JP2009113190A - Autonomous working robot and method of controlling operation of autonomous working robot - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an autonomous working robot enabling a person therearound to easily determine what is the obstacle detected by the robot. <P>SOLUTION: This autonomous working robot comprises an environmental information acquiring part for acquiring peripheral environmental information, a control part for controlling the autonomous operation according to the environmental information acquired by the environmental information acquiring part, and an operation part the operation of which is controlled by the control part. The autonomous working robot further comprises an obstacle recognition part for detecting objects present around the robot according to the acquired environmental information and recognizing an object, among the detected objects, which affects the operation part to normally operate the operation part, and an output part for visually outputting obstacle specifying information for specifying the obstacle recognized by the obstacle recognizing part to the outside. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an autonomous motion robot that autonomously operates and an operation control method for the autonomous motion robot.

  In recent years, autonomous robots coexisting with human beings have been developed that perform autonomous movement such as movement and gesture based on the surrounding environment in a moving area such as an inside of a building or an open space. Unlike industrial robots that are installed in factories and perform specific actions, such robots must be provided with a safety fence around them to ensure distance from surrounding people and objects. I can't. Therefore, it is necessary to cause the robot to perform control so as to avoid contact with surrounding humans and objects when performing autonomous operation.

  However, when the robot recognizes the surrounding environment, even if there are no obstacles that affect its operation, the obstacle may approach the robot's movement range when actually performing the operation. is there. For this reason, it is difficult for a robot that performs an autonomous operation to reliably and safely perform an autonomous operation when the operation is continued.

  Therefore, for example, Patent Document 1 proposes a robot configured to project dangerous information on a moving plane by a projector mounted on the robot and to transmit surrounding dangerous information to an external person. In addition, the robot described in Patent Document 2 projects information on a movement path scheduled to move by a projector mounted on the robot so that surrounding humans can visually recognize the movement path of the robot. Yes. In these robots, attention can be urged by notifying surrounding humans of the behavior of the robot by visual information emitted from the robot.

  On the other hand, in Patent Document 3, when an action space in which a robot operates and an action space in which surrounding people act so as to approach the robot intersect, an action that hinders the action of a person approaching the robot. It is disclosed that the robot performs this.

In the technique described in Patent Document 4, a scanning device that detects obstacles around the mobile robot (carrying carriage) is provided. When an obstacle is detected, a warning or the like is turned on and an alarm is sounded. Such a technique is disclosed.
JP 2007-102488 A Japanese National Patent Publication No. 2005-15466 Japanese Patent No. 3927994 JP 2006-323435 A

  However, in any of these robots, although surrounding humans can confirm that the robot has recognized an obstacle object, it is impossible to know what the obstacle the robot has recognized. Therefore, it is difficult for surrounding humans to predict the next motion of the robot, and it may be difficult for the human side to determine how to act on the next motion of the robot.

  The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide an autonomously-operated robot in which surrounding humans can easily determine what an obstacle recognized by the robot is. It is what.

  An autonomous motion robot according to the present invention is operated by an environment information acquisition unit that acquires surrounding environment information, a control unit that controls autonomous operation based on the environment information acquired by the environment information acquisition unit, and the control unit An obstacle that recognizes an object that affects the normal operation of the operation part as an obstacle among objects existing around the environment based on the acquired environmental information. It is characterized by comprising an object recognizing unit and an output unit that visually outputs obstacle identifying information for identifying an obstacle recognized by the obstacle recognizing unit to the outside.

  Since such an autonomously operating robot visually outputs information to the outside so as to identify the obstacle recognized by the obstacle recognizing unit, humans around the robot can recognize obstacles recognized by the robot. It is possible to easily determine what is.

  In addition, such an autonomous movement type robot may be configured to identify a predetermined safety area including the movement range of the movement unit and recognize an object existing in the safety area as an obstacle. In this way, it is possible to easily recognize whether or not an object located around the robot is an obstacle.

  Further, when such an autonomously operating robot performs an operation, the control unit may temporarily stop the operation of the operation unit when an obstacle is recognized by the obstacle recognition unit. preferable. As described above, when an obstacle exists in the safety area including the operation range, the operation of the robot is not brought into contact with the obstacle by temporarily stopping the operation, and higher safety is maintained. It is.

  In addition, such an autonomously operating robot may further include a determination unit that determines whether or not the recognized obstacle moves. By providing such a discriminating unit, it is possible to easily discriminate whether an object existing around the robot is a moving object such as a human being or a stationary object, so that an action corresponding to the type of obstacle is performed. The effect that it becomes easy to take is acquired.

  In addition, such an autonomous motion robot stores in advance a specific information database including a plurality of specific information corresponding to each type of obstacle to be recognized, and is recognized by the obstacle recognition unit by the output unit. The specific information corresponding to the obstacle may be read from the database and output. In this way, it is possible to easily output appropriate obstacle specifying information for the obstacle recognized by the robot.

  The direction in which the obstacle identifying information is output by the output unit is preferably determined based on the position of the obstacle recognized by the obstacle recognition unit. Thereby, it is possible for a person existing around the robot to more clearly determine an obstacle to the operation of the robot. In this case, the direction in which the obstacle specifying information is output from the output unit may be a direction toward the position of the obstacle. In this case, the object recognized by the robot as an obstacle can be clearly shown to the outside.

  Further, it is preferable that a plurality of the output units are installed so that obstacle specifying information can be output to the entire periphery of the robot. By configuring the autonomous motion robot in this way, it is possible to identify obstacles that become obstacles to all the actions that the robot can take and output obstacle identification information for the positions of the obstacles. it can.

  Note that such an output unit is preferably a projector attached so that the output direction can be changed. Since such an output unit is small in weight and can output obstacle specifying information with high accuracy, it is suitable for attaching obstacle specifying information to a robot.

  Further, the obstacle specifying information output by the output unit is not particularly limited, but may be character information. In this case, by predetermining the character information to be output, it becomes possible to provide information so that the next person can identify the next action and output it according to the surrounding situation. It is also possible to easily change the contents to be performed.

  In addition, as such an autonomously moving robot, it is more effective that the moving unit includes a moving unit that changes the position of the robot and enables autonomous movement.

  Further, the operation unit may include a joint drive unit that is driven by a joint and capable of changing its posture. In particular, in the case of a robot having a humanoid appearance with hands and feet like a human being, it is more suitable for coexisting with a human being.

  Moreover, when the joint drive part in such an autonomous operation type | mold robot is comprised with the arm part which has many joints, you may attach the said output part to this arm part. In this case, since the direction in which the obstacle specifying information is output can be arbitrarily changed by driving the joint of the arm portion, the obstacle specifying information can be output more widely with a small number of output units. It becomes possible.

  The present invention also provides an operation control method for an autonomous robot, which includes an operation range specifying step for specifying an operation range of an operation unit, and environment information for acquiring surrounding environment information. An obstacle recognizing step of recognizing an object included in the operation range of the operation unit as an obstacle among objects existing around based on the environment information acquired in the environment information acquisition step; An obstacle specifying information output step for visually outputting to the outside obstacle specifying information for specifying the obstacle recognized by the obstacle recognition step.

  According to such an operation control method of an autonomous movement type robot, since obstacle identification information can be visually output to the outside so as to identify a recognized obstacle, it exists around the robot. It becomes possible for a human to easily determine what is the obstacle recognized by the robot.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an autonomous motion robot and a control method for the autonomous motion robot in which surrounding humans can easily determine what an obstacle recognized by the robot is. It becomes possible.

Embodiment 1 of the Invention
Hereinafter, an autonomous motion robot and an autonomous motion robot control method according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 7. In this embodiment, an autonomously operating robot (hereinafter simply referred to as a robot) will be described using an example of a robot that can be moved by wheel driving and that has a humanoid type upper body.

  A robot 10 shown in FIG. 1 is a robot whose upper body is configured as a humanoid type, and includes a head 11, a body 12, a right arm 13, a left arm 14, a waist 15, and a moving unit 20.

  The head 11 is provided with cameras 111 and 112 on the left and right sides of the front face, and is provided with an antenna 113 on the side face and a speaker 114 on the lower side of the front face, and a microphone 115 for inputting sound from the outside. 116 is provided.

  Cameras 111 and 112 provided in the head 11 visually recognize the surrounding environment, and output image information obtained as a result of the visual recognition to a control computer described later. As such a camera, for example, a laser sensor that three-dimensionally irradiates an infrared laser can be used. In this case, object shape information and distance information from the robot 10 can be acquired as environment information from the reflected state of the irradiated laser.

  The antenna 113 is used to receive a position signal for recognizing the absolute position of the robot 10 and to transmit a signal indicating the current self position and the self state. Transmission / reception of these pieces of information is performed with a robot monitoring system (not shown). The aforementioned arithmetic processing unit recognizes its absolute position in real time based on the position signal received by the antenna 113. The position signal obtained in this way is also used when determining the route plan and the moving direction as described above.

  Moreover, the microphone 114 outputs the audio data appropriately selected from the audio data file included in the storage area of the control computer. The audio file output from the microphone 114 is selected as appropriate according to the type of the recognized object when the obstacle is recognized, as described later, in addition to the content of the guide and the like, and the sound for identifying the obstacle. The content of is used.

  The body 12 includes the control computer 120 as described above and includes a battery (not shown) for supplying power to each component of the robot.

  As shown in FIG. 2, inside the body portion 12, the control for recognizing the contents of the image signal and the sound signal input from the cameras 111 and 112 and the microphones 115 and 116 and performing an appropriate operation is performed. A control computer 120 as a unit and a battery (not shown) for supplying power for operating each component including the computer 120 are provided. The arithmetic processing unit 120a included in the control computer 120 calculates information on an external object, that is, environmental information such as the shape of the object and the relative distance to the robot, based on the information obtained from the cameras 111 and 112 described above. . Although not described in detail, the control computer determines whether the object recognized as an obstacle by this camera is a human or a stationary object based on whether or not the object is stationary for a predetermined time.

  Moreover, the right arm part 13 and the left arm part 14 are attached to the left and right side surfaces of the body part 12, and are provided with a plurality of joint parts driven by a motor part (not shown) at various points such as an elbow part, a wrist part, and a finger part. Then, by changing the joint drive amount of these joints by a signal from the control computer 120, the posture can be changed, and desired operations such as object gripping and direction indication can be taken autonomously. The shape of each arm driven by the joint is stored in the control computer in advance, and when the operation is performed by driving the joint, the space occupied by the arm by the operation is calculated by the arithmetic processing unit. Shall be. That is, in this embodiment, these arm parts and the above-mentioned moving part constitute an operating part.

  The waist 15 is fixed above the moving unit 20 and is rotatably attached to the bottom surface of the body unit 12 by a driving force such as a motor. The relative position between the moving unit 20 and the body unit 12 is set. It can be changed.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the moving unit 20 is composed of a pair of opposed wheels 21 and an opposed two-wheel vehicle including a caster 22 in front of the pair of wheels 21. The robot 10 can move with these wheels 21 and casters 22 supported horizontally. Furthermore, a motor 23 that drives the wheels 21 and a counter 24 for detecting the number of rotations of each wheel are provided inside the moving unit 20. The moving unit 20 configured as described above is controlled by the control computer independently of the driving amount of the wheel 21, and travels straight, moves in a curve (turns), moves backward, and rotates on the spot (centering on the middle point of both wheels). It is possible to perform a movement operation such as (turning) and to autonomously determine the moving speed and the moving direction.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 4, projectors 26 as output units for visually outputting obstacle specifying information are respectively attached to the front surface, the back surface, and both side surfaces of the moving unit 20. These projectors have a plurality of colors and / or shapes so as to identify the recognized obstacle to the outside when the object recognized by the cameras 111 and 112 is recognized as an obstacle. Irradiate the light. The light to be irradiated includes, for example, light that draws character information in addition to light that forms a circular irradiation region with red, yellow, and green light. In addition, as shown in FIG. 4, the area to be irradiated by these projectors can output obstacle specifying information over the periphery of the moving area where the moving unit 20 is grounded, that is, the entire periphery of the robot 10. In addition, the mounting position and irradiation area are adjusted in advance.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 5, these projectors are mounted so as to be rotatable about a predetermined axis so that the direction in which the obstacle specifying information is output in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction can be changed. . And these projectors are comprised so that the irradiation direction can be suitably changed with the signal from the above-mentioned control computer.

  Information (obstacle identification information) emitted by these projectors is stored in advance in a storage area 120b provided in the control computer, and the information is read and output (irradiated) to the outside. Details of the obstacle specifying information will be described later.

  Next, the control computer 120 provided in the body part 12 will be described. In the autonomous operation type robot according to the present embodiment, each of the arm unit (the right arm unit 13 and the left arm unit 14), the moving unit 20 and the like is read by reading the above-described program by the arithmetic processing unit 120a included in the control computer 120. The configuration is driven according to a predetermined control program. For example, by outputting a control signal that controls the drive amount of a motor that drives a joint part included in the body part, arm part, etc., these indirect joint drive angles are determined, and the state of the body part or arm part is determined. Control to achieve a desired posture.

  Further, the control computer 120 stores a program for determining a movement route in an area that moves within the above-described storage area, and appropriately determines the movement route according to the surrounding environment. Although the description is omitted for details, a moving direction, a route plan, or an action that can be taken is autonomously selected based on information about the recognized external object. In the storage area described above, a program for the arm or moving unit as the operation unit to perform the next operation, the type of obstacle to be recognized, and specific information corresponding to each obstacle relative distance from the robot An obstacle specifying information database made up of and the like is also stored.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the obstacle specifying information database is separated from the moving route when there is an obstacle on the moving route of the robot, or when it is near the route (within a predetermined distance from the moving route). However, different obstacle specifying information is set for the case where it is included in the movement range of the arm. In this embodiment, the information to be output differs depending on whether the recognized obstacle is a human or a stationary object.

  For example, when there is a human being as an obstacle on the moving route, a red light that emits character information such as “please make a way” is output. In addition, if a person is within a predetermined distance from the route but is off the route, “Pass nearby. Please output the text information such as “Please Note” using yellow light. In addition, when a person is present at a place included in the movement range of the arm portion although it is far away from the moving route, character information such as “Please leave” is output using red light.

  As described above, when the obstacle is recognized as a human, the obstacle specifying information includes character information, and the light used when outputting the information differs according to the position. In this case, audio information having the same or similar content as the character information to be output may be output from the microphone 114.

  When the object recognized as an obstacle is a stationary object, the object is irradiated with substantially circular light. Even in this case, as shown in FIG. 6, when the position of the object is on the movement path of the robot, the red light is used. When the object is within a predetermined distance from the movement path, the yellow light is used. Alternatively, the color of the output light may be made different, such as red light when located in the movement range of the arm.

  In this case, the direction in which information is output is preferably the position of the recognized obstacle or the vicinity of the obstacle. For example, when the object recognized as an obstacle is a human, the obstacle specifying information is output to a position where the character information is irradiated in the vicinity where the output direction is slightly away from the human position (for example, near the feet). . On the other hand, when the object recognized as an obstacle is a stationary object, the output direction is determined so that the stationary object is irradiated with light. In this way, a person located around the robot can clearly know which object the robot recognizes as an obstacle.

  In addition, when external objects confirmed by the cameras 111 and 112 are located within an expected motion range of the robot, the control computer 120 recognizes these objects as obstacles and serves as an operation unit. Temporarily stop the movement of the arm and moving unit. The relative position between the object and the robot confirmed by the cameras 111 and 112 is obtained by calculating the relative position (distance and direction) between the object and the camera using a triangulation method or the like.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the cameras 111 and 112 and the control computer 120 constitute an environment recognition unit and an obstacle recognition unit in the present invention, and an output unit is constituted by the control computer and the projector. Further, the control computer also functions as a determination unit that determines whether or not the recognized obstacle moves.

  Next, a method in which the autonomously operating robot configured as described above outputs information for identifying recognized obstacles to the outside will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  First, the operation range of the robot by the control computer 120, that is, the region through which the arm passes by moving the arm and the region through which the robot body passes through the moving unit (operation range) are three-dimensionally centered on the robot. Specify (STEP 101). The operation range is specified continuously at a minute time interval.

  Next, information (environment information) of surrounding objects is acquired by the cameras 111 and 112 (STEP 102), and whether or not these objects exist within the specified operation range, that is, the objects are obstacles. It is determined whether or not (STEP 103). When a surrounding object whose information is acquired by the camera does not exist within the motion range, the process returns to STEP 101 and continues to specify the motion range without performing any new process.

  On the other hand, if an object exists within the motion range specified by the camera, the object is regarded as an obstacle and the operation is temporarily stopped (STEP 104), and then it is determined whether or not the object recognized as the obstacle is a stationary object. (STEP 105). Whether or not the object recognized as an obstacle is a stationary object is determined by a method such as whether or not the object moves for a predetermined time relative to the stopped robot.

  When the object recognized as the obstacle is a stationary object, the light as the obstacle specifying information is irradiated to the outside while the operation is stopped (STEP 106). At this time, the light irradiation direction is appropriately selected according to the position of the obstacle, and is determined based on the relative position of the recognized obstacle to the robot. Then, while continuing to irradiate light on the recognized obstacle, a new route for avoiding the obstacle is searched by the route plan (STEP 107), and the recognized obstacle is moved by moving on the new route. Is determined to be out of the movement range of the robot (STEP 108). When it is determined that the obstacle is out of the movement range of the robot, the operation including the movement is continued (STEP 109). If there is an obstacle in the movement range of the robot, the process returns to STEP 107 to search for a new route again.

  Thereafter, it is determined whether or not the operation including the movement is to be ended (STEP 110). If the operation is not ended, the operation returns to STEP 101 to continuously specify the operation range, and if the operation is to be ended, a predetermined operation end process (STEP 111). After that, the operation is completely stopped.

  On the other hand, if the object recognized as an obstacle is not a stationary object, it is determined that the object recognized as an obstacle is a human being, and character information serving as obstacle specifying information is emitted (STEP 206). At this time, circular light may be irradiated together with the character information as in the case where the obstacle is a stationary object. Then, after irradiating the character information for a predetermined time (for example, several seconds), it is determined whether or not the human is gone from within the movement range of the robot (STEP 207). It returns to STEP206 and continues irradiating character information. In addition, when irradiating character information, you may add the process of outputting audio | voice information further. If it is determined in STEP 207 that the human is no longer in the robot motion range, the process proceeds to STEP 109 and the operation is continued.

  As described above, according to the autonomous operation robot and the operation control method of the autonomous operation robot according to the present embodiment, the information for identifying the recognized surrounding obstacles is externally determined according to the types of the recognized obstacles. Can output an object that the robot recognizes as an obstacle to surrounding humans. As a result, the surrounding humans can easily understand why the robot is stopping or changing the route, and perform tasks such as removing stationary objects that become obstacles. It is possible to take measures such as moving the place.

  In the above-described embodiment, after it is determined that an object recognized as an obstacle is not a stationary object (a person), the character information is continuously irradiated until the obstacle is out of the movement range of the robot. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, if an object that is recognized as an obstacle does not move after being irradiated with character information for a predetermined time, it is determined that the object is a stationary object, and an obstacle to a stationary object such as irradiating circular light. Processing may be performed by a flow for outputting specific information.

  In the above-described embodiment, only the determination of whether the object is a stationary object or a human is performed as the type of obstacle to be recognized. Instead, a more detailed type of obstacle may be identified. Good. For example, by storing the shape data of various obstacles in the control computer in advance and using a method such as matching the shape of the external object recognized by the camera provided in the robot with the stored shape data, More detailed types of obstacles can be identified.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, an object that has not been stationary for a predetermined time is determined as a human, but instead of this, by performing feature point extraction of an object recognized by an imaging unit such as a camera, Person recognition may be performed to determine whether the object is a human.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, the projector as the output unit is provided in the moving unit of the robot. However, instead of this, an output unit may be provided in the body of the robot or in other places. In this case, by selecting a location where the rotation range of the output unit can be as wide as possible, it is possible to output obstacle identification information over a wide range with a small number of projectors. For example, in the case of a humanoid robot as in the above-described embodiment, if the output unit is provided at the tip of the arm unit (such as the wrist unit) as the operation unit, the joint drive amount of the arm unit can be adjusted to achieve a wider range. Obstacle identification information can be output.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, light (character information and substantially circular light) is disclosed as the obstacle specifying information output to the outside, but the present invention is not limited to this. . For example, in addition to irradiation with these lights, it is also possible to specify an obstacle by outputting voice information or pointing an obstacle recognized using an action part such as an arm part. is there.

  In the above-described embodiment, a robot that performs autonomous movement is described as such an autonomous movement type robot. However, a robot that can perform such autonomous movement is installed inside a building. The present invention is useful when it is used as a guidance robot for guiding or a home robot used in the home. Further, the present invention is not limited to a robot that performs autonomous movement as described above, and may perform only movement of a limb without moving. Such a robot may be, for example, an operation type robot that includes both an autonomous operation and an operation by external control. That is, the moving direction or the like may be determined by an instruction from the outside, while only other operation units may be autonomously controlled. Further, the appearance of such a robot does not necessarily have a humanoid type.

  As described above, according to the autonomous motion robot and the motion control method of the autonomous motion robot according to the present invention, what is the obstacle recognized by the robot is determined by a person located around the robot performing the motion. Judgment can be easily made.

It is the schematic which shows the external appearance of the autonomous operation type robot which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows a mode that the control computer provided in the trunk | drum of the robot shown in FIG. 1 receives a signal with the camera and microphone which were provided in the head, and controls an operation | movement part. It is a block diagram which shows roughly the internal structure of the moving part of the robot shown in FIG. It is the schematic which shows a mode that the projector was provided in the moving part of the robot shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating how the projector shown in FIG. 4 can change directions in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction. It is a figure which shows an example of the content of the obstacle specific information database in this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure in which the autonomous operation | movement type robot shown in FIG. 1 outputs the information for pinpointing the recognized surrounding obstacle outside.

Explanation of symbols

10 ... Robot (autonomous robot)
11 ... heads 111,112 ... camera (environment recognition unit)
114 ... Speaker (output unit)
115, 116 ... Microphone 12 ... Body 120 ... Control computer (control unit)
13 ... Right arm (operation part)
14 ... Left arm (operation part)
15 ... waist 20 ... moving part (operation part)
21 ... Wheel 22 ... Caster 23 ... Motor 26 ... Projector (output unit)

Claims (14)

An environmental information acquisition unit for acquiring surrounding environmental information;
A control unit that controls autonomous operation based on environmental information acquired by the environmental information acquisition unit;
An autonomous operation robot comprising an operation unit whose operation is controlled by the control unit,
An obstacle recognizing unit that recognizes an object that affects the normal operation of the operating unit among objects existing around the environment based on the acquired environment information; and
An autonomous motion robot, comprising: an output unit that visually outputs to the outside obstacle specifying information for specifying an obstacle recognized by the obstacle recognition unit.   The autonomous operation according to claim 1, wherein the obstacle recognition unit identifies a predetermined safety region including an operation range of the operation unit, and recognizes an object existing in the safety region as an obstacle. Type robot.   The autonomous operation robot according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the control unit temporarily stops the operation of the operation unit when an obstacle is recognized by the obstacle recognition unit.   The autonomous operation robot according to claim 1, further comprising a determination unit that determines whether or not the recognized obstacle moves.   A specific information database including a plurality of specific information corresponding to each type of obstacle to be recognized is stored in advance, and the output unit receives specific information corresponding to the obstacle recognized by the obstacle recognition unit from the database. 5. The autonomous operation type robot according to claim 1, wherein the robot performs reading and output.   6. The autonomous motion robot according to claim 1, wherein a direction in which the obstacle specifying information is output is determined based on the position of the obstacle recognized by the obstacle recognition unit.   The autonomously operating robot according to claim 6, wherein the obstacle specifying information is output toward a position of the recognized obstacle.   The autonomous operation robot according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein a plurality of the output units are arranged so that the obstacle specifying information can be output over the entire periphery of the robot.   The autonomous operation robot according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the output unit is a projector attached so as to be capable of changing the output direction.   The autonomously operating robot according to claim 1, wherein the obstacle specifying information output by the output unit is character information.   The autonomous operation robot according to claim 1, wherein the operation unit includes a moving unit that changes a position of the robot.   The autonomous operation robot according to claim 1, wherein the operation unit includes a joint drive unit that is driven by a joint and is capable of deforming its posture.   The autonomous motion robot according to claim 12, wherein the joint driving unit is an arm unit having a multi-joint, and the output unit is attached to the arm unit. An operation range specifying step for specifying an operation range of the operation unit;
An environmental information acquisition step for acquiring surrounding environmental information;
An obstacle recognition step of recognizing an object included in the operation range of the operation unit as an obstacle among objects existing around based on the environment information acquired in the environment information acquisition step;
And an obstacle identification information output step for visually outputting obstacle identification information for identifying an obstacle recognized in the obstacle recognition step to the outside. Method.

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