JP2002244737A - Mobile work robot - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a practical mobile work robot capable of recognizing a position accurately by reducing deviation of a travel path even when it moves in a wide travel work region in which an obstacle exists. SOLUTION: This mobile work robot has a main body part 1 performing work by moving, a monitoring part 2 monitoring the main body part from the outside, and a base part 3 standing-by when the main body part does not work. Since the monitoring part moves the main body part to a position where monitoring is possible, a position measurement error is not accumulated, it can move even in the wide travel region securely, and it can maintain its performance even if the obstacle exists.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a mobile work robot such as a self-propelled cleaner or an automatic guided vehicle having a traveling function and performing work while moving.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Hitherto, various mobile work robots have been developed in which a work drive unit, a sensor, and a drive control unit are added to work equipment to automatically perform work. For example, a self-propelled cleaner has a suction nozzle or a brush at the bottom of the main body as a cleaning function, a driving and steering means as a moving function, and an obstacle detecting means for detecting an obstacle during traveling,
Position recognition means for recognizing the position, while moving along the peripheral wall of the cleaning place by the obstacle detection means, recognizing the cleaning area by the position recognition means, and moving within the cleaning area to move the entire cleaning area. Is to clean.

[0003]

However, in such a conventional mobile work robot, since the relative position recognition is performed using an internal sensor such as a gyro sensor or a travel distance sensor for the position recognition means, a wide moving robot is required. In the work area, the accumulation of position measurement errors became large, and the movement route was shifted or the start point was sometimes lost. Therefore, for example, it is very difficult in terms of positional accuracy to provide a standby base for the main body at the start point and automatically guide the main body to the base for standby.

When an obstacle is present in the cleaning area, it is difficult for the cleaning robot to predetermine a moving path so as to fill the entire cleaning area while avoiding the obstacle, and complicated control is required.

[0005] Therefore, the present invention enables accurate position recognition even when moving in a wide moving work area where obstacles are present, minimizes the shift of the moving route, and automatically guides the main body to the base for waiting. It is intended to provide a practical mobile work robot capable of automatic charging and automatic start.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, a mobile work robot according to the present invention comprises: a main body for moving and working; a monitoring unit for monitoring the main body from outside; The monitoring unit has a base unit that stands by when the unit is not working, and the monitoring unit moves to a position where the main body unit can be monitored. A mobile work robot that can maintain its performance even when it is present can be realized.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The invention according to a first aspect of the present invention comprises a main body that moves and performs work, a monitoring unit that monitors the main body from outside, and a base unit that stands by when the main body is not working. The monitoring unit moves the main unit to a position where the main unit can be monitored.Even if there is an obstacle in the main unit moving area, the monitoring unit continues to obtain an image of the main unit, and the main body light emitting unit and The main body can surely return to the base and stand by by catching both light emissions of the base light emitting means and recognizing the positions of the two by the position recognition means.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a main unit which moves and performs work, a monitoring unit which externally monitors the main unit, and a base unit which stands by when the main unit is not working, The main body includes a driving unit and a steering unit that move the main unit, a driving control unit that controls the driving unit and the steering unit to control the driving of the main unit, and a main body receiving unit that receives a signal from the monitoring unit. Means for emitting light to the outside, the base unit having a base light emitting unit for emitting light to the outside, and the monitoring unit for inputting an image of a moving area of the body unit. A position recognizing means for recognizing a position of the main body light emitting means and a position of the base part light emitting means from an image inputted by the image input means; and transmitting an information signal obtained from the position recognizing means to the main body part. Monitoring unit transmission means An image input moving means for moving an image input position of the image input means, wherein the traveling control means controls a traveling route of the main body based on an information signal received by the main body receiving means; Even if there is an obstacle in the moving area, by changing the image input position of the image input means by the image input moving means, the monitoring unit can continue to obtain the image of the main body part, so that the entire area is completely filled. Can be moved to.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the image input moving means starts moving the image input position of the image input means when the position recognizing means does not recognize the main body light emitting means. When the recognition is performed, the movement of the image input position is stopped. Even if an obstacle is present in the main body moving area, the monitoring unit can continue to obtain images of the main body and the base, and more accurately and efficiently the entire area. Can be moved to fill the entire area.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, when the image input position of the image input means is moved by the image input moving means, the movement of the main body is stopped. The accuracy of the running trajectory control of the main body can be improved.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the communication means between each transmitting means and each receiving means is radio communication means such as radio waves, light, or ultrasonic waves, or a combination thereof.
Since there is no physical connection between the monitoring unit and the main unit, the moving operation can be performed without restriction on the main unit.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS (Embodiment 1) Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention applied to a self-propelled cleaner will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of the present embodiment.
In the drawing, reference numeral 1 denotes a main body that performs cleaning while moving.
The robot moves on the floor A, which is a cleaning area where the obstacle B exists. A monitoring unit 2 monitors the positions of the main unit 1 and the base unit 3 and is installed on the ceiling of the cleaning area so as to overlook the entire floor surface A.

FIG. 2 shows the structure of the main body 1. In the figure, reference numerals 4 and 5 denote left and right drive motors, and their output shafts drive left and right traveling wheels 8 and 9 via left and right reduction gears 6 and 7, respectively. By independently controlling the rotation of the left drive motor 4 and the right drive motor 5, for example, right rotation can be performed by rotating only the left drive motor 4, and conversely, left rotation can be performed by rotating only the right drive motor 5. Further, the main body 1 can be moved so that the vehicle can go straight by rotating both the left drive motor 4 and the right drive motor 5, and also serves as a drive unit and a steering unit. Reference numeral 10 denotes travel control means for controlling the drive motors 4 and 5 on the left and right in accordance with various inputs to control the travel of the main body 1, and comprises a microcomputer and other control circuits.

Reference numeral 11 denotes a main body light emitting means, such as a lamp or an LED, mounted on the upper surface of the main body 1, which is controlled to blink by a main body light emission control means 12a (see FIG. 3) of the circuit board 12. The main body light emitting means 11 emits infrared light. The main body light emitting means 11 is provided at a position away from the running wheels 8 and 9 at the center in the left and right directions of the main body 1. 13,1
Reference numeral 4 denotes an obstacle detection sensor that detects the distance to an obstacle in front of and side of the main body 1 by light. Reference numeral 15 denotes a cleaning nozzle for cleaning the floor surface. The suction port is provided with an agitator 16 such as a rotary brush at the suction port, and sucks dust by the vacuum pressure generated by the fan motor 17. The agitator 16 is driven to rotate by a nozzle motor 18 via a transmission belt 19. Reference numeral 20 denotes a power supply including a battery or the like, which supplies power to the main body 1.

As shown in FIG. 1, the base unit 3 includes a main body 1
Is a station that stands by when not working, and is installed at a corner of a cleaning area or the like, and charges the power supply 20 of the main body 1 at the end of the work of the main body 1. Reference numeral 21 denotes a charging terminal, which is connected to the power receiving terminal 22 of the main unit 1 during standby to supply power from the charger of the base unit 3 to the power supply 20 of the main unit 1. Reference numeral 24 denotes a base light-emitting means, which is the same as the main body light-emitting means 11, and emits light to the monitoring unit 2. Base light emitting means 24
As shown in the system configuration diagram of FIG. 3, the base emission control unit 26 responds to the information signal received by the base reception unit 25.
Blinking control.

The monitoring section 2 is an image input section 31 for inputting an image of the entire floor A including the main body light emitting section 11 and the base section light emitting section 24, and a cleaning area for guiding the movement of the image input section 31. It has an image input means moving trajectory 32 provided on the outermost periphery of the bottom surface A. The image data of the image input means 31 is processed by the position recognition means 33, and the result is transmitted by the transmission means 34 to the main unit 1 and the base unit. Send to 3.
This transmission data is received by the main body receiving means 12b of the circuit board 12 in the main body part 1 and by the base receiving means 25 in the base part 3. The image input unit 31 of the monitoring unit 2 includes a driving unit 40 including a driving motor 41 and wheels 42, a driving control unit 43 including a microcomputer and a control circuit for controlling the driving unit, a CCD and a CMOS sensor. And the like, and a camera unit 44 including a lens and the like, and is initially stationary near the base unit 3.

The lens portion of the image input means 31 is provided with a filter which allows only infrared light to pass therethrough.
Light input from other than the base unit light emitting means 24 is blocked as much as possible to make it less susceptible to illumination and sunlight.

In the present embodiment, the communication between the monitoring unit 2, the main unit 1, and the image input means 31 is of a wireless system using radio waves.

Next, the operation in which the monitoring unit 2 detects the positions of the main unit 1 and the base unit 3 using the image input means 31 will be described.

As described above, the monitoring unit 2 is installed at a position overlooking the entire floor A such as the ceiling of the cleaning area, and the floor including the main body light emitting unit 11 and the base unit light emitting unit 24 by the image input unit 31. A The whole image is input. Therefore, for example, when the main body 1 is stopped,
When only the main unit 1 is turned on, the image input unit 31 displays the image of the base unit 1 where the main unit light emitting unit 11 is turned on, the base unit 3 where the base unit light emitting unit 24 is turned off, and the floor A and its surroundings. Is entered. In this embodiment, the position recognizing unit 33 calculates the difference between the two data, the image in which the main body light emitting unit 11 is turned on and the image in which the main body light emitting unit 11 is turned off, and calculates the difference between the two data. Is extracted, and the position coordinates with respect to the image plane are detected. Similarly, the image in which the base part light emitting means 24 is lit and the base part light emitting means 24
The image of the base unit light emitting means 24 is extracted from the two image data of the image for which the light is turned off, and the position coordinates with respect to the image plane are detected. Then, information based on the detected position is transmitted to the transmitting means 3.
4 transmits the same signal to the main body receiving means 12b and the base receiving means 25 at the same time.

FIG. 4 shows that the main body light emitting control means 12a is connected to the main body light emitting means 1 in the main body portion 1 and the base portion 3, respectively.
1 indicates the timing at which the base light emission control means 26 causes the base part light emission means 24 to blink. First, transmission means 3
When the main body receiving section 12b receives the information signal 40 transmitted from the main body light emitting section 11, the main body light emitting control section 12a
To the lighting state 41. At the same time, this is
When 5 is received, the base light emission control means 26 sets the base part light emission means 24 to the light-off state 42. Image input means 3 of monitoring unit 2
1 is to input an image each time the transmitting means 34 performs a transmitting operation. At this time, an image in which only the main body light emitting means 11 is lit is input. Next, when the main body receiving means 12b receives the information signal 43, the main body light emission controlling means 12a
Sets the main body light emitting means 11 to the light-off state 44. At this time, the image input unit 31 or the sub-image input unit 32 inputs an image in which both the main body light emitting unit 11 and the base unit light emitting unit 24 are turned off. The main body light emitting means 1 is obtained from the above two image data.
1 can be detected. Similarly, upon receiving the information signal 45, the main body light emission control means 12a keeps the main body light emission means 11 in the light-off state 44, and at the same time, when the base reception means 25 receives this, the base light emission control means 26 sets the base light emission means 24
Is turned on. Next, when the information signal 47 is received, the main body light emission control means 12a keeps the main body light emission means 11 in the light-off state 44, and when the base reception means 25 receives this, the base light emission control means 26 turns off the base part light emission means 24 in the light off state 48. To The position of the base unit light emitting means 24 can be detected from the image data in each state. By repeating such an operation every several tens of msec, the positions of both the main body light emitting means 11 and the base section light emitting means 24 can be detected even while the main body 1 is running.

The transmitting means 23 transmits two position coordinates of the main body light emitting means 11 and the base light emitting means 24 as information signals.

The main body light emitting means 11 is provided at a position apart from the running wheels 8 and 9 at the center in the left and right direction of the main body 1 because a change in the position coordinates of the main body light emitting means 11 is caused by a change in the direction of the main body 1. For this reason, by sequentially processing the position coordinates of the main body light emitting unit 11, the direction in which the main body unit 1 faces can be determined.

When the main body 1 is shadowed by the obstacle B and the position recognizing means 33 cannot detect the main body 1 from the image from the image input means 31, the information signal which the position recognizing means 33 cannot detect the main body is transmitted. The data is transmitted to the main unit 1 and the image input means 31 by. At this time, when the travel control means 10 of the main body 1 receives the signal from the image input means 31, it stops the drive motors 4, 5 and stops the movement of the main body 1. On the other hand, when the image input means 31 receives the signal from the position recognition means 33, the image input means 31 rotates the wheels 42 by the drive motor 41 by the drive control means 43, and the wheels 42 run on the image input means moving orbit 32. And image input means 3
The position of the input image 1 moves. The drive motor 4
1 and the wheel 42 constitute an image input driving means 40, and the image input driving means 40 and the image input means moving path 32 constitute an image input moving means.

At this time, when the image input means 31 keeps inputting the image and the position recognizing means 33 detects the main unit 1 again from the image from the image input means 31, the position recognizing means 33 sets the main body. The detected information signal is transmitted to the main unit 1 and the image input unit 31 by the transmission unit 34. The movement of the image input means 31 is stopped by the drive control means 43, and at the same time, the traveling control means 10 of the main body 1 receives the signals from the image input means 31 and drives the drive motors 4, 5.
To restart the movement of the main body 1. If the position recognition unit 33 cannot detect the main unit 1 from the image from the image input unit 31 during the operation of the main unit, the same operation is repeated. While the image input unit 31 is moving, a signal to that effect is transmitted to the main unit 1 by the transmission unit 34 of the monitoring unit, and the movement of the main unit 1 is stopped by the travel control unit 10. When the movement of the body 31 is resumed, a signal to that effect is transmitted to the main body 1 by the transmission means 34 of the monitoring section, and the movement of the main body 1 is also resumed by the travel control means 10.

With the above configuration, the overall operation of this embodiment will be described.

As shown in FIG. 5, the operation is started in a state where the main unit 1 is in a standby state at the base unit 3. The main body unit 1 detects surrounding obstacles by the obstacle detection sensors 13 and 14, and the travel control unit 10 controls the rotation of the left and right drive motors 4 and 5 to start moving. The image input means 31 starts inputting image information to the position recognizing means 33. At the same time, the nozzle motor 18 and the fan motor 17 of the cleaning nozzle 15 are operated, and the agitator 16 cleans the floor surface while sucking up dust. . The main body 1 performs the cleaning operation of the entire cleaning area as indicated by the movement path a while measuring the distances to the front and left and right walls by the obstacle detection sensors 13 and 14. At this time, inside the travel control unit, the position coordinate data of the main body light emitting unit 11 transmitted from the monitoring unit 2 is stored as a movement map, and it is determined whether or not there is an uncleaned portion, and the movement control is performed.

Next, when the main body 1 enters a region (point b) which is shaded by the obstacle B and is not detected by the image input means 31,
The position recognition unit 33 transmits a signal to the travel control unit 10 and the image input unit 31 of the main body 1. When receiving the signal from the position recognition means 33, the main body 1 stops the drive motors 4 and 5 and stops the movement of the main body 1. When the image input unit 31 receives a signal from the position recognition unit 33, the image input unit 31 is moved on the image input unit movement trajectory 32 by the drive control unit 43. At this time, the image input means 31 is
When the position recognition unit 33 detects the main unit 1 again from the image from the image input unit 31 (point c), the position recognition unit 33 transmits an information signal indicating that the main unit 1 has been detected. The data is transmitted to the main unit 1 and the image input means 31 by. The image input unit 31 includes a drive control unit 43
The movement is stopped by the
0 drives the drive motors 4 and 5 to restart the movement of the main body 1. In this embodiment, when switching the image input device, the main unit 1 is used.
Is stopped, the position coordinate data of the main body light emitting means 11 is not lost.

When the main body 1 enters a region (point d) where it is shaded by the obstacle B and is not detected by the image input means 31, similarly, the position recognizing means 33 detects the position of the main body 1 from the image from the image input means 31. The user can move to a point (point e) where the unit 1 can be detected.

At a point (point f) where the main body 1 has no uncleaned parts on the movement map, the main body 1 stops, and the cleaning operation ends. When the cleaning operation mode ends, the mode is switched to the return operation mode for returning to the base unit 3 as in the moving route G.

In this mode of operation, the traveling control means 10 compares the two position coordinates of the main body light emitting means 11 and the base light emitting means 24 transmitted from the monitoring section 2, and the main body 1
Control to return to. That is, every time an information signal is transmitted from the monitoring unit 2, the distance and direction from the current position of the main unit 1 to the base unit 3 are calculated, and the main unit 1 is processed in this direction while processing the inputs from the obstacle detection sensors 13 and 14. The travel control is performed so that the unit 1 is oriented and the distance is reduced. In this way, when the main body 1 approaches within a certain distance of the base 3, the travel control means 10 reverses the direction of the main body 1 so that the power receiving terminal 22 is connected to the charging terminal 21 of the base 3. Dock with part 3.

When the main unit 1 and the base unit 3 are docked, the main unit 1 enters the standby mode, and the power supply circuit supplied from the power supply 20 is cut off. Then, the power supply 20 is supplied with electric power from the charger of the base unit 3 and charging starts. When the work is completed as described above, the power supply 20 is automatically charged, so that a troublesome charging operation is not required, and the cleaning work can be restarted at any time.

In this embodiment, the timing at which the main body light emitting means 11 and the base section light emitting means 24 are turned on / off is shown in FIG. 4, but the point is that only the main body light emitting means 11 is turned on and the base section light emitting means 24 is turned on. Only a pattern in which only the ON state and the OFF state of both light emitting units are alternately combined may be used, and the present invention is not limited to this.

[0035]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the monitoring section for recognizing the position of the main body is moved to eliminate a blind spot caused by an obstacle or the like. It is possible to realize a mobile work robot that can maintain its performance even when an obstacle exists.

According to the second or third aspect of the present invention, the position of the image input by the image input means is moved to eliminate the blind spot caused by an obstacle or the like. A mobile work robot that can maintain its performance even when it is present can be realized.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the position of the image input by the image input means is moved to eliminate a blind spot caused by an obstacle or the like, and the movement of the main body is stopped while the image input means is moving. Thus, it is possible to realize a mobile work robot in which the measurement error of the position recognition means is reduced and the accuracy of the control of the traveling trajectory of the main body is improved.

According to the fifth aspect of the invention, since the communication means is a radio wave, a light, an ultrasonic wave, or a combination thereof, there is no physical connection between the monitoring unit, the main unit, and the base unit. It is possible to realize a mobile work robot having no restrictions on its operation.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of a self-propelled vacuum cleaner showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an internal perspective view showing the structure of the main body.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the system configuration;

FIG. 4 is a waveform chart showing the operation of the light emitting means of the main body part and the light emitting means of the base part.

FIG. 5 is an operation explanatory view showing the cleaning operation.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Main body part 2 Monitoring part 3 Base part 4 Left drive motor (drive means, steering means) 5 Right drive motor (drive means, steering means) 10 Travel control means 11 Main body light emitting means 24 Base part light emitting means 28 Main body Receiving means 31 Image input means 32 Image input means moving trajectory (image input moving means) 33 Position recognition means 34 Transmission means 40 Image input driving means (image input moving means)

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor ▲ Hane ▼ Tsuyoshi Tano 1006 Kazuma Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture F-term in Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. 3C007 AS15 CS08 KS18 KT01 KX19 WA16 WB16 5H301 BB05 BB11 DD07 DD15 KK10 KK16

Claims (5)

[Claims] A main unit for performing a work by moving; a monitoring unit for monitoring a position of the main unit from the outside; and a base unit for waiting when the main unit is not working. A mobile work robot configured to move a part to a position where it can be monitored. A main unit that moves and performs work, a monitoring unit that externally monitors a position of the main unit, and a base unit that stands by when the main unit does not work, wherein the main unit includes the base unit, A driving unit and a steering unit that move the main unit, a driving control unit that controls the driving unit and the steering unit to control the driving of the main unit, a main unit receiving unit that receives a signal from the monitoring unit, and an external device. The base unit has a base unit light emitting unit that emits light to the outside, and the monitoring unit includes an image input unit that inputs an image of a moving area of the main body unit. Position recognizing means for recognizing the position of the main body light emitting means and the position of the base part light emitting means from the image input by the image input means, and a monitoring part transmitting means for transmitting an information signal obtained from the position recognizing means to the main body part And the image input A mobile work robot having image input moving means for moving an image input position of the means, wherein the travel control means controls a travel route of the main body based on the information signal received by the main body receiving means. 3. The image input moving means starts moving the image input position of the image input means when the position recognizing means does not recognize the main body light emitting means. When the position recognizing means recognizes the main body light emitting means, the image input moving means detects the image input position. The mobile work robot according to claim 2, wherein the mobile work robot stops moving. 4. The mobile work robot according to claim 2, wherein the movement of the main body is stopped when the image input position of the image input means is moved by the image input moving means. 5. The mobile work robot according to claim 1, wherein the communication means between each transmitting means and each receiving means is a radio wave, a light, an ultrasonic wave, or a wireless communication means combining them. .