JP2020004182A - Robot, robot control program and robot control method - Google Patents

Abstract

To realize sharing of a space apart from a task.SOLUTION: A system 10 includes a robot 12, and the robot 12 is connected to a user terminal 16 via a network 14 so as to allow communication. When a task following a command from a user terminal is performed, a robot produces a path plan by selecting a combination that has the maximum mutual benefit based on a benefit when a human selects a certain movement candidate point and based on a benefit when the robot selects a certain movement candidate point. When the task is performed, the robot moves according to the path plan thus produced.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a robot, a robot control program, and a robot control method, and more particularly to, for example, a robot, a robot control program, and a robot control method for providing a service or receiving a service.

  An example of a conventional robot of this type is disclosed in Patent Document 1. The explanation robot disclosed in Patent Literature 1 works on a visitor from the explanation robot to explain the highlight of the exhibit. The description robot is located at a position other than the highlight area set for the area where the highlight part of the exhibit is easy to see and does not block the path of the visitor from the current position of the visitor to the highlight area. , A description position to be a standing position when explaining the exhibit is selected.

JP-A-2015-66624

  However, in the explanation robot of Patent Literature 1, a condition for yielding the space as described above is embedded as a rule in a task of working with a visitor to explain a highlight of an exhibit. Also, when the positions of the human and the robot are reversed, the condition for yielding the space is embedded as a rule. In this way, the method of embedding rules in a task involves various types of situations, such as the roles of humans and robots, the positional relationship between humans and robots in the real space, and the purpose of each action of humans and robots. It is necessary to describe various rules, and the rules are complicated. This complicates rule management and debugging. In addition, it is troublesome to describe all rules comprehensively. In other words, task generation and robot control become difficult.

  Therefore, a main object of the present invention is to provide a novel robot, a robot control program, and a robot control method.

  Further, another object of the present invention is to provide a robot, a robot control program, and a robot control method that can realize a transfer of space separately from a task.

  A first invention is a robot provided with a moving means, wherein a first profit calculating means for calculating a first profit when a human present around the robot selects the first moving plan, and wherein the robot has a second moving plan. A second profit calculating means for calculating a second profit in the case of selecting a robot, by selecting a combination of a first movement plan and a second movement plan that maximize mutual benefit based on the first profit and the second profit. Is a robot comprising: creating means for creating a route plan for moving; and control means for controlling the moving means so as to move in accordance with the route plan created by the creating means.

  A second invention is according to the first invention, and further includes a mutual benefit calculating means for calculating a mutual benefit based on the superiority of the movement of the human and the movement of the robot.

  A third invention is according to the second invention, wherein the first profit calculating means calculates a first profit when a first movement plan to each position where a human can exist is selected at predetermined time intervals. Then, the second profit calculating means calculates each of the second profits when the second movement plan to each position where the robot can exist is selected every predetermined time, and the mutual profit calculating means calculates the second profit every predetermined time. In addition, the mutual benefit is calculated for all combinations of each position where a human can exist and each position where a robot can exist, and the creating means generates a first movement plan and a second travel plan that maximize the mutual benefit every predetermined time. By selecting a combination of two movement plans, a path plan for the robot to move is created.

  A fourth invention is according to any one of the first to third inventions, and the creating unit excludes a combination in which a human and a robot collide from each other.

  A fifth invention is according to any one of the first to fourth inventions, and the creating unit excludes the same combination as the combination of the first movement plan and the second movement plan from options.

  A sixth invention is a robot control program for controlling a robot having moving means, wherein a robot or a computer of a computer capable of communicating with the robot selects a first movement plan by a person present around the robot. A first profit calculating step of calculating a first profit, a second profit calculating step of calculating a second profit when the robot selects the second movement plan, and a mutual benefit based on the first profit and the second profit is maximized. Creating a route plan for the robot to move by selecting a combination of the first movement plan and the second movement plan, and a control step of controlling the moving means to move according to the route plan created in the creation step Is a robot control program.

  A seventh invention is a robot control method for controlling a robot provided with a moving means, wherein (a) calculating a first profit when a person present around the robot selects the first movement plan; b) calculating a second benefit when the robot selects the second travel plan; (c) a combination of the first travel plan and the second travel plan that maximize the mutual benefit based on the first benefit and the second benefit. And (d) controlling the moving means so as to move in accordance with the path plan created in step (c).

  According to the present invention, it is possible to realize space transfer separately from tasks.

  The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of embodiments with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of a system showing an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a front view of the appearance of the robot shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of the robot shown in FIG. FIG. 4A is a diagram showing a state in which a human is located at one end of a narrow passage and a robot is located at the other end in a case where the robot executes a task of an action of moving to a destination. FIG. 4B is a diagram showing that the state has been changed from the state shown in FIG. 4A to a state in which a person passes through a narrow passage. FIG. 5 (A) is a diagram showing that the state has changed from the state shown in FIG. 4 (B) to a state in which a person has completed the passage of a narrow width, and FIG. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing that the robot has changed from a state shown to a state in which a robot passes through a narrow path after a human has left the narrow path. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an arrangement position of an exhibit in an environment where a robot is arranged. FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining a profit in performing an action of appreciating an exhibit. FIG. 8A is a diagram for explaining a method of estimating the destination of a person when the person is moving, and FIG. 8B is a diagram illustrating the purpose of the person when the person is stopped. It is a figure for explaining the method of estimating the ground. FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining a method of creating a route plan. FIG. 10A is a diagram for explaining a candidate for movement of a robot, FIG. 10B is a diagram for explaining a candidate for human movement, and FIG. 10C is a diagram for explaining a candidate point for movement. FIG. FIG. 11 is an illustrative view showing one example of a memory map of the memory shown in FIG. 3; FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a part of the robot control process of the CPU shown in FIG. FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing another part of the robot control process of the CPU shown in FIG. 3, and being sequel to FIG. FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing a part of the route plan creation processing of the CPU shown in FIG. FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing another part of the route plan creation process of the CPU shown in FIG. 3 and subsequent to FIG. FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing another part of the process of creating the route plan by the CPU shown in FIG. 3 and subsequent to FIG.

  Referring to FIG. 1, a system 10 of this embodiment includes a communication robot (hereinafter simply referred to as “robot”) 12. The robot 12 can communicate with a human or another robot using at least one of a voice and a body motion (gesture). In addition, the robot 12 can connect to a network 14 such as a wireless LAN, and communicate with a computer on the network 14.

  In this embodiment, the robot 12 is a so-called telepresence (or teleexistence) robot, and can communicate with a user terminal 16 connected to a network 14. The user terminal 16 is a general-purpose computer used by an operator who remotely operates the robot 12 (hereinafter, referred to as “user”). The user uses the user terminal 16 to transmit a command for causing the robot 12 to execute a task. In addition, the user transmits a voice to the robot 12 using the user terminal 16 and outputs a voice from the robot 12 to talk to a person existing near the robot 12. Hereinafter, in this specification, a communication target of the robot 12 or a user who remotely operates the robot 12 is referred to as a “human” or a “human”.

  In addition, by receiving voice and / or video (moving image or still image) transmitted from the robot 12 at the user terminal 16 and outputting voice and / or video at the user terminal 16, the user is able to The user can see objects existing in the robot 12, grasp the situation around the robot 12, and listen to a human being around the robot 12.

  It is well known that the robot 12 is operated by the user terminal 16 provided at a remote place, and is not an essential content of the present application. Omitted.

  The hardware configuration of the robot 12 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a front view showing the appearance of the robot 12 of this embodiment. The robot 12 includes a carriage 30, and two wheels 32 and one driven wheel 34 for autonomously moving the robot 12 are provided on a lower surface of the carriage 30. The two wheels 32 are independently driven by wheel motors 36 (see FIG. 3), and can move the cart 30, that is, the robot 12, in any direction of front, rear, left and right. The driven wheel 34 is an auxiliary wheel for assisting the wheel 32. Therefore, the robot 12 can move in the arranged space by autonomous control.

  A cylindrical sensor mounting panel 38 is provided on the carriage 30, and a number of infrared distance sensors 40 are mounted on the sensor mounting panel 38. These infrared distance sensors 40 measure the distance from the sensor mounting panel 38, that is, the object (human or obstacle) around the robot 12.

  In this embodiment, an infrared distance sensor is used as the distance sensor, but an ultrasonic distance sensor or a millimeter wave radar may be used instead of the infrared distance sensor.

  A body 42 is provided on the sensor mounting panel 38 so as to stand upright. In addition, the above-mentioned infrared distance sensor 40 is further provided at the upper front center of the torso 42 (at a position corresponding to the chest of a person), and measures the distance to a person mainly in front of the robot 12. Further, the body 42 is provided with a support 44 extending from substantially the center of the upper end on the side surface, and an omnidirectional camera 46 is provided on the support 44. The omnidirectional camera 46 is for photographing the periphery of the robot 12 and is distinguished from an eye camera 70 described later. As the omnidirectional camera 46, for example, a camera using a solid-state imaging device such as a CCD or a CMOS can be employed. In addition, the installation positions of the infrared distance sensor 40 and the omnidirectional camera 46 are not limited to the parts and can be appropriately changed.

  An upper arm 50R and an upper arm 50L are provided at upper ends of both sides of the torso 42 (positions corresponding to the shoulders of the person) by shoulder joints 48R and 48L, respectively. Although not shown, the shoulder joint 48R and the shoulder joint 48L each have three orthogonal degrees of freedom. That is, the shoulder joint 48R can control the angle of the upper arm 50R around each of the three orthogonal axes. One axis (yaw axis) of the shoulder joint 48R is an axis parallel to the longitudinal direction (or axis) of the upper arm 50R, and the other two axes (pitch axis and roll axis) are orthogonal to the axes from different directions. It is the axis to do. Similarly, the shoulder joint 48L can control the angle of the upper arm 50L around each of the three orthogonal axes. One axis (yaw axis) of the shoulder joint 48L is an axis parallel to the longitudinal direction (or axis) of the upper arm 50L, and the other two axes (pitch axis and roll axis) are orthogonal to the axes from different directions. It is the axis to do.

  An elbow joint 52R and an elbow joint 52L are provided at the respective distal ends of the upper arm 50R and the upper arm 50L. Although not shown, the elbow joint 52R and the elbow joint 52L each have one degree of freedom, and the angles of the forearm 54R and the forearm 54L can be controlled around this axis (pitch axis).

  A sphere 56R and a sphere 56L corresponding to a human hand are provided at the distal ends of the forearm 54R and the forearm 54L, respectively. However, when a function of a finger or a palm is required, a “hand” having a shape and a function very similar to a human hand can be provided.

  Although not shown, the front surface of the bogie 30, a portion corresponding to the shoulder including the shoulder joint 48R and the shoulder joint 48L, the upper arm 50R, the upper arm 50L, the forearm 54R, the forearm 54L, the sphere 56R, and the sphere 56L are respectively provided. , A contact sensor 58 (shown generically in FIG. 3). The contact sensor 58 on the front of the cart 30 detects contact of the cart 30 with a human or other obstacle. Therefore, if there is a contact with an obstacle during the movement of the robot 12 itself, the robot 12 can detect the contact and immediately stop the driving of the wheels 32 to quickly stop the movement of the robot 12. The other contact sensors 58 detect whether or not the respective parts have been touched. In addition, the installation position of the contact sensor 58 is not limited to the part, and may be provided at an appropriate position (a position corresponding to a person's chest, abdomen, side, back, and waist).

  A neck joint 60 is provided at the upper center of the body 42 (at a position corresponding to the neck of the person), and a display device 62 and an eye camera 70 corresponding to the head are further provided thereon. Although not shown, the neck joint 60 has three degrees of freedom and can be angle-controlled around each of the three axes. A certain axis (yaw axis) is an axis directed directly above (vertically upward) the robot 12, and the other two axes (pitch axis and roll axis) are axes orthogonal to each other in different directions.

  The display surface of the display device 62 functions as the face of the robot 12, and mainly displays a face image (user image) of a user who remotely operates the robot 12. The direction of the display surface of the display device 62 is changed according to the movement of the neck joint 60. The image data (video signal) of the user image is photographed by a camera provided in the user terminal 16 and transmitted to the robot 12 via the network 14. Since the user image is displayed on the display device 62, the person who communicates with the robot 12 gets the experience of communicating with a remote user.

  Although omitted in FIG. 2, a speaker 64 (see FIG. 3) is provided at or near the display device 62. The speaker 64 is used by the robot 12 to communicate by voice or sound with humans around it. Although not shown in FIG. 2, a microphone 66 (see FIG. 3) is provided at or near the display device 62. The microphone 66 captures ambient sounds, particularly the voices of a person who performs communication.

  Further, an eye camera 70 is provided at a center on the upper side of the display device 62. The eye camera 70 captures an image of a human face approaching the robot 12 and other parts or objects, and captures a corresponding video signal. In this embodiment, when the user of the user terminal 16 looks at the target through the robot 12, the target is photographed by the eye camera 70 of the robot 12.

  The installation position of the eye camera 70 is not limited to the center on the upper side of the display device 62 or its vicinity, and may be provided at an appropriate position.

  Further, as the eye camera 70, a camera similar to the omnidirectional camera 46 described above can be used. As described above, the eye camera 70 is attached to the upper center of the display device 62. Therefore, the shooting direction is changed according to the movement of the display device 62.

  The installation positions of the speaker 64 and the microphone 66 are not limited to the display device 62 or the vicinity thereof, and may be provided at appropriate positions.

  As described above, the robot 12 of this embodiment has two independent axes driving of the wheels 32, three degrees of freedom of the shoulder joint 48 (six degrees of freedom in left and right), one degree of freedom of the elbow joint 52 (two degrees of freedom in left and right), and The neck joint 60 has a total of 13 degrees of freedom, 3 degrees of freedom.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of the robot 12. As shown in FIG. Referring to FIG. 3, robot 12 includes CPU 80. The CPU 80 is also called a microcomputer or a processor, and is connected to a memory 84, a motor control board 86, a sensor input / output board 88, and a voice input / output board 90 via a bus 82.

  Although not shown, the memory 84 includes a ROM, an HDD, and a RAM. A control program for controlling the operation of the robot 12 is stored in the ROM and the HDD in advance. For example, a detection program for detecting the output (sensor information) of each sensor, a communication program for transmitting and receiving necessary data and commands to and from an external computer, and the like are recorded. The RAM is used as a work memory or a buffer memory.

  Further, in this embodiment, the robot 12 is configured to be able to speak and make gestures for communicating with humans. Utterance / gesture dictionary) is set.

  The motor control board 86 is composed of, for example, a DSP, and controls the driving of each axis motor such as each arm or neck joint. That is, the motor control board 86 receives the control data from the CPU 80 and receives a total of four motors of three motors for controlling the angles of the three orthogonal axes of the shoulder joint 48R and one motor for controlling the angle of the elbow joint 52R. The rotation angles of the two motors (referred to collectively as “right arm motor 96” in FIG. 3) are controlled. Similarly, the motor control board 86 receives the control data from the CPU 80, and controls the three motors for controlling the respective angles of the three orthogonal axes of the shoulder joint 48L and the one motor for controlling the angle of the elbow joint 52L. The rotation angles of a total of four motors (referred to collectively as “left arm motor 98” in FIG. 3) are controlled.

  Further, the motor control board 86 receives control data from the CPU 80 and controls three motors for controlling the respective angles of the three orthogonal axes of the neck joint 60 (in FIG. 3, they are collectively indicated as “head motor 100”). To control the rotation angle. Then, the motor control board 86 receives the control data from the CPU 80 and controls the rotation angles of two motors (in FIG. 3, collectively referred to as “wheel motors 36”) that drive the wheels 32.

  In this embodiment, a stepping motor (that is, a pulse motor) is used for the motors other than the wheel motor 36 in order to simplify the control. However, a DC motor may be used similarly to the wheel motor 36. Further, the actuator for driving the body part of the robot 12 is not limited to a motor using a current as a power source, and may be appropriately changed. For example, in another embodiment, an air actuator may be applied.

  The sensor input / output board 88 is, similarly to the motor control board 86, composed of a DSP, takes in signals from the respective sensors, and supplies the signals to the CPU 80. That is, data relating to the reflection time from each of the infrared distance sensors 40 is input to the CPU 80 through the sensor input / output board 88. Further, the video signal from the omnidirectional camera 46 is input to the CPU 80 after performing predetermined processing on the sensor input / output board 88 as necessary. The video signal from the eye camera 70 is similarly input to the CPU 80. Further, signals from the above-described plurality of contact sensors 58 (collectively referred to as “contact sensors 58” in FIG. 3) are provided to the CPU 80 via the sensor input / output board 88. Similarly, the audio input / output board 90 is also constituted by a DSP, and outputs a voice or voice according to the voice synthesis data provided from the CPU 80 from the speaker 64. Further, a voice input from the microphone 66 is provided to the CPU 80 via the voice input / output board 90.

  The CPU 80 is connected to the communication LAN board 102 via the bus 82. The communication LAN board 102 is composed of, for example, a DSP, and supplies transmission data provided from the CPU 80 to the wireless communication device 104, and the wireless communication device 104 transmits the transmission data to the user terminal 16 via the network 14. The communication LAN board 102 receives data via the wireless communication device 104 and provides the received data (received data) to the CPU 80.

  For example, the transmission data may be a video signal and / or an audio signal photographed and / or stored by the robot 12, or may be history information on an action (communication action) performed by the robot 12. The received data is a video signal and / or an audio signal from the user terminal 16 or an operation signal (command) from the user terminal 16.

  Further, the CPU 80 is connected to the display driver 92 via the bus 82. The display device 62 is connected to the display driver 92. The display drive 92 includes a GPU and a VRAM, and generates image data corresponding to an image displayed on the display device 62 according to an instruction from the CPU 80. The image data generated by the display driver 92 is output to the display device 62, and an image corresponding to the image data is displayed on the screen of the display device 62.

  Further, the CPU 80 is connected to a two-dimensional distance measuring device 106 and a three-dimensional distance measuring device 108 via a bus 82. The two-dimensional distance measurement device 106 irradiates a laser in the horizontal direction, and measures the distance to an object (including a person) from the time it takes to return to the object. For example, a laser emitted from a transmitter (not shown) is reflected by a rotating mirror (not shown), and the front is scanned in a fan shape at a constant angle (for example, 0.5 degrees). Here, as the two-dimensional distance measuring device 106, a laser range finder (model LMS200) manufactured by SICK can be used. When this laser range finder is used, a distance of 8 m can be measured with an error of about ± 15 mm.

  In this embodiment, the robot 12 has two-dimensional (or horizontal) distance information to an obstacle detected by the two-dimensional distance measuring device 106 and an environment (for example, place or area) where the robot 12 is arranged. The position of the robot 12 itself, that is, the current position of the robot 12 is estimated by matching the maps of the robot 12. However, in order to more accurately estimate the current position, odometry (movement information) of the robot 12 calculated using the particle filter is also used as an input. A method for estimating the current position of the robot 12 is described in D. Fox, W. Burgard and S. Thrun, Markov Localization for Mobile Robots in Dynamic Environments, Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research, vol. 11, pp. 391-427. , 1999. "can be used. Since estimating the current position of the robot 12 is not essential to the present application, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

  The three-dimensional distance measuring device 108 is a three-dimensional omnidirectional laser rangefinder having a detection angle (vertical viewing angle) of 40 ° (+ 30 ° to −10 °) with respect to the horizontal direction (0 °). The three-dimensional distance measuring device 108 can rotate once every 0.1 second, measure a distance up to about 100 m, and acquire point cloud information storing three-dimensional distance information around the robot 12. Here, as the three-dimensional distance measuring device 108, an imaging unit LiDAR (HDL-32E) (trade name) manufactured by Velodine can be used.

  In this embodiment, the robot 12 detects a human based on the three-dimensional distance information detected by the three-dimensional distance measuring device 108 and measures the position of the human. Specifically, using the three-dimensional distance information obtained from the three-dimensional distance measurement device 108 and the above-described map, it is estimated at which position in the environment the robot 12 is located and in which direction. Is done. Next, the three-dimensional distance information acquired from the three-dimensional distance measuring device 108 is compared with the three-dimensional distance information in the map-based environment, and the point indicated by the point group information storing the approximate three-dimensional distance information is stored. Filter with groups as background. Subsequently, of the point groups indicated by the point group information storing the three-dimensional distance information acquired from the three-dimensional distance measurement device 108, the point groups not existing at a certain height are filtered using the thresholds (Zmin, Zmax). I do. In this embodiment, Zmin is set to 5 cm, Zmax is set to 220 cm, and a point group having an extremely high height is determined to be not a human, and is excluded from the process of measuring the position of a human.

  When the point group that does not exist at a certain height is filtered, two-dimensional point group information in which the height information included in all the filtered point groups is set to 0 is generated. The generated two-dimensional point group information is clustered using the Euclidean distance. As an example, the clustering method implemented in Point Cloud Library is used.

  Furthermore, using the original height information included in the clustered point cloud information, the value obtained by subtracting the minimum height from the maximum height is less than 30 cm, and the number of point clouds is equal to or less than the threshold value (Here, four are set) are filtered. That is, clusters that are determined to be too small or non-human, such as walls, are removed. Then, the center of gravity position of each cluster after filtering is set as position information of each person. That is, a person present around the robot 12 is detected, and the position of the detected person is measured. When it is detected that a plurality of people exist around the robot 12, one of the communication targets of the robot 12 is selected according to a predetermined rule. As an example, the predetermined rule is that the distance from the robot 12 is the shortest distance or that the distance is specified from the user terminal 16. However, when the communication target is specified from the user terminal 16, the communication target has priority over the communication target determined based on the distance from the robot 12.

  The robot 12 includes a two-dimensional distance measuring device 106 and a three-dimensional distance measuring device 108 for estimating the position of the robot 12 and measuring the position of a human. , May be installed in the environment in which the robot 12 is arranged without the robot 12 or with the robot 12. Further, the position of the robot 12 may be estimated or the position of a human may be measured (estimated) using another sensor such as a floor sensor.

  In this embodiment, the robot 12 includes the two-dimensional distance measuring device 106 and the three-dimensional distance measuring device 108. The position of the robot 12 is estimated using the measurement result of the three-dimensional distance measuring device 108. Therefore, the two-dimensional distance measuring device 106 can be omitted.

  In everyday life, there is a concession of various spaces between human beings. For example, a clerk gives a customer the best place to view a product. Also, in narrow passages, people give way to people in wheelchairs. In addition, people give short-sighted people or children a better place to see objects such as artwork or animals.

  In this embodiment, the robot 12 is caused to act so as to realize such a transfer of space between the robot 12 and a human. However, in this specification, the action of the robot 12 simply includes moving the robot 12 to a destination.

  Such space concessions are often made without explicit communication, and there are likely to be many rules or norms depending on the situation. However, it is practically impossible to control the behavior of the robot 12 by comprehensively describing all rules depending on various situations.

  For this reason, in this embodiment, rather than describing a large number of rules in the behavior of the robot 12, when a situation occurs in which a human and the robot 12 want to occupy the same space, the lower priority has the benefit of itself. Rather than maximizing, the robot 12 formulates a feasible form of realizing the concession of space so that it deducts its own interests and selects actions that contribute to higher priority interests. It is like that. That is, a series of concessions in space is expressed as a behavior between the human and the robot 12 that maximizes a mutual benefit between the human and the robot 12.

  In the case where a human is an agent i and a robot 12 is an agent j, the action of cooperating and / or cooperating with the agent i and the agent j in the space transfer is a process of resolving a conflict of space resources between the agent i and the agent j. Can be considered. Assuming that the agent i performs a reasonable behavior, the selection of the action at the agent i is expressed as maximizing its own profit. Specifically, it can be expressed by Equation 1.

[Equation 1]

Also, p indicates a movement plan that the agent i can take, and U _i (p) indicates a profit that the agent i obtains when the movement plan p is selected. In this specification, profit refers to the degree to which the purpose of the task is achieved. In this embodiment, the greater the degree to which the task objective is achieved, the greater the benefit. Therefore, for a moving agent, the sooner the destination is reached, the greater the profit. In addition, an agent who looks at an object has a greater profit as it can move to a position where the object can be easily seen. P is a set of all the movement plans that the agent i can take. The same applies to the agent j.

  If only the agent i exists, the optimal movement plan that achieves the purpose of the agent i is selected according to Equation 1. However, in the case where the agent i and the agent j exist, if a conflict occurs between the mutual benefits, there is no solution that satisfies Equation 1 simultaneously. In this case, it is necessary to adjust the movement between the agent i and the agent j.

  As described above, in the case where such conflict of interests occurs between humans, the conflict may be resolved without performing an explicit conversation. More specifically, when a person in a wheelchair comes from the opposite side of a narrow width passage, the other person stops and lays down to naturally secure the space for the person in the wheelchair. This example can be said to show two points caused by the concession of space.

  The first is that agents (humans) recognize each other's goals and the optimal actions to achieve the goals. In other words, humans know each other's goals and the optimal behavior to achieve them. In the above example, each person understands that the person in a wheelchair wants to go through a narrow passage, and that the person in the wheelchair preferably goes straight to achieve that purpose.

  The second is that they recognize the priority relationship between agents. Low-priority humans are deducting their own interests and securing the high-priority human interests. In the above example, each person recognizes that the priority of the person in the wheelchair is high and the priority of the other person (people other than the person in the wheelchair) is low.

  In this embodiment, based on the above idea, a method for resolving contention of space resources or contention of interest is formulated as Expression 2 as a selection of an action that maximizes mutual benefit.

[Equation 2]

  Here, α indicates the superiority of the agent i, and its value is set between 0 and 1. As is clear from Equation 2, when α approaches 1, the agent j further deducts the profit of the agent j and selects an action (movement in this embodiment) that maximizes the profit of the agent i.

  In this embodiment, when a situation occurs in which space is given between a human and the robot 12, the superiority (or priority) α determined according to the social position or authority of the human and the robot 12 is used. The robot 12 is moved so as to maximize mutual benefits of the robot 12 and the people around it. However, the superiority may be determined according to the urgency of the action (task) performed by the robot 12.

  In the system 10 as described above, the robot 12 performs a task according to a command from the user terminal 16.

  For example, when the robot 12 is arranged in a certain store and the robot 12 or a user who operates the robot 12 remotely acts as a store clerk, the user checks the products on the display shelf or carries luggage such as products. I do.

  When confirming the product on the product shelf, the user uses the user terminal 16 to transmit a command for executing a task of viewing the displayed product to the robot 12.

  Although a detailed description is omitted, when viewing a product, the robot 12 rotates the neck joint 60 or changes the direction of the body to change the display device 62 corresponding to the head and the eye camera 70. Change the direction of At this time, the robot 12 transmits to the user terminal 16 image data of a captured image of the product taken by the eye camera 70. Therefore, the user can confirm the product by displaying the captured image on the user terminal 16.

  When carrying luggage such as merchandise, the user uses the user terminal 16 to send a command to the robot 12 to execute a task of moving to a predetermined place (corresponding to a destination G described later). I do. In this case, the luggage is transferred (loaded) from another clerk to the robot 12.

  In this embodiment, the robot 12 has a body corresponding to the body 42, both hands and both arms (48R, 48L, 50R, 50L, 52R, 52L, 54R, 54L, 56R, 56L). Luggage can be carried to destination G using both hands and both arms. However, the robot 12 has a supporting rod connecting the carriage 30 and the neck joint 60 so as to support the omnidirectional camera 46, the display device 62, and the eye camera 70 instead of the body, the hands, and the arms. It may be provided, in which case, for example, the luggage is placed on the trolley 30.

  When the robot 12 acts as a clerk, generally, the behavior of a human such as a customer has priority over the behavior of the robot 12 (clerk). Therefore, when a human approaches the robot 12 for checking a product, the robot 12 moves to make it easier to see the product. That is, the robot 12 clears the place where it is now.

  In addition, when the robot 12 and the human who move in the store are located at positions sandwiching the narrow passage, and the robot 12 and the human want to pass through the aisle in opposite directions, they cannot pass each other if they move in the aisle at the same time. Therefore, they get stuck.

  However, here, since the customer's superiority is higher than that of the robot 12, the robot 12 waits for the customer to pass through the narrow passage, and when the customer passes through the narrow passage, the robot 12 It enters a passage and passes through the passage.

  FIG. 4A is a schematic view of a state in which a human and the robot 12 are present at positions sandwiching a narrow passage, as viewed from directly above. In FIG. 4A (the same applies to FIG. 4B, FIG. 5A, FIG. 5B, FIG. 9, FIG. 10A and FIG. 10B), the head of the human and the robot 12 Is indicated by a circle, and the side with the eye described on the head is the front (the direction indicated by (6) in FIGS. 10A and 10B), and the opposite direction is the rear (FIG. 10 ( 10A) and (4) of FIG. 10B). Here, a situation is such that a human wants to pass from one side to the other through a narrow passage that is sandwiched between walls, and the robot 12 wants to pass from the other side to one side. However, since the robot 12 and the human cannot pass each other in the narrow passage, if the robot 12 tries to pass through the narrow passage at the same time, the robot 12 gets stuck.

  As described above, since the robot 12 behaves as a clerk, the superiority of the human being as the customer is set higher than the superiority of the robot 12. In such a situation, first, a human passes through a narrow passage, and then the robot 12 passes through the passage, whereby the movement of the robot 12 in consideration of superiority can be executed (realized). . That is, the space is executed (realized).

  Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4B and FIG. 5A, the robot 12 stops and moves until the human moves through the narrow passage and further passes through the narrow passage. Wait to pass through the aisle. Then, as shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, when the human passes through the narrow passage, the robot 12 moves in the narrow passage in the opposite direction to the human and passes through.

  As described above, in the case where no special constraint or condition exists, a person moves at an appropriate moving speed toward a destination without making a roundabout. This behavior can be categorized into two elements: (1) the higher the profit, the closer to the destination, the higher the profit due to the movement;

The profit function for the task of “movement” using these elements is shown in Expression 3. In addition, when Equation 3 is put together, Equation 4 is obtained. In Equations 3 and 4, U is a profit, t is a predicted time used in a route plan, pos is a predicted position after t seconds, pos _now is a current position, and G is a destination. , Dist is a distance (or difference), x is a moving distance, and v _pref means an appropriate speed. In this embodiment, when executing the task of movement, prediction for 10 seconds (predicted time t described later) is performed. Further, when calculating the route plan of the robot 12, the profit U of each of the human and the robot 12 is calculated according to Equation 4 at each time interval Δt (for example, every 0.5 seconds).

  In this specification, the “path plan” means a moving path of the robot 12 predicted for the predicted time t (hereinafter, may be referred to as a “moving path of the predicted time t”), and the “movement plan”. Means the position of the robot 12 predicted after the time interval Δt.

The appropriate speed v _pref means a desired moving speed when the human or the robot 12 moves, and is set according to an action (or task). If the action is not urgent, the normal moving speed is set as an appropriate speed _vpref . The normal moving speed is an average value of the walking speed of the adult, and the robot 12 is set slightly lower than the average value in consideration of the deceleration distance. If the action is highly urgent, a speed faster than the normal moving speed is set as an appropriate speed v _pref . If the action requires slowing down, a speed lower than the normal moving speed is set as an appropriate speed v _pref . For example, for each of the human and the robot 12, three speeds of high, medium (normal moving speed), and low are assumed in advance, and an appropriate speed v _pref is set according to the action. Hereinafter, the same applies in this specification.

[Equation 3]
U (G, t, pos) = f (Dist (pos _now , G) -Dist (pos, G))
Where f (d) =-| dv _pref * t |
[Equation 4]
U (G, t, pos) =-| (Dist (pos _now , G) -Dist (pos, G))-v _pref * t |
In this embodiment, the maximum value of the profit U is adjusted to be zero. In Equation 3, (Dist (pos _now , G) -Dist (pos, G)) is a proximity term to the destination G, and the position pos after t seconds from the current position pos _now is close to the destination G. The larger the value, the larger the value.

In _Equation 3, f (d) = − | dv _pref * t | indicates a movement constraint term of the robot 12, and has a maximum value (that is, f (d)) when the robot 12 can move at a desired speed v _pref during t seconds. (d) = 0), and the value of f (d) becomes smaller as it deviates from the desired speed v _pref .

By combining the proximity term to the destination G and the movement constraint term of the robot 12, the profit U is maximized so that the robot 12 moves at the desired speed v _pref while approaching the destination G. Have been.

  Although illustration is omitted, when the robot 12 or the user of the robot 12 is a customer and the person is a clerk, the position is reversed. For example, the robot 12 first passes through a narrow passage, and thereafter, , Humans pass through narrow passages.

  Further, in the above example, the case of the clerk and the customer has been described, but the invention is not limited to this. If the robot 12 and the person in the wheelchair pass through the narrow width passage in opposite directions, the superiority of the person in the wheelchair is made higher than the superiority of the robot 12, and the robot 12 After passing through, walk through the passage.

  FIG. 6 is a schematic view of a state where a plurality of exhibits are arranged in a certain room in a certain exhibition hall, as viewed from directly above. With reference to FIG. 6 and the like, another example in which the human and the robot 12 give up space when appreciating an exhibit will be described. However, here, it is assumed that the viewer is a human and the explainer is the robot 12.

  As shown in FIG. 6, four exhibits A, B, C and D are displayed in front of different wall surfaces. Usually, the viewer moves along the route. For example, when there is a request from the viewer, the robot 12 that introduces the outline or the contents of the exhibits A, B, C, and D is present around the exhibits A, B, C, and D, and the viewer 12 When approaching the exhibits A, B, C, and D, they stand at positions shifted from the front of the exhibits A, B, C, and D. That is, the robot 12 gives the viewer a place where the exhibits A, B, C, and D can be easily viewed.

  At this time, the robot 12 looks at the exhibits A, B, C, and D by moving the head, that is, the direction of the display device 62 up, down, left, and right, and rotating the movement of the body. , B, C, and D are output from the speaker 64. However, the description voice may be a synthesized voice of the robot 12 or a voice uttered by the user through the user terminal 16. On the other hand, the viewer stands in front of the exhibits A, B, C, and D and receives explanations about the exhibits A, B, C, and D from the robot 12.

  As shown in FIG. 7, when viewing the exhibits A, B, C, and D, the directions are close to the front as viewed from the exhibits A, B, C, and D, and the exhibits A, B, and C are displayed. , D, the profit U when viewing the exhibits A, B, C, D increases. However, the above directions and distances are the directions from the arrangement position (or the center position) of the exhibits A, B, C, and D with respect to the front direction and the distance from the center position. However, the direction and distance are two-dimensional directions and distances that do not include height information. Therefore, when viewing (appreciating) an object such as the exhibits A, B, C, and D, the profit function is represented by Expression 5.

  However, in Equation 5, U is a profit, Dist is a distance (difference), and G is a destination. However, the destination G is an arrangement position of the exhibits A, B, C, and D. Also, the directional element is multiplied by 0.1. This is the weight for the directional element, and the weight is determined to be 0.1 because the effect of the distance element on profits is greater than that of the directional element. Is considered to be large. This is because, for example, when there are a large number of people appreciating an object, relatively many people try to approach the object as much as possible without regard to the direction to the object. However, this is only an example, and can be appropriately changed depending on the target object or the like. When calculating the route plan of the robot 12, the profit U of each of the viewer and the robot 12 is calculated in accordance with Equation 5 at each time interval Δt.

[Equation 5]
U (pos, G) = f (cosθ * 0.1-Dist (pos, G))
As described above, in general, the viewer moves along the route and views the exhibits A, B, C, and D, but does not necessarily move along the route. Therefore, in this embodiment, the destination G is determined as follows.

  FIG. 8A is a diagram for explaining a method of estimating the destination G when the viewer, who is moving, is illustrated in FIG. 8B. FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a method of estimating a destination G.

  As shown in FIG. 8A, when a person is moving, the exhibits A, B, C, or D arranged in the direction in which the person moves are regarded as objects to be viewed by the person. The arrangement position of the exhibits A, B, C, or D that have been determined and determined as the viewing objects is estimated (or determined) as the destination G.

  As shown in FIG. 8B, when the person is stopped, the exhibits A, B, C, or D arranged closest to the person are regarded as objects to be viewed by the person. The arrangement position of the exhibits A, B, C, or D determined and determined as the objects to be viewed is estimated as the destination G. However, when there are a plurality of objects having the same distance or the same distance from a human (the difference is within a predetermined distance), among the plurality of objects, the objects exist in the direction in which the human was moving before stopping. The arrangement position of the object is estimated as the destination G.

  In the case where no object such as the exhibits A, B, C, and D exists in the environment, the center position of a place or area that exists ahead in the direction in which the person moves, or the person is stationary The center position of the place or area is estimated as the destination G.

  When the robot 12 performs a task of moving, the destination G of the robot 12 is transmitted (designated) from the user terminal 16 together with a command.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining a method of creating a route plan for the robot 12. FIG. 10A is a diagram showing a moving direction of a human, FIG. 10B is a diagram showing a moving direction of the robot 12, and FIG. 10C is a diagram for explaining a movement candidate point. It is.

When creating a route plan for the robot 12, that is, when calculating a movement route for the predicted time t, the current position of the robot 12 (hereinafter, sometimes referred to as “self position”) is estimated, and the current position of the human is Is calculated, and the profit of the human and the profit of the robot 12 are calculated respectively when it is assumed that the robot has moved to the position Δt seconds after the current position (hereinafter, “movement candidate point”). The mutual benefit is calculated by weighting in consideration of the superiority of the robot 12. However, in FIG. 9, the superiority α _j of the agent _j is a value obtained by subtracting the superiority α _i of the agent i from 1.

As shown in FIG. 10A, the position of the person after Δt seconds is the position in the direction shown by (1)-(9). Similarly, as shown in FIG. 10B, the position of the robot 12 after Δt seconds is a position in the direction shown by (1)-(9). In this embodiment, when calculating the movement route for the predicted time t, the map of the environment where the robot 12 exists is decomposed into a grid of a predetermined length (for example, 0.4 m or 0.5 m), A position moved by the time interval Δt, that is, a movement candidate point is determined so that the human and the robot 12 are moved in grid units. However, the above-mentioned predetermined length is determined as a distance that can be moved when the robot 12 moves at an appropriate speed v _pref for Δt seconds.

  As shown in FIG. 10C, the movement candidate points in the movement directions indicated by the above (1) to (9) are the center positions of each of the nine cells. That is, based on the current movement direction (front direction), one of eight movement candidate points corresponding to the position when moving in the front, rear, left, right, and diagonal directions, and one corresponding to the center position of the center cell (current position). A movement candidate point is added. However, the center position of the center cell shown in (5) is a position when the human or the robot 12 does not move (is stationary).

  Returning to FIG. 9, mutual benefit is obtained when a person moves to each of a plurality of (in this embodiment, nine) movement candidate points (positions after Δt seconds) (“when the first movement plan is selected”). And the profit when the robot 12 moves to each of a plurality of (in this embodiment, nine) movement candidate points (corresponding to “when the second movement plan is selected”). Are calculated for all combinations of. That is, the mutual benefit is calculated for all combinations (9 × 9 = 81) of the plurality of human movement candidate points and the plurality of movement candidate points of the robot 12.

  However, in the example illustrated in FIG. 9, it is assumed that an exhibit to be viewed is arranged in front of the human and the robot 12. The human and the robot 12 before the movement are indicated by solid lines, and the human and the robot 12 after the movement are indicated by dotted lines. Note that the human or the robot 12 may not move.

  The maximum combination of mutual benefits is selected from all the calculated mutual benefits, and the movement candidate point of the robot 12 of the selected combination is stored as the position of the robot 12 after Δt seconds. However, the combination in the case where the human and the robot 12 collide is excluded from the selection candidates (or options) before selecting the maximum mutual benefit combination. In this embodiment, when the distance between the human and the robot 12 is less than a predetermined distance (for example, 1 m), it is determined that they collide.

  Further, when the combination of the maximum mutual benefit is selected, the position of the human being after Δt seconds and the position of the robot 12 in the selected combination is further set as a reference, and the human position is further added after Δt seconds (that is, 2 × Δt seconds). For each combination of each profit when the robot 12 moves to each of the plurality of movement candidate points and each profit when the robot 12 moves to each of the plurality of movement candidate points after 2 × Δt seconds, Is calculated. That is, with the position of the human and the position of the robot 12 selected in the previous round as the current position, the movement candidate points after Δt seconds are calculated for each of the human and the robot 12.

  In the example shown in FIG. 9, the mutual benefit of the combination of the movement candidate points described in the middle row is the largest in both cases after Δt seconds and after 2 × Δt seconds.

  In this manner, the positions (moving candidate points) of the human and the robot 12 at every Δt seconds are selected or determined for the predicted time t. That is, the movement route of the robot 12 for the predicted time t, that is, the route plan is calculated. The predicted time t is determined in advance according to the task to be executed. For example, when the robot 12 performs a task of moving to an arbitrary destination G, the robot 12 is a moving agent. , The prediction time t is 10 seconds. When the robot 12 performs a task of introducing the outline or contents of the exhibits A, B, C, and D, the robot 12 is an agent who looks at the object. In this case, the predicted time t is 5 seconds. It is.

  However, when the robot 12 is actually moving and there is a possibility of collision with a human or an obstacle, the robot 12 stops moving. When calculating the position of the robot 12, the robot 12 measures the distance to a nearby human or obstacle based on the output of the two-dimensional distance measuring device 106, and thus may collide with the human or the obstacle. You can know that there is sex.

  In the route plan created as described above, a redundant route plan that passes the same place many times may be created. When a redundant route plan is created, the redundant portion is deleted to the extent that the total profit does not decrease and the human and the robot 12 do not collide.

  Although omitted in the description of FIGS. 4A to 5B, FIGS. 9 and 10A, 10B, and 10C also show a case where the human and the robot 12 pass through a narrow passage. ), A route plan for the robot 12 is created (a movement route for the predicted time t is calculated).

  FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a memory map 500 of the memory 84 (RAM) shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 11, the memory 84 includes a program storage area 502 and a data storage area 504. The program storage area 502 stores a robot control program. The robot control program includes a self-position estimation program 502a, a human position detection program 502b, a destination estimation program 502c, a movement candidate point calculation program 502d, a mutual benefit calculation program 502e, a route plan creation program 502f, and an action control program 502g.

  The self-position estimation program 502a is a program for estimating (or detecting) the position of the robot 12, that is, the self-position based on the output of the two-dimensional distance measurement device 106 and the map data 504a. The human position detection program 502b is a program for detecting a human present around the robot 12 and detecting the detected position of the human based on the output of the three-dimensional distance measuring device 108.

  The destination estimating program 502c is a program for estimating a human destination G when appreciating an object. The movement candidate point calculation program 502d is a program for respectively calculating a plurality of movement candidate points of the robot 12 after Δt seconds and a plurality of movement candidate points of the robot 12 after Δt seconds. However, the movement candidate point is a position when the robot 12 moves by Δt seconds from the reference position. The initial value of the reference position is the current position of the robot 12, and is updated every time interval Δt seconds. The same goes for humans.

  The mutual benefit calculation program 502e calculates a plurality of human movement candidate points based on each profit when a human moves to a plurality of movement candidate points and each profit when the robot 12 moves to a plurality of movement candidate points. This is a program for calculating a mutual benefit for each combination of a plurality of movement candidate points of the robot 12. However, the profit function and the superiority (weight α) are determined according to the task being executed.

  The route plan creation program 502f repeatedly executes the movement candidate point calculation program 502d and the mutual benefit calculation program 502e for the estimated time t, and in each time, calculates the maximum mutual benefit from a plurality of mutual benefits calculated according to the mutual benefit calculation program 502e. This is a program for creating a path plan for the robot 12 by storing the selected candidate points of the human and the robot 12 in the selected and mutually beneficial group. However, as described above, since a redundant route plan is not created, the same combination as the combination of the human movement candidate point and the robot 12 movement candidate point is excluded from the options. Further, as described above, before selecting the maximum mutual benefit, combinations of movement candidate points when a human and the robot 12 collide are excluded from options.

  The behavior control program 502g is a program for executing a task corresponding to a command instructed from the user terminal 16, and controls the behavior of the robot 12 itself. However, as described above, when executing a task, the robot 12 moves according to the created route plan.

  Although not shown, the program storage area 502 also stores programs different from other program robot control programs, such as an audio input program, a video input program, and an audio output program.

  The data storage area 504 stores map data 504a, weight data 504b, self-position data 504c, human position data 504d, mutual benefit data 504e, and route planning data 504f.

  The map data 504a is data on a two-dimensional map of the environment where the robot 12 is arranged, as viewed from above. For example, the map describes walkways, walls, columns, and fixedly located obstacles (eg, fire extinguishers, recycle bins, etc.). In an environment where exhibits (A, B, C, D, etc.) are arranged, the exhibits are also described on the map.

  The user terminal 16 stores or can refer to map data that is the same as or equivalent to the map data 504a. The user refers to a map corresponding to this map data via the user terminal 16, A destination G of the robot 12 is specified, and a position where a human to be selected as a communication target exists is specified.

  The weight data 504b is data on the weight α when the mutual benefit is calculated, and the weight α is set in advance according to the task executed by the robot 12. The self-position data 504c is coordinate data on the current position of the robot 12. The human position data 504d is coordinate data on the current position of a human detected by the robot 12. However, when a plurality of persons are detected, coordinate data on the current position of one person selected as a communication target according to a predetermined rule is stored as the person position data 504d, and is tracked until the execution of the task is completed. Is done.

  The mutual benefit data 504e is data on a plurality of mutual benefits calculated according to the mutual benefit calculation program 502e. As described above, since the movement candidate point calculation program 502d and the mutual benefit calculation program 502e are repeatedly executed for the predicted time t, the mutual benefit data 504e is updated each time.

The route plan data 504f is data on a travel route, that is, a route plan in which positions (movement candidate points) of the robot 12 having the maximum mutual benefit every Δt seconds (each time) are arranged in a time series of a predicted time t. . The route plan data 504f corresponds to data of the predicted movement locus P.Pr of the robot 12 included in the developed movement plan list L _close described later.

  Although not shown, other data is stored in the data storage area 504, and a flag and / or a timer (counter) are provided.

  FIGS. 12 and 13 are flowcharts showing a robot control process of the CPU 80 shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 12, when starting the robot control process, the CPU 80 determines whether or not to end in a step S1. Here, the CPU 80 determines whether a stop command has been received from the user terminal 16. If "YES" in the step S1, that is, if it is to be ended, the robot control processing is ended.

  On the other hand, if “NO” in the step S1, that is, if not to end, the self-position is estimated (detected) in a step S3, and the position of a person is detected in a step S5, and the process proceeds to the step S7. However, in step S3, the self position data 504c is updated, and in step S5, the human position data 504d is updated. In step S5, when a plurality of persons are detected, the position of the selected one person is detected as described above. The same applies to steps S19 and S21 described later.

  Although not shown, if no command is received from the user terminal 16, the robot 12 may be stopped or may move freely.

  In step S7, it is determined whether the content of the action has been determined. That is, the CPU 80 determines whether a command for instructing execution of a task has been received from the user terminal 16. However, the user inputs a command using the user terminal 16 and specifies the destination G.

  If “NO” in the step S7, that is, if the content of the action is not determined, the process returns to the step S1. On the other hand, if “YES” in the step S7, that is, if the content of the action is determined, the destination G of the human is estimated (determined) in a step S9. However, when there are a plurality of persons, the destination G of the selected one person is estimated.

  In the next step S11, superiority is determined according to the content of the action. That is, the CPU 80 determines the weight α according to the task to be executed. At this time, the numerical data of the weight α, that is, the weight data 504b is stored in the data storage area 504. In the following step S13, a route plan creation process (see FIGS. 14, 15 and 16), which will be described later, is executed, and the process proceeds to step S15 shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 13, in step S15, an action is started. In step S7, the robot 12 executes an action including a movement by executing a process for the determined action, that is, an action according to a command from the user terminal 16 (executes a task), in parallel with the robot control processing. , when moving, according to the route plan created (described below with reference to the movement prediction path P.Pr robot 12 included in the deployed movement plan list L _{close the)} moves.

  In the next step S17, it is determined whether or not the action has been completed. That is, the CPU 80 determines whether the execution of the task has been completed. If “YES” in the step S17, that is, if the action is completed, the process returns to the step S1 shown in FIG. On the other hand, if “NO” in the step S17, that is, if the action is not completed, the own position is estimated in a step S19, a position of a human is detected in a step S21, and a route planning is performed in a step S23. The creation process is performed, and the process returns to step S17.

FIGS. 14, 15, and 16 are flowcharts showing the route plan creation processing shown in step S13 of FIG. 12 and step S23 of FIG. As shown in FIG. 14, when starting the route plan creation processing, the CPU 80 initializes a developed travel plan list L _close and a pre-expanded travel plan list L _open in step S51. In the next step S53, to create the initial movement plan P _0.

  Here, the movement plan P includes the cumulative value P.t of the time interval Δt, the predicted movement trajectory P.Pp of the human, the predicted movement trajectory P.Pr of the robot 12, and the profit P.U in the cumulative value P.t.

The initial movement plan P ₀ above is the initial value of the movement plan P. Therefore, in the initial movement plan P ₀ , the accumulated value Pt = 0, the predicted movement trajectory P.Pp of the human is only the current position of the human, and the predicted movement trajectory P.Pr of the robot 12 is only the current position of the robot 12. And the profit PU is calculated based on the current position of the human and the current position of the robot 12. However, the predicted movement trajectory P.Pp of the human is a set (or list) in which the positions of the human at each time interval Δt are arranged in chronological order. The predicted movement trajectory P.Pr of the robot 12 is a set (or list) in which the positions of the robot 12 at the time intervals Δt are arranged in chronological order.

Next, in step S55, adds the initial movement plan to the beginning of the movement plan list L _open predeployment, in step S57, the removed movement plans P at the beginning of the movement plan list L _open before deployment, deployed after you have added to the movement plan list L _close, in step S59, the movement plan P taken out, it wants to remove from the movement plan list L _open prior to deployment.

  As shown in FIG. 15, in a succeeding step S61, it is determined whether or not the accumulated value P.t matches the predicted time t. That is, it is determined whether or not the travel route for the predicted time t has been calculated. As described above, the predicted time t is determined in advance by the task being executed.

  If “YES” in the step S61, that is, if the accumulated value P.t coincides with the predicted time t, the process of creating the route plan ends, and the process returns to the robot control process shown in FIGS.

  On the other hand, if “NO” in the step S61, that is, if the accumulated value P.t does not coincide with the predicted time t, in a step S63, all the human movement candidate points around the reference position are calculated. However, the reference position is a human position for calculating a movement candidate point, the first time is the current position of the human, and the second and subsequent times are the human positions predicted every Δt seconds.

  In the next step S65, all the movement candidate points of the robot 12 around the reference position are calculated. However, the reference position is the position of the robot 12 for calculating the movement candidate point, the current position of the robot 12 for the first time, and the position of the robot 12 predicted every Δt seconds after the second time.

  Subsequently, in a step S67, a variable m is initialized (m = 1), and in a step S69, a variable n is initialized (n = 1). The variable m is a variable for individually identifying a human movement candidate point, and the variable n is a variable for individually identifying a movement candidate point of the robot 12.

  Next, in step S71, an m-th human movement candidate point is read, and in step S73, an n-th robot 12 movement candidate point is read. Then, in step S75 shown in FIG. 16, a movement plan P after the time interval Δt (hereinafter, referred to as “movement plan P ′”) is created. In the movement plan P ′, the cumulative value Pt = P.t + Δt, and the m-th movement candidate point of the human is added to the predicted movement path P.Pp of the human, and the robot 12 is added to the predicted movement path P.Pr of the robot 12. Twelve n-th movement candidate points are added, and the mutual benefit PU is calculated based on the m-th movement candidate point of the human and the n-th movement candidate point of the robot 12. In other words, the mutual benefit P.U of the profit when the human moves to the m-th movement candidate point and the profit when the robot 12 moves to the n-th movement candidate point is calculated according to Equation 2. At this time, the weight α determined in step S11 is used.

In the next step S77, it is determined whether or not the movement plan P 'exists in the developed movement plan list L _close . If “YES” in the step S77, that is, if the movement plan P ′ exists in the developed movement plan list L _close , the process proceeds to a step S85. In this way, for the movement plan P'duplicate, not included in the movement plan list L _open prior to deployment. That is, the same combination as the combination of the candidate movement points of the human and the candidate movement points of the robot 12 is excluded from the options. Therefore, creation of a redundant route plan is prevented. On the other hand, if “NO” in the step S77, that is, if the movement plan P ′ does not exist in the developed movement plan list L _close , the collision between the human and the robot 12 is determined in the movement plan P ′ in a step S79. Determine if it occurs.

If “YES” in the step S79, that is, if a collision between the human and the robot 12 occurs in the movement plan P ′, the process proceeds to a step S85. That movement plan P'in the case of collision between humans and robots 12 are not included in the movement plan list L _open prior to deployment. On the other hand, if “NO” in the step S79, that is, if the collision between the human and the robot 12 does not occur in the movement plan P ′, in a step S81, the movement plan list L _open before the development of the movement plan P ′ is opened. In step S83, the elements of the movement plan list _Lopen before development are arranged in descending order of the mutual benefit PU.

  Subsequently, in a step S85, it is determined whether or not the variable n is 9. That is, the CPU 80 determines whether or not the mutual benefit P.U has been calculated for each combination of the m-th human movement candidate point and all the movement candidate points of the robot 12 in the cumulative value P.t.

  If “NO” in the step S85, that is, if the variable n is not 9, the variable n is incremented by 1 (n = n + 1) in a step S87, and the process returns to the step S73 shown in FIG. On the other hand, if “YES” in the step S85, that is, if the variable n is 9, it is determined whether or not the variable m is 9 in a step S89. That is, the CPU 80 determines whether or not the mutual benefit P.U has been calculated for each of all the combinations of the plurality of movement candidate points of the human and the plurality of movement candidate points of the robot 12 with the accumulated value P.t.

  If “NO” in the step S89, that is, if the variable m is not 9, the variable m is added by 1 in a step S91 (m = m + 1), and the process returns to the step S69 shown in FIG. On the other hand, if “YES” in the step S89, that is, if the variable m is 9, the process returns to the step S57 shown in FIG.

  According to this embodiment, apart from the tasks executed by the robot, a path plan for the robot is created in consideration of the space between the human and the robot, and the robot is moved according to the created path plan. Can be realized. Therefore, there is no need to create a task that takes into account the assignment of spaces according to various situations, and development costs can be significantly reduced.

  In this embodiment, the robot 12 creates the route plan. However, the route plan may be created by a computer communicably connected to the robot 12. In such a case, the robot 12 transmits the information of the current position of the human, the current position of the robot 12 and the destination to the computer on the network 14, and the processor of the computer transmits the route as shown in FIGS. Execute a plan creation process to create a route plan. Then, the computer transmits the created route plan to the robot 12. This computer is, for example, the user terminal 16.

  Further, in this embodiment, for each of the human and the robot, the profit when moving to nine movement candidate points is calculated and the mutual benefit is calculated, but the number of movement candidate points is limited to nine. No need. When the processing capacity of the CPU or the computer is high, the number of movement candidate points may be 10 or more. When the processing capacity of the CPU or the computer is low, the number of movement candidate points may be less than 9, but it is not preferable to reduce the number of movement candidate points too much.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... System 12 ... Communication robot 14 ... Network 16 ... User terminal 62 ... Display device 64 ... Speaker 66 ... Microphone 70 ... Eye camera 80 ... CPU
106: two-dimensional distance measuring device 108: three-dimensional distance measuring device 120: camera 124: antenna

Claims (7)

A robot having a moving means,
First profit calculating means for calculating a first profit when a human present around the robot selects the first movement plan;
Second profit calculating means for calculating a second profit when the robot selects a second movement plan;
Creating means for creating a route plan in which the robot moves by selecting a combination of the first movement plan and the second movement plan that maximize mutual benefit based on the first benefit and the second benefit; and A robot, comprising: control means for controlling the moving means so as to move in accordance with the route plan created by the creating means.   The robot according to claim 1, further comprising a mutual benefit calculation unit configured to calculate the mutual benefit based on superiority of the movement of the human and the movement of the robot. The first profit calculation means calculates a first profit when the first movement plan to each position where the human can exist is selected at predetermined time intervals,
The second profit calculation means calculates, for each predetermined time, each of the second profits when the second movement plan to each position where the robot can exist is selected,
The mutual benefit calculation means calculates the mutual benefit for every combination of each position where the human can exist and each position where the robot can exist, for each predetermined time,
The said creation means creates the path plan which the said robot moves by selecting the combination of the said 1st movement plan and the said 2nd movement plan which the said mutual benefit becomes the maximum for every predetermined time. 2. The robot according to 2.   The robot according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the creation unit excludes a combination in which the human and the robot collide from each other.   The robot according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the creating unit excludes a combination that is the same as the combination of the first movement plan and the second movement plan from options. A robot control program for controlling a robot having moving means,
To the robot or a computer processor capable of communicating with the robot,
A first profit calculating step of calculating a first profit when a human present around the robot selects the first movement plan;
A second profit calculating step of calculating a second profit when the robot selects the second movement plan;
A creation step of creating a path plan in which the robot moves by selecting a combination of the first movement plan and the second movement plan that maximizes a mutual benefit based on the first benefit and the second benefit; and A robot control program for executing a control step of controlling the moving means so as to move according to the route plan created in the creating step. A robot control method for controlling a robot including a moving unit,
(A) calculating a first profit when a human present around the robot selects the first movement plan;
(B) calculating a second profit when the robot selects a second movement plan;
(C) creating a path plan in which the robot moves by selecting a combination of the first movement plan and the second movement plan that maximizes a mutual benefit based on the first benefit and the second benefit. And (d) controlling the moving means so as to move in accordance with the route plan created in the step (c).