DE102021002095A1 - Working procedures for the use of autonomous systems (robots and artificial intelligence) to facilitate the placement of beach chairs - Google Patents

Abstract

Working methods for the use of autonomous systems (robots and artificial intelligence) to make it easier to place beach chairs.Beach chairs have so far been placed manually. These are mostly two-seaters that can weigh up to 100 kg and number up to a few hundred on the most frequented sections of the beach. Complications arise as a result of individual use of the beach chairs in the mechanical cleaning of the beach sand. The operators are faced with great physical challenges to keep repositioning beach chairs that have been moved. Rotating devices should help to make things easier. However, these are fastened to the ground and thus limit the attractive uses of the beach chairs. The focus of the invention is the operational question of an effective working method, such as beach chairs on a defined area at their optimal locations with maximum flexibility can be placed again and again in order to work regularly and consistently with available beach cleaning technology. In the procedure according to the invention Beach chairs placed in the autonomous system after any use by robots and artificial intelligence. With the digital technology, the robots are able to move independently along the paths provided for mechanical beach cleaning along the beach chairs. Due to their artificial intelligence, they automatically correct deviations of recognized actual positions of the beach chairs from stored target positions and are self-learning.Place beach chairs using robots and artificial intelligence.

Description

The invention relates to a working method for the use of autonomous systems (robots and artificial intelligence) to make it easier to place beach chairs.

According to the status of developments in recent years, the adherent use of beach chairs with increasing demand tends towards the constant expansion of stocks. Especially the beach sections frequented on the bathing beaches of the North Sea and Baltic Sea count up to a few hundred in a row in the high season.

Complications arise as a result of individual use of the beach chairs when the beach sand is kept clean by machine. Because in addition to the pollution on the beaches, the users adjust their beach chairs according to external influences and their own wishes, such as e.g. mainly according to the solar radiation, according to the wind direction, etc., i.e. according to the weather overall, but social concerns of being together also play a decisive role Role. Depending on the situation, the layout of a more or less massive mess appears for the daily beach cleaning and makes access for the beach cleaning machines more difficult.

According to the state of the art, all beach chairs are regularly placed individually at their locations by human handwork. They are usually two-seaters, with standard models weighing up to 100kg. In addition to cleaning and maintaining their beach chairs, the operators also face major physical challenges depending on the number of items, the effort and the frequency of placement.

Turning devices, such as those described in the published application, should help to make things easier DE 198 30 289 A1 or eg through the utility model specification DE 20 2011 102 323 are known. These are technically relatively undemanding subframes on which the respective beach chair is rotatably attached and with which it is anchored as firmly as possible in the ground.

With the help of such rotating devices, beach chairs can be rotated manually on rollers around their vertical axis at defined locations. Although this makes it easier to adjust according to the weather and back to the starting position on the beach, it makes it more difficult to move the beach chairs overall or makes this degree of freedom for use no longer possible. However, this restriction in the flexibility of the beach chairs is a major deficit in terms of joie de vivre, especially for groups who want to sit together in a circle.

Another technical problem with mobile devices in the area of beach sand is caused by friction and/or tilting when grains of sand come into contact with moving parts and stick to them, e.g. due to moisture.

The focus of the invention is the operational question of an effective working method, such as beach chairs can be placed again and again on a defined area at their optimal locations with maximum flexibility in order to work regularly and consistently with available beach cleaning technology. The ideal to strive for would be ideally adjacent beach chairs in several parallel rows. The row spacing must neither be so narrow that beach cleaning machines have to be squeezed through, nor so wide that additional work steps are required next to the machines. As a result, the row spacing is designed according to the working width of the beach cleaning machines, with overlapping being used for several cleaning passes between two rows in order to be able to drive as close as possible to the beach chairs. Single-row arrangements, on the other hand, are rather rare and hardly worth striving for due to the larger space they require. The level of difficulty increases the more winding the arrangement of the beach chairs is, especially since there are no suitable markings in the beach sand. The specific locations and the possible deviations from them can be precisely determined and systematized, e.g. with the methods of layout planning (internal location planning).

The invention is a new way of placing beach chairs after any use with the help of autonomous systems by a robot and artificial intelligence. The robot to be used either has its own chassis or legs. Due to state-of-the-art digital technology, he is able to move independently on the paths on which a beach cleaning machine is later regularly pulled by a tractor (e.g. tractor) or drives itself with its own drive.

If a beach chair is not in its intended place and/or in its intended orientation, the robot recognizes this with the help of a camera and stops in front of or next to the beach chair within its range. Using robot arms with grippers attached to their end pieces, the robot grips either preferably from above with a single Robot arm or from one side, but then if possible with several robot arms to be placed beach chair and lifts it. If necessary, the robot must first adjust the beach chair in the beach sand before the gripping system can begin to lift it. The beach chair that has been picked up is immediately brought to a predetermined place with one robot arm or with the robot arms alone or combined with the mobility of the entire robot, where it is aligned and set down until it is stable. The beach chair is accordingly rotated and/or pivoted and/or transported while it is floating. After the robot has completely let go of the beach chair, it brings one or all of the robot arms back to their starting position with the respective gripping system and continues to move autonomously along the above path along the beach chairs to the next beach chair to be placed in the same way.

Different designs of the robot are possible and have to be specially developed with the manufacturers. The differences are principally in the combinations of the way of locomotion, by driving or walking, with the number of robot arms, only distinguishing the one-armed robot from the one with multiple robot arms. While the requirements for the mobility of the entire robot depend on the soil conditions, the number of robot arms and the gripping system are determined by different versions of the beach chairs. The main criterion is the load limit of the available joints, if the maximum load capacity of the preferably one-armed robot is too critical, so that a multi-armed robot with better load distribution would have to be used. Additional protection claims are explicitly asserted for the respective construction of the robot.

With the help of artificial intelligence, the robot is capable of learning. It visualizes all target positions of the marked beach chairs in the desired arrangement on the respective beach section. In addition, as many deviations from the target positions as possible and/or necessary are programmed as actual positions in it. Even if the robot is fed with as many actual positions as possible and still encounters an unknown actual state, it automatically calculates the deviations from the nearest programmed actual position and transfers this data directly to its working method to achieve the associated target position. However, the robot is also able to expand an actual position that has not been saved with additional work steps to directly reach the associated target position if, for example, the above deviation is greater than the distance to the desired target due to insufficiently programmed actual positions -Position. The artificial intelligence thus reduces the robot's own movements in the beach sand, in that the robot does not first move the beach chair it has picked up to a known, more distant actual position in order to reach the target position through a program sequence, as is the case with conventional programming would be possible without visualization, but with much more effort. Every process learned is saved permanently.

The work steps are repeated from row to row until all beach chairs are placed as desired. If the robot encounters people in and/or on the beach chairs, it stops at a reasonable distance and asks them to leave. If necessary, feedback is given to the operator before the robot continues its work autonomously.

You can manually intervene in the control and regulation at any time directly on the robot or via a remote control, right down to standstill.

The working method according to the invention takes place in the bathing season immediately before each mechanical cleaning of the bathing beaches and can take place regularly during this time.

The invention is thus also a supplementary method step to commercial beach cleaning for the seaweed to be obtained for commercial use, such as with exemplary embodiment c) in the published application DE 199 37 900 A 1 is known without the need for any other beach cleaning machine.

application example

Any number of beach chairs is numbered and arranged in three rows of equal length, for example. Between the rows are driveways that are wide enough for two cleaning passes next to each other with a tractor that is towing a commercial beach cleaning machine for medium-sized beaches with a total width of 2.80 m, i.e. approx. 5 m row spacing with approx. 0.60 m overlapping for the two passes per row.

The first row starts with beach chair number 1 and ends with any beach chair number x. The second row begins with the beach chair of the number following that of the last beach chair from the first row, i.e. No. x+1 and ends with the beach chair no. x+x, i.e. no. 2x. The third and in this example the last row begins again with the beach chair of the next following number to that of the last beach chair from the previous row, i.e. No. 2x+1, and ends with the beach chair of No. 2x+x, i.e. No. 3x. This consecutive numbering of the beach chairs can be expanded as desired and is visualized in the robot and programmed to the real target state for the relevant section of beach. It is used for the exact assignment of the beach chairs after use and can be changed during the bathing season. In addition, as many actual positions as possible are stored in the robot in a systematic and/or visualized manner.

Using a camera and digital technology, the robot moves autonomously in the direction between the rows of beach chairs with the numbers from 1 to x on the right or left from x+1 to 2x, i.e. beginning with beach chair no. 1 (on the right). It visualizes the numbers and the actual positions of the beach chairs to the left and/or right next to and/or in front of it. Each beach chair is compared with its target position. If an intolerable deviation of an actual position from a target position and/or only of the orientation of the seat is determined, the robot places the relevant beach chair according to the above description of the invention. The deviations of the actual positions from the target positions can also be so large that the path is completely blocked.

Once the robot arrives at the beach chairs numbered x (to the right of the robot) and 2x (to the left of the robot), it turns around the beach chair numbered 2x and continues the same way of working in the opposite direction between the beach chairs with the numbers from 2x to x+1 on the left or from 3x to 2x+1 on the right.

In the event that beach chairs are found contrary to their numbering, e.g. in a circle, the robot is able to sort them. To do this, the robot detects the maximum number of beach chairs to be sorted and finds a required free space to which it may transport the beach chairs and put them aside for the time being before it retrieves them and finally places them. This is necessary when one or more beach chairs with higher numbers in front of the beach chair with a smaller number to be placed or, in the opposite direction, one or more beach chairs with smaller numbers in front of the beach chair with a higher number to be placed are in the robot's way.

QUOTES INCLUDED IN DESCRIPTION

This list of documents cited by the applicant was generated automatically and is included solely for the better information of the reader. The list is not part of the German patent or utility model application. The DPMA assumes no liability for any errors or omissions.

Patent Literature Cited

• DE 19830289 A1 [0005]
• EN 202011102323 [0005]
• DE 19937900 A [0016]

Claims (2)

Working method to place beach chairs in which a) an autonomous system consisting of a self-learning robot that works automatically using artificial intelligence and stores the target positions of all beach chairs provided with markings on the respective beach section visualized with a camera b) are stored in the robot from the outset actual positions of the beach chairs to the individual target positions in a systematic and / or visualized manner c) the robot moves autonomously on the beach section, starting from a starting point, and visualizes the actual positions with the camera and compares them with their target positions d) the robot stops in the range of the beach chair in the event of an impermissible deviation of an actual position from a target position e) the robot with one or more robot arms, on which or on which a gripping system is located according to the respective version of the beach chair, picks up the deviating beach chair and, if necessary, adjusts the beach chair beforehand in the beach sand for this recording f) the beach chair picked up by the robot is rotated and/or swiveled and/or transported alone or by a combination of movements of the entire robot with its arm movements until the target position of the beach chair is reached by the shortest and/or fastest route and then can be parked securely on the beach sand g) the robot checks the placement of the released beach chair by comparing the actual and target positions and repeats the positioning in accordance with points e) and f) if there is a mismatch h) if the positioned beach chair is stable, the robot returns to its starting position and continues the work process according to points c) to g) until the visualized state according to point a) is reached within permissible tolerances i) the work processes according to points c) to h) for the different actual positions according to point b) are pre-programmed in the robot j) the work processes not saved according to point i) according to points c) to h) are self-learning by means of artificial intelligence and are permanently stored working procedures claim 1 , in which a) the robot sorts the beach chairs swapped out of a sequence before it places them b) the robot is able to carry out the sorting on a nearby and self-selected free space