JP2017032527A - Method for grasping position of inspection robot - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for grasping the position of an inspection robot that solves problems of too much cost and too much labor for setting a facility of an existing method.SOLUTION: The method according to the present application grasps the position of an inspection robot which moves in the ceiling of a structure made of a region divided by a ceiling joist and a ceiling joist receiver and takes an image of the situation of the inside of the ceiling by equipped imaging means. More specifically, according to the method, the positional information on the inspection robot is updated when the inspection robot climbs over the ceiling joist or the ceiling joist receiver.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for grasping a position of an inspection robot that travels in a place to be inspected that is difficult for a person to enter.

  For example, when inspecting the inside of a ceiling of a structure using a vehicle-type, multi-legged type, flight type, or other inspection robot to determine the location of the location to be repaired and the location of that location It is important to know the position of the robot and the captured image.

  Conventionally, as a method of grasping the position of the inspection robot, for example, there is a method of using a GPS (Global Positioning System), but there are cases where GPS radio waves do not reach in the room of the structure. Moreover, in the method using an indoor positioning system, it is necessary to newly install the equipment of the indoor positioning system indoors, and cost will increase. In addition, RFID (RF (IC) tag with ID information embedded in the target structure is attached to the moving object, and the position is exchanged by short-range wireless communication such as radio waves, and the position information is grasped in real time. However, this method also increases the cost of equipment and takes time and effort.

  As a conventional example, Patent Document 1 describes an example in which a GPS or gyro function is installed to recognize the position of an inspection robot and can move independently (instead of a ceiling surface, a wall surface of a structure is an inspection object). ).

JP 2004-301665 A

  As described above, in the conventional method for determining the position of the inspection robot, there is a problem that it is troublesome to install the equipment, is costly, is easy and low in cost and cannot inspect the inside of the ceiling of the structure. . The inspection robot position grasping method according to the present invention is proposed in order to solve such a problem.

  The gist for solving the above-described problems of the inspection robot position grasping method according to the present invention is to run inside the ceiling of a structure composed of a field edge and a field partitioned by a field edge receiver. In the method of grasping the position of the inspection robot for photographing the situation inside the ceiling with the mounted photographing means, the position information of the inspection robot is updated when the inspection robot gets over the field edge or the field edge receiver It is to be.

  When the inspection robot advances from the old position area to the adjacent area beyond the field edge or the field edge receiver, if the advanced area is a new area, the inspection robot travels with respect to the old position area. In this case, a square of a new area is added to the area of the old position in a predetermined direction and displayed on the display means, and updated position information on the new area of the inspection robot is displayed on the display means.

  After the inspection robot displays the updated position information on the display means, it waits by displaying the direction of the new area on the display means except for the direction already coming from the predetermined direction, or within the predetermined direction. If the direction of the new area does not exist except for the direction that has already come from, the fact is displayed on the display means and waits.

  Further, the control device determines whether or not the inspection robot has climbed over the field edge, or has climbed over the field edge receiver. This includes judging by size.

  According to the position grasping method of the inspection robot of the present invention, it can be easily applied to the ceiling of an existing structure. Further, since no new equipment is required, the cost is reduced. It can be applied regardless of the surrounding environment because the inspection robot simply moves over the field edge or field edge receiver.

  Since a new area is added to the area surrounded by the grid-like field edge and field edge receiver and displayed on the map, a ceiling map of the inspected area can be easily created.

  Since the direction of the new area in which the inspection robot has not been inspected is displayed on the display means, the direction in which the inspection robot is to be directed next can be instantly recognized and easily controlled. In addition, it is easy to determine whether to proceed in a direction orthogonal to the direction of travel or to advance because it is possible to determine whether the vehicle has climbed over the field edge or over the field edge receiver according to the tilt angle of the chassis. Thus, there are many excellent effects that movement control becomes easy.

It is a flowchart figure of the position grasping method of the inspection robot concerning the present invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows a mode that the map in the ceiling displayed on a display means is created by the position grasping | ascertaining method of the inspection robot of the same invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows that the map in the ceiling displayed on a display means is advanced into the new area | region from the state shown in FIG. 2, and is created by the position grasping | ascertainment method of the inspection robot of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows a mode that the map in the ceiling displayed on a display means was created by the position grasping | ascertainment method of the inspection robot of this invention. Explanatory view showing the tilt angle θ1 of the inspection robot when the inspection robot gets over the field edge 2 (A), and explanatory view showing the inclination angle θ2 of the inspection robot when the inspection robot gets over the field edge receiver 3 (B). It is an explanatory perspective view which shows the lattice-shaped ceiling of the structure which is a test object.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the inspection robot position grasping method according to the present invention is a method of grasping position information based on whether or not the inspection robot gets over a field edge or a field edge receiver.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the invention of the present application is configured by a region (for example, about 300 × 900 mm) partitioned in a lattice shape by a field edge 2 and a field edge receiver 3 on a ceiling 1 to be inspected. In this method, the inside of the ceiling of the object is moved by special wheels or crawlers, and the position of the inspection robot for photographing the situation inside the ceiling 1 is grasped by the photographing means and the light projecting means mounted on the chassis.

  For example, the inspection robot can move in all directions with a special wheel, and a small camera as a photographing means for inspection images, an LED light as a light projecting means, a wireless transceiver as a communication means (Bluetooth (Bluetooth)) Registered trademark)), WiFi, etc.), a control device, an angle sensor for measuring the tilt angle of the chassis, a power source for driving, a battery, and the like.

  The special inclined wheel is covered with a barrel inclined at 45 ° with respect to the axle on the surface of the wheel, allowing front and rear, right and left, rotation, movement in a 45 ° direction, and omnidirectional movement. (Mecanum Robot, Omni Robot (commercially available) Mecanum Wheel, or Omni Wheel (registered trademark) equivalent).

  The small camera captures each region of the ceiling 1 as an inspection image, and uses a Web camera or the like as an example. The image to be photographed is a continuous image of the area, and the image is displayed on a display which is a display means such as a personal computer or a smartphone which is a control device for the operator's inspection robot. A traveling camera is provided for capturing the traveling state of the inspection robot by photographing the traveling state of the inspection robot from the entrance direction of the ceiling. This traveling image is also displayed on the display.

  A method of grasping the position of the inspection robot in the ceiling 1 using the control device for the inspection robot will be described. A traveling camera is installed at the entrance of the ceiling 1 and an inspection robot is installed in one area of the ceiling 1. Turn on the switch on the inspection robot side. As an initial state, for creating a map, for example, if the vertical in FIG. 2, FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 are columns and the horizontal is rows, N rows × M columns, N / 2 rows, M / 2 columns. Only an element of “1” (inspected) is prepared, and an array in which all other elements are “0” (zero: uninspected) is prepared. The element is identified as “1 or 0” depending on whether or not it has been inspected as a region. However, the element is not limited to this, and may be “1” or “0” in each of the row and the column.

  The initial value of the initial state is N / 2 rows with row numbers and M / 2 columns with column numbers. The operator sees the inspection image and the running video from a personal computer on the operator side, and the control signal in the direction to move is transmitted from the control device to the inspection robot.

  As shown in FIG. 1, in step (abbreviated as ST, the same shall apply hereinafter) 1, for example, it moves forward and moves. Next, in ST2, it is determined whether the inspection robot has climbed over the field edge 2 or the field edge receiver 3. As shown in FIG. 5, an inclination angle θ (θ1 (field edge) <θ2 (field edge receiver)) is actually generated when the inspection robot gets over as shown in FIG. 5, and is measured by this angle sensor. If the magnitude of θ is determined by the CPU (central processing unit) of the control device and either the field edge 2 or the field edge receiver 3 is crossed, the row number or column number is updated in ST3.

  This will be described with reference to FIG. 2. In the region 1 in the initial state where the inspection robot currently exists, the column numbers of the arrays for map creation (for example, the total number of columns in the array is M columns). Then, since the initial value is the center of the array, the column “M / 2” in the center of the M columns, and the number M of columns is a value much larger than the value assumed from the ceiling area) and the row number ( For example, if there are a total of N rows in the array, the initial value is the center of the array, so the center row of the N rows is “N / 2.” Also, the number N of rows is a numerical value estimated from the ceiling area. It is updated to “1” because the element has already been inspected. When the display method is “row, column, element”, “N / 2, M / 2, 1” is displayed.

  As shown in FIG. 2, when the inspection robot moves from the region 1 to the region 2 over the field edge 2 indicated by a horizontal line, the column number does not change, so it remains “M / 2”. The row number is updated and incremented by one to become “(N / 2) −1”.

  In addition, if it is not over the field edge 2 or the field edge receiver 3, it is considered that the inspection robot has moved and collided with the wall, so jump from ST2 to ST8 and update the direction of movement of the inspection robot to be moved. To do. This may be the case, for example, when moving from the region 12 of FIG. 2 to the region 13 shown in FIG. 3, or similarly when moving from the region 9 to the region 10 in FIG.

  Next, in ST4, when the column and row elements are confirmed, the elements are “0”. Therefore, in ST5, since the element is an unexamined area of “0”, a new rectangular cell and a reference number “2” are added to the first area in the map and the next area in the second row. . Thus, the area 2 is displayed as inspected.

  Thus, if the inspection robot has crossed the field edge 2, a new rectangular cell and a reference number are added to the map in a direction perpendicular to the field edge 2. A new rectangular cell and reference number are added to the map in the vertical direction. If any one of the row number and the column number is “1” in the area beyond the boarding area, the area has already been inspected, and the process jumps to ST7 to update the position of the inspection robot.

  And in ST6, since it moved to the area | region 2, regarding display, it updates to "(N / 2) -1, M / 2, 1." In ST7, the position of the inspection robot is updated to region 2. The position information is displayed on a display as display means.

  Next, in ST8, the operator confirms the moving direction of the inspection robot by checking the traveling image on the display. For example, if the forward direction is a wall, either the left or the right direction is set so as not to collide with the wall. The movement direction is instructed to move to the uninspected area.

  In this way, the inspection robot is repeatedly moved to inspect the grid-like areas 1, 2, 3,... Of the ceiling 1 as shown in FIGS. As shown in FIG. 4, the areas are not necessarily arranged in order. For example, after moving to the area 3, if the destination is automatically programmed, the lines are moved in the forward and right directions. Instead, it will move to the left.

  However, the operator determines the region 4 to be inspected next, returns the inspection robot to the region 1 once, then updates the position, gets over the field receiver 3 and moves to the uninspected region 4 Let When there is a region that the operator wants to inspect, it is preferable that the moving direction is directly instructed from the operator without traveling by the automatic program.

  The inspection robots in each area rotate the small camera up and down, take continuous inspection images while illuminating the area with LED lights, and move the inspection robot chassis in all directions by special wheels. With this, you can shoot without any hesitation in the area. From this continuous inspection image, a repaired portion such as a turn of the ceiling member 5 is obtained as a still image, and the inside of the ceiling is inspected by printing it.

  When the position of the inspection robot in the ceiling 1 is over the field edge 2 or the field edge receiver 3, the position information of the inspection robot is updated, and the number of the area to be referred to It is grasped and the position can be grasped.

  In addition, after the inspection robot displays the updated position information on the display means, the direction of the new area is displayed on the display means except for the direction already coming from the predetermined direction and waits. If the direction of the new area does not exist except for the direction already coming from within, it can be programmed to display the fact on the display means and wait. Thereby, the operator can quickly determine the direction in which the inspection robot should be moved.

  Since the inspection robot travels with a drive power supply, it can travel freely for about 1 hour, and does not drag wires such as power supply and signals, so the burden on the inspection robot is reduced and traveling performance is reduced. Improved and easy inspection work.

  The inspection robot position grasping method according to the present invention can be widely applied when inspecting the state of a grid-like ceiling.

1 Ceiling to be inspected to grasp the position of the inspection robot,
2 Field edge,
3 Field guard,
4 Hanging bolt,
5 Ceiling member.

Claims (4)

In the method of grasping the position of the inspection robot that travels inside the ceiling of the structure composed of the area partitioned by the field edge and the field edge receiver, and images the situation inside the ceiling by the mounted imaging means,
Updating the position information of the inspection robot when the inspection robot gets over the field edge or field edge receiver;
Method for grasping the position of an inspection robot characterized by When the inspection robot advances from the old position area to the adjacent area beyond the field edge or the field edge receiver, if the advanced area is a new area, the robot has traveled with respect to the old position area. Adding a square of the new area to the area of the old position in the direction and displaying it on the display means, and displaying updated position information on the new area of the inspection robot on the display means;
The position grasping method of the inspection robot according to claim 1 characterized by these. After the inspection robot displays the updated position information on the display means, it waits by displaying the direction of the new area on the display means except for the direction already coming from the predetermined direction, or from within the predetermined direction. If the direction of the new area does not exist except for the direction that has already come, display that on the display means and wait,
The method for grasping the position of the inspection robot according to claim 2. The control device determines whether or not the inspection robot has climbed over the field edge, or over the field edge receiver, based on the inclination angle θ when the inspection robot gets over the field edge or field edge receiver. To do,
The method for grasping the position of the inspection robot according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

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