CN117555325A

CN117555325A - Base and autonomous docking system of self-moving equipment

Info

Publication number: CN117555325A
Application number: CN202210916950.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 请求不公布姓名
Original assignee: Beijing Rockrobo Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Beijing Rockrobo Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-08-01
Filing date: 2022-08-01
Publication date: 2024-02-13

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention discloses a base and an autonomous docking system of self-moving equipment, wherein the base comprises a shell, and a calibration light emitter and a light converging component are arranged on the shell; the light converging component is used for reducing the horizontal field angle of the calibration light emitter to a preset field angle, so that the alignment precision of the center line of the main body of the self-mobile equipment and the center line of the shell of the calibration base is improved; the cost of the light converging component has longer service life, so that the cost is reduced, and the accuracy of docking the base with the self-mobile device cannot be affected by other components such as a checkerboard. In addition, the light converging component does not change the light path of the vertical component of the light emitted by the calibration light emitter, so that the vertical divergence angle of the light emitted by the calibration light emitter is not influenced, and the range of the light receiver for receiving the vertical light emitted by the calibration light emitter is not influenced.

Description

Base and autonomous docking system of self-moving equipment

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of control of self-mobile equipment, in particular to a base and an autonomous docking system of the self-mobile equipment.

Background

Currently, in order to facilitate automatic pile-returning charging, garbage collection, cleaning of rags, replenishing water, etc. from a mobile device, in some implementations, a first positioning light emitter IR1 and a second positioning light emitter IR2 are provided on a housing 21 of a base 20, and the first positioning light emitter IR1 and the second positioning light emitter IR2 are symmetrically provided on both sides of a central axis of the housing 21; the main body 110 of the self-mobile device is provided with a first optical receiver PT1 and a second optical receiver PT2, and the first optical receiver PT1 and the second optical receiver PT2 are symmetrically arranged at two sides of the central axis of the main body 110, so that when the self-mobile device is in recharging process, as shown in fig. 1, if the first optical receiver PT1 receives the light emitted by the first positioning light emitter IR1, and meanwhile, the second optical receiver PT2 receives the light emitted by the second positioning light emitter IR2, it is determined that the central line M1 of the main body 110 of the self-mobile device is aligned with the central line M2 of the housing 21 of the base 20, and under this condition, the self-mobile device is continuously controlled to walk towards the base 20 in a straight line, so that charging docking can be completed. As shown in fig. 2 and 3, if the first light receiver PT1 does not receive the light emitted from the first positioning light emitter IR1 or the second light receiver PT2 does not receive the light emitted from the second positioning light emitter IR2, it is determined that the center line M1 of the main body 110 of the mobile device is not aligned with the center line M2 of the housing 21 of the charger, in this case, it is required to control the mobile device to adjust the traveling direction until the first positioning light emitter IR1 receives the light emitted from the first receiver while the second light emitter receives the light emitted from the second receiver, and then control the mobile device to travel straight toward the base 20, so as to complete the charging docking.

However, as shown in fig. 4, in order to ensure that the first light receiver PT1 and the second light receiver PT2 on the self-mobile device can receive signals within a range of 180 ° horizontally, the divergence angle of the first positioning light emitter IR1 and the second positioning light emitter IR2 on the base 20 needs to be greater than or equal to 90 °, which results in a wide coverage of the light emitted by the first positioning light emitter IR1 and the second positioning light emitter IR2, and the first light receiver PT1 and the second light receiver PT2 on the self-mobile device can also receive the light within a certain angle range, so that in the case that the first light receiver PT1 receives the light emitted by the first positioning light emitter IR1 and the second light receiver PT1 receives the light emitted by the second positioning light emitter IR1, the situation that the center line M1 of the main body 110 of the self-mobile device is not aligned with the center line M2 of the housing 21 of the base 20 occurs, and thus the self-mobile device cannot be accurately docked with the base 20, which affects the charging, the collection of garbage, the cleaning cloth, and the replenishment of the self-mobile device.

In order to improve the accuracy of the docking of the self-mobile device with the base 20, a calibration light emitter 40 is further provided on the center line M2 of the housing 21 of the base 20, so that if the first light receiver PT1 receives the light of the first positioning light emitter IR1 and the calibration light emitter 40, and the second light receiver PT2 receives the light of the second positioning light emitter IR2 and the calibration light emitter 40, it can be determined that the center line M1 of the main body 110 of the self-mobile device is aligned with the center line M2 of the housing 21 of the base 20. However, in a specific application, the divergence angle of the light of the calibration light emitter 40 is also greater than 10 °, and the requirement of piling up the self-moving device accurately cannot be met, so that the diaphragm 30 is further disposed on the optical path of the accurate light emitter, as shown in fig. 5, the light emitted by the calibration light emitter 40 and greater than the angle of the diaphragm 30 is reflected at the side wall of the diaphragm 30, so that the angle of the light emitted from the diaphragm 30 is still great, a light spot (the oval of the solid line in fig. 5) greater than the theoretical light spot (the oval of the dotted line in fig. 5) is formed, and further, under the condition that the first light receiver PT1 receives the light of the first positioning light emitter IR1 and the calibration light emitter 40, and the second light receiver PT2 receives the light of the second positioning light emitter IR2 and the calibration light emitter 40, the condition that the midline M1 of the main body 110 of the self-moving device is still not aligned with the midline M2 of the housing 21 of the base 20 still occurs, so that the self-moving device cannot be accurately docked with the base 20, and thus the base 20 is affected to charge, collect garbage, wash and supplement water.

In other implementations, the checkerboard 50 as shown in fig. 6 is disposed at the center of the base 20, a camera is mounted on the main body 110 of the self-moving device, black-white corner points of the checkerboard 50 are identified by the camera, and then the travel path of the self-moving device is adjusted by the relative positions of the camera and the checkerboard 50 calibrated in advance, so that the self-moving device is ensured to move against the corner points of the checkerboard 50 until the self-moving device is successfully docked with the base 20. However, the cost of the camera is high, and after the checkerboard 50 is used for a long time, bubbles or damages are easily generated, so that the accuracy of the camera in recognizing black-white corner points of the checkerboard 50 is reduced, and the accuracy of the self-mobile device in butt joint with the base 20 is further reduced.

Disclosure of Invention

In the summary, a series of concepts in a simplified form are introduced, which will be further described in detail in the detailed description. The summary of the invention is not intended to define the key features and essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a base, including a housing, where a calibration light emitter and a light converging component are disposed on the housing, and the calibration light emitter is located on a center line of the housing;

The light converging component is positioned on the light path of the calibration light emitter and is used for reducing the horizontal field angle of the calibration light emitter to a preset field angle and keeping the vertical field angle of the calibration light emitter unchanged.

Optionally, the light converging component comprises a lens, the lens is in a columnar structure, a first surface of the columnar structure is a plane, and a second surface of the columnar structure is a curved surface protruding towards a direction far away from the light emitter; the first surface is a surface of the columnar structure opposite to the calibrated light emitter, and the second surface is a surface of the columnar structure opposite to the first surface.

Optionally, the longitudinal section of the columnar structure is an axisymmetric section, and the center of the calibration light emitter is opposite to the symmetry axis of the axisymmetric section.

Optionally, the horizontal angle of view of the calibrated light emitter is 20 ° -90 °, and the central wavelength of the calibrated light emitter is 940nm or 850nm, which is the preset angle of view is less than or equal to 2 °.

Optionally, the base further comprises: the light source comprises at least two positioning light emitters, wherein the positioning light emitters are symmetrically arranged on two sides of the calibration light emitter.

Optionally, the calibration light emitter and the positioning light emitter are infrared emitters.

Optionally, the infrared emitter comprises an infrared emission driving circuit and an infrared emission unit, the infrared emission driving circuit is connected with the infrared emission unit, and the driving current of the infrared emission driving circuit is positively correlated with the intensity of infrared light emitted by the infrared emission unit.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides an autonomous docking system of a self-mobile device, where the self-mobile device and a base;

the self-moving device comprises a main body, a controller, an optical receiver and a driving mechanism;

the light receiver is arranged on the main body and is used for receiving light rays emitted by the light emitter on the base;

the controller is used for responding to whether the light receiver receives the state of the light emitted by the corresponding light emitter or not in the process of returning the self-moving device to the base, and controlling the driving mechanism to drive the self-moving device to walk so as to be in butt joint with the base.

Optionally, the number of the light receivers is at least two, and at least two light receivers are symmetrically arranged at two sides of the center line of the self-mobile device.

Optionally, the controller is specifically configured to control the self-mobile device to walk toward the base if each of the light receivers receives light rays emitted by the corresponding positioning light emitter and the calibration light emitter on the base during the process of returning the self-mobile device to the base;

if part of the light receivers only receive the light rays emitted by the corresponding positioning light emitters on the base, the gesture of the self-moving equipment is adjusted until each light receiver receives the light rays emitted by the corresponding positioning light emitters and the corresponding calibration light emitters on the base, and the self-moving equipment is controlled to walk towards the base;

and if all the light receivers do not receive the light rays emitted by the corresponding positioning light emitters, adjusting the position of the self-moving equipment, and controlling the self-moving equipment to walk towards the base until each light receiver receives the light rays emitted by the corresponding positioning light emitters and the calibration light emitters on the base.

Optionally, the horizontal angle of view of the light receiver is 35 °, the vertical angle of view of the light receiver is 25 °, and the center wavelength of the light receiver is 940nm or 850nm.

Optionally, the optical receiver is an infrared receiver.

Optionally, the infrared transmitter comprises a signal processing unit and an infrared transmitting unit, and the signal processing unit is connected with the infrared transmitting unit.

According to the base and the autonomous docking system of the self-mobile device, which are provided by the embodiment of the invention, the light converging part is utilized to converge the horizontal light rays emitted by the calibration light emitter, so that the horizontal divergence angle of the light rays emitted by the calibration light emitter can be reduced to a preset angle through the light converging part, the horizontal field angle of the calibration light emitter is reduced to the preset field angle, the alignment precision of the center line of the main body of the self-mobile device and the center line of the shell of the quasi-base is improved, and the docking precision of the base and the self-mobile device is also improved; the cost of the light converging component is far lower than that of the camera, the light converging component has longer service life, and the light converging component does not need to be matched with other components such as a checkerboard, so that the cost is reduced, and the accuracy of docking between the base and the self-moving equipment cannot be affected by the other components such as the checkerboard. In addition, the light converging component does not change the light path of the vertical component of the light emitted by the calibration light emitter, namely does not change the vertical field angle of the calibration light emitter, so that the vertical divergence angle of the light emitted by the calibration light emitter is not influenced, and the range of the light receiver for receiving the vertical light emitted by the calibration light emitter is not influenced.

Drawings

The following drawings of the present invention are included as part of the description of embodiments of the invention. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention and their description to explain the principles of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the location of a self-moving device and a base according to one embodiment of the prior art;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the location of a self-moving device and a base according to another embodiment of the prior art;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the position of a self-moving device and a base according to yet another embodiment of the prior art;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of the location of a self-moving device and a base in accordance with yet another embodiment of the prior art;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of the optical path of a calibrated light emitter in a diaphragm of the prior art;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a checkerboard;

FIG. 7 is a schematic perspective view of a self-mobile device according to an alternative embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 8 is a bottom view of a self-moving device according to an alternative embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a schematic perspective view of a base according to an alternative embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 10 is a top view of a base according to an alternative embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a top view of a self-mobile device according to an alternative embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a schematic illustration of the location of a self-moving device and a base in accordance with an alternative embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a schematic view of the location of a self-moving device and a base according to another alternative embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 14 is a schematic view of the location of a self-moving device and a base in accordance with yet another alternative embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 15 is an optical path diagram of light rays at a light converging component according to an alternative embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 16 is a light path diagram of a calibrated light emitter through a light converging component according to an alternative embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 17 is a light path simulation of a calibrated light emitter through a light converging component according to an alternative embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 18 is a graph of the light field of a calibrated light emitter through a light converging component according to an alternative embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 19 is a light field rendering diagram of a calibrated light emitter through a light converging component according to an alternative embodiment of the present invention.

Reference numerals illustrate:

10-cleaning robot; 110-a body; 111-forward portion; 112-a rearward portion; 120-perception system; 121-position determining means; 122-a buffer; 130-a controller; 140-a travelling mechanism; 150-cleaning system; 151-a dry cleaning system; 152-side brushing; 153-wet cleaning system; 160-energy system; 170-a human-computer interaction system; 20-a base; 21-a housing; 22-electrode; 30-diaphragm, 40-collimated light emitter, 50-checkerboard, 60-positioned light emitter, 70-columnar structure, 701-first surface, 702-second surface, 80-light receiver.

Detailed Description

In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the invention may be practiced without one or more of these details. In other instances, well-known features have not been described in detail in order to avoid obscuring the invention.

It is noted that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of exemplary embodiments according to the present invention. As used herein, the singular is intended to include the plural unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Furthermore, it will be further understood that the terms "comprises" and/or "comprising," when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

Exemplary embodiments according to the present invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. These exemplary embodiments may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. It should be appreciated that these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the concept of these exemplary embodiments to those skilled in the art.

In a first aspect, as shown in fig. 10, an embodiment of the present invention provides a base, including a housing 21, where a calibration light emitter 40 and a light converging component are disposed on the housing 21, and the calibration light emitter 40 is located on a center line M2 of the housing 21; the light converging means is located on the optical path of the calibration light emitter 40 for reducing the horizontal angle of view of the calibration light emitter 40 to a preset angle of view and maintaining the vertical angle of view of the calibration light emitter 40 unchanged.

The base 20 of the present application is capable of providing charging, garbage collection, cleaning wipes, make-up water, etc. functions to the self-moving device.

The self-moving device may be a cleaning robot, such as a sweeping robot, a mopping robot, a floor polishing robot, a weeding robot, or the like. As shown in fig. 7 and 8, the embodiment of the present disclosure describes the technical solution according to the present disclosure by taking the cleaning robot 10 as an example. The cleaning robot 10 in the embodiments of the present disclosure may include a main body 110, a sensing system 120, a controller 130, a driving mechanism, a cleaning system 150, an energy system 160, and a man-machine interaction system 170. It is understood that the cleaning robot 10 may be a self-moving cleaning robot or other cleaning robot as desired. A self-moving cleaning robot is a device that automatically performs a cleaning operation on a certain area to be cleaned without a user's operation.

As shown in fig. 7, the main body 110 includes a forward portion 111 and a backward portion 112, and has an approximately circular shape (both front and rear are circular), but may have other shapes, including, but not limited to, an approximately D-shape of a front and rear circle and a rectangular or square shape of a front and rear.

As shown in fig. 8, the sensing system 120 includes a position determining device 121 on the main body 110, a collision sensor, a proximity sensor, a cliff sensor, and a drop sensor provided on a buffer 122 of the forward portion 111 of the main body 110, and sensing devices such as a magnetometer, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, an odometer, etc. provided inside the main body 110 for providing various position information and movement state information of the machine to the controller 130. The position determining device 121 includes, but is not limited to, a camera, a laser ranging device (LDS, full scale Laser Distance Sensor).

As shown in fig. 7 and 8, the forward portion 111 of the main body 110 may carry a bumper 122, such as the bumper 122 detecting one or more events in the travel path of the cleaning robot 10, e.g., detecting an obstacle, a wall, etc., as the cleaning robot 10 is propelled by the drive mechanism over the floor during cleaning, the drive mechanism being controlled by the controller 130 to cause the cleaning robot 10 to respond to an event, e.g., moving away from the obstacle or across the obstacle.

The controller is disposed on a circuit board in the main body 110, and includes a non-transitory memory, such as a hard disk, a flash memory, a random access memory, a communication computing processor, such as a central processing unit, an application processor, and a positioning algorithm, such as a real-time positioning and map building (SLAM, full name Simultaneous Localization And Mapping), for drawing a real-time map of the environment in which the cleaning robot 10 is located according to the obstacle information fed back by the laser ranging device. And comprehensively judging what working state and what position the cleaning robot 10 is currently in by combining distance information, speed information and the like fed back by sensing devices such as a cliff sensor, a magnetometer, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, an odometer and the like arranged on the cleaning robot 10, and the current pose of the cleaning robot 10, such as passing a threshold, going up a carpet, being positioned at the cliff, being blocked above or below, being full of dust boxes, being picked up and the like, and giving a specific next-step action strategy according to different conditions, so that the cleaning robot 10 has better cleaning performance and user experience.

As shown in fig. 8, the cleaning system 150 may be a dry cleaning system 151 and/or a wet cleaning system 153. As the dry cleaning system 151, a main cleaning function is derived from a cleaning system composed of a roll brush, a dust box, a blower, an air outlet, and connection members between the four. The rolling brush with certain interference with the ground sweeps up the garbage on the ground and winds up the garbage in front of the dust collection opening between the rolling brush and the dust box, and then the dust box is sucked by the suction gas generated by the fan and passing through the dust box. The dry cleaning system 151 may also include a side brush 152 having a rotating shaft that is angled relative to the floor for moving debris into the roller brush area of the cleaning system 150.

The energy system 160 includes rechargeable batteries, such as hydrogen-retaining batteries and lithium batteries. The rechargeable battery can be connected with a charging control circuit, a battery pack charging temperature detection circuit and a battery under-voltage monitoring circuit, and the charging control circuit, the battery pack charging temperature detection circuit and the battery under-voltage monitoring circuit are connected with the singlechip control circuit. The main body is connected to the base 20 through a charging electrode 22 provided at the side or lower part of the main body for charging.

As shown in fig. 7, the man-machine interaction system 170 includes keys on a panel of the main body 110, wherein the keys are used for a user to select functions; the machine also comprises a display screen and/or an indicator light and/or a loudspeaker, wherein the display screen, the indicator light and the loudspeaker are used for showing the current state or function selection item of the machine to a user; a cell phone client program may also be included. For the path navigation type self-mobile device, a map of the environment where the device is located and the current position can be displayed to the user at the mobile phone client, and richer and humanized functional items can be provided for the user.

As shown in fig. 8, a driving mechanism is provided in the main body 110, the driving mechanism includes a driving motor and a control circuit controlling the driving motor, and the traveling wheel in the traveling mechanism 140 can be driven to rotate by the driving motor, thereby achieving the purpose of traveling from the mobile device 10.

As shown in fig. 9, the base 20 includes a generally L-shaped housing 21 disposed on a floor, a wall, etc., and in some embodiments, the base 20 has a charging function, whereby the housing 21 is further provided with two or more charging pole 22 pieces, which can be aligned with and in contact with the charging pole 22 pieces provided to the cleaning robot, thereby realizing the supply of the cleaning robot with charged electric power. In other embodiments, the base 20 has functions of dust collection, mop cleaning or drying, and the like, in addition to the charging function, and accordingly, the housing 21 is provided with a dust collection assembly, a mop cleaning assembly or a drying assembly. The dust collection assembly comprises a cleaning mechanism, a dust collection mechanism and a dust collection box, wherein the cleaning mechanism is used for cleaning a rolling brush of the cleaning robot, the dust collection box is detachably arranged on the shell 21, the dust collection mechanism is arranged in the dust collection box, and the dust collection mechanism sucks dirt cleaned from the rolling brush of the cleaning robot and/or garbage in the dust collection box of the cleaning robot into the dust collection box.

The mop cleaning assembly comprises a cleaning groove arranged on the base 20, a scraping strip or a brush roll fixedly or movably arranged in the cleaning groove, the brush roll can be driven to rotate by a brush roll driving mechanism, a cleaning opening communicated with the cleaning groove is formed in the base 20, after the cleaning robot drives into the base 20, the scraping strip or the brush roll and a mop form interference contact, so that the mop stretching into the cleaning groove is cleaned, and further, the mop cleaning assembly further comprises a water supply mechanism and a drainage mechanism which are communicated with the cleaning groove, the water supply mechanism is used for conveying cleaning liquid into the cleaning groove, and the drainage mechanism is used for draining sewage after the mop is cleaned.

The drying assembly comprises a heating assembly arranged on the base 20 and used for heating and drying the cleaned mop, so that the drying speed of the mop is improved; an air drying mechanism may also be included to accelerate the drying of the mop by distributing air to it.

Of course, the functions of the base 20 described above are merely exemplary, and the base 20 may also include other auxiliary functions or combinations of the functions described above, and the functions of the base 20 are not strictly limited in this embodiment.

In this embodiment, as shown in fig. 10, a calibration light emitter 40 is further disposed on a center line M2 of the housing 21 of the base 20, light converging components are further disposed on an optical path of the calibration light emitter 40, positioning light emitters 60 are disposed on two sides of the calibration light emitter 40, and as shown in fig. 11, light receivers 80 are disposed on two sides of a center line M1 of the main body 110 of the mobile device, so that the controller controls a walking track of the mobile device according to whether the light receivers 80 receive the corresponding positioning light emitter 40 and the light emitted by the calibration light emitter 40, so as to dock with the base 20.

Specifically, the base 20 is provided with a coding control module, the coding control module codes the light rays emitted by the positioning light emitters 60 and the calibration light emitters 40, and the light rays of each positioning light emitter 60 and the calibration light emitters 40 have different codes, so that the light receiver 80 is convenient for converting the received light rays into electric signals and determining the source of the light rays through identifying the codes, further judging the position of the self-mobile device, and then controlling the walking track of the self-mobile device according to the position of the self-mobile device so as to be in butt joint with the base 20.

The light converging component is utilized to converge the horizontal component of the light emitted by the calibration light emitter 40, so that the horizontal divergence angle of the light emitted by the calibration light emitter 40 can be reduced to a preset angle through the light converging component, namely, the horizontal view angle of the calibration light emitter 40 is reduced to the preset view angle, so that the range of receiving the horizontal light emitted by the calibration light emitter 40 by the light receiver 80 on the mobile device is reduced, and further, when the light receiver 80 receives the light emitted by the corresponding positioning light emitter 60 and the calibration light emitter 40, the alignment precision of the center line M1 of the main body 110 of the mobile device and the center line M2 of the shell 21 of the quasi-base 20 is improved, and the docking accuracy of the base 20 and the self-mobile device is also improved; the cost of the light converging component is far lower than that of the camera, the light converging component has longer service life, and the light converging component does not need to be matched with other components such as a checkerboard, so that the cost is reduced, and the accuracy of docking of the base 20 and the self-moving equipment cannot be affected by the other components such as the checkerboard. In addition, the light converging means does not change the optical path of the vertical component of the light emitted from the collimating light emitter 40, that is, does not change the vertical angle of view of the collimating light emitter 40, and thus does not affect the vertical divergence angle of the light emitted from the collimating light emitter 40, that is, does not affect the range over which the light receiver 80 receives the vertical light emitted from the collimating light emitter 40.

Further, the positioning light emitters 60 on both sides of the calibration light emitter 40 are symmetrically arranged, and the light receivers 80 on both sides of the center line M1 of the main body 110 of the mobile device are also symmetrically arranged, so that it can be ensured that the accuracy of aligning the center line M2 of the base 20 with the center line M1 of the mobile device is higher when the light receivers 80 receive the light emitted by the corresponding positioning light emitters 60 and calibration light emitters.

The following describes in detail the specific process of controlling the walking track of the self-mobile device to interface with the base 20 according to the state of the light receiver 80 receiving the light rays emitted by the corresponding positioning light emitter 60 and the calibration light emitter 40. In the following example, as shown in fig. 12, 13 and 14, one positioning light emitter 60 is respectively disposed on two sides of the calibration light emitter 40, which are respectively a first positioning light emitter IR1 and a second positioning light emitter IR2, and one light receiver 80 is respectively disposed on two sides of a center line M1 of the main body 110 of the mobile device, which are respectively a first light receiver PT1 and a second light receiver PT 2.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 12, when the first light receiver PT1 receives the light emitted by the first positioning light emitter IR1 and the calibration light emitter 40, and the second light receiver PT2 receives the light emitted by the second positioning light receiver 80 and the calibration light emitter 40, the controller controls the self-mobile device to continue to walk along a straight line toward the base 20, so that the self-mobile device and the base 20 can be charged in a docking manner.

As shown in fig. 14, in the case that the first light receiver PT1 receives the light emitted from the first positioning light emitter IR1 and the calibration light emitter 40, the second light receiver PT2 receives only the light emitted from the second positioning light emitter 80, but does not receive the light emitted from the calibration light emitter 40, the controller controls the self-moving device to adjust the direction, that is, the adjustment body 110 to rotate and move toward the direction of the second positioning light emitter IR2, that is, to rotate and move toward the left side of the base 20 until the adjustment is to the position shown in fig. 12, that is, the first light receiver PT1 receives the light emitted from the first positioning light emitter IR1 and the calibration light emitter 40, and the second light receiver PT2 receives the light emitted from the second positioning light emitter 80 and the calibration light emitter 40, so that it can be determined that the center line M1 of the main body 110 of the self-moving device is aligned with the center line M2 of the housing 21 of the base 20, so that the controller controls the self-moving device to continue to walk toward the base 20 in the adjusted direction, and thus can realize the docking charging of the self-moving device and the base 20.

As shown in fig. 15, in the case that the second light receiver PT2 receives the light emitted from the second positioning light emitter IR2 and the calibration light emitter 40, the first light receiver PT1 receives only the light emitted from the first positioning light emitter 80, but does not receive the light emitted from the calibration light emitter 40, the controller controls the self-moving device to adjust the direction, that is, the adjustment body 110 to rotate and move toward the direction of the first positioning light emitter IR1, that is, to rotate and move toward the right side of the base 20 until the position shown in fig. 12 is adjusted, that is, the first light receiver PT1 receives the light emitted from the first positioning light emitter IR1 and the calibration light emitter 40, and the second light receiver PT2 receives the light emitted from the second positioning light emitter 80 and the calibration light emitter 40, so that it can be determined that the center line M1 of the main body 110 of the self-moving device is aligned with the center line M2 of the housing 21 of the base 20, so that the controller controls the self-moving device to continue to walk toward the base 20 in the adjusted direction, and thus can realize the docking charging of the self-moving device and the base 20.

In the case that the first optical receiver PT1 does not receive the light emitted by the first positioning optical transmitter IR1 and the calibration optical transmitter 40, and the second optical receiver PT2 does not receive the light emitted by the second positioning optical receiver 80 and the calibration optical transmitter 40, it is necessary to control the self-moving device to continue to move in the adjustment direction to search the area irradiated by the light emitted by the first positioning optical transmitter IR1, the second positioning optical transmitter IR2 and the calibration optical transmitter 40 until the first optical receiver PT1 receives the light emitted by the first positioning optical transmitter IR1 and the calibration optical transmitter 40, and the second optical receiver PT2 receives the light emitted by the second positioning optical receiver 80 and the calibration optical transmitter 40, so that it can be determined that the midline M1 of the main body 110 of the self-moving device is aligned with the midline M2 of the housing 21 of the base 20, and the controller controls the self-moving device to continue to move toward the base 20 in the adjusted direction, so as to realize the butt-joint charging of the self-moving device and the base 20.

According to the base provided by the embodiment of the invention, the light converging component is utilized to converge the horizontal component of the light emitted by the calibration light emitter 40, so that the horizontal divergence angle of the light emitted by the calibration light emitter 40 can be reduced to a preset angle through the light converging component, and the horizontal view angle of the calibration light emitter 40 is reduced to the preset view angle, so that when the light receiver 80 receives the light emitted by the corresponding positioning light emitter 60 and the calibration light emitter 40, the alignment precision of the center line M1 of the main body 110 of the self-mobile device and the center line M2 of the shell 21 of the quasi-base 20 is improved, and the docking accuracy of the base 20 and the self-mobile device is also improved; the cost of the light converging component is far lower than that of the camera, the light converging component has longer service life, and the light converging component does not need to be matched with other components such as a checkerboard, so that the cost is reduced, and the accuracy of docking of the base 20 and the self-moving equipment cannot be affected by the other components such as the checkerboard. In addition, the light converging means does not change the optical path of the vertical component of the light emitted from the collimating light emitter 40, that is, does not change the vertical angle of view of the collimating light emitter 40, and thus does not affect the vertical divergence angle of the light emitted from the collimating light emitter 40, that is, does not affect the range over which the light receiver 80 receives the vertical light emitted from the collimating light emitter 40.

Specifically, in the above-described embodiments, as shown in fig. 10, 15, and 16, the light converging member includes a lens in the form of a columnar structure 70, a first surface 701 of the columnar structure 70 is a plane, and a second surface 702 of the columnar structure 70 is a curved surface protruding in a direction away from the light emitter; wherein the first surface 701 is a surface of the columnar structure 70 opposite to the calibrated light emitter 40, and the second surface 702 is a surface of the columnar structure 70 opposite to the first surface 701.

In a specific application, the first surface 701 of the columnar structure 70 is a plane, and the second surface 702 of the columnar structure 70 is a curved surface protruding away from the light emitter, so that the lens can collect the horizontal component of the light emitted by the alignment light emitter 40, but does not change the optical path of the vertical component of the light emitted by the alignment light emitter 40, so that only the horizontal angle of view of the alignment light emitter 40 can be reduced, and the vertical angle of view of the alignment light emitter 40 is not changed.

Further, the longitudinal cross-section of columnar structure 70 is an axisymmetric cross-section, and the center of light emitter 40 is aligned with axis of symmetry AD of the axisymmetric cross-section.

Wherein the longitudinal cross section of the columnar structure 70 is generally rectangular, which facilitates the fabrication of the columnar structure 70; of course, the longitudinal section may be other axisymmetric patterns, and the application is not strictly limited.

Specifically, to improve the convergence effect, the center of the light emitter 40 is calibrated to be aligned with the symmetry axis AD of the axisymmetric cross section, and the specific working principle is as follows: as shown in fig. 15, the cross section eacb of the columnar structure 70 is a cross section perpendicular to the first surface 701, such that the horizontal component of the light emitted by the collimating light emitter 40, i.e. the horizontal component parallel to the cross section eacb, after being emitted through the lens of the columnar structure 70, is converted from an outwardly diverging propagation direction into an inwardly converging propagation light, thereby converging into a point after a certain distance, and further reducing the divergence angle of the horizontal component of the light emitted by the collimating light emitter 40, i.e. the horizontal angle of view of the collimating light emitter 40, while for the vertical component of the light emitted by the collimating light emitter 40, i.e. the vertical component perpendicular to the cross section eacb, after being emitted through the lens of the columnar structure 70, the propagation direction is not changed, i.e. the vertical angle of view of the collimating light emitter 40 is not changed, whereby the light after being shaped through the lens forms a focal line F as shown in fig. 15 after a certain distance ₁ F ₂ And focal line F ₁ F ₂ Is a columnar knotLight passing diameter of structure 70.

By the imaging principle described above, as shown in fig. 16, after the light emitted from the collimated light emitter a passes through the lens of the columnar structure 70, a is formed ₁ A ₂ Is a picture of (c).

Further, the horizontal angle of view of the collimated light emitter 40 is 20 ° -90 °, the center wavelength 940nm or 850nm of the collimated light emitter 40, and the preset angle of view is less than or equal to 2 °.

The horizontal view angle and the center wavelength of the calibrated light emitter 40 may be determined according to practical situations, in some preferred implementations, the horizontal view angle of the calibrated light emitter 40 is 20 °, the distance between the light receiver 80 with an outer diameter of 3mm and the second surface 702 of the lens is 580mm, simulation is performed by using simulation software, simulation results as shown in fig. 17, 18 and 19 are obtained, it can be seen from the simulation results that the diameter of the light spot attenuated to 50% is 20mm, and the horizontal divergence angle of the calibrated light emitter 40 becomes 1.97 ° according to trigonometric function calculation, so as to meet design requirements.

Further, the base 20 further includes at least two positioning light emitters 60, and the positioning light emitters 60 are symmetrically disposed on two sides of the calibration light emitter 40.

The number of the positioning light emitters 60 can be set according to practical requirements, and in order to reduce cost and ensure accuracy of docking, the number of the positioning light emitters 60 is generally two.

In a specific application, at least two positioning light emitters 60 are symmetrically disposed on both sides of the calibration light emitter 40, so that the calibration light emitter 40 is located at an intermediate position between at least two positioning light emitters 60 to ensure that the light emitted by the light emitters 60 on both sides of the calibration light emitter 40 is identical. Further, the calibration light emitter 40 and the positioning light emitter 60 are infrared emitters.

The infrared light has good stability, the cost of the infrared emitter is low, in addition, the infrared light is invisible, and the user experience is good. In some embodiments, the infrared emitter is an in-line infrared emitter with an outer diameter of 3mm to meet the structural design requirements of the base 20.

Further, the infrared transmitter comprises an infrared transmitting driving circuit and an infrared transmitting unit, wherein the infrared transmitting driving circuit is connected with the infrared transmitting unit, and the driving current of the infrared transmitting driving circuit is positively correlated with the intensity of infrared light emitted by the infrared transmitting unit.

The positive correlation of the drive current with the intensity of the emitted infrared light means that the greater the drive current, the greater the intensity of the emitted infrared light; the smaller the drive current, the smaller the intensity of the emitted infrared light. The response distance between the infrared emission unit and the light receiver 80 can be effectively controlled by controlling the driving current, so that the infrared light emitted by the infrared emission unit can be received at a longer distance from the mobile device. In addition, the intensity of the emitted infrared light is adjusted by adjusting the driving current, so that the light intensities emitted by the infrared light emitting units are set to be different from each other, and the light receiver 80 determines the source of the light by the intensity of the received light, so that an encoder is not required to be additionally arranged on the base 20 for encoding, thereby simplifying the structure of the base 20 and omitting the complex encoding process.

In a second aspect, as shown in fig. 7 to 11, an embodiment of the present invention provides an autonomous docking system of a self-mobile device, the self-mobile device and the base 20 described above; the self-moving device includes a main body 110, a controller, an optical receiver 80, and a driving mechanism; the light receiver 80 is disposed on the main body, and is configured to receive light emitted by the light emitter on the base 20; the controller is used for responding to whether the light receiver 80 receives the state of the light emitted by the corresponding light emitter or not in the process of returning the mobile device to the base 20, and controlling the driving mechanism to drive the mobile device to walk so as to be in butt joint with the base 20.

In the present embodiment, the structure and specific docking principle of the self-mobile device and the base 20 can be referred to the above embodiments, and will not be described herein.

The number of the light receivers 80 is at least two, and the at least two light receivers 80 are symmetrically arranged at two sides of a center line M1 of the self-moving device.

The number of light receivers 80 may be determined by the number of positioning light emitters 60, and typically the number of light receivers 80 is the same as the number of positioning light emitters 60 and corresponds one-to-one.

In a specific application, the light receivers 80 are symmetrically disposed on two sides of the center line M1 of the mobile device, so as to ensure that the light receiving ranges of the light receivers 80 on two sides of the center line M1 are the same.

In the autonomous docking system formed by the base in the above embodiment, the light converging component is used to converge the horizontal light rays emitted by the calibration light emitter 40, so that the horizontal divergence angle of the light rays emitted by the calibration light emitter 40 can be reduced to a preset angle by the light converging component, that is, the horizontal field angle of the calibration light emitter 40 is reduced to the preset field angle, so that the alignment accuracy of the center line M1 of the main body 110 of the self-mobile device and the center line M2 of the housing 21 of the quasi-base 20 is improved, that is, the docking accuracy of the base 20 and the self-mobile device is improved; the cost of the light converging component is far lower than that of the camera, the light converging component has longer service life, and the light converging component does not need to be matched with other components such as a checkerboard, so that the cost is reduced, and the accuracy of docking of the base 20 and the self-moving equipment cannot be affected by the other components such as the checkerboard. In addition, the light converging means does not change the optical path of the vertical component of the light emitted from the collimating light emitter 40, that is, does not change the vertical angle of view of the collimating light emitter 40, and thus does not affect the vertical divergence angle of the light emitted from the collimating light emitter 40, that is, does not affect the range over which the light receiver 80 receives the vertical light emitted from the collimating light emitter 40.

Specifically, the controller is specifically configured to control the self-mobile device to travel toward the base 20 if each light receiver 80 receives light emitted by the corresponding positioning light emitter 60 and calibration light emitter 40 on the base 20 during the return of the self-mobile device to the base 20.

As shown in fig. 12, two sides of the calibration light emitter 40 are respectively provided with a positioning light emitter 60, which is a first positioning light emitter IR1 and a second positioning light emitter IR2, two sides of a center line M1 of a main body 110 of the mobile device are respectively provided with a light receiver 80, which is a first light receiver PT1 and a second light receiver PT2, for example, if the first light receiver PT1 receives light rays emitted by the first positioning light emitter IR1 and the calibration light emitter 40, and the second light receiver PT2 receives light rays emitted by the second positioning light receiver 80 and the calibration light emitter 40, the controller controls the mobile device to continue walking along a straight line toward the base 20, so that docking charging between the mobile device and the base 20 can be realized.

If some of the light receivers 80 only receive the light emitted by the corresponding positioning light emitters 60 on the base 20, the posture of the self-moving device is adjusted until each light receiver 80 receives the light emitted by the corresponding positioning light emitters 60 and the calibration light emitters 40 on the base 20, and the self-moving device is controlled to walk towards the base 20.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 14, if the first optical receiver PT1 receives the light emitted from the first positioning light emitter IR1 and the calibration light emitter 40, the second optical receiver PT2 receives only the light emitted from the second positioning light emitter 80, but does not receive the light emitted from the calibration light emitter 40, the controller controls the self-moving device to adjust the direction, that is, the adjustment body 110 to rotate and move in the direction of the second positioning light emitter IR2, that is, to rotate and move toward the left side of the base 20 until the position shown in fig. 12 is adjusted, that is, the first optical receiver PT1 receives the light emitted from the first positioning light emitter IR1 and the calibration light emitter 40, and the second optical receiver PT2 receives the light emitted from the second positioning light emitter 80 and the calibration light emitter 40, so that it can be determined that the center line M1 of the main body 110 of the self-moving device is aligned with the center line M2 of the housing 21 of the base 20, and thus the controller controls the self-moving device to continue to move toward the base 20 in the adjusted direction, so as to realize the docking charging of the self-moving device and the base 20.

Alternatively, as shown in fig. 13, if the second light receiver PT2 receives the light emitted from the second positioning light emitter IR2 and the calibration light emitter 40, the first light receiver PT1 receives only the light emitted from the first positioning light emitter 80, but does not receive the light emitted from the calibration light emitter 40, and the controller controls the self-moving device to adjust the direction, that is, the adjustment body 110 to rotate and move toward the direction of the first positioning light emitter IR1, that is, to rotate and move toward the right side of the base 20 until the position shown in fig. 12 is adjusted, that is, the first light receiver PT1 receives the light emitted from the first positioning light emitter IR1 and the calibration light emitter 40, and the second light receiver PT2 receives the light emitted from the second positioning light emitter 80 and the calibration light emitter 40, so that it can be determined that the center line M1 of the main body 110 of the self-moving device is aligned with the center line M2 of the housing 21 of the base 20, so that the controller controls the self-moving device to continue to move toward the base 20 in the adjusted direction, and thus can realize the docking charging of the self-moving device and the base 20.

If all the light receivers 80 do not receive the light emitted by the corresponding positioning light emitters, the position of the self-moving device is adjusted until each light receiver 80 receives the light emitted by the corresponding positioning light emitter 40 and the calibration light emitter 40 on the base 20, and the self-moving device is controlled to move towards the base 20.

Specifically, if the first optical receiver PT1 does not receive the light emitted by the first positioning optical transmitter IR1 and the calibration optical transmitter 40, the second optical receiver PT2 does not receive the light emitted by the second positioning optical receiver 80 and the calibration optical transmitter 40, it is necessary to control the self-moving device to continue to move in the adjustment direction to search the area irradiated by the light emitted by the first positioning optical transmitter IR1, the second positioning optical transmitter IR2 and the calibration optical transmitter 40 until the first optical receiver PT1 receives the light emitted by the first positioning optical transmitter IR1 and the calibration optical transmitter 40 and the second optical receiver PT2 receives the light emitted by the second positioning optical receiver 80 and the calibration optical transmitter 40, so that it can be determined that the midline M1 of the main body 110 of the self-moving device is aligned with the midline M2 of the housing 21 of the base 20, and thus the controller controls the self-moving device to continue to move toward the base 20 in the adjusted direction, so as to realize the docking charging of the self-moving device and the base 20.

Further, the horizontal angle of view of the light receiver 80 is 35 °, the vertical angle of view of the light receiver 80 is 25 °, and the center wavelength of the light receiver 80 is 940nm or 850nm.

The horizontal angle of view, the vertical angle of view, and the center wavelength of the light receiver 80 can be set according to the actual situation. Illustratively, the height from the body 110 of the mobile device is less than 10cm, so that the light receiver 80 has a large horizontal angle of view, while the vertical angle of view need not be large.

In some embodiments, the center wavelength of the infrared light received by the infrared receiver is the same as the center wavelength of the infrared light emitted by the infrared emitter, so that the optimal response efficiency between the infrared receiver and the infrared emitter is ensured, and the infrared receiver and the infrared emitter have the farthest response distance, so that the range of receiving and positioning the light emitted by the light emitter is improved. Illustratively, the infrared light received by the infrared receiver has a center wavelength of 850nm, and the infrared light emitted by the infrared emitter also has a center wavelength of 850nm.

Further, the response sensitivity of the infrared receiver is greater than or equal to 14m, so that the sensitivity of the infrared receiver is improved, and the influence of the effect of certain attenuation on the light intensity of the infrared transmitter and the protective shell 21 of the injection molding material of the infrared receiver on the response sensitivity of the infrared receiver is avoided.

In a specific application, the embodiment adopts an in-line infrared receiver with the outer diameter of 3mm so as to meet the structural design requirement of the self-mobile equipment.

Further, the light receiver 80 is an infrared receiver.

Specifically, the infrared receiver comprises a signal processing unit and an infrared receiving unit, and the signal processing unit is connected with the infrared receiving unit.

The infrared receiving unit is used for sensing the infrared light emitted by the infrared emitting unit, and the signal processing unit is used for converting the infrared light into a digital signal, so that the controller determines the source of the infrared light based on the digital signal.

The present invention has been illustrated by the above-described embodiments, but it should be understood that the above-described embodiments are for purposes of illustration and description only and are not intended to limit the invention to the embodiments described. In addition, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and that many variations and modifications are possible in light of the teachings of the invention, which variations and modifications are within the scope of the invention as claimed. The scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims and equivalents thereof.

Claims

1. The base is characterized by comprising a shell, wherein a calibration light emitter and a light converging component are arranged on the shell, and the calibration light emitter is positioned on the central line of the shell;

2. The submount of claim 1 wherein the light converging means comprises a lens having a cylindrical configuration with a first surface being planar and a second surface being curved protruding away from the light emitter; the first surface is a surface of the columnar structure opposite to the calibrated light emitter, and the second surface is a surface of the columnar structure opposite to the first surface.

3. The base of claim 2, wherein the longitudinal cross-section of the columnar structure is an axisymmetric cross-section, the center of the collimating light emitter facing the axis of symmetry of the axisymmetric cross-section.

4. The base of claim 1, wherein the horizontal field angle of the calibrated light emitter is 20 ° -90 °, and the center wavelength of the calibrated light emitter is 940nm or 850nm, which is the preset field angle less than or equal to 2 °.

5. The base of claim 1, further comprising: the light source comprises at least two positioning light emitters, wherein the positioning light emitters are symmetrically arranged on two sides of the calibration light emitter.

6. The base of claim 5, wherein the calibrated light emitter and the positioning light emitter are infrared emitters.

7. The base of claim 6, wherein the infrared emitter comprises an infrared emission driving circuit and an infrared emission unit, the infrared emission driving circuit is connected with the infrared emission unit, and a driving current of the infrared emission driving circuit is positively correlated with an intensity of infrared light emitted by the infrared emission unit.

8. A self-mobile device autonomous docking system, characterized in that the self-mobile device and the base of any of claims 1-7;

9. The self-moving autonomous docking system of claim 8, wherein the number of said light receivers is at least two, at least two of said light receivers being symmetrically disposed on either side of a midline of said self-moving device.

10. The autonomous docking system of claim 8, wherein the controller is specifically configured to control the self-mobile device to walk toward the base if each of the light receivers receives light emitted by a corresponding positioning light emitter and calibration light emitter on the base during a return of the self-mobile device to the base;

11. The self-mobile device autonomous docking system of claim 8, wherein the horizontal angle of view of the light receiver is 35 °, the vertical angle of view of the light receiver is 25 °, and the center wavelength of the light receiver is 940nm or 850nm.

12. The autonomous docking system of claim 8, wherein the optical receiver is an infrared receiver.

13. The autonomous docking system of claim 12, wherein the infrared receiver comprises a signal processing unit and an infrared receiving unit, the signal processing unit being connected to the infrared receiving unit.