JP2016012257A - Robot device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a robot device capable of avoiding giving unnecessary alarms or taking unnecessary evasive actions.SOLUTION: A robot device 900 which is a mobile robot capable of detecting an object around the robot device itself and giving an alarm when judging the detected object as a human, comprises a specification unit for specifying the location of a detected object and a storage unit for storing the location of obstacles other than a human. When an object is detected, the robot device determines whether the object is stored in the storage unit and gets around the object when it is stored, while determining whether the object is a human when it is not stored.

Description

  The present invention relates to control of a robot.

  In a robot having a traveling function, in order to avoid collision with surrounding people and objects, a warning is issued or an avoidance action is taken when an approach of an object is detected.

JP 2007-78476 A

For example, if the detected object is an object, there is no point in issuing a warning, and if the object is a person, the person may avoid it even if this is not avoided. That is, in the conventional technology, unnecessary warnings and avoidance actions may be performed.
The present invention aims to prevent unnecessary warnings and avoidance actions.

In one aspect, the present invention determines whether or not the detected object is a person in a travelable robot apparatus having a function of detecting an object present around the apparatus and performing a notification operation. Provided is a robot apparatus that performs the notification operation when the determined object is a person.
In a preferred aspect, the apparatus further comprises a specifying unit for detecting the position of the detected object and a storage unit for storing the position of an obstacle other than a person. When the object is detected, the object is registered in the storage unit. If it is registered, a avoidance action is performed. If not registered, it is determined whether or not the object is a person.
In a preferred embodiment, the notification operation is executed when it is not determined whether or not the detected object is a person, and then an avoidance action is performed when an object is detected at the same position as the detected position. .
In a preferred embodiment, when an object is detected for the second time at the same position, the detected object is registered as an obstacle other than a person.
In a preferred aspect, the information processing apparatus further includes a determination unit that determines a direction in which the detected person's face is facing, and the contents of the notification operation are varied according to the determined direction.
In a preferred embodiment, the content of the notification operation is varied according to the movement direction of the detected object with reference to the position of the device itself. In a preferred aspect, the content of the notification operation is varied according to the detected speed of the object.
In a preferred aspect, when the detected object exists in an inner area set around the device, an avoidance action is performed, and the detected object is set outside the inner area. If it exists in the area, the avoidance action is not performed.

The functional diagram of the robot 900. FIG. An example of the inner region R1 and the outer region R2 set for the traveling robot 900. An operation example of the robot 900. A modification of the robot 900. An example of information described in the table T1.

FIG. 1 is a functional diagram of the robot 900. The robot 900 includes a control unit 100, a moving mechanism 200, a detection unit 300, a travel management unit 400, a communication unit 500, and a notification unit 600.
The movement mechanism 200 includes a mechanism for changing the traveling direction by changing the direction of the wheel, a drive mechanism such as a wheel, a motor, a shaft, and a gear, a speed adjustment mechanism, and the like under the control of the control unit 100. Further, under an instruction from the control unit 100, an action (avoidance action) for avoiding an obstacle is executed according to a predetermined algorithm.

The detection unit 300 is an LRF (laser range finder), an ultrasonic sensor, or the like, and scans a predetermined space to detect whether or not an object exists in the range. Measure the distance and direction to the object. In addition, the detection unit 300 analyzes the received signal and determines whether the object is a person or a person (thing) other than a person. Information about the acquired object is supplied to the control unit 100.
In addition to or in addition to the detection mechanism using electromagnetic waves or ultrasonic waves, a lens, an image sensor, and an image analysis circuit may be provided, and the presence of an object may be detected by image shooting to determine the distance.

  The travel management unit 400 includes a position grasping unit 410, an acceleration sensor 420, and a storage unit 430. The position grasping unit 410 acquires information indicating the position of the robot 900 in real time. For example, the position grasping unit 410 includes a wireless transmission / reception device, and acquires position information according to a positioning method such as GISS (GPS). Alternatively, the position information may be received continuously or periodically by communicating with a base station of a mobile communication network or a wireless relay device provided in a travel area. The acceleration sensor 420 acquires the speed, acceleration, and direction of the robot 900 in real time. By the position grasping unit 410 and the acceleration sensor 420, the robot 900 always grasps the traveling state including its own position, orientation, and speed. The storage unit 430 is an HDD or a semiconductor memory, and stores a map of an area where the robot 900 travels. In the map, information on the position of the obstacle in the area is stored as coordinates.

The notification unit 600 includes a light emitting unit 610 and a sound emitting unit 620. The light emitting unit 610 is realized by an LED element and its control circuit, and performs light emission and blinking under the instruction of the control unit 100. The sound emitting unit 620 is realized by a speaker, an amplifier, an acoustic signal processing circuit, a memory that stores acoustic signals (siren sound data, synthesized speech data, melody sound data), and the like, and emits acoustic waves based on the acoustic signals.
The communication unit 500 is realized by a communication interface, and inputs a travel instruction, a travel route, and parameters to be supplied to the notification unit 600 from the computer device to the robot 900 or outputs the state of the robot 900 to the computer device.

The control unit 100 is realized by a processor such as a CPU, and includes a travel control unit 110 and a notification control unit 120. The traveling control unit 110 determines whether the object detected by the detection unit 300 is in the inner region R1 and whether it is in the outer region R2. In addition, the control unit 100 specifies the position of the target object on the map. Then, the control unit 100 determines whether or not the specified object is registered in comparison with the map.
The notification control unit 120 supplies the notification unit 600 with a control signal including at least a signal for instructing on / off. The notification control unit 120 varies the control content of the notification unit 600 according to the presence / absence of an object, whether the detected object is a person or an object (or whether it cannot be determined), and the position of the detected object.

FIG. 2 is an example of the inner region R1 and the outer region R2 set by the traveling robot 900. The inner region R1 and the outer region R2 are regions that serve as a reference when the robot 900 performs notification (warning) or avoidance behavior.
The inner region R1 and the outer region R2 are set according to the traveling direction of the robot 900. The inner area R1 is set around the robot 900, and the outer area R2 is set outside the inner area R1. The shape of the inner region R1 and the outer region R2 is an ellipse, and has major axes (L1, L2) in the traveling direction and minor axes (S1, S2) in the vertical direction. In a preferred embodiment, the size of at least one of the inner region R1 and the outer region R2 may change according to the traveling speed of the robot 900. Specifically, when the speed increases, the sizes of the inner region R1 and the outer region R2 are both increased. This is because when the speed is high, it is necessary to issue a warning to a remote party.

  FIG. 3 shows an operation example of the robot 900. The robot 900 travels along a travel route designated in advance or determined by a route selection algorithm. During traveling, the control unit 100 uses the detection unit 300 to monitor objects around the robot 900 (things that can be obstacles to traveling and those that may cause a collision) as needed (S102). When the object is detected, the position of the object is specified (S104). When the specified position is in the inner region R1 (S105; YES), the robot 900 performs an avoidance action (S200). This is because the presence of the object in the inner region R1 is presumed to be highly urgent to avoid because the possibility of a collision is high.

  When the specified position is outside the inner region R1 and in the outer region R2 (S106; YES), the control unit 100 determines whether or not the position has been registered in the storage unit 430 (S108). If it is registered, it means that it is an object (stationary object), so there is a risk of collision unless it is avoided, so the control unit 100 takes an avoidance action (S200). If not registered, if it is within the outer region R2, it is determined whether the object is a person or an object (S110). This is because if the object is a person, there is a possibility of having the other party take an avoidance action.

When it is determined that the person is a person (S114), a predetermined notification operation is executed (S300), and the person is prompted to take an avoidance action. When it determines with a thing (S112), alerting | reporting operation | movement is not performed. It is because it is useless even if it reports. If it is not possible to determine whether the object is a person or an object due to the limit of the ability of the sensor or the like, the fact that an obstacle that is a person or an object exists at the position of the object is first registered in the storage unit 430 (S400) For safety, a notification operation is executed (S300).
The detected person is moved by being notified by the notification, or the object detected by the robot 900 taking an avoidance action or the like is moved to the outside region R2 by changing the distance to the object while the robot 900 is traveling. If nothing is detected, the control unit 100 ends the notification operation (S500).

When the robot 900 and the object enter the range of the inner region R1, an avoidance action is executed (S200), and the notification operation is terminated (S500).
When an object that cannot be determined is registered twice at the same position, the control unit 100 determines that the object is not a person but an object (stationary object), and a map stored in the storage unit 430 based on this determination. Update.

  According to the above embodiment, safety is ensured because the avoidance action is always taken when the risk of collision is high. If the urgency is not so high at the present time but there is a certain degree of collision risk, the object distinguishes between a person and an object (other than a person), so that unnecessary notification and avoidance actions are not performed. As a result, the person receiving the notification does not feel uncomfortable, and the originally set travel route is not changed unnecessarily.

FIG. 4 is a modified example of the robot 900. The detection unit 300 includes an orientation determination unit 310, a speed measurement unit 320, a movement direction determination unit 330, and a storage unit 340.
When the object is movable (for example, a person), the detection unit 300 measures the direction of the object (for example, the direction of the face), the speed of the object, and the moving direction. The measurement is performed by image analysis, for example.
The storage unit 340 stores a table T1.

  FIG. 5 is an example of information described in the table T1. The content determination unit 121 stores the voice control parameter and the light control parameter in association with the combination of the speed, direction, and movement direction of the object. The voice control parameter includes information items of volume and sound emission content. The light control parameter includes an information item of lighting pattern and issue intensity.

The content determination unit 121 uses at least one of the information of the direction determination unit 310, the speed measurement unit 320, and the movement direction determination unit 330 to refer to the table T1 and determine at least one of the notification operation and the notification content. decide. A control signal to be supplied to the notification unit 600 is generated based on this determination content.
For example, when it is determined that the speed of the detected object corresponds to “fast”, the direction is “front” with respect to the robot 900, and the moving direction is toward the robot 900 (FIG. Pattern 1), a signal instructing to emit a voice message (such as “There is a robot. Dangerous. Please come back”) at a volume higher than normal and to make the LED blink at a higher intensity than normal. Is supplied to the notification unit 600. This is because when the detected object takes such an action, it is considered highly likely that the detected object will collide with the robot 900. On the contrary, in the case of the pattern 4, since the possibility of a collision is low, a notification mode is adopted in which the presence of the robot 900 is transmitted to the person so as not to make the person uncomfortable.

  The notification mode is not limited to light and sound. For example, the robot 900 transmits a message to a portable terminal owned by a person via the communication unit 500 or controls the vibration function, speaker function, and issue function of the portable terminal, thereby allowing the user to The approach of the robot 900 may be notified.

  It may be determined whether or not the detected object is a robot. In the case of a robot, the notification operation may not be performed, and it may be determined which one (or both) changes the travel route by communicating with each other.

  The configurations, shapes, sizes, and arrangement relationships described in the above embodiments are merely schematically shown to the extent that the present invention can be understood and implemented. Therefore, the present invention is not limited to the described embodiments, and can be variously modified without departing from the scope of the technical idea shown in the claims.

900 ... Robot, 100 ... Control unit, 110 ... Travel control unit, 120 ... Notification control unit, 200 ... Moving mechanism, 300 ... Detection unit, 400 ... Travel management unit , 410 ... Position grasping part, 420 ... Acceleration, 430 ... Storage part, 600 ... Notification part, 610 ... Light emitting part, 620 ... Sound emitting part, 500 ... Communication part 310 ... Direction determination unit, 320 ... Speed measurement unit, 330 ... Moving direction determination unit, 340 ... Storage unit, 121 ... Content determination unit, R1 ... Inner region, R2. ..Outside area

Claims (8)

In a travelable robotic device having a function of detecting an object existing around its own device and performing a notification operation,
A robot apparatus that determines whether or not the detected object is a person, and executes the notification operation when the determined object is a person. A specific unit for storing the position of the detected object and a storage unit for storing the position of an obstacle other than a person;
When the object is detected, it is determined whether or not the object is registered in the storage unit. When the object is registered, an avoidance action is performed. When the object is not registered, whether or not the object is a person is determined. The robot apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the determination is performed. If the detected object is not confirmed whether or not it is a person, the notification operation is executed,
The robot apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an avoidance action is then performed when an object is detected at the same position as the detected position. The robot apparatus according to claim 3, wherein when an object is detected for the second time at the same position, the detected object is registered as an obstacle other than a person. A determination means for determining a direction in which the detected person's face is facing;
The robot apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the content of the notification operation varies according to the determined direction. The robot apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein contents of the notification operation are made different according to a movement direction of the detected object with reference to a position of the own apparatus. The robot apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the content of the notification operation varies according to the detected speed of the object. If the detected object is present in the inner region set around the device, perform an avoidance action,
The robot according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the avoidance action is not performed when the detected object exists in an outer region set outside the inner region. apparatus.

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