WO2014032569A1

WO2014032569A1 - Limit system for walking range of self-moving robot and limit method therefor

Info

Publication number: WO2014032569A1
Application number: PCT/CN2013/082373
Authority: WO
Inventors: 汤进举
Original assignee: 科沃斯机器人科技(苏州)有限公司
Priority date: 2012-08-29
Filing date: 2013-08-27
Publication date: 2014-03-06
Also published as: CN103631262A; CN103631262B

Abstract

A limit system for the walking range of a self-moving robot, comprising: a boundary marker (300) used for determining the limited boundary location of a working space (100), and containing a retroreflective material; a self-moving robot (1) walking to operate in the working space, comprising: a scanning range finder (12) forming a scanning plane by transmitting and receiving optical signals, and conducting scanning ranging on the working space; and a control device (11) for receiving a scanning ranging signal from the scanning range finder, and establishing a coordinate graph of the working space; after receiving the scanning ranging signal reflected by the scanning range finder from the boundary marker, the control device determines the location of the boundary marker, and determines the coordinate of the boundary limited by the location of the boundary marker according thereto, thereby controlling the self-moving robot to work within the range of the limited boundary. The system saves energy, and has long effective working time, high sensitivity and low costs.

Description

Self-moving robot walking range limitation system and its limitation method

The invention relates to a self-moving robot walking range limiting system and a limiting method thereof, and belongs to the technical field of household small electrical appliances manufacturing. Background technique

Cleaning mobile robots are widely used due to their small size and flexibility. Existing cleaning robots typically need to limit the working area of the mobile robot when cleaning the room 100', such as limiting only the cleaning hall or bedroom. At present, there are mainly three options for defining a work area: Solution 1: The virtual wall generating device defines a working area. As disclosed in US Pat. No. 6,690,134, the virtual wall generating device emits a beam of light as a virtual wall. After the mobile robot detector detects the beam, it retreats away from the beam, so that the self-moving robot works in the virtual wall generating device. within the area. Option 2: The magnetic boundary defines the working area. For example, the Chinese public document CN201378281Y discloses that the magnetic strip is laid on the ground, and when the magnetic sensor provided by the mobile robot detects the magnetic signal emitted by the magnetic strip, the moving robot retreats away from the magnetic strip, so that the self-moving robot Work in the working area defined by the magnetic strip. Option 3: Regression reflectors define the work area. As disclosed in US Pat. No. 2,006,020, 370, the retroreflective material marker is laid on the ground, the self-moving robot sensor includes a transmitter and a receiver, and when the receiver receives the reflected light emitted from the emitter to the retroreflective material mark, The mobile robot retreats away from the retroreflective material marker such that the self-moving robot operates within the working area defined by the retroreflective material marking.

The above three options for limiting the working area of the mobile robot have corresponding defects in different aspects. For example, in the first scheme, although the self-moving robot can detect the beam generated by the virtual wall generating device and then turn back, the virtual wall device needs to continuously emit the light beam, which causes a large energy waste. In the second scheme, since the magnetic strip is laid on the ground, it is easy to be ineffective due to contamination. Therefore, it is necessary to frequently replace the magnetic strip or to prevent the magnetic strip from being damaged by magnetizing the magnetic strip. In Scheme 3, since the retroreflective markings are laid on the ground, the retroreflective markings are also prone to failure due to contamination. When the interval between the defined areas is large, a large amount of retroreflective marking materials need to be laid, and the self-moving robots are also Additional detectors that emit light towards the ground are required, resulting in a relatively high cost. Summary of the invention The technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a self-moving robot walking range limiting system and a limiting method thereof according to the deficiencies of the prior art. The invention saves energy, has long working time, high sensitivity and low cost.

A self-moving robot walking range limiting system, comprising: a boundary mark and a self-moving robot; wherein the boundary mark is used to determine a defined boundary position of the working space, including a retroreflective material; the self-moving robot, walking in the working space, including : scanning range finder and control device; scanning range finder through the transmission and reception of optical signals, forming a scanning plane, scanning and measuring the working space; control device, receiving the scanning ranging signal of the scanning range finder, establishing a working space The coordinate map. After receiving the scanning ranging signal reflected by the scanning range finder from the boundary mark, the control device determines the position of the boundary mark, and determines the coordinates of the defined boundary according to the position of the boundary mark, thereby controlling the self-moving robot in the area of the defined boundary operation.

In order to facilitate effective limitation of the walking range of the mobile robot, the working space is provided with a non-closed opening, and the boundary mark is disposed at the non-closed opening; the limit mark falls on the scanning plane The line at which the line connecting any two points is at least partially forms the defined boundary.

According to different situations of the working space, the boundary mark can adopt various setting manners, and the limit marks can be respectively disposed in pairs on both sides of the non-closed opening; the two limit marks respectively fall on the scanning plane A line segment between two points at least partially forms the defined boundary;

The plurality of non-closed openings are corresponding to the plurality of limit marks, and the control device compares the distance between two adjacent limit marks with a threshold, and the two limit marks whose distance is smaller than the threshold form a pair. Each pair of boundary marks respectively falls on a line segment between any two points on the scanning plane to determine a plurality of defined boundaries;

The non-closed opening may also be a plurality of, and the boundary mark disposed at each non-closed opening is composed of a combination of a strong reflective material and a weakly reflective material, and each of the non-closed openings is correspondingly set in a limit mark. The combination of the reflective material and the weakly reflective material is different.

The control device correspondingly identifies different combinations of the plurality of combinations to distinguish the set positions of the plurality of non-closed openings.

A plurality of said boundary marks are provided in said work space, and said plurality of limit marks divide the work space of the moving robot into a plurality of virtual work spaces.

The limit mark is disposed on the reflective film plate, and the reflective film plate is freely moved in the working space. The invention also provides a self-mobile robot walking range limiting method, the method comprising the following steps: Step 1: a self-moving robot is provided with a laser range finder, and the self-mobile robot obtains information obtained from the laser range finder The working space performs map modeling to determine the coordinates of any walking position;

Step 2: setting a limit mark in the work space, and setting the laser range finder on the self-mobile robot The signal is reflected by the boundary mark, and the received signal is received by the laser range finder;

Step 3: Convert the received signal in step 2 into walking range limit coordinates;

Step 4: Determine the coordinates of the actual walking position of the mobile robot and compare it with the walking range limit coordinates in step 3 to confirm whether the actual walking position of the mobile robot exceeds the limit range. If it is exceeded, stop or turn; if not exceeded , then continue walking.

In step 2, the setting of the limit mark includes the following steps:

The working space is provided with a non-closed opening, and the boundary mark is disposed at the non-closed opening; or, the boundary mark is respectively disposed at two sides of the non-closed opening;

Alternatively, the plurality of non-closed openings are a plurality of, and the boundary mark disposed at each of the non-closed openings is composed of a combination of a strong reflective material and a weakly reflective material, and each of the non-closed openings is correspondingly set in a limit mark. The combination of the reflective material and the weakly reflective material is different;

Or, a plurality of the boundary markers are disposed in the working space;

Alternatively, the limit mark is disposed on the reflective film sheet 400, and the reflective film sheet 400 is freely movable in the working space.

In summary, the invention saves energy, has long working time, high sensitivity and low cost.

The technical solutions of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments. DRAWINGS

1 is a schematic view showing a position setting of a limit mark according to an embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a schematic view showing a position setting of a limit mark according to an embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a schematic view showing a position setting of a limit mark according to an embodiment of the present invention;

4 is a schematic view showing a position setting of a limit mark according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 5 is a schematic view showing the position setting of the boundary mark according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a position setting of a limit mark according to an embodiment of the present invention. detailed description

Embodiment 1

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a position setting of a limit mark according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the present invention provides a self-moving robot walking range limiting system, comprising: a limit mark 300 and a self-mobile robot 1. The limit mark 300 is used to determine the defined boundary position of the work space 100, and includes a retroreflective material such as a retroreflective film. The walking operation of the mobile robot 1 in the working space 100 includes: scanning the range finder 12 and the control device Set 11. The scanning range finder 12 forms a scanning plane by transmitting and receiving optical signals, and performs scanning ranging on the working space 100. The control device 11 receives the scan ranging signal of the scanning range finder 12 and creates a coordinate map of the work space 100. After receiving the scan ranging signal reflected back from the limit mark 300 by the scan range finder 12, the control device 11 determines the position of the limit mark 300, and determines the coordinates of the boundary defined by the position of the limit mark 300, thereby controlling the self-mobile robot 1 Work in areas that define boundaries.

In general, the work space 100 of the mobile robot 1 is the room 100', and the door of the room 100' can be used as the non-closed opening 200 provided in the work space 100. According to different conditions of the work space 100, the limit mark 300 can be used in various ways. The way to set it up. In the present embodiment, the limit mark 300 is disposed on one side wall surface at the non-closed opening 200. Since the intensity of the reflected light of the boundary mark 300 containing the retroreflective material is different from the intensity of the reflected light of the ordinary obstacle, for example, the light intensity of the reflected light reflected by the ordinary obstacle is 50 candela, and the light of the reflected light reflected by the limit mark 300 is reflected. The intensity is 500 candelas. Thus, the self-moving robot 1 can determine the coordinates of the limit mark 300 based on the light intensity of the reflected light. From the distance measuring model of the scanning range finder 12 of the mobile robot 1, the position of the limit mark 300 is determined, that is, the mobile robot 1 connects two points of coordinates on the limit mark 300 to obtain a virtual straight line, and the program for the mobile robot 1 is used. The range of motion can be controlled by controlling the range of motion of the motion itself to not exceed the coordinates of any point on the line. Preferably, in order to further save the calculation amount of the controller and the storage space of the memory, the self-mobile robot may store only the coordinates of the upper line segment on the straight line as a defined boundary. That is, the line at which the line of the boundary mark 300 that falls into any two points on the scanning plane is at least partially forms the defined boundary. Specifically, after the position of the limit mark 300 is determined by the scanning range finder 12, the starting coordinate of the defined boundary is determined, and when the scanned distance measuring signal reflected by the common obstacle is received on the other side of the non-closed opening 200, the limitation is determined. The ending coordinates of the boundary, that is, the straight line segment where the non-closed opening 200 is located as a defined boundary. Since the laser range finder generally rotates the scanning range horizontally, the obtained virtual straight line is a horizontal coordinate line, and any two points on the same level are on the same horizontal plane.

The specific walking range limitation method includes the following steps:

Step 1: The mobile robot 1 is provided with a laser range finder, and the self-mobile robot 1 performs map modeling on the working space 100 by using information obtained from the laser range finder to determine the coordinates of any walking position;

Step 2: a limit mark 300 is set in the working space 100, and a signal sent from the laser range finder provided on the mobile robot 1 is reflected by the limit mark 300 to form a received signal received by the laser range finder;

Step 4: Determine the coordinates of the actual walking position of the mobile robot 1 and compare it with the walking range limiting coordinates in step 3 to confirm whether the actual walking position of the mobile robot 1 exceeds the limit range, and if it is exceeded, stop or turn; If it is not exceeded, continue walking. In step 2, the setting of the limit mark 300 includes the following steps: a non-closed opening is provided in the working space 100, and the limit mark 300 is disposed at the non-closed opening 200. Embodiment 2

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a position setting of a limit mark according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, in the present embodiment, the position of the limit mark 300 is also at the non-closed opening 200, but the difference from the first embodiment is that the limit marks 300 in this embodiment are respectively disposed in pairs. The wall surfaces on both sides of the non-closed opening 200. During the rotation of the mobile robot 1, the laser range finder performs map modeling on the room 100', and after modeling, the mobile robot 1 knows where it is located no matter where it goes, and at the same time, from the mobile robot 1 The position of the limit mark 300 is identified by the reflected signal strength. The line segments on the two boundary marks 300 that fall between any two points on the scanning plane at least partially form the defined boundary. That is, the line at which the line of the boundary mark 300 that falls into any two points on the scanning plane is at least partially formed to define the boundary. Similarly, in order to further save the amount of calculation of the controller and the storage space of the memory, the self-mobile robot can also store only the partial line coordinates of the straight line as the defined boundary. Specifically, after the scan range finder 12 determines the position of the one side limit mark 300, the start coordinate of the defined boundary is determined, and when the scan ranging signal of the other side limit mark 300 of the non-closed opening 200 is scanned, the boundary is determined. The coordinates are terminated, that is, one point is taken on each of the two boundary marks, and a straight line segment between the two points is used as a boundary. Embodiment 3

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the position of the third limit mark 300 according to the embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3, in the embodiment, the plurality of non-closed openings 200 are plural, and the limit mark 300 is also correspondingly disposed in plurality, and each limit mark 300 is set in the corresponding non- The opening 200 is closed - side or both sides. The self-moving robot 1 recognizes the position of the limit mark 300 by the reflected signal intensity, and any two of the limit marks 300 respectively form a virtual line segment between any two points on the scanning plane. In the control device 11, a threshold value of the width of the non-closed opening 200 is prestored, and the control device 11 compares the distance of the virtual line segment formed by any two adjacent limit marks 300 with a threshold value, and the two limit marks 300 whose distance is smaller than the threshold value. A pair is formed, and a plurality of defined boundaries are determined by each of the pair of boundary marks 300 falling on a line segment between any two points on the scanning plane. Embodiment 4

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the position of the boundary mark 300 according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 4, in the present embodiment, the non-closed opening 200 is also plural, but the difference from the third embodiment is that in the third embodiment, only A plurality of non-closed openings 200 are provided, but no distinction or discrimination is made between the respective non-closed openings 200. The room 100' as the work space 100 of the mobile robot 1 may include a plurality of exits, for example: the exit connected to the living room may be a bedroom, a bathroom, a kitchen, or even a balcony or the like. In order to distinguish the positions of the plurality of non-closed openings 200 in the same working space 100, the limit marks 300 disposed at each of the non-closed openings 200 may be composed of a combination of a strong reflective material and a weakly reflective material, and each non- The combination of the strongly reflective material and the weakly reflective material in the correspondingly defined boundary mark 300 at the closed opening 200 is different. The control device 11 simultaneously recognizes different combinations, thereby realizing the distinction between the plurality of non-closed openings 200 in the same work space 100.

Specifically, the retroreflective material in the limit mark 300 in this embodiment is a retroreflective film in which the strong and weak reflective materials are spaced apart. The retroreflective film is made up of two kinds of materials: strong reflection and weak reflection. By numbering the two strong and weak reflective materials on the retroreflective film, different setting methods can be used to form different code combinations. For example: If the code for setting the strong reflective material is "1" and the code for the weakly reflective material is "0", according to the different order of setting the strong and weak materials, the code of the reflective film can be obtained as "101010", "110101", " 001001 ", "101101" and so on. When the code detected by the mobile robot 1 is the same as that in the built-in program, the virtual line where the reflective film is located is considered to be unsurpassable, thereby limiting the range of motion of the mobile robot 1. Of course, in this solution, it is necessary to make the encoding of the reflective film coincide with the setting in the built-in program of the mobile robot 1. Further, the position of the different boundary mark 300 is determined by encoding the regression retroreflective film to distinguish the boundary mark 300. For example, the living room is connected to a plurality of rooms 100' through multiple doors. If the same boundary mark 300 is set on the walls of the multiple doors, the self-moving robot 1 cannot recognize the multiple doors, and cannot distinguish different doors. It may happen that any two boundary markers 300 are used to determine the confusion of the virtual wall. Therefore, when there are a plurality of non-closed openings 200 in the working space 100, the present invention can be respectively set in the A, B, and C doors by the combination of "101010", "110101", "001001", and "101101". And D door. At this time, the self-moving robot 1 can recognize the coordinate positions where the A-gate, the B-gate, the C-gate, and the D-gate are located by the code, and the virtual wall is not determined by any two regression reflective films. And the user can also control the self-mobile robot 1 to pass or not pass a door or multiple doors through its built-in program setting. In addition, the self-moving robot 1 can also perform path planning cleaning with the positions of the A, B, C, and D doors as reference objects. Reasonably arrange the walking operation path of the mobile robot 1 in the work space 100 to improve work efficiency. Embodiment 5

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing the position of the boundary mark 300 according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 5, in this embodiment, the limit mark 300 is no longer disposed at the non-closed opening of the work space 100, but multiple limits are directly The mark 300 is disposed inside the work space 100, for example, at a fixed position inside the room. In this way, the work space 100 can be manually divided into different virtual work spaces 100, and the self-mobile robot 1 can be controlled to completely or partially clean the work space 100. Embodiment 6

Figure 6 is a schematic view showing the position of the limit mark 300 in the sixth embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 6, in the above five embodiments, the limit mark 300 is set at a fixed position, whether it is disposed at the non-closed opening of the work space 100, that is, on the wall on the door side, or is set. Inside the work space 100, whether it is provided on one side of the non-closed opening or on both sides, there is a defect that the position of the limit mark 300 is not easily replaced. In order to facilitate the arbitrarily dividing the working space 100, one or more movable reflective film sheets 400 may be provided in the working space 100, that is, inside the room 100', and a limit mark 300 may be disposed on the reflective film plate 400. Thus, the user can arbitrarily divide the work space 100 as needed. For example: The left half of the living room is clean, while the right half is dirty, only the right half needs to be cleaned. The self-moving robot can be defined by setting the retroreflective film panel 400 in the living room. 1 Only work in the right half of the living room. The actual setting of the retroreflective film plate 400 is also very simple, that is, a retroreflective film is attached to the vertical small plate, so that the user can move the retroreflective film plate 400 to define the working area of the mobile robot 1. The limit mark provided by the present invention works the same regardless of which of the above-described setting modes are employed in the work space. Of course, in the actual operation, the manner of setting the limit mark is not limited to the contents described in the above six embodiments. In the above different embodiments, the steps included in the method for limiting the walking range of the mobile robot are also substantially the same, and have been fully described in the first embodiment, and therefore will not be described in other embodiments.

In particular, the laser range finder (LDS) has different reflective materials when measuring distances, and the strength of the return signal is also different. According to this characteristic, it can be set in the working space of the mobile robot, that is, in the room. Special materials, used as boundaries or virtual walls. A piece of this material is placed on either side of the door or in other areas of the room. A virtual area is formed between the materials. The strength of the material is detected by the mobile robot as it walks, and does not cross the area between the materials. In addition, a strong reflective material and a weakly reflective material are used to form a strong and weak phase, that is, to encode and form a bar code. When the machine detects this state, it will not cross the region. . The present invention defines a working area of a self-moving robot by attaching a retroreflective film to a wall that is not closed. When the LDS detects the retroreflective film, the mobile robot determines that the area between the retroreflective film is a virtual wall area, and performs an evasive action correspondingly, thereby limiting the self-moving robot to the Work area.

In summary, the present invention sets the limit mark in different ways in the work space, whether it is disposed on a wall or a movable reflective film plate, thereby reducing pollution and loss, saving energy; and extending the limit mark The utility model has the advantages of long working time, long service life and low cost, and realizes arbitrary division of the working area in the working space, and is convenient to use and high in sensitivity.

Claims

claims

1. A self-moving robot walking range limiting system, characterized in that the limiting system includes: a limit mark (300), used to determine the limited boundary position of the working space (100), including retroreflective material; self-moving robot (1), walking work in the work space (100), including:

The scanning rangefinder (12) forms a scanning plane by transmitting and receiving optical signals, and performs scanning and ranging on the working space (100);

The control device (11) receives the scanning ranging signal from the scanning rangefinder (12) and establishes a coordinate map of the operating space (100);

Among them, after receiving the scanning ranging signal reflected from the limit mark (300) by the scanning rangefinder (12), the control device (11) determines the position of the limit mark (300), and determines the position of the limit mark (300) according to the position of the limit mark (300). It defines the coordinates of the boundary, thereby controlling the autonomous mobile robot (1) to operate within the area defining the boundary.

2. The walking range limiting system of a self-moving robot as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that a non-closed opening is provided in the working space (100), and the limit mark (300) is set in the non-closed opening. At the closed opening (200); the straight line on the limit mark (300) that falls on the line connecting any two points on the scanning plane at least partially forms the defined boundary.

3. The walking range limiting system of a self-moving robot as claimed in claim 2, wherein the limit marks (300) are arranged in pairs on both sides of the non-closed opening (200); the two The line segments on the limit mark (300) respectively falling between any two points on the scanning plane at least partially form the defined boundary.

4. The walking range limiting system of a self-moving robot as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that there are a plurality of non-closed openings (200), a plurality of the limit marks (300) correspond to a plurality, and the control device (11) Compare the distance between two adjacent limit marks (300) with the threshold. The two limit marks (300) whose distance is less than the threshold form a pair, and each pair of limit marks (300) falls on the scanning plane. A line segment between any two points, defining multiple bounded boundaries.

5. The walking range limiting system of the self-moving robot according to claim 2, characterized in that there are a plurality of non-closed openings (200), and a limit mark (300) is provided at each non-closed opening (200). ) is composed of strong reflective materials and weak reflective materials, and the combination of strong reflective materials and weak reflective materials in the limit mark (300) corresponding to each non-enclosed opening (200) is different.

6. The walking range limiting system of a self-moving robot as claimed in claim 5, characterized in that the control device (11) corresponds to identifying different combination modes, thereby distinguishing the setting positions of multiple non-closed openings (200).

7. The walking range limiting system of a self-moving robot according to claim 1, characterized in that a plurality of the limit marks (300) are set in the working space (100), and a plurality of the limit marks are set in the working space (100). (300) Divide the working space (100) of the self-mobile robot (1) into multiple virtual working spaces (100).

8. The walking range limiting system of the self-moving robot according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the limit mark (300) is provided on the reflective film plate (400), and the reflective film plate (400) Freely move the setup within the workspace (100).

9. A method for limiting the walking range of a self-moving robot, characterized in that the method includes the following steps: Step 1: The self-moving robot (1) is provided with a laser range finder, and the self-moving robot (1) passes the laser The information obtained from the rangefinder performs map modeling on the working space (100) and determines the coordinates of any walking position; Step 2: Set a boundary mark (300) in the working space (100), and set it on the autonomous mobile robot (1 ) The signal emitted by the laser range finder is reflected by the limit mark (300), forming a receiving signal that is received by the laser range finder;

Step 4: Determine the coordinates of the actual walking position of the self-moving robot (1), and compare it with the walking range limit coordinates in step 3 to confirm whether the actual walking position of the self-moving robot (1) exceeds the limit range. If it does, stop Or turn; if it is not exceeded, continue walking.

10. The method for limiting the walking range of a self-moving robot as claimed in claim 9, wherein in step 2, setting the limit mark (300) includes the following steps:

There is an unenclosed opening in the working space (100), and the limit mark (300) is set at the unenclosed opening (200);

Or, the limit marks (300) are respectively provided on both sides of the non-enclosed opening (200); or, there are multiple non-enclosed openings (200), and they are provided on each non-enclosed opening (200). The limit mark (300) at each non-enclosed opening (200) is composed of a combination of strong reflective materials and weak reflective materials, and the combination of strong reflective materials and weak reflective materials in the corresponding limit mark (300) at each non-enclosed opening (200) is different. ; Alternatively, multiple boundary markers (300) are provided in the work space (100);

Alternatively, the limit mark (300) is set on the reflective film plate (400), and the reflective film plate 400 is freely movable in the working space (100).