CN111300428B

CN111300428B - Robot, robot control method, and storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN111300428B
Application number: CN202010209890.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 许哲涛
Original assignee: Jingdong Technology Information Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Jingdong Technology Information Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-03-23
Filing date: 2020-03-23
Publication date: 2022-04-12
Anticipated expiration: 2040-03-23
Also published as: CN111300428A

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a robot, a robot control method and a storage medium, wherein the size of an obstacle in front of the robot can be identified according to ranging data of a plurality of ranging sensors positioned on the front side of a chassis of the robot and position information of the ranging sensors, and then when the obstacle is detected to be larger than a preset obstacle crossing size, the advancing direction of the robot is adjusted, namely when the size of the obstacle in front is not larger than the preset obstacle crossing size, the advancing direction of the robot does not need to be adjusted. The embodiment of the application can accurately identify the obstacles in front of the robot, so that the robot can accurately detect the obstacles such as steps or lifted floors in the process of inspecting the hollow areas with meshes in the floor in a machine room.

Description

Robot, robot control method, and storage medium

Technical Field

The embodiment of the application relates to the technical field of artificial intelligence, in particular to a robot, a robot control method and a storage medium.

Background

With the development of artificial intelligence technology, robots are more and more in variety and can be applied to various industries to assist or replace human work. For example, a room inspection robot is an intelligent device that assists or replaces human labor in performing inspection tasks in a data room.

In practical application, a part of data rooms have steps with height drop in the construction process, or the data rooms have a scene of lifting the floor for maintenance in the normal operation and maintenance process, and the inspection robot needs to be capable of automatically identifying the steps or the lifted floor (or called as an obstacle) to prevent falling. In the prior art, the step or the lifted floor is identified by installing an infrared distance measuring sensor below a chassis of the inspection robot.

In the process of implementing the present application, the inventor finds that at least the following problems exist in the prior art: for the convenience of the heat dissipation of computer equipment of the data machine room, the partial floor of the data machine room is a hollow floor with meshes, when an infrared distance measuring sensor of the inspection robot moves to the upper portion of the hollow meshes of the floor, the ground height change measured by the infrared distance measuring sensor can cause the inspection robot to mistakenly consider that the front is a barrier, and therefore the hollow area with the meshes of the floor in the machine room cannot be inspected. It can be seen that the prior art has low accuracy in identifying the front obstacle.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a robot, a robot control method and a storage medium, which are used for solving the problem that the accuracy of recognizing a front obstacle is low in the prior art.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a robot, where a plurality of distance measuring sensors are arranged on the same horizontal position on the front side of a chassis of the robot; the robot includes:

the acquisition module is used for acquiring the ranging data of the plurality of ranging sensors;

the identification module is used for identifying the size of an obstacle within a preset distance in front of the robot according to the ranging data of the ranging sensors and the position information of the ranging sensors;

and the control module is used for adjusting the advancing direction of the robot when the size of the obstacle is larger than the preset obstacle crossing size.

In one possible implementation manner, the identification module includes:

the determining unit is used for determining ground height data corresponding to the ranging data of the ranging sensors according to the ranging data of the ranging sensors and the ranging angles of the ranging sensors;

and the identification unit is used for identifying the size of the obstacle within the preset distance in front of the robot according to the ground height data corresponding to the ranging data of the ranging sensors and the position information of the ranging sensors.

In a possible implementation manner, the identification unit is specifically configured to:

determining at least two adjacent target ranging sensors from the plurality of ranging sensors according to the ground height data corresponding to the ranging data of the plurality of ranging sensors; the target ranging sensor is used for measuring ranging data in the plurality of ranging sensors, and the ground height data corresponding to the ranging data is different from the position height data of the ranging sensors;

and determining the spacing distance between the at least two adjacent target ranging sensors according to the position information of the plurality of ranging sensors, and determining the size of an obstacle in a preset distance in front of the robot according to the spacing distance between the at least two adjacent target ranging sensors.

In one possible implementation, the control module is further configured to:

and when the size of the obstacle is not larger than the preset obstacle crossing size, controlling the robot to continue to advance along the original advancing direction.

In one possible implementation manner, the difference value of the ranging angles of the plurality of ranging sensors is smaller than the preset angle difference.

In a possible implementation manner, a separation distance between any two adjacent ranging sensors in the plurality of ranging sensors is smaller than a preset separation distance.

In a possible implementation manner, the detection horizontal distance corresponding to the ranging data of any ranging sensor is greater than the braking distance threshold of the robot.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a robot control method, where multiple distance measuring sensors are disposed on the same horizontal position on the front side of a chassis of a robot; the method comprises the following steps:

acquiring ranging data of the plurality of ranging sensors;

identifying the size of an obstacle within a preset distance in front of the robot according to the ranging data of the ranging sensors and the position information of the ranging sensors;

and when the size of the obstacle is larger than the preset obstacle crossing size, adjusting the advancing direction of the robot.

In one possible implementation, the identifying, according to the ranging data of the plurality of ranging sensors and the position information of the plurality of ranging sensors, a size of an obstacle within a preset distance in front of the robot includes:

determining ground height data corresponding to the ranging data of the ranging sensors according to the ranging data of the ranging sensors and the ranging angles of the ranging sensors;

and identifying the size of an obstacle within a preset distance in front of the robot according to the ground height data corresponding to the ranging data of the ranging sensors and the position information of the ranging sensors.

In a possible implementation manner, the identifying, according to the ground height data corresponding to the ranging data of the plurality of ranging sensors and the position information of the plurality of ranging sensors, the size of the obstacle within a preset distance in front of the robot includes:

In one possible implementation, after identifying the size of the obstacle within the preset distance in front of the robot according to the ranging data of the plurality of ranging sensors and the position information of the plurality of ranging sensors, the method further includes:

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a robot, where a plurality of distance measuring sensors electrically connected to a control unit are disposed on a same horizontal position on a front side of a chassis of the robot;

wherein the control unit is configured to:

acquiring ranging data of the plurality of ranging sensors;

In a possible implementation manner, the control unit is specifically configured to:

In one possible implementation, the control unit is further configured to:

In one possible implementation, the control unit includes: a first controller and a second controller;

the first controller is used for determining ground height data corresponding to the ranging data of the plurality of ranging sensors according to the ranging data of the plurality of ranging sensors and the ranging angles of the plurality of ranging sensors, and sending the ground height data corresponding to the ranging data of the plurality of ranging sensors to the second controller;

the second controller is used for identifying the size of an obstacle within a preset distance in front of the robot according to the ground height data corresponding to the ranging data of the ranging sensors and the position information of the ranging sensors.

In one possible implementation, the second controller is further configured to: and when the size of the obstacle is larger than the preset obstacle crossing size, adjusting the advancing direction of the robot.

In one possible implementation, the second controller is further configured to: and when the size of the obstacle is not larger than the preset obstacle crossing size, controlling the robot to continue to advance along the original advancing direction.

In one possible implementation, the control unit includes: a first controller;

wherein the first controller is to:

In one possible implementation, the control unit further includes: a second controller, the first controller further to:

when the size of the obstacle is larger than a preset obstacle crossing size, sending first prompt information to the second controller, wherein the first prompt information is used for indicating that the obstacle larger than the preset obstacle crossing size exists in a preset distance in front of the robot;

the second controller is used for determining that an obstacle larger than the preset obstacle crossing size exists in the front preset distance of the robot according to the first prompt information, and adjusting the advancing direction of the robot.

when the size of the obstacle is not larger than the preset obstacle crossing size, sending second prompt information to the second controller, wherein the second prompt information is used for indicating that no obstacle larger than the preset obstacle crossing size exists in a preset distance in front of the robot;

the second controller is used for determining that no obstacle larger than the preset obstacle crossing size exists in the preset distance in front of the robot according to the second prompt information, and controlling the robot to continue to advance along the original advancing direction.

In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, in which computer-executable instructions are stored, and when the computer-executable instructions are executed by a processor, the computer-readable storage medium is used for implementing the robot control method according to any one of the second aspects.

The robot, the robot control method, and the storage medium according to the embodiments of the present application can accurately recognize the size of an obstacle in front of the robot by ranging data of a plurality of ranging sensors located at the front side of a chassis of the robot and position information of the plurality of ranging sensors, then when the obstacle is detected to be larger than the preset obstacle crossing size, the advancing direction of the robot is adjusted, namely when the size of the obstacle in front is not larger than the preset obstacle crossing size, the advancing direction of the robot does not need to be adjusted, the technical problem that the accuracy of recognizing the obstacle in front in the prior art is low is solved, and then reach and to discern the barrier in robot the place ahead accurately, realized patrolling and examining the robot and can be in the regional in-process of patrolling and examining the computer lab floor for the fretwork area mesh the effect of the accurate detection to the barrier.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with the present disclosure and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a robot provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2 is a front view of an inspection robot provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a first side view of the inspection robot provided by the embodiment of the application;

fig. 4 is a second side view of the inspection robot provided in the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic flowchart of a robot control method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 6 is a schematic flowchart of a robot control method according to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 7 is a schematic flowchart of a robot control method according to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a robot according to an embodiment of the present application.

With the foregoing drawings in mind, certain embodiments of the disclosure have been shown and described in more detail below. These drawings and written description are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosed concepts in any way, but rather to illustrate the concepts of the disclosure to those skilled in the art by reference to specific embodiments.

Detailed Description

Reference will now be made in detail to the exemplary embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. When the following description refers to the accompanying drawings, like numbers in different drawings represent the same or similar elements unless otherwise indicated. The implementations described in the exemplary embodiments below are not intended to represent all implementations consistent with the present disclosure. Rather, they are merely examples of apparatus and methods consistent with certain aspects of the present disclosure, as detailed in the appended claims.

First, terms related to embodiments of the present application will be explained:

the front side or front side according to the embodiments of the present application refers to a position along the advancing direction of the robot.

The ranging sensor related to the embodiments of the present application may include, but is not limited to: an infrared distance measuring sensor.

The range angle (or installation angle) of any range sensor related to the embodiments of the present application refers to an angle range detectable by the range sensor.

The position information of the plurality of ranging sensors related to the embodiment of the present application may include, but is not limited to: the position relationship of the plurality of ranging sensors, and/or the spacing distance between any two ranging sensors.

The preset obstacle crossing size refers to the maximum size of an obstacle which can be crossed by the robot.

The robot, the robot control method and the storage medium provided by the embodiment of the application can be applied to a scene that the robot identifies a front obstacle. For example, the robot control method and the storage medium according to the embodiments of the application may be applied to a scenario in which the machine room inspection robot identifies a front obstacle in a process of performing an inspection task in a data machine room.

In practical application, a part of data rooms have steps with height drop in the construction process, or the data rooms have a scene that floors are lifted to repair air conditioners or cables below the floors in the normal operation and maintenance process, and the inspection robot needs to be capable of autonomously identifying the steps or the lifted floors (or called obstacles) to prevent falling. In the prior art, the step or the lifted floor is identified by installing an infrared distance measuring sensor below a chassis of the inspection robot.

Under the general condition, for the convenience of the computer equipment heat dissipation of data computer lab, the floor of the subregion (for example cold wind channel etc.) of data computer lab is the floor of fretwork area mesh, and when the infrared distance measuring sensor who patrols and examines the robot removed the fretwork mesh top on floor, the ground altitude variation that infrared distance measuring sensor measured can make and patrol and examine the robot mistake and think there is the barrier in the place ahead to lead to can't patrol and examine the region that the mesh was taken for the fretwork in the computer lab. It can be seen that the prior art has low accuracy in identifying the front obstacle.

To solve the above technical problem, the robot control method and the storage medium provided by the embodiment of the present application can accurately identify the size of the obstacle in front of the robot by the ranging data of a plurality of ranging sensors located on the front side of the chassis of the robot and the position information of the plurality of ranging sensors, and then adjust the advancing direction of the robot when detecting that the size of the obstacle is larger than the preset obstacle crossing size, that is to say, when the size of the obstacle in front is not larger than the preset obstacle crossing size, the advancing direction of the robot does not need to be adjusted, thereby realizing the accurate detection of the obstacles such as the step or the lifted floor in the process that the floor is a hollow area with meshes in the patrol machine room.

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural principle diagram of a robot provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 1, the robot provided in the embodiment of the present application may include, but is not limited to: a ranging sensor array (including a plurality of ranging sensors) a, a control unit B, and a driving unit C. For example, the plurality of ranging sensors may be mounted on a data bus D and then connected to the control unit B through an interface conversion unit E, and the control unit B is connected to the driving unit C; of course, the ranging sensor array a, the control unit B and the driving unit C may also be connected in other ways, which is not limited in this embodiment of the application.

Illustratively, the control unit B is configured to recognize a size of an obstacle in front of the robot according to ranging data of the plurality of ranging sensors, and then control a moving direction of the robot through the driving unit C according to a comparison result of the size of the obstacle and a preset obstacle crossing size.

Illustratively, ranging sensor array a may include, but is not limited to: ranging sensor a1, ranging sensor a2, ranging sensor A3, ranging sensors a4, … …, ranging sensor An.

Illustratively, the control unit B may include, but is not limited to: the singlechip B1 and/or the main controller B2. For example, the control unit B may include a main controller B2; for another example, the control unit B may include a single chip microcomputer B1 and a main controller B2.

Illustratively, the driving unit C may include, but is not limited to: a motor driver C1, a motion motor C2, and an encoder C3. Wherein the motor driver C1 is used for driving the motion motor C2 to rotate under the control of the control unit B, thereby driving the robot to move; the encoder C3 is used to feed back the motor driver C1 the rotation information (e.g., the speed of rotation and/or the number of rotations, etc.) of the motion motor to form a closed loop control.

For the sake of easy understanding, the following embodiments of the present application describe the installation position of the distance measuring sensor array a by taking the inspection robot as an example.

Fig. 2 is a front view of the inspection robot provided in the embodiment of the present application, fig. 3 is a first side view of the inspection robot provided in the embodiment of the present application, and fig. 4 is a second side view of the inspection robot provided in the embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 2 to 4, the plurality of distance measuring sensors are disposed at the same horizontal position on the front side of the robot chassis, so as to accurately detect the size of an obstacle in front of the robot.

Illustratively, as shown in fig. 2, the distance measuring sensor a1, the distance measuring sensor a2, the distance measuring sensor A3, the distance measuring sensors a4, … … and the distance measuring sensor An are arranged from left to right in sequence, and a spacing distance w between any two adjacent distance measuring sensors in the plurality of distance measuring sensors is smaller than a preset spacing distance (for example, a gap spacing of the hollowed-out meshes on the floor in the data room), so that the control unit can recognize the sizes of the hollowed-out meshes on the floor in the room in front of the robot according to the distance measuring data of the plurality of distance measuring sensors.

Illustratively, in order to accurately identify the size of an obstacle in front of the robot, the difference value of the ranging angles of the plurality of ranging sensors is smaller than a preset angle difference. The preset angle difference is very small, which corresponds to the fact that the distance measurement angles of the plurality of distance measurement sensors are considered to be the same.

As shown in fig. 3, the distance measurement angles γ of the plurality of distance measurement sensors are the same, and if the distance measurement data d of any distance measurement sensor is the same, the ground height data H ═ d × cos (γ) corresponding to the distance measurement data d of the distance measurement sensor, and the horizontal detection distance s ═ H × tan (γ) ═ d × sin (γ) corresponding to the distance measurement data d of the distance measurement sensor. It should be understood that, as shown in fig. 3, if there is no obstacle in front of the robot, H should be equal to the position height data (or referred to as installation height data) H of the ranging sensor; as shown in fig. 4, if there is a pit or a downward step in front of the robot, the ground height data H corresponding to the ranging data d of at least one ranging sensor in the ranging sensor array will be greater than the position height data H of the ranging sensor; if there is an upward step in front of the robot, the ground height data H corresponding to the ranging data d of at least one ranging sensor in the ranging sensor array will be smaller than the position height data H of the ranging sensor.

Illustratively, the detection horizontal distance s corresponding to the ranging data d of any ranging sensor is greater than the braking distance threshold value of the robot, so that the robot can be ensured not to collide. The braking distance threshold value of the robot is the distance traveled by the robot from the beginning of braking to the complete standstill of the robot under the condition that the robot is at the preset maximum speed threshold value.

The following describes the technical solutions of the present application and how to solve the above technical problems with specific embodiments. The following several specific embodiments may be combined with each other, and details of the same or similar concepts or processes may not be repeated in some embodiments. Embodiments of the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a robot control method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. For example, the robot control method provided by the embodiment of the present application may be applied to a control unit of a robot as shown in fig. 1. As shown in fig. 2 to 4, a plurality of distance measuring sensors electrically connected to the control unit are disposed on the same horizontal position on the front side of the chassis of the robot. As shown in fig. 5, a robot control method provided in an embodiment of the present application may include:

and step S501, obtaining ranging data of the plurality of ranging sensors.

In this step, the control unit may receive the ranging data actively reported by the ranging sensors and measured in real time, or the control unit may receive the ranging data measured by the ranging sensors after receiving the ranging instruction sent by the control unit. Of course, the control unit may also obtain the ranging data of the plurality of ranging sensors by other manners, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

For example, the control unit may receive the ranging data d1 reported by the ranging sensor a1, the ranging data d2 reported by the ranging sensor a2, the ranging data d3 reported by the ranging sensor A3, the ranging data d4 and … … reported by the ranging sensor a4, and the ranging data dn reported by the ranging sensor An, as shown in fig. 1 and fig. 2.

And S502, identifying the size of an obstacle within a preset distance in front of the robot according to the ranging data of the ranging sensors and the position information of the ranging sensors.

The position information of the plurality of ranging sensors related to the embodiment of the present application may include, but is not limited to: the positional relationship of the plurality of ranging sensors (e.g., the positional relationship of each ranging sensor as shown in fig. 1 and 2), and/or the separation distance between any two of the ranging sensors (e.g., the separation distance between any adjacent two ranging sensors as shown in fig. 1 and 2, and/or the separation distance between any two ranging sensors).

In this embodiment, the control unit may be preconfigured with information such as position information of the plurality of distance measuring sensors and distance measuring angles of the plurality of distance measuring sensors.

In this step, the control unit identifies the size of the obstacle within a preset distance in front of the robot according to the position information of the plurality of distance measuring sensors and the distance measuring data of the plurality of distance measuring sensors acquired in the step S501, wherein the preset distance may be equal to the detection horizontal distance corresponding to the distance measuring data of the plurality of distance measuring sensors (wherein the calculation formula of the detection horizontal distance is the same as the related content described above with respect to fig. 3).

It should be understood that, as shown in fig. 3 and 4, if there is no obstacle in front of the robot and the detection horizontal distances corresponding to the ranging data of the plurality of ranging sensors are the same, the preset distance may be equal to the detection horizontal distance corresponding to the ranging data of any of the ranging sensors; if there is a pit or a step in front of the robot, the horizontal detection distances corresponding to the ranging data of some of the ranging sensors are different from the horizontal detection distances corresponding to the ranging data of other ranging sensors, and the preset distance may be equal to a maximum distance among the horizontal detection distances corresponding to the ranging data of the ranging sensors.

In a possible implementation manner, the control unit may determine whether the ranging data of the plurality of ranging sensors acquired in step S501 are all the same. It should be noted that, if the difference between any two ranging data is smaller than a preset difference (the preset difference is very small), the control unit may consider that the two ranging data are the same.

Further, as shown in fig. 3 and 4, if the distance measurement data of the plurality of distance measurement sensors are the same, the control unit may determine that there is no obstacle in the preset distance in front of the robot; if the distance measurement data of some of the plurality of distance measurement sensors is different from the distance measurement data of other distance measurement sensors of the plurality of distance measurement sensors, the control unit may determine the position information of the some of the plurality of distance measurement sensors according to the position information of the plurality of distance measurement sensors, and then determine the size of the obstacle in the preset distance in front of the robot according to the position information of the some of the plurality of distance measurement sensors.

For example, the ranging data of the plurality of ranging sensors may include: as shown in fig. 1 and fig. 2, the distance between any two adjacent distance measurement sensors is w, where the distance measurement data d1 reported by the distance measurement sensor a1, the distance measurement data d2 reported by the distance measurement sensor a2, the distance measurement data d3 reported by the distance measurement sensor A3, the distance measurement data d4, … … reported by the distance measurement sensor a4, and the distance measurement data dn reported by the distance measurement sensor An.

If the control unit determines that the distance measurement data d2 reported by the distance measurement sensor a2, the distance measurement data d3 reported by the distance measurement sensor A3, and the distance measurement data d4 reported by the distance measurement sensor a4 are different from the distance measurement data reported by other distance measurement sensors, the control unit may determine the position information of the above-mentioned ranging sensor a2, ranging sensor A3, and ranging sensor a4 (e.g., the positional relationship of the above-mentioned ranging sensor a2, ranging sensor A3, and ranging sensor a4, the spacing distance L between the above-mentioned ranging sensor a2 and ranging sensor a4, and/or the spacing distance w between any two adjacent ranging sensors) based on the position information of the plurality of ranging sensors, then, according to the position information of the distance measuring sensor a2, the distance measuring sensor A3 and the distance measuring sensor a4, it can be determined that the size W of the obstacle in the preset distance in front of the robot can be approximately equal to L or 2 × W.

In another possible implementation manner, the control unit determines ground height data corresponding to the ranging data of the plurality of ranging sensors according to the ranging data of the plurality of ranging sensors and the ranging angles of the plurality of ranging sensors; further, the control unit identifies the size of an obstacle in a preset distance in front of the robot according to ground height data corresponding to the ranging data of the ranging sensors and the position information of the ranging sensors.

In this implementation, the control unit may first convert the ranging data of the plurality of ranging sensors into corresponding ground height data according to the ranging angles of the plurality of ranging sensors. For example, the control unit may convert the distance measurement data d1 reported by the distance measurement sensor a1, the distance measurement data d2 reported by the distance measurement sensor a2, the distance measurement data d3 reported by the distance measurement sensor A3, the distance measurement data d4 and … … reported by the distance measurement sensor a4, and the distance measurement data dn reported by the distance measurement sensor An into corresponding ground height data H1, H2, H4, H4, … …, and Hn according to the distance measurement angles γ of the plurality of distance measurement sensors. The ground height data H1 is the ground height data corresponding to the ranging data d1, the ground height data H2 is the ground height data corresponding to the ranging data d2, the ground height data H3 is the ground height data corresponding to the ranging data d3, the ground height data H4 is the ground height data corresponding to the ranging data d4, and the ground height data … … and the ground height data Hn are the ground height data corresponding to the ranging data dn.

Further, as shown in fig. 3 and 4, if the ground height data corresponding to the ranging data of the plurality of ranging sensors are the same (for example, all the ground height data h of the ranging sensors), the control unit may determine that no obstacle exists within a preset distance in front of the robot; if the ground height data corresponding to the ranging data of some of the ranging sensors (hereinafter referred to as target ranging sensors) is different from the ground height data corresponding to the ranging data of other ranging sensors of the ranging sensors, the control unit may determine at least two adjacent target ranging sensors from the ranging sensors according to the ground height data corresponding to the ranging data of the ranging sensors, where the ground height data corresponding to the ranging data measured by the ranging sensors is different from the position height data h of the ranging sensors. Then, the control unit may determine a distance between the at least two adjacent target ranging sensors according to the position information of the plurality of ranging sensors, and determine a size of an obstacle within a preset distance in front of the robot according to the distance between the at least two adjacent target ranging sensors.

For example, if the control unit determines that the ground height data H2 corresponding to the ranging data d2 reported by the ranging sensor a2, the ground height data H3 corresponding to the ranging data d3 reported by the ranging sensor A3, and the ground height data H4 corresponding to the ranging data d4 reported by the ranging sensor a4 are different from the ground height data corresponding to the ranging data reported by other ranging sensors, the control unit may determine at least two adjacent target ranging sensors, such as the ranging sensor a2, the ranging sensor A3, and the ranging sensor a4, from among the plurality of ranging sensors from the ground height data corresponding to the ranging data of the plurality of ranging sensors.

Further, the control unit may determine a distance between the ranging sensor a2, the ranging sensor A3, and the ranging sensor a4 (e.g., a distance L between the ranging sensor a2 and the ranging sensor a4, and/or a distance W between any two adjacent ranging sensors) according to the position information of the ranging sensors, and then determine that the size W of the obstacle in the preset distance in front of the robot may be approximately equal to L or 2W according to the distances between the ranging sensor a2, the ranging sensor A3, and the ranging sensor a 4.

Of course, the control unit may also identify the size of the obstacle within the preset distance in front of the robot in other ways according to the ranging data of the ranging sensors and the position information of the ranging sensors, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

And S503, when the size of the obstacle is larger than a preset obstacle crossing size, adjusting the advancing direction of the robot.

In this step, the control unit adjusts the advancing direction of the robot when the size of the obstacle in a preset distance in front of the robot is larger than a preset obstacle crossing size; wherein the preset obstacle crossing size refers to the maximum size of an obstacle that can be crossed by the robot. That is, when the size of the obstacle in the preset distance in front of the robot is not greater than the preset obstacle crossing size, the control unit may control the robot to continue to advance along the original advancing direction without adjusting the advancing direction of the robot. It is thus clear that this application embodiment has realized that the robot that patrols and examines can be in the computer lab of patrolling and examining the accurate detection of obstacles such as the floor of taking the mesh for the regional in-process of fretwork to the step or lifting.

For example, in the embodiment of the present application, the control unit may control the moving direction of the robot through a driving unit in the robot. For example, if the size of the obstacle in a preset distance in front of the robot is larger than a preset obstacle crossing size, the control unit may send an adjustment instruction to the driving unit, so that the driving unit adjusts the advancing direction of the robot according to the adjustment instruction; if the size of the obstacle in the preset distance in front of the robot is not larger than the preset obstacle crossing size, the control unit can send a forward instruction to the driving unit, so that the driving unit can control the robot to continue to advance along the original forward direction according to the forward instruction.

To sum up, in this application embodiment, through setting up in acquireing the range finding data of a plurality of range finding sensors on the same horizontal position of chassis front side of robot, and according to a plurality of range finding sensors 'range finding data with a plurality of range finding sensors' positional information, discernment the size of barrier in the distance is predetermine in the place ahead of robot. Then, when the obstacle size is detected to be larger than the preset obstacle crossing size, the advancing direction of the robot is adjusted, namely when the size of the obstacle in front is not larger than the preset obstacle crossing size, the advancing direction of the robot does not need to be adjusted. It is thus clear that this application embodiment can accurately discern the barrier in robot the place ahead to realized patrolling and examining the robot and can be in the regional in-process of patrolling and examining the computer lab floor for the fretwork area mesh to the accurate detection of barriers such as step or the floor of lifting.

For example, the control unit of the robot according to the embodiment of the present application may include the main controller B2 shown in fig. 1, or the control unit of the robot according to the embodiment of the present application may include: a first controller (such as the singlechip B1 shown in figure 1) and a second controller (such as the main controller B2 shown in figure 1). It should be understood that when the control unit of the robot described above includes: for the implementation manner of the robot control method provided by the present application, reference may be made to the relevant contents of the above-mentioned embodiment shown in fig. 5 of the present application, as shown in the main controller B2 shown in fig. 1.

On the basis of the above embodiments, the following embodiments of the present application partially provide a control unit for the robot, including: the first controller (for example, the single chip microcomputer B1 shown in fig. 1) and the second controller (for example, the main controller B2 shown in fig. 1) are described, and the implementation manner of the robot control method provided by the present application is described.

Fig. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a robot control method according to another embodiment of the present disclosure. On the basis of the above embodiments, the control unit of the robot according to the embodiments of the present application includes: the first controller (for example, the single chip microcomputer B1 shown in fig. 1) and the second controller (for example, the main controller B2 shown in fig. 1), an implementation manner of the robot control method provided by the present application will be described. As shown in fig. 6, a robot control method provided in an embodiment of the present application may include:

step S601, the first controller acquires ranging data of the plurality of ranging sensors.

For example, when the robot starts to operate (for example, starts to perform a machine room inspection task, etc.), the second controller may transmit an instruction for instructing detection of a front obstacle to the first controller, so that the first controller transmits a ranging instruction to the data bus D on which the ranging sensor array a is mounted through the interface conversion unit E shown in fig. 1. Further, after receiving the ranging command, each ranging sensor in the ranging sensor array a starts to measure, and respectively reports measured ranging data to the first controller through a data bus D.

As yet another example, each ranging sensor in the ranging sensor array a may actively report measured ranging data to the first controller via a data bus D.

Of course, the first controller may also obtain the ranging data of the plurality of ranging sensors by other manners, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

Step S602, the first controller determines ground height data corresponding to the ranging data of the plurality of ranging sensors according to the ranging data of the plurality of ranging sensors and the ranging angles of the plurality of ranging sensors.

In an implementation manner of this step, reference may be made to the relevant content of "the control unit determines the ground height data corresponding to the ranging data of the plurality of ranging sensors according to the ranging data of the plurality of ranging sensors and the ranging angles of the plurality of ranging sensors" in step S502 of the above embodiment of this application, which is not limited in this embodiment of this application.

Step S603, the first controller sends the ground height data corresponding to the ranging data of the plurality of ranging sensors to the second controller.

And S604, identifying the size of an obstacle within a preset distance in front of the robot by the second controller according to the ground height data corresponding to the ranging data of the ranging sensors and the position information of the ranging sensors.

In an implementation manner of this step, reference may be made to the related content of "the control unit identifies the size of the obstacle within the preset distance in front of the robot according to the ground height data corresponding to the ranging data of the plurality of ranging sensors and the position information of the plurality of ranging sensors" in step S502 of the above-mentioned embodiment of this application, which is not limited in this embodiment of this application.

Further, if the size of the obstacle in the preset distance in front of the robot is larger than the preset obstacle crossing size, executing step S605; and if the size of the obstacle in the preset distance in front of the robot is not larger than the preset obstacle crossing size, executing step S606.

And step S605, the second controller adjusts the advancing direction of the robot.

For example, the second controller may send an adjustment instruction to the driving unit so that the driving unit adjusts the advancing direction of the robot according to the adjustment instruction.

And step S606, the second controller controls the robot to continue to advance along the original advancing direction.

For example, the second controller may send a forward command to the driving unit, so that the driving unit controls the robot to continue to advance along an original forward direction according to the forward command.

To sum up, in this application embodiment, according to the range finding data of a plurality of distance measuring sensors that acquire and the range finding angle of a plurality of distance measuring sensors, confirm the ground height data that a plurality of distance measuring sensors 'range finding data correspond, then will a plurality of distance measuring sensors' range finding data correspond ground height data send for the second controller of robot. Further, the second device identifies the size of an obstacle in a preset distance in front of the robot according to the ground height data corresponding to the ranging data of the ranging sensors and the position information of the ranging sensors, adjusts the advancing direction of the robot when the size of the obstacle is larger than a preset obstacle crossing size, and controls the robot to continue to advance along the original advancing direction when the size of the obstacle in front is not larger than the preset obstacle crossing size. It can be seen that, this application embodiment through first controller with the mode that the second controller combined together not only can accurately and fast discern the barrier in robot the place ahead, can also alleviate the processing task of second controller is favorable to improving the control efficiency of second controller to the robot.

Fig. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a robot control method according to another embodiment of the present invention. On the basis of the above embodiments, the control unit of the robot according to the embodiments of the present application includes: the robot control method provided by the application is described in another implementation manner when the robot control method is applied to a first controller (such as the single chip microcomputer B1 shown in FIG. 1) and a second controller (such as the main controller B2 shown in FIG. 1). As shown in fig. 7, a robot control method provided in an embodiment of the present application may include:

step S701, the first controller acquires ranging data of the plurality of ranging sensors.

The implementation manner of this step can refer to the relevant content of step S601 in the foregoing embodiments of this application, which is not limited in this embodiment of this application.

Step S702, the first controller determines ground height data corresponding to the ranging data of the plurality of ranging sensors according to the ranging data of the plurality of ranging sensors and the ranging angles of the plurality of ranging sensors.

Step S703, the first controller identifies the size of an obstacle in a preset distance in front of the robot according to the ground height data corresponding to the ranging data of the plurality of ranging sensors and the position information of the plurality of ranging sensors.

Further, if the size of the obstacle in the preset distance in front of the robot is larger than the preset obstacle crossing size, executing step S704; and if the size of the obstacle in the preset distance in front of the robot is not larger than the preset obstacle crossing size, executing step S706.

Step S704, the first controller sends a first prompt message to the second controller, where the first prompt message is used to indicate that an obstacle larger than the preset obstacle crossing size exists in a preset distance in front of the robot.

Step S705, the second controller determines that an obstacle larger than the preset obstacle crossing size exists in a preset distance in front of the robot according to the first prompt information, and adjusts a forward direction of the robot.

Step S706, the first controller sends second prompt information to the second controller, wherein the second prompt information is used for indicating that no obstacle larger than the preset obstacle crossing size exists in a preset distance in front of the robot.

And S707, the second controller determines that no obstacle larger than the preset obstacle crossing size exists in the preset distance in front of the robot according to the second prompt information, and controls the robot to continue to advance along the original advancing direction.

To sum up, in this application embodiment, according to the range finding data that a plurality of range finding sensors obtained and a plurality of range finding sensors 'range finding angle through the first controller of robot, confirm the ground altitude data that a plurality of range finding sensors' range finding data correspond to, and according to a plurality of range finding sensors 'range finding data correspond ground altitude data with a plurality of range finding sensors' positional information, discern the size of barrier in the distance is predetermine in the place ahead of robot. Further, the first controller sends instruction information to a second controller of the robot according to a comparison result of the size of the obstacle and a preset obstacle crossing size, so that the second controller controls the movement of the robot according to the instruction information. It can be seen that, this application embodiment through first controller with the mode that the second controller combined together not only can accurately and fast discern the barrier in robot the place ahead, can also alleviate the processing task of second controller is favorable to improving the control efficiency of second controller to the robot.

Fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a robot according to an embodiment of the present application. The same horizontal position of chassis front side of the robot that this application embodiment provided is provided with a plurality of range finding sensors. As shown in fig. 8, a robot provided in an embodiment of the present application may include:

an obtaining module 801, configured to obtain ranging data of the multiple ranging sensors;

an identifying module 802, configured to identify a size of an obstacle in a preset distance in front of the robot according to the ranging data of the plurality of ranging sensors and the position information of the plurality of ranging sensors;

and the control module 803 is used for adjusting the advancing direction of the robot when the size of the obstacle is larger than the preset obstacle crossing size.

For example, the obtaining module 801, the identifying module 802 and the control module 803 in the embodiment of the present application may be disposed in the control unit B as shown in fig. 1.

For example, the above-mentioned acquisition module 801, identification module 802 and control module 803 may be provided in the main controller B2 of the control unit B shown in fig. 1.

For another example, the obtaining module 801 may be disposed in the single-chip microcomputer B1 of the control unit B shown in fig. 1, the control module 803 may be disposed in the main controller B2 of the control unit B, a part of the functions of the identification module 802 may be disposed in the single-chip microcomputer B1, and another part of the functions may be disposed in the main controller B2 (refer to the method embodiment described above with reference to fig. 6).

For another example, the obtaining module 801 and the identifying module 802 may be disposed in a single chip microcomputer B1 of the control unit B shown in fig. 1, and the control module 803 may be disposed in a main controller B2 of the control unit B (refer to the method embodiment shown in fig. 7 described above in this application).

In the robot provided by the embodiment of the application, the identification module 802 can accurately identify the size of the obstacle in front of the robot according to the distance measurement data of the plurality of distance measurement sensors located on the front side of the chassis of the robot and the position information of the plurality of distance measurement sensors, which are acquired by the acquisition module 801; further, above-mentioned control module 803 detects the size of barrier is greater than when predetermineeing the size of hindering, adjusts the direction of advance of robot, that is to say when the size of preceding barrier is not more than predetermineeing the size of hindering, need not to adjust the direction of advance of robot has overcome the lower technical problem of the degree of accuracy of prior art discernment place ahead barrier, and then reaches the barrier that can accurately discern the robot the place ahead, has realized patrolling and examining the effect that the robot can be in the regional in-process of the mesh is taken for the fretwork in patrolling and examining the computer lab floor to the accurate detection of barrier.

In one possible implementation manner, the identifying module 802 includes:

In a possible implementation manner, the control module 803 is further configured to:

The robot provided in the embodiment of the present application is used for executing the technical solution in the embodiment of the robot control method of the present application, and the technical principle and the technical effect are similar, which are not described herein again.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a robot, the structure of which can be shown in fig. 2 to 4, wherein a plurality of distance measuring sensors electrically connected to the control unit are arranged on the same horizontal position on the front side of the chassis of the robot;

wherein the control unit is configured to:

acquiring ranging data of the plurality of ranging sensors;

In one possible implementation, the control unit is further configured to:

Illustratively, the first controller may be a single chip microcomputer B1 shown in fig. 1, and the second controller may be a main controller B2 shown in fig. 1.

In one possible implementation, the control unit includes: a first controller;

wherein the first controller is to:

Illustratively, the first controller may be a single chip microcomputer B1 shown in fig. 1.

Illustratively, the second controller may be the main controller B2 shown in fig. 1.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium, where a computer execution instruction is stored in the computer-readable storage medium, and the computer execution instruction is used by a processor to implement the technical solution in the robot control method embodiment of the present application, and the technical principle and the technical effect are similar, and are not repeated here.

Illustratively, the computer-readable storage medium may be a ROM, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a CD-ROM, a magnetic tape, a floppy disk, an optical data storage device, and the like.

It should be understood that various forms of the flows shown above may be used, with steps reordered, added, or deleted. For example, the steps described in the embodiments of the present application may be executed in parallel, may be executed sequentially, or may be executed in different orders, so long as the desired results of the technical solutions disclosed in the embodiments of the present application can be achieved, which is not limited herein.

Other embodiments of the disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the disclosure disclosed herein. This application is intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the disclosure following, in general, the principles of the disclosure and including such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice within the art to which the disclosure pertains. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of the disclosure being indicated by the following claims.

It will be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the precise arrangements described above and shown in the drawings and that various modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope thereof. The scope of the present disclosure is limited only by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A robot is characterized in that a plurality of distance measuring sensors are arranged on the same horizontal position on the front side of a chassis of the robot; the robot includes:

the identification module is used for identifying the size of an obstacle within a preset distance in front of the robot according to ranging data of the ranging sensors and position information of the ranging sensors, wherein the position information comprises a spacing distance between any two ranging sensors;

the control module is used for adjusting the advancing direction of the robot when the size of the obstacle is larger than the preset obstacle crossing size;

the identification module comprises:

2. The robot according to claim 1, characterized in that said identification unit is specifically configured to:

3. The robot of claim 1, wherein the control module is further configured to:

4. A robot as claimed in any of claims 1-3, characterized in that the difference in the range angles of the plurality of range sensors is smaller than a preset angle difference.

5. A robot as claimed in any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the separation distance between any adjacent two of the plurality of ranging sensors is less than a preset separation distance.

6. A robot as claimed in any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the range data of any of the range sensors corresponds to a detection level distance greater than a braking distance threshold of the robot.

7. A robot control method is characterized in that a plurality of distance measuring sensors are arranged on the same horizontal position on the front side of a chassis of a robot; the method comprises the following steps:

acquiring ranging data of the plurality of ranging sensors;

identifying the size of an obstacle within a preset distance in front of the robot according to ranging data of the ranging sensors and position information of the ranging sensors, wherein the position information comprises the spacing distance between any two ranging sensors;

when the size of the obstacle is larger than a preset obstacle crossing size, adjusting the advancing direction of the robot;

the size of the obstacle within the preset distance in front of the robot is identified according to the ranging data of the ranging sensors and the position information of the ranging sensors, and the size of the obstacle within the preset distance in front of the robot is identified, and the method comprises the following steps:

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the identifying the size of the obstacle within a preset distance in front of the robot according to the ground height data corresponding to the ranging data of the plurality of ranging sensors and the position information of the plurality of ranging sensors comprises:

9. The method according to claim 7 or 8, wherein after identifying the size of the obstacle within a preset distance in front of the robot based on the ranging data of the plurality of ranging sensors and the position information of the plurality of ranging sensors, the method further comprises:

10. A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon, which when executed by a processor, are configured to implement the robot control method of any one of claims 7 to 9.