JP2002120184A - Robot operation control system on network - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable an owner to control the behavior of a robot as desired even in the robot not incorporating high-grade arithmetic function. SOLUTION: When a client swings his/her hand to a real robot 5, a CCD camera built in the robot 5 takes the state as image data. The image data is transmitted by radio to a client terminal 4, and transmitted to a server 2 through an internet 1. In the server 2, a client management part 21 specifies which client terminal the image data is sent from with reference to the member data base, and a behavior control information generating part 22 determines that the client requests the robot 5 to swing the hand by pattern recognition, and outputs the corresponding behavior control information. The behavior control information is sent to the robot 5 through the internet 1 and the client terminal 4, and the robot 5 conducts the operation of swinging the hand by function of the built-in behavior software and hardware.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a robot operation control system on a network, and more particularly, to a virtual system displayed on a monitor screen of a client connected to the Internet by an instruction distributed from a server on the Internet. The present invention relates to a robot operation control system on a network, which can operate a robot or a real robot equipped with an actual actuator so as to perform a behavior according to the command.

[0002] Today, various pet robots (real pet robots) have been commercialized, and some of these robots have advanced arithmetic functions so that the pet robot itself can move according to the surrounding conditions. There is something that has. However, a pet robot incorporating an advanced arithmetic function is not only expensive but also has a complicated configuration of hardware and software, and is inconvenient. In addition, music software,
Distribution of game software and the like to client terminals has been performed. In this case, the virtual pet robot or the like included in the game software changes its behavior according to a response from the client, but the behavior and the change are based on a program built in the server, and the client desires. It cannot behave.

[0003] The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and has as its object to control the behavior of a real robot as desired by a client who owns the robot. To provide a robot motion control system on a network for

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention comprises a server and a client terminal connected to a network, and a real robot capable of wireless communication with the client terminal. In a robot operation control system for controlling a behavior including utterance and movement of a real robot on a network, a) a server includes a member database storing client information, and a client terminal accesses the server. A client identification means for identifying the client terminal, and a behavior request for instructing the behavior of the real robot sent from the client terminal, the database including a database storing a plurality of behavior control information for controlling the operation of the real robot. Receive information and analyze the request information And behavior control information generating means for generating behavior control information corresponding to the request information and returning the behavior control information to the client terminal. B) The client terminal transfers the behavior control information returned from the server to the real robot. And c) the real robot is configured to behave in accordance with the behavior control information transferred from the client terminal.

In the robot operation control system described above, the real robot operates such that the behavior hardware for causing the real robot to execute various behaviors and the behavior hardware for operating the behavior control information transferred from the client terminal operate. And a sensor such as a microphone and a camera for detecting an instruction for the behavior from the client, and a unit for transmitting a sensor signal detected by the sensor to the client terminal, the client terminal comprising: , The sensor signal transmitted from the sensor is transferred to the server as behavior request information.

[0006] In the above-described robot operation control system, the server stores the generation history of the behavior control information generated in response to the behavior request signal from the client terminal.
It is preferable to provide a behavior history database for storing for each client terminal. Further, it is preferable that the client terminal is any one of a mobile phone terminal, a PC terminal, and a digital television having an Internet connection function. Furthermore, preferably, the robot control system further includes another client terminal, and the another client terminal can transmit behavior request information to the server together with identification information of the client terminal capable of wirelessly communicating with the robot. The server is configured to distribute the behavior control information to the client terminal identified by the identification information sent from another client terminal. Thereby, the behavior of the real robot that is not within the wireless service area of the client terminal can also be controlled.

[0007]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining the configuration of a robot control system according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes the Internet, 2 denotes a server connected to the Internet 1, 3 Is a telephone office server connected to the Internet 1. Reference numerals 41, 42, and 43 denote client terminals, which are a personal computer (PC), a digital television with a built-in PC, and a mobile phone terminal, respectively. The PC 41 and the digital television 42 are connected to the Internet 1, and the mobile phone terminal 43 is connected to the Internet 1 via the telephone station server 3.
Hereinafter, "client terminal 4" is a representative of these terminals.
Will be expressed as

Reference numeral 5 denotes an actual robot, that is, a real robot, which transmits and receives signals to and from the client terminal 4 by any wireless communication such as infrared communication or ultrasonic communication. Therefore, the client terminal 4
A function for wireless communication with the robot 5 is added. Monitor of PC 41 and digital television 42
On the screen, three-dimensional (3D) virtual robots 411 and 421, which are images of the real robot 5 and are distributed from the server 2, are displayed. Real Robot 5 and Virtual Robots 411 and 421
Is usually a pet robot, but is not limited to a pet robot and may be any robot. Also, the robot
A work robot may be used.

[0009] As shown in FIG. 1, the server 2 includes a client management unit 21, a behavior control information generation unit 22, and a behavior history management unit 23. The client management unit 21 includes a member database, authenticates a client who is a member, and manages the access history of the client to the server 2. The behavior control information generation unit 22 determines, according to the information that the server 2 has received from the client terminal,
It generates appropriate behavior control information and provides it to the client terminal 4, and has a request recognition function for recognizing the contents requested by the client and a behavior control information generation function. The request recognition function specifies a behavior represented by image data, a behavior represented by audio data, and the like. The generated behavior control information is accumulated in the database of the behavior history management unit 23 for each client.

As shown in FIG. 2, the real robot 5 includes a wireless transmission / reception unit 51, a sensor 52, behavior software 53, and behavior hardware 54. When the real robot 5 receives the behavior control information returned from the server 2 via the client terminal 4 in the wireless transmission / reception unit 51, the behavior software 53 translates the control information, and the behavior hardware according to the information is translated. Control wear. As a result, the real robot 5 performs an operation according to the signal from the server 2. The sensor 52 of the real robot 5 includes a microphone, a camera, and the like for grasping the request of the client and the state of the environment, and also includes a temperature sensor, a vibration sensor, and any other sensors as necessary. be able to. Information captured by the sensor 52 (hereinafter, “sensor information”) is communicated to the server 2 via the wireless transmission / reception unit 51, the client terminal 4, and the Internet 1. Is generated as described above.

For example, when the client shakes the hand with respect to the real robot 5, a CCD camera incorporated as the sensor 52 captures the state as image data. The image data is wirelessly transmitted from the real robot 5 to the client terminal 4 and transmitted to the server 2 via the Internet 1. In the server 2, the client management unit 21 refers to the member database to specify from which client terminal the image data was sent, and further, the behavior control information generation unit 22 By recognizing the pattern, it is determined that the client is requesting the real robot 5 to perform a waving operation, and corresponding behavior control information is output. The generated behavior control information is delivered to the real robot 5 via the Internet 1 and the client terminal 4, and the real robot 5 performs a waving operation by the functions of the behavior software 53 and the behavior hardware 54. .

The client is a real robot 5
Is generated, the voice information picked up by the microphone sensor of the real robot 5 is sent to the server 2, and the server 2 generates the behavior control information corresponding to the "hand". The information is returned to the real robot 5, and the robot 5 executes the operation of "hand". In this case, the real robot 5 can be operated in the same manner even when the client does not generate for the real robot 5 but for the client terminal 4 having a microphone. Instead of transferring the information detected by the sensor of the real robot 5 to the server 2, the behavior of the real robot may be controlled by operating a predetermined key of the client terminal 4 by a client. In this case, the server 2 may identify the key operated by the client, generate behavior control information corresponding to the key, and supply the generated behavior control information to the real robot 5 via the Internet 1 and the client terminal 4. .

Further, the behavior history management unit 2 of the server 2
3 manages the behavior history of the real robot 5, and by learning based on this history, the real robot can behave more complicatedly.

Furthermore, the behavior of the real robot can be controlled unidirectionally or bidirectionally between a plurality of client terminals. For example, the client uses the mobile telephone terminal 43 to control the wireless communication area of the client. Not in the wireless communication area of the PC terminal 41 but in the
The operation of the robot 5 can also be controlled. in this case,
The PC terminal 4 is operated by operating the keyboard of the mobile phone terminal 43.
1 to request that the information from the server 2 be sent to the PC terminal 41. After that, when, for example, "hand" is uttered and the voice is input to the mobile phone terminal 43, the terminal 43 sends this voice information to the server 2 via the telephone station server 3 and the Internet 1. In the server 2, the behavior control information generation unit decodes the voice data, and generates the behavior control information corresponding to "hand" based on the result of the decoding. Next, the server 2 distributes the generated behavior control information to the PC terminal 41. The PC terminal 41 transfers the transmitted behavior control information to the real robot 5 by wireless communication, and the behavior software 53 and the behavior hardware 54 transmit the real robot 5 to the real robot 5.
Performs the “hand” action.

Thus, the real robot 5 can perform an operation requested by a client existing in another wireless communication area. The client is the mobile phone terminal 43
The same applies to a case where the server 2 is operated to output the behavior control information to the server 2 by operating the predetermined key. Also, P
The same applies to the case where the client of the C terminal 41 moves the real robot 5 in the wireless communication area of the mobile phone terminal 43. Further, the behavior software 53 may not be stored in the real robot 5 in advance. In this case, a behavior program corresponding to the client request may be installed from the server 2 to the real robot 5. In the above operation example, P
The example of controlling the operation of the real robot in the communication area of the C terminal has been described.
Digital TVs with a built-in PC may be used together, or any combination thereof.

Further, the server 2 has a real robot I
By providing an individual authentication function for authenticating D, when a plurality of real robots exist in the wireless communication area from the client terminal 4, if the same robot has the same ID, the same behavior is performed. On the other hand, different behaviors can be obtained if they have different IDs.

As described above, in the system according to the present invention, the advanced arithmetic processing required for processing data is performed by the server 2 connected to the Internet 1 and the result is transmitted to the Internet 1 and the PC terminal 41. , The digital TV 42 and the mobile phone terminal 43 to return to the real robot 5, and the robot operates based on the returned information. Therefore, real
There is no need to provide the robot 5 with advanced processing functions,
Real robots can be provided at low cost.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a real robot operation control system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a server and a real robot in FIG. 1;

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A real robot comprising a server and a client terminal connected to a network and a real robot capable of wireless communication with the client terminal, for controlling a behavior including voice and movement of the real robot on the network. A) the server includes a member database storing client information;
When the client terminal accesses the server,
A client identification means for identifying a client terminal, and a database storing a plurality of behavior control information for controlling the operation of the real robot, wherein the behavior request information for instructing the behavior of the real robot sent from the client terminal is included. Receiving the request information, analyzing the request information, generating behavior control information corresponding to the request information, and returning the behavior control information to the client terminal. B) The client terminal transmits the behavior control information returned from the server. C) means for transferring to the real robot, c) the real robot is configured to behave in accordance with the behavior control information transferred from the client terminal. 2. The robot operation control system according to claim 1, wherein the real robot has behavior hardware for causing the real robot to execute various behaviors, and behavior hardware for transmitting the behavior control information transferred from the client terminal. And a behavior software for translating the software so that the software operates. 3. The robot operation control system according to claim 1, wherein the real robot further includes a sensor such as a microphone and a camera for detecting an instruction on the behavior from the client, and a sensor signal detected by the sensor. Wherein the client terminal is configured to transfer the sensor signal sent from the sensor to the server as behavior request information. 4. The robot operation control system according to claim 1, wherein the server further includes, for each client terminal, a generation history of the behavior control information generated in response to the behavior request signal from the client terminal. A robot operation control system comprising a behavior history database for storing. 5. The robot operation control system according to claim 1, wherein the client terminal is a mobile phone terminal. 6. The robot operation control system according to claim 1, wherein the client terminal is a terminal having a PC function having a monitor screen, and the monitor screen of the terminal includes a real robot. A robot operation control system, wherein an image of a virtual robot, which is an image, is sent from a server and displayed. 7. The robot operation control system according to claim 1, wherein the system further includes another client terminal, and the another client terminal is capable of wirelessly communicating with a robot to a server. The server is configured to transmit the behavior request information together with the identification information of the client terminal, and the server is configured to distribute the behavior control information to the client terminal identified by the identification information sent from another client terminal. A robot operation control system, comprising: