JP2017007033A - robot - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To give realism and a feeling of closeness to a served person.SOLUTION: A robot (1 or 2) moving to be closer to an object and serving the object has a shape similar to an outer shape of a character to serve the object and comprises a display (17) displaying an image of a generally total body of the character.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a robot that responds to a person.

  Conventionally, robots that respond to users instead of humans have been developed in hospitals and stores. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a telepresence robot that includes a display device such as a tablet or a display, and displays a video image of a remote user on the display device to respond.

Special table 2014-506023 gazette (announced March 6, 2014)

  Here, in the telepresence robot, only a part such as the face of the remote user is displayed on the square display device. Therefore, the person who has received the telepresence robot tends to have an impression that he / she is merely looking at the display screen, and there is a problem that it is difficult to feel a sense of realism and closeness.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to realize a robot that can give a sense of presence and a sense of closeness to a person who receives a response.

  In order to solve the above problems, a robot according to one aspect of the present invention is a robot that moves to the vicinity of a target person and responds to the target person, and has an outline of a character that shows the response to the target person. It has a similar shape, and is provided with a display that displays an image of the substantially whole body of the character.

  According to one aspect of the present invention, there is an effect that it is possible to give a sense of presence and a sense of familiarity to a person who receives a response.

It is a block diagram which shows the principal part structure of the robot which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the external appearance of the said robot. It is a block diagram which shows the detailed structure of the drive part of the said robot. It is a figure which shows the modification of the image displayed on the display of the said robot. It is a figure which shows an example of the external appearance of the robot which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the outline | summary of the reception system which concerns on Embodiment 3 of this invention. It is a sequence diagram which shows the flow of a process of the robot in the said reception system, a management server, and a supervisor terminal.

Embodiment 1
Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. First, the external appearance of the robot 1 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

≪Appearance of robot 1≫
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the appearance of the robot 1. The robot 1 is a self-propelled robot that moves to the vicinity of the person (target person) to which it is to respond and responds to the person. Here, “responding” indicates that at least a character image, which will be described later, is used to transmit information to the target person or to respond to the action of the target person such as an input operation or an inquiry. To give a specific example, the response includes customer service using a character image, route guidance, conversation, and the like. “Nearby” indicates a distance at which the subject can recognize the response performed by the robot 1. More specifically, it is desirable that the robot 1 be placed in an environment where there are a large number of unspecified persons such as airports, shopping centers, event venues, amusement parks, and museums. In these examples, the robot 1 leads a person (target person) and guides the destination to the destination, explains exhibits and products, and guides the target person to go to stores and attractions. Or The robot 1 includes a panel unit 10 and a cart unit 20 connected to the lower part of the panel unit 10. In addition, the shape and arrangement | positioning of the panel unit 10 and the trolley | bogie unit 20 are not limited to the shape and arrangement | positioning shown in FIG.

  The panel unit 10 is a unit including input / output devices such as a display 17. The display 17 displays a character image (character image 100). Here, the “character” is a subject that responds to the subject. The character may be a real entity such as a person or an animal, or may be a fictional entity such as a movie character or a theme park mascot. In addition, the character image 100 is an image of the whole body of the character, or an image that includes a part of the whole body of the character that allows the subject to determine the entire image of the character from the image. That is, the character image 100 is an image of the substantially whole body of the character. Specifically, when the character is a person, the character image 100 is a full-body image of the person, an image in which fine portions such as the toes are omitted, or an image in which a part of the person's shoulder or arm is cut off. Also good. The robot 1 displays a character image 100 corresponding to the situation where the robot 1 is arranged.

  The carriage unit 20 is a unit that performs control of input / output devices included in the panel unit 10 and posture control and movement control of the entire robot 1. The cart unit 20 includes an axle (not shown) in the horizontal direction, and has wheels 21 at both ends of the axle. A drive unit 40 (described later) of the carriage unit 20 rotates the wheels 21 to perform posture (tilt) control and movement (travel) of the robot 1. A specific method of posture control and movement of the robot 1 will be described later. In this embodiment, the case where the cart unit 20 includes two wheels 21 will be described. However, as long as the posture control and movement of the robot 1 are possible, the type and number of wheels 21 and the presence and number of axles are not particularly limited. For example, the cart unit 20 may include three or four wheels 21, or may include one ball-shaped wheel 21 without an axle.

≪Main part composition≫
(Configuration of panel unit 10)
Next, the configuration of the main part of the robot 1 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of the robot 1. The panel unit 10 includes an antenna 11, various sensors 12, a camera 13, a microphone 14, a speaker 15, a display 17, and a touch panel 18.

  The antenna 11 performs wireless communication with a communication terminal or the like possessed by the subject under the control of the control unit 30 described later. The antenna 11 is a transparent antenna and is preferably formed on the display surface of the touch screen 16 (display 17). Thereby, the image display on the display 17 and the antenna 11 that is an input unit in wireless communication can be integrated, and the subject can perform wireless communication intuitively and easily. The wireless communication using the antenna 11 is used, for example, when the target person transmits information from the communication terminal to the robot 1.

  The various sensors 12 are a sensor group including at least sensors that collect information on the surrounding environment of the robot 1 for autonomous traveling of the robot 1. The sensors included in the various sensors 12 collect information on the surrounding environment of the robot 1 in cooperation with each other. Information collected by the various sensors 12 is transmitted to the control unit 30. The types of the various sensors 12 are not particularly limited. For example, a sensor suitable for the use environment of the robot 1 is selected from a ranging sonar, a proximity cliff detector, a contact sensor, a laser scanner, a 3D imaging / depth sensor, an imaging sonar, and the like. Select and arrange. Information collected by various sensors 12 may be used for purposes other than autonomous running of the robot 1. For example, the information acquired by the various sensors 12 may be transmitted to the control unit 30 and used by the control unit 30 for specifying the target person and determining the contents of the response, which will be described later. Furthermore, the various sensors 12 may include a sensor for acquiring information used for specifying the target person and determining the response content. Specifically, an optical sensor may be provided as the various sensors 12, and the detection result of the sensor may be transmitted to the control unit 30, and the control unit 30 may be used for specifying the target person and determining the response content.

  The camera 13 photographs the periphery of the robot 1. The camera 13 is preferably attached to the upper end of the display 17 so that a wider range of images can be taken. The captured image of the camera 13 is transmitted to the control unit 30. The microphone 14 acquires sound around the subject or the robot 1. The microphone 14 transmits the acquired sound to the control unit 30. The speaker 15 outputs sound in accordance with the control of the control unit 30.

  The touch screen 16 is a display device having a touch input function, and is a GUI (Graphical User Interface) that accepts a user input operation. The touch screen 16 includes a display 17 and a touch panel 18.

  The display 17 displays the character image 100 according to the control of the display control unit 33 of the control unit 30. The display 17 is a free-form display whose shape can be freely designed, and is designed in advance in a shape similar to the outer shape of the character image 100. For example, when the character image 100 is a display 17 that displays a person image, the display 17 is formed in a humanoid shape similar to the silhouette (outline) of the person image. In addition, when the display 17 displays a plurality of types of images of the character by switching, or when displaying a moving image of the character, the shape of the display 17 may be a shape similar to the outline of the character in any character image. . Thus, since the display 17 has a shape similar to the outline of the character, it is difficult to give the subject a mechanical impression that he / she only looks at the display 17, and the presence or sense of presence and familiarity with the character or the character itself is difficult. Can be given. Further, since the display 17 has a shape obtained by removing a portion unnecessary for displaying the character image 100 from a general square display, the total area is smaller than that of the square display. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the sense of intimidation that the subject receives depending on the size of the display and increase the sense of familiarity, and to suppress power consumption related to screen display. In addition, since the display 17 is lighter than a general rectangular display, power consumption related to posture control and movement of the robot 1 by the driving unit 40 described later can be suppressed.

  The character image 100 displayed on the display 17 may be a still image, but more preferably a moving image. In particular, the character image 100 is preferably a moving image in which the character is responding with a gesture. By displaying a video showing the character's gesture, it is possible to give an impression that the character is responding with gesture gestures to the target person. Therefore, there is an advantage that it is easy to give the subject a sense of realism and closeness.

  In addition, when the character is a person, the display 17 desirably displays an actual size (life-size) image of the person as the character image 100. By displaying a full-size image of the person, the robot 1 can give the subject an impression close to that when the person is actually present and responding. Therefore, the robot can give the subject a sense of presence and a sense of familiarity with the reception or the character (person) itself. Furthermore, the display 17 may display any content other than the character image 100 together with the character image 100. For example, when the robot 1 guides the destination to the target person, the destination image, the route to the destination, a map, and the like may be displayed together with the guidance in the character image 100.

  As an example, the display 17 can be realized by a liquid crystal display in which gate drivers are distributed and arranged in a liquid crystal display area (in the display surface of the display 17). This is because the gate drivers that were conventionally arranged on the bezel can be arranged at any position, so that the three sides of the four sides of the display 17 can be almost eliminated, and the length, curve, etc. of the three sides can be reduced. It is because it becomes possible to design freely.

  The touch panel 18 receives an input operation of the target person, acquires information (input information) indicating the input operation, and transmits the information to the control unit 30. The touch panel 18 is disposed so as to overlap the display 17. The touch panel 18 may be a touch panel that can detect not only the contact of the indicator but also proximity (hover). In this case, the touch panel 18 can detect a gesture of the user's finger close to the touch panel 18.

  The panel unit 10 only needs to include at least the display 17, and the antenna 11, the various sensors 12, the camera 13, the microphone 14, the speaker 15, and the touch panel 18 are not essential components. Furthermore, the antenna 11, various sensors 12, the camera 13, the microphone 14, and the speaker 15 may be arranged in any of the panel unit 10 and the cart unit 20.

(Configuration of the cart unit 20)
On the other hand, the cart unit 20 includes a communication unit 70, a battery 80, a GPS receiver 60, a memory 50, a control unit 30, and a drive unit 40.

  The communication unit 70 transmits / receives information to / from an external device. The communication method of the communication unit 70 and the data to be transmitted / received are not particularly limited. For example, the communication unit 70 may receive a notification or data transmission from a predetermined application installed in the communication terminal of the target person, and send the received notification or data to the control unit 30. Further, the communication unit 70 may transmit data such as response contents (described later) received from the control unit 30 to an external storage device such as a server. The battery 80 supplies electric energy for driving the robot 1. The robot 1 may include a power connector for connecting to a power source in a facility where the robot 1 is disposed instead of the battery 80.

  The GPS receiver 60 measures the current position of the robot 1 by receiving GPS (Global Positioning System) satellite signals. Information (position information) indicating the current position measured by the GPS receiver 60 is transmitted to the control unit 30.

  The memory 50 is a memory that stores data necessary for control processing of the control unit 30 and the drive unit 40. The memory 50 includes a subject information database (subject information DB) 51 and a response content database (response content DB) 52.

  The target person information DB 51 defines a condition that various information (acquired information) acquired by the control unit 30 satisfies, and stores the information indicating the target person's attribute (target person information) in association with the condition. It is. In other words, the target person information DB indicates the attributes of the target person when some information obtained by the robot 1 satisfies the conditions defined in the DB.

  Here, the above-mentioned conditions are, for example, conditions of appearance characteristics of the target person who can be specified from a photographed image or the like (whether they are wearing specific clothes or possessing a specific item), and voice recognition from the acquired voice Conditions related to the utterance content specified by (such as whether the robot 1 is instructed to provide facility guidance), conditions related to registration information (member information, etc.) in an application started on the communication terminal of the subject (whether the age is 20 years or older) Or not). The target person information is, for example, information indicating the status and position of the target person in the scene using the robot 1, such as an event participant, an event provider (employee), a customer who visited the store, and a store clerk, or This is information indicating the attributes of the subject itself, such as whether the subject is an adult, a child, or a man and woman.

  The response content DB 52 is a database that stores information indicating response content in association with subject information. Here, the “response content” indicates a series of responses performed by the robot 1 to the subject. Specifically, the response content includes at least the character image 100 to be displayed on the display 17, and other series of data to be output to the target person such as an image presented to the target person and sound output from the speaker 15. Show.

  The control unit 30 (operation control unit) controls reception of the robot 1. The control unit 30 receives information obtained by various input devices (various sensors 12, the camera 13, the microphone 14, and the touch panel 18) of the panel unit 10, and controls reception of the robot 1 using the information. More specifically, the control unit 30 specifies the target person in the target person specifying unit 31, and the response content of the character in the response determining unit 32 (that is, the character image 100 (and the voice of the character presented to the target person)). To decide. Then, the display controller 33 causes the display 17 (and the speaker 15) to output the determined character image 100 (and sound). Further, when the position information of the subject person is received, the control unit 30 instructs the drive unit 40 to move the robot 1 to the vicinity of the position indicated by the position information. Note that the control unit 30 may send any of the information received from the various input devices of the panel unit 10 described above to the drive unit 40 to be used for posture control and movement control.

  The target person specifying unit 31 specifies the target person. More specifically, the target person specifying unit 31 detects the detection results of various sensors 12 (for example, human sensors) acquired by the control unit 30, the video of the camera 13, the sound acquired by the microphone 14, and the input information to the touch panel 18. The target person is specified using at least one of the above. In addition, the identification method of the subject of the subject identification part 31 is not specifically limited. For example, the subject around the robot 1 may be identified by photographing the periphery of the robot 1 with the camera 13 and identifying a human face from the captured image using a conventionally known face recognition algorithm. . Moreover, a voice may be acquired by the microphone 14 and the target person may be specified by voice recognition. Further, the target person specifying unit 31 may specify the target person by obtaining information that can specify the target person from an external device (such as the communication terminal of the target person) via the antenna 11 or the communication unit 70. Furthermore, you may use combining the identification method of the subject mentioned above. When the target person specifying unit 31 specifies the target person, the control unit 30 instructs the drive unit 40 to move the robot 1 to the vicinity of the target person.

  The response determination unit 32 determines the response content for the subject. When the target person specifying unit 31 specifies the target person, the response determining unit 32 searches the target person information DB 51 in the memory 50, specifies the condition that the acquired information received by the control unit 30 satisfies, and the target person corresponding to the condition Information is read from the target person information DB 51. Next, the response determination unit 32 reads the response content corresponding to the read target person information from the response content DB 52 of the memory 50. For example, when the target person can be identified from the target person information, the reception determining unit 32 selects a character image 100 of a person or mascot popular among children among the response contents defined in the response content DB 52. The content of the response to be included may be determined as the content of the response performed by the robot 1. Thus, by determining the contents of the response according to the target person information, the robot 1 can perform an appropriate and efficient response according to the status and attributes of the target person, and more impress the response to the target person. , Can give a sense of familiarity. When the camera 13 captures the subject, the control unit 30 calculates the height of the subject from the photographed image in which the subject's face is located at the center of the photographing range, the photographing angle and the focal depth of the camera 13. The height may be treated as target person information.

  In the present embodiment, the response determination unit 32 determines the response content according to the target person, but the response determination unit 32 may determine to perform uniform response content regardless of the target person. In this case, the response determination unit 32 and the memory 50 are not essential components, and the control unit 30 may cause the robot 1 to perform a predetermined response. The response determination unit 32 may determine the response content according to information other than the target person information. For example, by analyzing the captured image of the camera 13, the degree of congestion around the robot 1 (and the subject) may be specified, and the optimum response content may be determined according to the degree of congestion. In addition, the control unit 30 may specify the response content desired by the target person by causing the target person to input the desired response content via the microphone 14 and analyzing the sound (speech recognition). . Then, the response determination unit 32 may read the response content that is the same as or closest to the specified (desired) response content from the response content DB 52 and determine the response content performed by the robot 1.

  The display control unit 33 (synchronous display control unit) causes the display 17 to display an image indicating the content of the response determined by the response determination unit 32. More specifically, the display control unit 33 causes the display 17 to display the character image 100 indicating the response content. In other words, the display control unit 33 causes the character included in the character image 100 to respond.

  The drive unit 40 supervises the posture maintenance and movement of the robot 1. When the drive unit 40 is notified of the position of the subject from the control unit 30, the drive unit 40 drives the wheels 21 to move to the vicinity of the position. Further, the drive unit 40 specifies the tilt of the robot 1 from information such as a gyro sensor 44 described later, and performs posture control so that the robot 1 maintains a predetermined posture. Hereinafter, the drive unit 40 will be described in more detail with reference to FIG.

<< Detailed Configuration of Drive Unit 40 >>
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of the drive unit 40. The drive unit 40 includes a gyro sensor 44, a posture control unit 45, a posture control actuator 43, a motor 41, an encoder 42, a travel control unit 46, and wheels 21 as shown in the figure.

  The gyro sensor 44 detects the tilt of the robot 1 and transmits information indicating the tilt of the robot 1 to the posture control unit 45 and the travel control unit 46. The posture control unit 45 controls the posture of the robot 1 according to the information received from the gyro sensor 44. The posture control actuator 43 changes the posture of the robot 1 according to the control of the posture control unit 45. For example, the attitude control actuator 43 rotates the wheel 21 so that the tilt of the robot 1 is corrected by the principle of an inverted pendulum.

  The encoder 42 detects the traveling direction, traveling amount, and traveling angle of the robot 1 from the driving state of the motor 41. Information indicating the traveling direction, the traveling amount, and the traveling angle detected by the encoder 42 is transmitted to the traveling control unit 46. The travel control unit 46 controls the movement (travel) of the robot 1 in accordance with information detected by the encoder 42 and the gyro sensor 44. More specifically, the traveling control unit 46 determines the movement direction and the movement distance so that the robot 1 moves to the vicinity of the subject, and controls the motor 41 so that the robot 1 moves in the movement direction and the movement distance. To do. The motor 41 is driven according to the control of the travel control unit 46 and causes the robot 1 to travel by rotating the wheels 21. The motor 41 may be provided for each wheel 21 of the robot 1, or one motor 41 may be provided as a drive mechanism for all the wheels 21. The wheel 21 moves the robot 1.

  Note that the posture control unit 45 may perform posture control in consideration of information other than information detected by the gyro sensor 44. For example, the posture control unit 45 may specify the tilt of the robot 1 from information detected by the various sensors 12 or a captured image of the camera 13. Further, the traveling control unit 46 may perform movement control in consideration of information other than information detected by the encoder 42 and the gyro sensor 44. For example, the traveling control unit 46 determines the moving direction and the moving distance from the result of comparing and collating the current position of the robot 1 measured by the GPS receiver 60 with the position information of the subject received by the control unit 30 via the antenna 11. Then, the motor 41 may be controlled so that the robot 1 moves in the moving direction and the moving distance. Further, the traveling control unit 46 may identify the current position of the robot 1 or the positional relationship between the robot 1 and the subject from the captured image of the camera 13 and determine the movement direction and the movement distance using the identification result.

  The cart unit 20 only needs to include at least the driving unit 40, and the control unit 30, the memory 50, the GPS receiver 60, and the communication unit 70 may be arranged in the panel unit 10.

≪Specific example of reception≫
Next, a process until the robot 1 specifies a target person and performs a series of responses will be described with a specific example. First, a case will be described in which the robot 1 responds to a target person who has visited at an event venue. The above event requires an event ticket for admission, and the target person installs an event-dedicated application (dedicated application) that issues the event ticket as an electronic ticket in his communication terminal in order to enter the event. It shall be.

  Upon entering the event venue, the target person activates a dedicated application of his / her communication terminal and obtains an event ticket via the dedicated application. Then, when the subject wants to receive a response such as an explanation of the event contents from the robot 1, the event ticket information (ticket number, subject member number, etc.) is transmitted to the robot 1 using a dedicated application. At this time, the dedicated application uses the GPS reception function of the communication terminal to identify the position of the target person, and also transmits the position information of the communication terminal to the robot 1. Upon receiving the event ticket information, the control unit 30 of the robot 1 accesses the event server storing the event information via the communication unit 70, and obtains detailed information on the event, map data of the event venue, and the like. get. Further, the control unit 30 instructs the drive unit 40 to move the robot 1 to the vicinity of the position indicated by the position information. The drive unit 40 receives an instruction from the control unit 30 and moves the robot 1 to the vicinity of the subject (the subject's communication terminal).

  When the movement is completed, the control unit 30 explains the event contents such as the event holding place and the holding time to the subject using the character image 100 (and voice). For the description using the character image 100, the identification of the subject performed by the subject identification unit 31 and the determination of the response content performed by the response determination unit 32 are performed by the control unit 30 receiving the information of the event ticket. To the completion of the movement of the robot 1. Further, when the subject is moving, the robot 1 may explain (respond) while moving with the subject. Further, when the subject starts to move, the robot 1 may transmit the contents to be explained to the subject's communication terminal.

  Note that the robot 1 may stand by until the subject approaches the robot 1. In this case, the control unit 30 causes the camera 13 to photograph the subject when the human sensor (such as a reflective optical sensor) detects that the subject has reached a predetermined position, and the subject is detected from the photographed image. What is necessary is just to identify a person and to determine the contents of the response. Alternatively, a list of responses may be displayed on the display 17, and when an instruction is input from the subject, a response corresponding to the instruction may be performed. Alternatively, the user's desired response may be specified by voice interaction using the microphone 14 and the speaker 15.

  Incidentally, the robot 1 may capture an image (background image) to be displayed as the background of the character image 100 with the camera 13 and display a composite image in which the character image 100 is superimposed on the background image. Hereinafter, a modification of the robot 1 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 4 is a view showing a modification of the image displayed on the display 17 of the robot 1. As shown in the figure, the robot 1 in this modification includes a camera 13 as an essential component. In this modification, the camera 13 captures at least an image in the direction opposite to the direction of the display surface of the display 17. In other words, the camera 13 captures a background that cannot be hidden behind the display 17 when the subject looks at the robot 1 (display 17). Hereinafter, an image taken by the camera 13 is referred to as a background image. The camera 13 transmits the captured background image to the display control unit 33 of the control unit 30. The display control unit 33 (composite image display control unit) causes the display 17 to display a composite image in which the character image 100 read from the memory 50 is superimposed on the received background image.

  Note that the arrangement of the camera 13 is not necessarily as illustrated. However, when the subject looks at the robot 1 (panel unit 10), it is better that the deviation between the background image of the character image 100 and the surrounding (actual) background is small. Therefore, it is desirable that the camera 13 is arranged at a position where a background image with less deviation from the actual background can be taken. Alternatively, a transparent display may be used as the display 17 and an image that transmits the background may be used as the character image 100. In this case, the same operation and effect as the above-described modification can be obtained.

[Embodiment 2]
The robot according to the present invention may include the display 17 divided into a plurality of displays, and may include at least one movable portion that connects any two of the plurality of displays. Then, a part of the character image 100 may be synchronously displayed on each of the plurality of displays so that the character image 100 is displayed on the entire display surface of the plurality of displays, and the movable unit may be operated in accordance with the synchronous display. . Hereinafter, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. For convenience of explanation, members having the same functions as those described in the embodiment are given the same reference numerals, and descriptions thereof are omitted.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of the appearance of the robot 2 according to the present embodiment. As shown in the figure, the robot 2 is a robot in that the display 17 is divided into displays 17A, 17B, and 17C, and a movable part α is provided between the display 17A and the displays 17B and 17C. Different from 1.

  The movable part α is a member that connects the displays, and is a movable member that can adjust the connection angle between the two displays by operating. The movable portion α includes a motor such as a servo motor, and operates by driving the servo motor according to the control of the control unit 30.

  When the response determining unit 32 determines the content of the response, that is, the character image 100 to be displayed, the display control unit 33 of the control unit 30 and the image displayed on the display 17A (the body part display) and the displays 17B and 17C (the arm part display). The images are synchronously displayed on each display so that the images displayed on the display) are connected. In addition, the control unit 30 controls the motor of the movable unit α in conjunction with the synchronous display, and adjusts the angles of the display 17A and the displays 17B and 17C, respectively. Thereby, the character image 100 can be expressed in concert with a plurality of displays. Note that the control unit 30 may not only adjust the angle of the movable part α but also express the movement of the character image 100 by continuing to move the movable part α. When the control unit 30 operates the movable unit, even when the character image 100 is a still image, it is possible to realize a response with movement. Therefore, the robot 1 can make the subject more impressive.

[Embodiment 3]
Further, the robot according to the present invention may record the content of the response by transmitting the content of the response performed on the subject (response content) to the management server. Furthermore, the robot according to the present invention notifies the instruction to the monitoring terminal when the target person inputs an instruction indicating that the monitoring person wants to respond after the response with the character image. A moving image (or image) in which the correspondence is recorded (or taken) may be displayed on the display 17. Hereinafter, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an overview of the reception system 500 according to the present embodiment. As shown in the figure, the reception system 500 includes a management server 3, a supervisor terminal 4, and a robot 1.

  The management server 3 receives and records the response content (character response content) using the character image 100 from the robot 1. In addition, the management server 3 receives and records the contents of the response by the monitor described later from the monitor terminal 4. The management server 3 may record information such as the reception time and the transmission source of the response content when recording the response content. The supervisor terminal 4 is a terminal used by the supervisor 4A who is monitoring the response of the robot 1. The supervisor terminal includes a camera (not shown) for photographing the supervisor 4A. When the supervisor terminal is notified of the supervisor response request from the robot 1, the supervisor terminal captures an image of the supervisor 4 </ b> A (an image or a video that the supervisor 4 </ b> A is dealing with the target person), and the captured image is captured by the robot 1. Send to.

  The robot 1 according to the present embodiment transmits the response content from the control unit 30 to the management server 3 after performing the response (using the character image 100) described in the first and second embodiments to the target person. In addition, the control unit 30 of the robot 1 receives an instruction input (for example, an input operation on the touch panel 18 or a microphone) from the target person after receiving the character image 100 and requesting a response (monitoring response) by the monitoring person. 14), the supervisor terminal 4 is notified of the request for the supervisor response. Further, after transmitting the notification, the control unit 30 receives an image of the monitoring person from the monitoring terminal 4 and causes the display control unit 33 to display the image on the display 17.

  Next, with reference to FIG. 7, the flow of processing of the reception system 500 according to the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram showing a processing flow of the robot 1, the management server 3, and the supervisor terminal 4 in the response system 500.

  As described in the first embodiment, when the robot 1 receives the target person information from the communication terminal of the target person, the robot 1 specifies the target person in the target person specifying unit 31 of the control unit 30 (S100). Then, the control unit 30 instructs the drive unit 40 to move the robot 1 to the vicinity of the subject person, and the drive unit 40 moves the robot 1 to the vicinity of the subject person according to the instruction (S102). Next, as described above, the control unit 30 responds to the subject using the character image 100 (S104). After the response, the control unit 30 transmits the response content to the management server 3 via the communication unit 70. The management server 3 receives and records the response content (S106). As described above, after performing the response using the character image 100, the control unit 30 of the robot 1 is requested to respond to the supervisor from the subject of the response (whether there is an instruction input for requesting the supervisor response). Is confirmed (S108). The request may be accepted until a time arbitrarily determined by the robot 1 elapses after the response using the character image 100 is completed.

  When a supervisor response is requested from the subject (YES in S108), the control unit 30 notifies the supervisor terminal 4 that a supervisor response is requested (S110). When the supervisor terminal 4 receives the above notification (S112), the supervisor terminal 4 notifies the supervisor 4A that the supervisor response is to be photographed, and prompts the supervisor 4A to perform a photographing operation for the supervisor reply. When the supervisor 4A performs the operation, the supervisor terminal 4 captures the supervisor response (S114), and transmits the captured image (still image or moving image) to the robot 1 (S116). When the display control unit 33 of the control unit 30 of the robot 1 receives the captured image, the display unit 17 displays the captured image on the display 17 to indicate the monitoring person to the subject (S118). On the other hand, when the response to the supervisor is not requested from the subject (NO in S108), the robot 1 does not perform the processes of S110 and S118.

  On the other hand, the supervisor terminal 4 that has transmitted the captured image of the response to the supervisor (S116) transmits the captured image to the management server 3 (S120). The management server 3 records a captured image of the monitoring person (S122).

  According to the above processing, both the contents of the response using the character image 100 performed by the robot 1 and the captured image of the monitoring response captured by the monitoring terminal 4 are recorded in the management server 3. Accordingly, it is possible to record a history of reception performed by the robot 1 and the supervisor. Further, after the response using the character image 100 by the robot 1, for example, when the content of the response cannot be understood or the content of the response is not appropriate, the target person can request a response by a human (monitoring person). Then, the robot 1 can receive a captured image of the response from the supervisor terminal 4 and display it on the display 17. In other words, the robot 1 has an advantage that it can switch and display the response by the character and the response by the supervisor.

[Modification]
The configuration of the modified example of the first embodiment described above may be realized in combination with the configurations of the second and third embodiments.

  In each of the above embodiments and modifications, the robot 1 or 2 displays the character image 100 or 200. However, the robot 1 or 2 does not display the character image 100 or 200 but the subject imaged by the camera 13. A substantially whole body image may be displayed on the display 17. For example, when virtual fitting is provided by the robot 1 or 2, the robot 1 or 2 moves to the vicinity of the subject, and then takes an image of the substantially whole body of the subject with the camera 13. The captured image is transmitted to the control unit 30, and the display control unit 33 of the control unit 30 cuts out a portion where the subject is shown from the captured image and causes the display 17 to display it.

  Further, when the target person instructs the robot 1 or 2 to specify a product to be tried on while the image of the target person is displayed on the display 17, the control unit 30 receives the instruction, An image is obtained from an external server or the like via the memory 50 or the communication unit 70, and the display control unit 33 displays the product image superimposed on the image of the subject. Thereby, the robot 1 or 2 can display an image in the case where the product desired by the subject is tried on.

[Example of software implementation]
The control blocks of the control unit 30 (particularly the subject identification unit 31, the response determination unit 32, and the display control unit 33) may be realized by a logic circuit (hardware) formed in an integrated circuit (IC chip) or the like. However, it may be realized by software using a CPU (Central Processing Unit).

  In the latter case, the control unit 30 includes a CPU that executes instructions of a program that is software that realizes each function, a ROM (Read Only Memory) in which the program and various data are recorded so as to be readable by a computer (or CPU), or A storage device (these are referred to as “recording media”), a RAM (Random Access Memory) that expands the program, and the like are provided. And the objective of this invention is achieved when a computer (or CPU) reads the said program from the said recording medium and runs it. As the recording medium, a “non-temporary tangible medium” such as a tape, a disk, a card, a semiconductor memory, a programmable logic circuit, or the like can be used. The program may be supplied to the computer via an arbitrary transmission medium (such as a communication network or a broadcast wave) that can transmit the program. The present invention can also be realized in the form of a data signal embedded in a carrier wave in which the program is embodied by electronic transmission.

[Summary]
The robot (robot 1 or 2) according to aspect 1 of the present invention is a robot that moves to the vicinity of the target person and responds to the target person, and has a shape similar to the outer shape of the character that shows the response to the target person And a display (display 17) for displaying an image of the substantially whole body of the character (character image 100 or 200).

  According to the above configuration, the robot moves in the vicinity of the person to be handled. Here, the “neighborhood” is a distance at which the subject can recognize the response performed by the robot. The robot is provided with a display having a shape similar to the outer shape of the character to be displayed, and responds to the target person by displaying an image of the substantially whole body of the character.

  In this way, by responding with an image of the substantially whole body of the character, it is possible to give the subject a sense of realism and closeness as if the character that is actually there is responding. Furthermore, since the display has a shape similar to the outline of the character, it is difficult to give the target person a mechanical impression of just looking at the display. Can be given.

  In other words, it can be said that the display has a shape obtained by removing a portion unnecessary for displaying a character image from a general rectangular display (a square display capable of displaying an image of a substantially whole body of a character). . Therefore, the total area of the display is smaller than that of a general rectangular display. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the intimidation that the subject receives depending on the size of the display, and to give the subject a closer sense of affinity.

  The robot according to aspect 2 of the present invention is characterized in that, in the aspect 1, the character is a person, and the display displays an image of a substantially whole body of the person in actual size.

  According to the above configuration, the display displays an image of a full-size person. Therefore, the robot can make the subject feel as if he / she has received an answer to the actual person. As a result, the robot can further give the subject a sense of presence and familiarity with the response or the character itself.

  The robot according to aspect 3 of the present invention is characterized in that, in the aspect 1 or 2, the display displays a moving image showing the gesture of the character.

  According to said structure, a robot displays the moving image which shows a gesture of a character on a display as a response to a subject. As a result, the robot can give the impression that the character is responding with gesture gestures. Therefore, the robot can further give the subject a sense of presence and a sense of familiarity with the reception or the character itself.

  A robot according to aspect 4 of the present invention is the robot according to any one of aspects 1 to 3, wherein the camera (camera 13) captures, as a background image, an image in a direction opposite to the direction of the display surface of the display. And a composite image display control unit (display control unit 33) that displays a composite image in which the character image is superimposed on the background image captured by the camera on the display.

  According to the above configuration, when the camera is viewed in the opposite direction to the display surface, that is, when the display surface is viewed from the front, the camera captures a background image that is hidden behind the display as a background image. And a display control part superimposes the image of a character on the said background image, and displays it on a display. As a result, when the subject or the like looks at the display surface of the display, the character blends with the background, making it appear as if he is on the spot. Therefore, the robot can further give the subject a sense of presence and a sense of familiarity with the reception or the character itself.

  The robot according to aspect 5 of the present invention is the robot according to any one of the aspects 1 to 4, wherein the display is divided into a plurality of displays (displays 17A to 17C), and any two of the plurality of displays are included. At least one movable part (movable part α) for connecting the display, an operation control part (control part 30) for adjusting the connection angle of the two displays by operating the movable part, and display of the plurality of displays A synchronous display control unit (display control unit 33) for synchronously displaying at least a part of the substantially whole body image on the plurality of displays so that an image of the substantially whole body of the character is displayed on the entire surface, The operation control unit operates the movable unit according to the synchronous display of the synchronous display control unit.

  According to the above configuration, the motion control unit operates the movable unit in response to the synchronous display control unit synchronously displaying an image of the substantially whole body of the character. Thereby, the shape as the whole several display can be made into the shape suitable for the display of the said image of the said substantially whole body. In addition, when the operation control unit operates the movable unit, it is possible to realize a moving response even when the substantially whole body image is a still image. Therefore, the robot can make the subject more impressed with the response.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications are possible within the scope shown in the claims, and embodiments obtained by appropriately combining technical means disclosed in different embodiments. Is also included in the technical scope of the present invention. Furthermore, a new technical feature can be formed by combining the technical means disclosed in each embodiment.

  The present invention can be used for a robot that responds to a person.

  1, 2 Robot, 3 Management server, 4 Monitor terminal, 13 Camera 17 Display, 30 Control unit (Operation control unit), 31 Target person specifying unit, 32 Response determining unit, 33 Display control unit (Composite image display control unit, Synchronous display control unit), 40 drive unit

Claims (5)

A robot that moves to the vicinity of the subject and responds to the subject,
A robot having a shape similar to the outer shape of the character that shows the response to the subject, and a display for displaying an image of the substantially whole body of the character.   The robot according to claim 1, wherein the character is a person, and the display displays a full-length image of the person's actual size.   The robot according to claim 1, wherein the display displays a moving image indicating the gesture of the character. A camera that captures at least an image in a direction opposite to the direction of the display surface of the display as a background image;
The composite image display control part which displays on the said display the synthetic | combination image which superimposed the image of the said character on the said background image which the said camera image | photographed, The any one of Claims 1-3 characterized by the above-mentioned. The robot described in 1. The display is divided into multiple displays,
At least one movable part connecting any two of the plurality of displays;
An operation control unit that adjusts a connection angle between the two displays by operating the movable unit;
A synchronous display control unit for synchronously displaying at least a part of the substantially whole body image on the plurality of displays so that an image of the substantially whole body of the character is displayed on the entire display surface of the plurality of displays,
5. The robot according to claim 1, wherein the operation control unit operates the movable unit according to the synchronous display of the synchronous display control unit.

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