JP2003186539A - Mobile robot - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the number of times that an autonomous walking type mobile robot homes to a charging station for charging a battery. <P>SOLUTION: On the mobile robot 1, that has a battery and homes by autonomous walking to the charging station 30 if the state of the storage amount of the battery is equal to or lower than a given storage amount, a solar battery 9 is installed that charges the battery without homing to the charging station 30, if the state of the storage amount of the battery is in a state higher than the given storage amount. Moreover, the robot is provided with a means that seeks a place, where a higher power generation efficiency of the solar battery is attained for charging the battery with the solar battery 9. Thereby, it becomes possible to reduce the number of times that the mobile robot homes to the charging station 30. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a mobile robot, and more particularly to a mobile robot suitable for avoiding the mobile robot frequently returning to a charging station for charging.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An autonomous mobile robot having a pet shape has been popular, and various mobile robots are commercially available.
In these mobile robots, it is necessary to operate various types of electronic devices such as a CCD camera, a microphone, a speaker, and a control device, and it is necessary to drive the limbs with an electric motor, so that a large battery is installed. There is. Furthermore, when the amount of electricity stored in the battery is low, the mobile robot returns to the charging station by itself and charges the battery.

For example, in the mobile robot described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-125641, the distance and direction to the charging station are calculated from the image captured by the camera mounted on the mobile robot, and the mobile robot returns to the charging station by itself, and the charger is charged. It is designed to connect its own charging connector to the connector. The mobile robot described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-23264 is adapted to detect an induced magnetic field generated by a charging station and return to the home to perform charging with the induced magnetic field.

[0004]

Various electronic devices are mounted on an autonomous mobile robot, and the number of electric motors mounted on the mobile robot to increase the power consumption is increased in order to perform various operations. There is a problem of doing. However, if the mobile robot frequently returns to the charging station due to the increased power consumption, the operating rate of the mobile robot will decrease, and the pet-type mobile robot lacks fun. The function as a pet is hindered.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a mobile robot capable of reducing the number of homing to the charging station.

[0006]

The above object is to provide a mobile robot which carries a battery and autonomously walks to return to a charging station to charge the battery when the state of the charged amount of the battery falls below a predetermined charged amount. In the above, when the state of charge of the battery is higher than the predetermined charge amount, it is achieved by mounting a solar cell that charges the battery without returning to the charging station.

With this configuration, the battery can be frequently charged by the solar cell, and the time until the amount of charge of the battery becomes equal to or less than the predetermined amount of charge can be extended,
It is possible to reduce the number of homing to the charging station.

[0008] Preferably, the above-mentioned means is provided with means for searching a place where the solar cell has a high power generation efficiency when the battery is charged by the solar cell.
With this configuration, the solar cells can be efficiently charged, and the number of times the mobile robot returns to the charging station can be reduced.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an external view of a mobile robot capable of autonomously walking or the like according to an embodiment of the present invention. The mobile robot 1 has a dog shape, an imaging camera 2 is mounted on the face, a microphone 3 is mounted on the ear, and a speaker 4 (see FIG. 2) is mounted on the mouth. , And touch sensors 5 on various parts of the body (see FIG. 2)
Is installed.

Further, the limbs 6a, 6b, ..., the neck 7, the tail 8
Are driven by multiple joints, respectively, and walk, lie, and shake according to the input conditions of the imaging camera 2, the microphone 3, and the touch sensor 5. A solar cell 9 is attached to the belly of the mobile robot 1. Although the solar cell 9 can be attached to the back side as well, there is a high possibility that an object will drop on the back side and the solar cell will be damaged. Therefore, in this embodiment, the solar cell 9 is mounted only on the abdominal side.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the mobile robot 1 and the charging station 30. The control unit 10 that calculates various control operations of the mobile robot 1 and outputs command signals includes
The camera 2, the microphone 3, the speaker 4, and the touch sensor 5 are connected via the bus 11, and the interface 12
And wireless communication means 13 are connected. Further, the control unit 10 includes a first joint drive unit 14a, a second joint drive unit 14b, an nth joint drive unit 14a for driving the limbs 6a, 6b, ...
The joint drive unit 14n is connected via the bus 15.

Further, a battery 20 is mounted on the mobile robot 1, and electric power is supplied from the battery 20 to the camera 2, the microphones 3, ..., The nth joint drive section 14n and the like. The battery 20 includes a charge / discharge control unit 21.
Is connected and an external charger is connected to the charge / discharge control unit 21 by a connector (not shown) or an inductive magnetic field, the charge / discharge control unit 21 charges the battery 20 from the external charger. .

The charging / discharging control unit 21 includes a solar cell 9 mounted on the mobile robot 1 and a power generation detecting unit 2 shown in FIG.
2 is connected, and when the power generation detector 22 detects the power generation of the solar cell 9, the power generated by the solar cell 9 is transferred to the battery 20.
It is designed to be sent to and charged.

The charging station 30 has a control unit 32 connected to a commercial power source via a switch 31, a wireless communication unit 34 connected to the control unit 32 via a bus 33,
The interface 35, the power feeding control unit 36, and the approach connection detection unit 37 are provided.

The wireless communication means 34 performs wireless communication with the wireless communication means 13 on the mobile robot 1 side, and the approach connection detection part 37 causes the mobile robot 1 to approach the charging station 30 and the power feeding control part 36 to cause the mobile robot 1 to move. Charge / discharge control unit 2
1 (either connector connection or induction magnetic field connection is possible), and the interface 35 is connected to the mobile robot 1
The connection to the side interface 12 is detected.

When the mobile robot 1 is connected to the charging station 30, the battery 20 of the mobile robot 1 is
It is charged by a commercial power source via the power supply control unit 36, and the control unit 32 of the charging station 30 and the control unit 10 of the mobile robot 1 communicate by wire via the interfaces 35 and 12.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the mobile robot 1 described with reference to FIGS. The mobile robot 1 according to the present embodiment walks autonomously away from the charging station 30 and wirelessly communicates information necessary for charging with the charging station 30.

When the mobile robot 1 performs a moving operation without returning to the charging station 30 for a long time and the amount of stored electricity in the battery is significantly reduced, the mobile robot 1 knows this state from the battery voltage value, and the charging station 30 The user walks toward and charges the battery 20 from the commercial power source.

When the amount of electricity stored in the battery 20 is not so low and the user is not the opponent of the mobile robot 1, the mobile robot 1 according to the present embodiment can detect the high illuminance from the image captured by the image capturing camera 2. Is detected, it moves to that place and lays on his back. As a result, the solar cell 9 on the ventral side of the mobile robot 1 is directed toward the sun, and the battery 20 is charged by the solar cell 9.

The operation of the mobile robot 1 is a charging operation, but since it is expressed as if the pet flutters in the sun, it also mimics the actual pet operation, and the effect that the user does not feel uncomfortable. is there.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the battery charging procedure of the mobile robot 1. The control unit 10 of the mobile robot 1 compares the battery voltage value X with the first set value A and the second set value B (A ≦ B) in step S1, and A ≦ X <B
Or not. When the determination result is negative, that is, when the battery voltage value X is less than A or B or more, the process proceeds to step S2, and it is determined whether the battery voltage value X is less than A. If the determination result is negative, that is, if the battery voltage value X is B or more, it is not necessary to charge the battery 20, so the process proceeds to step S3, operation processing such as autonomous walking operation is performed, and the process returns to step S1.

If the determination result of step S2 is affirmative, that is, if the battery voltage value X is less than A, the battery 2
Since the amount of stored electricity of 0 is significantly reduced, the process proceeds from step S2 to step S4, and the battery 20 is charged by the station charging operation process.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the detailed processing procedure of the station charging operation processing in step S4.
First, in step S41, the mobile robot 1 is walked to the charging station 30 to connect the charging / discharging control unit 21 of FIG. 2 to the power feeding control unit 36, and in step S42, the battery 20 is charged. During this charging, the battery voltage value X is compared with the set value C (B <C) (step S43), and X>
Step S42 is repeated until it becomes C, and when X> C, this station charging operation is terminated and the routine proceeds to step S3 in FIG.

If the determination result of step S1 in FIG. 4 is affirmative, that is, if the battery voltage value X is A≤X <B, the process proceeds from step S1 to step S5, and the optical charging operation is performed. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a detailed processing procedure of this light charging operation. First, in step S51, movement is performed in the direction in which the amount of received light is maximized.

For example, a place having high illuminance is detected in the image picked up by the image pickup camera 2 and the place is moved to that place. Then, by lying down, the solar cell 9 is directed toward the sun, the generated voltage Y of the solar cell 9 is compared with a predetermined set value V, and Y> V
It is determined whether or not (step S52). If the determination result is negative, that is, Y ≦ V, the generated voltage is insufficient to charge the battery 20 due to insufficient light amount, and therefore the process returns to step S51 and moves to another location.

If the determination result of step S52 is affirmative, that is, if the generated voltage Y> V, the process proceeds to step S53, and the photocharge process of the battery 20 is performed. If the battery 20 is fully charged by this light charging, the process of step S53 is ended and the process proceeds to step S3 of FIG. 4, but the user beckons the mobile robot 1 in the middle of the process of FIG. If you touch, call or touch
6, the input signal from the microphone 3 and the touch sensor 5 is detected, the light charging process in FIG. 6 is stopped, and the process proceeds to step S3 in FIG.

If the power generation voltage does not reach the predetermined voltage value V even after repeating the trial of steps S51 and S52 several times, the light charging operation may be given up. You may make it return to the station 30.

As described above, according to this embodiment,
Since the battery is frequently photo-charged by the action simulating the actual pet's sun-driving action during the idle time of the mobile robot, it is possible to reduce the number of times the mobile robot 1 returns to the charging station.

In the above-described embodiment, the solar cell is mounted only on the abdominal side of the animal type mobile robot 1 and the light charging process is performed by mimicking the sun, but the solar cell is also mounted on the back side. It is also possible to have a configuration in which light charging is always performed.

Although only the embodiment in which the solar cell is mounted on the mobile robot having the shape of a pet has been described, the present invention is not limited to the pet type mobile robot, and the solar cell is mounted on the industrial mobile robot. By performing the optical charging as in the above-described embodiment, it is possible to reduce the number of homing and improve the operation rate.

[0032]

According to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the number of times the mobile robot returns to the charging station to charge the onboard battery.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the mobile robot and charging station shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a charging operation of the mobile robot shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a charging processing procedure of the mobile robot shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a detailed processing procedure of station charging operation processing shown in FIG.

6 is a flowchart showing a detailed processing procedure of a light charging operation processing shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Mobile robot 2 imaging camera 3 microphone 6a, 6b, 6c extremities 9 solar cells 20 battery 21 Charge / Discharge Control Unit 30 charging stations

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Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A mobile robot equipped with a battery, which walks autonomously when returning to a charging station when the state of charge of the battery falls below a predetermined charge level to charge the battery, A mobile robot equipped with a solar cell for charging the battery without returning to the charging station when the state is higher than the predetermined charged amount. 2. The mobile robot according to claim 1, further comprising means for searching a place where the solar cell has a high power generation efficiency when the battery is charged by the solar cell.