CN114860061A

CN114860061A - Mobile robot and awakening method thereof

Info

Publication number: CN114860061A
Application number: CN202110077713.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 庄礼填
Original assignee: Shenzhen Chuangxiangweilai Robot Co ltd
Current assignee: Shenzhen Chuangxiangweilai Robot Co ltd
Priority date: 2021-01-20
Filing date: 2021-01-20
Publication date: 2022-08-05

Abstract

The invention relates to a mobile robot and a wake-up method thereof, wherein the mobile robot comprises: a chassis; the first distance detection sensor, the processing module and the driving module are fixed on the chassis; the processing module is respectively connected with the first distance detection sensor and the driving module; the first distance detection sensor is arranged on the top surface of the chassis and used for acquiring barrier information above the top surface of the chassis; the processing module is used for generating a control command according to the obstacle information when the mobile robot is in a dormant state; the driving module is used for driving the mobile robot to move according to the control command so as to enable the mobile robot to be in a working state. By the implementation of the invention, the mobile robot is awakened to start working based on the obstacle information above the mobile robot, and the aim of awakening the mobile robot by using gestures is fulfilled.

Description

Mobile robot and awakening method thereof

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of robots, in particular to a mobile robot and a wake-up method thereof.

Background

In recent years, with the development of science and technology, ground mobile robots are applied more and more widely in service type industries. The ground mobile robot is in a standby state or a charging standby state for most of time, and the method for waking up the mobile robot to start working comprises the following steps: 1) starting by a remote controller; 2) by pressing a start button on the mobile robot; 3) and starting remotely through the APP on the mobile terminal. However, in practical applications, it is often the case that the remote controller or the mobile terminal cannot be found. It is also unfriendly for people who are not convenient to bend down to press the start button.

Therefore, how to provide a solution for waking up the mobile robot more conveniently is a problem to be solved.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above-mentioned shortcomings of the related art, an object of the present invention is to provide a mobile robot and a wake-up method thereof, which can wake up the mobile robot by using gestures, so as to facilitate most people to wake up the mobile robot directly for work.

In order to achieve the purpose, the invention adopts the following technical scheme:

in one aspect, the present invention provides a mobile robot comprising: a chassis; the first distance detection sensor, the processing module and the driving module are fixed on the chassis; the processing module is respectively connected with the first distance detection sensor and the driving module;

the first distance detection sensor is arranged on the top surface of the chassis and used for acquiring barrier information above the top surface of the chassis and sending the barrier information to the processing module;

the processing module is used for generating a control command according to the barrier information when the mobile robot is in a dormant state and sending the control command to the driving module;

the driving module is used for driving the mobile robot to move according to the control command so as to enable the mobile robot to be in a working state.

Optionally, the chassis comprises an upper shell and a lower shell which are matched with each other to form a containing space; the top surface of the upper shell is provided with a circular groove which is formed by inwards sinking the top surface, and the first distance sensor is arranged in the circular groove.

Optionally, the method further comprises: a battery module fixed on the chassis;

a display screen is arranged on the side surface of the upper shell; the display screen is connected with the battery module and used for displaying the electric quantity of the battery module.

Optionally, a plurality of second distance detection sensors are disposed on the lower housing.

Optionally, the first distance detection sensor and the second distance detection sensor are infrared detection sensors or laser detection sensors.

Optionally, at least two driving wheels are arranged on the bottom surface of the lower shell; the driving wheel is connected with the driving module, and the driving module is used for driving the driving wheel to move.

Optionally, the number of the driving wheels is two; the two driving wheels are symmetrically arranged on the bottom surface of the lower shell.

Optionally, at least two auxiliary wheels are arranged on the bottom surface of the lower shell; the auxiliary wheel is used for supporting the chassis.

Optionally, the auxiliary wheel is a ball or universal wheel.

Optionally, the cross-sectional shape of the chassis is any one of a circle, an ellipse, a triangle, and a polygon with the number of sides being four or more.

In another aspect, the present invention also provides a wake-up method applied to a mobile robot as any one of the above, including:

the first distance detection sensor sends the acquired barrier information to the processing module;

when the mobile robot is in a dormant state, the processing module generates a control command according to the obstacle information and sends the control command to a driving module;

and the driving module drives the mobile robot to move according to the control command so as to enable the mobile robot to be in a working state.

Optionally, the processing module obtains a gesture of the interactive object according to the obstacle information, and generates a control command when determining that the gesture of the interactive object meets a preset standard gesture.

Optionally, the preset standard gesture includes:

the staying time of the interactive object meets the preset standard duration, and meanwhile, the moving distance of the interactive object meets the preset standard moving distance and/or the moving direction meets the preset standard moving direction.

The invention has the beneficial effects that:

the invention provides a mobile robot and a wake-up method thereof, wherein the mobile robot comprises: a chassis; the first distance detection sensor, the processing module and the driving module are fixed on the chassis; the processing module is respectively connected with the first distance detection sensor and the driving module; the first distance detection sensor is arranged on the top surface of the chassis and used for acquiring barrier information above the top surface of the chassis and sending the barrier information to the processing module; the processing module is used for generating a control command according to the obstacle information when the mobile robot is in a dormant state and sending the control command to the driving module; the driving module is used for driving the mobile robot to move according to the control command so as to enable the mobile robot to be in a working state. By the implementation of the invention, the mobile robot is awakened to start working based on the obstacle information above the mobile robot, and the aim of awakening the mobile robot by using gestures is fulfilled. Therefore, the mobile robot can be awakened without a remote controller or a mobile terminal, and a user does not need to bend down to press the start button on the mobile robot body.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a mobile robot according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of another mobile robot according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is another schematic structural diagram of another mobile robot according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a schematic flowchart of a wake-up method applied to a mobile robot according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a gesture wake-up operation applied to a mobile robot according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating an operation principle of a first distance detection sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a method for waking up a mobile robot according to an embodiment of the present invention;

description of reference numerals:

1-a chassis; 11-an upper shell; 12-a lower housing; 111-a first distance detection sensor; 112-circular groove; 113-a display screen; 125-a drive wheel; 126-auxiliary wheel.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

The invention will now be further explained by means of embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

The first embodiment is as follows:

fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a mobile robot according to an embodiment of the present invention, and as can be seen from fig. 1, the mobile robot according to the embodiment includes: the device comprises a chassis 1, a first distance detection sensor 111, a processing module 121 and a driving module 123 which are fixed on the chassis; the processing module 121 is respectively connected to the first distance detecting sensor 111 and the driving module 123;

the first distance detection sensor 111 is disposed on the top surface of the chassis 1, and is configured to collect obstacle information above the top surface of the chassis 1 and send the obstacle information to the processing module 121; the processing module 121 is configured to generate a control command according to the obstacle information when the mobile robot is in a dormant state, and send the control command to the driving module 123; the driving module 123 is configured to drive the mobile robot to move according to the control command, so that the mobile robot is in a working state.

In practical applications, the mobile robot specifically refers to a ground mobile robot, and the ground mobile robot can be understood as a mobile intelligent robot with a relatively low height, which includes but is not limited to a household sweeper and a sausage dog robot (the shape is similar to a dog, and the overall height is about 30 cm). For this kind of mobile robot, if the user does not find a remote controller or a mobile terminal that can be used to start the mobile robot, the user can only wake up the mobile robot to work by pressing a start key on the mobile robot. Thus, existing solutions may cause inconvenience to the user who is labourious to bend over. However, the mobile robot provided by this embodiment may collect obstacle information (e.g., distance information of an interactive object) above the top surface of the chassis by using the distance detection sensor provided on the top surface of the chassis; meanwhile, the mobile robot wakes up the mobile robot to work according to the obstacle information collected by the distance detection sensor. Therefore, the mobile robot provided by the invention achieves the purpose of waking up the mobile robot to start working by using gestures, and is suitable for users who are inconvenient to bend down to operate.

Note that the mobile robot is preset with a standard gesture. Specifically, the mobile robot determines the gesture of the interactive object according to the obstacle information acquired by the distance detection sensor, and also needs to determine whether the gesture of the interactive object matches a preset standard gesture, and if so, awakens the mobile robot to start working. In this embodiment, the processing module 121 is specifically configured to obtain a gesture of the interactive object according to the obstacle information, generate a control command when it is determined that the gesture of the interactive object meets a preset standard gesture, and send the control command to the driving module. And the preset standard gestures can be reasonably set according to actual application scenes. By way of example, the preset standard gesture includes any one of: the interactive object is in a static gesture within a preset standard time; the gesture that the moving distance of the interactive object meets the preset standard moving distance; the gesture that the moving direction of the interactive object meets the preset standard moving direction; the stopping time of the interactive object meets a preset standard time length, and the moving distance of the interactive object meets a preset standard moving distance; the dwell time of the interactive object meets the preset standard duration, and the moving direction of the interactive object meets the gesture of the preset standard moving direction; the stopping time of the interactive object meets the preset standard duration, the moving distance of the interactive object meets the preset standard moving distance, and the moving direction of the interactive object meets the gesture of the preset standard moving direction.

In practical applications, the mobile robot may have various shapes, and this embodiment does not limit this. For example, the cross-sectional shape of the chassis 1 is any one of a circle, an ellipse, a triangle, and a polygon having four or more sides. That is, the cross-sectional shape or the overall shape of the chassis in this embodiment can be flexibly designed according to the actual application scenario.

Fig. 2-fig. 3 are schematic structural diagrams of a specific mobile robot provided in this embodiment, and the following description will further describe the mobile robot by way of example.

As shown in fig. 2, the mobile robot is a chassis 1 that can be used for moving, and the chassis 1 has a circular transverse cross-sectional shape. Meanwhile, the chassis 1 includes an upper case 11 and a lower case 12 which cooperate with each other to form a receiving space. The fixing manner of the upper housing 11 and the lower housing 12 has various forms, for example, the upper housing 11 and the lower housing 12 can be fixed by a fixing manner such as snap connection, glue adhesion or screw fixation. Further, the longitudinal sectional shape of the upper case 11 is a trapezoid, and the longitudinal sectional shape of the upper case 12 is an inverted trapezoid. In other words, the upper case 11 has an outer shape that is narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, and the lower case 12 has an outer shape that is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom; namely, the side surface of the upper shell and the side surface of the lower shell are both inclined surfaces.

And a first distance detecting sensor 111 is provided on the top surface of the upper case 11. The specific arrangement position or manner of the first distance detection sensor 111 on the top surface of the upper housing 11 can be flexibly designed. As an example, as shown in fig. 2, a circular groove 112 recessed from the top surface is provided on the top surface of the upper housing 11, and preferably, the circular groove 112 is located at the center of the top surface of the upper housing; meanwhile, the first distance detection sensor 111 is arranged in the circular groove 112. In addition, in order to further improve the aesthetic property, a round flat cover is also arranged on the top surface of the upper shell and can be used for covering the first distance detection sensor; meanwhile, the circular flat cover is provided with two through holes which are respectively used as a signal receiving hole and a signal emitting hole of the first distance detection sensor. As another example, a spherical cap is provided on the top surface of the upper case to protrude outward from the top surface, a first distance detection sensor is provided in the spherical cap, and two through holes are provided on the spherical cap as a signal receiving hole and a signal emitting hole of the first distance detection sensor, respectively. It is also noted that the number of the first distance detection sensors on the top surface of the upper case may be 1 or more. As an example, one first distance detection sensor is provided at a middle region of the top surface of the upper case, and a plurality of first distance detection sensors are provided at intervals at an edge region of the top surface of the upper case. Set up a plurality of first distance detection sensor through the dispersion on the top surface of last casing for whether there is the barrier above mobile robot can detecting whole top surface. It should also be noted that the type of the first distance detection sensor on the top surface of the upper case may be flexibly set, including but not limited to an infrared detection sensor, a laser detection sensor, and a light detection sensor.

Further, as shown in fig. 3, in the accommodation space provided by the chassis 1, a process module 121 and a drive module 123 fixed to the chassis 1 are provided. In addition, the chassis 1 is also provided with a battery module 124 fixed on the chassis 1; the battery module 124 is connected to the processing module 121. Meanwhile, as shown in fig. 2, a display screen 113 is disposed on a side surface of the upper case 11, the display screen 113 is connected to the battery module 124, and the display screen 113 is used for displaying electric quantity of the battery module 124.

Further, a plurality of second distance detection sensors are provided on the lower case 12. Preferably, the second distance detection sensors are provided on both side surfaces and a bottom surface of the lower case 12. The second distance detection sensor is used for detecting whether obstacles appear below or around the lower shell, and if the second distance detection sensor detects obstacle information, the mobile robot is controlled to change the moving direction or speed, so that the mobile robot is prevented from colliding with the surrounding obstacles. It should be noted that the type of the second distance detecting sensor on the lower housing can be flexibly set, including but not limited to an infrared detecting sensor, a laser detecting sensor, a light detecting sensor or an ultrasonic detecting sensor.

Further, as shown in fig. 2, a driving wheel 125 is provided on a bottom surface of the lower case 12; the driving wheel 125 is connected with the driving module 123, and the driving module 123 is used for driving the driving wheel 125 to move, so as to control the mobile robot to move. It should be noted that, in the mobile robot, the specific number of the driving wheels and the specific arrangement position of the driving wheels on the lower shell can be reasonably arranged according to actual requirements. Typically, at least two drive wheels are provided on the lower housing. Preferably, the number of the driving wheels is two, and the two driving wheels are symmetrically arranged on the bottom surface of the lower housing.

Further, an auxiliary wheel 126 is arranged on the bottom surface of the lower shell 12; the auxiliary wheels 126 are used for supporting the chassis 1 to achieve the purpose of stabilizing the chassis. It should be noted that, in the mobile robot, the specific number and the specific type of the auxiliary wheels and the specific arrangement position of the auxiliary wheels on the lower shell can be reasonably arranged according to actual requirements. Typically, at least two auxiliary wheels are provided on the lower housing. Meanwhile, the auxiliary wheel can be any one of a ball, a universal wheel and an active control wheel.

In the present embodiment, two driving wheels 125 and two auxiliary wheels 126 are provided on the bottom surface of the lower case 12. Two driving wheels 125 are symmetrically disposed on the left and right sides of the bottom surface, and two auxiliary wheels 126 are symmetrically disposed on the front and rear sides of the bottom surface. Wherein, the auxiliary wheel 126 is a universal wheel.

Example two:

an embodiment of the present invention provides a wake-up method applied to any one of the mobile robots provided in the foregoing embodiments, and fig. 4 is a schematic flow chart of the wake-up method provided in this embodiment. As can be seen from fig. 4, the wake-up method provided in this embodiment includes the following steps:

s301: the first distance detection sensor sends the acquired barrier information to the processing module.

Referring to fig. 5, since the first distance detecting sensor is disposed on the top surface of the chassis, and the first distance detecting sensor may be an infrared detecting sensor or a laser detecting sensor, the first distance detecting sensor may be used to sense whether an obstacle is present above the top surface of the chassis. In practical applications, the obstacles presented here may be understood as interactive objects, such as the palm of the user's hand.

Referring to fig. 5 and 6, the first distance detecting sensor includes a transmitting end and a receiving end, and the light source transmitted from the transmitting end is transmitted to the receiving end by hand. And the distance between the hand and the mobile robot can be obtained according to the time difference between the signal transmission and the signal reception. In this embodiment, the range of the distance detected by the first distance detecting sensor is: between 50cm and 140cm above the ground. Of course, the first distance detection sensors with different models and specifications can be selected according to actual requirements, so that the distance range detected by the first distance detection sensors can meet the actual application occasions.

In practical applications, the mobile robot is in a sleep state, such as a non-charging standby state or a charging standby state, for a large part of time. Optionally, before S301, the method further includes:

and the processing module determines that the mobile robot is in a charging standby state according to the information obtained from the battery module.

S302: and the processing module generates a control command according to the obstacle information when the mobile robot is in a dormant state, and sends the control command to a driving module.

In this embodiment, the step S302 specifically includes: and the processing module obtains the gesture of the interactive object according to the obstacle information and generates a control command when determining that the gesture of the interactive object meets a preset standard gesture. It can be understood that the processing module is an MCU processing module; the related calculation and logic processing can be carried out by a single chip microcomputer or other MCU chips.

Wherein the preset standard gestures include but are not limited to: the interactive object is in a static gesture within a preset standard time; the gesture that the moving distance of the interactive object meets the preset standard moving distance; the gesture that the moving direction of the interactive object meets the preset standard moving direction; the stopping time of the interactive object meets a preset standard time length, and the moving distance of the interactive object meets a preset standard moving distance; the dwell time of the interactive object meets a preset standard duration, and the moving direction of the interactive object meets a preset standard moving direction; the stopping time of the interactive object meets the preset standard duration, the moving distance of the interactive object meets the preset standard moving distance, and the moving direction of the interactive object meets the gesture of the preset standard moving direction. The preset standard time length, the preset standard moving distance and the standard moving direction can be flexibly set according to actual requirements. As an example, the preset standard time is between 0.5 and 2 seconds, the preset standard moving distance is between 20 and 40cm, and the preset standard moving direction is upward. As another example, the preset standard time period is between 1 second and 2 seconds, the preset standard moving distance is between 30cm and 40cm, and the preset standard moving direction is downward.

S303: and the driving module drives the mobile robot to move according to the control command so as to enable the mobile robot to be in a working state.

In practical application, after receiving the control command, the driving module can drive the driving wheel on the chassis to move so as to wake up the mobile robot to start working.

The waking method applied to the mobile robot in this embodiment wakes up the mobile robot to start working by issuing a specific gesture at an interval just above the mobile robot by a user.

For better understanding of the present invention, a method for waking up a mobile robot is described below with reference to fig. 7, and as can be seen from fig. 7, the method includes the following steps:

s601: the mobile robot performs initialization setting.

S602: the mobile robot judges whether a command for starting work is received, if so, S606 is executed; otherwise, S603 is executed.

It should be understood that the specific manner of issuing the command to start working to the mobile robot here may be any manner of waking up the mobile robot to start working. E.g., via remote control activation; or, by pressing a start button on the mobile robot; or, the remote start is carried out through APP on the mobile terminal.

S603: the mobile robot continues to stay in the charging seat for charging, and the charging standby state is kept.

S604: the mobile robot detects whether an obstacle appears in a preset range right above the mobile robot; if yes, go to S605; otherwise, S602 is executed.

S605: further determining whether the barrier leaves after moving from bottom to top for a preset distance within a preset time; if yes, go to S606; otherwise, S602 is executed.

S606: and waking up the mobile robot to start working.

EXAMPLE III

Based on the mobile robot provided in the first embodiment and the wake-up method provided in the second embodiment, the embodiment of the present invention further describes the wake-up process of the mobile robot by combining two practical application scenarios:

(1) household floor sweeper with mobile robot

Grandpa is a family of old people who are not convenient to bend over, and a sweeper is bought by children. The top center of machine of sweeping the floor is equipped with an infrared detection sensor, and this machine of sweeping the floor simultaneously can directly awaken up through APP on the cell-phone, button and the specific gesture on the machine body of sweeping the floor to open the function of sweeping the floor. But the wecker does not understand that the APP on the mobile phone is used for control, and the button function on the machine body needs to be stooped to press. For weckers with waist diseases, both methods are inconvenient for him. Then the function is awaken up in gesture can help the wecker to solve the puzzlement that other machine modes of sweeping the floor brought of awakening up, and concrete operation is as follows:

when the sweeper is static (standby or charged on a charging seat), the wecker walks beside the sweeper, the hand is naturally vertical to the ground, the palm is downwards parallel to the ground, then the robot horizontally moves to the middle of the robot (right above a distance detection sensor), and then the robot slowly moves upwards for a certain distance of 20cm-40cm, and the detection point is horizontally moved away. When the sweeper detects that the data returned by the sensor is within the set effective distance range, the sweeper starts to work to sweep the house. After the cleaning is finished, the cleaning device returns to the charging seat silently for charging.

(2) The mobile robot is a sausage dog robot

The sausage dog robot is a ground mobile intelligent robot, is about 30cm high, and has the functions of accompanying a user to chat, tell stories, control household appliances, watch, face recognition and the like. To save power consumption, most of its time handles the standby state. The top of the sausage dog robot is provided with a single-point laser detection sensor and also has a gesture awakening function.

The Xiaoming walks beside the sausage dog robot, stretches the hand to move right above the sausage robot, then slowly lifts the hand upwards and moves away, and the sausage robot is awakened at the moment. The camera is started, the body is rotated, the Xiaoming is recognized through face recognition, and then the Xiaoming is asked.

The foregoing is a more detailed description of the present invention that is presented in conjunction with specific embodiments, and the practice of the invention is not to be considered limited to those descriptions. For those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains, numerous simple deductions or substitutions may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, which shall be deemed to belong to the scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A mobile robot, comprising: a chassis; the first distance detection sensor, the processing module and the driving module are fixed on the chassis; the processing module is respectively connected with the first distance detection sensor and the driving module;

the first distance detection sensor is arranged on the top surface of the chassis and used for acquiring obstacle information above the top surface of the chassis and sending the obstacle information to the processing module;

the processing module is used for generating a control command according to the obstacle information when the mobile robot is in a dormant state and sending the control command to the driving module;

2. The mobile robot of claim 1, wherein the chassis includes an upper case and a lower case cooperating with each other to form an accommodation space; the top surface of the upper shell is provided with a circular groove which is formed by inwards sinking the top surface, and the first distance sensor is arranged in the circular groove.

3. The mobile robot of claim 2, further comprising: a battery module fixed on the chassis;

4. A mobile robot as claimed in claim 2 or 3, wherein a plurality of second distance detection sensors are provided on the lower case.

5. The mobile robot according to claim 4, wherein the first distance detection sensor and the second distance detection sensor are infrared detection sensors or laser detection sensors.

6. The mobile robot according to claim 2, wherein at least two driving wheels are provided on a bottom surface of the lower case; the driving wheel is connected with the driving module, and the driving module is used for driving the driving wheel to move.

7. The mobile robot of claim 6, wherein the number of the drive wheels is two; the two driving wheels are symmetrically arranged on the bottom surface of the lower shell.

8. The mobile robot according to claim 2, wherein at least two auxiliary wheels are provided on a bottom surface of the lower case; the auxiliary wheel is used for supporting the chassis.

9. The mobile robot of claim 8, wherein the auxiliary wheel is a ball or a universal wheel.

10. The mobile robot as claimed in any one of claims 5 to 9, wherein the chassis has a cross-sectional shape of any one of a circle, an ellipse, a triangle, and a polygon having four or more sides.

11. A wake-up method applied to a mobile robot according to any one of claims 1-10, comprising:

12. A wake-up method according to claim 11, wherein the processing module generating a control command according to the obstacle information comprises:

and the processing module obtains the gesture of the interactive object according to the obstacle information and generates a control command when determining that the gesture of the interactive object meets a preset standard gesture.

13. A wake-up method according to claim 12, wherein the preset standard gesture comprises: