JP2009012148A - Pet robot - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a pet robot staying close to walker's foot, taking a walk together with the walker and prevented from obstructing traffic and getting in the way of passengers by removing far from the walker with whom the walking pet robot walks. <P>SOLUTION: The pet robot is provided with an artificial intelligence section which inputs signals indicating a robot body's directionality, speed regulation and stoppage by instruction signals based on user's instructions via a communication unit and further indicating the fact that the pet robot body is going beyond a range approximate to a length of a leash used for a pet dog, and then produces a behavior control signal for suspending the pet robot body to control a behavior driving unit by the behavior control signal, allowing the pet robot body to walk within a range from a user, approximate to the length of the leash used for a pet dog. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a pet type robot.

  The development of pet-type robots is remarkable.

  Patent Document 1 describes a pet robot that is difficult to be pulled back in reality unless the owner owns an actual animal due to the work of charging the pet robot with a power supply or causing a new reaction. Has been.

  Patent Document 2 describes a pet-type robot and a pet-type robot training support system that can enhance entertainment.

JP 2002-137189 A JP 2003-225875 A

  Various pet-type robots have been developed and put into practical use.

  The present invention is intended for pet-type robots that are associated with walks, so that pet-type robots that take a walk together are not far from humans who take a walk, hinder traffic, and do not interfere with passers-by, An object of the present invention is to provide a pet-type robot that is located near the feet of a person who takes a walk and can take a walk together.

  It is another object of the present invention to provide a pet-type robot that can be happily drawn for a person who dislikes exercise, who tends to lack exercise, and can report the amount of exercise of the person by the walk.

The present invention relates to a pet robot main body having a head, limbs, and torso, a behavior measuring unit for measuring the behavior and the amount of the main body, a time measuring unit for measuring time, a behavior driving unit, a communication unit, and a sound generating unit. And in the pet type robot having an artificial intelligence part that drives the action driving part according to the handling by the user and makes the whole act,
The communication unit is configured by a transmission unit that is held and operated by a user and a reception unit that receives transmission from the transmission unit,
The artificial intelligence unit is configured such that the direction of the pet robot main body, speed adjustment and stop by an instruction signal based on a user instruction via the communication unit, and the pet robot main body exceeds the range of the length of a dog fastening strap. A behavior control signal for performing control for temporarily stopping the pet robot body by inputting a signal indicating the behavior of the pet robot body from the user to the dog fastening string by controlling the behavior drive unit according to the behavior control signal. A pet-type robot characterized by walking in the range of

The present invention relates to a pet robot main body having a head, limbs, and torso, a behavior measuring unit for measuring the behavior and the amount of the main body, a time measuring unit for measuring time, a behavior driving unit, a communication unit, and a sound generating unit. And in the pet type robot having an artificial intelligence part that drives the action driving part according to the handling by the user and makes the whole act,
The communication unit is configured by a transmission unit that is held and operated by a user and a reception unit that receives transmission from the transmission unit,
The artificial intelligence unit sets the time designated by the user to the time measuring unit, and when the time designated time is reached, generates a walk prompting signal for prompting a walk by voice or voice and action, and via the communication unit Based on the user's instruction, the direction, speed adjustment and stop, and a signal indicating that the pet robot main body exceeds the range of the length of the dog fastening strap from the transmitting unit are input to temporarily stop the pet robot main body. Generating a behavior control signal for performing control, causing the planned walking distance or time to be set as a planned walking amount in the planned walking amount setting means based on a user instruction via the communication unit, and measuring the actual behavior amount of the behavior measuring unit Set the actual walk distance from the actual walk distance or time measured by the means, and the walk amount achievement degree from the ratio of the actual walk amount to the planned walk amount Calculating and generating a walk amount achievement signal, causing the voice utterance unit to utter a walk prompting sound by the walk prompt signal, and determining the walk amount achievement degree to the sound generation unit based on the generated walk amount achievement signal There is provided a pet type robot characterized in that the pet robot main body is made to take a walking action within a range from the user to the dog fastening string by driving and controlling the action driving unit by the action control signal.

  In the above-described pet type robot, the artificial intelligence unit learns about a course taken on the basis of a starting position according to a user instruction via the communication unit, generates a walk course learning signal, and traces the learned walk course A trace signal is generated, and the generated trace signal is stored in a storage unit. Therefore, the artificial intelligence unit refers to the trace signal and moves the pet robot body from a user to a range of about the dog fastening string. It is characterized by having a walk action.

  In the above-described pet-type robot, the artificial intelligence unit has a personal authentication determination unit for the user, and the personal authentication is performed when the personal authentication information input from the transmission unit matches the personal authentication data stored in the storage unit in advance. Then, the action driving unit is controlled and driven.

  According to the present invention, the artificial intelligence unit generates a behavior control signal for performing control to temporarily stop the pet robot body by inputting a signal indicating that the pet robot body exceeds the length range of the dog fastening string. It is possible to drive the behavior drive unit by the behavior control signal to make the pet robot main body take a walking action in the range from a human being a user to a dog fastening strap, and a pet-type robot that takes a walk is far from a human being a user who takes a walk together. To provide a pet-type robot that can be walked together while being located near the feet of a human being who is taking a walk so as not to become a hindrance to traffic due to separation and an obstacle to passersby it can.

  In addition, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a pet-type robot that can be pulled out for a walk happily with respect to a person who tends to lack exercise and dislikes exercise, and can report the amount of exercise of the person due to the walk. .

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows a situation where a human being 1 is taking a walk with a pet-type robot 3. The pet-type robot 3 includes a pet robot body 4 and a command device 5 that the human 1 holds in the hand 2.

  In this embodiment, a pet-type dog robot is targeted, but other pet-type animal robots may be used as long as they are suitable for walking. Here, the pet type dog robot will be described as the pet type robot 3. Various robots suitable for walking are known, and the configuration of the robot itself is treated as a known general configuration.

  More specifically, the pet robot body 4 includes a body part, a head part, a pair of front foot parts, a pair of rear foot parts, and a tail part, and the head moves freely with respect to the body part. It has an articulation structure that can swing around the front, rear, left, right, top and bottom axes. The other part relations are also the same, and each part has an electric motor. The body part is configured as a housing and has a battery as a power source. The head is provided with a CCD camera, an infrared sensor, and a touch sensor as sensors, and a pressure sensor is provided as a sensor at the end of each foot. It is. An encoder for detecting the degree of movement in each joint structure and an inclination sensor for maintaining horizontal balance are provided. The detection signals of these sensors are sent to the behavior control signal generation unit 32 and used for behavior control.

  The command device 5 is configured to be a hand-held ballpoint pen size or slightly smaller than this, and has a power supply unit inside, a screen 5A on the surface, and can swing left and right and up and down. Alternatively, a direction directing signal in the right direction is formed, and swinging is detected, and an adjustment signal is formed by a high or low speed. As the detection described above, the acceleration may be detected by an acceleration detection sensor.

  A switch 6 is provided on the top of the commander 5, and a start or stop signal is generated by a pressing operation. These generation signals are transmitted as an instruction signal from an instruction signal transmission unit built in the command device 5 to a reception unit built in the pet robot body 4.

  A distance L between the human being 1 who is a user and the pet robot body 4 indicates a length of about a dog fastening string. More precisely, it is the distance between the command device 5 held in the hand 2 of the human 1 and the receiving unit built in the pet robot body 4, and this distance is within 10 m, usually 5 to 6 m, when short Is about 2 to 3 m, and the level of the dog string is the same as that of a dog string.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.
In FIG. 2, the pet-type robot 3 includes a pet robot body 4, a sound generation unit 21, a communication unit 22, an artificial intelligence unit 23, an instruction signal transmission unit 24, an action measurement unit 25, and a storage unit 26. These components are connected by a bus or wireless communication circuit 27.

  The pet robot body 4 includes a head, limbs, a torso 31, and a power supply and action drive unit 32, as in a normal pet robot, and the head, limbs, and torso 31 are moved by the action drive unit 32. Driven.

  The voice utterance unit 21 is built in the pet robot main body 4 and has a capability of generating a walk prompting sound and having a conversation like a normal conversational robot, but this is not essential.

  The communication unit 22 includes a reception unit 31 and inputs an instruction signal from the instruction signal transmission unit 24.

  The artificial intelligence unit 23 includes a behavior control signal generation unit 32, a time measurement unit 33, a walk prompt signal generation unit 34, a walk amount achievement determination unit 35, a learning unit 36, and a personal authentication determination unit 37.

  The behavior control signal generation unit 32 generates a signal for controlling the pet robot body and a behavior range regulation signal. The behavior control signal generation unit 32 has a built-in program for setting the personality, emotion expression pattern, and behavior pattern of the pet-type robot 3 based on information from various sensors, and the control program is stored via a storage medium. It can be introduced. The behavior control signal generation unit 32 generates a signal for controlling the behavior range of the pet robot body 4. That is, the action control signal generation unit 32 controls the direction of the pet robot body 4 based on an instruction signal based on an instruction of a human being user via the communication unit 22, speed adjustment and stop, and the pet robot body 4 is connected to the dog fastening string. A signal from a sensor indicating that the range of the length L is exceeded is input, and an action control signal for performing control to temporarily stop the pet robot body 4 is generated. For example, whether or not the range of the length L, which is about the length of a dog fastening string, is recorded in advance by recording the length of L in a storage medium and using a distance measuring unit having an antenna function of the transmission unit 51 and the reception unit 31. This can be determined by comparison with the measured actual distance L. As shown in FIG. 3, a fastening string (length L) 10 capable of measuring tension is provided between the command device 5 and the pet robot body 4, and the pet robot body 4 tries to exceed the length L. This can also be determined by detecting the tension in the case. According to the tension measuring means, even if the length L is not exceeded, the pet robot body 4 can be temporarily stopped when the tension increases due to an accident, an instruction, etc. The robot main body 4 may be restarted by controlling for a certain period of time or by a command from the command unit 5.

  In this embodiment, “the length of a dog-fitting strap” means that the animal to be walked may be a dog, a cat, a monkey, etc., and the dog is a typical example, and it is assumed that the dog is walked with the dog. And it is about the length of the dog conclusion string. The “degree” is because a slight error occurs depending on the measurement method and the accuracy of the sensor, and the slight error has no problem in this embodiment.

  The time measurement unit 33 includes a time setting (setting) unit 41 and a time arrival measurement and transmission unit 42. The time setting unit 41 can set an arbitrary time in the same manner as a normal time setting device. A person who wants to take a walk early in the morning can set it at AM 5:00, for example. The time arrival measurement and transmission unit 42 measures that the set time has been reached when the set time is reached, and notifies the walk reminder signal generation unit 33 of the set time.

  When the walk prompt signal generator 34 receives the walk prompt signal, it generates a walk prompt signal. This signal is constituted by a predetermined special manner, voice, or a signal for the motion of the pet robot body 4 itself, for example, a rotational motion, in addition to these sound signals. In this example, the walk prompting is taken as an example, but other events such as a meal prompt, a bowel prompt, a telephone call prompt, etc. can be set. In this case, the walk prompt signal generator 33 It shall be read as event reminder signal generator. The same applies hereinafter.

  The walk amount achievement determination unit 35 includes a scheduled walk amount setting unit 43, an actual walk amount storage unit 44, a comparison unit 45, and a walk amount achievement signal generation unit 45.

  The planned walk amount setting unit 43 is attached to the outer surface of the commander 5 so that the planned walk amount can be set by the number of steps or the walk distance.

  The actual walk amount storage unit 44 stores the actual walk amount measured by the behavior measurement unit 25 described later.

  The scheduled walk amount is typically set for one day, but may be set for one week. In this case, the actual walk amount corresponds to that.

  The comparison unit 45 compares the stored actual walk amount with respect to the planned walk amount, and generates a walk amount achievement signal indicating the degree of walk amount achievement. The walk amount achievement degree may be displayed on the command unit 5 or may be voice-reported by the voice generation unit 21.

  The behavior measuring unit 25 includes an actual behavior measuring unit 52 and measures the actual behavior and the actual behavior amount of the pet robot 4.

  Specifically, the actual walking distance, time or / and speed are measured, and the walking course is measured.

  Thus, based on the user's instruction via the communication unit 22, the planned walk distance or time is set as the planned walk amount in the planned walk amount setting unit 43 (scheduled walk amount setting means), and the actual behavior of the behavior measuring unit is set. It is possible to set an actual walk amount from the actual walk distance or time measured by the amount measuring means, calculate the walk amount achievement degree from the ratio of the actual walk amount to the planned walk amount, and generate a walk amount achievement degree signal Made.

  The learning unit 36 includes a walk course learning unit 47 and a trace signal generation unit 48. The learning unit 36 has a learning function, can learn about a walked course, and can sequentially store fixed feature items of a landscape imaged at regular intervals during the walk. If there is not, it is possible to trace a particular course sequentially, that is, to trace.

  The personal authentication determination unit 37 performs authentication by designating a person who is a user. The personal authentication data is stored in the storage unit 26 in advance. When the personal authentication data is input from the personal authentication detection device to activate the pet-type robot 3, the personal authentication data is compared with the stored personal authentication data and determined. I do. When the personal authentication is performed, the pet type robot 3 can be activated. As described above, by providing the identity authentication function, only the principal can operate the pet-type robot, and can be brought closer to the actual behavior of a dog.

  The instruction signal transmitter 24 is built in the command device 5 and includes a transmitter 51. Based on a command from a user who is a user, the transmitter 51 is a start signal, a dog fastening string distance setting signal, a scheduled walk time, a walk amount setting (including other settings) signal, a walk course setting signal, a direction, and a speed. Then, a stop setting signal and a personal authentication confirmation necessity signal are generated and transmitted as command signals. These command signals are transmitted to the artificial intelligence unit 23 via the communication unit 22.

  The behavior measuring unit 52 has been described above.

  The storage unit 26 stores the walk prompt setting time data, the behavior and action amount detection data such as the stride of the pet type robot 4, the walk course data, the action range regulation data, various data, the personal authentication data, and the control of the pet type robot 4. General control data including the program is stored.

  In the above-described configuration, the commander 5 first performs identity verification authentication, and when it is confirmed that the user is the user, the fact that the initial condition should be input is displayed on the screen 5A of the commander 5, and the dog fastening strap distance, schedule A walking amount and course are set. The planned walk amount and course need not be set.

  The set condition information is transmitted to the artificial intelligence unit 23 via the communication unit 22, and a length (L) about a dog fastening string, a walk prompting time, a planned walk amount, and a planned walk course are set. In this case, only the length (L) of a dog fastening string may be used. Further, a condition obtained by adding the scheduled walk amount to this may be set.

  Next, an activation signal is issued from the transmitting unit 51 of the command device 5 to operate the artificial intelligence unit 23, and the pet robot body 4 is acted.

  The pet robot main body 4 is operated by adjusting the directionality and speed by rotating the commander 5 left and right and moving up and down, and starting and stopping by operating the switch 6.

  The artificial intelligence unit 23 determines that the pet robot body directionality, speed adjustment and stop by an instruction signal based on a user instruction via the communication unit 22, and that the pet robot body exceeds the range of the length of a dog fastening string. An action control signal for performing control to temporarily stop the pet robot body is input by inputting a signal indicating the action, and the action drive unit 32 is driven and controlled by the action control signal so that the pet robot body 4 is within a range from the user to the dog fastening string. Take a walk.

  When the command for setting the scheduled walk amount is issued, the artificial intelligence unit 23 causes the planned walk amount setting unit 43 to set the planned walk distance or time as the planned walk amount based on the user's instruction via the communication unit 22. The actual walk amount or the actual walk amount measured by the actual action amount measuring unit 52 of the measuring unit 25 is stored, and the walk amount achievement degree is calculated by calculating the walk amount achievement degree from the ratio of the actual walk amount to the planned walk amount. A degree signal is generated, a walk prompting sound is generated in the voice utterance unit 21 by the walk prompting signal, and a walk amount achievement degree is generated in the voice utterance unit 21 based on the generated walk amount achievement degree signal. The behavior driving unit is driven and controlled, and the pet robot body is walked within a range from the user to the dog fastening string.

  In addition, the artificial intelligence unit 23 generates a walk course learning signal by learning about the course taken on the basis of the starting position according to the user's instruction via the communication unit 22, and generates a trace signal for tracing the learned walk course. The generated trace signal is stored in the storage means, and thus the artificial intelligence unit 23 refers to the trace signal and causes the pet robot body 3 to take a walking action within a range of about a dog fastening string from the user. .

  Further, the artificial intelligence unit 23 has a user authentication determination unit 37 for the user, and authenticates the user when the user authentication information input from the transmission unit 51 matches the user authentication data stored in the storage unit 26 in advance. The drive unit 32 is controlled and driven.

1 is a schematic diagram of a pet type robot according to an embodiment of the present invention. The block diagram which shows the structure of the pet-type robot of the Example of this invention. The figure which shows the modification of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Human who is a user, 2 ... Hand, 3 ... Pet type robot, 4 ... Pet robot body, 5 ... Commander, 6 ... Switch, 10 ... Dog fastening string, 21 ... Voice utterance part, 22 ... Communication part, 23 ... artificial intelligence unit, 24 ... instruction signal transmission unit, 25 ... behavior measurement unit, 26 ... storage unit, 31 ... reception unit, 32 ... behavior control signal generation unit, 33 ... time measurement unit, 34 ... walk prompt signal generation unit, 35 ... walk amount achievement determination unit, 36 ... learning unit, 37 ... identity authentication determination unit, 51 ... transmission unit, 52 ... actual behavior measurement unit.

Claims (4)

Pet robot main body including head, limbs, and torso, behavior measuring unit for measuring behavior and amount of the main body, time measuring unit for measuring time, behavior driving unit, communication unit, voice generating unit, and handling by user In the pet type robot having an artificial intelligence unit that drives the behavior driving unit according to the behavior of the whole,
The communication unit is configured by a transmission unit that is held and operated by a user and a reception unit that receives transmission from the transmission unit,
The artificial intelligence unit is configured such that the direction of the pet robot main body, speed adjustment and stop by an instruction signal based on a user instruction via the communication unit, and the pet robot main body exceeds the range of the length of a dog fastening strap. A behavior control signal for performing control for temporarily stopping the pet robot body by inputting a signal indicating the behavior of the pet robot body from the user to the dog fastening string by controlling the behavior drive unit according to the behavior control signal. A pet-type robot characterized by walking behavior within the range. Pet robot main body including head, limbs, and torso, behavior measuring unit for measuring behavior and amount of the main body, time measuring unit for measuring time, behavior driving unit, communication unit, voice generating unit, and handling by user In the pet type robot having an artificial intelligence unit that drives the behavior driving unit according to the behavior of the whole,
The communication unit is composed of a transmission unit that is held and operated by a user and a reception unit that receives transmission from the transmission unit,
The artificial intelligence unit sets the time designated by the user to the time measuring unit, and generates a walk prompting signal for prompting a walk by voice or voice and action when the time indicated by the time is reached, via the communication unit Based on the user's instruction, the direction, speed adjustment and stop, and a signal indicating that the pet robot main body exceeds the range of the length of the dog fastening strap from the transmitting unit are input to temporarily stop the pet robot main body. Generating a behavior control signal for performing control, causing the planned walking distance or time to be set as a planned walking amount in the planned walking amount setting means based on a user instruction via the communication unit, and measuring the actual behavior amount of the behavior measuring unit Set the actual walk distance from the actual walk distance or time measured by the means, and the walk amount achievement degree from the ratio of the actual walk amount to the planned walk amount Calculating and generating a walk amount achievement signal, causing the voice utterance unit to utter a walk prompt sound by the walk prompt signal, and determining the walk amount achievement degree to the sound generator based on the generated walk amount achievement signal A pet type robot characterized in that the pet robot main body is made to walk in a range from the user to the dog fastening string by driving and controlling the action driving unit by the action control signal.   3. The trace signal according to claim 2, wherein the artificial intelligence unit learns a course taken on the basis of a starting position according to a user instruction via the communication unit, generates a walk course learning signal, and traces the learned walk course And the generated trace signal is stored in the storage means, so that the artificial intelligence unit refers to the trace signal and walks the pet robot body from the user within the range of about the dog fastening string. A pet-type robot characterized by making it act.   3. The artificial intelligence unit according to claim 2, wherein the artificial intelligence unit has a personal authentication determination unit for the user and authenticates the user when the personal authentication information input from the transmission unit matches the personal authentication data stored in the storage unit in advance. A pet type robot that controls and drives the action driving unit.

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