CN116360410A

CN116360410A - Autonomous mobile apparatus, control method and apparatus thereof, and storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN116360410A
Application number: CN202111627977.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 许思晨
Original assignee: Qfeeltech Beijing Co Ltd
Current assignee: Qfeeltech Beijing Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-12-28
Filing date: 2021-12-28
Publication date: 2023-06-30
Also published as: WO2023124788A1

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to an autonomous mobile apparatus, a control method and apparatus thereof, and a storage medium, the method including: an acquisition step of acquiring a map marked with an obstacle surmountable area; a judging step of judging whether the autonomous mobile apparatus is stuck in the obstacle surmountable area; and a processing step, wherein the processing step is used for commanding the autonomous mobile device to execute an obstacle crossing mode to try to pass through the obstacle surmounting area under the condition that the autonomous mobile device is judged to be blocked in the obstacle surmounting area. In this way, the obstacle is assisted to be passed by means of the map marked with the obstacle-surmountable area, so that the problem caused by the inability to accurately distinguish between the obstacle-surmountable and dangerous dilemma areas can be avoided.

Description

Autonomous mobile apparatus, control method and apparatus thereof, and storage medium

Technical Field

The disclosure relates to the technical field of smart home, in particular to an autonomous mobile device, a control method and device thereof and a storage medium.

Background

Along with the improvement of technological progress and living standard, autonomous mobile devices with different functions increasingly enter families of people, such as autonomous mobile devices, accompanying mobile robots and the like, so that the lives of people are more comfortable and convenient.

Autonomous mobile devices refer to intelligent devices that autonomously perform preset tasks within a set work area, and currently autonomous mobile devices generally include, but are not limited to, cleaning robots (e.g., intelligent floor sweepers, intelligent floor moppers, window wipers), companion mobile robots (e.g., intelligent cyber pets, paramedic robots), service mobile robots (e.g., hospitality robots in hotels, meeting places), industrial inspection intelligent devices (e.g., power inspection robots, intelligent forklifts, etc.), security robots (e.g., home or business intelligent guard robots), and the like.

The movement unit (also referred to as a driving mechanism) of the autonomous mobile apparatus is usually a component such as a wheel or a track, which drives the autonomous mobile apparatus to move on a plane through rotation, which causes the autonomous mobile apparatus to be blocked by specific obstacles (such as a threshold, a sliding rail of a glass door, or an edge portion of a floor mat having a certain height laid in a room) and not to pass over the obstacles, and even to be caught by the obstacles, resulting in a dilemma caused by the failure of the autonomous mobile apparatus to separate from the obstacles. To distinguish from common obstacles (such as walls, refrigerators, floor conditioners, floor cupboards, etc.) that can block the progress of autonomous mobile apparatuses, such obstacles as sills and the like are referred to as stridable obstacles.

Autonomous mobile devices are currently commonly used to detect surmountable obstacles using various types of sensors on the autonomous mobile device. In the prior art, a specific surmountable obstacle on the ground in front of the autonomous mobile apparatus is usually identified by a front camera or a ranging sensor (such as a laser radar), and after the front obstacle is determined to be the surmountable obstacle, a corresponding action is performed to perform obstacle surmounting processing (obstacle surmounting processing in the present disclosure refers to processing for surmounting the surmountable obstacle).

If the front camera recognizes that the obstacle is a threshold or a stridable obstacle such as a ground mat with a certain height and/or detects that the height of the obstacle is lower than a certain height threshold, such as 2.7cm, by using a ranging sensor (such as a laser radar which is arranged in front of the autonomous mobile device and emits laser obliquely downwards to detect the height of the obstacle at a certain distance in front of the autonomous mobile device based on geometric calculation), the obstacle belongs to the stridable obstacle, and the autonomous mobile device can perform corresponding actions to perform obstacle surmounting treatment.

The above-described methods of assisting an autonomous mobile device to traverse a surmountable obstacle by means of a camera or ranging sensor have certain limitations. Although the front camera of the first method may identify the threshold or the edge of the ground mat, the front camera is limited by the computing capability of the processor and the inherent difficulty of the sensor that is difficult to identify the object height through the photo may result in limited success rate of identifying the spanable obstacle, and often result in false detection; for the second method, the detection accuracy of the laser radar on the spanned obstacle is lower due to the limitation of the computing power of the processor and the influence of external ambient light, ground material color and the like.

Thus, while automatically identifying obstacles and performing obstacle surmounting treatments may make autonomous mobile devices more intelligent, it is still difficult under current conditions to accurately and automatically distinguish between surmountable obstacles and dangerous dilemma areas (e.g., a lamp socket exceeding the height of the autonomous mobile device chassis tends to lift the autonomous mobile device chassis to suspend its moving units such as wheel sets, thereby causing the autonomous mobile device to become stuck) due to the high complexity of the home environment and limitations of the prior art, which may lead to the following problems: the autonomous mobile device may make an erroneous process in some environments, such as the autonomous mobile device may recognize a slide rail of a glass door leading to a balcony or a kitchen as an impenetrable general obstacle without cleaning the balcony or the kitchen, resulting in a deteriorated user experience or an increased number of times the autonomous mobile device is caught due to erroneous entry into a dilemma area.

That is, there are significant limitations to the direct use of the corresponding sensors of autonomous mobile devices to assist in negotiating obstacles as disclosed in the prior art.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of this, the present disclosure proposes an autonomous mobile apparatus, a control method and apparatus thereof, and a storage medium.

According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a control method of an autonomous mobile apparatus, the control method comprising: an acquisition step of acquiring a map marked with an obstacle surmountable area; a judging step of judging whether the autonomous mobile apparatus is stuck in the obstacle surmountable area; and a processing step, wherein the processing step is used for commanding the autonomous mobile device to execute an obstacle crossing mode to try to pass through the obstacle surmounting area under the condition that the autonomous mobile device is judged to be blocked in the obstacle surmounting area.

According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a control apparatus of an autonomous mobile device, the control apparatus comprising: an acquisition unit configured to acquire a map marked with an obstacle-surmountable area; a judging unit configured to judge whether the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed in the obstacle surmountable area; and the processing unit is used for commanding the autonomous mobile device to execute an obstacle crossing mode to try to pass through the obstacle surmounting area under the condition that the autonomous mobile device is judged to be blocked in the obstacle surmounting area.

According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a control apparatus of an autonomous mobile device, the control apparatus comprising: a processor; a memory for storing processor-executable instructions; wherein the processor is configured to perform the control method described above.

According to a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an autonomous mobile device comprising: the control device; and a movement unit for commanding the autonomous mobile apparatus to perform an obstacle surmounting mode in response to the control means, moving in the obstacle surmounting mode to attempt to pass through the obstacle surmountable area.

According to a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, which when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform the above-described control method.

According to the present disclosure, a map marked with an obstacle surmountable area (where a surmountable obstacle is located) is acquired, and in a case where the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed in the obstacle surmountable area, the autonomous mobile apparatus is instructed to perform an obstacle surmounting mode to attempt to pass through the obstacle surmountable area. In this way, the present disclosure assists in negotiating obstacles by means of a map marked with obstacle surmountable areas, in contrast to the prior art in which the respective sensors of autonomous mobile devices are directly used, such as a front camera or a ranging sensor, in order to avoid the problems described above due to the inability to accurately distinguish between obstacle surmountable and dangerous dilemma areas.

In addition, whether the autonomous mobile device automatically marks the obstacle surmounting area or the user manually marks the obstacle surmounting area, the autonomous mobile device can try to surmount the obstacle surmounting area in an obstacle surmounting mode, so that more positions can be reached in the working space as much as possible, and more functions can be realized.

Other features and aspects of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Drawings

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

Fig. 1a to 1c show flowcharts of a control method of an autonomous mobile apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment.

Fig. 1d shows a flow chart of autonomous mobile device building a map according to an exemplary embodiment.

Fig. 2a shows a schematic diagram of a map marked with obstacle surmountable areas according to an exemplary embodiment.

Fig. 2 b-2 e show schematic views of a threshold as a spanned obstacle according to an exemplary embodiment.

Fig. 3a shows a schematic diagram of a cost distribution of a grid map of an obstacle region according to an exemplary embodiment.

Fig. 3b shows a schematic diagram of a cost distribution of a grid map of a non-obstacle area according to an exemplary embodiment.

Fig. 3c shows a schematic diagram of a path planned without adjusting the search pattern of points located within the obstacle-surmountable area according to an exemplary embodiment.

Fig. 3d shows a schematic diagram of a path planned with adjustment of the search pattern of points located within the obstacle-surmountable area according to an exemplary embodiment.

Fig. 3e shows a schematic diagram of an angle between an autonomous mobile device and an obstacle according to an exemplary embodiment.

Fig. 4-7 a illustrate a flow chart of an autonomous mobile device operating in obstacle surmounting mode according to an example embodiment.

Fig. 7 b-7 e illustrate schematic diagrams of an autonomous mobile device operating in the obstacle-surmounting mode illustrated in fig. 7a in an attempt to cross a threshold, according to an example embodiment.

Fig. 8 a-8 b show schematic diagrams of autonomous mobile devices operating in obstacle surmounting mode according to an example embodiment.

Fig. 9 shows a block diagram of a control apparatus of an autonomous mobile device according to an exemplary embodiment.

Fig. 10 shows a block diagram of an autonomous mobile device according to an example embodiment.

Detailed Description

Various exemplary embodiments, features and aspects of the disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, like reference numbers indicate identical or functionally similar elements. Although various aspects of the embodiments are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale unless specifically indicated.

The word "exemplary" is used herein to mean "serving as an example, embodiment, or illustration. Any embodiment described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments.

In addition, numerous specific details are set forth in the following detailed description in order to provide a better understanding of the present disclosure. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present disclosure may be practiced without some of these specific details. In some instances, methods, means, elements, and circuits well known to those skilled in the art have not been described in detail in order not to obscure the present disclosure.

As described above, for the method of detecting a spanable type obstacle using a front camera or a ranging sensor (e.g., a laser radar) of an autonomous mobile apparatus, since both of these sensors have various drawbacks as described above and may have problems of a detection dead zone, it may result in the autonomous mobile apparatus failing to accurately detect the spanable type obstacle, thereby making the autonomous mobile apparatus attempt to pass through the spanable type obstacle and thus not operate to an area where it can be operated, or making the autonomous mobile apparatus erroneously recognize the spanable type obstacle to collide with a common obstacle a plurality of times and thus cause damage to the autonomous mobile apparatus itself or cause damage to the common obstacle (e.g., furniture). Therefore, it is difficult to accurately judge the crossing type obstacle such as the threshold, the sliding rail of the glass door, the edge of the ground mat, and the like by simply adopting the camera or the distance measuring sensor.

For this reason, considering that if the autonomous mobile apparatus is able to know where an obstacle is a surmountable obstacle that can be surmounted, the autonomous mobile apparatus only needs to ensure that the autonomous mobile apparatus can make a correct obstacle surmounting process in an obstacle surmountable area corresponding to the surmountable obstacle, so that it can pass through the obstacle surmountable area without worrying about the various problems described above.

In addition, with the development of visual SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping, simultaneously Localization and Mapping for short) and laser SLAM technologies, it has become easier to locate an autonomous mobile device in a home environment in real time, once the autonomous mobile device has a map of the home environment, and a user marks a surmountable obstacle region corresponding to a surmountable obstacle on the map through an APP and sends the marked obstacle region to the autonomous mobile device, the autonomous mobile device can accurately determine the surmountable obstacle region, so that the autonomous mobile device can operate in a preset surmounting mode in the surmountable obstacle region, and thereby surmount the surmountable obstacle region where the surmountable obstacle is located more easily.

In addition, the autonomous mobile apparatus may detect in real time whether the autonomous mobile apparatus itself passes over a surmountable obstacle in a normal operation mode (e.g., detect whether the autonomous mobile apparatus passes over a surmountable obstacle by detecting whether the autonomous mobile apparatus is stuck in a surmountable obstacle area), and when detecting that the autonomous mobile apparatus does not pass over the surmountable obstacle, operate in a specific obstacle-passing mode in which the autonomous mobile apparatus is more likely to pass over the surmountable obstacle, so as to increase the probability that the autonomous mobile apparatus passes over the surmountable obstacle.

Based on the above-described concept, a control method of the autonomous mobile apparatus of the present exemplary embodiment shown in fig. 1a to 1c is proposed. The autonomous mobile device may include, for example, but is not limited to, a cleaning robot (e.g., a smart sweeper, a smart scrubber, a window cleaning robot), a companion mobile robot (e.g., a smart electronic pet, a career robot), a service mobile robot (e.g., a reception robot at a hotel, meeting place), an industrial inspection smart device (e.g., a power inspection robot, a smart forklift, etc.), a security robot (e.g., a home or business smart guard robot), etc. autonomous mobile smart devices. The execution body of the control method of the present embodiment may include, for example, but not limited to, a control unit of an autonomous mobile apparatus, an external apparatus of the autonomous mobile apparatus, and the like.

Referring to fig. 1a to 1c, the control method of the present exemplary embodiment may include the steps of:

in step S110, a map marked with an obstacle-surmountable area is acquired. Wherein the obstacle-surmounting region may represent a corresponding region of the surmountable obstacle in the map.

In one possible implementation, the autonomous mobile device may directly obtain a pre-stored map marked with obstacle-surmounting areas from its own memory unit (such as an internal memory device or means).

In the present exemplary embodiment, the autonomous mobile apparatus once performs a task (e.g., the cleaning robot performs a cleaning task) on a certain working space, and during the execution of the task, the autonomous mobile apparatus establishes and stores an initial map of the working space (e.g., stores the initial map of the working space in its own storage unit), marks an obstacle-surmountable area (which may be automatically marked by a manual mark or a processing unit) corresponding to the area occupied by the obstacle-surmountable, becomes a map marked with the obstacle-surmountable area, and stores the map, so that, when the control method according to the present embodiment performs a subsequent task on the same working space, the autonomous mobile apparatus can directly acquire the map marked with the obstacle-surmountable area from its own storage unit. Or other autonomous mobile devices may acquire the map from a storage unit of the autonomous mobile device storing the map or a server storing the map through a network.

In one embodiment, the autonomous mobile device may automatically mark the obstacle surmounting area on the newly created map while building the map in the workspace. The map may be created by performing the steps of fig. 1d, as shown in fig. 1d, the method of creating a map comprising:

In step S010, the autonomous mobile device is instructed to run in a workspace where no map is established and to establish a map of the workspace.

In step S020, it is determined whether the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed during the operation of the autonomous mobile apparatus. If it is determined that the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed, the determination of step S020 is yes, and then step S030 is executed. If it is determined that the autonomous mobile apparatus is not jammed, step S020 is continued.

In step S030, the autonomous mobile apparatus is instructed to execute the obstacle detouring mode. Then, step S040 is performed. Regarding the obstacle surmounting mode, it will be described later.

In step S040, it is determined whether the autonomous mobile apparatus passes through the area corresponding to the jammed position. If it is determined that the area corresponding to the position where the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed has been passed, the determination of step S040 is yes, and step S050 is then performed. If it is determined that the area corresponding to the location where the autonomous mobile apparatus is not jammed is not passed, the determination in step S040 is no, and then step S060 is executed.

In step S050, the passing area (i.e., the area corresponding to the jammed position where the autonomous mobile apparatus passes) is marked as an obstacle-surmountable area on the map.

In step S060, the failed area (i.e., the area corresponding to the blocked position where the autonomous mobile apparatus failed) is marked as a failed area on the map.

By the method for the autonomous mobile device to detect the type of the obstacle in the field in person (rather than remotely detecting the obstacle in a non-contact manner through a camera, a laser radar or the like), the autonomous mobile device can automatically identify the spanable obstacle in the map establishment stage and mark the obstacle surmounting area on the map, and meanwhile the problem of inaccurate identification caused by remotely detecting the spanable obstacle only through the camera and/or a ranging sensor is avoided.

It should be appreciated that the autonomous mobile device may also employ appropriate methods related to the prior art to build a map of the workspace (e.g., by a code wheel, gyroscope, accelerometer, etc. dead reckoning sensor to build a map in the form of a collision obstacle, by a camera or lidar in combination with a SLAM of the dead reckoning sensor to build a map, etc.), and then provide the user with the option of marking the obstacle surmountable area by the user on the built map, the user selecting the obstacle surmountable area, thereby directing the autonomous mobile device to execute subsequent instructions in the designated (selected) obstacle surmountable area. The present exemplary embodiment, limited in space, does not extend specifically for how autonomous mobile devices build a map of the workspace and how the spanned areas are marked on the map.

For a common obstacle that the autonomous mobile apparatus can recognize, for example, based on an area corresponding to a position where the autonomous mobile apparatus has not passed through the autonomous mobile apparatus, the autonomous mobile apparatus recognizes the obstacle as a common obstacle that can block its passage, or determines that it cannot pass through by a direct collision of a collision sensor, or detects a common obstacle whose height is significantly greater than a passable threshold value so that the autonomous mobile apparatus cannot necessarily pass through by the proximity sensor, and determines that the autonomous mobile apparatus cannot pass through the respective sensors, the determination of step S040 is no, the autonomous mobile apparatus marks it as an area that cannot pass through on a map, so that the autonomous mobile apparatus can perform other modes than the obstacle passing mode based on a subsequent instruction, such as performing a escaping mode (such as reversing and then rotating, or repeatedly performing a rotating and reversing, so as to be away from the obstacle), an edge following mode (such as rotating first so that its side faces the obstacle and continues to run, while detecting a distance between its side and the obstacle with the proximity sensor of its side and keeping the distance between the obstacle and the obstacle within a set distance to keep the autonomous mobile apparatus and the distance continuously along the obstacle.

Whether the obstacle surmounting area is automatically marked by the autonomous mobile apparatus or manually marked by the user, the autonomous mobile apparatus can try to surmount the obstacle surmounting area in an obstacle surmounting mode, so that more positions can be reached in the working space as much as possible, and more functions can be realized.

In one possible implementation, step S110 may include: pushing the map of the workspace to the user; a map is received of the obstacle surmounting area marked by the user.

In this embodiment, for the case where the obstacle surmounting area is marked on the map with the aid of the user, the autonomous mobile device may push the map of the working space to the user device via the wireless network; the user can intuitively see the passable area and the obstacle area from the map, and the area where the straddlable obstacle in the actual working space is located can be marked as the obstacle surmounting area on the map by virtue of the judgment of the user; the user device may transmit the map of the user marked obstacle surmounting area to the autonomous mobile device via the wireless network, and accordingly, the autonomous mobile device may receive the map of the user marked obstacle surmounting area.

The map pushed by the autonomous mobile device to the user device may be an initial map or a map that has been marked with the obstacle surmountable area (either by the user or by the autonomous mobile device). The user can not only build the obstacle surmounting area on the map, but also modify and/or delete the marked obstacle surmounting area.

Of course, if the user has not marked the obstacle surmounting area after a set time has elapsed since the map was pushed to the user, the user may be prompted to mark the obstacle surmounting area on the map by means of, for example, voice, an image-text message, or the like.

In some embodiments, for the obstacles presented on the map, in one implementation, the user needs to determine whether the obstacles can be passed by the autonomous mobile apparatus according to the standards or parameters provided by his experience or product manual, and in general, the user will have a relatively intuitive determination of whether the obstacles are the spanable type of obstacles that can be passed by the autonomous mobile apparatus, so marking the surmountable area by the user will be relatively accurate; in another implementation, the user may mark the obstacles and note their respective parameters, such as height, shape, etc., without determining whether the obstacles can be passed by the autonomous mobile device, and the autonomous mobile device may automatically determine whether the obstacles are straddlable obstacles (e.g., determine whether the obstacles can be passed by the autonomous mobile device) based on the obstacle parameters.

After the user marks the obstacle surmounting area on the map, the user device may acquire the map marked with the obstacle surmounting area, and further when the autonomous mobile device performs the control method of the present exemplary embodiment, the autonomous mobile device may establish a communication connection with the user device, send an acquisition request of the map marked with the obstacle surmounting area to the user device, the user device may send the map marked with the obstacle surmounting area to the autonomous mobile device in response to the acquisition request, or the user device may periodically send the map marked with the obstacle surmounting area to the autonomous mobile device according to a predetermined period.

The user device may include, but is not limited to, a device capable of establishing a communication connection with the autonomous mobile device and having a display, such as a mobile terminal device such as a cell phone, tablet, or a terminal device such as a server, desktop, etc., which may also be referred to as an APP end device of the autonomous mobile device. For example, the APP end device may include a display for presenting a map and a sensor (such as a touch screen) for detecting a marking action of the user, and upon detecting a marking action of the user on a first region, the APP end device may mark the first region as an obstacle surmountable region on the presented map.

To facilitate understanding of the "map labeled with obstacle-surmountable areas", the map labeled with obstacle-surmountable areas shown in fig. 2a will be described as an example. As shown in fig. 2a, a map 320 marked with an obstacle surmountable area is displayed in a display 310 of the user equipment, the map 320 being marked with an obstacle surmountable area 340, the obstacle surmountable area 340 comprising a surmountable obstacle 330 shown by a dotted line, the surmountable obstacle 330 being an obstacle, such as a threshold, which can be passed by the autonomous mobile equipment.

In one possible implementation, after pushing the map of the workspace to the user, the user is recommended a predetermined shape to mark the surmountable obstacle within the surmountable area, which may represent, for example, a cross-sectional shape of the corresponding surmountable obstacle, whereby the user may mark the surmountable area via the predetermined shape, and accordingly the autonomous mobile device may receive the map with the predetermined shape marked the surmountable area by the user.

In some embodiments, the predetermined shape includes, for example, but is not limited to, rectangular, square, triangular, circular, oval, diamond, circular arc, and the like. It should be appreciated that the present disclosure is not limited to a specific shape of the predetermined shape, and any predetermined shape that can mark the obstacle surmountable area on the initial map may be used in the present disclosure.

To facilitate understanding of the "spanable obstacle", a threshold between two rooms is described below as an example. For a threshold between two rooms, there are typically slopes (the cross section of which is shown in fig. 2 b), bumps (such as a passing stone, the cross section of which is shown in fig. 2 c) and/or grooves (such as a sliding rail of a glass door, the cross section of which is shown in fig. 2d and 2 e) due to the need to be matched with the bottom of the door, when the forward traveling direction of the autonomous mobile device meets the threshold, the moving mechanism thereof may be blocked due to the meeting with the slope, the vertical plane or the groove of the threshold, resulting in that the autonomous mobile device cannot successfully (successfully) cross the threshold.

After the map marked with the obstacle-surmounting area is acquired, the following step S120 is performed.

In step S120, it is determined whether the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed in the obstacle surmountable area.

Situations involved in an autonomous mobile device getting stuck include, but are not limited to: when passing through a lower obstacle (such as a higher threshold or a lamp holder), the chassis of the autonomous mobile device is supported by the obstacle to cause the wheels to hang and idle, so that the autonomous mobile device cannot continue to operate through the operation of the motion unit of the autonomous mobile device; or the wheels thereof are blocked in the sliding rail in the threshold (such as the sliding rail of the glass door) and cannot operate, so that the autonomous mobile equipment cannot move forwards; or the wheels thereof are trapped in a gap which just accommodates the wheels such that the wheels cannot rotate, resulting in the autonomous mobile apparatus not being able to continue to operate, and the like.

The general mode of detecting that the autonomous mobile device is jammed is to combine information of a plurality of sensors to perform comprehensive judgment, for example, whether the wheel set of the autonomous mobile device is running can be judged through a code wheel on the wheel set, meanwhile, a distance between the autonomous mobile device and surrounding fixed obstacles is obtained according to a ranging sensor or a surrounding environment picture is obtained according to a camera, if the wheel set is running, but the distance between the autonomous mobile device and the surrounding fixed obstacles obtained through the ranging sensor is not changed, or the change of objects in a plurality of pictures taken through the camera and the change of interrelations between the objects are smaller than the change of objects in a plurality of pictures and the change of interrelations between the objects when the autonomous mobile device is in normal operation, the autonomous mobile device can be indicated to be jammed. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the method of detecting a stuck autonomous mobile apparatus is not limited to the above-described method.

In certain embodiments, as shown in fig. 1b, step S120 may include steps S121 and S122.

In step S121, it is determined whether the autonomous mobile apparatus is operating to the obstacle surmountable area. If it is determined that the autonomous mobile apparatus is operating to the obstacle surmounting area, step S122 is performed, otherwise, step S121 is continuously performed.

In step S122, it is continued to determine whether the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed in the obstacle surmountable area. If it is determined that the autonomous mobile apparatus is stuck in the obstacle surmounting area, in step S120, it is determined that the autonomous mobile apparatus is stuck in the obstacle surmounting area, and then the following step S130 is performed; otherwise, the autonomous mobile apparatus continues to operate in the original operation mode, and continues to execute step S121 to determine whether the autonomous mobile apparatus operates in the current obstacle surmounting area or to other obstacle surmounting areas.

During operation of the autonomous mobile apparatus, when operating to an obstacle surmountable area marked on the map, it is detected whether the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed. For example, the autonomous mobile apparatus may determine whether the autonomous mobile apparatus is operating to the obstacle-surmounting area according to whether its own current location crosses a boundary location of the obstacle-surmounting area or whether the current location of the autonomous mobile apparatus is within a range covered by the obstacle-surmounting area (i.e., perform step S121); if it is determined that the autonomous mobile apparatus has operated to the obstacle surmounting area, step S121 determines yes, and then step S122 is performed to further determine whether the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed in the obstacle surmounting area. If it is determined that the autonomous mobile apparatus is stuck in the obstacle surmountable area, step S122 is determined as yes, and thus step S120 is determined as yes, and thus the following step S130 is performed.

In certain embodiments, as shown in fig. 1c, step S120 may include steps S123 and S124.

In step S123, it is determined whether the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed. If it is determined that the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed, step S124 is executed, otherwise step S123 is continued. The way in which the autonomous mobile apparatus is detected to be stuck can be seen from the foregoing.

In step S124, it is continued to determine whether the location where the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed is within the obstacle-surmountable area. If it is determined that the location where the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed is within the obstacle surmounting area, it is determined in step S120 that the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed in the obstacle surmounting area, and then the following step S130 is performed. Otherwise, if it is determined that the location where the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed is not in the obstacle surmounting area, step 170 is executed, and the autonomous mobile apparatus performs a getting-out mode and/or an alarm, as shown in fig. 1 c; in some embodiments, the stuck position may also be marked on the map as a normal obstacle or the area where the stuck position is located as a non-passable area.

During the operation of the autonomous mobile apparatus, whether the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed is detected in real time, and when the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed, whether the jammed position of the autonomous mobile apparatus is within an obstacle surmountable area marked on a map is detected. For example, the autonomous mobile apparatus may detect whether the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed in real time (i.e., perform step S123), and if it is determined that the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed, step S123 determines yes, and performs step S124 to determine whether the position of the autonomous mobile apparatus is within the obstacle surmounting area further according to whether the position of the autonomous mobile apparatus is on the boundary position of the obstacle surmounting area or within the range of the obstacle surmounting area; if it is determined that the position where the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed is within the obstacle-surmounting area, step S124 determines yes, and thus step S120 determines yes, so that step S130 described below is performed.

In summary, in the case where it is determined in step S120 that the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed in the obstacle-surmounting area, the following step S130 is performed.

In step S130, the autonomous mobile apparatus is instructed to perform an obstacle surmounting mode in order to attempt to pass through an obstacle surmountable area.

According to the control method of the present exemplary embodiment, a map marked with an obstacle surmountable area is acquired, and in the case where the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed in the obstacle surmountable area, the autonomous mobile apparatus is instructed to execute an obstacle surmounting mode to attempt to pass through the obstacle surmountable area. Thus, compared to the prior art in which the obstacle is assisted to be surmounted by a corresponding sensor of the autonomous mobile apparatus, such as a front camera or a ranging sensor, the present disclosure assists the obstacle to be surmounted by means of a map marked with an obstacle surmountable area, so that the problems described above due to the inability to accurately distinguish between the obstacle surmountable and the dangerous dilemma area can be avoided.

In one possible implementation, as shown in fig. 1b and 1c, after step S130 is performed, steps S140 and S150 may also be performed. In step S140, determining whether the autonomous mobile apparatus passes through the obstacle surmounting area; and if the autonomous mobile equipment does not pass through the obstacle surmounting area, executing step S150. In step S150, the failed obstacle-surmounting area is re-marked as a failed area on the map.

Therefore, the current type of the obstacle surmounting area can be updated in real time according to whether the autonomous mobile device executing the obstacle surmounting mode passes through the obstacle surmounting area, and a more accurate map of the obstacle surmounting area is provided for the next operation.

In one possible implementation, as shown in fig. 1b and 1c, after step S150 is performed, step S160 may also be performed. In step S160, the autonomous mobile apparatus tries other paths, such as performing a escape mode (such as backing back and then rotating, or repeating rotating and backing back a plurality of times) so as to be away from the obstacle, or performing an edge following mode (such as rotating first with its side toward the obstacle and continuing to operate while contactlessly detecting a distance of the side from the obstacle with a proximity sensor of its side and keeping the distance within a set distance range) so as to enable the autonomous mobile apparatus to operate along the edge of the obstacle. The present disclosure does not limit the travel path of autonomous mobile devices after they have not passed through the obstacle surmountable area.

Thus, for the originally marked obstacle surmounting area (which is then re-marked as an impenetrable area), after the failure of the attempt to surmount in the obstacle surmounting mode, other paths can be tried, so that the longer unnecessary obstacle surmounting time can be avoided.

The obstacle surmounting mode involved in step S130 may take many forms. In one possible implementation, if the autonomous mobile apparatus operates in the obstacle surmounting mode, steps S710, S720 and S730 of fig. 7 may be sequentially performed, that is, S710: the autonomous mobile apparatus retreats a first distance from the jammed current position; s720: braking the second driving mechanism by the autonomous mobile device, and enabling the first driving mechanism to rotate forwards around the second driving mechanism by a first angle; s730: the first drive mechanism is fixed and the second drive mechanism is rotated forwardly by a second angle about the first drive mechanism. Wherein the first driving mechanism and the second driving mechanism are arranged at the lower part of the autonomous mobile equipment in parallel.

In this embodiment, if the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed in the obstacle-surmounting area, the first driving mechanism and the second driving mechanism of the autonomous mobile apparatus are retracted together by a certain distance to retract by a certain distance from the jammed position, thereby providing an acceleratable space for the driving mechanism of the autonomous mobile apparatus to rotate before reaching the lower edge of the obstacle slope; one drive mechanism, e.g., a second drive mechanism, of the autonomous mobile apparatus is then braked to be stationary or slightly rotated in the opposite direction while the other drive mechanism, e.g., a first drive mechanism, is rotated about the braked second drive mechanism at a suitable speed or acceleration to have a displacement component of forward motion, and then the previously rotated first drive mechanism is held stationary while the previously braked second drive mechanism is rotated about the now stationary first drive mechanism at a suitable speed or acceleration (the speed and/or acceleration of the first and second drive mechanisms may be the same or different) to have a displacement component of forward motion, thereby effecting alternating forward motion of the first and second drive mechanisms. In this way, by means of the two drive mechanisms, an alternating rotational movement is made possible for the autonomous mobile apparatus to ride on or over the passable-type obstacle.

For ease of understanding, the obstacle surmounting mode of fig. 7a will be described with reference to fig. 7 b-7 e, taking the spanable obstacle as a threshold 210.

Referring to fig. 7b, when the autonomous moving apparatus 220 is jammed, step S710 is performed, the autonomous moving apparatus is driven by the first driving mechanism W1 and the second driving mechanism W2 to retract by the first distance, and the schematic diagram of the relative positional relationship between the autonomous moving apparatus 220 and the threshold 210 is changed from fig. 7b to fig. 7c.

Next, in step S720, the second driving mechanism W2 is braked, the first driving mechanism W1 is rotated around the second driving mechanism W2 by the first angle, and the schematic diagram of the relative positional relationship between the autonomous mobile apparatus 220 and the threshold 210 is changed from fig. 7c to fig. 7d.

Next, in step S730, the first driving mechanism W1 is fixed, the second driving mechanism W2 is rotated forward by a second angle around the first driving mechanism W1, and the schematic diagram of the relative positional relationship between the autonomous mobile apparatus 220 and the threshold 210 is changed from fig. 7d to fig. 7e, thereby completing obstacle surmounting.

Therefore, in the case that the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed at the threshold 210, the obstacle surmounting modes of steps S710, S720 and S730 enable the two driving mechanisms W1 and W2 to alternately operate, and eventually both can cross the slope of the threshold 210, thereby solving the technical problem that the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed in front of the threshold, and being an effective obstacle surmounting mode in practice.

In one possible implementation, if the autonomous mobile apparatus is operating in the obstacle-surmounting mode, steps S410 and S420 of fig. 4 may be sequentially performed, i.e., the autonomous mobile apparatus is retreated from the jammed current position by a first distance, increases its speed to accelerate to a first preset speed, and attempts to surmount the surmountable obstacle at the increased first preset speed (greater than the speed at which the autonomous mobile apparatus is operating normally). This also includes the case where the autonomous mobile apparatus sets the first preset speed to the target value of the increase in speed, but has been flushed with the surmountable obstacle or even has passed over the surmountable area when the autonomous mobile apparatus increases the speed in actual operation without reaching the first preset speed.

In one possible implementation manner, if the autonomous mobile apparatus operates in the obstacle surmounting mode, steps S510, S520 and S530 of fig. 5 may be sequentially performed, that is, the autonomous mobile apparatus retreats a first distance from the jammed current position, the autonomous mobile apparatus rotates in situ by a first set angle along a first rotation direction with the current direction retreated by the first distance as an initial direction, and then the autonomous mobile apparatus controls a movement unit thereof to move forward by a second set angle along a second rotation direction, and repeats the above process and tries to cross the obstacle surmounting area in the process; and if the obstacle surmounting area is successfully crossed, the autonomous mobile equipment performs subsequent normal operation. For example, a schematic diagram of an autonomous mobile device operating in this obstacle surmounting mode may refer to fig. 8a.

As shown in fig. 8a, the autonomous mobile apparatus uses the current direction after retreating from the jammed current position a by the first distance as an initial direction, rotates in place by a first set angle θ (e.g., 85 °) in a first rotation direction (e.g., clockwise), then controls its wheel set to move forward by a certain set angle (may be referred to as a second set angle, for example, 175 °) along a second rotation direction (e.g., counterclockwise) to reach the E1 point coordinate position, and since the E1 point coordinate position does not bypass the a point coordinate position (which is the position where the straddlable obstacle is located), the autonomous mobile apparatus controls its wheel set to move forward by a certain set angle (e.g., 180 °) along a certain rotation direction (e.g., clockwise) to reach the C point coordinate position across the surmounting area, and then performs the subsequent normal operation.

In one possible implementation, if the autonomous mobile apparatus operates in the obstacle surmounting mode, steps S610, S620 and S630 of fig. 6 may be sequentially performed, that is, the autonomous mobile apparatus retreats from the jammed current position by a second distance, the autonomous mobile apparatus rotates in place by a third set angle along a third rotation direction with the current direction retreated by the second distance as an initial direction, then the autonomous mobile apparatus controls its motion unit to linearly move forward by the set distance, and repeats the above rotation and straight movement operations repeatedly until crossing the obstacle surmounting area, and then performs subsequent normal operation. A schematic diagram of an autonomous mobile device operating in this obstacle surmounting mode may be seen in fig. 8b, for example.

As shown in fig. 8b, the autonomous mobile apparatus rotates in place by a third set angle θ' (e.g., 85 °) in a third rotation direction (e.g., clockwise) with the current direction after backing a second distance from the jammed current position a as an initial direction, then controls the wheel set thereof to move linearly forward by a set angle (e.g., 60 °) to reach the E1 point coordinate position, and as the E1 point coordinate position does not bypass the a point coordinate position (which is the position where the surmounting obstacle is located), the autonomous mobile apparatus rotates in place by a set angle (e.g., 135 °) in a certain rotation direction (e.g., counterclockwise), then controls the wheel set thereof to move linearly forward by a set distance to reach the E2 point coordinate position, and as the E2 point coordinate position does not bypass the a point coordinate position, the autonomous mobile apparatus rotates in place by a set angle (e.g., 60 °) in a certain rotation direction (e.g., clockwise), and then controls the wheel set thereof to move linearly forward, during which the autonomous mobile apparatus successfully spans the surmounting obstacle region to reach the C point, and then can perform subsequent normal operation.

In one possible implementation, parameters of the surmountable obstacle in the obstacle surmountable area are also acquired in step S110.

In this exemplary embodiment, the user may set parameters of the surmountable obstacle in the surmountable area, in addition to marking the surmountable area on the map, wherein the parameters may include, but are not limited to, the shape (such as a cross-sectional shape, e.g., trapezoid, rectangle, circular arc, etc.) and/or height of the obstacle.

In one possible implementation, the user may set the parameters of the spanable obstacle via a screen displayed by the user device for setting the parameters of the spanable obstacle, on which selection buttons corresponding to the various parameters of the spanable obstacle are displayed, and may set the corresponding obstacle parameters by clicking the corresponding buttons. The manner in which the present disclosure sets parameters for a user that may span an obstacle will not be described further.

In one possible implementation, it may be determined whether the autonomous mobile apparatus is able to surmount the surmountable obstacle according to the parameter of the surmountable obstacle, where the above-described step S130 is performed in case it is determined that the surmountable obstacle is able to surmount.

In the present exemplary embodiment, the autonomous mobile apparatus may determine whether the autonomous mobile apparatus is able to surmount the surmountable obstacle according to the acquired parameter of the surmountable obstacle.

If the acquired parameter (for example, the obstacle with the trapezoidal cross-sectional shape and the height of 2.0 cm) is not greater than the parameter corresponding to the obstacle that can be passed over (the parameter threshold, for example, the obstacle with the trapezoidal cross-sectional shape and the height of not greater than 2.7 cm), the autonomous mobile device is determined to be able to pass over the obstacle, and the autonomous mobile device may execute step S130 to operate in the obstacle-passing mode so as to attempt to pass through the obstacle-passed area corresponding to the obstacle.

Otherwise, if the acquired parameter is greater than the parameter corresponding to the obstacle that can be passed over, it is determined that the autonomous mobile apparatus cannot pass over the obstacle, and the autonomous mobile apparatus may be unnecessarily processed by attempting to pass over the obstacle, so that the autonomous mobile apparatus may be instructed to execute obstacle avoidance processing such as a escape mode and an edge following mode, so as to improve the working efficiency.

In one possible implementation, the parameter of the surmountable obstacle has a correspondence with the obstacle surmounting mode, and when the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed in the obstacle surmountable area, the corresponding obstacle surmounting mode is executed according to the parameter of the surmountable obstacle and the correspondence.

In the present exemplary embodiment, the obstacle crossing mode corresponding to the parameter may be selected according to the parameter of the spanable obstacle, and the selected obstacle crossing mode may be performed. In other words, different obstacle crossing modes may be set for parameters of different stridable obstacles.

Assuming that the parameter threshold values of the straddlable obstacle include that the cross-sectional shape of the obstacle is trapezoidal and the height is a first threshold value of 2.7cm, that the cross-sectional shape of the obstacle is rectangular and the height is a second threshold value of 2cm, and that the cross-sectional shape of the obstacle is circular arc and the height is a third threshold value of 2.2cm, if the user sets an obstacle parameter higher than the first threshold value via the user device, it may be determined that the obstacle is unable to be surmounted based on the parameter of the straddlable obstacle set by the user and the aforementioned obstacle parameter threshold value, and thus, when the autonomous mobile device operates to the surmounting obstacle area, no attempt will be made to surmount the obstacle, for example, a escaping process such as a escaping mode, an edge following mode, or the like may be performed, and the autonomous mobile device may automatically mark the area as an impending area in the map.

Continuing with the above example, if the user sets, via the user device, an obstacle parameter having a height lower than the first threshold and a trapezoidal cross-sectional shape, the autonomous mobile device may determine that the obstacle is capable of crossing according to the obstacle parameter set by the user and the aforementioned obstacle parameter threshold, and if the autonomous mobile device is jammed in the obstacle-surmounting area, operate in the obstacle-surmounting mode, and, illustratively, operate in a direction in which the autonomous mobile device makes a preset angle with a slope lower edge of the obstacle-surmounting area corresponding to the obstacle-surmounting area along the forward traveling direction, so as to surmount the obstacle. That is, the autonomous mobile apparatus runs along the diagonal obstacle surmounting path shown in fig. 3 d.

Continuing with the above example, if the user sets via the user device an obstacle parameter having a height below the second threshold and a rectangular cross-sectional shape, the autonomous mobile device may determine that the obstacle is surmountable based on the user-set obstacle parameter and the aforementioned obstacle parameter threshold, if the autonomous mobile device is stuck in the obstacle surmounting area, then operate in obstacle surmounting mode, and illustratively, the autonomous mobile device backs a distance, brakes one wheel and rotates the other wheel around the braked wheel by an angle to cause the rotating wheel to ride over or cross the obstacle, holds the previously rotating wheel stationary, and rotates the previously braked wheel around the fixed wheel by an angle to cause the rotating wheel to ride over or cross the obstacle, i.e., the autonomous mobile device operates in the obstacle surmounting mode flowchart shown in fig. 7.

Continuing with the above example, if the user sets via the user device an obstacle parameter having a height below the third threshold and the cross-sectional shape of the obstacle being circular arc, the autonomous mobile apparatus may determine that the obstacle is surmountable based on the obstacle parameter set by the user and the aforementioned obstacle parameter threshold, operate in a specific obstacle surmounting mode if the autonomous mobile apparatus is stuck in the obstacle surmounting area, and, illustratively, the autonomous mobile apparatus backs a distance, increases its speed and surmounts the obstacle at the increased speed, that is, the autonomous mobile apparatus operates in the obstacle surmounting mode shown in fig. 4.

According to the control method of the present exemplary embodiment, whether an obstacle can be cleared is determined according to the acquired obstacle parameters, when the obstacle can be cleared, a predetermined path on which an obstacle-cleared path is set on the obstacle-cleared area is planned according to the acquired map marked with the obstacle-cleared area and operated according to the predetermined path, thereby, a user assists in marking the obstacle on the map and setting the obstacle parameters, and a path suitable for the marked obstacle is planned based on the map subjected to the marking process only when the obstacle is determined to be cleared based on the obstacle parameters, so that the risk of being trapped which may be encountered by the autonomous mobile device in the course of performing unnecessary obstacle-cleared processing can be avoided, and the time consumed by the autonomous mobile device in the course of performing unnecessary obstacle-cleared processing can be reduced, thereby ensuring the device operation stability and improving the work efficiency. In addition, when the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed in the obstacle-surmounting area, the autonomous mobile apparatus operates in the obstacle-surmounting mode with a higher possibility of surmounting the obstacle, whereby the probability of the autonomous mobile apparatus surmounting the obstacle can be improved.

In one possible implementation, as described in fig. 1b and 1c, after step S130, the following steps are also performed:

In step S140, it is determined whether the autonomous mobile apparatus passes through the obstacle surmountable area.

In this embodiment, there is a case where it is difficult for the autonomous mobile apparatus to pass through the obstacle surmounting area due to, for example, an excessively high obstacle, in which case, even if the autonomous mobile apparatus operates in the obstacle surmounting mode to attempt to pass through the obstacle surmounting area, the autonomous mobile apparatus may not pass through the obstacle surmounting area successfully, and if the attempt to pass through the obstacle surmounting area is continued, the normal working efficiency of the autonomous mobile apparatus will be affected.

For this reason, after performing all the steps of completing the control method shown in fig. 1a, as described in fig. 1b and 1c, it is also determined whether the autonomous mobile apparatus passes through the obstacle surmountable area, for example, whether the autonomous mobile apparatus passes through the obstacle surmountable area by determining whether the autonomous mobile apparatus is stuck in the obstacle surmountable area, and if it is determined that the autonomous mobile apparatus is stuck in the obstacle surmountable area, it is determined that the autonomous mobile apparatus does not pass through the obstacle surmountable area; and if the autonomous mobile equipment is not blocked in the obstacle surmounting area, judging that the autonomous mobile equipment passes through the obstacle surmounting area. The method for determining whether the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed may be referred to the foregoing description, and is limited by the space, and will not be described in detail herein.

In one implementation, if it is determined "no" in step S140, the obstacle-surmounting area is not passed even if the autonomous mobile apparatus operates in the obstacle-surmounting mode, and at this time, the failed obstacle-surmounting area may be re-marked as an impossible area on the map.

In this embodiment, when the autonomous mobile apparatus operates in the obstacle surmounting mode to try to surmount the obstacle and end up in failure, the autonomous mobile apparatus may try other paths, such as performing the escape mode, the edge following mode, and the like, in order to improve the working efficiency.

In one possible implementation, the obstacle surmounting mode includes: and enabling the autonomous mobile equipment to run along the forward travelling direction of the autonomous mobile equipment and the direction of a preset angle of the slope lower edge of the spanable obstacle corresponding to the obstacle surmounting area so as to surmount the spanable obstacle. The preset angle may include, for example, but is not limited to, any angle within the interval of [10 °,45 ° ].

In this embodiment, the autonomous mobile device may use an a-Star (also written as a) algorithm to plan the path. One skilled in the art can know that the algorithm a is a direct search method for solving the shortest path in a static road network, and the formula is as follows: f (n) =g (n) +h (n), where f (n) is the cost estimate from the initial state to the target state via state n, g (n) is the actual cost from the initial state to state n in the state space, and h (n) is the estimated cost of the best path from state n to the target state. (for the path search problem, the state is the node in the graph and the cost is the distance). The principles of the algorithm are not repeated in this disclosure for the sake of brevity.

When the autonomous mobile apparatus adopts an a-algorithm to plan a path, if the searched point is located in an obstacle surmounting area (such as a threshold area), the cost of an oblique searching mode is set to be lower than that of a transverse searching mode, so that the path planned by the autonomous mobile apparatus is more prone to obliquely pass through the obstacle surmounting area, that is, the planned path is modified from a transverse and vertical obstacle surmounting path to an oblique obstacle surmounting path.

In order to facilitate understanding of "path planning", the following description will be given by taking 3a to 3d as an example. As can be seen from fig. 3a to 3d, when the autonomous mobile apparatus performs path planning on the grid map, a search mode in the horizontal-vertical direction is adopted for the points located outside the obstacle surmountable area 240; for points located in the obstacle surmounting region 240, the horizontal-vertical search mode is adjusted to an oblique search mode with lower cost than the horizontal-vertical search mode, and thus the planned path is the path shown in fig. 3 d. The path shown in fig. 3d, which is planned by adjusting the search pattern of points located in the obstacle surmountable area 240, is more prone to pass through the obstacle surmountable area 240 in a 45 degree direction in comparison to the path shown in fig. 3c, which is planned by not adjusting the search pattern of points located in the obstacle surmountable area 240. In other words, as can be seen from fig. 3e, if the autonomous mobile apparatus operates according to the path of fig. 3d, the angle between the forward traveling direction of the autonomous mobile apparatus and (the lower edge of the slope of) the obstacle 230 is 45 °.

It should be appreciated that when the autonomous mobile apparatus fails to attempt to traverse the obstacle surmounting region with the above-described oblique obstacle surmounting path, it may continue to attempt to traverse the obstacle surmounting region again with another oblique obstacle surmounting path (which corresponds to a predetermined angle different from the previous oblique obstacle surmounting path). In other words, if the obstacle surmounting processing fails by running the autonomous mobile apparatus along the forward direction of travel at a predetermined angle to the lower edge of the slope of the obstacle surmountable corresponding to the obstacle surmountable region, the predetermined angle may be changed and the obstacle surmounting processing may be performed again by running the autonomous mobile apparatus along the forward direction of travel at the changed predetermined angle to the lower edge of the slope of the obstacle surmountable corresponding to the obstacle surmountable region.

In one possible implementation, the modes corresponding to the planned predetermined path of the autonomous mobile apparatus may include special modes such as an arcuate coverage mode, a border mode, a navigation mode, a escape mode, etc. in the prior art. The present disclosure will not be described further herein, given the space limited.

Fig. 9 shows a block diagram of a control apparatus of an autonomous mobile device according to an exemplary embodiment. Referring to fig. 9, the control apparatus 1100 of the autonomous mobile apparatus may include an acquisition unit 1110, a determination unit 1120, and a processing unit 1130. The acquisition unit 1110 is configured to acquire a map marked with an obstacle-surmountable area. The determining unit 1120 is configured to determine whether the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed in the obstacle surmounting area. The processing unit 1130 is connected to the determining unit 1120 and configured to instruct the autonomous mobile apparatus to perform an obstacle surmounting mode to attempt to pass through the obstacle surmountable area, in case it is determined that the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed in the obstacle surmountable area.

In one possible implementation, the determining unit 1120 is configured to: judging whether the autonomous mobile equipment operates to the obstacle surmounting area or not; and if the autonomous mobile apparatus is determined to be operated to the obstacle surmounting area, continuing to determine whether the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed in the obstacle surmounting area, wherein if the autonomous mobile apparatus is determined to be jammed in the obstacle surmounting area, the processing unit 1130 commands the autonomous mobile apparatus to execute an obstacle surmounting mode to attempt to pass through the obstacle surmounting area.

In one possible implementation, the determining unit 1120 is configured to: judging whether the autonomous mobile device is jammed; and if it is determined that the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed, continuing to determine whether the jammed position of the autonomous mobile apparatus is within the obstacle surmountable area, wherein if it is determined that the jammed position of the autonomous mobile apparatus is within the obstacle surmountable area, the processing unit 1130 instructs the autonomous mobile apparatus to execute an obstacle surmounting mode to attempt to pass through the obstacle surmountable area.

In a possible implementation manner, the determining unit 1120 further determines whether the autonomous mobile apparatus passes through the obstacle-surmounting area; and re-marking the failed obstacle surmounting area as an un-passed area on the map under the condition that the autonomous mobile equipment is judged to not pass through the obstacle surmounting area.

In one possible implementation, in case it is determined that the jammed location of the autonomous mobile apparatus is not within the obstacle surmounting area, the processing unit 1130 instructs the autonomous mobile apparatus to perform a escape mode, an alarm, and/or mark the jammed location as a normal obstacle or the area where the jammed location is located as an impending area on a map.

In one possible implementation, processing unit 1130 instructs the autonomous mobile device to run in and build a map of a workspace where no map is built; a judging unit 1120 judges whether or not the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed; in case it is determined that the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed in the current location, the processing unit 1130 commands the autonomous mobile apparatus to perform an obstacle-surmounting mode; after the autonomous mobile apparatus performs the obstacle crossing mode, the judging unit 1120 judges whether the autonomous mobile apparatus passes through an area corresponding to a location where the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed; in the case that the autonomous mobile apparatus is judged to pass through the area corresponding to the position where the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed, marking the area as an obstacle surmountable area on the created map; and/or in case it is determined that the autonomous mobile apparatus does not pass through an area corresponding to a location where the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed, marking the area as a non-passable area on the created map.

In one possible implementation, the acquisition unit 1110 also acquires parameters of the surmountable obstacle in the obstacle surmountable area.

In one possible implementation, the acquisition unit 1110 is configured to: pushing the map of the workspace to the user; a map is received of the obstacle surmounting area marked by the user.

In one possible implementation, the method further includes: a recommending unit (not shown) for recommending to the user a predetermined shape for marking the surmountable obstacle in the surmountable area after pushing the map of the workspace to the user.

In one possible implementation, the determining unit 1120 further determines whether the autonomous mobile apparatus is able to cross the surmountable obstacle according to the parameter of the surmountable obstacle, wherein the processing unit 1130 instructs the autonomous mobile apparatus to perform an obstacle crossing mode to attempt to pass through the surmountable area if it is determined that the surmountable obstacle is able to be crossed.

In one possible implementation, the obstacle surmounting mode includes: and enabling the autonomous mobile equipment to run along the forward travelling direction in a direction of forming a preset angle with the slope lower edge of the spanable obstacle corresponding to the obstacle surmounting area so as to surmount the spanable obstacle.

In one possible implementation, the preset angle is not less than 10 ° and not more than 45 °.

In one possible implementation, the obstacle surmounting mode includes: causing the autonomous mobile device to back a first distance from a current location; braking a second driving mechanism and enabling a first driving mechanism to rotate forwards around the second driving mechanism by a first angle, wherein the first driving mechanism and the second driving mechanism are arranged in parallel on the autonomous mobile device; the first drive mechanism is fixed and the second drive mechanism is rotated forwardly by a second angle about the first drive mechanism.

In one possible implementation, the obstacle surmounting mode includes: causing the autonomous mobile apparatus to back a first distance from the stuck current location; accelerating the autonomous mobile apparatus to a first preset speed and crossing the surmountable obstacle at the first preset speed, wherein the first preset speed is greater than a speed of the autonomous mobile apparatus when the autonomous mobile apparatus is operating normally.

In one possible implementation, the obstacle surmounting mode includes: causing the autonomous mobile apparatus to back a first distance from the stuck current location; and enabling the autonomous mobile equipment to take the current direction after retreating by the first distance as an initial direction, rotating the autonomous mobile equipment in situ by a first set angle along a first rotating direction, and then controlling a motion unit of the autonomous mobile equipment to rotate by a second set angle along a second rotating direction while moving forwards, wherein the second rotating direction is opposite to the first rotating direction.

In one possible implementation, the obstacle surmounting mode includes: causing the autonomous mobile apparatus to recede a second distance from the stuck current location; and enabling the autonomous mobile equipment to take the current direction after retreating by the second distance as an initial direction, rotating in situ by a third set angle along a third rotating direction, and then controlling a motion unit of the autonomous mobile equipment to linearly move forwards for a set distance.

In one possible implementation, the parameter of the surmountable obstacle corresponds to the obstacle surmounting mode, and when the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed in the obstacle surmountable area, the processing unit 1130 executes the corresponding obstacle surmounting mode according to the parameter of the surmountable obstacle and the correspondence.

In one possible implementation, the parameters of the surmountable obstacle include shape and/or height.

Fig. 10 shows a block diagram of an autonomous mobile device according to an example embodiment. Referring to fig. 10, the autonomous mobile apparatus 1200 may include a control device 1100 of the autonomous mobile apparatus and a movement unit 1210. The movement unit 1210 is connected to the control device 1100 for, in response to the control device 1100 commanding the autonomous mobile apparatus 1200 to perform an obstacle surmounting mode, moving in the obstacle surmounting mode to attempt to pass through the obstacle surmountable area. The movement unit 1210 may include, for example, but not limited to, a wheel set.

The specific manner in which the individual units perform the operations in relation to the apparatus of the above embodiments has been described in detail in relation to the embodiments of the method and will not be described in detail here.

The foregoing description of the embodiments of the present disclosure has been presented for purposes of illustration and description, and is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the various embodiments described. The terminology used herein was chosen in order to best explain the principles of the embodiments, the practical application, or the technical improvement of the technology in the marketplace, or to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodiments disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A control method of an autonomous mobile apparatus, comprising:

an acquisition step of acquiring a map marked with an obstacle surmountable area;

a judging step of judging whether the autonomous mobile apparatus is stuck in the obstacle surmountable area;

and a processing step, wherein the processing step is used for commanding the autonomous mobile device to execute an obstacle crossing mode to try to pass through the obstacle surmounting area under the condition that the autonomous mobile device is judged to be blocked in the obstacle surmounting area.

2. The control method according to claim 1, characterized in that the judging step includes:

judging whether the autonomous mobile equipment operates to the obstacle surmounting area or not;

in the case that the autonomous mobile apparatus is determined to operate to the obstacle surmounting area, continuing to determine whether the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed in the obstacle surmounting area,

wherein the processing step is performed in case it is determined that the autonomous mobile apparatus is stuck in the obstacle surmountable area.

3. The control method according to claim 1, characterized in that the judging step includes:

judging whether the autonomous mobile device is jammed;

in the event that the autonomous mobile apparatus is determined to be jammed, continuing to determine whether the position of the jammed autonomous mobile apparatus is within the obstacle-surmountable area,

wherein the processing step is performed in case it is determined that the location where the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed is within the obstacle surmountable area.

4. A control method according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that after the processing step, it further comprises:

judging whether the autonomous mobile equipment passes through the obstacle surmounting area or not;

And re-marking the failed obstacle surmounting area as an un-passed area on the map under the condition that the autonomous mobile equipment is judged to not pass through the obstacle surmounting area.

5. The control method according to claim 3, wherein,

and under the condition that the clamped position of the autonomous mobile device is not in the obstacle surmounting area, commanding the autonomous mobile device to execute a escaping mode, alarming and/or marking the clamped position as a common obstacle or marking the area where the clamped position is positioned as an impenetrable area on a map.

6. A control method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising the step of mapping:

commanding the autonomous mobile device to run in a workspace where no map is established and establishing a map of the workspace;

judging whether the autonomous mobile equipment is blocked or not in the operation process of the autonomous mobile equipment;

under the condition that the autonomous mobile equipment is judged to be blocked at the current position, the autonomous mobile equipment is instructed to execute an obstacle crossing mode;

after the autonomous mobile apparatus executes the obstacle crossing mode, judging whether the autonomous mobile apparatus passes through an area corresponding to a position where the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed;

In the case that the autonomous mobile apparatus is judged to pass through the area corresponding to the position where the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed, marking the area as an obstacle surmountable area on the created map; and/or

In the case that the autonomous mobile apparatus is determined not to pass through the area corresponding to the location where the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed, the area is marked as a non-passable area on the created map.

7. A control method according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that in the acquisition step, parameters of a surmountable obstacle in the surmountable area are also acquired.

8. The control method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the acquisition step includes:

pushing the map of the workspace to the user;

a map is received of the obstacle surmounting area marked by the user.

9. The control method according to claim 8, characterized by further comprising:

after pushing the map of the workspace to the user, recommending to the user a predetermined shape to mark the surmountable obstacle within the surmountable area;

a map is received that the user marked the obstacle surmountable area using the predetermined shape.

10. The control method according to claim 7, characterized by further comprising:

determining whether the autonomous mobile apparatus is able to surmount the surmountable obstacle according to the parameters of the surmountable obstacle,

wherein the processing step is performed when it is determined that the surmountable obstacle can be cleared.

11. The control method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the obstacle-surmounting mode includes: and enabling the autonomous mobile equipment to run along the forward travelling direction in a direction of forming a preset angle with the slope lower edge of the spanable obstacle corresponding to the obstacle surmounting area so as to surmount the spanable obstacle.

12. The control method according to claim 11, characterized in that the preset angle is not less than 10 ° and not more than 45 °.

13. The control method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the obstacle-surmounting mode includes:

causing the autonomous mobile device to back a first distance from a current location;

braking a second driving mechanism and enabling a first driving mechanism to rotate forwards around the second driving mechanism by a first angle, wherein the first driving mechanism and the second driving mechanism are arranged at the lower part of the autonomous mobile device in parallel;

The first drive mechanism is fixed and the second drive mechanism is rotated forwardly by a second angle about the first drive mechanism.

14. The control method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the obstacle-surmounting mode includes:

causing the autonomous mobile apparatus to back a first distance from the stuck current location;

accelerating the autonomous mobile apparatus to a first preset speed and crossing a surmountable obstacle in the surmountable area at the first preset speed, wherein the first preset speed is greater than a speed of the autonomous mobile apparatus when operating normally.

15. The control method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the obstacle-surmounting mode includes:

and enabling the autonomous mobile equipment to take the current direction after retreating by the first distance as an initial direction, rotating the autonomous mobile equipment in situ by a first set angle along a first rotating direction, and then controlling a motion unit of the autonomous mobile equipment to rotate by a second set angle along a second rotating direction while moving forwards, wherein the second rotating direction is opposite to the first rotating direction.

16. The control method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the obstacle-surmounting mode includes:

causing the autonomous mobile apparatus to recede a second distance from the stuck current location;

and enabling the autonomous mobile equipment to take the current direction after retreating by the second distance as an initial direction, rotating in situ by a third set angle along a third rotating direction, and then controlling a motion unit of the autonomous mobile equipment to linearly move forwards for a set distance.

17. The control method according to claim 7, wherein,

parameters of the surmountable obstacle have a correspondence to the obstacle surmounting mode,

and when the autonomous mobile equipment is blocked in the obstacle surmounting area, executing a corresponding obstacle surmounting mode according to the parameter of the surmountable obstacle and the corresponding relation.

18. The control method according to claim 7, wherein the parameters of the surmountable obstacle comprise shape and/or height.

19. A control apparatus of an autonomous mobile device, comprising:

an acquisition unit configured to acquire a map marked with an obstacle-surmountable area;

a judging unit configured to judge whether the autonomous mobile apparatus is jammed in the obstacle surmountable area;

And the processing unit is used for commanding the autonomous mobile device to execute an obstacle crossing mode to try to pass through the obstacle surmounting area under the condition that the autonomous mobile device is judged to be blocked in the obstacle surmounting area.

20. A control apparatus of an autonomous mobile device, comprising:

a processor;

a memory for storing processor-executable instructions;

wherein the processor is configured to: the step of performing the control method of any one of claims 1 to 18.

21. An autonomous mobile device, comprising:

the control device according to claim 19 or 20; and

and the movement unit is used for responding to the control device to command the autonomous mobile equipment to execute an obstacle crossing mode, and moving in the obstacle crossing mode to try to pass through the obstacle crossing area.

22. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium, which when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform the method of controlling an autonomous mobile device according to any of claims 1 to 18.