CN101863029A - Edge-following moving device - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention is an edge-following moving device, comprising: a base; a judging drive unit; two or more collision sensing units arranged on the base; two or more than two signal receiving and transmitting units which can synchronously transmit and receive specific signals and are arranged at one side of the base at intervals and are electrically connected to the judgment driving unit; the invention can really control the robot to move along the side in parallel by receiving, judging and calculating signals and then outputting action instructions, and can avoid the defect that the judgment accuracy degree of the distance is easily influenced due to the surface characteristics of the wall in the prior art because the invention uses the comparative difference value of the signals received by the two signal receiving and sending units as the judgment basis.

Description

edge moving device

technical field

The invention relates to an edge-tracking mobile device, which is a device arranged on a robot to control the movement of the robot.

Background technique

With the advancement of science and technology, it has become a mature technology to use products with automatic functions such as mobile robots to replace human beings for labor work, and mobile robots such as cleaning robots or security robots are used in indoor environments. , It usually needs to follow obstacles such as walls and move at a fixed distance to clean corners, find entrances and exits, or find charging docks, etc.

In the prior art, the way to control the robot to move along the edge is mostly to use the control integrated circuit (IC) to perform calculations and drive the robot to perform backwards, adjust the direction of travel and then move forward after colliding with the wall. While moving, it is necessary to set up many collision sensing units on the robot to increase the detection of collisions at various angles, so that it is possible to accurately grasp the movement of the robot.

Please refer to FIG. 10 for cooperation. The edge-tracking movement of the robot 90 can also be further adapted to the design of the collision mechanism, such as the anti-collision bar 91 around the robot 90. When the anti-collision bar 91 hits an obstacle, the collision sensing unit is triggered, thus changing The drive turns. However, these methods cannot measure the distance from the obstacle when it is far away from the obstacle, so it is often necessary to use a sawtooth-like repeated collision method to enable the robot 90 to advance along the obstacle, resulting in a dead corner for cleaning the corner.

In addition, in the prior art, there is another method of using infrared rays to measure the distance to the wall. Although it is very easy to measure the distance to the obstacle by using the intensity of the reflected signal of the infrared beam, the color of the wall is either glossy or matte. Differences and wall reflection angles, etc., affect the accuracy of the distance measurement. Even if the transmitting and receiving ends are arranged at a specific angle, the distance to the obstacle is determined by the area/strength of the transmitting signal seen by the receiving end. The reflected signal will still be affected by the surface characteristics of the obstacle, thus affecting the accuracy of the distance measurement. Although it can move parallel to the wall, it cannot ensure a specific distance from the wall when moving along the edge.

Contents of the invention

In order to solve the deficiencies in the above-mentioned prior art, the object of the present invention is to provide an improved edge-tracking device to reliably control the robot to perform edge-tracking movement of parallel obstacles.

The invention provides an edge-tracking mobile device, comprising:

base;

Determine the drive unit, which is located on the base;

Two or more signal transceiving units, which are elements that can transmit and receive specific signals synchronously, and the specific signal is a signal that rebounds after touching an obstacle, and the signal transceiving units are spaced apart from each other It is arranged on one side of the base, and the signal transceiver unit is electrically connected to the judging drive unit, and transmits the received signal strength information to the judging drive unit;

The moving element is arranged on the base, electrically connected to the determining drive unit and driven by it to perform actions, such as forward, backward, and rotation direction.

Wherein, the specific signal used by the signal transceiving unit can be an infrared signal, and the signal transceiving unit is arranged in a column parallel to the advancing direction of the base, and the transmitting and receiving direction of the signal transceiving unit is perpendicular to the advancing direction.

Wherein, the specific signal used by the signal transceiving unit may be an ultrasonic signal, and the signal transceiving unit is arranged in a column parallel to the advancing direction of the base, and the transmitting and receiving direction of the signal transceiving unit is perpendicular to the advancing direction.

Wherein, the device further includes two or more impact sensing units, which are distributed at intervals on the wall edge of the front part of the base, are triggered by the anti-collision linkage mechanism, and are electrically connected to the judging unit. The driving unit transmits the collision information to the judging driving unit when triggered.

In the present invention, when the base travels parallel to the wall, the rebound signals received by the two signal transceiver units are the same, and the base continues to move forward parallel to the wall; if the travel direction of the base deviates from being parallel to the wall, the two signals The rebound signals received by the transceiver unit will be different, and then by judging the strength ratio of the received signal by the drive unit, the moving element will be driven to adjust the direction of travel until the rebound signals received by the two signal transceiver units are the same. In the future, the function of keeping the robot parallel to the wall when moving along the edge can be reliably achieved through signal reception, judgment, and output of action commands. And it can cooperate with the collision sensing unit and the judging drive unit to control the distance between the robot and the wall, and because the present invention uses the comparative difference value of the return signals respectively received by the two signal transceiver units as the basis for judging the adjustment action, it will be able to avoid the present situation. The disadvantage of the advanced infrared sensing distance method is that it is easy to affect the accuracy of distance judgment due to the surface characteristics of the wall.

Description of drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural view of the edge-tracking mobile device of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the implementation of the edge-tracking mobile device of the present invention;

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of the implementation action when the edge-tracking mobile device of the present invention is parallel to the obstacle;

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of the implementation action when the edge-tracking mobile device of the present invention is not parallel to the obstacle;

Fig. 5 is the second schematic diagram of the implementation action of the edge-tracking mobile device of the present invention when it is not parallel to the obstacle;

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of the implementation action when the edge-tracking mobile device of the present invention is not parallel to the obstacle;

Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of the action implementation of the edge-tracking mobile device of the present invention;

Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a distance calculation embodiment of the edge-tracking mobile device of the present invention;

Fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of the action implementation of the edge-tracking mobile device of the present invention;

Fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of the implementation of the motion of the robot moving along the edge in the prior art.

Explanation of reference signs

Base 10

Judgment drive unit 20

Signal transceiver unit 30

Mobile element 40

Collision Sensing Unit 50

Anti-collision link 51

Distance d1, d2

robot 90

Anti-collision bar 91

Detailed ways

In order to help those skilled in the art understand the technical features, content and advantages of the present invention and the effects that can be achieved, the present invention is combined with the accompanying drawings, and is described in detail in the form of embodiments as follows:

Please cooperate as shown in Figure 1, the edge-tracking mobile device of the present invention can be installed on the bottom of the robot to provide it when it is indoors, it can keep a certain distance and move along obstacles (for example: walls), so that the cleaning robot can carry out as follows: Cleaning corners, etc., and the present invention in a preferred embodiment includes a base 10, a judgment driving unit 20, two signal transceiving units 30, a moving element 40 and two or more collision sensing units 50.

The aforesaid base 10 can be arranged on the bottom of the robot, which can be a disc-shaped body.

The aforementioned judgment driving unit 20 is arranged on the base 10, and is an electrical unit including an encoder. The judgment driving unit 20 is used as the control center of the electronic circuit to make a movement instruction for selecting a specified distance or angle by calculating and judging after receiving the signal. (Forward, backward, turning), judging that the drive unit 20 has been widely used in the action control of mobile robots, which is a technical means well known to those skilled in the art, and is not the inventive feature of the present invention, so it will not be described here. The details will be described one by one, and only the functions corresponding to the present invention will be described.

Please further cooperate as shown in Figure 2, the aforementioned signal transceiver unit 30 is an element such as an infrared sensor that can simultaneously transmit and receive infrared signals, and the two signal transceiver units 30 are arranged on one side of the base 10 at intervals, and their parallel bases The advancing direction of the base 10 is arranged in a column, and the transmitting and receiving ends of the signal transceiving unit 30 are perpendicular to the advancing direction of the base 10 and toward the outside of the base 10 to emit the signal laterally, and then receive the signal and bounce it when it touches an obstacle. Furthermore, the signal transceiving unit 30 is also electrically connected to the judging drive unit 20 to transmit the strength information of the received bounced signal to the judging drive unit 20, and the signals transmitted and received by the signal transceiving unit 30 are also It can be an ultrasonic signal or any signal that has the characteristic of bouncing after touching an obstacle. In addition, in order to improve the accuracy, the number of signal transceiving units 30 can also be increased.

The aforementioned moving elements 40 are arranged on the base 10, and in this embodiment are two rotating wheels respectively driven by motors, which are arranged on both sides of the base 10 correspondingly and at intervals, with one or two or two The above universal wheels are used as auxiliary support. The motor is electrically connected to the judging drive unit 20 and can be driven by it to perform actions such as forward, backward, arc turning and rotation direction, and by these actions, the moving element 40 can be controlled to drive the base 10 to go straight (two-wheeled Forward rotation), backward (two wheels turn backward) or turn around any point along the axis of the two runners (the two runners cooperate with the corresponding radius of rotation to change the speed difference).

The aforementioned collision sensing unit 50 is arranged at the wall edge of the front side part of the base 10, and the collision sensing unit 50 may further be provided with an anti-collision link 51 as an element for protecting and transmitting a collision signal, and the collision sensing unit 50 uses The electrical connection is connected to the judging drive unit 20, and the force information can be transmitted to the judging driving unit 20 when it is bumped, so that the judging driving unit 20 can judge the movement signals such as backing up or turning, and further transmit the information to the judging drive unit 20. Drive the moving element 40 to act, and the setting of the collision sensing unit 50 can provide that when the present invention touches an obstacle in front during travel, the signal can be transmitted to the judging drive unit 20 for judgment and selection of the corresponding action command for reversing , turning, moving forward and other continuous actions, the setting form and implementation style of the collision sensing unit 50 are essentially popular technical means, and should be well known to those skilled in the art, so the details will not be repeated in the specification.

And the present invention can emit infrared signal (or ultrasonic wave) towards lateral side by the signal transceiving unit 30 on one side during implementation to detect obstacles such as walls, and receive the signal rebounded because of being reflected by the wall at the same time, and then detect the signal The obtained electronic information is transmitted to the judging drive unit 20 to further judge the relative ratio of the strengths of the signals obtained by the two signal transceiving units 30 .

Please refer to Figure 3 for further cooperation. If the direction of travel of the base 10 is parallel to the wall, the distances d1 and d2 between the two signal transceiver units 30 and the wall are equal, so the received rebound signals should be the same, and you can judge After the judgment of the drive unit 20, the base 10 continues to move forward parallel to the wall; please refer to Figures 4 to 6 for further cooperation. The received bounce signal will have a degree of difference due to the different distances d1 and d2 from the wall, and then judge the strength ratio of the received signal after the judgment of the drive unit 20, and further calculate the required value of the base 10 accordingly. Adjust the steering angle, and then further match the corresponding action command to drive the moving element 40 to adjust the direction of travel until the strength of the rebound signal received by the two signal transceiver units 30 is the same, that is, the direction of travel of the base 10 is the same as that of the base 10. The walls are parallel, and then the wheels can be moved forward, and the speed of the two wheels can be corrected by the distance difference sensed by the two infrared sensors on the left. This simple design can make the robot keep moving parallel to the wall. As shown in Figure 7.

Please refer to FIG. 8 for further cooperation. If it is desired to control the distance when the robot moves parallel to the wall, the judgment drive unit 20 can be used to calculate the moving distance and rotation angle of the robot. This is a known control method. Taking a disc-shaped wheeled robot as an example, suppose that when the robot collides with a wall at a certain angle, the collision sensing unit 50 is triggered, and the robot stops moving forward, and can detect the distance detected by the two infrared sensors on the side, that is, the signal transceiver unit 30. The difference is used to correct the rotational speeds of the two wheels, one for forward rotation and the other for reverse rotation, which will make the robot turn around the midpoint of the axis of the running wheel until the signal strengths perceived by the two signal transceiver units 30 are the same, at this time the robot is parallel to the wall On the other hand, the angle θ that the robot rotates at this time can be calculated by the judging drive unit 20 . Afterwards, the robot can continue to rotate at a fixed angle θ ₀ , assuming θ ₀ is 45 degrees to keep away from the wall, and then go straight for a distance f. This moving distance can also be obtained by judging the driving unit 20 and cooperating with the control loop. Then rotate the robot by θ ₀ in the opposite direction, and the robot will be parallel to the wall at this time, and the parallel detection is controlled by the two signal transceiving units 30 on the side. And because the geometric shape of the robot is known, the distance between the robot and the wall at this time can be calculated by the triangular geometric relationship; taking the design of a circular robot as an example, the distance between the robot and the wall at this time is

ds=s(sinθ)+f(sinθ ₀ )

Because s in the above formula is the distance between the center of the robot shape and the center of rotation of the runner, _θ0 is a control parameter that can be customized, and the collision angle θ with the wall can be calculated by the judgment drive unit 20, so it can be obtained by moving after turning The distance f is used to control the distance ds between the robot and the wall.

Afterwards, the two-wheel speed can be corrected by the distance difference perceived by the two signal transceiver units 30 on the left, so that the robot can keep a specified distance and move parallel to the wall. The collision, turning, forward, and turning action processes of the robot are re-moved to maintain a fixed distance from the changing wall and move in parallel.

Since the signal value of the signal transceiver unit is not directly used to estimate the distance between the robot and the wall, but the difference between the sensing signals of the two signal transceiver units is used to measure the parallel between the robot and the wall, and then the drive unit 20 is used to determine the distance between the robot and the wall. Controlling the movement of the robot can avoid errors in distance measurement caused by differences in the surface characteristics of obstacles. The above-mentioned mechanism will maintain a known distance between the robot and the wall, greatly improving the accuracy and efficiency of the robot's edge tracking. The trajectory of the robot following the edge will be shown in Figure 9.

The edge-tracking mobile device of the present invention can reliably achieve the goal of maintaining the robot by receiving, judging, calculating and then outputting action commands through the collocation of the collision sensing unit 50, the judging drive unit 20, the signal transceiver unit 30 and the moving element 40. The function of being parallel to the wall when moving along the edge, and because the present invention uses the relative difference value of the return signals received by the two signal transceiver units 30 as the basis for judging the adjustment action, the infrared sensing distance as in the prior art will be avoided. The method is easy to affect the accuracy of distance judgment due to the surface characteristics of the wall.

The above-described embodiments are only to illustrate the technical ideas and characteristics of the present invention, and its purpose is to enable those skilled in the art to understand the content of the present invention and implement it accordingly, and cannot limit the patent scope of the present invention with it. Equivalent changes or modifications made according to the spirit disclosed in the present invention should still be covered within the patent scope of the present invention.

Claims (6)

1. an edge-along moving device is characterized in that, this device comprises:

Pedestal;

Judge driver element, it is located on the pedestal;

Two or more signal transmitting and receiving unit, but it is synchronized transmissions and the element that receives signal specific, and this signal specific is the signal with feature of meeting resilience after touching barrier, described signal transmitting and receiving unit is located at a side of pedestal spaced reciprocally, and the signal transmitting and receiving unit is electrically connected at and judges on the driver element the strong and weak degree information of the signal that receives is transferred to the judgement driver element;

Moving meter, it is located on the pedestal, is electrically connected to judge driver element and be driven by it to carry out action.

2. edge-along moving device as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that, described signal specific is an infrared signal, and the direction of advance of the parallel pedestal in signal transmitting and receiving unit becomes the file setting, and the emission receive direction of signal transmitting and receiving unit is perpendicular to direction of advance.

3. edge-along moving device as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that, described signal specific is a ultrasonic signal, and the direction of advance of the parallel pedestal in signal transmitting and receiving unit becomes the file setting, and the emission receive direction of signal transmitting and receiving unit is perpendicular to direction of advance.

4. edge-along moving device as claimed in claim 1, it is characterized in that, described device further comprises two or more collision sensing unit, it is distributed in the wall edge place of the front part of pedestal at interval, the collision sensing unit is provided with crashproof connecting rod, and the collision sensing unit is connected in the judgement driver element when being collided stressed information is conducted to the judgement driver element in the electric connection mode.

5. edge-along moving device as claimed in claim 1, it is characterized in that, described moving meter is two runners that drive by motor respectively, and place, pedestal both sides is located in its correspondence and compartment of terrain, and this motor is judged rotating speed and the direction of drive unit drives to control two runners.

6. edge-along moving device as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that, described pedestal is a discoid body.

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