KR0151146B1 - Travel control method for mobile robot - Google Patents

Abstract

None.

Description

Driving control method of mobile robot

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a mobile robot system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a diagram showing an example of a traveling route on which each mobile robot travels.

3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control station 1 in FIG.

4 is a diagram showing a reserve table RVT set in the data memory le in FIG.

5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the mobile robot 2;

* Explanation of symbols for main parts of the drawings

1: Control station 2-1 to 2-10: Mobile robot

31, 32 S3: Work targets 1a, 2a: CPU (central processing unit)

1b, 2b: program memory 1c: conflict table

1d, 2f: Map memory 1e, 2c: Data memory

1f, 2d: control panel 1g, 2e: communication device

2g: travel control device 2h: arm control device

RVT: Reserve Table RV1 to RV14: Memory Slot

The present invention relates to a mobile robot system comprising a plurality of mobile robots and a control station for controlling the mobile robots, wherein the mobile robots can search and bypass the bypass route when the mobile robots cannot travel. It relates to a driving control method.

In recent years, with the development of FA (Factory Automation), a variety of mobile robot systems including a plurality of mobile robots and control stations for controlling these mobile robots have been developed and put into practical use.

In this mobile robot system, the control station instructs each mobile robot to perform work on the planet and destination by wireless or wired.

The mobile robot, which has been instructed by the control station, sees the map information and automatically runs to the designated place, performs the indicated work at that place, and waits for the next instruction at the place when the work is finished.

By the way, in the conventional system of this kind, when there is another mobile robot in front of the traveling route, the mobile robot which runs automatically waits until the other mobile robot disappears.

In this case, if the other mobile robot is operating normally, it will leave immediately, but there is no problem. If the other mobile robot is stopped due to a failure, it will cause a considerable time waiting.

As a means for resolving this, a method of bypassing can be considered, but when a bypass is made, a new detour member may occur, and in such a case, the destination cannot be reached in any case.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a traveling control method of a mobile robot that ensures smoothness during bypass.

The present invention provides a mobile robot system comprising a plurality of mobile robots and a control station for controlling the mobile robots, wherein each of the mobile robots includes position data indicating the current position of the tie robot and state data indicating the current state. If the mobile robot cannot travel, the cause of the mobile robot will be detected by referring to the position data and the status data of the other mobile robot, and will it detour based on the cause? When it is determined whether or not to make a detour, the detour route is searched, the route reservation is made for the entire range of the detour route found, and the detour route is driven.

According to the present invention, when the cause of the detour occurs while the mobile robot is running, it is not allowed to enter the detour route unless all reservations of the detour route are completed, thereby ensuring smooth running at the time of detour.

EXAMPLE

Hereinafter, a mobile robot system to which the traveling control method according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied will be described with reference to the drawings.

1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the mobile robot system. 1, control station 2 (2-1 to 2-10) is a mobile robot, and the control station 1 and each mobile robot 2 are connected by radio.

The mobile robot 2 travels along the magnetic tape attached to the bottom surface of the predetermined travel path, and the nodes are set at appropriate intervals on the travel path.

Here, the node is a driving state change point installed on a driving path such as a starting point, a stop point, a branch point, a work point, and the like.

2 is a diagram showing an example of a traveling path, in which 1 and 2 are nodes.

Each node has a node mark attached to its bottom surface, and a detector for detecting the node mark is set in the mobile robot 2. In addition, the nodes are classified into the following three types according to the installed place.

이다.(1) Leading node: This node is the starting point when the mobile robot (2) enters a new road. In FIG.

to be.

이다.(2) Working node: The node where the working point is installed. In Figure 2, ⑤, ⑮,

to be.

(3) Passing node: The mobile robot 2 is a node which simply passes, and in FIG. 2, it is all nodes other than said each node.

Nodes other than the pass-through node are also referred to as stations. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control station 1, in which 1a is a CPU (central processing unit) 1b is a program memory in which a program used in the CPU la is stored, and 1c is a mobile robot ( 2) A collision table that stores data for preventing a collision between the two.

의 XY좌표, 노오드종별을 표시하는 데이터, 그 노오드에 접속되어 있는 타 노오드의 번호, 그 노오드에 접속되어있는 각기 다른 노오드까지의 거리등이 기억되어있다.1d is a map memory, and each node ① to 1 shown in FIG.

XY coordinates, data indicating the node type, the number of other nodes connected to the node, and the distances to different nodes connected to the node are stored.

1e is a data memory for storing data, and a reserve table RVT shown in FIG. 4 is provided in advance in this data memory le.

에 각각 대응하는 기억슬로트(RV1∼RV18, 각 1바이트)을 가지고 있다.The reserve table RVT is composed of

Has memory slots (RV1 to RV18, each one byte) corresponding to the respective slots.

1f is an operation unit, 1g is a communication device, and this communication device 1g carries data transmitted from a carrier of 200-300MHZ and transmits the data supplied from the CPU la, and is carried on the carrier by the mobile robot 2 and transmitted. Receive data.

Next, the mobile robot 2 will be described.

5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the mobile robot 2, in which 2a is a CPU, 2b is a program memory in which a program used in the CPU 2a is stored, 2c is a data memory for data storage, and 2d. Is an operation unit, 2e is a communication device, and 2f is a map memory in which the same data as the map memory 1d in the control station 1 is stored.

In addition, 2g is a travel control device, receives the destination data supplied from the CPU 2a, controls the drive motor while detecting the magnetic tape and the node mark on the floor by the magnetic sensor, and the mobile robot 2 is the target furnace. Drive to Aether.

2h is an arm control device, receives a work program number supplied from the CPU 2a, reads the work program of the number from the internal memory at the time when the mobile robot arrives at the work node, and reads the robot arm by the read program. (Not shown) is controlled to perform various operations.

Next, the operation of the above-described mobile robot system will be described.

의 어느 곳에 이동하고, 다음에 이동로보트(2)의 조작부 2d에서 그 노오드의 번호를 입력하고, 그리하여 자동모타로 변환시킨다.First, in order to put the mobile robot 2 under the control of the control station 1, the mobile robot 2 is manually moved by the guidance entry nodes ①, ⑦, ⑬, ⑥, ⑫,

Then, it moves to any position of, and then inputs the number of the node in the operation part 2d of the mobile robot 2, and it converts into an automatic motor.

When the node number is input, the CPU 2a posts the node number and its own robot number to the control station 1 by displaying the communication device 2e.

The control station 1 receives the robot number and the node number and writes them into the data memory 1e.

By the above process, the control station 1 detects the number and position of the newly entered mobile robot 2.

Next, for example, when a work to be performed in the work node (station) ⑤ occurs, the control station 1 displays the work node ⑤ for the mobile robot 2 located at the position closest to the work node. The work point code and the work program number are transmitted.

It is assumed that the mobile robot 2-1 is stopped at the node ①, and the control station 1 transmits the working node code and program number to the mobile robot 2-1.

The CPU 2a of the mobile robot 2-1 stores the received work node code and program number in the data memory 2c, and then searches for the running route to the work node ⑤.

This route search is conventionally performed by a well-known vertical search method or the like.

Thus, if this route search finds a route of ① → ② → ③ → ④ → ⑤, the CPU 2a next creates the route table ROT shown in Table 1 in the data memory 2c. At the same time, the created route table (ROT) is transmitted to the control station 1.

In this route table ROT, as indicated by the same figure, the number of nodes ②, ③, and ④ which will pass sequentially when performed at the starting point node ① (1) and the target working node ⑤ ( 2), (3), (4) The job code 6500 indicating that the data to be continued next is the data concerning the job, the number 5 of the work node ⑤, the job program number 12, and the data to be continued next. Final posture (65001) indicating the robot's final posture, number (5) of the cord ⑤ to stop, number (6) of the front node ⑥, number (4) of the rear node ④ and the root table The final code (0) indicating the end of the (ROT) is written.

The control station 1 writes this route table ROT into the internal data memory 1e, and then transmits the table ROT to the other mobile robots 2-1 to 2-10.

The other mobile robots 2-2 to 210 respectively write the table ROT into the internal data memory 2c.

Next, the mobile robot 2-1 accumulates the traveling distance of the searched route from the starting point node ① to the target node ⑤ in turn, based on the distance between nodes stored in the map memory 2f. The first node over a predetermined distance L is detected.

Assume that this node was ③. Next, the CPU 2a transmits the numbers of the nodes ② and ③ and the route reservation request code to the control station 1, respectively.

The CPU 1a of the control station 1 receives this node number and route reservation request code, and checks by the reserve table RVT whether these nodes are already reserved.

Thus, if not reserved, i.e., if the data in the memory slots RV1 to RV3 corresponding to these nodes of the reserve table RVT is (0), the robot number (1) is assigned to their memory slots, respectively. Enter.

By this, the route ① → ② → ③ is reserved.

Next, the CPU 1a of the control station 1 transmits the numbers of the nodes 2 and 3 and the reserved code to the mobile robot 2-1.

The mobile robot 2-1 receives these node numbers and a reserved code, and first starts running toward the node ②.

The mobile robot 2-1 transmits the relative data and the position data to the control station 1 each time a predetermined time elapses while driving.

Here, the status data is data indicating the current state of the mobile robot 2 (traveling, waiting, working, abnormality, etc.), and the position data is the current position of the mobile robot 2. The data is it. The control station 1 supplies the status data and position data sent from the mobile robot 2-1 and the reserved node data indicating the node currently reserved by the mobile robot 2-1. -2 to 2-10). These mobile robots 2-2 to 2-10 write the received data into the internal data memory 2c.

Further, when the control station 1 checks the position data transmitted from the mobile robot 2-1 and detects that the mobile robot 2-1 has passed the node ② through the node ①, the node ① Subsequently, the reservation of the node ② is canceled.

That is, the memory slots RV1 and RV2 of the reserve table RVT are deleted. On the other hand, the mobile robot 2-1 always detects the first node exceeding the distance L from the current position to the target node while driving, and when the detected node becomes ④, the node ④ The number and route reservation request code are sent to the control station 1, respectively.

The control station 1 receives this node number and route reservation request code and makes a node reservation.

Thus, when the node reservation is completed, the node No. 4 and the reservation completion code are transmitted to the mobile robot 2-1.

The mobile robot 2-1 receives these node numbers and the drug completion codes, and travels to the node ④.

When the mobile robot 2-1 passes through the node ③, the control station 1 cancels the reservation of the node ③ in the same manner as described above.

On the other hand, the mobile robot 2-1 is the first node exceeding the distance L from the current position to the target node while traveling from node ③ to ④. When the work point ⑤ is detected, the work node ⑤ is detected. And a route reservation request code are sent to the control station 1, respectively.

The control station 1 receives this node number and the lute reservation request code, and makes a node reservation.

Thus, when the node reservation is completed, the number of working nodes ⑤ and the drug completion code are transmitted to the mobile robot 2-1.

The mobile robot 2-1 receives these node numbers and reservation completion codes, and travels to the work node ⑤.

When the mobile robot 2-1 passes through the node ④, the control station 1 cancels the reservation of the node ④ in the same manner as described above.

Thus, when the work node 5 is reached, work is performed by the arm.

As described above, the mobile robot 2-1 sends the route table ROT to the control station 1 prior to the start of travel, and also transmits the status data and the position data to the control station 1 in sequence while driving. do.

The control station 1 stores the transmitted route table ROT, status data, and position data in the data memory le, and transmits their tables, data, and reserved node data to the entire mobile robot 2, respectively.

When the other mobile robots 2-2 to 2-10 travel, the same processing is performed completely.

Therefore, in this mobile robot system, each mobile robot 2 holds the root table, the state data, the position data, and the reserved node data of the tie robot 2 in the internal data memory 2c.

Thereby, each mobile robot 2 can always detect the running route of the other mobile robot 2, the current state, the current position, and the reserved nodo.

Next, similarly to the above, in the case where the mobile robot 2-1 travels along the route table ROT shown in Table 5, processing for a case where it cannot proceed for some reason will be described.

For example, when the mobile robot 2-1 has reached the node 2, if the reservation of the node 3 has not been canceled yet, the node 2 stops once and performs the following processing.

(1) First, the mobile robot 2 which scans the root table ROT of the other mobile robots 2-2 to 2-10 stored in the data memory 2c and makes the node ③ as part of the running route. Is detected.

In this case, it is assumed that the mobile robots 2-3 and 2-5 correspond.

(2) Next, the mobile robot 2 that reserves the node ③ is detected from the reserved node data of the mobile robots 2-3 and 2-5 stored in the data memory 2c. At this time, it is assumed that the mobile robot 2-3 is detected.

(3) Next, the state of the mobile robot 2-3 is detected from the state data of the mobile robot 2-3 stored in the data memory 2c, and the following processing is performed in response to the state. Do it.

(Iii) When the mobile robot (2-3) is in standby

The mobile robot 2-1 transmits its status data to the control station 1 as the extraction completion wait.

The control station 1 receives this status data and waits in accordance with the route table ROT and position data of each of the mobile robots 2-2 to 2-10 stored in the internal data mele. The mobile robot 2-3 is found, and the route transfer instruction and the movement destination node instruction are transmitted to the mobile robot 2-3.

As described above, the mobile robot 2-3 receives the route transfer instruction, searches for a route to the indicated node, continues to make a route reservation, and then travels to the node.

When the mobile robot 2-3 moves, the node is canceled.

On the other hand, the mobile robot 2-1 transmits the status data to the control station 1 as the extraction completion wait time, and then transmits the traveling path reservation request to the control station 1 every elapse of a predetermined time.

The control station 1 makes a reservation of the mobile robot 2-1 at the time when the mobile robot 2-3 moves and releases the node reservation, and transmits the reservation completion to the mobile robot 2-1. .

The mobile robot 2-1 receives this reservation and starts driving. If a re-routing search instruction has been sent from the control station 1 while the route reservation request is sent, the route search is performed and the route is changed.

(Ii) When the mobile robot (2-3) is driving toward the node

The mobile robot 2-1 sends the status data to the control station 1 as a passing standby state, and then waits for the completion of the reservation while sending a driving reservation reservation request to the control station 1 every predetermined time.

If an abnormality occurs in the mobile robot 2-3 to be passed, the bypass route search described in the next section is performed, and the route is changed and traveled.

(Iii) During abnormal occurrence

The mobile robot 2-1 searches for re-routing. That is, the mobile robot 2-1 first sends a route search permission request to the control station 1.

Upon receiving this request, the control station 1 sends the route search permission to the mobile robot 2-1 when there is no mobile robot 2 during route search elsewhere.

The mobile robot 2-1 receives this route search permission and searches for a route bypassing the mobile robot 2-3.

In the case where the route is found, the CPU 2a of the mobile robot 2-3 creates the route table ROT shown in Table 2 in the data memory 2c and creates the route table ( ROT) is transmitted to the control station 1.

As shown in the same diagram, the root table ROT includes a bypass start code (65003) indicating the start of a fable, a number (8) of the bypass start node (8), and a number of nodes (9) and (9) to be sequentially passed (9). ), (10), the bypass end code (65004) indicating the end of the bypass, the number (4) of the bypass end node ④, the work code (65000) indicating the work order, the number (5) of the work node ⑤, The work program number (10) for displaying the work program, the last posture code (65001) for indicating that the data to be continued next indicates the posture of the mobile robot (2), the number (5) of the node ⑤ to stop, The number 6 of the node ⑥, the number 4 of the node ④ at the rear, and the final code 0 indicating the end of the root table ROT are written. The control station 1 transmits this route table ROT to the other mobile robots 2-2 to 2-10.

Next, the CPU 2a of the mobile robot 2-1 selects the total number of nodes ⑧, ⑨, ⑩, ④ and route reservation request codes that exist between the bypass start node and the bypass end node, respectively. It transmits to the control station 1.

In this way, the reservation request in the bypass route is different from the case in which the normal travel route reservation request is made at the same time for the entire node in the bypass route.

When the CPU 1a of the control station 1 receives the node number and route reservation request code of all nodes in the bypass route, it checks whether or not these nodes are already reserved by the reserve table (RVT). do.

Thus, for a node that is not reserved, the number 1 of the mobile robot 2-1 is written in the corresponding storage slot of the reserve table.

On the other hand, if there is any node already reserved by the other mobile robot 2, it waits for the reservation of the said node to be cancelled.

In this way, when the reservation of all nodes for which reservation is requested is completed, the control station 1 transmits a reservation completion code to the mobile robot 2-1.

The mobile robot 2-1 starts running upon receipt of the reservation completion from the control station 1.

Thus, the detour route is driven along the route table ROT shown in Table 2, and after the work node ⑤ has been reached, the work is executed in accordance with the work order indicated by the program number 10.

(Iv) during contention resolution

This contention problem is being solved when the mobile robot 2-3 is in a state of waiting for completion of extraction, waiting for passage, waiting for abnormal return, etc.

In this case, the mobile robot 2-1 sends the state data to the control station 1 as a contention problem solving wait, and waits for the mobile robot 2-3 to solve the problem.

In this way, in the mobile robot system, each mobile robot 2-1 to 2-10 starts the bypass operation after the reservation of the entire range of the bypass route is completed in the bypass operation. This can be prevented from occurring.

Thereby, running confusion can be prevented at the time of detour.

Further, in the above embodiment, the mobile robot travels along the tape while detecting the magnetic tape on the floor, but the present invention can also be applied to the mobile robot traveling while detecting the surroundings by the ultrasonic sensor.

In addition, the above embodiment is a mobile robot having an arm, but the present invention does not have an arm, it can be applied to a mobile robot (for transportation, etc.) that is merely auto-driving.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of a new detour member during the detour driving, thereby preventing the driving confusion during the detour.

As a result, smoother operation can be achieved even with the entire mobile robot system.

Claims (1)

A mobile robot comprising a plurality of mobile robots, a control station for controlling these mobile robots, and a communication device for communicating between the mobile robot and the control station, wherein each mobile robot travels while detecting a node mark installed on a traveling path. In the system, a storage means for storing the position data indicating the current position of the other mobile robot and the status data indicating the current state in each mobile robot, and the mobile robot when the mobile robot can not run, Determination means for detecting the cause of inability to travel, and whether or not to detour on the basis of the cause by referring to the position data and the state data of the other mobile robot described above. Detour driving means for searching, performing route reservation for the entire range of the detour route searched, and then driving the detour route. Drive control method of the mobile robot characterized in that it comprises.

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