KR101145599B1 - A homemaid robot having lift construction - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a domestic helper robot that organizes objects while traveling indoors. The housekeeping robot of the present invention is a housekeeping robot that grips and arranges objects using a robot arm and a hand grip, and includes a base 110 disposed below the robot and a robot mounted on the base 110. It comprises a lift column 200 is formed on the top of the body and the robot arm is mounted, the lift column 200, the fixed column 210 is fixed on the base 110, and the fixed column 210 A foldable column (220a) consisting of one or more members coupled to the slide arm in the vertical direction and mounted on the top end thereof and rotatably supported by the fixed column (210) or the base (110). It is fixed to the ball screw 300 is installed in the, the drive motor 400 for driving the ball screw 300 to rotate in the forward and reverse directions, and the folding column at the top of the one or more folding column (220a) In addition, the ball screw 300 is screwed to include a ball nut 232 to expand or contract the folding column 220a by lifting along the ball screw 300 by forward and reverse rotation of the ball screw 300. By adjusting the height of the lift column according to the height of the object, the robot arm can be approached to the object.

Description

Domestic helper robot having elevating structure {A HOMEMAID ROBOT HAVING LIFT CONSTRUCTION}

The present invention relates to a domestic helper robot that organizes objects while traveling indoors, and more particularly, has a structure that can change the height, and adjusts the height of the body according to the height of the object to move objects between different heights. The present invention relates to a domestic helper robot having a lifting structure that facilitates and expands the robot application range to maximize the efficiency of the system.

It expands the scope of application of the robot, which is limited to the function of cleaning the floor using vacuum, and grasps objects such as household items, books, newspapers, home appliances, clothes, shoes, etc. The robot is disclosed in Korean Patent Publication No. 10-0711559, Patent Application No. 10-2009-29261 proposed by the present inventors, and the like.

The conventional domestic helper robot disclosed in the above publication has a body on a base having a driving wheel, and the body is equipped with a robot arm having a plurality of joints and hand grips. It is equipped with various sensors (eg, ultrasonic sensors) for sensing a position, and has an RF reader function for reading an RFID tag.

The system using the housekeeping robot, in particular, as shown in Fig. 8, partitions the room into several blocks, and attaches a coordinate information-RFID tag having unique coordinate information to each of the plurality of blocks, and to each object. When the robot finds an object during the search driving, the object information-RFID tag is attached with the coordinate information on the unique position of the object and the product information on the characteristics of each object. The object is grasped and moved to a block corresponding to a position unique to the object.

As such, the conventional housekeeping robot system is very useful for convenience in daily life by performing a new function of the robot to recognize, grasp, and arrange the object, compared to the robot which has only been cleaned.

Even so, these housekeeping robots are primarily geared toward arranging objects on the floor, thus extending their range of use in the pattern of eating habits where furniture, such as tables and dining tables, is used in the center of the floor. There is a need.

The present invention was developed to meet the above demands, and an object of the present invention is to have a structure that can change the height of the robot, and to adjust the height of the body according to the position of the object of the robot arm relative to the object. It is to provide a domestic helper robot having a lifting structure that facilitates access and easily performs movement of objects between areas with different heights, thereby increasing the utilization range of the domestic robot system and maximizing efficiency.

In order to achieve the above object, the domestic helper robot having a lifting structure according to an aspect of the present invention is a domestic helper robot that grasps and arranges objects using a robot arm and a hand grip, which is disposed below the robot. Base; A lift column mounted on the base to form a body of the robot and having a robot arm mounted on the top thereof; The lift column includes a fixed column fixed on the base, a folding column including one or more members slidably coupled to the fixed column in a vertical direction, and the robot arm mounted at an upper end thereof, and the fixed column or A ball screw rotatably supported on the base and installed vertically, a drive motor for rotationally driving the ball screw in a forward and reverse direction, and fixed to a fold column at the top of the one or more fold columns; It includes a ball nut is screwed up and down along the ball screw by forward and reverse rotation of the ball screw to expand and contract the fold column.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a housekeeping robot, comprising: a housekeeping robot for gripping and arranging an object using a robot arm and a hand grip, the base being disposed under the robot; A lift column mounted on the base to form a body of the robot and having a robot arm mounted on the top thereof; The lift column may include a fixed column fixed on the base, first and second folding columns which are coupled to the fixed column in a sequential manner by sliding in up and down directions, and wherein the robot arm is mounted on an upper end thereof. A ball screw rotatably supported in a column or the base and installed vertically, a drive motor for rotating the ball screw in a forward and reverse direction, and fixed to the second folding column, and screwed to the ball screw And a ball nut that expands and contracts the first and second fold columns relative to the fixed column by raising or lowering the second fold column by forward and reverse rotation of the ball screw.

In such a housekeeping robot, a driven pulley is installed at a lower end of the ball screw, a drive pulley is installed at a rotation shaft of the drive motor, and a driven transmission structure in which the driven pulley and the drive pulley are connected by an electric belt may be configured. Can be.

In addition, the end of the ball screw is provided with holes having a predetermined interval to rotate with the ball screw and a photocoupler for detecting the rotation angle of the ball screw by detecting the target wheel under the control of the robot controller It is preferable.

According to the housekeeping robot of the present invention, the lift column is stretched or shrunk according to the position of the object so that the robot arm is first positioned close to the object to be gripped, and then the robot arm is finely adjusted to hold the object. Accordingly, it is possible to organize objects located at high heights, to quickly reach objects located at high heights with minimal control and minimum movement, and to easily move objects to different locations.

Therefore, according to the domestic helper robot of the present invention, since it can be easily arranged without regard to the height of the object, it is very useful to use the domestic helper robot system that can be very useful even in the pattern of eating and living mainly using furniture such as a table or a table. Can be implemented.

1 is a photograph showing a robot structure showing a falling (shrink) state of the domestic helper robot according to the present invention.
Figure 2 is a photograph showing a robot structure showing a rising (height) state of the domestic helper robot according to the present invention.
3 is a cross-sectional view of the robot lifting structure according to the present invention in a raised state.
4 is a cross-sectional view of the robot lifting structure according to the present invention in a lowered state.
5 is a view of the robot lifting structure according to the present invention as viewed from the inside of the column, showing a raised state.
Figure 6 is a view showing the robot lifting structure in accordance with the present invention from the inside of the column, the lowered state.
7 is a flowchart showing an example of robot control having a lifting structure according to the present invention.
8 is a view showing an example of the coordinates of the indoor zone and the position coordinates of the object for each zone for the application of the domestic helper robot according to the present invention.

1 and 2 is a real picture of the structure forming the skeleton of the housework robot according to the invention.

As shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, the housekeeping robot 100 according to the present invention can be driven using a driving wheel (not shown in the photo), and the robot arm 2 and the hand grip 4 can be moved. It is a housekeeping robot that grabs and organizes objects by using them.It is configured to be easily organized by stretching and contracting the body part up and down according to the height of the object such as table, dining table, sink, shoe rack, closet, floor, etc. .

That is, the domestic helper robot 100 according to the present invention comprises a lift column 200 that can be folded in a vertical direction, and the robot arm 2 is mounted on the upper end of the lift column 200, thereby lifting the lift column. It is configured to be able to adjust the height of the robot arm 2 by stretching and contracting 200 in a telescopic manner in the vertical direction.

The lifting structure of such a robot will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5. In FIG. 5, a driving motor is omitted to clearly understand an internal structure.

As shown in FIGS. 3 to 6, the present invention includes a base 110 disposed under the robot, and a lift column 200 that is stretchable in the vertical direction is mounted on the base 110. A robot arm (not shown) is mounted on the upper end of the lift column 200 to move up or down according to the vertical direction of the lift column 200.

The lift column 200 is formed in a cylindrical shape (a quadrangular cylinder shape in the embodiment shown in the drawing), and is fixed to the base 110 by a fixed column 210 and a fixed column 210 up and down. And a fold column 220a slidably coupled in the direction.

In the embodiment shown in the figure, the fold column 220a is composed of two steps, that is, the first fold column 220 and the second fold column 230. However, there is no limitation on the number of folding columns 220a.

In the folding column 220a, the first folding column 220 is coupled to the fixed column 210 so as to be slidable in the vertical direction, and the second folding column 230 is placed in the vertical folding column 220 in the vertical direction. It is combined to enable the sliding movement.

Among the folding columns 220a, a folding arm at the top of the folding column 220a, that is, the second folding column 230 is equipped with a robot arm (not shown), and the first and second folding columns 220 and 230 are vertically mounted. The robot arm is raised or lowered by folding in the direction.

For the lifting operation of the folding column 220a, the ball screw 300 is installed to be rotatably supported on the fixed column 210 or the base 110, and the ball screw 300 is forward and backward. The drive motor 400 is rotated to drive is installed. In this embodiment, the drive motor 400 is supported to the fixed column 210 by the bracket 402.

In addition, the ball nut 232 is integrally fixed to the inner wall surface of the second folding column 230 which is the folding column located at the uppermost end, that is, the innermost folding column, and the ball nut 232 is Screwed to the ball screw 300. Therefore, when the ball screw 300 rotates in the forward or reverse direction, the ball nut 232 screwed to it is raised or lowered along the ball screw 300, thereby raising or lowering the second fold column 230. To be folded.

In this embodiment, the ball screw 300 is installed perpendicular to the internal space of the fold column 220a, the lower end thereof is rotatably supported by the bearing 112 on the base 110, it The upper end of is rotatably supported by the support 120 extending from the fixed column 210 to the inner space of the fold column (220a).

5 and 6, the installation form of the supporter 120 is provided with a bracket 122 to fix the lower end of the bracket 122 to the inner wall or base 110 of the fixing column 210. In addition, the middle portion of the bracket 122 may extend to the inner upper portion of the second folding column 230, and may be configured in a form in which the supporter 120 is fixed to the upper end of the bracket 122. The support 120 supports the upper end of the ball screw 300 in a rotatable state so that the ball screw 300 rotates in a structurally stable state, and as shown in FIG. 5, the ball nut 232 is shown. By acting as a stopper to limit the moving distance in the upward direction of the ball nut 232 is prevented from being separated from the ball screw 300.

In order to support the ball screw 300 more stably, a separate support 130 may be further provided from the fixed column 210 or the base 110. In this embodiment, a separate support 130 is fixed to the fixed column 210 to hold the lower portion of the ball screw 300 in a rotatable state.

The ball screw 300 and the drive motor 400 may be connected in a gear transmission method, a belt drive method, or a chain drive method. In the embodiment shown in the figure, a belt driving method is employed. In order to drive the belt, the driven pulley 310 is installed at the lower end of the ball screw 300, the drive pulley 410 is installed on the rotation shaft of the drive motor 400, the driven pulley 310 and the drive pulley 410 Is connected by a transmission belt 500.

Meanwhile, a plurality of protrusions 234 protrude outwardly around the lower end of the second folding column 230, and a locking groove 224 into which the protrusions 234 are inserted is formed in the first folding column 230. Therefore, when the second folding column 230 is raised, the protrusion 234 rises along the inside of the catching groove 224 and is blocked by the upper end of the catching groove 224 at the end point of the rising of the second folding column 230. At that point, the first folding column 220 is pulled up.

Meanwhile, in order to detect the height of the lift column 200, a target wheel 140 is installed at the lower end of the ball screw 300, and a photo coupler for detecting the rotation of the target wheel 140. The photocoupler 150 is installed to calculate and control the lift or fall amount of the lift column 200 for the object to be tidyed based on the information output from the photocoupler 150.

The target wheel 140 is provided with a plurality of holes (not shown) for radially maintaining a predetermined distance, and as the target wheel 140 rotates, the light emitting portion of the photocoupler 150 is formed by the holes. The signal waveform is output as the light receiver is blocked or passed. The robot controller drives the driving motor 400 based on the signal waveform applied from the photocoupler 150 to raise or lower the lift column 200 as necessary.

The domestic helper robot 100 according to the present invention has a ball screw connected to the driving motor 400 and the transmission belt 500 when the driving motor 400 is driven in an upward direction when the object is located at a high place. 300 rotates in place in the upward direction.

By the upward rotation of the ball screw 300, the ball nut 232 screwed to it is raised, thereby raising the second folding column 230 to which the ball nut 232 is integrally coupled. As the second folding column 230 rises, the robot arm mounted on the top thereof rises.

Meanwhile, when the second folding column 230 is further raised, the protrusion 234 formed at the lower end of the second folding column 230 ascends along the locking groove 224 of the first folding column 220, and then the locking groove. By reaching the top of 224, the first folding column 230 is pushed up, so that the first and second folding columns 22 and 230 are both extended to hold an object located higher (FIG. 3 and See FIG. 5).

3 and 5, after holding the object in the state in which the lift column 200 is stretched, the object is driven to the driving motor 400 in a downward direction by lowering the object to the floor. The ball screw 300 connected to the transmission belt 500 is rotated in place in the downward direction.

By the downward rotation of the ball screw 300, the ball nut 232 screwed to it is lowered, thereby lowering the second folding column 230 to which the ball nut 232 is integrally coupled. As the second folding column 230 descends, the robot arm mounted on the upper end thereof also descends.

When the second folding column 230 is lowered further, the upper end of the second folding column 230 presses the upper end of the first folding column 220, thereby lowering both the first and second folding columns 220 and 230. (See FIGS. 4 and 6).

Accordingly, the present invention drives the drive motor 400 according to the position of the object, thereby adjusting the position (height) of the robot arm closer to the object to be gripped by controlling the stretching or contracting of the lift column 200. The joints of the robotic arm can then be finely operated to allow the hand grip to easily approach the object. This not only allows the organization of objects located at high heights, but also makes it possible to quickly reach objects located at high heights with minimal control and minimal movement, and to easily move them up and down to other areas.

7 is a flow chart showing an example of the house arrangement process using the housework robot according to the present invention through.

As shown in FIG. 7, when the operation of the domestic helper robot starts, the domestic helper robot searches for driving while traveling through the allocated area through magnetic position recognition. If an object or obstacle is detected during the search, the object or obstacle is recognized (S21), and it is determined whether the detected object is an object or an obstacle based on data input in advance (S22).

If the detected object is an object, the object information-RFID tag of the object is read to determine the object information (type of object, unique position, handling tips, etc.) (S23), and the current position and unique position of the object ( The position to be moved) (S24).

If the object is located in a specific area of the floor out of the original position, and it must be moved to its own position, the robot arm is adjusted to hold the object (S25), and the gripped object is arranged to be arranged and arranged (S26). ).

If an object is located above (or below) the robot arm's current position (such as on a furniture or desk) to extend (or contract) the body of the robot, and out of its original position, the object must be moved back into place. The driving motor is driven while reading the signal input from the photocoupler to expand (or contract) the lift column (S27).

The height of the robot arm is adjusted to the height of the object by stretching (or contracting) the lift column. Then, the robot arm is finely adjusted to grip the object (S28), and the gripped object is moved to its own position and arranged. To sum up (S29). When the gripped object is transferred to its own position and arranged, the lifting and lowering operations of the lift column are performed as necessary.

On the other hand, if the detected object is an obstacle in step S22, the distance to the obstacle is measured (S30), the optimal avoidance path is calculated (S31), and the driving wheel is driven to avoid the obstacle ( S32), performs a continuous detection task until the house is finished (S33).

2: robot arm 4: hand grip
100: housework robot 110: base
112: bearing 120, 130: support
122: bracket 140: target wheel
150: photocoupler 200: lift column
200a: folding column 210: fixed column
220: first folding column 224: locking groove
230: second folding column 232: ball nut
234: protrusion 300: ball screw
310: driven pulley 400: drive motor
402: bracket 410: driving pulley
500: electric belt

Claims (4)

As a domestic helper robot that moves around the room and grasps and arranges objects using a robot arm and a hand grip,
The base 110 is disposed on the lower portion of the robot and the running wheel on the lower surface,
A lift column 200 mounted on the base 110 to form a torso of a robot and having a robot arm mounted on an upper end thereof;
The lift column 200,
An interior fixed to the base 110 is an empty cylindrical fixed column 210,
It is in close contact with the inner surface of the fixed column 210 includes a folding column (220a) is foldable by the sliding movement in the vertical direction and the robot arm is mounted on the top end,
A ball screw 300 installed vertically in the inner space of the folding column 220a and having a lower end rotatably supported by the fixed column 210 or the base 110;
The driving motor 400 is driven to rotate the ball screw 300 in the forward, reverse direction and is disposed in the inner space of the lift column 200 and fixedly installed on the inner wall surface of the fixed column 210 or the base 110. )Wow,
It is fixed to the inner wall surface of the folding column 220a, is screwed to the ball screw 300 is raised or lowered along the ball screw 300 by the forward, reverse rotation of the ball screw 300 to the folding column ( A ball nut 232 extending or contracting 220a) in a vertical direction;
A bracket 122 having a lower end fixed to an inner wall of the fixing column 210 or the base 110 and extending from an inner space of the folding column 220a to an upper end of the ball screw 300; ,
A supporter 120 installed in the bracket 122 to restrict the upward movement distance of the ball nut 232 while rotatably supporting the upper end of the ball screw 300;
A driven pulley 310 installed at a lower end of the ball screw 300,
A drive pulley 410 installed on a rotation shaft of the drive motor 400;
Housework helper robot having a lifting structure, characterized in that it comprises a driven belt (500) connecting the driven pulley (310) and the driving pulley (410). As a domestic helper robot that moves around the room and grasps and arranges objects using a robot arm and a hand grip,
The base 110 is disposed on the lower portion of the robot and the running wheel on the lower surface,
A lift column 200 mounted on the base 110 to form a torso of a robot and having a robot arm mounted on an upper end thereof;
The lift column 200,
An interior fixed to the base 110 is an empty cylindrical fixed column 210,
First and second folding columns (220, 230) coupled to the folding column by the sliding motion in the vertical direction in the fixed column (210) and the robot arm mounted at the top end thereof;
A ball screw 300 installed vertically in the inner space of the second folding column 230 and having a lower end rotatably supported by the fixed column 210 or the base 110;
The driving motor 400 is driven to rotate the ball screw 300 in the forward, reverse direction and is disposed in the inner space of the lift column 200 and fixedly installed on the inner wall surface of the fixed column 210 or the base 110. )Wow,
It is fixed to the inner wall surface of the second fold column 230, the ball screw 300 is screwed to the ball screw 300 by the positive and reverse rotation of the ball screw 300 to raise or lower the A ball nut 232 extending or contracting the first and second folding columns 220 and 230 in the vertical direction;
A bracket 122 which is fixed to an inner wall of the fixing column 210 or the base 110 at a lower end thereof and extends from an inner space of the second folding column 230 to an upper end of the ball screw 300. )and,
A supporter 120 installed in the bracket 122 to restrict the upward movement distance of the ball nut 232 while rotatably supporting the upper end of the ball screw 300;
A driven pulley 310 installed at a lower end of the ball screw 300,
A drive pulley 410 installed on a rotation shaft of the drive motor 400;
Housework helper robot having a lifting structure, characterized in that it comprises a driven belt (500) connecting the driven pulley (310) and the driving pulley (410). delete The method according to claim 1 or 2,
Target wheels 140 are formed in the end of the ball screw 300 at a predetermined interval to rotate with the ball screw 300, and
Under the control of the robot controller, the housekeeping robot having a lifting structure, characterized in that it comprises a photocoupler 150 for detecting the rotation angle of the ball screw 300 by detecting the target wheel 140.

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