 17, the vacuum motor 95, etc. is supplied by a battery 97 provided at an appropriate position of the robot body.

This battery 97 is provided with a connector plug for connection (not shown), and the connector plug is brought into contact with a power source terminal provided at a proper place inside the building,
The battery 97 can be charged.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the console 101 described above. In FIG. 3, an antenna 103 for receiving a video wave and an antenna 10 for transmitting and receiving an audio wave are provided above the console.
5 is provided, an image is displayed on the TV monitor 107 for video radio waves, and a transceiver 109 is used for audio radio waves.
Is converted into voice by the modem 11 and the voice for transmission is the modem 11
1 is converted into an electric signal and transmitted from the antenna 105. Further, the console 11 has a computer 11
3 and a network controller 115 are provided. Necessary commands, data, etc. are input from the keyboard 117 while referring to the monitor 119, and by using the trackball 121. Incidentally, 123 is a key switch.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the detection device 35 for detecting the presence or absence of an obstacle in front of the front of the robot is composed of two upper and lower oscillators 201 and 203. Six ultrasonic sensors 205 or ultrasonic transducers 205 using the ultrasonic sensors 205 are provided in each of the moving bodies 201 and 203. Also, this rocker 201,
203 is connected by a shaft 207, and the shaft 20
7 is rotated and swung by the step motor 209. This ultrasonic transducer is provided with an ultrasonic controller equipped with an underwater acoustic search module and an ultrasonic directing device.

The oscillating bodies 201 and 203 are provided symmetrically in the vertical direction, and details thereof are shown in FIG. This rocker 201,
Reference numeral 203 denotes left and right plate-shaped members 201L and 201R and a central wedge-shaped shield 201c. The plate-shaped members 201L and 201R are configured such that three ultrasonic transducers 205u, 205m, and 205d are attached to the upper, middle, and lower stages.

In order to detect obstacles efficiently, the ultrasonic transducers 205u, 205m, and 205d in the upper, interrupted, and lower stages are arranged so that their respective horizontal angles are 0 °, 25 ° downward, and 41 ° downward. It is provided. Also,
The plate-shaped members 201L and 201R have an intersection angle of 9 normals.
It is set at 3.6 °. This is because the plate motors 201L and 201L,
This is because these plate-shaped bodies are designed to have a common direction for only one step when the 01Rs each swing about 90 degrees. As a result, the ultrasonic transducer can completely cover the front 180 ° angle at every predetermined angle. This plate-like body is made of an electrically insulating material so as not to generate stray capacitance with the ultrasonic transducer. In addition, in order to prevent mutual interference between the left and right transducers, the shielding wall 201c is covered with a high-density sonar absorbing wall to form the recess. The mutual interference of the transducers occurs when the robot moves along a wall if it is flat, and is due to the reflection of ultrasonic waves at the front part of the plate-shaped body.

Each of the ultrasonic transducers has a sonar transmitting circuit and a receiving circuit. In order to reduce the number of transmitting circuits and receiving circuits, a frequency multiplexer is used, and the upper, middle, and lower stages of the transducers transmit at different timings, which causes the echo sound to be erroneously transmitted to different transducers. I'm trying not to receive it.

A micro step motor is used as a step motor 209 for rotating and swinging the upper and lower plate-like bodies 201 and 203, and a sinusoidal current is used for positioning at a more accurate angle.

Since the obstacle detecting device 35 is constructed as described above, it is possible to efficiently detect the obstacle in front of the robot. This has been confirmed by experiments, and if the number of transducers is increased, more accurate detection becomes possible, but an extra circuit or the like is required for that purpose.

FIG. 5 shows a system diagram of a control system of the entire robot 1.

In FIG. 5, the user (or operator)
Inputs necessary command data and the like from the user interface 301, and is installed in the control panel 101 and the robot 1 to provide a radio and a modem communication module 303,
Communicate with the robot via 305. In addition, the robot has an autonomous vacuum AI module 307, a visual analysis module 309 for obstacle detection, a playback module 311 for playing back mapping and programmed objects, and a module 313 for manual control.
, Which can communicate with the user via the radio modem communication modules 303 and 305. The above-mentioned module controls each part by the control processor 315.

The control processor 315 controls the following: That is, the ultrasonic sensor 323 is controlled via the visual hardware 321 including an ultrasonic transducer, and the stepping motor 327 for rotating and swinging the detection device 35 for detecting an obstacle is rotated.
Is controlled by the rotation controller 325, the encoder 331 for measuring the rotation of the drive shaft is controlled by the encoder hardware 329, and the drive motor 337 for moving and rotating the robot back and forth is provided with the amplifier 335. The infrared sensor 341 for detecting the position of the robot is controlled by the PWM operation controller 333, and is controlled by the hardware 339 for controlling the infrared sensor 341.
The tactile sensor 345 for preventing collision of the robot is controlled by the tactile sensor hardware 343.

As described above, this robot is controlled by the built-in control processor 315 and can communicate with the outside as well as be controlled from the outside.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a method of operating a robot.

In FIG. 6, the expert system 40
When the purpose of operation such as indoor cleaning and in-plant inspection, operating location, etc. are designated in 1, the expert system outputs a route matching the operating conditions to the route planner 407. On the other hand, based on the output from the reference position detector 403 such as an infrared sensor, information about which reference position is in the route planner 407.
Is supplied to. The route planner 407 creates a route based on the information. The route guide 409 sends a motion control command of the robot so as to follow this route.
To provide. This motion control device 411 sets the operation amount to PID.
It is provided to the controller 413. PID controller 4
Reference numeral 13 drives the drive motor 415 based on the route data from the drive wheels 417 of the robot and the operation amount.

On the other hand, the rotation speed of the drive wheel 417 is converted into a digital amount and recorded in the data stack 419. Further, the sonar data is detected by the ultrasonic sensor 421 and then converted by the A / D converter 423 and recorded in the data stack 419. At the same time, the data of the step motor 425 for rotating and swinging the ultrasonic sensor 421 is stored in the data stack 419. Will be recorded. The step motor 425 is driven by the pulse from the pulse generator 426.
Based on the data recorded in the data stack 419, the local map maker 427 creates a local map of the current position of the robot. The feature extractor 429 extracts a salient feature from the created local map, and the global data regenerator 433 recreates the code data for the entire region based on the feature and the terrain rule based on the feature. Based on this global coded data, the route planner 407 modifies the previously created route.

A method of determining the moving route of the robot will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 7 shows the configuration of each room in the building and the designated points a, b, c, ... FIG. 8 shows the coordinates of the designated point. FIG. 9 shows designated points used to determine a route, designated points adjacent to each designated point, and X and Y coordinates.

In FIG. 7, there are four rooms 503, 505, 507, 509 in a building 501, which are partitioned by a corridor. Designated points through which the robot should pass are given at appropriate positions in this building. Above each designated point, a cross-shaped reflector that reflects laser light for detecting the position and direction is provided. As described above, the robot is provided with the laser sensor and can detect the position and the direction.

Further, the robot is provided with tachometers on its wheels and is constructed so as to be able to detect the approximate movement distance and rotation angle.

A method of determining a route along which the robot moves will be described assuming that the current position of the robot is a.

Since the connection designated points of the designated point a in the table shown in FIG. 9 are b, f and g, the designated point b is selected. Next, since the connection points of the designated point b are a, c, e and i, the designated point c is selected. Next, since the connection points of the designated point c are b, d, and j, the designated point d is selected. Similarly, a → b → c → d
→ e → f → a → g → h → i → j → c → b → a route is selected.

The moving distance in this case is 5550c from the coordinates.
It turns out that it is m. In the same way, search another route,
The optimum route is selected from the searched routes and used as the robot route.

After the route is determined, the robot is moved along the route, the position is confirmed when the robot comes under each reflector, and the error is corrected. In this way, the robot can pass each designated point. The designated points are provided at important points such as corners. If the straight line distance is long, it should be provided at an intermediate point.

FIG. 10 is another example of a route determining method showing a route determining method for cleaning a room in which obstacles are not arranged uniformly. In this example, the path the robot has passed and the position of the detected obstacle are recorded in a built-in memory. In the figure, 511, 513, 5
15 is an obstacle. The present example is not limited to the case of cleaning, but can be applied to the case where the position of the obstacle is changed and the floor surface is moved uniformly.

The point s in the figure is the starting point. The robot first proceeds while cleaning from the starting point s to the point a along the side wall of the room, and finds the obstacle 511 at the point a. Therefore, in order to avoid the obstacle, the robot is separated for a predetermined width of the cleaning width b. Proceed while cleaning to point c, and then proceed to point c. In the same manner, proceed while cleaning c → d → e → g → h → i. At point i, an obstacle (side wall) was found in the front and left sides, so the cleaner is moved away from the floor surface, and the most unexplored and most convenient point, for example, the point formed from the line segment parallel to the side wall, Move to point j with few bends.

Since the side wall is found forward and to the right again by advancing from the point j to the point k, the next moving point is searched. Since the lower part of the obstacle 513 is an unsearched area, a point m that can possibly reach this area is found, and this point is used as a starting point again to proceed to the point n while cleaning. When the point n is reached, there is no unsearched area without obstacles, and the cleaning is completed.

[0042]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Even when an obstacle is installed not only on the side wall but also in the air or on the floor, it is possible to easily and efficiently detect the obstacle, so that the operation of the moving body is facilitated.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a robot according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of a robot according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a front view of a console for externally communicating with a robot according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an obstacle detection device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a control system of a robot according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram for determining a route of a robot.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an arrangement in a building and designated points through which a robot should pass.

FIG. 8 is a diagram in which the points of FIG. 7 are displayed in coordinates.

FIG. 9 is a data table showing a method of determining a route to take.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a method of determining a route along which a robot moves, such as when cleaning a building with an obstacle.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Bogie Frame 15 Drive Wheel 35 Obstacle Detection Device 37 Tactile Sensor 51 Laser Sensor 71 Video Antenna 73 Audio Antenna 101 Console 201, 203 Ultrasonic Transducer Mounting Oscillator 205 Ultrasonic Transducer

Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. A navigation device comprising a plurality of ultrasonic sensors for detecting an obstacle in front of a moving body, wherein one sensor group of the plurality of ultrasonic sensors is located above the moving body. A sensor is provided so as to emit ultrasonic waves from the horizontal direction to the lower side, and the other sensor group is provided at the lower part of the moving body so as to emit ultrasonic waves from the horizontal direction to the upward direction, and each of the ultrasonic sensors is in a horizontal plane. An operation device for a mobile body, which is capable of swinging. 2. The ultrasonic sensor group provided on the upper part of the moving body is composed of two rows of six ultrasonic sensors provided on an upper stage, a middle stage and a lower stage, and the upper stage sensor horizontally emits ultrasonic waves. , The middle sensor is installed in a downward direction, the lower ultrasonic sensors are installed in a further downward direction, and the ultrasonic sensors in each row are installed so that their emitting directions spread out at a substantially right angle. The ultrasonic sensor group provided in is composed of six ultrasonic sensors, and these six ultrasonic sensors are vertically symmetrical with respect to the horizontal ultrasonic sensor group provided in the upper part and are synchronized with each other. The navigation device for a mobile body according to claim 1, wherein the navigation device is provided so as to be swingable inside. 3. The operation of the mobile body according to claim 1, wherein the mobile body is provided with a sensor mounting body for reducing interference between respective sensors of the ultrasonic sensor group. apparatus. 4. The navigation system for a mobile body according to claim 1, wherein the mobile body is a mobile vehicle body having drive wheels. 5. The navigation device for a mobile body according to claim 4, wherein the drive wheels of the mobile body are independently provided with drive wheels capable of rotating in forward and reverse directions. 6. The moving body is a moving body that can move in a building such as a hospital or factory, and a laser sensor is provided upward at an appropriate place of the moving body, and a laser sensor is provided above an appropriate place inside the building. The reflective object which reflects the laser beam from the said laser sensor is provided in the part, and the apparatus which receives the said reflected light and inspects the passage path of a moving body was provided. Mobile operating equipment. 7. The navigation device for a mobile body according to claim 6, wherein the reflecting object is capable of detecting two predetermined directions. 8. The operating device for a mobile body according to claim 7, wherein the predetermined two directions are directions orthogonal to each other. 9. The operating system for a mobile body according to claim 5, wherein the mobile body is provided with means for accumulating a distance traveled and a rotation angle of the mobile body. 10. The moving body comprises an automatic charging device for charging a driving battery.
10. A navigation system for a mobile body according to claim 9. 11. A mobile body provided with the navigation device according to claim 1, further comprising a video camera and a video transmitter, a transceiver and its transceiver, and a smoke detection device. Security robot to do. 12. The security robot according to claim 11, further comprising a cleaning device for cleaning a floor surface. 13. A navigation system for a mobile body according to claim 1, or a security robot using the navigation system, wherein the mobile body comprises an expert system for determining a navigation route.