JP2003001573A - Robot device and its control method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve entertainment property and practicality of a robot device. SOLUTION: The robot device moves so as to approach the telephone MS with a clue of incoming sound of the telephone MS inputted from a sound collecting means while carrying out call originating processing to the telephone number of the telephone MS stored as a search target in advance in accordance with requirements. By so doing, the telephone can be searched by the robot device 1 when the telephone MS is lost, which enhances entertainment property and practicality of the robot device 1.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a robot apparatus and its control method, and is suitable for application to, for example, a pet robot.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the applicant of the present application has proposed and developed a four-legged walking type pet robot that behaves according to a user's command and the surrounding environment. Such a pet robot
It has a shape very similar to dogs and cats raised in general households, and is designed to act autonomously according to the user's instructions and the surrounding environment.

[0003]

By the way, it has been proposed and developed that the pet robot having such a configuration is provided with a telephone function, and if the telephone function provided is utilized, the entertainment property as a pet robot is further enhanced. It is also considered that the practicality can be improved.

[0004] For example, although mobile phones have been remarkably widespread in recent years, users often lose their mobile phones. At this time, even if the location of the lost mobile phone is unknown, it may be clear that it exists within a certain range, such as at home or at work.

In this case, a method may be considered in which the user performs a calling process on the lost mobile phone and searches for the mobile phone by relying on the ring tone of the mobile phone. However, this takes time for the user. Is inevitable. Therefore,
It is considered that if the pet robot can search for the lost mobile phone, the user's time and effort required for the search can be further reduced.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object thereof is to propose a robot apparatus and a control method therefor capable of improving entertainment and practicality.

[0007]

In order to solve such a problem, according to the present invention, a calling means for calling a telephone number of a telephone set registered in advance as a search target, and a sound collecting ambient voice. Sound collecting means, and a control means for performing movement control as necessary for the telephone number, and controlling movement so as to approach the telephone by the ringing tone of the telephone input from the sound collecting means as a clue. Was set up. As a result,
When the telephone is lost, the robot can search for the telephone.

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

(1) Configuration of Pet Robot According to this Embodiment In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes the pet robot according to this embodiment as a whole, and leg units 3A to 3D are connected to the front, rear, left and right of the body unit 2, respectively. In addition, the head unit 4 and the tail unit 5 are connected to the front end and the rear end of the body unit 2, respectively.

Here, in the pet robot 1, FIG.
As shown in, the body unit 2 includes a controller 10 for controlling the operation of the entire pet robot 1, a battery 11 serving as a power source of the pet robot 1, and an internal sensor unit including a battery sensor 12 and a heat sensor 13. 1
4, a communication unit 15 for wirelessly communicating with a mobile phone, an antenna 16, a PC (Personal Computer) card interface 17, and the like are housed.

Further, the head unit 4 is provided with a microphone 25 corresponding to "ears", a CCD camera 26 corresponding to "eyes", a touch sensor 27, a speaker 30 corresponding to "mouths", etc., respectively. It is arranged in a position.

Further, the joints of the leg units 3A to 3D, the leg units 3A to 3D and the body unit 2 are connected.
The actuator 3AA ₁ is connected to each of the connecting portions, the head unit 4 and the body unit 2, and the tail unit 5 and the body unit 2.
_{~3AAK, 3BA 1 ~3BA K, 3CA} 1 ~3CA K, 3
_{DA 1 ~3DA K, 4A 1 ~4A} L, 5A 1 ~5A M is arranged.

The microphone 25 of the head unit 4
Collects command sounds such as “walk”, “prone” or “follow the ball” given by the user as a scale by a sound commander (a commander that generates sounds of different scales depending on the operation content), Obtained audio signal S
1 is sent to the controller 10. Also CCD camera 2
6 captures an image of the surrounding situation and sends the obtained image signal S2 to the controller 10.

Further, the touch sensor 27 is provided on the upper part of the head unit 4 as is apparent in FIG. 1, and detects the pressure received by a physical action such as "stroking" or "tapping" from the user. , And sends the detection result to the controller 10 as a pressure detection signal S3.

The battery sensor 12 of the body unit 2
Detects the remaining amount of the battery sensor 11 in five stages, and outputs the detection result of each stage to the battery remaining amount detection signal S4.
Are sequentially sent to the controller 10. In this case, in the battery sensor 12, the remaining amount of the battery 11 is 80% or more, 80 to 50%, 50 to 25%, 25 to 20%, and 20%.
When [%] or less, "Full" and "Midd" respectively
"le-Full", "Middle", "Low" and "Low-Low" are classified and detected stepwise.

The heat sensor 13 of the body unit 2 detects the internal temperature of the pet robot 1 and sends the detection result to the controller 10 as a heat detection signal S5.

The communication unit 15 contains a predetermined communication circuit, and the antenna 16 is controlled under the control of the controller 10.
It is designed to be able to communicate with a mobile phone via.

When the memory card 28 is loaded into the PC card slot (not shown) of the body unit 2, the PC card interface 17 reads out the data stored in the memory card 28 and uses it as the controller 1
Send to 0.

The controller 10 includes a microphone 25,
The ambient conditions based on the audio signal S1, the image signal S2, the pressure detection signal S3, the battery remaining amount detection signal S4, the heat detection signal S5, etc. provided from the CCD camera 26, the touch sensor 27, the battery sensor 12, and the heat sensor 13. It also determines whether or not there is a command from the user, an action from the user, or the like.

[0020] The controller 10, the determination result and determines a subsequent action based on the control program previously inputted to the memory 10A, the necessary actuators 3AA ₁ ~3AAK based on the determination result, 3BA ₁ ~3BA _K, Three
_{CA 1 ~3CA K, 3DA 1 ~3DA} K, 4A 1 ~4A L, 5
By driving the A ₁ to 5 A _M, to perform actions such as or to shake the head unit 4 up and down and right and left, or to move the tail unit 5, to walk by driving the leg units 3A~3D .

At this time, the controller 10 outputs a voice based on the voice signal S6 to the outside by giving a predetermined voice signal S6 to the speaker 30 as necessary, or the position of the "eye" of the pet robot 1. An LED (Light Emitting Diode) (not shown) provided in the above is turned on, turned off, or blinked.

In this way, the pet robot 1 can act autonomously based on the surrounding conditions, the control program, and the like.

(2) Search for Mobile Phone by Pet Robot In the pet robot 1, when the user loses his / her mobile phone MS for the purpose of improving the entertainment and practicality of the pet robot 1, The lost mobile phone M on behalf of the user
It is designed to search for S (Fig. 3).

In this case, the controller 10 of the pet robot 1 allows the user to operate the mobile phone MS in advance so that the communication unit 15 and the antenna 1 are transferred from the mobile phone MS.
When the telephone number of the mobile telephone MS and the ringing tone digitally recorded are notified via 6, the notified telephone number and the ringing tone of the mobile telephone MS are stored in the memory 10A.

When the mobile phone MS is lost, the user issues a command sound for searching the mobile phone MS to the microphone 25 of the pet robot 1. The controller 10 of the pet robot 1 uses the microphone 2
When the voice signal S1 corresponding to the command sound is supplied from 5, the search processing procedure RT1 shown in FIG. 4 is executed.

In FIG. 4, when the controller 10 enters the search processing procedure RT1, in step SP1, the mobile phone MS to be searched stored in the memory 10A.
To the subsequent step SP2 to listen to the sound around the pet robot 1 via the microphone 25 while calling.

Then, the controller 10 executes step SP
At 3, it is determined whether the sound heard through the microphone 25 matches the incoming call sound stored in the memory 10A. When a negative result is obtained in step SP3, this means that the heard sound does not match the ringing tone stored in the memory 10A, at which time the controller 10 moves to step SP4. Determines the direction and distance that a person moves.

Specifically, the controller 10 detects a characteristic object from the image taken by the CCD camera 26 during movement, and stores the detected object and its position information in the memory 10A as search history information. Based on the operation history information, the moving direction and the moving distance are determined so as to prevent the pet robot 1 from moving to the place where the search was performed in the past.

Then, the controller 10 controls the operation of the pet robot 1 so as to move in the determined direction by the determined distance. At that time, the controller 10 is
Based on the image captured by the CD camera 26, the operation of the pet robot 1 is controlled so as to move while avoiding obstacles such as steps on walls, furniture, and floors, and
When the pet robot 1 falls, the operation of the pet robot 1 is controlled so that the pet robot 1 itself stands up. Then, the controller 10 proceeds to step SP1 after a certain period of time has passed.
Returning to, the telephone number of the mobile phone MS to be searched is called again, and steps SP1 to SP4 are sequentially repeated until a positive result is obtained in step SP3.

On the other hand, when a positive result is obtained in step SP3, this means that the heard sound is stored in the memory 10.
This indicates that the received sound matches the ringing tone stored in A. At this time, the controller 10 moves to step SP6 and determines whether or not the volume of the heard sound is larger than a predetermined value.

If a positive result is obtained in step SP6, this means that the pet robot 1 is approaching the mobile phone MS under search. At this time, the controller 10 moves to step SP7 and the mobile phone M is searched.
The user is notified that the mobile phone MS to be searched for has been found by stopping the calling process and movement of S and outputting a predetermined voice to the outside through the speaker 30. And the controller 10 carries out step SP8.
Then, the procedure ends.

On the other hand, when a negative result is obtained in step SP6, this means that the volume of the heard sound is smaller than a predetermined value. At this time, the controller 10 moves to step SP10, It is determined whether or not the direction of the sound heard before and after the movement has changed by more than a predetermined angle.

If a positive result is obtained in step SP10, this means that the pet robot 1 is approaching the mobile phone MS under search. At this time, the controller 10 moves to step SP7 and the mobile phone MS is searched. The user is notified that the mobile phone MS to be searched for has been found by stopping the calling process and the movement to and outputting a predetermined voice to the outside through the speaker 30.

On the other hand, when a negative result is obtained in step SP10, this means that the pet robot 1 is located far from the mobile phone MS under search, and at this time, the controller 10 moves to step SP11. Then, the operation of the pet robot 1 is controlled so that the pet robot 1 moves by a predetermined distance in the direction of the heard sound. Then, after a lapse of a certain time, the controller 10 returns to step SP1 to call the telephone number of the mobile phone MS to be searched again, and repeats the above-described processing until a positive result is obtained in step SP6 or SP10. .

(3) Operations and Effects of the Present Embodiment In the above configuration, the pet robot 1 stores in the memory 10A the telephone number and ring tone of the mobile phone MS held by the user in response to the user's input operation. To do. When the pet robot 1 receives a notification from the user that the mobile phone MS has been lost, the pet robot 1 makes a phone call to the mobile phone MS number stored in the memory 10A while walking to make an incoming call to the mobile phone MS. The lost mobile phone MS is searched for by approaching the mobile phone MS by using the sound as a clue.

In this way, the lost mobile phone MS
The pet robot 1 can be searched, and the labor of the user required for the search can be further reduced.
Entertainment and practicality can be improved.

According to the above configuration, the telephone number and ring tone of the mobile phone MS to be searched are stored in the memory 10A in advance, and when the mobile phone MS is lost, it is stored in the memory 10A while moving. The pet robot 1 can be searched for the lost mobile phone MS by calling the stored phone number and approaching the mobile phone MS by using the ring tone as a clue. Therefore, the entertainment and practical use of the pet robot 1 can be improved. The sex can be further improved.

(4) Other Embodiments In the above-described embodiments, the case where the pet robot 1 is searched for the mobile phone MS has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and may be a portable phone. For example, various other telephones may be searched for.

In the above embodiment, the case where the user operates the mobile phone MS to notify the pet robot 1 of the telephone number and ring tone of the mobile phone MS has been described. Alternatively, the pet robot 1 may be notified of the telephone number and ring tone of the mobile phone MS by operating a personal computer connected to the pet robot 1 by wire.

In the above embodiment, the case where the user operates the mobile phone MS to notify the pet robot 1 of the telephone number and ring tone of the mobile phone MS has been described. Not only the memory card 2 but also the telephone number and ring tone of the mobile phone MS in response to the user operating the personal computer.
8 is stored in advance, and the memory card 28 is loaded into the PC card slot of the pet robot 1, so that the controller 10 causes the PC card interface 1 to operate.
The telephone number and the ring tone of the mobile phone MS stored in the memory card 28 may be read out via 7.

In the above embodiment, the case where the user operates the mobile phone MS to notify the pet robot 1 of the telephone number and ring tone of the mobile phone MS has been described. Not limited to this, a sound and a ringing tone corresponding to the phone number of the mobile phone MS are generated, and the generated sound is collected by the microphone 25 to notify the pet robot 1 of the phone number and the ringing sound of the mobile phone MS. You can

In the above embodiment, the case where the digitally recorded ring tone is notified to the pet robot 1 is described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the ring tone may be transmitted to, for example, a MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interfa).
The pet robot 1 may be notified as data described according to a predetermined format such as ce) data.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the case of making a call to the telephone number of the mobile phone MS every fixed time has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the point is that the mobile phone MS is required. You can make a phone call to your phone number.

In the above-described embodiment, a case has been described in which a predetermined voice is output to the outside through the speaker 30 to notify the user that the mobile phone MS to be searched has been found. The present invention is not limited to this, and the LED may be blinked, for example, to notify the user that the mobile phone MS to be searched has been found, via various other notification means.

In the above-described embodiment, the case where the memory 10A is applied as the storage means has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the telephone number and ring tone of the telephone to be searched are stored in advance. Various storage means may be applied.

In the above embodiment, the case where the communication section 15 is applied as the calling means has been described.
The present invention is not limited to this, and various other calling means for carrying out a calling process to the telephone number of a telephone set registered in advance as a search target may be applied.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the case where the microphone 25 is applied as the sound collecting means has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and various other sound collecting means for collecting ambient sound may be used. You may make it apply.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the case where the controller 10 is applied as the control means has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and while performing a calling process for a telephone number as necessary, It is also possible to apply various other control means for controlling the movement of the ringing tone of the telephone input from the sound collecting means so as to approach the telephone.

[0049]

As described above, according to the present invention, the telephone number of a telephone set registered in advance as a search target is input to the telephone number of the telephone set while the calling process is performed as needed. By moving the phone so as to approach the phone by using the ring tone as a clue, the phone can be searched for by the robot when the phone is lost, and thus the entertainment and practicality of the robot can be further improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment of a pet robot according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of a pet robot.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram for explaining a search for a mobile phone by a pet robot.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a search processing procedure.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Pet robot, 2 ... Body unit, 3 ...
Leg unit, 4 ... Head unit, 5 ... Tail unit, 10 ... Controller, 11 ... Battery, 12
...... Battery sensor, 13 ...... heat sensor, 15 ...... communication section, 16 ...... antenna, 17 ...... PC card interface, 25 ...... microphone, 26 ...... CCD camera, 27 ...... touch sensor, 28 ...... memory Card, 3
0 …… Speaker.

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    F term (reference) 2C150 CA01 CA02 DA05 DA24 DA26                       DA27 DA28 DD28 DF03 DF04                       DF06 DF33 ED10 ED42 ED49                       ED52 EE02 EF13 EF16 EF29                       EF36                 3C007 AS36 CS08 KS39 KV18 MT14                       WA04 WA14 WB19 WC15 WC30

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A calling means for performing a calling process to a telephone number of a telephone set previously registered as a search target, a sound collecting means for collecting ambient voice, and a telephone number for the telephone number if necessary. A robot apparatus, comprising: a control unit that controls movement of the incoming call sound of the telephone, which is input from the sound collecting unit, so as to approach the telephone while performing a calling process. 2. A storage means for storing in advance the telephone number of the telephone and the ringing tone, and the control means stores the sound input from the sound collecting means and the ringing tone stored in the storage means. The robot apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the movement operation is controlled so as to move in the direction of the sound when the sound input from the sound collecting means matches the incoming sound. 3. The control means determines whether or not the user is approaching the telephone based on a change in the volume of the ringing tone of the telephone or the direction of the ringing tone input from the sound collecting means. The robot apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the robot apparatus is a robot apparatus. 4. The robot apparatus according to claim 3, wherein when the control means determines that the telephone is approached, the control means notifies the user of the fact via the notification means. 5. A telephone number preliminarily registered as a search target is used to perform a calling process as needed, and the telephone ring tone input from the sound collecting means is used as a clue to approach the telephone. A method for controlling a robot apparatus, characterized by performing movement control as described above. 6. A telephone number and a ringing tone of said telephone are stored in a storage means in advance, and a sound inputted from said sound collecting means and said ringing tone stored in said storage means are compared, The control method of the robot apparatus according to claim 5, wherein when the sound input from the sound collecting means matches the ringing tone, the moving operation is controlled in the direction of the sound. 7. The method according to claim 6, wherein it is determined whether or not the user is approaching the telephone based on a change in the volume of the ringing tone of the telephone or the direction of the sound input from the sound collecting means. 6. A method for controlling a robot apparatus according to item 1. 8. The method of controlling a robot apparatus according to claim 7, wherein when it is determined that the telephone is approached, the fact is notified to the user via a notifying means.