JP2003340757A - Robot - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a robot for acquiring answers to questionnaires from a user after work performed by the robot itself is completed. <P>SOLUTION: An operation unit 10 of this robot controls an output unit 30 so as to output questions of questionnaires stored in a storage unit 50 to a user after the work is completed. An input unit 60 or a sensor 20 acquires answers of the questionnaires of the user to the question of questionnaires, and the storage unit 50 stores the content of the work and the answers of the questionnaires. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a robot that executes a command from a user, and in particular, the robot itself asks the user about the result of the work performed by the robot after performing the commanded work. Regarding

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A robot is used which works according to a command from a user. Such a robot can perform some tasks depending on the function of the robot. Specifically, a robot that assists a person with a disability brings an object or assists with movement according to a command from the person with a disability.

Since the management of the robot requires specialized knowledge and the like, it is usually managed by a manager other than the user who actually uses the robot. The administrator improves the robot and changes the settings from a professional standpoint according to the request from the user.

It is preferable that the administrator asks the user about the work result of the robot, and improves or changes the setting of the robot so as to meet the user's request. Conventionally, an administrator surveys users who have used a robot for a certain period of time about satisfaction, impressions, requests, etc. regarding the work of the robot. However, in many cases, the user does not store a specific impression or request for each specific work of the robot after a lapse of time from the use. Therefore, after a certain amount of time has passed from the work of the robot, the administrator
In some cases, a valid questionnaire cannot be obtained even if a questionnaire is given to the user about the work result of the robot.

Further, the work performed by the robot according to a user's command is composed of several unit operations.
However, since the user does not know the individual unit motions performed by the robot, it is not possible to understand what kind of unit motions the problem or dissatisfaction has occurred. Therefore, even if the questionnaires are collectively collected for some work, it is not possible to concretely answer which unit motion of which work is dissatisfied.

[0006] The user's request for the work of the robot is
The more specific the task is, the easier it is for the administrator to make improvements. It is desirable to have a questionnaire on robot work that gives answers that correspond to specific work.
It is desirable to conduct a questionnaire to obtain valid answers for each robot task.

[0007]

[PROBLEMS TO BE SOLVED BY THE INVENTION] Provided is a robot capable of taking a questionnaire from a user after the work is completed by the robot itself.

[0008]

[Means for Solving the Problems] Means for solving the problems will be described below with reference to the numbers and symbols used in the embodiments of the present invention. These numbers and signs are added to clarify the correspondence between the description in [Claims] and the description in [Embodiment of the Invention], but in [Claims] It should not be used to interpret the technical scope of the described invention.

The robot (1) according to the present invention has a mechanism for performing work according to a user's command, an output unit (30), an input unit (60) or a sensor (20), and a storage unit (5).
0) and a calculation unit (10). The operation unit (10) of the robot according to the present invention controls and inputs the output unit (30) so as to output the question of the questionnaire stored in the storage unit (50) to the user after the work is completed. The section (60) or the sensor (20) obtains the answer of the user's questionnaire to the question of the questionnaire, and the storage section (50) stores the work content and the answer of the questionnaire in association with each other.

The question of the above questionnaire includes at least one of user's satisfaction with the result of work, request regarding work result and work speed, dissatisfaction point, contents of improvement request, impression and opinion.

The questionnaire method according to the present invention includes the following steps. Regarding the result of the work performed by the robot (1), after the work is finished, the robot (1) stores in the storage unit (5).
The question stored in (0) is sent to the output section (3
0) output step. The step in which the robot (1) acquires the user's answer to the question from the input unit (60) or the sensor (20). The robot (1) associates the contents of the work with the answers of the questionnaire, and
Step 0) to store.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of a robot according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The robot 1 of the present invention is typified by the robot 1 that can perform work such as moving, bringing an object, assisting with movement, and receiving mail according to a user's instruction.
Further, when the robot 1 of the present invention finishes the work in response to a command from the user, the robot itself can take a questionnaire for the work while the user well remembers the work. . Questionnaires are asked in a voice conversation format, displayed on a monitor, or the like. The user answers the questionnaire.
The answer to the user's questionnaire is by voice,
It is carried out by a method of touching and selecting a display on the monitor or a method of key input. Robot 1 is the user name,
The contents of the work, the date and time of the work, the time required from the command to the end of the work, etc. are stored in association with the answers to the questionnaire.

FIG. 1 shows an example of the appearance of the robot 1. The robot 1 shown in FIG. 1 has a head 2 and a body 3, and includes a camera 21, a microphone 22, a monitor 31, a speaker 32, an arm 42, a moving mechanism 41, a hand 43, a communication device 70, and the like. The robot 1 is illustrated. It is preferable that the robot 1 is provided with a sensor and an output device having the same function at positions corresponding to respective parts of a human in order to communicate with the human. Specifically, the camera 21 is provided at a position corresponding to the human eyes of the head 2, the speaker 32 is provided at the mouth position, and the microphone 22 is provided at the ear position. In addition, it has a movable part on the shoulders and elbows like a human arm, and is capable of waving and dancing. Since the person looks at the face portion of the robot 1 and talks to the robot 1, by providing the camera 21 at a position corresponding to the face of the robot 1, it is possible to take an image of the face of the person who is facing. By having a configuration close to that of a human, a person who uses the robot 1 has a sense of familiarity with the robot 1 and treats the robot 1 as if it were a person. In particular, for the robot 1 used for nursing care, a robot 1 that gives the user a feeling of familiarity and feels like a family or friend is desired.

FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the robot 1. The robot 1 includes a computing device 10, a sensor 20, an output device 30, an operating device 40, a storage device 50, an input device 60, and a communication device 70.
It is equipped with.

The arithmetic unit 10 is functionally equivalent to the central arithmetic unit 1.
1, a sensor information processing unit 12, an output device control unit 13, an operation device control unit 14, and a communication information processing unit 17. The above-mentioned respective parts of the arithmetic unit 10 are functional classifications, and the constitution of the unit is represented by a computer having a single or plural CPUs.

The sensor information processing unit 12 processes the information detected by the sensor 20 and sends it to the central processing unit 11. The sensor information processing unit 12 may be individually configured depending on the type of the sensor 20. Specifically, the image processing unit corresponds to the camera 21, the voice processing unit corresponds to the microphone 22, and the like.

The output device control unit 13 controls the output device 30 in response to the output command determined by the central processing unit 11. The output device controller 13 may be individually configured by the output device 30. Operating device controller 14
Controls the operating device 40 in response to the operation-related command determined by the central processing unit 11. Operating device controller 1
4 may be individually configured depending on the type of the operating device 40.

The sensor 20 includes a camera 21, a microphone 22,
Infrared sensor 23, weight sensor 24, tactile sensor 25,
One or a plurality of necessary sensors are selected and mounted according to the function required of the robot 1 as represented by the posture sensor 26 and the like.

The camera 21 is typified by a CCD camera, and takes a picture for detecting an obstacle on the route when the robot 1 moves, a picture for searching a person, and the like. Further, the camera 21 obtains image data to identify the user who has instructed the robot 1. The personal authentication is performed by extracting the facial feature amount from the obtained image. The method of personal authentication can be selected from known techniques and used. Further, even when the robot 1 is used by an unspecified number of people and the personal authentication is not performed, the data such as the gender of the user can be detected from the image captured by the camera 21. Furthermore, when the user commands the robot 1 by sign language,
Used to capture user actions. The image captured by the camera 21 is image-processed by the sensor information processing unit 12.

The microphone 22 detects voice including human voice and is used for voice input of electronic mail. It is also used for voice input of other commands and information collection in the vicinity.
When the robot 1 obtains the answer of the questionnaire for its own work by voice, the robot 1 can collect the answer by the voice of the user from the microphone 22.

The infrared sensor 23 is a sensor for confirming the presence of a person or an object by cutting infrared rays between two points,
It is represented by an infrared camera that detects the presence of a person based on the temperature difference.

The weight sensor 24 senses the weight when the robot 1 holds an object, and detects that the robot 1 holds an object. The tactile sensor 25 detects that the object has been hit, the hardness of the object that it has, or that the user has stroked or hit the object. Further, the tactile sensor 25 can also have a function of detecting a fingerprint or the like for personal authentication. The posture sensor 26 detects the posture of the robot 1 and the detection result is used for posture control during movement.

The output device 30 includes a monitor 31 and a speaker 3.
2, a light emitting unit 33, a printing unit 34, etc., and one or more required output devices are selected and mounted according to the function of the robot 1.

The monitor 31 is represented by a liquid crystal display or the like, and displays an electronic mail or the like. Also, other information can be displayed. The robot 1 can display a question on the monitor 31 and ask the user a question for a questionnaire.

The speaker 32 outputs voice and music.
The speaker 32 is used for information presentation by voice and conversation of the robot 1. When the robot 1 takes a questionnaire to the user by voice, it is possible to ask a question by voice output from the speaker 32.

The light emitting unit 33 is represented by an LED or the like installed in a portion of the robot 1 that touches the face. The situation of the robot 1 can be shown.

The printing unit 34 can print the questionnaire results and the like.

The operating device 40 includes a moving mechanism 41 and an arm 4.
2, represented by the hand 43, the body / neck operation mechanism 44,
Depending on the function of the robot 1, one or more necessary operating devices are selected and mounted.

The moving mechanism 41 is a mechanism for moving the robot 1, and is represented by a bipedal leg, a quadrupedal leg, other moving legs, wheels, crawlers, etc., and is a place where the robot 1 moves. And selected according to the moving speed. The moving mechanism 41 is used when working according to a user's instruction.

The arm 42 has a function equivalent to a human arm, is movably attached to the main body of the robot 1, and the hand 43 is attached to the tip of the arm 42. Arm 42
Is used when working in response to user commands. The hand 43 is attached to the tip of the arm 42 and has a function of grasping an object. With the arm 42 and the hand 43,
Can hold objects. The hand 43 is also used when working in response to a command from the user.

The main body / neck operating mechanism 44 is a mechanism for swinging and rotating the main body / neck, and is used for changing the direction, changing the direction to the person having a conversation, and changing the direction of the sensor 20. It

The storage device 50 stores necessary data from the data such as the operation history 51, the communication information 52, the map / area information 53, the personal authentication data 54, the object data 56, etc., in accordance with the function required of the robot 1. I remember.

The operation history 51 is data in which the operation performed by the robot 1 is recorded every time. It can be used for recognizing action patterns and routine actions from the action history and learning efficient action patterns. The result of the questionnaire conducted by the robot for each user for each work is stored in the storage device 50 in association with the operation history 51. Operation history 5
1, the content of the work, the content of the unit operation that is an individual operation for performing the work (hereinafter, the unit operation content), the time required for the work (the time when the command is received, the work completion time), the user name The time required for each unit operation, the presence / absence of an error, the error content, etc. are included. The unit operation is an individual operation such as moving, finding an object, or gripping an object in the case of an instruction to fetch the object.

The communication information 52 is information necessary for communication, and includes reception history and contents of electronic mails, mail addresses of communicating people, mail server information, address book, and other communication-related information. The map / area information 53 includes information such as map information of an area where the robot 1 moves, a location associated with a specific person, a position of an object, and obstacle information. It is preferable that the map / region information 53 be sequentially updated with the information obtained when the robot 1 moved.

The personal authentication data 54 is data used for personal authentication. Specifically, face, fingerprint, handprint, iris,
It includes information that associates a personal name with a feature amount such as a voiceprint or body type (skeleton), or ID data such as a personal identification number or magnetic or electrical information stored in an ID card or the like. For personal authentication, the central processing unit 11 uses the personal authentication data 5
4 and the feature amount or I acquired by the sensor 20 or the input device
Perform based on D data. The types of features used are
By singular or any combination. Personal authentication is
When the robot 1 is used only by a specific person, it may be used to specify the user. In addition, personal authentication may be performed to identify the person who took the questionnaire.

The object data 56 is associated with information on an object in the area which the robot 1 is in charge of, and its position, shape, color, size, weight, or an equivalent item. The object data 56 is used for the task of the robot 1 searching for an object or the like.

The input device 60 includes a switch 61 and a key 6
2. A single or a plurality of necessary input devices are selected and mounted according to the function of the mobile robot, as represented by the card reading device 63.

The switch 61 is a switch for inputting a power source and various settings. A plurality of keys 62 form a keyboard or the like, and can input a personal identification number, various settings, and commands. Further, the user can input an e-mail with the key 62. The user can also input an answer to the question of the questionnaire from the robot 1 using the key 62. The card reading device 63 may be used for reading the magnetic or electrical signals of the ID card during personal authentication.

The communication device 70 comprises a transmitter / receiver 71,
Information such as e-mail can be sent and received through the Internet and Intranet. Since the robot 1 moves, the communication is preferably wireless communication. Even when wireless communication is not possible, the robot 1 can be configured to connect a specific terminal to the network during normal standby and disconnect the connection when moving. The questionnaire result can be sent to the administrator by the communication device 70.
The communication device 70 can also send the result of the questionnaire to the administrator.

(Description of Operation) The operation of the robot 1 will be described with reference to FIG. The user gives a work command to the robot 1 (S1). The command by the user can be a command by voice, a command by key input, or a command by action (such as sign language).

The robot 1 carries out the work according to the command (S2). After completing the work, the robot 1 immediately sends a questionnaire to the user about the work result (S3). The questionnaire is performed by means of displaying a question on the monitor 31 or asking a question by voice from the speaker 32. The questionnaire content is prepared in advance for the work and stored in the storage device 50. Also, the question item can be changed according to the content of the answer. Specifically, when the user replies dissatisfaction with a certain work, the dissatisfaction point is specifically asked. The content of the question includes at least one of user's satisfaction with the work result, request regarding work result and work speed, dissatisfaction point, improvement request content, impression, and opinion.

The user answers the questionnaire from the robot 1 (S4). The answer is given by one of a voice reply, a key 62 input, and an action (including sign language) reply.

The answer from the user is the microphone 2 of the robot 1.
2, a key 62, a sensor 20 such as a camera 21 and an input device 6
It is input to the robot 1 by 0. The entered answer is
It is recorded in the storage device 50 in association with the work of the robot 1 (S5).

The stored answers are totaled for each work, each unit operation, etc. in the arithmetic unit 10 when some questionnaires are completed (S6). After a certain period of time, the administrator collects the questionnaire results (S7). The collection can also be performed by the administrator accessing the robot 1 through a network or the like and transmitting it from the communication device 71. The administrator can analyze the answer result of the user and improve the robot 1 or change the setting so as to meet the user's request.

In this way, after the work of the robot 1 is completed, the robot 1 itself immediately gives a questionnaire to the user about the work result, so that the user can reply without forgetting the work content of the robot 1. it can. Further, even if the user does not understand the operation content and the detailed unit operation of the robot 1, the robot 1 can record the response and the work in association with each other. With this, the administrator can process the collected answers, the work of the robot, and the unit operation by data mining or the like, and analyze what kind of unit operation the user feels dissatisfied with.

[0046]

The robot of the present invention can take a questionnaire from the user after the work is completed for the result of the work performed by the robot.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 shows an example of the appearance of a robot of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the robot of the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows a flow of taking a questionnaire by the robot of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 robot 2 heads 3 torso 10 arithmetic unit 11 Central processing unit 12 Sensor information processing unit 13 Output device controller 14 Operating device controller 17 Communication information processing unit 20 sensors 21 camera 22 microphone 23 Infrared sensor 24 Weight sensor 25 Tactile sensor 26 Posture sensor 30 Output device 31 monitor 32 speakers 33 Light emitting part 34 Printing Department 40 motion device 41 Moving mechanism 42 arms 43 hands 44 body / neck movement mechanism 50 storage 51 Operation history 52 Communication information 53 Map / area information 54 Personal authentication data 56 physical data 60 input device 61 switch 62 key 70 Communication device 71 Transmitter / receiver

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Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A mechanism for performing work according to a user's command, an output unit, an input unit or a sensor, a storage unit, and a calculation unit, wherein the calculation unit completes the work. After that, the output unit is controlled so as to output the question of the questionnaire stored in the storage unit to the user, the input unit or the sensor, of the questionnaire of the user for the question of the questionnaire. A robot that obtains an answer, and the storage unit stores the content of the work and the answer of the questionnaire in association with each other. 2. The question of the questionnaire includes at least one of satisfaction of the user with respect to the result of the work, request regarding work result and work speed, dissatisfaction point, content of improvement request, impression, opinion. The robot described in 1. 3. Regarding the result of the work performed by the robot, the robot outputs the question stored in the storage unit to the user from the output unit after the work is finished, the robot comprising: A questionnaire method comprising: a step of acquiring the user's answer to the question from an input unit or a sensor; and a step of the robot storing the work content and the answer in the storage unit in association with each other.