JP2019145000A - Mobile robot and robot system - Google Patents

Abstract

To cause a mobile robot to perform work based on a voice command through a voice recognition device.SOLUTION: A mobile robot 110 capable of autonomous travel comprises: a command acquisition part 112 for acquiring a command generated by a voice recognition device 150 based on a voice command issued by a user 200, and command information including an arrival direction of the voice command; a map holding part 113 for holding an environmental map of a prescribed area where the voice recognition device 150 is disposed; a device information acquisition part 114 for acquiring device information indicating the position and orientation of the voice recognition device 150 on the environmental map; and a movement execution part 116 for moving in or near the arrival direction based on the position and orientation of the voice recognition device 150 and for executing work corresponding to the command.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a mobile robot that autonomously travels, moves into a predetermined area, and performs work in the predetermined area, and a robot system.

  In recent years, voice recognition technology has been improved, and it is becoming a familiar technique to generate a command that is electronic information based on a voice command issued by a user.

  For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technology in which directional microphones are arranged to distinguish the direction of arrival of a voice command from the direction of arrival of noise and suppress a reduction in speech recognition rate due to noise.

JP 2009-210956 A

  However, although technologies for controlling home appliances and the like by voice commands have been proposed, mobile robots that recognize the location where the user issued the voice command and move to an area corresponding to the recognized location are still appearing Not done.

  The present invention solves the above problems, and provides a mobile robot and a robot system that move to a predetermined area in accordance with a voice command and execute a work without the mobile robot itself recognizing the voice command. It is aimed.

  In order to achieve the above object, a mobile robot according to one aspect of the present invention is a mobile robot capable of autonomous running, and a command generated by a voice recognition device based on a voice command issued by a user, and the voice recognition device A command obtaining unit that obtains instruction information including the direction of arrival of the voice command specified by the communication from the voice recognition device, a map holding unit that holds an environment map of a predetermined area where the voice recognition device is disposed, A device information acquisition unit that acquires device information indicating the position and orientation of the voice recognition device in the environment map, and the arrival direction based on the position and orientation of the voice recognition device based on the instruction information, or A movement execution unit for moving to the vicinity and executing work corresponding to the command.

  Another robot system according to the present invention is a robot system including a mobile robot capable of autonomous traveling and a voice recognition device separate from the mobile robot, and the voice recognition device is generated by a user. A command generation unit that generates a command based on the voice command and an arrival direction specifying unit that specifies a direction of arrival of the voice command, and the mobile robot transmits the command and the command via communication from the voice recognition device. A command acquisition unit that acquires instruction information including an arrival direction, a map holding unit that holds an environment map of a predetermined area in which the voice recognition device is arranged, and a position and a direction of the voice recognition device in the environment map A device information acquisition unit that acquires device information, and moves on or in the vicinity of the arrival direction based on the position and orientation of the voice recognition device based on the instruction information. It is allowed, and a migration execution unit that executes a task corresponding to said command.

  It should be noted that execution of a program for causing a computer to execute each process of the mobile robot and the robot system also corresponds to the implementation of the present invention. Of course, the implementation of the recording medium in which the program is recorded also corresponds to the implementation of the present invention.

  According to the present invention, the mobile robot itself can easily and intuitively specify the work content and the work area by voice without recognizing the voice command.

1 is a diagram conceptually showing a robot system in an embodiment. FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the apparatus structure and functional structure of the speech recognition apparatus in embodiment. It is a top view which shows the external appearance of the mobile robot in embodiment from upper direction. It is a bottom view which shows the external appearance of the mobile robot in embodiment from the downward direction. It is a perspective view which shows the external appearance of the mobile robot in embodiment from upper direction. It is a block diagram which shows the apparatus structure and functional structure of the mobile robot in embodiment. It is a figure which shows the operation | movement aspect of the robot system in embodiment.

  Next, embodiments of the mobile robot and the robot system according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The following embodiment is merely an example of the mobile robot in the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention is defined by the wording of the claims with reference to the following embodiments, and is not limited to the following embodiments. Therefore, among the constituent elements in the following embodiments, constituent elements that are not described in the independent claims indicating the highest concept of the present invention are not necessarily required to achieve the object of the present invention. It will be described as constituting a preferred form.

  In addition, the drawings are schematic diagrams in which emphasis, omission, and ratio adjustment are appropriately performed to show the present invention, and may differ from actual shapes, positional relationships, and ratios.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram conceptually illustrating a robot system according to an embodiment. As shown in the figure, the robot system 100 is a system including a mobile robot 110 that can travel autonomously and a voice recognition device 150 that is separate from the mobile robot 110.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a device configuration and a functional configuration of the voice recognition device. The voice recognition device 150 is a device called a so-called smart speaker, and includes a microphone array 151, a first communication device 152, and a first processor 153.

  The microphone array 151 is a device that specifies the arrival direction of sound and converts the sound into electrical information, and is a device in which a plurality of directional microphones are arranged in different directions. In the case of the present embodiment, the microphone array 151 includes a plurality of microphones arranged uniformly in the circumferential direction along the radial direction in a horizontal plane. Each microphone has outward directivity.

  The first communication device 152 is a device that performs wireless communication with the mobile robot 110 directly or indirectly through another device. The type of wireless communication is not particularly limited, and examples thereof include Bluetooth (registered trademark) and wireless LAN (Local Area Network). The first communication device 152 may perform a plurality of types of communication.

  The first processor 153 is a device that implements each processing unit by executing a program. In the present embodiment, the first processor 153 implements a command generation unit 154, an arrival direction identification unit 155, and an instruction information creation unit 156.

  The command generation unit 154 is a processing unit that acquires a voice command issued by the user 200 from the microphone array 151, recognizes the voice, and generates a command corresponding to the voice command.

  The arrival direction identifying unit 155 is a processing unit that identifies the arrival direction of the voice command based on the signal acquired from the microphone array 151. The method for specifying the direction of arrival is not particularly limited. For example, the method for specifying the direction of arrival of the voice command based on the difference in volume and the phase difference of sound acquired by a plurality of microphones may be exemplified. it can.

  The instruction information creation unit 156 is a processing unit that creates instruction information in which a region to which the mobile robot 110 should move is added to a command based on the command generated by the command generation unit 154 and the arrival direction specified by the arrival direction specification unit 155. is there. The instruction information created by the instruction information creating unit 156 is transmitted to the mobile robot 110 by the first communication device 152.

  The mobile robot 110 is an apparatus that can autonomously move on the floor surface and execute work. The type of the mobile robot 110 is not particularly limited, and examples thereof include a care robot that moves to a predetermined place and provides care, and a transfer robot that conveys people and objects. In the case of the present embodiment, a cleaning robot that performs cleaning while traveling autonomously will be described as an example of the mobile robot 110.

  FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the appearance of the mobile robot. FIG. 4 is a bottom view showing the appearance of the mobile robot. FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the appearance of the mobile robot.

  As shown in these drawings, the mobile robot 110 autonomously travels within a predetermined area based on the instruction information transmitted from the voice recognition device 150, and sucks dust existing in the area. And a drive unit 130 (see FIG. 4), a cleaning unit 140 (see FIG. 4) for sucking dust existing in the cleaning area from the suction port 178, various sensors, a second processor 111 (see FIG. 6), and the like. Yes.

  In the case of the present embodiment, drive unit 130 includes a wheel that travels on the floor, a travel motor that applies torque to the wheel, a housing that houses the travel motor, and the like. Each wheel is accommodated in a recess formed in the lower surface of the body and is attached so as to be rotatable with respect to the body. The mobile robot 110 is a two-wheeled type equipped with casters 179 as auxiliary wheels. The mobile robot 110 can freely move, such as going straight, retreating, turning left, turning right, by independently controlling the rotation of the two wheels. Can be run.

  The drive unit 130 causes the mobile robot 110 to travel based on an instruction from the second processor 111. In the present embodiment, one drive unit 130 is arranged on each of the left side and the right side with respect to the center in the width direction of the mobile robot 110 in plan view. The number of drive units 130 is not limited to two, and may be one or three or more.

  The cleaning unit 140 is a unit that collects and sucks dust, and includes a main brush disposed in the suction port 178, a brush drive motor that rotates the main brush, and the like. The suction device that sucks dust from the suction port 178 is disposed inside the body, and includes a fan case and an electric fan disposed inside the fan case.

  Examples of the various sensors included in the mobile robot 110 include the following sensors.

  The obstacle sensor 173 is a sensor that detects an obstacle present in front of the body. In the present embodiment, the obstacle sensor 173 is an ultrasonic sensor. The obstacle sensor 173 includes a transmitter 171 disposed in the center of the front of the body, and receivers 172 disposed on both sides of the transmitter 171. The obstacle sensor 173 is transmitted from the transmitter 171 and reflected by the obstacle. When the receiving unit 172 receives the ultrasonic waves that have returned, the distance and position of the obstacle can be detected.

  The distance measuring sensor 174 is a sensor that detects a distance between an object such as an obstacle existing around the mobile robot 110 and the mobile robot 110. In the case of the present embodiment, the distance measuring sensor 174 is a so-called laser range scanner that measures a distance based on light reflected by an obstacle by scanning laser light.

  The collision sensor (not shown) is a switch contact displacement sensor that is turned on when a bumper attached around the mobile robot 110 comes into contact with an obstacle and is pushed into the mobile robot 110.

  The camera 175 is a device that images the upper space of the mobile robot 110. The image captured by the camera 175 is subjected to image processing, and the current position of the mobile robot 110 can be grasped from the position of the feature point in the image.

  The floor surface sensors 176 are arranged at a plurality of locations on the bottom surface of the mobile robot 110 and detect whether or not there is a floor surface as a cleaning area. In the case of the present embodiment, the floor sensor 176 is an infrared sensor having a light emitting part and a light receiving part. When infrared light radiated from the light emitting part returns, there is a floor surface and only light below a threshold value is returned. In the case, it is detected that there is no floor.

  The encoder (not shown) is provided in the drive unit 130 and detects the rotation angle of each of the pair of wheels rotated by the traveling motor. The travel amount, turning angle, speed, acceleration, angular speed, etc. of the mobile robot 110 can be calculated from information from the encoder.

  The acceleration sensor (not shown) detects the acceleration when the mobile robot 110 travels, and the angular velocity sensor detects the angular velocity when the mobile robot 110 turns. Information detected by the acceleration sensor and the angular velocity sensor is used as information for correcting an error caused by the idling of the wheel.

  The obstacle sensor 173, the distance measuring sensor 174, the collision sensor, the camera 175, the floor sensor 176, and the encoder described above are examples, and the mobile robot 110 may include other types of sensors.

  The second processor 111 is a device that implements each processing unit by executing a program. In the present embodiment, the second processor 111 implements the command acquisition unit 112, the map holding unit 113, the device information acquisition unit 114, and the movement execution unit 116 as processing units. In the case of the present embodiment, the second processor 111 further includes an obstacle recognition unit 117, a map creation unit 118, an image acquisition unit 119, a position specifying unit 120, a sound generation unit 121, and a device information calculation unit 122. And realized. In the present embodiment, a single processor such as the first processor 153 and the second processor 111 is described, but the processing unit may be realized by a plurality of processors.

  The command acquisition unit 112 is a processing unit that acquires a command generated by the voice recognition device 150 based on a voice command issued by the user 200 and instruction information indicating the specified arrival direction via the second communication device 123. The second communication device 123 is a device that performs wireless communication with the voice recognition device 150 directly or indirectly through another device.

  The map holding unit 113 is a processing unit that holds an environmental map of a predetermined area where the voice recognition device 150 is arranged and the area where the mobile robot 110 moves and performs operations such as cleaning. The environment map may be acquired from outside the robot system 100, but in the case of the present embodiment, the mobile robot 110 itself is created by the obstacle recognition unit 117 and the map creation unit 118.

  The obstacle recognition unit 117 is a processing unit that calculates the positional relationship between the position of the mobile robot 110 and the obstacle based on information from sensors such as an encoder and a distance measuring sensor 174. The obstacle recognizing unit 117 accumulates information indicating the relationship between the obstacle and the self position at a plurality of locations by the mobile robot 110 that travels autonomously.

  The map creation unit 118 is a processing unit that creates an environmental map by integrating the data calculated and accumulated by the obstacle recognition unit 117. A method for generating the environment map is not particularly limited, and examples thereof include SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping).

  The map creation unit 118 generates, as an environmental map, information indicating the outline of the area actually traveled based on the travel performance of the mobile robot 110 and obstacles that impede travel. The environment map generated by the map creation unit 118 is realized as, for example, two-dimensional array data. The traveling performance may be divided into squares of a predetermined size, for example, 10 cm in length and width, and each square may be regarded as an element area of an array constituting the environment map and processed as array data.

  The device information acquisition unit 114 is a processing unit that acquires device information indicating the position and orientation of the voice recognition device 150 in the environment map. The method for acquiring the device information is not particularly limited, and the device information input to the mobile robot 110 by the user 200 may be acquired. Specifically, for example, the environment map held by the map holding unit 113 is displayed on a mobile terminal such as a smartphone or a computer, and the position or orientation of the voice recognition device 150 on the environment map is displayed on the user 200 using the mobile terminal. May be input by transmitting the information to the mobile robot 110.

  In the case of the present embodiment, the device information is not input from the outside, but the mobile robot 110 calculates the device information based on the sound generation unit 121 and the device information calculation unit 122, and the calculated device information is The device information acquisition unit 114 acquires the information.

  Specifically, the voice generation unit 121 is a processing unit that generates a pseudo voice command that can be recognized by the voice recognition apparatus 150 using a speaker or the like, and the mobile robot 110 is autonomous during creation of an environmental map, cleaning, and the like. The pseudo voice command is generated at least at three different points when moving to the position.

  The device information calculation unit 122 is a processing unit that acquires, from a sensor or the like, position information on the environmental map from which the sound generation unit 121 has generated a pseudo voice command, and the acquired position information and the pseudo information acquired by the command acquisition unit 112. Device information is calculated based on the instruction information corresponding to the voice command.

  The movement execution unit 116 performs processing corresponding to the command included in the instruction information by moving to or near the arrival direction of the voice command based on the position and direction of the voice recognition device 150 based on the instruction information. Part. Specifically, for example, when the user 200 issues a voice command “clean this area” under the situation shown in FIG. 7, the movement execution unit 116 that acquired the instruction information via the voice recognition device 150. Should perform work based on the environmental map held by the map holding unit 113, the position and direction 159 of the voice recognition device 150 in the environmental map, and the arrival direction 158 of the voice command recognized by the voice recognition device 150. The first area 201 is determined on the environment map. In addition, it grasps the work content from the command included in the instruction information, and decides to perform cleaning, for example. Further, the movement execution unit 116 moves the mobile robot 110 to the first area 201 based on the determined information, and executes the work.

  The method for moving the mobile robot 110 toward the first area 201 is not particularly limited. For example, the mobile robot 110 can be operated while autonomously traveling in the first area 201 after the mobile robot 110 is directed to the voice recognition device 150. It does not matter if you do. Further, the mobile robot 110 may be directed to the first region 201 closest to the mobile robot 110.

  Further, the area where the work should be performed may be narrowed down to the second area 202 by the image acquisition unit 119 and the position specifying unit 120 realized by the second processor 111.

  Specifically, the image acquisition unit 119 acquires an image by causing the camera 175 included in the mobile robot 110 to capture an image on the arrival direction 158 with the position and orientation 159 of the voice recognition device 150 as a base point. As a result, it is possible to narrow down an area from which an image is acquired, and it is possible to capture an image of the user 200 at a relatively high speed.

  The position specifying unit 120 specifies the position of the user 200 on the environment map by image analysis or the like based on the image acquired by the image acquisition unit 119. The movement execution unit 116 moves the mobile robot 110 to the position of the user 200 specified by the position specifying unit 120 or the second region 202 in the vicinity thereof, and executes the command. According to this, the mobile robot 110 can be quickly moved to a desired area, and work can be executed in the area. For example, the mobile robot 110 can be cleaned only in the vicinity of the user 200. In addition, the article can be conveyed to the user 200.

  According to the mobile robot 110 according to the above-described embodiment, the mobile robot 110 can be moved to a desired region and executed by an intuitive instruction such as a voice command.

  In addition, since it is not necessary for the mobile robot 110 to recognize a voice command and determine the direction of arrival of the voice command, it is not necessary to install a relatively heavy device such as the microphone array 151, thereby reducing the weight and contributing to energy saving. Can do. In addition, since the mobile robot 110 does not perform heavy processing such as voice recognition, the mobile robot 110 can immediately move and start work in response to a voice command issued by the user.

  Further, since the voice recognition device 150 can recognize a voice command and transmit instruction information to the mobile robot 110 by communication, the mobile robot 110 is performing work and generating noise, or at a position where the voice command does not reach. Even when the mobile robot 110 exists, the mobile robot 110 can perform a desired operation.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, another embodiment realized by arbitrarily combining the components described in this specification and excluding some of the components may be used as an embodiment of the present invention. In addition, the present invention includes modifications obtained by making various modifications conceivable by those skilled in the art without departing from the gist of the present invention, that is, the meaning of the words described in the claims. It is.

  For example, the mobile robot 110 is not limited to a robot cleaner, and may be a transport robot that transports drinks, medicines, and the like to the user 200, an assistance robot that assists the operation of the user 200, and the like.

  Further, in order to specify the position of the user 200, an image captured by the camera 175 is used. However, information from the laser range scanner may be used alone or in combination with an image. Further, a TOF (Time-of-Flight) camera or the like may be provided separately.

  The present invention is applicable to a robot capable of autonomous traveling.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Robot system 110 Mobile robot 111 Second processor 112 Command acquisition part 113 Map holding part 114 Device information acquisition part 116 Movement execution part 117 Obstacle recognition part 118 Map creation part 119 Image acquisition part 120 Position specification part 121 Voice generation part 122 Equipment Information calculation unit 123 Second communication device 130 Drive unit 140 Cleaning unit 150 Speech recognition device 151 Microphone array 152 First communication device 153 First processor 154 Command generation unit 155 Arrival direction identification unit 156 Instruction information creation unit 158 Arrival direction 171 Transmission unit 172 Receiver 173 Obstacle sensor 174 Distance sensor 175 Camera 176 Floor sensor 178 Suction port 179 Caster 200 User 201 First area 202 Second area

Claims (5)

A mobile robot that can travel autonomously,
A command acquisition unit that acquires, by communication, the command generated by the voice recognition device based on the voice command issued by the user and the instruction information including the arrival direction of the voice command specified by the voice recognition device;
A map holding unit for holding an environmental map of a predetermined area where the voice recognition device is arranged;
A device information acquisition unit that acquires device information indicating the position and orientation of the voice recognition device in the environmental map;
A mobile robot comprising: a movement execution unit that moves in or near the arrival direction based on the position and orientation of the voice recognition device based on the instruction information, and executes a task corresponding to the command. An obstacle recognition unit that calculates the positional relationship between the self-position and the obstacle based on information from the sensor;
The mobile robot according to claim 1, further comprising: a map creation unit that creates the environmental map by integrating data calculated by the obstacle recognition unit. An image acquisition unit for acquiring an image on the arrival direction based on the position and orientation of the voice recognition device;
A position specifying unit that specifies the position of the user based on the acquired image,
The mobile robot according to claim 1, wherein the movement execution unit moves the specified user position or the vicinity thereof to execute the command. A voice generation unit that generates pseudo voice commands recognizable by the voice recognition device at least at three different locations;
4. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: instruction information corresponding to the pseudo voice command acquired by the command acquisition unit, and a device information calculation unit that calculates the device information based on a position where the pseudo voice command is issued. The described mobile robot. A robot system comprising a mobile robot capable of autonomous traveling and a voice recognition device separate from the mobile robot,
The voice recognition device
A command generator for generating a command based on a voice command issued by a user;
An arrival direction identifying unit that identifies an arrival direction of the voice command;
The mobile robot is
A command acquisition unit configured to acquire instruction information including the command and the direction of arrival from the voice recognition device via communication;
A map holding unit for holding an environmental map of a predetermined area where the voice recognition device is arranged;
A device information acquisition unit that acquires device information indicating the position and orientation of the voice recognition device in the environmental map;
A robot system comprising: a movement execution unit that moves in or near the arrival direction based on the position and orientation of the voice recognition device based on the instruction information and that performs a task corresponding to the command.

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