JP2014104513A - Robot - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce throughput in general control means and communication amount between the general control means and emission control means.SOLUTION: The robot comprises general control means 100 and emission control means (LED control means 200). The emission control means comprises: a pattern storage part 210 which stores pieces of control pattern information including pieces of information about brightness and emission time of an LED and each of which includes unique identification information; and an instruction storage part 220 which stores an individual control instruction including pieces of information of brightness of the LED to be controlled or a pattern control instruction including unique identification information transmitted from the general control means 100. When the individual control instruction is stored, the LED to be specified by the individual control instruction is controlled based on pieces of information of brightness included in the individual control instruction. When the pattern control instruction is stored, the LED to be specified by the pattern control instruction is controlled based on pieces of information about brightness and emission time of the control pattern information including the identification information included in the pattern control instruction.

Description

  The present invention relates to a robot provided with a plurality of light emitters.

  In recent years, development of a robot that recognizes a voice uttered by a human and speaks or operates on the voice has been advanced. Such a robot, for example, as disclosed in Patent Document 1, a voice processing unit that synthesizes a voice to be emitted from a speaker, an autonomous movement control unit that drives an arm part, a leg part, and the like, A main control unit (overall control means) that performs overall control of these units is provided.

JP 2011-227237 A

  By the way, the inventors of the present application not only turn on and off light emitters such as light emitting diodes (LEDs) provided on the robot, but also change the brightness and number of lights according to the situation of the robot. Are considering. In this case, the light emitter control means for controlling the light emitter is also controlled by the overall control means in the same manner as the other units.

  In the robot as described above, the amount of processing in the overall control unit and the amount of information exchanged between the overall control unit and each unit (communication amount) increase, and it is desired to reduce these.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a robot capable of reducing the amount of processing in the overall control means and the communication amount between the overall control means and the light emitter control means.

  To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a plurality of light emitters, light emitter control means configured to individually control the light emitters, and the light emitter control means for controlling the light emitters. And a general control means for transmitting a control command, wherein the light emitter control means includes a plurality of pieces of control pattern information including information on brightness and light emission time of the light emitter and having unique identification information. A first storage unit to store and an individual control command including information on the brightness of the light emitting device to be controlled, or a pattern control command including the unique identification information, transmitted from the overall control unit. A second storage unit, and when the individual control command is stored in the second storage unit, the brightness specified by the individual control command is determined by the brightness included in the individual control command. Control based on information When the pattern control command is stored in the second storage unit, the light emitting device specified by the pattern control command is used for the brightness and light emission of the control pattern information to which the identification information included in the pattern control command is added. Control is based on time information.

  According to such a configuration, when controlling the light emitter based on the brightness and light emission time information of the control pattern information, a pattern control command including unique identification information is transmitted from the overall control means to the light emitter control means. Therefore, compared with the case where a control command including information on brightness and light emission time is transmitted, it is possible to reduce the amount of processing in the overall control unit and the communication amount between the overall control unit and the light emitter control unit. .

  On the other hand, if necessary, the control is executed by transmitting an individual control command including information on the brightness of the light emitting device to be controlled. Therefore, the light emission does not depend on a certain pattern that is difficult to realize by control based on the control pattern information. The operation of the vessel can be performed. For example, an individual control command including information on predetermined brightness is first transmitted, and then an individual control command including information on brightness 0 (information for turning off the light) is transmitted at an appropriate timing. It is possible to arbitrarily control the light emission time of a light-emitting device that is lit at brightness.

  In the robot described above, when the individual control command is transmitted from the overall control unit, the light emitter control unit is configured to transmit the second control unit regardless of whether the command is stored in the second storage unit. The individual control command can be stored in the storage unit.

  According to this, the individual control command can be executed with priority. Thus, for example, the above-described robot includes an abnormality detection unit that detects an internal abnormality, and when the abnormality detection unit detects an internal abnormality, the overall control unit transmits the individual control command. Thus, even if there is an ongoing control, it is possible to interrupt the control and promptly notify the robot abnormality.

  In the robot described above, when the pattern control command is transmitted from the general control unit when the control command is not stored in the second storage unit, the light emitter control unit transmits the pattern control command to the second storage unit. When a pattern control command is stored, and when another pattern control command is transmitted from the overall control means when the pattern control command is stored in the second storage unit, the other control is stored in the second storage unit. The pattern control command can be stored.

  According to this, it is possible to prevent control by another pattern control command from being started in the middle of control by the first pattern control command. Thereby, for example, it is possible to prevent the brightness of the light emitter from changing suddenly in the middle. If the brightness of the light emitter suddenly changes, the person facing the robot may feel uncomfortable or may be confused without knowing the situation of the robot, but according to the above configuration, these can be prevented.

  The robot described above may include at least one light emitting unit having the light emitter, and at least one of the light emitting units may include a plurality of color light emitters.

  According to this, it is possible to inform the situation of the robot in an easy-to-understand manner or more appropriately by the difference in color.

  The robot described above includes distance information acquisition means for acquiring distance information with respect to surrounding objects, and when the overall control means acquires distance information with respect to the surrounding objects, The individual control command in which the brightness information is varied according to the distance from the surrounding objects can be transmitted. Further, the robot described above includes voice information acquisition means for acquiring information on surrounding sounds, and the overall control means, when acquiring information on the surrounding sounds, information on the brightness of the light emitting device to be controlled. May be configured to transmit the individual control command that is varied according to the strength of the surrounding sound.

  According to this, since the brightness of the light emitter can be changed according to the distance to the object and the strength of the sound, the situation of the robot can be notified more appropriately and the interaction with the robot can be easily performed. be able to.

  In the robot in which the light emitting unit includes a plurality of color light emitters, the overall control unit causes the light emitting unit emitting light in the first color to emit light in a second color different from the first color. , Transmitting a pattern control command including the unique identification information given to the control pattern information for gradually changing the color of the light emitting unit from the first color to the second color, It can be set as the structure which transmits the separate control command for making the said light emission part light-emit in said 2nd color after progress.

  According to this, the color of the light emitting unit can be gradually changed from the first color to the second color. Also, by executing the control for gradually changing the color not by the control by the individual control command but by the control by the pattern control command, the processing amount in the overall control unit and the interval between the overall control unit and the light emitter control unit can be reduced. Can be reduced. In addition, when the color of the light emitting unit changes suddenly, the person facing the robot may feel uncomfortable or confused as in the case where the brightness of the light emitter suddenly changes. According to the configuration, these can be prevented.

  In the robot described above, the overall control unit has a third storage unit that stores a plurality of control pattern information, and the light emitter control unit has a plurality of control pattern information in the third storage unit at a predetermined timing. The light emitter control means updates the plurality of control pattern information in the first storage section when the plurality of control pattern information in the third storage section is transmitted from the overall control means. It can be.

  According to this, inconsistency between the plurality of control pattern information held by the overall control unit and the plurality of control pattern information held by the light emitter control unit can be avoided.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the amount of processing in the overall control unit and the communication amount between the overall control unit and the light emitter control unit.

It is a front view of the robot which concerns on one Embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of a robot. It is an image figure of control pattern information. It is an image figure of the control pattern information which concerns on the specific example 4. It is an image figure of the control pattern information which concerns on the specific example 5. It is an image figure of the control pattern information which concerns on the specific example 6. It is a flowchart explaining operation | movement of a LED control means. It is a flowchart explaining operation | movement of the LED control means when a control command is transmitted from the overall control means.

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings as appropriate.
As shown in FIG. 1, the robot 1 according to the present embodiment is a humanoid robot, and includes a torso 2 serving as a torso, a head 3 connected to the torso 2, left and right arms 4L and 4R, and It mainly includes left and right legs 5L and 5R. Although detailed description is omitted in this specification, the robot 1 controls each part by the overall control unit 100 described later, for example, emits a voice, moves the head 3 and the arms 4L and 4R, The leg portions 5L and 5R can be moved to walk.

  Further, in order to make the state of the robot 1 visible from the outside, the robot 1 has four light emitting units each having a light emitting diode (LED) as an example of a light emitter, specifically, a chest light emitting unit 10, A head light emitting unit 20 and left and right ear light emitting units 30L and 30R are provided.

The chest light emitting unit 10 is provided in a portion corresponding to the chest of the trunk 2 and mainly includes a red LED 11R, a green LED 11G, and a blue LED 11B.
The head light emitting unit 20 is provided in the vicinity of the portion corresponding to the forehead of the head 3, and the first head light emitting unit 21, the second head light emitting unit 22 and the first head light emitting unit 22 arranged in order from the bottom to the top. It is composed of a three-head light emitting unit 23. Each head light-emitting part 21-23 (refer FIG. 2) mainly has red LED21R-23R, green LED21G-23G, and blue LED21B-23B, and is comprised.
Each of the ear light emitting units 30L and 30R is provided in the vicinity of a portion corresponding to the left and right ears of the head 3, and each of the ear light emitting units 30L and 30R includes four white LEDs 31W to 34W arranged.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the robot 1 controls the LEDs of the light emitting units 10, 20, 30 </ b> L, and 30 </ b> R, so that the overall control unit 100, the LED control unit 200 as the light emitter control unit, and the distance information acquisition unit A distance sensor 41 as an example, a microphone 42 as an example of a voice information acquisition unit, and an abnormality detection unit 43.

The distance sensor 41 is a sensor that acquires information on the distance from a surrounding object, for example, a person who wants to interact with the robot 1.
The microphone 42 is a sensor that acquires information on the surrounding voice, for example, voice produced by a person who is going to interact with the robot 1.
The abnormality detection unit 43 is configured to detect an abnormality inside the robot 1. As a specific example of the abnormality detection means 43, a device for detecting an abnormality of the system that controls the posture of the robot 1 can be cited.
Information acquired by the distance sensor 41, the microphone 42, and the abnormality detection unit 43 is input to the overall control unit 100 and used for LED control.

  The overall control unit 100 is configured to be able to control each part of the robot 1 including the LED control unit 200. For the LED control unit 200, each LED 11R, 11G, 11B, 21R to 23R, 21G to 23G, 21B to A control command for controlling 23B, 31W to 34W (hereinafter, appropriately omitted) is transmitted.

  The LED control unit 200 is configured to be able to control each LED individually, and executes control based on a control command transmitted from the overall control unit 100. This LED control means 200 mainly has a pattern storage unit 210 as a first storage unit and a command storage unit 220 as a second storage unit.

The pattern storage unit 210 stores control pattern information.
The control pattern information is information used for controlling the LED when a pattern control command to be described later is transmitted from the overall control unit 100, and includes information on the brightness of the LED and information on the light emission time.

  More specifically, as shown in FIG. 3 as an image, the control pattern information includes the LEDs 11R, 11G, 11B, 21R, 21G, 21B, 22R, 22G, 22B, 23R, 23G, 23B, 31W, 32W, 33W, and 34W. Are composed of a plurality of sequences (corresponding to one row of the table) having information on the brightness that has been digitized and information on the light emission time. Each sequence is given a sequence number in the order of control execution. A plurality of pieces of control pattern information having different information contents are set in advance, and the plurality of pieces of control pattern information are stored in the pattern storage unit 210. Each control pattern information is given a pattern number as unique identification information. In the present embodiment, the brightness of the LEDs 11R, 11G, 11B, 21R, 21G, 21B, 22R, 22G, 22B, 23R, 23G, and 23B is changed from 0 (light-off state) to 3 in order to facilitate understanding of the invention. The four gradations up to (the brightest lighting state) are set, and the brightness of the white LEDs 31W, 32W, 33W, and 34W is set to two gradations of 0 (light-off state) and 1 (light-on state).

  Incidentally, in the present embodiment, one control pattern information as shown in FIG. 3 shows an example in which the brightness information of all LEDs is held, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the control pattern information is The information may be set as dedicated information for controlling one light emitting unit, and may have only information on the brightness of the LEDs constituting the one light emitting unit. That is, for example, when certain control pattern information is set as dedicated information for controlling the chest light emitting unit 10, only the brightness information of the LEDs 11R, 11G, and 11B is held.

The command storage unit 220 stores the control command transmitted from the overall control unit 100.
In the present embodiment, two types of control commands transmitted from the overall control unit 100 are set: pattern control commands and individual control commands.
The pattern control command is a control command for controlling the LED based on the control pattern information, and is a control command mainly including a pattern number for specifying the control pattern information stored in the pattern storage unit 210.
On the other hand, the individual control command is a control command for individually controlling the LED to be controlled (control based on the control pattern information), and information on the brightness of the LED to be controlled (for example, “red” This is a control command mainly including information that “the LED 11R has brightness 3”.

  When the individual control command is stored in the command storage unit 220, the LED control unit 200 controls the LED specified by the individual control command based on the brightness information included in the individual control command. For example, when the individual control command is a command that “red LED 11R has brightness 3”, LED control means 200 controls red LED 11R to be lit at brightness 3. Thereby, the chest light emitting unit 10 emits red light.

  After that, when the chest light emitting unit 10 is turned off, an individual control command “Red LED 11R is set to brightness 0” is transmitted from the overall control means 100, and the LED control means 200 brightens the red LED 11R. By controlling to be 0, the chest light emitting unit 10 is turned off. In the control by the individual control command, the light emission time of the LED to be controlled can be arbitrarily controlled by the transmission timing of the individual control command transmitted later.

  On the other hand, when the pattern control command is stored in the command storage unit 220, the LED control unit 200 determines the brightness of the control pattern information to which the LED specified by the pattern control command is assigned the pattern number included in the pattern control command. And control based on the information of the light emission time and the light emission time. In other words, when the pattern control command is stored in the command storage unit 220, the LED control unit 200 reads out the corresponding control pattern information from the pattern storage unit 210 based on the pattern number included in the stored pattern control command. The LED to be controlled is specified from the read control pattern information, and the brightness and the light emission time are controlled.

  For example, the pattern number included in the pattern control command stored in the command storage unit 220 is No. shown in FIG. In the case of X, the LED control means 200 reads No. 2 from the pattern storage unit 210. The control pattern information to which the X pattern number is assigned is read. Then, based on the control pattern information shown in FIG. 3, the LED control unit 200 executes LED control in the order of the sequence numbers.

  Specifically, the LED control means 200 first determines the sequence number No. Based on the sequence of 0, the red LED 11R is lit with brightness 3 (other LEDs have brightness 0 (not lit)). After the elapse of 10 seconds, the LED control means 200 determines that the sequence number No. Based on the sequence of 1, the red LED 11 </ b> R is set to brightness 0 (turned off), and the green LED 11 </ b> G is turned on with brightness 3. After 10 seconds have passed, the LED control means 200 determines that the sequence number No. Based on the sequence of 2, the green LED 11G is set to 0 brightness, and the red LED 11R and the blue LED 11B are turned on at brightness 3. After 10 seconds have passed, the LED control means 200 determines that the sequence number No. Based on the sequence of No. 3, the LED control unit 200 basically has a sequence number No. The same control is executed up to the sequence of z (final number). Thus, the chest light emitting unit 10 emits light in the order of red, green, magenta,... Every 10 seconds.

  The pattern control command includes information for determining whether to repeat control based on the control pattern information read based on the pattern number included in the pattern control command (hereinafter referred to as loop information). it can. When the loop information is not included in the pattern control command transmitted from the overall control unit 100, the LED control unit 200 completes the control after executing the control based on the read control pattern information once. On the other hand, when the loop information is included, the LED control unit 200 repeatedly executes control based on the read control pattern information. This repetition may be specified by the loop information, or may be continued until the individual control command is transmitted.

  The LED control unit 200 clears the stored control command when the control by the control command (individual control command or pattern control command) stored in the command storage unit 220 is completed. When the pattern control command includes loop information that specifies the number of repetitions, the control is completed after the specified number of repetitions.

  When the control command is transmitted from the overall control unit 100 when the control command is not stored in the command storage unit 220 by clearing the control command, the LED control unit 200 displays the control command transmitted to the command storage unit 220. Store. When the LED control unit 200 stores the transmitted control command in the command storage unit 220, the LED control unit 200 transmits (notifies) information to that effect (that the control command has been received) to the overall control unit 100.

  In addition, when a new individual control command is transmitted from the overall control unit 100 when the control command is stored in the command storage unit 220, the LED control unit 200 clears the stored control command, The new individual control command transmitted to the storage unit 220 is stored (overwritten). As a result, control based on the newly transmitted individual control command can be executed with priority. Also in this case, as described above, the LED control unit 200 notifies the general control unit 100 of information indicating that the reception of the control command has been completed.

  On the other hand, if a new pattern control command is transmitted from the overall control unit 100 when the control command is stored in the command storage unit 220, the LED control unit 200 maintains the stored pattern control command, The new pattern control command transmitted to the command storage unit 220 is not stored. Thereby, it is possible to prevent the start of the control based on the new pattern control command transmitted during the control based on the first control command. In this case, the LED control unit 200 notifies the general control unit 100 of information that the transmitted pattern control command cannot be stored in the command storage unit 220 (that the pattern control command cannot be received).

  The overall control unit 100 includes a storage unit 110 as a third storage unit that stores a plurality of control pattern information, and transmits the plurality of control pattern information in the storage unit 110 to the LED control unit 200 at a predetermined timing. It is configured as follows. Here, the predetermined timing is, for example, when the robot 1 is activated such as when the power is turned on or when information (control pattern information) in the storage unit 110 is updated. The LED control unit 200 is configured to update the plurality of control pattern information in the pattern storage unit 210 when a plurality of control pattern information in the storage unit 110 is transmitted from the overall control unit 100. As a result, inconsistency between the plurality of control pattern information held by the overall control unit 100 and the plurality of control pattern information held by the LED control unit 200 can be avoided.

  Next, when the overall control unit 100 transmits a control command, a specific example of the content of the control command to be transmitted, and the operation of the light emitting unit by controlling the LED based on the control command transmitted by the LED control unit 200 (Light emission state) will be described.

<Specific example 1>
When the overall control unit 100 acquires information on the distance from the person who is going to interact with the robot 1 from the distance sensor 41, the overall control means 100 changes the information on the brightness of the LED to be controlled according to the distance to the person. Send individual control commands. Specifically, when the information on the distance to the person is acquired, the overall control unit 100 transmits an individual control command in which the brightness information (1 to 3) of the green LED 11G is changed according to the distance to the person. To do.

  More specifically, the overall control unit 100 determines the brightness of the green LED 11G when the distance to the person is far from or close to a predetermined value or a predetermined range than when the distance to the person is within the predetermined value or the predetermined range. Send an individual control command to make it darker. Furthermore, the overall control unit 100 transmits an individual control command that gradually decreases the brightness of the green LED 11G as the distance from the person becomes larger or smaller than a predetermined value or a predetermined range.

  As an example, when the distance to the person is 1 m or more and less than 2 m, the overall control unit 100 transmits an individual control command to “set the green LED 11G to brightness 3” and the distance to the person is 2 m to less than 5 m or When the distance is 0.5 m or more and less than 1 m, an individual control command that “green LED 11G is set to brightness 2” is transmitted, and when the distance to a person is 5 m or more and less than 10 m or less than 0.5 m, “green LED 11G is bright An individual control command indicating “1” is transmitted.

  Accordingly, when the distance to the person is optimal, the chest light emitting unit 10 emits light green, and when the distance from the person is far or close, the chest light emitting unit 10 emits light in dark green. Furthermore, the green light emission of the chest light-emitting unit 10 gradually becomes darker as the distance to the person increases or decreases (in other words, the green light emission of the chest light-emitting unit 10 gradually becomes brighter as the optimum distance is approached). It becomes. As described above, the brightness (brightness and darkness) of the chest light-emitting unit 10 can be changed according to the distance to the person, so that the situation of the robot 1 (whether the distance is optimal or not) can be appropriately notified. The user can easily interact with the robot 1 when talking to the robot 1 or the like.

<Specific example 2>
When the overall control unit 100 acquires voice information of a person who is going to interact with the robot 1 from the microphone 42, the overall control means 100 changes the brightness information of the LED to be controlled according to the voice strength (voice strength). The individual control command is sent. Specifically, when the overall control unit 100 acquires audio information, the brightness information of the white LEDs 31W to 34W is sequentially set to “1, 1, 1, 1” when the audio intensity is optimal, and the audio intensity is “1, 1, 1, 0” when the sound intensity is slightly weak, “1, 1, 0, 0” when the sound intensity is slightly weak, and “1, 0, 0, 0” when the sound intensity is weak Send a control command.

  Thereby, when the sound intensity is optimal, all of the white LEDs 31W to 34W are lit, when the sound intensity is slightly weak, three of the white LEDs 31W to 33W are lit, and when the sound intensity is slightly weak, the white LEDs 31W and 32W are two. When one is lit and the sound intensity is weak, only the white LED 31W is lit. As described above, the brightness (number of lighting) of the white LEDs 31W to 34W of the ear light emitting units 30L and 30R can be changed according to the sound intensity, so that the situation of the robot (whether or not the voice has arrived) is appropriately set. And can easily interact with the robot 1.

  In this specific example, the white LED 31W to 34W of the left and right ear light emitting units 30L and 30R has been described with the intention of controlling to be in the same lighting state on the left and right. You may control so that it may become a different lighting state by. For example, in addition to the control for changing the number of lightings according to the sound intensity described above, when the sound intensity is different on the left and right, more LEDs with higher sound intensity are lit, and the sound intensity on the left and right are substantially equal. In this case, control may be performed so that the number of lighting of the left and right LEDs is the same.

<Specific example 3>
When the abnormality detection unit 43 detects an internal abnormality, for example, an abnormality of a system that controls the posture of the robot 1, the overall control unit 100 transmits an individual control command. Specifically, when an internal abnormality is detected, the overall control unit 100 transmits, as an example, an individual control command that “red LED 11R has brightness 3”. As a result, the chest light emitting unit 10 emits light with the brightest red color. In the present embodiment, as described above, when the individual control command is transmitted, the control based on the transmitted individual control command is preferentially executed, so even if there is a control being executed, this is interrupted. Thus, the abnormality of the robot 1 can be notified promptly. In the present invention, a specific method for notifying an abnormality (for example, a light emitting unit to be operated, a color, a light emitting method, etc.) is arbitrary.

<Specific Example 4>
The overall control unit 100 places the robot 1 in a standby state when a command for ordering the robot 1 from the outside is input, or when information is not input from a sensor or the like for a predetermined time or more during charging of the battery. To do. At this time, for example, the overall control unit 100 transmits a pattern control command including a pattern number (No. A) given to the control pattern information shown as an image in FIG. 4 and loop information.

  The LED control means 200 in which this pattern control command is stored in the command storage unit 220 reads the control pattern information shown in FIG. 4 from the pattern storage unit, and sets each LED 11R, 11G, and 11B to brightness 1, Control is performed in the order of 2, 3, 2, 1 and this control is repeated based on the loop information. As a result, the chest light-emitting unit 10 emits light while repeating white and bright or dark.

<Specific Example 5>
When the overall control unit 100 can recognize the content of the voice (utterance) input from the microphone 42 by a voice recognition unit (not shown), for example, the pattern number given to the control pattern information shown as an image in FIG. A pattern control command including (No. B) is transmitted.

  The LED control means 200 in which the pattern control command is stored in the command storage unit 220 reads the control pattern information shown in FIG. 5 from the pattern storage unit, and at first intervals, the LEDs 21R, 21G, and 21B are set to brightness 1 and 2 respectively. 3, 2, 1 in this order, then the LEDs 22 R, 22 G, 22 B are controlled in the order of brightness 1, 2, 3, 2, 1 and finally each LED 23 R, 23 G, 23 B is controlled in brightness 1, 2, Control in the order of 3, 2, 1. Thereby, the 1st head light emission part 21, the 2nd head light emission part 22, and the 3rd head light emission part 23 will blink in order in white. According to this, since the situation of the robot (whether or not the utterance has been recognized) can be appropriately notified, it is possible to facilitate interaction with the robot 1.

<Specific Example 6>
When the overall control unit 100 causes the light emitting unit that emits light in the first color according to the individual control command to emit light in the second color different from the first color by transmitting another individual control command, the light emitting unit Before the other individual control command is transmitted, first, the pattern control command is transmitted, and the color of the light emitting unit is changed from the first color to the second color by the control based on the pattern control command so that the color of the light source does not change abruptly. Gradually change the color. Then, after the predetermined time has elapsed from the transmission of the pattern control command, the other individual control command (individual control command for causing the light emitting unit to emit light in the second color) is transmitted.

  Specifically, for example, the chest light emitting unit 10 that emits white light according to an individual control command (“LEDs 11R, 11G, and 11B are set to brightness 3”) is transmitted to another individual control command (“green LED 11G is set to brightness”). 3) ”), the overall control unit 100 starts the color change after transmitting the individual control command“ LEDs 11R, 11G, and 11B have brightness 3 ”. At the timing, first, a pattern control command including the pattern number (No. C) given to the control pattern information shown as an image in FIG.

  The LED control unit 200 in which the pattern control command is stored in the command storage unit 220 reads the control pattern information shown in FIG. 6 from the pattern storage unit, and among the LEDs 11R, 11G, and 11B that emit light at brightness 3, While maintaining the brightness of the LED 11G at 3, the brightness of the red LED 11R and the blue LED 11B is controlled in order of 3, 2, 1, 0 at intervals of 2 seconds. Thereby, the color of the chest light emitting unit 10 gradually changes from white to green.

  The overall control unit 100 transmits an appropriate timing after the elapse of a predetermined time from the transmission of the pattern control command, for example, when the pattern control command is transmitted (or when the pattern control command reception completion notification is received from the LED control unit 200) ) Until the completion of the control based on the pattern control command has elapsed, or when the notification indicating that the control based on the pattern control command has been completed is received from the LED control means 200 (No. 3). When the control based on the sequence with the sequence number is executed, the other individual control command (the individual control command indicating that the green LED 11G is set to brightness 3) is transmitted. Thereby, the chest light emitting unit 10 emits green light (continues to emit light).

  According to this specific example, the color of the light emitting unit can be gradually changed from the first color to the second color. Further, by executing the control for gradually changing the color not by the control by the individual control command but by the control by the pattern control command, the processing amount in the overall control unit 100, the overall control unit 100, the LED control unit 200, The amount of communication during the period can be reduced. Supplementally, in the control by the individual control command, the overall control means 100 needs to transmit the individual control command including information on the brightness and the light emission time a plurality of times at a fixed timing, so that the processing amount increases, and the transmitted individual control command Each time the control command is stored in the command storage unit 220, the LED control unit 200 notifies the completion of reception of the control command, so the communication amount between the overall control unit 100 and the LED control unit 200 increases. On the other hand, in the control by the pattern control command, it is only necessary to transmit the pattern control command including the pattern number instead of the control command including the brightness and light emission time information itself, so that the processing amount and the communication amount can be reduced. it can.

  Note that if the color of the light emitting unit changes abruptly, a person facing the robot 1 may feel uncomfortable or may be confused without knowing the situation of the robot 1, but the above control prevents them. be able to.

Next, the operation of the LED control means 200 in the robot 1 configured as described above will be described with reference to a flowchart.
The LED control unit 200 repeatedly executes the process of the flowchart shown in FIG. 7, and executes the process of the flowchart shown in FIG. 8 when a control command is transmitted from the overall control unit 100.

  As shown in FIG. 7, when the pattern control command is stored in the command storage unit 220 (S101, No → S201, Yes), the LED control unit 200 is based on the pattern number included in the pattern control command. The corresponding control pattern information is read from 210. Then, the LED control means 200 determines that the sequence number in the number storage unit (not shown) that stores the sequence number information is No. It is confirmed whether it is 0 (S202). Note that the sequence number in this number storage unit is stored after the control based on the pattern control command is completed (see step S227) or after the control based on the individual control command is completed (or the individual control command is stored in the command storage unit 220). No.) etc. Reset to zero.

  Initially, the sequence number in the number storage unit is No. 0 (S202, Yes), the LED control unit 200 determines that the sequence number No. LED control based on the sequence of 0 is executed (S205), the sequence number in the number storage unit is incremented (S207), and the time at the start of control is acquired (S209). Thereafter, the LED control unit 200 returns to START and repeats the process (control based on the pattern control command).

  If the sequence number is not 0 (No), the LED control unit 200 determines that the sequence number in the number storage unit is No. It is confirmed whether or not z (final number) (S203). The sequence number is No. If it is not z (S203, No), the LED control unit 200 acquires the current time (S211), and confirms whether or not the light emission time of the currently executed sequence has elapsed compared to the previously acquired time. (S213). When the light emission time has not elapsed (S213, No), the LED control unit 200 returns to START and repeats the process. When the process proceeds to step S213 again and the light emission time has elapsed (Yes), the LED control means 200 executes LED control based on the sequence of the sequence number in the number storage unit (S215), and increments the sequence number (S217). The time at the start of control is acquired (S219). Thereafter, the LED control unit 200 returns to START and repeats the process.

  When the individual control command is transmitted from the overall control unit 100 as shown in FIG. 8 during the execution of the control based on the pattern control command (S401, Yes), the LED control unit 200 controls the command storage unit 220 to perform the individual control. The command is stored (S405), and information indicating that the individual control command has been received is notified to the overall control means 100 (S407), and the process of the flowchart shown in FIG. Then, as shown in FIG. 7, when the individual control command is stored in the command storage unit 220 (S101, Yes), the LED control unit 200 interrupts the control based on the pattern control command, and the LED based on the individual control command. The control is executed (S105), and the individual control command in the command storage unit 220 is cleared (S301). Thereafter, the LED control means 200 returns to START and repeats the process (preparing for transmission of the next control command).

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 8, when a new pattern control command is transmitted during the execution of the control based on the pattern control command (S401, No), the pattern control command is already stored in the command storage unit 220. (S403, Yes), the LED control means 200 does not store the pattern control command newly transmitted to the command storage unit 220 (maintains the pattern control command currently stored in the command storage unit 220). . Then, the LED control unit 200 notifies the general control unit 100 of information indicating that the pattern control command cannot be received (S409), and ends the process of the flowchart shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 7, in step S203 when the pattern control command is stored in the command storage unit 220, the sequence number is “No. If it is z (final number) (Yes), the LED control unit 200 acquires the current time (S221), and whether or not the light emission time of the currently executed sequence has elapsed compared to the previously acquired time. Is confirmed (S223). When the light emission time has not elapsed (S223, No), the LED control unit 200 returns to START and repeats the process. When the process proceeds to step S223 again and the light emission time has elapsed (Yes), the LED control unit 200 determines that the sequence number No. LED control based on the sequence of z is executed (S225).

  Thereafter, the LED control unit 200 resets the sequence number in the number storage unit (S227) and confirms whether or not loop information is included in the pattern control command (S231). If the loop information is included (S231, Yes), the LED control unit 200 returns to START and repeats the control based on the pattern control command stored in the command storage unit 220. On the other hand, when the loop information is not included (S231, No), the LED control unit 200 clears the pattern control command in the command storage unit 220 (S301), returns to START, and repeats the process (next control command). Ready for transmission). Until the next control command is transmitted, the LED control means 200 keeps the sequence number no. Continue to execute LED control based on the sequence of z.

  According to the control based on the pattern control command of the robot 1 described above, since the pattern control command does not include information on brightness and light emission time, it is not necessary to calculate these at the time of transmission, and pattern control is performed by an individual control command. Since the number of transmissions of the control command can be reduced as compared with the case where the light emitting unit performs the same operation as the command, the processing amount in the overall control unit 100 can be reduced. Further, the pattern control command is a control command with a small amount of information that does not include information on brightness and light emission time, and since the number of transmissions is small, the notification of information from the LED control unit 200 to the overall control unit 100 is also reduced. The amount of communication between the overall control unit 100 and the LED control unit 200 can be reduced. Further, according to the control based on the individual control command, the operation of the light emitting unit that does not depend on a certain pattern that is difficult to realize with the control pattern information can be executed as necessary.

  Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be appropriately modified and implemented.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, the chest light-emitting unit 10 is configured to include three-color LEDs of the red LED 11R, the green LED 11G, and the blue LED 11B, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the chest light emitting unit 10 may be configured to have four colors of LEDs, a red LED, a green LED, a blue LED, and a white LED.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, although two places, the chest light emission part 10 and the head light emission part 20, had LED of multiple colors, this invention is not limited to this. That is, a configuration in which only one light emitting unit has LEDs of a plurality of colors may be used, or a configuration in which all the light emitting units have LEDs of a plurality of colors may be used. In addition, all the light emitting units may have a configuration including only LEDs of the same color (a configuration that is not a plurality of colors). In addition, like the said embodiment, since the light emission part has LED of multiple colors, the condition of the robot 1 can be notified more easily by a difference in color, or can be notified more appropriately. In addition, the location which provides a light emission part, the number of light emission parts, and the number of LED can be set arbitrarily.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, in order to make an understanding of this invention easy, although the brightness of LED was made into 4 gradations (0-3) at maximum, this invention is not limited to this. That is, the gradation of the LED can be set as appropriate. For example, in order to express more colors, the gradation can be set to 128 gradations or 256 gradations.

  Moreover, although LED was illustrated as a light-emitting device in the said embodiment, this invention is not limited to this, For example, an electroluminescent (EL) element etc. may be sufficient.

  In the above embodiment, the present invention is applied to a humanoid robot. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the present invention may be applied to an animal type robot. Further, the present invention can be applied not only to a so-called communication robot such as the robot 1 of the above-described embodiment, but also to, for example, a medical robot, a nursing robot, a rescue robot, a household cleaning robot, and the like.

1 Robot 10 Chest light emitting part 11B Blue LED
11G green LED
11R Red LED
20 Head light emitting part 21B Blue LED
21G green LED
21R Red LED
22B Blue LED
22G Green LED
22R Red LED
23B Blue LED
23G green LED
23R Red LED
30L Ear light emitting part 30R Ear light emitting part 31W White LED
32W white LED
33W white LED
34W white LED
41 Distance Sensor 42 Microphone 43 Abnormality Detection Unit 100 Overall Control Unit 110 Storage Unit 200 LED Control Unit 210 Pattern Storage Unit 220 Command Storage Unit

Claims (9)

A plurality of light emitters, light emitter control means configured to individually control the light emitters, and overall control means for transmitting a control command for controlling the light emitters to the light emitter control means. A robot,
The light emitter control means includes:
A first storage unit for storing a plurality of pieces of control pattern information including information on brightness and light emission time of the light emitter and having unique identification information;
A second storage unit that stores an individual control command that includes information on the brightness of a light emitting device to be controlled, or a pattern control command that includes the unique identification information, transmitted from the overall control unit; Have
When the individual control command is stored in the second storage unit, the light emitter specified by the individual control command is controlled based on brightness information included in the individual control command,
When the pattern control command is stored in the second storage unit, the light emitting device specified by the pattern control command is used for the brightness and light emission of the control pattern information to which the identification information included in the pattern control command is added. A robot that is controlled based on time information.   When the individual control command is transmitted from the overall control unit, the light emitter control unit is configured to store the individual storage unit in the second storage unit regardless of whether the command is stored in the second storage unit. The robot according to claim 1, wherein a control command is stored. The light emitter control means includes:
When a pattern control command is transmitted from the overall control means when no control command is stored in the second storage unit, the pattern control command is stored in the second storage unit,
If another pattern control command is transmitted from the overall control unit when a pattern control command is stored in the second storage unit, the other pattern control command is not stored in the second storage unit. The robot according to claim 1 or 2, wherein Comprising at least one light emitting part having the light emitter,
The robot according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein at least one of the light emitting units includes a plurality of color light emitters. Provided with distance information acquisition means for acquiring distance information with surrounding objects,
When the overall control means acquires the information on the distance to the surrounding object, the overall control means outputs the individual control command in which the brightness information of the light emitting device to be controlled is varied according to the distance to the surrounding object. The robot according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the transmission is performed. Provided with voice information acquisition means for acquiring information of surrounding voice,
The general control unit, when acquiring the information of the surrounding sound, transmits the individual control command in which the brightness information of the light emitting device to be controlled is changed according to the strength of the surrounding sound. The robot according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein: Equipped with an abnormality detection means for detecting internal abnormalities,
The robot according to claim 2, wherein the general control unit transmits the individual control command when the abnormality detection unit detects an internal abnormality.   The overall control unit may change the color of the light emitting unit from the first color to the first color when causing the light emitting unit emitting light with the first color to emit light with a second color different from the first color. Transmitting a pattern control command including the unique identification information given to the control pattern information for gradually changing to the second color, and causing the light emitting unit to emit light in the second color after a lapse of a predetermined time from the transmission. The robot according to claim 4, wherein an individual control command is transmitted. The overall control unit has a third storage unit that stores a plurality of control pattern information, and transmits the plurality of control pattern information in the third storage unit to the light emitter control unit at a predetermined timing,
The light emitter control unit updates the plurality of control pattern information in the first storage unit when a plurality of control pattern information in the third storage unit is transmitted from the overall control unit. The robot according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

Images