CN117284890A

CN117284890A - Robot interlock elevator control system and method

Info

Publication number: CN117284890A
Application number: CN202310527396.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 姜东镐; 李泰龙; 金门秀; 权烔铉; 李锡奎
Original assignee: Hyundai Elevator Co Ltd
Current assignee: Hyundai Elevator Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-06-23
Filing date: 2023-05-11
Publication date: 2023-12-26
Also published as: KR20240012024A

Abstract

The invention discloses a control system and a control method for a robot interlocking elevator. The robot interlock elevator control system provides countermeasures against failure modes in a boarding/disembarking procedure of a robot with respect to an elevator for moving between floors in a building, particularly for a case where a boarding completion signal or a disembarking completion signal is not received after a boarding or disembarking operation of the robot is started, thereby achieving a significant improvement in the overall service quality and operation efficiency of the elevator system in combination with the robot control without delaying passenger service.

Description

Robot interlock elevator control system and method

Cross-reference to related applications

This patent document claims priority and rights of korean patent application No. 10-2022-007643, filed on month 23 of 2022, and korean patent application No. 10-2022-0089424, filed on month 7 of 2022, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated by reference for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.

Technical Field

The present invention relates to an interlock control system, and more particularly, to an interlock control system between an elevator system and a robot, which provides countermeasures and methods for a case where a boarding completion or a disembarking completion signal is not received even after a boarding or disembarking operation of the robot is started in a process of providing a movement service of the robot between floors in a building using an elevator.

Background

In various buildings constructed for residential, business and commercial purposes, elevators are installed to smoothly move passengers between floors in the building.

Typically, an elevator includes an elevator car that moves along a hoistway formed in a vertical direction within a building, mechanical components including a motor for generating power for lifting the elevator car and a crane, a controller that controls operation of the elevator, and the like.

With the recent activation of robot services in buildings, there is an increasing need to move robots between floors in a building using elevators.

For example, various robots have been developed to perform various tasks such as transportation, cleaning, and customer guidance while moving within a building. However, although commercial robots in the art can move in a horizontal direction without difficulty in a corridor or in a room with a flat floor, there is still a need for a means for moving robots between floors to allow the robots to move from one floor to another in order to perform work on multiple floors.

Currently, elevators are considered as the most ideal means for moving robots between floors, and various interlock control techniques between robots and elevator systems are being developed in order to effectively move robots to destination floors.

Conventionally, in order to ensure safety of a human, a robot is controlled not to ascend the same elevator as the human. Recently, however, with the use of extended service robots in buildings, there have been many situations where robots and humans need to board the same elevator.

Although it is highly desirable to prevent the convenience or quality of service of passengers from being reduced due to the robot service, it is not appropriate to exclude robot services that increasingly positively affect real life as alternative services. Accordingly, there is a need to develop harmonious interlock control techniques to improve the quality of elevator service for humans and robots.

Disclosure of Invention

Technical problem

The movement of the robot between floors in a building by an elevator is performed as a series of processes including a process in which the robot calls an elevator car, a process in which the robot steps up to an elevator car of a departure floor and then moves to a destination floor, and a process in which the robot steps down from the elevator car.

Here, the boarding/disembarking procedure of the robot is performed stepwise while communication between the robot and the elevator controller controlling the operation of the elevator is performed, and details of the procedure are as follows.

When the robot remotely calls an elevator car, the elevator controller assigns a particular elevator car in response to the elevator call and moves the assigned elevator car to the departure floor.

When the elevator car reaches the departure floor, the elevator controller opens the elevator doors and sends an boarding permit signal to the robot to inform the robot that the robot can board the elevator car. In response to the boarding permit signal, the robot may begin a boarding operation with respect to the elevator car while informing the elevator controller that the robot is performing the boarding operation by continuously transmitting a positive boarding signal to the elevator controller until the robot completes the boarding operation. After completing boarding the elevator car, the robot sends a boarding completion signal to the elevator controller. Then, in response to a boarding completion signal from the robot, the elevator controller closes the elevator door to move the elevator car to the destination floor of the robot.

The lowering procedure of the robot relative to the elevator car can be performed in a similar manner. When the elevator car receives the robot reaching the destination floor, the elevator controller opens the elevator door and sends a landing permission signal to the robot to inform the robot that the robot can be dropped from the elevator car. In response to the landing permission signal, the robot may begin a landing operation with respect to the elevator car while informing the elevator controller that the robot is performing a landing operation by continuously transmitting a positive landing signal to the elevator controller until the robot completes the landing operation. After completing the descent from the elevator car, the robot sends a descent complete signal to the elevator controller. Then, in response to a landing completion signal from the robot, the elevator controller closes the elevator door to allow the elevator car to provide another service.

On the other hand, although the above service procedure is performed stepwise, a failure mode may occur in each step. For example, when the elevator car reaches the departure floor, there may be a fault, such as no robot on the landing or no landing/landing signal received from the robot, or an unexpected situation in which the robot is not able to get off the elevator for any reason. Conventionally, there is no specific countermeasure for this failure mode, and the elevator manager is allowed to take appropriate measures corresponding to the situation when the failure mode occurs.

In particular, conventionally, upon receiving a positive boarding or disembarking signal from the robot indicating that the robot performs a boarding or disembarking operation with respect to the elevator, the elevator controller deactivates a door closing button (door close button; DCB) of the elevator to perform a door opening restriction until a boarding completion or disembarking completion signal is received from the robot. Therefore, although a malfunction occurs for some reason in the progress of performing the boarding and disembarking procedures of the robot, when the closing of the elevator door is disabled (door opening restriction) and the operation of the elevator car is stopped, there is a problem of delaying the service of a passenger boarding with the robot or a passenger waiting at another floor, thereby causing inconvenience to the user.

The present invention has been conceived to solve such problems in the art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a robot-interlocked elevator control system that provides detailed countermeasures against occurrence of a failure mode in an elevator landing/alighting procedure of a robot, particularly for a case where a landing completion signal or alighting completion signal is not received after landing or alighting operation of the robot is started, thereby achieving a significant improvement in the overall service quality and operation efficiency of the elevator system in combination with robot control without long-term delay of passenger service.

It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the above objects of the present invention, and other objects of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the detailed description of the embodiments.

Technical solution

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a robot-interlocked elevator control system including: an autonomous vehicle that autonomously moves in a building; and an elevator controller controlling an operation of an elevator installed in the building and an elevator door when the autonomous vehicle is boarding/disembarking with respect to the elevator by communicating with the autonomous vehicle, wherein, when a predetermined period of time has elapsed after a positive boarding signal transmitted from the autonomous vehicle and indicating to start boarding the elevator or a positive disembarking signal transmitted from the autonomous vehicle and indicating to start disembarking from the elevator is received while the autonomous vehicle is moving between floors in the building using the elevator, the elevator controller releases deactivation of a door closing button of the elevator upon occurrence of at least one of a failure mode in which the elevator controller does not receive the boarding completion signal transmitted from the autonomous vehicle and indicating to complete boarding completion signal boarding after receiving the positive disembarking signal and a failure mode in which the elevator controller does not receive the disembarking completion signal transmitted from the autonomous vehicle after receiving the positive disembarking signal.

The elevator controller may deactivate the door close button if no autonomous vehicle is detected within the elevator door zone.

The elevator controller may not automatically close the elevator door upon deactivation of the door close button.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a robot-interlocked elevator control method of a robot-interlocked elevator control system including: an autonomous vehicle that autonomously moves in a building; and an elevator controller controlling an elevator installed in a building and an operation of an elevator door when the autonomous vehicle ascends/descends with respect to the elevator by communicating with the autonomous vehicle, the method comprising: when receiving a boarding permission signal from the elevator controller, starting boarding operation by the autonomous vehicle relative to the elevator, and then transmitting a positive boarding signal to the elevator controller during the boarding operation; after boarding the elevator is completed, transmitting a boarding completion signal to the elevator controller by the autonomous vehicle; controlling, by an elevator controller, an elevator received by an autonomous vehicle to move to a destination floor of the autonomous vehicle through a boarding operation of the autonomous vehicle; when receiving a landing permission signal from an elevator controller after the elevator reaches a destination floor, starting landing operation relative to the elevator by an autonomous carrier, and then transmitting a positive landing signal to the elevator controller during the landing operation; and transmitting a landing completion signal to the elevator controller by the autonomous vehicle after completing the landing from the elevator, wherein when a predetermined period of time has elapsed after receiving the positive landing signal or the positive landing signal, the elevator controller releases deactivation of a door closing button of the elevator upon occurrence of at least one of a failure mode in which the elevator controller does not receive the landing completion signal after receiving the positive landing signal from the autonomous vehicle and a failure mode in which the elevator controller does not receive the landing completion signal after receiving the positive landing signal from the autonomous vehicle.

Advantageous effects

The robot-interlocked elevator control system according to the present invention provides detailed countermeasures against the occurrence of a failure mode in an elevator landing/alighting procedure of a robot, particularly, in a case where a landing completion signal or alighting completion signal is not received after landing or alighting operation of the robot is started, thereby achieving a significant improvement in the overall service quality and operation efficiency of the elevator system in combination with the robot control without long-term delay of passenger service.

The present invention is not limited thereto, and other effects of the present invention will become apparent from the following description.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a robotic interlocking elevator control system according to the invention.

Fig. 2 is a view showing a process in which an autonomous vehicle moves between floors in a building using an elevator according to the present invention.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the following embodiments and may be variously embodied, and that the embodiments are provided for the full disclosure of the present invention and to fully understand the present invention by those skilled in the art. The scope of the invention is limited only by the claims. Like components will be denoted by like reference numerals throughout the specification.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments and is not intended to be limiting. As used herein, the terms "comprises," "comprising," "includes," "including," "includes" and/or "including" when used in this specification specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. Furthermore, the singular forms "a", "an", and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

Fig. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a robot-interlocked elevator control system according to the present invention, and fig. 2 is a view showing a process in which an autonomous vehicle according to the present invention moves between floors in a building using an elevator.

Referring to fig. 1, a robot-interlocked elevator control system according to the present invention includes: an autonomous vehicle 10 that autonomously moves in a building; and an elevator controller 20 controlling an operation of an elevator installed in the building by communicating with the autonomous vehicle 10 to perform an interlock control of the autonomous vehicle 10 and the elevator.

The autonomous vehicle 10 is collectively referred to herein as all kinds of mobile devices that include robots and are capable of autonomously moving in a building without human manipulation. By way of example, autonomous vehicle 10 may be a service robot performing tasks, such as transportation including parcel delivery, cleaning, and customer guidance, and the like, and may be interconnected with a robot management system (not shown) in a building to provide service to passengers in the building.

The autonomous vehicle 10 may communicate with an elevator controller 20 that controls the operation of the elevator, and movement of the autonomous vehicle 10 between floors in a building may be implemented by interlocking control of the elevator controller 20. The autonomous vehicle 10 may send and receive signals to and from the elevator controller 20 related to elevator calls, destination floor registration, and boarding/disembarking operations, and details of the corresponding operations will be described below.

Communication between autonomous vehicle 10, elevator controller 20, and the building management system may be implemented by wired or wireless communication, such as bluetooth, wi-Fi, CAN, WAN, etc.

The autonomous vehicle 10 may recognize a space within a building by simultaneously locating and mapping (simultaneous localization and mapping; SLAM) based on information collected using a lidar, a short-range sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, and a camera, and may autonomously move therein.

In addition, the autonomous vehicle 10 may store information about the interior/exterior structure of the building and the position of the elevator in the building through its database, and may calculate an optimal distance and moving route from the current position to the elevator calculated in real time using an internal algorithm based on a self-position estimation technique.

An elevator controller 20 controls the overall operation and movement of the elevator. The elevator controller 20 may allocate an optimal elevator car in response to calls from floors in the building, including button inputs of passengers, remote calls, or calls received from the host vehicle 10, and may control the allocated elevator car to move to the floor that sent the corresponding call.

The elevator controller 20 may include: a call receiver 21 that receives an elevator call signal generated by a passenger or an autonomous vehicle 10; a distributor 22 that selects an optimal elevator among a plurality of elevator cars in the building to distribute the optimal elevator in response to an elevator call signal; a boarding/disembarking controller 23 which controls boarding/disembarking operations of the autonomous vehicle 10 with respect to the elevator car; and a drive controller 24 that controls operation of the elevator car.

Although elevator controller 20 may provide service to assign and move the best elevator car in response to a passenger's button input or remote call, this operation may be accomplished using techniques well known in the art. Accordingly, the following description will focus on control related to autonomous vehicle 10.

The call receiver 21 may receive an elevator landing request from the autonomous vehicle 10. The information contained in the elevator landing request may further contain departure floor information about the current location of the autonomous vehicle 10, destination floor information about the destination floor of the autonomous vehicle 10, information about the movement time of the autonomous vehicle 10 to the elevator landing, information about the weight, volume and purpose of use of the elevator, etc.

Upon receiving an elevator landing request from the autonomous vehicle 10, the allocator 22 may select and allocate the most efficient elevator car by correlation analysis of traffic volume and information regarding a plurality of available elevator cars within the building and the location of the autonomous vehicle 10.

More specifically, the dispenser 22 may detect status information regarding occupancy or remaining capacity of a plurality of elevator cars operating in the building, and may extract available elevator cars that allow the autonomous vehicle 10 to ascend based on the weight, volume, etc. of the autonomous vehicle 10 contained in the elevator boarding request information received from the autonomous vehicle 10.

In addition, the allocator 22 may allocate an optimal elevator car in consideration of the extracted available elevator cars and the positions of the autonomous carriers 10. Here, in selecting the best elevator car, not only information about the call floor where the autonomous vehicle 10 requests an elevator landing but also information about the movement time of the autonomous vehicle 10 from the current position to the landing may be considered.

Additionally, elevator controller 20 may further include an autonomous vehicle position collector (not shown) that actually tracks the position of autonomous vehicle 10 in the building to calculate the time of movement of autonomous vehicle 10 from the current position to the platform based on the signals sent from autonomous vehicle 10, rather than allowing autonomous vehicle 10 to calculate its position information.

The boarding/disembarking controller 23 can manage and control the overall operation of the autonomous vehicle 10 requesting an elevator to ascend or descend from the assigned elevator car.

For example, the autonomous vehicle 10 may send a positive movement signal to the boarding/disembarking controller 23 in the process of moving toward the platform, and may send a positive standby signal thereto to inform the boarding/disembarking controller 23 that the autonomous vehicle 10 is in a standby state on the platform when the autonomous vehicle 10 has reached the platform. The boarding/disembarking controller 23 may then determine whether the autonomous vehicle 10 can board an elevator based on the information sent from the autonomous vehicle 10, and may send a signal indicating that the autonomous vehicle 10 boards a corresponding elevator car when it is determined that the autonomous vehicle 10 can board an elevator.

In addition, for the landing operation of the autonomous vehicle 10, when the autonomous vehicle 10 reaches the destination floor after completing the landing of the autonomous vehicle 10 on the elevator car, the landing/landing controller 23 may instruct the autonomous vehicle 10 to landing from the elevator car.

Furthermore, in order for the autonomous vehicle 10 to perform an boarding/disembarking operation with respect to the elevator car, the boarding/disembarking controller 23 may be interconnected with a door controller 25, which door controller 25 controls opening/closing of the doors of the elevator car stopped on the service floor and the doors of the corresponding landing.

The drive controller 24 is used to control the driving of the elevator car to move up or down in a hoistway formed in a building in a vertical direction, and may control the hoist motor to start driving the elevator car or control the brake to stop the elevator car.

In addition, the drive controller 24 according to this embodiment may control the operation of the elevator car by generating a command signal that controls the movement of the allocated elevator car to the floor where the autonomous vehicle 10 is placed or controlling the reception of a command signal that controls the movement of the elevator car of the autonomous vehicle 10 to the destination floor of the autonomous vehicle 10 through the boarding operation of the autonomous vehicle 10 in response to an elevator boarding request from the autonomous vehicle 10.

Hereinafter, referring to fig. 2, a process of using an elevator for moving the autonomous vehicle 10 between floors in a building will be sequentially described according to a series of processes.

Autonomous vehicle 10 may remotely call the elevator car through wired or wireless communication with elevator controller 20. When movement between floors in a building is desired, autonomous vehicle 10 may send an boarding request signal to elevator controller 20 requesting a call to an elevator car.

When the call receiver 21 of the elevator controller 20 receives the boarding request signal from the autonomous vehicle 10, the allocator 22 allocates the best elevator car among the plurality of available elevator cars based on the information contained in the boarding request signal and the information on the positions of the available elevator cars in the building. The dispenser 22 may provide the assigned elevator car and landing information corresponding thereto to the autonomous vehicle 10.

Responsive to the landing information corresponding to the assigned elevator car, the autonomous vehicle 10 may move to the corresponding landing while periodically reporting the movement to the elevator controller 20. In addition, the autonomous vehicle 10 may send a standby signal indicating that the autonomous vehicle 10 is in a standby state on a corresponding platform when the platform is reached.

Elevator controller 20 may detect whether autonomous vehicle 10 reaches a landing corresponding to the assigned elevator car. Here, the arrival of the autonomous vehicle 10 at the platform may be determined based on position information of the autonomous vehicle 10 obtained through a self-position estimation technique or position information of the autonomous vehicle 10 collected through a separate autonomous vehicle position collector (not shown), as described above.

Upon detecting the autonomous vehicle 10 on the platform, the boarding/disembarking controller 23 of the elevator controller 20 may send a boarding permit signal to the autonomous vehicle 10 after opening the doors of the elevator car.

When the autonomous vehicle 10 arrives at the platform later than the elevator car, in case the arrival prediction time of the autonomous vehicle 10 is less than or equal to the preset value, the elevator controller 20 may control the doors of the elevator car and the platform to stand by in an open state until the autonomous vehicle 10 arrives at the platform, and in case the arrival prediction time of the autonomous vehicle 10 exceeds the preset value, the elevator controller 20 may transmit a cancel signal to the autonomous vehicle 10 to cancel the current call of the autonomous vehicle 10. Responsive to the cancel signal, the autonomous vehicle 10 may recall the elevator, and the elevator controller 20 may allocate the best elevator car responsive to the recall signal from the autonomous vehicle 10, and may control the best elevator car to move to the service floor.

In response to the boarding permit signal from the boarding/disembarking controller 23, the autonomous vehicle 10 performs a boarding operation with respect to the assigned elevator car. The autonomous vehicle 10 may inform the boarding/disembarking controller 23 that the autonomous vehicle 10 is in boarding operation by continuously transmitting a positive disembarking signal to the boarding/disembarking controller 23 from a start time of the boarding operation to a completion time thereof. The boarding/disembarking controller 23 may control the elevator doors not to be closed in cooperation with the door controller 25 when the autonomous vehicle 10 passes through the elevator doors.

When the boarding operation of the autonomous vehicle 10 with respect to the elevator car is completed, the autonomous vehicle 10 may send a boarding completion signal to the boarding/disembarking controller 23.

In response to the boarding completion signal from the autonomous vehicle 10, the elevator controller 20 may close the elevator doors and may automatically register the destination floor of the autonomous vehicle 10 to control the movement of the elevator car to the destination floor of the autonomous vehicle 10.

When the elevator car reaches the destination floor of the autonomous vehicle 10, the elevator controller 20 may open the doors of the landing of the elevator car and the destination floor, and may send a landing permission signal to the autonomous vehicle 10 via the landing/landing controller 23 to instruct the autonomous vehicle 10 to drop from the elevator car.

In response to the landing permission signal, the autonomous vehicle 10 performs a landing operation with respect to the elevator car. Here, the autonomous vehicle 10 may inform the boarding/disembarking controller 23 that the autonomous vehicle 10 is in the disembarking operation by continuously transmitting a positive disembarking signal to the boarding/disembarking controller 23 from a start time of the disembarking operation to a completion time thereof, and the boarding/disembarking controller 23 may cooperatively control the door to be prevented from being closed with the door controller 25 when the autonomous vehicle 10 passes through the door.

When the landing operation of the autonomous vehicle 10 with respect to the elevator car is completed, the autonomous vehicle 10 may send a landing completion signal to the landing/landing controller 23.

In response to the landing completion signal from the autonomous vehicle 10, the elevator controller 20 may close the elevator doors and may complete the inter-floor movement service of the autonomous vehicle 10.

On the other hand, in the course of performing the series of operations, various failure modes related to boarding and disembarking of the autonomous vehicle 10 may occur as follows: for example, the number of the cells to be processed,

1) A case in which the platform standby state of the autonomous vehicle 10 is not recognized when the elevator car arrives at the call floor in response to the elevator call from the autonomous vehicle 10, i.e., a case in which the elevator controller 20 does not receive the platform standby signal from the autonomous vehicle 10 although the autonomous vehicle 10 generates a landing request (call) and the elevator arrives at the departure floor in response to the landing call;

2) After the elevator car arrives at the call floor in response to the elevator call from the autonomous vehicle 10, a case in which the boarding operation of the autonomous vehicle 10 is not started for a predetermined period of time or more, that is, a case in which the elevator controller 20 does not receive the positive boarding signal from the autonomous vehicle 10, although the platform standby signal from the autonomous vehicle 10 is received and the boarding permission signal is transmitted to the autonomous vehicle 10;

3) Although the positive boarding state of the autonomous vehicle 10 with respect to the elevator car is recognized, the boarding completion of the autonomous vehicle 10 is not recognized as the case of the next step, that is, the case in which the elevator controller 20 does not receive the boarding completion signal from the autonomous vehicle 10 despite receiving the positive boarding signal from the autonomous vehicle 10;

4) A case in which the landing operation of the autonomous vehicle 10 is not started for a predetermined period of time or more although the elevator car of the autonomous vehicle 10 is received to the destination floor, that is, a case in which the elevator controller 20 does not receive the ongoing landing signal from the autonomous vehicle 10, although the landing permission signal is transmitted to the autonomous vehicle 10 after the landing completion signal from the autonomous vehicle 10 is received and the elevator car of the autonomous vehicle 10 is received to the destination floor; and

5) Although the forward-going elevator state of the autonomous vehicle 10 with respect to the elevator car is recognized, no case of completion of the elevator-going of the autonomous vehicle 10 is recognized, i.e., no case of the elevator controller 20 receiving the elevator-going completion signal from the autonomous vehicle 10 despite receiving the forward-going elevator signal from the autonomous vehicle 10.

Among the above failure modes occurring in the steps, since case 3) and case 5) are failure modes occurring after the autonomous vehicle 10 transmits a signal indicating boarding or disembarking with respect to the elevator car, the failure modes may include a case where the autonomous vehicle 10 cannot perform the boarding/disembarking operation any more due to a failure or a capsizing during boarding/disembarking with respect to the elevator car. Accordingly, since the autonomous vehicle 10 can be placed in an elevator door area (door area), more effective countermeasures need to be considered.

Here, it should be noted that even in the case where the boarding completion signal or the disembarking completion signal of the autonomous vehicle 10 is not received, it does not directly mean a malfunction or a capsizing of the autonomous vehicle 10, and there may be a case where the boarding/disembarking completion of the autonomous vehicle 10 is not recognized by the elevator controller due to a communication problem between the autonomous vehicle 10 and the elevator controller 20 during boarding/disembarking of the autonomous vehicle 10.

Accordingly, the present invention provides detailed countermeasures against failure modes related to simple communication problems and reception of landing completion or landing completion signals from the autonomous vehicle 10.

On the other hand, the following countermeasures may be changed depending on whether the elevator used by the autonomous vehicle 10 is set to a sharing mode that allows the robot and the human to share the use elevator or a robot exclusive mode that allows the elevator to be used only by the robot.

In addition, the robot-interlocked elevator control system according to the present invention may set the predetermined time as an opening standby time of the elevator door. Here, the opening standby time of the elevator door means a period of time during which the door is standby in an open state. That is, the opening standby time may mean a time period from a time when the elevator door is completely opened to a time immediately before the elevator door starts to be closed, excluding a time of an operation of opening or closing the elevator door.

In particular, the robot-interlocked elevator control system according to the present invention can set the opening standby time of the elevator door selected from two values, i.e., the general opening standby time of a general passenger (human passenger) boarding/disembarking and the robot opening standby time of an autonomous vehicle (robot) boarding/disembarking, according to the setting mode of the elevator.

The general open standby time is a typical set value applied to the opening/closing of the elevator door in the case where the use of the elevator by the autonomous vehicle 10 is not planned. In a typical open standby time application, the elevator door may remain in a fully open state for a short period of time (e.g., within about 2 to 4 seconds) and may transition to a closed state.

The robot open standby time is a set value applied to opening/closing of the elevator door when the autonomous vehicle 10 passes through/out of the elevator door, and may be set to a longer time (e.g., 40 seconds) than the general open standby time. The general opening standby time and the opening standby time are arbitrary setting values that can be changed depending on the entry conditions of the elevator door and the like.

In addition, the elevator door to which the general open standby time and the robot open standby time are applied can be understood to include the concepts of the elevator car door and the landing door, and the setting of the door open time and the door close time and the opening/closing of the elevator door can be controlled by the door controller 25 as described above.

Hereinafter, control logic corresponding to countermeasures at the occurrence of a failure mode in which a boarding completion signal or a disembarking completion signal of an autonomous vehicle is not received will be described according to a set mode of an elevator.

I. When no landing completion signal is received

A. Operation in normal state

First, the operation in the normal state will be briefly described to be compared with the operation in the failure mode. Since receipt of the boarding completion signal after receipt of the positive boarding signal from the autonomous vehicle 10 means that boarding of the autonomous vehicle 10 on the elevator car has been successfully performed, the elevator controller 20 can close the elevator doors and can control the elevator car to begin moving to the destination floor of the autonomous vehicle 10.

B. Countermeasure in shared mode

Upon receiving a positive landing signal from the autonomous vehicle 10, the elevator controller 20 deactivates the Door Close Button (DCB) and maintains the elevator doors in an open state. However, although a problem occurs in the boarding of the autonomous vehicle 10, another passenger may be significantly inconvenient when the elevator car stands by in this state until the boarding completion signal of the autonomous vehicle 10 is received.

Thus, when the elevator controller does not receive the boarding completion signal from the autonomous vehicle 10 within a predetermined period of time (preferably, the robot opening standby time) after receiving the positive boarding signal from the autonomous vehicle 10, the elevator controller may release the deactivation of the door closing button to allow the elevator door to be closed when a general passenger presses the door closing button.

However, in this case, there is a high probability that the autonomous vehicle 10 is present in the elevator door area, since a positive landing signal of the autonomous vehicle 10 is received. Thus, the elevator controller prevents the elevator door from automatically closing within a predetermined period of time or even when the robot opening standby time has elapsed. That is, the elevator controller releases the deactivation of the door closing button while preventing the elevator door from automatically closing. This operation prevents damage to the autonomous vehicle 10 due to door closure when the autonomous vehicle 10 is present in the elevator door area.

Although the elevator door cannot be automatically closed, the deactivation of the door closing button is released. Thus, the elevator controller can check whether another passenger using the corresponding elevator can close the elevator door, and can control the elevator car to start moving to another floor by closing the elevator door by manipulating the door closing button when it is determined that another passenger can close the elevator door.

Here, the deactivation of the door closing button may be released only on the condition that it is determined by a detection unit (e.g., a camera or an object detection sensor) in the elevator door area that the autonomous vehicle 10 is not present in the elevator door area. If autonomous vehicle 10 is detected in the elevator door area, deactivation of the door close button is not released.

Further, when the detection unit does not detect the autonomous carrier 10 or other object in the elevator door area after the predetermined period of time has elapsed, the elevator controller 20 may directly close the elevator door while releasing the deactivation of the door closing button of the elevator. Here, in this case, it is necessary to ensure that not only the autonomous vehicle 10 but also the cleaning state of other objects is not detected in the elevator door area.

C. Countermeasure in robot exclusive mode

In the robot exclusive mode, the elevator controller 20 deactivates a Door Close Button (DCB) and maintains the elevator door in an open state in response to a positive landing signal from the autonomous vehicle 10.

However, since the robot exclusive mode is a mode in which only the autonomous vehicle 10 is allowed to use the elevator, the elevator controller can maintain the elevator door in an open state while maintaining the deactivation of the door closing button even in the case where the boarding completion signal from the autonomous vehicle 10 is not received before the lapse of the predetermined period of time.

In this case, the fault process of the autonomous vehicle 10 may be performed as needed, and after the fault process of the autonomous vehicle 10 is completed, the elevator controller 20 may release the deactivation of the door closing button and may close the elevator door to move the elevator car to another floor in response to a specific command from the robot management system managing the autonomous vehicle 10.

II, when no landing completion signal is received

A. Operation in normal state

Since receipt of the landing completion signal after receipt of the positive landing signal from the autonomous vehicle 10 means that landing of the autonomous vehicle 10 from the elevator car has been successfully performed, the elevator controller 20 can close the elevator doors and can complete the mobile service of the autonomous vehicle 10 between floors.

B. Countermeasure in shared mode

The countermeasure in this mode may be performed in a similar manner to the countermeasure when the boarding completion signal is not received. Upon receiving the positive landing signal from the autonomous vehicle 10, the elevator controller 20 deactivates the Door Close Button (DCB) and maintains the elevator doors in an open state. In this case, however, another passenger may be significantly inconvenient when the elevator car stands by until receiving the getting-off completion signal of the autonomous vehicle 10. Thus, when the landing completion signal of the autonomous vehicle 10 is not received within a predetermined period of time (preferably, the robot opening standby time) after receiving the landing signal from the autonomous vehicle 10, the elevator controller 20 may release the deactivation of the door closing button to allow the elevator door to be closed when the passenger presses the door closing button.

However, in this case, since the elevator controller receives the coming-off signal from the autonomous vehicle 10, there is a high probability that the autonomous vehicle 10 is present in the elevator door area. Thus, the elevator controller prevents the elevator door from automatically closing within a predetermined period of time or even when the robot opening standby time has elapsed.

Furthermore, after a predetermined period of time, when the detection unit does not detect the autonomous vehicle 10 or other object in the elevator door area, the elevator controller 20 may directly close the elevator door while releasing the deactivation of the door closing button of the elevator. Here, in this case, it is necessary to ensure that not only the autonomous vehicle 10 but also the cleaning state of other objects is not detected in the elevator door area.

C. Countermeasure in robot exclusive mode

The countermeasure in this mode may be performed in a similar manner to the countermeasure when the boarding completion signal is not received. In the robot exclusive mode, upon receiving a positive landing signal from the autonomous vehicle 10, the elevator controller 20 deactivates the door closing button and maintains the elevator door in an open state.

However, since the robot exclusive mode is a mode that allows only the autonomous vehicle 10 to use the elevator, the elevator controller 20 can maintain the elevator door in an open state while maintaining the deactivation of the door closing button even in the case where the landing completion signal from the autonomous vehicle 10 is not received before the predetermined period of time elapses.

When the boarding completion or disembarking completion signal of the autonomous vehicle 10 is not received, countermeasures according to the setting mode of the elevator can be summarized as follows in table 1.

TABLE 1

As described above, the robot-interlocked elevator control system according to the present invention provides a countermeasure for controlling an elevator door when a malfunction occurs in a robot with respect to a boarding/disembarking procedure of an elevator for moving between floors in a building, particularly in a case where a boarding completion signal or a disembarking completion signal is not received after a boarding or disembarking operation of the robot is started, releasing a door opening restriction (deactivation of a door closing button) under predetermined conditions, thereby effectively preventing delay of passenger service while achieving effective operation efficiency of the elevator.

The robot-interlocked elevator control system according to the present invention may be implemented by a server corresponding to a computer or a program that processes signals received from the autonomous vehicle 10 and the elevator controller 20 and generates and outputs commands corresponding to the signals. In addition, the robotic interlocking elevator control system may include a recording medium that stores and records data during the process, and examples of recording media include ROM, RAM, CD-ROM, magnetic tape, floppy disk, optical data storage, and the like.

Although some embodiments have been described herein, it should be understood that these embodiments are given by way of illustration only, and that various modifications, changes, and alterations may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention should be limited only by the attached claims and equivalents thereof.

Claims

1. A robotic interlocking elevator control system, comprising:

an autonomous vehicle that autonomously moves in a building; and

an elevator controller controlling an elevator installed in the building and an operation of an elevator door when the autonomous vehicle ascends or descends with respect to the elevator by communicating with the autonomous vehicle,

wherein, when a predetermined period of time has elapsed after receiving a positive boarding signal transmitted from the autonomous vehicle and indicating the start of boarding the elevator or a positive alighting signal transmitted from the autonomous vehicle and indicating the start of alighting from the elevator, the elevator controller releases the deactivation of the door closing button of the elevator upon occurrence of at least one of a failure mode in which the elevator controller does not receive a boarding completion signal transmitted from the autonomous vehicle and indicating the completion of boarding the elevator after receiving the positive boarding signal and a failure mode in which the elevator controller does not receive a alighting completion signal transmitted from the autonomous vehicle and indicating the completion of alighting from the elevator after receiving the positive alighting signal, while the autonomous vehicle moves between floors in the building using the elevator.

2. The robotic interlocking elevator control system according to claim 1, wherein the elevator controller releases deactivation of the door closing button without detecting the autonomous vehicle within an elevator door zone.

3. The robotic interlocking elevator control system according to claim 2, wherein the elevator controller does not automatically close the elevator door upon deactivation of the door close button.

4. A robot-interlocked elevator control method of a robot-interlocked elevator control system, the robot-interlocked elevator control system comprising: an autonomous vehicle that autonomously moves in a building; and an elevator controller controlling an elevator installed in the building and an operation of an elevator door when the autonomous vehicle ascends or descends with respect to the elevator by communicating with the autonomous vehicle, the robot-interlocked elevator control method comprising:

upon receiving a landing permission signal from the elevator controller, initiating landing operations with respect to the elevator by the autonomous vehicle, then sending a positive landing signal to the elevator controller during the landing operations;

after finishing boarding the elevator, sending a boarding completion signal to the elevator controller by the autonomous vehicle;

controlling, by the elevator controller, the elevator received by the autonomous vehicle to move to a destination floor of the autonomous vehicle through the boarding operation of the autonomous vehicle;

when a landing permission signal from the elevator controller is received after the elevator reaches the destination floor, initiating a landing operation with respect to the elevator by the autonomous vehicle, and then transmitting a positive landing signal to the elevator controller during the landing operation; and

after completing the descent from the elevator, a descent completion signal is sent by the autonomous vehicle to the elevator controller,

wherein when a predetermined period of time has elapsed after receiving the positive landing signal or the positive landing signal, the elevator controller releases deactivation of a door closing button of the elevator upon occurrence of at least one of a failure mode in which the landing completion signal is not received by the elevator controller after receiving the positive landing signal from the autonomous vehicle and a failure mode in which the landing completion signal is not received by the elevator controller after receiving the positive landing signal from the autonomous vehicle.

5. The robotic interlocking elevator control method according to claim 4, wherein the elevator controller releases deactivation of the door closing button without detecting the autonomous vehicle within an elevator door zone.

6. The robotic interlocking elevator control method according to claim 5, wherein the elevator controller does not automatically close the elevator door upon deactivation of the door close button.