JP2006244020A - Robot charging guidance system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a robot charging guidance system transmitting a guidance signal only when it is required without separately providing a communication means to guide a robot to a charging device. <P>SOLUTION: The robot 20 has: a direction-based search signal transmission part 33 transmitting a directional search signal having a signal pattern different in each transmission direction; and a response signal reception part 34 receiving a response signal transmitted from the charging device. The charging device 40 has: a search signal reception part 44 receiving the search signal from the robot 20; a signal pattern extraction part 49 extracting the signal pattern included in the received search signal; and a nondirectional response signal transmission part 45 producing and transmitting a nondirectional response signal having a signal pattern corresponding to the extracted signal pattern. The robot 20 has: a direction specification part 38 specifying a direction of the charging device on the basis of the signal pattern included in the response signal received by the response signal reception part 34; and a movement mechanism 35 moving the robot to the specified direction. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a robot charging induction system that performs charging by guiding an autonomous mobile robot equipped with a charging power source as a power source to a charging device.

  In recent years, autonomous mobile robots that perform various operations and operations such as surveillance robots, cleaning robots, and pet robots have been used. Such autonomous mobile robots usually use electric power as a power source, but in order to prevent the robot's actionable range from being restricted to the range where the power supply cord for power supply can reach, it is equipped with a charging power supply and the remaining power supply. When the amount drops, the battery is connected to the charging device and charged.

  Autonomous mobile robots equipped with a charging power supply originally have a self-propelled function, so when a decrease in the remaining power level of the charging power supply is detected, the mobile mechanism using legs and wheels is driven automatically without human intervention. In particular, it is desirable to move the robot to a charging device (charging station). Therefore, a guidance system for autonomously guiding the robot to the charging device has been devised.

For example, a system that guides a robot to a power supply location by infrared guidance radiated from the charging device side (see Patent Document 1), and a remote guidance is performed by a non-directional guidance signal from the charging device side to approach the charging device A system (see Patent Document 2) and the like that is guided by a directional induction signal using radio waves, sound waves, and light from the charging device side is disclosed.
In addition, a wireless LAN is provided for communication between the robot and the charging device, a CCD camera is provided in the charging device, and a charging request is sent from the robot to the charging device via the wireless LAN. It is disclosed that a robot is guided by image recognition (see Patent Document 3).
JP 2004-275716 A Utility Model Registration No. 3064884 JP 2003-1577 A

Conventional robot guidance methods include an optical guidance method, an electromagnetic guidance method, and an acoustic guidance method, each of which has advantages and disadvantages.
The guidance methods such as Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 described above are general methods. Basically, the robot guides the charging device by detecting the guidance signal transmitted from the charging device side on the robot side. To be. In these guidance methods, it is necessary to always send a guidance signal from the charging device so that the robot can recognize the position of the charging device at any time. Therefore, from the viewpoint of power consumption, it is desirable to change to a system that transmits an induction signal only when necessary.
As a countermeasure against this, as disclosed in Patent Document 3, it is considered that a wireless LAN is used to request guidance from a robot to a charging device through wireless communication, and guidance is started after receiving the request. However, it is necessary to prepare a communication means using a wireless LAN in addition to a device that transmits and receives the guidance signal. In addition, such a communication means must always be in a communicable state.

  Therefore, the present invention differs from the conventional guidance method in that it does not provide a separate communication means such as a wireless LAN, and transmits a guidance signal only when necessary to guide the robot to the charging device. The purpose is to provide.

The robot charge induction system of the present invention made to solve the above-mentioned problems is a robot charge induction system for charging a robot equipped with a charging power source as a power source by guiding it to a charging device. A direction-specific search signal transmitting unit that transmits a directional search signal having a different signal pattern, and a response signal receiving unit that receives a response signal transmitted from the charging device. A search signal receiving unit for receiving a signal, a signal pattern extracting unit for extracting a signal pattern included in the received search signal, and generating and transmitting a non-directional response signal having a signal pattern corresponding to the extracted signal pattern A non-directional response signal transmitter, and the robot is further configured based on a signal pattern included in the response signal received by the response signal receiver. A direction identification unit for identifying the direction of the collector, so that and a moving mechanism for moving the robot in a direction specified by the direction specification portion.
According to this invention, when the robot needs to be charged, the direction-specific search signal transmission unit on the robot side transmits a directivity search signal in each direction. This search signal has a different signal pattern for each transmission direction. For example, when transmitting all directions divided into eight, search signals with signal patterns different by 45 degrees are transmitted. In addition, when transmitting by dividing 360 ° in all directions, search signals having different signal patterns are transmitted once. In short, to increase the angular resolution, the number of divisions is increased. In addition, when the distance between the robot and the charging power source is long, or at the beginning of the search (assuming that the distance is long), when the distance between the robot and the charging device approaches, You may make it reduce.

The charging device is standing by in a state where it can receive a search signal from the robot. In this standby state, the power consumption is small and a so-called power saving state is established.
When the search signal receiving unit on the charging device side receives the search signal from the robot, the power saving state returns to the normal operation state, and the signal pattern extraction unit extracts the signal pattern included in the received search signal. Further, the response signal transmission unit transmits a non-directional response signal having a signal pattern corresponding to the extracted signal pattern. This signal pattern may be any signal pattern that can be associated with the signal pattern included in the search signal transmitted from the robot side, and may be the same signal pattern as the search signal. The non-directional response signal transmitted from the charging device spreads over a wide range including the direction in which the robot exists.
When the response signal receiving unit on the robot side receives the response signal transmitted from the charging device, the direction specifying unit of the robot extracts a signal pattern included in the response signal. Based on the extracted signal pattern, the signal pattern included in the search signal received by the charging device is determined, and the direction from the robot to the charging device is specified from the signal pattern included in the search signal. . When the moving mechanism moves the robot in the direction specified by the direction specifying unit, the robot is guided to the charging device.

  Here, the robot of the present invention is, for example, a monitoring robot that patrols the inside of a factory or a house, a cleaning robot that cleans a building or a room, a care for a physically handicapped person or an elderly person in a hospital / facility or home Robots for various purposes, such as a nursing robot that performs a pet, a pet robot that functions as a pet animal, and the like.

According to the present invention, without providing expensive communication means such as a wireless LAN, a robot can be guided to a charging device by transmitting a guidance signal only when necessary, and wasteful power consumption can be suppressed. .
Further, if the angular resolution of the signal pattern is adjusted according to the distance, the robot can be appropriately guided even when the robot is at a distance or close.

(Means and effects for solving other problems)
In the above-described invention, the signal pattern of the response signal transmitted by the non-directional response signal unit of the charging device may be the same as the signal pattern of the search signal received by the search signal receiving unit of the charging device.
According to this, since it is sufficient to extract the same signal pattern as the search signal transmitted from the direction-specific search signal transmission unit of the robot, the association is easy.

Moreover, in the said invention, it is preferable to use at least any one of electromagnetic waves, a sound wave, and light for the search signal which a search signal transmission part according to direction transmits.
Any of these can generate a directional signal. Specifically, a directional antenna is used when transmitting radio waves, and a directional speaker is used when transmitting sound waves. When transmitting light, a lens optical system can be used to provide directivity, and a directional light source such as a laser can also be used.

Moreover, in the said invention, you may make it use at least one of electromagnetic waves, a sound wave, and light for the response signal which a response signal transmission part transmits.
Any of these can generate a non-directional signal. Specifically, a non-directional antenna is used when transmitting radio waves, and a non-directional speaker is used when transmitting sound waves. When transmitting light, a non-directional light source such as a visible light source or an infrared light source can be used.

Hereinafter, a robot charge induction system according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description, a monitoring robot that performs patrol monitoring in a preset area will be described as an example. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a robot charge induction system according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an external configuration diagram thereof.
First, the external appearance of the system will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, the robot charging guidance system 10 includes a robot 20 and a charging device 40.

  The robot 20 has a flat cylindrical housing 21 and is provided with wheels 22 (or a leg mechanism) for movement at the lower portion of the housing 21. A directional speaker 23 and a non-directional microphone 24 are attached to the upper portion of the housing 21. The directional speaker 23 can rotate 360 degrees so that a directional ultrasonic signal can be transmitted in all directions. This ultrasonic signal includes a different signal pattern for each transmission direction, and is transmitted as a direction-specific search signal. A connector 25 is attached to the bottom surface of the housing 21 for electrical connection with the charging device 40 during charging. Note that the robot 20 is also equipped with various sensors such as a temperature sensor, an odor sensor, and a monitoring camera necessary for the monitoring function, but illustration and detailed description thereof are omitted (the monitoring function is executed). When the microphone 24 is used as a sound sensor).

The charging device 40 includes a housing 42 in which a step portion 41 is formed, and a connector 43 for electrically connecting to the connector 25 on the robot 20 side at the time of charging is provided near the center of the upper surface of the step portion 41. It is attached.
In addition, a microphone 44 that receives a direction-specific search signal from the robot 20 and a non-directional characteristic that includes the same signal pattern as the signal pattern included in the received direction-specific search signal are provided in the upper central portion of the housing device 42. A speaker 45 for transmitting the response signal is attached.

  When the robot 20 and the charging device 40 are docked for charging, the housing 21 overlaps the stepped portion 41, and the connector 25 and the connector 43 are in contact with each other.

Next, the configuration of this system will be described in detail with reference to the block diagram of FIG.
The robot 20 includes a control unit 30 formed of a CPU and a memory, a charging power source 31, a power receiving unit 32 that receives power using a connector 25, and a directional ultrasonic signal including a signal pattern that differs in each direction by the speaker 23. As a direction-specific search signal, a direction-specific search signal transmission unit 33, a response signal reception unit 34 that receives a response signal transmitted from the charging device 40 by a non-directional microphone 24, and wheels, motors, and power transmission And a moving mechanism 35 that moves the robot 20 by the mechanism.

  The charging device 40 receives a search signal from a charging device main body 46 that performs charging using power supplied from a commercial power line, a power feeding unit 47 that supplies power to the robot 20 using the connector 43 during charging, and a microphone 44. Search signal receiving unit 48, signal pattern extracting unit 49 for extracting a signal pattern included in the received search signal, and non-directional response for transmitting a non-directional response signal including the same signal pattern as the extracted signal pattern from the speaker 45 And a signal transmission unit 50.

  Further, the control contents of the control unit 30 of the robot 20 will be described separately for each function. The control unit 30 includes a remaining capacity detection unit 36 for detecting the remaining capacity of the charging power source and a direction specifying unit 38 for specifying the direction of the charging device 40. .

  The remaining capacity detection unit 36 sequentially monitors the voltage between the terminals of the charging power supply 31, and informs that charging is necessary when the voltage falls below a predetermined threshold voltage.

The direction specifying unit 38 extracts the signal pattern included in the response signal, compares it with the signal pattern of the search signal in each transmission direction transmitted from the direction-specific search signal transmission unit 33 previously, and determines the direction in which the same signal pattern was transmitted. Search and specify that the direction is the direction of the charging device 40.
Then, the robot 20 can be guided to the charging device 40 by moving the robot 20 by the moving mechanism 35 in the specified direction.
Thus, guidance is possible if only the direction can be specified. In addition, it can also guide | invite to a charging device more safely by providing the sensor which detects when a robot approaches a charging device.

Next, the robot guidance operation by this system will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of an operation procedure executed by the robot charge induction system of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram for explaining a state in each procedure of FIG.

When the robot 20 is started and the operation is started (s101), a normal operation for executing the original function of the robot is performed (s102). In this example, since a monitoring robot is used, a monitoring operation for patroling a predetermined area is performed. FIG. 4A is a diagram showing the positional relationship between the robot 20 and the charging device 40 at a certain point during monitoring.

  During the normal operation, the remaining amount of the charging power source 31 is checked at regular time intervals (s103), and when there is no need for charging, the normal operation is continued. When the remaining amount decreases, a directivity search signal is transmitted radially from the speaker 23 (direction-specific search signal transmitter 33) of the robot 20 (s104). FIG. 4B is a diagram illustrating a state when a directivity search signal is transmitted radially. The signal pattern is expressed by a binary number, and eight different signal patterns from “0000” to “0111” are sequentially transmitted in the direction divided into eight, respectively. In this case, as shown in FIG. 4C, since the search signal including the signal pattern “0001” is transmitted to the charging device 40, the charging device 40 receives “0001” from the received search signal. The signal pattern is extracted. When the charging device 40 extracts the signal “0001”, a non-directional response signal including a signal pattern “0001” is transmitted from the speaker 45 this time. FIG. 4D is a diagram when a non-directional response signal is transmitted toward the surroundings.

After transmitting the directivity search signal, the robot 20 waits for reception of a response signal from the charging device (s106). At this time, if the response signal is not received within a predetermined time set in advance, the robot 20 moves by driving the moving mechanism 35 (s106), returns to s104 again, and directivity search signal at the moved position. Repeat the operation to send.
When the response signal is received, the signal pattern is extracted from the response signal, and compared with the signal pattern included in the search signal, the same signal pattern (“0001”) is found to identify the transmission direction (s107). ).
If it is specified that the direction of the charging device 40 is the “0001” direction, the robot 20 moves toward the charging device 40 by the moving mechanism 35 (s108). FIG. 4 (e)
It is a figure explaining the state which the robot 20 moves to a "0001" direction.

  Subsequently, it is ascertained whether the charging device 40 has been reached (s109), and if not reached, the process returns to s104 and the same operation is repeated. When it reaches, the charging operation is started (s110). With the above operation, the robot 20 can be charged. When the charging is completed, the process returns to s102 and the normal operation is repeated.

  The present invention can be used in a charge induction system for charging a robot equipped with a charging power source.

1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a robot charge induction system that is an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is an external view of a robot charge induction system that is an embodiment of the present invention. The flowchart which shows the operation | movement procedure by the robot charge induction system of FIG. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating each state during the operation procedure of FIG. 3.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Robot charge guidance system 20 Robot 21 Case 23 Directional speaker 24 Microphone 30 Control part 31 Charge power supply 33 Direction-specific search signal transmission part 34 Response signal reception part 35 Movement mechanism 36 Remaining capacity detection part 38 Direction specific part 40 Charging apparatus 44 Microphone 45 Non-directional speaker 46 Charging device body 48 Search signal receiving unit 49 Signal pattern extracting unit 50 Non-directional response signal transmitting unit

Claims (4)

A robot charge induction system for charging a robot equipped with a charging power source as a power source by guiding it to a charging device,
The robot includes a direction-specific search signal transmitter that transmits a directivity search signal having a different signal pattern for each transmission direction, and a response signal receiver that receives a response signal transmitted from the charging device,
The charging device includes a search signal receiving unit that receives a search signal from the robot, a signal pattern extraction unit that extracts a signal pattern included in the received search signal, and a non-directional characteristic that has a signal pattern corresponding to the extracted signal pattern A non-directional response signal transmitter for generating and transmitting a response signal of
Furthermore, the robot includes a direction specifying unit that specifies the direction of the charging device based on a signal pattern included in the response signal received by the response signal receiving unit, and a moving mechanism that moves the robot in the direction specified by the direction specifying unit. A robot charge induction system comprising: The signal pattern of the response signal transmitted by the non-directional response signal unit of the charging device is the same as the signal pattern of the search signal received by the search signal receiving unit of the charging device. Robot charge induction system. The robot charge induction system according to claim 1, wherein the search signal transmitted by the direction-specific search signal transmission unit uses at least one of electromagnetic waves, sound waves, and light. The robot charge induction system according to claim 1, wherein at least one of electromagnetic waves, sound waves, and light is used as a response signal transmitted by the response signal transmitter.

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