JPH0561545A - Mobile work robot - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a mobile work robot which can surely return to the position of a charging device after starting a job at the position of the charging device and then completing the movement by correcting the position error even with the movement in a wide mobile work area. CONSTITUTION:This robot is provided with driving wheels 2L (2R) which move a main body 1 and the driving motors 3L (3R), a traveling controller 22 which controls the motors 3L (3R) and the traveling of the body 1, a receiver means 5 which receives the radio wave signals, and a transmitter means 7 set outside the body 1. The controller 22 switches the operation of the body 1 to perform the positional correction when the means 5 receives the radio wave signal from the means 7.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a mobile work robot for automatically performing work such as an automatic floor cleaner and an automatic floor finishing device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, various types of mobile work robots have been developed, which are equipped with a traveling drive device, sensors, traveling control means, etc., to a work machine to automatically perform work. For example, a self-propelled vacuum cleaner has a suction nozzle, a brush, etc. at the bottom of the main body as a cleaning function, and a traveling and steering means and an obstacle detection means for detecting an obstacle at the time of traveling and a position recognition means for recognizing a position as a moving function. With this obstacle detection means, the position recognition means recognizes the cleaning area while moving along the wall around the cleaning place, etc., and moves within the cleaning area to clean the entire cleaning area. is there.

[0003]

However, in such a conventional mobile work robot, since the relative position recognition is performed by using an internal sensor such as a gyro sensor or a traveling speed sensor as the position recognition means, it is possible to move widely. In the work area, the accumulation of position measurement errors was large, and the movement route was sometimes misaligned or the start point was lost.

The present invention is intended to solve the problems of the conventional structure as described above, and provides a mobile work robot which operates by correcting the positional deviation even when moving in a wide mobile work area. In view of the above, it is a first object of the present invention to realize a mobile work robot capable of starting work from the position of the charging device, performing a moving work, and then returning to the position of the charging device reliably.

It is a second object of the present invention to provide a mobile work robot capable of performing range instruction of a mobile work area without manually teaching the range.

A third object of the present invention is to provide a mobile work robot capable of surely completing the moving work even if the moving route is displaced due to movement in a wide moving work area.

[0007]

The first means of the present invention for achieving the first object is a drive means and a steering means for moving a main body, and an obstacle for detecting an obstacle around the main body. A detection means, a reception means for receiving a radio wave signal, a travel control means for controlling the drive means and the steering means to control the travel of the main body, and a cleaning means for performing work such as cleaning.
A charging device having a power source in the main body, detachably connected to the main body, and having a transmitting means for transmitting a radio wave signal to the receiving means, The mobile work robot that starts the operation of connecting the main body and the charging device when the radio signal is received.

A second means of the present invention for achieving the second object is a driving means and a steering means for moving the main body, an obstacle detecting means for detecting an obstacle around the main body, and a radio signal. Has a receiving means for receiving, a traveling control means for controlling the driving means and the steering means to control the traveling of the main body, and a cleaning means for performing work such as cleaning, in the main body, and a radio signal is transmitted to the receiving means. A guide post having a transmitting means for transmitting is arranged in a moving work area of the main body, and the traveling control means gives an instruction of a moving direction of the main body when the receiving means receives a radio signal from the transmitting section. This is a mobile work robot.

A third means of the present invention for achieving the third object is a drive means and a steering means for moving the main body, an obstacle detecting means for detecting an obstacle around the main body, and a radio wave. The main body has a receiving means for receiving a signal, a traveling control means for controlling the driving means and the steering means to control traveling of the main body, and a cleaning means for performing work such as cleaning.
An induction post having a transmitting means for transmitting a radio wave signal to the receiving means is arranged in a moving work area of the main body, and the traveling control means moves when the receiving means receives the radio wave signal from the transmitting section. This is a mobile work robot that finishes the work.

[0010]

The first means of the present invention is to move the outer periphery of the work area along the wall, and when the receiving means receives the radio wave signal from the transmitting part of the charging device, the traveling control device is provided with the main body and the charging device. Since the operation of connecting and is started, it is possible to reliably return to the position of the charging device.

According to a second means of the present invention, an induction post having a transmitting means for transmitting a radio wave signal is arranged in a moving work area of the main body, and the transmission signal is received by the receiving means of the main body, and the traveling control means is It acts to instruct the moving direction of the main body by the pattern of the radio signal determined in advance. Therefore, it is not necessary to manually teach the range instruction of the moving work area.

A third means of the present invention is to arrange a guiding post having a transmitting means for transmitting a radio wave signal in the vicinity of an end point of a moving work area of the main body, and for receiving the main body when the main body approaches this. When this is received, the traveling control means finishes the moving work, so that the moving work can be surely finished even if the moving route is deviated.

[0013]

【Example】

(Embodiment 1) A mobile work robot which is an embodiment of the first means of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 and 2 show the overall construction of the mobile work robot of this embodiment. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a main body of a mobile work robot (hereinafter simply referred to as a main body), and 2L and 2R are drive wheels provided on the left and right rear sides of the main body 1, respectively, which are independently driven by drive motors 3L and 3R. 3'L / 3'R
Is a rotation detector composed of a rotary encoder or the like connected to the drive motors 3L and 3R, respectively.
The shaft rotation speed of R is detected. Reference numeral 4 is a subordinate wheel rotatably attached to the front of the main body 1. Above, drive wheels 2L ・ 2
R, the drive motors 3L and 3R, and the driven wheels 4 constitute drive / steering means for moving the main body 1. Reference numeral 5 denotes a receiving means, which receives a radio wave signal from a transmitting means 7 provided outside the main body 1 and provided in a charging device 6 which can be detachably connected to the main body 1. In this embodiment, a UHF band radio wave is used as the radio wave signal.
A signal that is M-modulated and serial-coded is used. 8
Is a charging coil provided on the rear part of the main body 1, and faces the power feeding coil 9 provided on the charging device 6 when connected to the charging device 6.
The commercial power supply 10 is supplied to the main body 1 side by magnetic coupling. Reference numeral 11 is a bumper made of an elastic body attached to the periphery of the main body 1. Reference numeral 12 is an electric blower, 13 is a dust collecting chamber, and 14 and 15 are filters provided therein. A floor nozzle 16 is provided at the bottom rear of the main body 1, and is connected to the dust collection chamber 13 via a connection pipe 17. 18
Are operation buttons provided on the operation unit 19. Reference numeral 20 is a direction measuring device for measuring the direction of the main body 1, and in this embodiment, it is composed of a rate gyro and an integrator for integrating the output. Reference numeral 21 denotes a distance measuring sensor including an ultrasonic sensor or the like provided around the main body 11, which constitutes an obstacle detection device that measures an distance to an object in front of and on the left and right sides of the main body 1 to detect an obstacle. ing. Reference numeral 22 is a traveling control device including a microcomputer or the like for controlling the drive motors 3L and 3R based on the data from the direction measuring device 20 and the obstacle detection device to control traveling of the main body. Reference numeral 23 is a power source including a storage battery or the like for supplying electric power to the whole.

FIG. 3 is a control block diagram of this embodiment, in which a direction measuring device 20, a distance measuring sensor 21 and a rotation detector 3'L are provided.
The output of 3'R is input to the traveling control device 22.
The traveling control device 22 determines these data and outputs a control signal to the drive motors 3L and 3R. In this embodiment, by controlling the rotation speeds of the drive motors 3L and 3R, the rotation speeds of the left and right drive wheels 2L and 2R are independently controlled to drive and steer the main body 1, so-called P.
Driven by the WS method. Reference numeral 24 is a signal discriminating means for decoding the radio wave signal received by the receiving means 5,
The signal is discriminated and output to the traveling control device 22.

The operation of the self-propelled cleaner constructed as above will be described below with reference to FIGS. 4 to 6.

For example, when cleaning a cleaning area surrounded by walls on all sides, as shown in FIG. 4, the charging device 6 is installed in advance at the corner of the cleaning area. When the main body 1 is placed so that the rear charging coil 8 faces the power feeding coil 9 of the charging device 6, and the main body 1 is operated by operating the operation button 18 along the wall, the electric blower 12 operates and the drive motor 3 operates. The drive wheels 2 are driven to rotate and the main body 1 starts traveling. While traveling, while detecting obstacles by the distance measuring sensor 21, the rotation speeds of the drive motors 3L and 3R are independently controlled on the left and right sides to repeatedly move forward, stop, and change direction, avoiding obstacles, and to Move along the wall to clean the floor. At this time, the moving direction and the moving distance are measured by the direction measuring device 20 and the rotation detectors 3′L and 3′R, and the moving locus is stored. In this way, when the vehicle travels along the peripheral wall of the cleaning area, the cleaning area is surrounded by the walls on all sides, so that the cleaning area will eventually go around the cleaning area and return to the vicinity of the charging device 6. .. Then, when the main body 1 passes near the charging device 6, the receiving means 5 makes the charging device 6
The radio wave signal transmitted from the transmission means 7 is received, and the radio wave signal is discriminated by the signal discrimination means 24. When the signal determination means 24 confirms that this signal is from the charging device 6, the traveling control device 22 stops traveling along the wall and switches to the operation of connecting the main body 1 and the charging device 6. In this operation, as shown in FIG. 4, the main body 1 is oriented in the direction in which the radio wave signal received by the receiving means 5 is received most strongly, the rear surface of the main body 1 and the charging device 6 are faced, and the receiving means 5 transmits. It is carried out by gradually retracting so as to approach the means 7. The reason why the UHF band radio wave is used as the radio wave signal in this embodiment is that the directivity is strong and the direction can be easily detected, and since the propagation attenuation is large, the disturbance noise is small and the influence on others is small. In other words, it is suitable for local guidance as in this embodiment. When the cleaning device makes one round in the cleaning area and is connected to the charging device 6 in this manner, the traveling control means 22 determines that the inside of the movement trajectory along the wall is the cleaning area, and avoids obstacles in this area while repeating reciprocating straight traveling. Clean the entire cleaning area thoroughly. When the entire cleaning area has been moved, the traveling control means 2
2 stops the electric blower 12 and switches the operation to traveling along the wall again, and starts moving the main body 1 along the outer peripheral wall of the cleaning area near the cleaning end point. At this time as well, similar to the first traveling operation along the wall, the vehicle will soon return to the vicinity of the charging device 6, and when the main body 1 passes near the charging device 6, the receiving means 5 is transmitted from the transmitting means 7 of the charging device 6. The transmitted radio wave signal is received, the radio wave signal is discriminated by the signal discrimination means 24, the signal transmitted from the charging device 6 is confirmed, and the operation of connecting to the charging device 6 is performed. When the main body 1 and the charging device 6 are connected to each other and the charging coil 8 and the power feeding coil 9 are in a directly opposed state, the commercial power source 10 automatically starts feeding power to the power source 23 via these coils.

Next, an embodiment of the second means of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The embodiment of the first means of the present invention describes the case where the cleaning area is surrounded by walls on all sides. The present embodiment is applied to a case where the cleaning area is not surrounded by walls or only a specific place in the room is the cleaning area. In this case, the main body 1
Guideposts 25, 26, and 27 are set up in advance at the points where direction is required when the vehicle runs along the wall. The guide posts 25, 26, and 27 are box-shaped and have the same components as the transmitting means 7 provided in the charging device 6 described in FIG. 1 and are attached to the wall surface. For example, when traveling along a wall on the left side in a place as shown in FIG. 5, it is necessary to judge whether to make a large left turn or straight traveling.
・ Install the guide posts 25, 26, 27 in C. In this case, the radio signals transmitted from the respective guiding posts 25, 26, 27 and the transmitting means 7 of the charging device 6 are output by different codes, and can be discriminated by the signal discriminating means 24. In addition, the radio signal transmitted from each of the guide posts 25, 26, and 27 includes a preset direction designation code.

In this state, when the operation button 18 is operated from the charging device 6 to start it, the main body 1 starts traveling along the wall, and first the guide post 2 is operated.
Reach 5. The receiving means 5 receives the radio wave signal transmitted from the transmitting means 7 of the guide post 25, and the signal discriminating means 24 discriminates this radio wave signal. When the signal discriminating means 24 confirms that this signal is from the guide post 25, the traveling control device 22 turns the main body 1 to the left according to the direction designation code and resumes traveling along the wall. Next, when passing through the vicinity of the guide post 26, the receiving means 5 receives the radio wave signal and the signal discriminating means 24 confirms that the signal is from the guide post 26 in the same manner as described above. The traveling control device 22 causes the main body 1 to travel straight according to the direction designation code without changing the direction. When the distance measuring sensor 21 detects the wall again, the traveling along the wall is continued. Similarly, when passing through the vicinity of the guide post 27, the vehicle also travels straight ahead and travels along the wall from the time when the wall is detected, and then returns to the charging device 6 soon.

In this embodiment, by installing the guide posts 25, 26 and 27 in which the directions are set in advance in this way, the cleaning area can be arbitrarily determined, and a cleaning area surrounded by walls on all sides can be defined. Similarly, it is possible to go around the cleaning area while traveling along the wall together.

In this embodiment, the guide posts 25, 26 and 27 are installed at all points A, B and C where it is necessary to judge whether to change direction or to drive straight ahead. If the left wall cannot be detected by the sensor 21, the direction is changed to the left, and if it is set to direct the traveling direction only when there is a guide post, the guide posts 26 and 27 at the points B and C will be Even if it is not installed, the same effect can be obtained and it is more economical.

Next, an embodiment of the third means of the present invention will be described. As described in the embodiment of the second means of the present invention, when the cleaning area is first circulated and connected to the charging device 6, the traveling control means 22 determines that the inside of the movement trajectory is the cleaning area, and the inside of this area is determined. The entire cleaning area is thoroughly cleaned while avoiding obstacles and repeating straight forward and backward running. However, when the cleaning area is very large, the cleaning area recognized due to the movement of the outer periphery may be out of alignment with the actual cleaning area. That is,
Due to the influence of the material of the cleaning surface, errors such as the rotation of the drive wheels 2L and 2R slipping or being washed away by the eyes of the carpet accumulate, and the shape of the cleaning area recognized by the traveling control means 22 is changed by the outer peripheral movement. The shape of the obtained region is different. In such a case, the cleaning work cannot be properly finished. The present embodiment is applied when such a cleaning area is very large.

In the present embodiment, a guide post 30 is additionally provided near the cleaning end point D to notify the cleaning end point. This guide post 30 is the same as the other guide posts 25, 26, 27, but the code of the radio signal transmitted from this transmitting means is distinguished from the other ones, and it is notified that it is the cleaning end point. Code to do.

As shown in FIG. 5, when the cleaning area is circulated once, the cleaning area is recognized, and the charging device 6 is connected, the inside of the cleaning area is cleaned while repeating the reciprocating straight traveling as shown in FIG. In this case, when the main body 1 reaches the vicinity of the guiding post 30, that is, near the point E, the receiving means 5 receives the radio wave signal transmitted from the transmitting means of the guiding post 30. When the signal discriminating means 24 discriminates this radio wave signal from the guide post 30 and the traveling control means 22 recognizes this, the vehicle continues straight traveling, and then the distance measuring sensor 21 detects a wall. (Point F)
Finish the cleaning work with. That is, the traveling control means 22 stops the electric blower 12 and switches the operation to traveling along the wall,
The movement starts along the outer peripheral wall of the cleaning area near the point F.

[0025]

As described above, according to the first means of the present invention, the driving means and the steering means for moving the main body, the obstacle detecting means for detecting an obstacle around the main body, and the radio wave signal are transmitted. Receiving means for receiving, traveling control means for controlling the driving means and steering means to control traveling of the main body, working means for performing work such as cleaning, and a power source are provided in the main body, and are detachable from the main body. And a charging device having a transmitting means for transmitting a radio wave signal to the receiving means, wherein the traveling control means includes a main body and a charging device when the receiving means receives the radio wave signal from the transmitting section. By using a mobile work robot that starts the operation of connecting to and from, it is possible to reliably return to the position of the charging device again after starting the work from the position of the charging device and performing the moving work. Moving area It is possible to provide a mobile work robot which operates to correct the positional deviation even when moving.

According to the second means of the present invention, the driving means and the steering means for moving the main body, the obstacle detecting means for detecting an obstacle around the main body, and the receiving means for receiving the radio wave signal. The main body has a travel control means for controlling the drive means and the steering means to control the travel of the main body, and a working means for performing work such as cleaning, and a transmitting means for transmitting a radio wave signal to the receiving means. The guide post is arranged in a moving work area of the main body, and the traveling control means is a mobile work robot that gives an instruction in a moving direction of the main body when the receiving means receives a radio signal from the transmitting section. As a result, it is possible to provide a mobile work robot that can perform range instruction of a mobile work area without manually teaching the range.

Further, according to the third means of the present invention, a driving means and a steering means for moving the main body, an obstacle detecting means for detecting an obstacle around the main body, and a receiving means for receiving a radio wave signal. The main body has a travel control means for controlling the drive means and the steering means to control the travel of the main body, and a working means for performing work such as cleaning, and a transmitting means for transmitting a radio wave signal to the receiving means. By disposing the guiding post in the moving work area of the main body and the traveling control means is a mobile work robot that terminates the moving work when the receiving means receives the radio signal from the transmitting section, Even if the movement work area is moved and the movement route is deviated,
It is possible to provide a mobile work robot capable of surely completing the mobile work.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of a mobile work robot that is an embodiment of the present invention.

[Fig. 2] Rear sectional view of the mobile work robot

FIG. 3 is a control block diagram of a traveling control device of the mobile work robot.

FIG. 4 is an operation explanatory view of the mobile work robot in the embodiment of the first means of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an operation explanatory view of the mobile work robot in the embodiment of the second means of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an operation explanatory view of the mobile work robot in the embodiment of the third means of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 main body 2 drive wheel 3 drive motor 4 driven wheel 5 receiving means 6 charging device 7 transmitting means 8 charging coil 9 power feeding coil 12 electric blower 13 dust collection chamber 14 filter 15 filter 16 floor nozzle 17 connecting pipe 22 running control means 24 signal determining means

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification number Internal reference number FI Technical indication location G05D 1/02 S 7828-3H L 7828-3H (72) Inventor Hirofumi Inui Daimon Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture 1006 Address Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Yoshifumi Takagi Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture 1006 Address Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A driving means and a steering means for moving a main body, an obstacle detecting means for detecting an obstacle around the main body, a receiving means for receiving a radio wave signal, and the driving means and the steering means. The main body has travel control means for controlling the travel of the main body, cleaning means for performing work such as cleaning, and a power source, and the main body is detachably connected to the main body and transmitting means for transmitting a radio wave signal to the receiving means. Equipped with a charging device having
The mobile work robot, wherein the traveling control means starts the operation of connecting the main body and the charging device when the receiving means receives the radio signal from the transmitting section. 2. A driving means and a steering means for moving the main body, an obstacle detecting means for detecting an obstacle around the main body, a receiving means for receiving a radio wave signal, and the driving means and the steering means. The main body has travel control means for controlling the travel of the main body and cleaning means for performing work such as cleaning.
A guide post having a transmitting means for transmitting a radio wave signal to the receiving means is arranged in a moving work area of the main body, and the travel control means is provided for the main body when the receiving means receives the radio wave signal from the transmitting section. A mobile work robot that directs the direction of movement. 3. A drive means and a steering means for moving the main body, an obstacle detection means for detecting an obstacle around the main body, a receiving means for receiving a radio wave signal, and the drive means and the steering means. The main body has travel control means for controlling the travel of the main body, and working means for performing work such as cleaning.
An induction post having a transmitting means for transmitting a radio wave signal to the receiving means is arranged in a moving work area of the main body, and the traveling control means moves when the receiving means receives the radio wave signal from the transmitting section. A mobile work robot that finishes work.