JPH0786767B2 - Travel control method for self-propelled robot - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a self-propelled robot, and more particularly, to a self-propelled robot suitable for approaching the self-propelled robot to a wall of a room or a crease of an obstacle. The present invention relates to a travel control method.

[Conventional technology]

As a method for cleaning the wall of the room, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Sho 55
As shown in Japanese Patent Publication No. 97608, a method is provided in which a suction port brush that is movable to the left and right with respect to the traveling direction is provided, and when it cannot be moved one pitch in the lateral direction, only the suction port brush is moved in the lateral direction by a required distance. Is. However, in this method, no consideration has been given to the fact that it takes time to control due to the addition of the suction port brush device and it becomes difficult to cope with the surrounding environment due to the increase in the size of the main body of the automatic cleaner.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

The prior art requires a suction brush device and a device for driving it. Therefore, if you go straight or make a U-turn,
Since the robot traveling control considering the position of the suction port brush and the driving timing and the drive control of the suction port brush are required, the control becomes complicated and the control takes a long time.
In addition, the robot body will also become larger. Therefore, there is a problem that the adaptability for traveling avoiding the walls and obstacles in the room deteriorates.

An object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning mechanism having a simple structure without providing a suction port brush that moves laterally with respect to the traveling direction of the prior art, and to accurately approach a wall or an obstacle by a simple traveling control method. Another object of the present invention is to provide a traveling control method for a self-propelled robot capable of eliminating unfinished work such as cleaning of walls and obstacles or painting work.

[Means for solving problems]

The above-mentioned object is a left and right wheel that drives the self-propelled robot and a drive device, a wheel turning drive device that turns the left and right wheels around a turning axis, and an encoder that is provided to connect to the wheel and that measures the wheel rotation speed. Self-device measuring device equipped with a gyroscope for measuring the displacement in the traveling direction of a self-propelled robot, an ultrasonic wave transceiver and a sound wave detection circuit, an object detection device for detecting a wall or frost damage object, a self-position and a position of an obstacle And a storage device for storing the wheels, wheel drive control, wheel turning drive control,
This is achieved by providing a control device for calculating and storing the self-position and the position coordinates of the obstacle, and determining whether or not the self-propelled robot can run straight and make a U-turn based on the self-position coordinates and the position coordinate data of the obstacle.

[Action]

In the control device, wheel rotation speed data at the encoder,
The self-position coordinate and the traveling direction of the self-propelled robot are calculated from the traveling direction displacement data of the gyro and stored in the storage device. Further, the position coordinates of the wall or the obstacle are calculated from the obstacle data in the object detecting device by the ultrasonic wave reception, and are similarly stored in the storage device.

Then, the control device determines whether or not there is an obstacle in front of the self-propelled robot or in the U-turn area based on the self-position coordinates, the traveling direction, the stored wall and obstacle coordinate data.

If there is coordinate data of the obstacle ahead, stop running,
If there is no obstacle data in the U-turn area of the self-propelled robot, the left and right wheels are driven to make a U-turn.

If there is obstacle data in the U-turn area, it is determined that the U-turn cannot be made, and the control device does not change the orientation of the robot. Turn around and run sideways towards walls or obstacles.

The lateral travel distance is calculated by calculating the distance from the self-propelled robot to a wall or an obstacle based on the self-position coordinate and the position coordinate of obstacle data in the U-turn area. Set.

Therefore, in the lateral running, since the front and rear tip portions of the robot do not turn in the U-turn, the self-propelled robot can be brought closer to the wall or the obstacle than in the U-turn.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings using an example of a self-propelled cleaning robot for cleaning purposes.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the configuration of the self-propelled cleaning robot, in which 1 is a left wheel, 2 is a left wheel drive motor, 3 is a lateral drive unit for the left wheel, 4 is a right wheel, and 5 is a right wheel drive. Motor, 6
Is a lateral drive unit for the right wheel, 7 is an ultrasonic transceiver, 8 is a rotating disk, 9 is the rotation axis of the rotating disk 8, 10 is a parabolic antenna fixed to the rotating disk, and 11 is ultrasonic radar rotation. Motor, 12 is an encoder for ultrasonic radar, 13 is a gyro, 14
Is a vacuum cleaner, 15 is a dust suction port, 16 is a vacuum cleaner motor, 17 is a measurement circuit unit, 18 is a traveling control unit, 19 is a control power supply, 20 is a drive power supply, 21 is a robot body frame, 22 is a caster, 23 Is a robot body.

In FIG. 3, the left wheel is provided on the robot body frame 21.
1, a right wheel 4 is provided, and a caster 22 is provided at the center of the front part. Detailed views of the lateral traveling drive unit 3 of the left wheel 1 and the lateral traveling drive unit 6 of the right wheel 4 are shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.

In FIG. 4, 1 is the left wheel, 2 is the left wheel drive motor, 4 is the right wheel, and 5 is the right wheel. 24 is wheels 1 and 4
Wheel traverse motor, 25 and 26 bevel gears, 27
And 28 are worm gears, 29 is a worm gear shaft, 30 is a bevel gear for driving the left wheel, 31 is a bevel gear for rotating the right wheel, 32 is a turning shaft for the left wheel, 33 is a turning shaft for the right wheel, and 34 is 90 ° for the left and right wheels. A turning switch for detecting turning, 35 is a return switch for detecting that the left and right wheels have returned to the 0 ° position, and 36 is a wheel turning detection cam. Reference numeral 21 is the robot body frame in which these respective parts are fixed or installed. The AA cross section of FIG. 4 is FIG. In FIG. 5, 1 is the left wheel, 2 is the left wheel drive motor, 21 is a robot body frame, 27 is a worm gear, 29 is a worm shaft, 30 is a bevel gear for rotating the left wheel, and 32 is a worm gear.
Is the turning axis, and 32a is the axis of the turning axis. Reference numeral 36 denotes the wheel turning detection cam, which is fixed to the turning axis 32a. 37
Is a wheel drive shaft, 38 and 39 are bevel gears fixed above and below the wheel drive shaft 37, 40 is a gear fixed to the left wheel 1, 41 is a wheel gear that meshes with the worm gear 27, and 43 is an axis 32a of the turning shaft.
It is fixed to the main body frame 21 by a bearing that supports the rotatably. Reference numeral 44 is a left wheel encoder that measures the number of rotations of the wheel 1 and the wheel drive shaft 37, and 45 is a connecting portion that connects the shaft 37 and the shaft of the encoder 44. The lateral traveling portion 6 of the right wheel 4 has the same structure except that the detection cam 36 of FIG. 5 is not provided.

In FIG. 5, the left wheel 1 includes a gear 40 and a wheel driving bevel gear 39.
And the wheel drive shaft 37 and the gears 38, 30 are connected to the left wheel drive motor 2 and the left wheel encoder 44. Similarly, the right wheel 4 has the configuration of FIG. 5 and the right wheel drive motor 5 of FIG. Linked to and. As a result, the left wheel 1 and the right wheel 4 are driven by different motors, and the rotation speeds of these wheels are measured by different encoders.

In the lateral running of the self-cleaning robot approaching the wall, the left wheel 1 and the right wheel 4 run without changing the orientation of the robot body frame 21 and the robot body 23 to be described later, that is, the traveling direction of the so-called self-cleaning robot. Turn the direction 90 degrees,
Run sideways. The 90 ° turning direction of this wheel is described below.

The 90 ° turning of the left wheel 1 and the right wheel 4 in the traveling direction is performed by driving the wheel turning motor 24 shown in FIG. When the wheel turning motor 24 rotates, the worm shaft 9 is rotated via the bevel gears 25 and 26, and the left and right worm gears 27 and 28 rotate simultaneously. Along with the rotation of the worm gear 27, the wheel gear 41 meshing with the worm gear 27 of FIG.
Rotates, and the turning shaft 32 forming the rotation axis BB of the left wheel 1 turns about the axis CC of the turning shaft 32a. This turning direction is a right turn. In FIG. 5, the 90 ° turning drive of the left wheel 1 is shown, but the 90 ° turning drive of the left wheel 4 has the same configuration as in FIG. 5, and therefore the right wheel 4 is the worm gear of the left wheel. The worm gear 28 shown in FIG. 4, which rotates at the same time as 27, rotates about the axis CC. Further, the 90 ° turning angle, which is the axis CC of the turning shaft 32 of the left wheel 1 and the right wheel 4, is changed by the rotation of the detection cam 36 fixed to the turning shaft center 32a of FIG.
The swivel switch 34 in contact with the detection cam 36 in the figure turns on,
This ON signal is detected by the wheel turning angle detection circuit 52 of FIG. 6, and the signal data is transmitted to the central processing unit 46. In the central processing unit 46, when the ON signal of the detection cam 36 is input, the driving of the wheel turning motor 24 is stopped, and the 90 ° turning of the left and right wheels ends.

An ultrasonic radar is mounted on the robot body frame 21. The ultrasonic radar rotating motor 11 shown in FIG. 1 and the rotating shaft 9 of the rotating disk 8 are connected, and the rotating disk 8 is rotated by the rotation of 11.
Also, the parabolic antenna 10 rotates about the rotation axis 9.
The parabolic antenna 10 and the ultrasonic transmitter / receiver 7 transmit / receive ultrasonic waves having a sharp directivity indicated by a broken line. An ultrasonic radar encoder 12 is connected to the rotating shaft 9, and 12 detects the emitting direction of ultrasonic waves from the parabolic antenna. The ultrasonic waves emitted from the ultrasonic transmitter / receiver 7 are reflected when hitting a wall or an obstacle in the room, and the reflected ultrasonic waves returned to the parabolic antenna 10 are received by the ultrasonic transmitter / receiver, and the ultrasonic waves are transmitted. The position of a wall or an obstacle is measured from the time from the time when is emitted to the time when is received and the emission direction of the ultrasonic waves detected by the ultrasonic radar encoder 12.

Further, the robot main body frame 21 has a control power source for the gyro 13, the vacuum cleaner 14, the measurement circuit unit 17, and the traveling control unit 18 for measuring the angle change in the traveling direction of the self-propelled cleaning robot shown in FIG. 19, a driving power source 20, etc. are mounted, and the robot body 23 covers parts other than the ultrasonic transceiver 7 of the ultrasonic radar, the rotating disk 8, and the parabolic antenna 10. Vacuum cleaner
A dust suction port 15 having a width substantially equal to the widths of the cleaner motor 16 and the robot main body frame 21 is provided on the 14 so as to absorb dust of the width of the robot main body frame 21 as the self-propelled cleaning robot travels.

FIG. 6 is a system block diagram showing the entire traveling control system in FIG. 3, 46 is a central processing unit (CPU), 47 is a memory, 48 is an ultrasonic radar detection circuit, 49 is a radar encoder measurement circuit, Reference numeral 50 is a gyro measuring circuit, 51 is a wheel encoder measuring circuit, 52 is a wheel 90 ° turning angle detecting circuit, and the other parts are denoted by the same reference numerals as in FIGS. 3, 4, and 5.

The measurement circuit unit 17 of FIG. 3 includes an ultrasonic radar detection circuit 48 for detecting the output signal of the ultrasonic transmitter / receiver 7 of FIG. 6, and a radar encoder measurement circuit 49 for measuring the data from the ultrasonic radar encoder 12. , A gyro measuring circuit 50 for measuring the data from the gyro 13, a wheel encoder measuring circuit 51 for measuring the data of the left wheel encoder 44 and the right wheel encoder 44a, a 90 ° turning switch 34 and a return switch 35.
And a wheel turning angle detection circuit for detecting the signal of. On the other hand, the traveling control unit 18 includes the central processing unit 46 and the memory 47. The central processing unit 46, the ultrasonic radar detection circuit 48, the radar encoder measurement circuit 49, the gyro measurement circuit 50, the wheel encoder measurement circuit 51 and the wheel turning angle detection circuit 52 periodically fetches data from the self-propelled cleaning robot. The position of the self and the position of the wall or the obstacle of the room are calculated, and the result is stored in the memory 47. Depending on this result, the left and right wheel drive motors
The control signals for the motors 2, 5, the wheel turning motor 24, the cleaner motor 16 and the ultrasonic radar rotation motor 11 are formed.

Next, the control method of the above self-propelled cleaning robot will be shown. As shown in FIG. 7, the traveling control of this embodiment basically causes the vehicle to travel straightly and U-turn repeatedly, and when the robot approaches a wall or obstacle in the room, the wall or obstacle is marked. It is to move in the horizontal direction.

1 and 2 are flowcharts showing an embodiment of a control method for a self-propelled robot according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, when the operation of the self-propelled cleaning robot is started, the central processing unit 46
Clears the contents of the memory 47, activates the cleaner motor 16 to start cleaning, and resets the control flag (hereinafter referred to as the U-turn flag) for making the U-turn of the self-propelled cleaning robot in the next step. , Resets a control flag (hereinafter referred to as lateral running flag) for laterally running the robot toward a wall or an obstacle (hereinafter referred to as lateral running flag).

In the next step, the self position of the self-propelled cleaning robot in the room is detected. This self-position is measured based on the output signals of the left wheel encoder 44, the right wheel encoder 44a, and the gyro 13 at regular time intervals. Data (pulse number) representing the rotation speed of the left wheel 1 is output from the left wheel encoder 44, and the running distance of the left wheel 1 is measured by the wheel encoder measuring circuit 51 from this data. Similarly, the right wheel encoder 44a outputs data (the number of pulses) representing the rotation speed of the right wheel 4, and the wheel encoder measuring circuit 51 measures the traveling distance of the right wheel 4 from this data. In addition, the gyro 13 measures the amount of change in angle in the traveling direction of the self-propelled cleaning robot at regular time intervals. The traveling distance of the left and right wheels and the angle change amount in the traveling direction are taken into the central processing unit 46, and the self-position coordinates are calculated. 53 in FIG.
Shows the locus of the self-position coordinates detected above, and the self-position data is obtained as XY coordinates. The X-Y coordinates are determined when the self-propelled cleaning robot is placed on the floor of the room to perform the work, the placed position is the origin 0, and the direction in which the robot is facing is y.
The axis, and the direction perpendicular to this is the x axis. The angle on the X-Y coordinate of the moving direction of the robot is calculated by accumulating the angle change amount measured from the gyro 13. Then, the self-position coordinates of the self-propelled cleaning robot are calculated one after another by the product of the average traveling distance of the left and right wheels and the trigonometric function of the angle on the XY coordinates of the traveling direction at regular time intervals. .

In the next step, the location of walls and obstacles is detected. The positions of the walls and obstacles are measured using the ultrasonic radar data shown in FIGS. Ultrasonic transmitter / receiver 7 in FIG.
The parabolic antenna 10 emits and receives ultrasonic waves while rotating above the robot. Therefore, when the parabolic antenna 10 faces a plane perpendicular to the ultrasonic emission direction of a wall or an obstacle, the ultrasonic waves emitted by the ultrasonic transmitter / receiver 7 are reflected by this vertical plane, and the parabolic antenna 10 and the ultrasonic waves are emitted again. It is received by the transceiver 7. Therefore, the ultrasonic wave is emitted from the ultrasonic wave transmitter / receiver 7 and then reflected by a vertical surface of a wall or an obstacle, and is self-propelled by the product of the round-trip time and the ultrasonic wave speed received by the ultrasonic wave transmitter / receiver 7 again. The distance from the robot's own position to a wall or obstacle is measured. The direction of the wall or obstacle is measured by the ultrasonic radar encoder 12 by emitting ultrasonic waves from the parabolic antenna 10 and measuring the receiving direction. The position coordinates of this wall or obstacle are stored in the memory 47 of FIG. 6, an example of which is shown in FIG. Figure 7 shows a rectangular room
The robot starts running from the lower left corner of the room and goes straight ahead and U
It shows the position of the wall of the room detected while running repeatedly with turns, 54 is the left wall, 55 is the upper wall, 56 is the right wall, 57 is the front wall data .

In the next step, the position coordinates of the self-propelled cleaning robot and the wall or obstacle obtained in the following are stored in the memory 47, a scene map showing the positional relationship of the wall and the obstacle is created, and the self-propelled cleaning robot is stored there. Draw the driving route of. One example is FIG. 7.

In the next step, it is determined whether or not there is a wall or an obstacle that prevents the self-propelled cleaning robot from traveling straight in the traveling direction. As explained above, self-propelled cleaning robot
Although the vehicle travels while repeating turns, the central processing unit 46 constantly monitors the distance between the wall and the obstacle in the traveling direction based on the scene map of FIG. 7 and the traveling route of the robot. When the size of the front end of the robot body 23 is approached, it is determined that there is a wall or an obstacle. If there are no walls or obstacles ahead, let the robot run straight ahead. In this straight traveling, the left wheel motor 2 and the right wheel motor are simultaneously rotated, and the gear 30, the gear 38, and the wheel drive shaft 3 of FIG.
It is performed by transmitting power in the order of 7, gear 39, gear 40 to drive left wheel 1 and right wheel 4. Unless it is determined that there is a wall or an obstacle ahead, the process is performed by the straight traveling connector B to detect the position of the robot, the position of the obstacle, the memory of the position data to the scene map, and whether there is an obstacle ahead. And the operation of the straight running command are repeated, causing the self-propelled cleaning robot to run straight. During this straight running, the position coordinates of the robot and the position coordinates of the wall or obstacle are detected, and the respective position coordinates are sequentially stored in the memory 47. In the memory 47, the scene map shown in FIG. The travel route of the self-propelled cleaning robot is also drawn.

If it is determined that there is a wall or an obstacle ahead while the vehicle is traveling straight, the self-propelled cleaning robot is stopped in the next step, and U
A flag indicating that the vehicle is turning or traveling laterally (called a turning flag) is set.

In the next step, the U-turn direction and the lateral traveling direction are reversed. As described above, the self-propelled cleaning robot repeatedly runs straight ahead and makes a U-turn until it approaches a wall or obstacle, and when the robot approaches the wall or obstacle,
The vehicle is run laterally to the wall or obstacle, but in FIG. 7, the first U-turn direction is rightward, but the next U-turn is leftward, as shown by a locus 53. That is U
With each turn, the direction alternates between right and left, which causes the self-propelled cleaning robot to travel in the x-axis direction while reciprocating in the y-axis direction. At the time point 57 in FIG. 7 when the robot approaches the wall and runs laterally, it is necessary to decide which direction the lateral running should be.
Specifies the opposite direction of the U-turn direction on the previous U-turn.
That is, the direction of lateral running 57 in FIG. 7 is designated to the opposite right direction because the U-turn at the previous 58 is a left U-turn. If the previous U-turn is a right U-turn, the direction of lateral running is specified as left.

In the next step, it is determined whether a U-turn is possible. Here, a U-turn method of the self-propelled cleaning robot will be described with reference to FIG. Fig. 8 shows an example of right U-turn, 1a is left wheel before U-turn, 1b is left wheel after U-turn, 4a is right wheel, 23a is robot body before U-turn, 23b is robot after U-turn. The body, 61a is the position before the U-turn of the center point of the left and right wheels, which is the self-propelled cleaning robot self-position, 61b is the self-position after the U-turn, 62a and 62b are the front left tip of the robot body,
63a and 63b are the left rear tip of the robot body. In the right U-turn, the right wheel 4a is stopped, the left wheel 1a is driven in the forward direction, and the robot body 23a is turned around the right wheel 4a. By performing this U-turn, the width of the dust suction port 15 of the cleaner 14 is substantially equal to the width of the robot bodies 23a, 23b, so that the cleaning ranges before and after the U-turn overlap by Eb. This U-turn is an area a determined by the distance from the tip of the robot body 23a, 23b to the wheel shaft and the rotation range of the front tip 62a, 62b and the rear tip 63a, 63b of the robot body about the right wheel 4a. Possible when there are no walls or obstacles in ₁ b ₁ c ₁ d ₁ . If the U-turn is possible, the U-turn flag for instructing the U-turn traveling is set, and the process is returned to B. During the U-turn, the robot position coordinates shown in FIG. 1 are detected, the position of the obstacle is detected, the position data is stored in the scene map, the judgment whether the next turning is being made yes, the judgment that the turning traveling is finished NO, the connector B Repeat the operation to return to. When the U-turn is over, the determination as to whether or not the turning traveling is finished is yes, the flag during turning is reset, the operation proceeds to the straight traveling operation, and the vehicle travels straight again in the direction of arrow 65 in FIG. For the above U-turns, the wall
Uncleaned portion of width Ea is generated at 64 creases.

If there is a wall or obstacle in the area a ₁ b ₁ c ₁ d ₁ shown in FIG. 8 and it is not possible to make a U-turn, it is judged that the U-turn in the previous step is possible. Move on to the operation of running. Here, the operation of lateral traveling will be described. Figure 9 shows
This is an example of lateral running to the right, 1c is the left wheel before lateral running, and 1d
Is the left wheel after turning only 90 ° to the side for lateral running, 1e is the left wheel after running laterally toward the wall 69, and 1f is the left wheel after approaching the wall and turning only the reverse 90 ° to the left Left wheel after returning the running direction of the wheel to the same direction of travel of the robot as before the lateral running, 4c is the right wheel before lateral running, and 4d is the right wheel after turning only 90 ° for lateral running. Right wheel, 4e is the right wheel after traveling laterally toward the wall 69, and 4f is only 90 after the rear wheel approaching the wall
゜ Right wheel after turning left to return the direction of travel to the same direction as before horizontal running, 23c is the robot body before horizontal running, 23d is the robot body after approaching the wall 69 by horizontal running, and 67c and 67d are Fig. 5 shows the position of the axis CC of the left wheel when turning 32a CC before the lateral running and after approaching the wall, and 68c and 68d are the positions of the axis CC of the turning axis of the right wheel before the lateral running and after approaching the wall, 66c. Is the position considered to be the self-position of this self-propelled cleaning robot.
c and the center point of the right wheel turning axis 68c. This 66c is also aligned with the rotation axis of the rotation axis 9 of the parabolic antenna 10 of the ultrasonic radar of FIG. 1 to associate the self position coordinates with the detection position of the wall or obstacle. Similarly, 66d is the center point between the turning axes 67d and 68d of the left and right wheels after the approach of the wall.
69 is the wall of the room. To move laterally, first move the left wheel 1c and the right wheel 4c without changing the orientation of the robot body 23c.
Rotate 90 ° to the right around the axes 67c and 68c up to d and 4d. The 90 ° turning method for the left and right wheels is performed by driving the wheel turning motor 24 shown in FIG. 4 and turning the turning shaft 32 shown in FIG. 5 as described above.
Detected by 36 and turning switch 34.

Next, the distance L from the point 66c of the robot's own position to the wall 69
Is calculated from the data on the wall 56 on the right side of the scene map in FIG. According to the distance L to the wall, the left wheel 1d and the right wheel 4d shown in FIG. 9 are moved laterally to the wall 69 by a distance 1 to 1e and 4e. By this lateral running, the robot body 23d is wall 69
To Lc. Then the left wheel 1e and the right wheel 4e to 1f and 4f
Up to 90 ° to the left, turn 90 ° to the left to return the running direction of the left and right wheels to the state before the lateral running. Subsequently, the left wheels 1f and 4f retract the robot body 23d along the wall 69. The backward traveling is performed until the wall 58 or an obstacle is detected backward as shown at 59 to 60 in FIG.

The above is the operation of the lateral traveling, but the traveling distance 1 of the lateral traveling must be determined before entering the lateral traveling. Then, returning to the flowchart of FIG. 1, when it is determined that the U-turn cannot be made in the determination of the U-turn that is possible in the previous step,
In the next step, it is determined whether or not the vehicle can laterally travel and the lateral travel distance is determined. The calculation method of this lateral traveling distance l is shown in FIG.
FIG. 2 is a subroutine of the process of determining the lateral traveling distance in FIG. In Fig. 2, L and l represent lengths, L is the distance from the self-positioning point of the self-propelled cleaning robot shown by 57 in Fig. 7 and 66c in Fig. 9 to the wall of the room, and La is in Fig. 8. The minimum distance to the wall at which U-turning is possible, Lb is the width of the robot body 23 in FIG.
Lc is the clearance width between the robot body 23d and the wall after the lateral traveling in FIG. 9, and l is the traveling distance to be laterally traveling.

In FIG. 2, the traveling distance 1 for lateral traveling is Lb <Lb <, depending on the distance L from the self-position of the self-propelled cleaning robot to the wall.
In the case of L ≦ La, the length Lb is determined by subtracting the cleaning overlap width Eb from the width of the robot body 23. Further, when the distance L to the wall is in the range of Lc <L ≦ Lb, the traveling distance l is the length L− which is the distance L to the wall minus the clearance width Lc between the robot body and the wall after lateral traveling. Determined by Lc.
Further, when the distance L to the wall is L <Lc, it is determined that lateral traveling is not possible, and the next traveling distance 1 is set to 1 = 0. If lateral traveling is possible, then a flag for commanding lateral traveling (referred to as lateral traveling flag) is set and the process returns to the connector B.

While the vehicle is running laterally, the robot position coordinates shown in FIG. 1 are detected, the position of the obstacle is detected, the position data is stored in the scene map, the judgment whether the next turning flag is present yes, the judgment whether the turning movement is finished NO,
The operation is repeated to return to the connector B.

Lateral running starts from 57 in the scene map in memory shown in FIG.
Drive sideways towards wall 56 until 59, then along wall 56
Drive backwards from 59 to 60.

When the lateral traveling is over, the determination as to whether the turning traveling is finished in FIG. 1 becomes yes, the flag during the next turning is reset, and the routine returns to the connector B.

When the traverse is over and you reach point 60 in Fig. 7, you can no longer make a U-turn or retreat, and 59 to 60 already ahead.
No need to go straight as the cleaning is completed by running.
Therefore, in the process shown in FIG. 1, it is determined whether there is an obstacle in the front (yes, the traveling routes 53, 57, 59, 60 shown in FIG. 7 are regarded as one of the obstacles), and whether the U-turn is possible or not, the lateral direction. If it is possible to drive, proceed with NO, and in the next step, determine whether cleaning is completed.

This determination is performed by searching for an uncleaned area from the scene map shown in the example of FIG. 7 formed in the memory 47 of FIG. 6 and the route traveled by the self-propelled cleaning robot. In the case of FIG. 7, it is determined that cleaning has been completed, but there may be an uncleaned area when there are obstacles in the room or the room is not square. When an uncleaned area is found, run a self-propelled cleaning robot in the uncleaned area,
Subsequently, the process is returned to the connector A, and the above-described straight ahead movement, U-turn, lateral running, etc. are performed on the uncleaned area.

As described above, in this embodiment, the self-propelled cleaning robot can easily and accurately approach a wall or an obstacle (Lc in FIG. 9) to clean the wall or the obstacle. You can eliminate the residue. Further, in the embodiment, only the simple drive control of turning and rotating the left and right wheels in lateral traveling is required, and the conventional operation control of the suction port brush and the change in the outer shape of the robot due to the suction port being taken into consideration. The traveling control may be eliminated, the time required for the determination and determination of the traveling method can be shortened, and since the drive device for the suction port brush is unnecessary, the robot body can be downsized. Therefore, it is possible to quickly respond to changes in the position data of the surrounding walls and obstacles obtained by the ultrasonic radar and the scene map data.

In addition, although the wall is described in FIGS. 1, 2, and 7 to 9, the same applies to an obstacle. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the vacuum cleaner is mounted as the self-propelled robot, but it is obvious that other work such as painting may be performed.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, there is an effect that the self-propelled robot can easily and accurately approach a wall or an obstacle.

In addition, it is not necessary to control the work equipment such as the vacuum cleaner and the coating device mounted on the self-propelled robot, and only the traveling control of the wheels is required, so that the control can be simplified, and the mechanical unit and the drive unit of the work equipment can be controlled. It is simplified and the self-propelled robot can be miniaturized. By simplifying these controls, simplifying the work equipment, and downsizing the self-propelled robot, it is possible to quickly determine and determine the traveling method of the self-propelled robot and respond to the walls and obstacles in the room. The operation of the running robot can be changed quickly, and the working time can be significantly shortened.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 and 2 are flowcharts showing an embodiment of a traveling control method for a self-propelled robot according to the present invention, FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing a specific example of the self-propelled robot, and FIGS. 4 and 5 are FIG. 7 is a system block diagram showing the entire traveling control system of the self-propelled robot shown in FIGS. 3, 4, and 5, and FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a wheel drive device of the present invention. Is an explanatory view showing scene map data recognized by the control device of the self-propelled robot, FIG. 8 is an explanatory view showing a U-turn method of the self-propelled robot, and FIG. 9 is a travel method of the self-propelled robot of the present invention. FIG. 1,1a ~ 1f ... left wheel, 2 ... left wheel motor, 3,6 ... lateral traveling drive unit, 4,4a ~ 4f ... right wheel, 5 ... right wheel motor, 7 ... ultrasonic transmission and reception Instrument, 10 ... Parabolic antenna, 12 ... Ultrasonic radar encoder, 13 ... Gyro, 14 ... Vacuum cleaner, 15 ... Dust suction port, 17 ... Measuring circuit section, 18 ... Travel control section, 21 ... Robot body frame, 24 …… Wheel turning motor, 27,28 …… Worm gear, 29 …… Worm axis, 32 …… Wheel turning axis, 32a …… Swing axis center, 34 …… Swing switch, 35 …… Return switch , 36 …… Wheel turning angle detection cam, 37 …… Wheel drive shaft, 30,38,39,40 …… Bevel gear, 44,44a …… Wheel encoder, 46 …… Central processing unit, 52 …… Wheel turning Angle detection circuit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A wheel turning drive device for turning a wheel without changing the orientation of a self-propelled robot body, a turning angle measuring device for measuring the wheel turning angle, a wheel distance measuring device, and a running direction. Direction measuring device, an ultrasonic object detecting device that measures the distance and direction to an object by ultrasonic waves, self-position coordinates obtained from the mileage measuring device and the direction measuring device, and the ultrasonic object detecting device In a self-propelled robot equipped with a storage device that stores the position coordinates of an object and a control device that controls the wheel turning drive device based on the data of this storage device, the control device stores the storage device in the storage device. The self-position coordinate and the traveling direction and the position coordinate data of the object are read out, and from the self-position coordinate and the position coordinate data of the object, until the object is in front of the self-propelled robot If there is an object in front of the vehicle, the vehicle is driven to stop and make a U-turn. The position coordinate data of the object is in the U-turn area of the self-propelled robot and the control device cannot make a U-turn. When the judgment is made, the direction of the self-propelled robot main body is not changed, and the wheel turning drive device is turned 90 ° based on the angle measured by the turning angle measuring device so that the traveling direction of the wheels is changed. Orient the wheel in a direction perpendicular to the direction, based on self-position coordinate data of the self-propelled robot stored in the storage device and position coordinate data of an object such as an obstacle, from the self-position to the object. Run only the distance according to the distance,
A traveling control method for a self-propelled robot, characterized in that the self-propelled robot main body is laterally approached toward an object such as a wall or an obstacle in a room.