JP2023088549A - mobile robot - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a mobile robot capable of avoiding situations in which the mobile robot hinders people's evacuation in emergencies.SOLUTION: A mobile robot 130 that moves autonomously includes: means of transportation 132; and a movement controller 170 that controls the means of transportation 132. The movement controller 170 includes: a self-location recognition unit 171 for recognizing a self-location; an emergency information acquisition unit 172 for acquiring emergency information; an area identification unit 173 for identifying a movable area on the basis of urgent information; an evacuation point selection unit 174 that selects an evacuation point out of multiple evacuation candidate points 202 in an area identified within a range capable of being detected by the sensor from the self-position; and an evacuation unit 175 that controls the means of transportation 132 to move to the selected evacuation point.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

The present disclosure relates to mobile robots that move autonomously.

Conventionally, an evacuation determination unit determines whether an evacuation operation is to be performed based on the travel information of the autonomous mobile device traveling, and when it is determined that an evacuation operation is necessary, the route information is added to the route for the autonomous mobile device to perform the evacuation operation. There are techniques for updating (For example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2016-110272 A

However, in the past, there were no robots that could move autonomously so as not to interfere with people's evacuation in emergency situations such as fires and earthquakes. I had to move it out of the way.

The present disclosure has been made in view of the above problems, and aims to provide a mobile robot that receives emergency information such as an evacuation instruction and autonomously moves to a position that does not interfere with people's evacuation.

In order to achieve the above object, one aspect of the present invention is a mobile robot that moves autonomously, comprising a mobile means and a mobile control device for controlling the mobile means, the mobile robot comprising: The device includes a self-location recognition unit that recognizes the self-location based on information from sensors, an emergency information acquisition unit that acquires emergency information, an area identification unit that identifies a movable area based on the acquired emergency information, and an evacuation point selection unit that selects an evacuation point from a plurality of evacuation candidate points within an area specified within a range that can be detected by the sensor from the self-position recognized by the self-position recognition unit; and a retraction unit that controls the moving means.

According to the present disclosure, the mobile robot can autonomously move to the evacuation area based on emergency information, and the mobile robot can be prevented from interfering with people's evacuation in an emergency.

FIG. 1 is a side view showing the appearance of a mobile robot according to Embodiment 1. FIG. FIG. 2 is a bottom view showing the appearance of the mobile robot according to Embodiment 1. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the movement control device according to Embodiment 1. FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a floor map with evacuation candidate points. FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a movement control device according to Embodiment 2. FIG. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a cost map obtained by dividing the floor map by priority. 7 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a movement control device according to Embodiment 3. FIG.

Hereinafter, embodiments of a mobile robot according to the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. It should be noted that the following embodiments are examples for explaining the present disclosure, and are not intended to limit the present disclosure. For example, the shapes, structures, materials, constituent elements, relative positional relationships, connection states, numerical values, formulas, contents of each step in the method, order of each step, etc. shown in the following embodiments are examples, and are described below. may include content not listed in In addition, geometric expressions such as parallel and orthogonal are sometimes used, but these expressions do not indicate mathematical rigor, and substantially allowable errors, deviations, and the like are included. Expressions such as "simultaneous" and "identical" also include substantially permissible ranges.

In addition, the drawings are schematic diagrams with appropriate emphasis, omission, or ratio adjustment for the purpose of explaining the present disclosure, and differ from actual shapes, positional relationships, and ratios.

Further, in some cases, a plurality of inventions will be collectively described as one embodiment below. Also, some of the content described below is described as an optional component with respect to this disclosure.

In addition, the drawings are schematic diagrams with appropriate emphasis, omission, or ratio adjustment for the purpose of explaining the present disclosure, and differ from actual shapes, positional relationships, and ratios.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a side view showing the appearance of a mobile robot according to Embodiment 1. FIG. FIG. 2 is a bottom view showing the appearance of the mobile robot according to Embodiment 1. FIG. The mobile robot 130 described in the first embodiment is a robot-type cleaner that performs cleaning while moving autonomously, and includes a mobile means 132 and a mobile control device 170 . In the case of the first embodiment, mobile robot 130 includes main body 131, cleaning means 134, and sensor 136 for acquiring position information.

The main body 131 is a structural member that serves as the structural base of the mobile robot 130 . The main body 131 also functions as a housing that accommodates or holds the moving means 132, the cleaning means 134, the sensor 136 for acquiring position information, the movement control device 170, and the like. A bumper 139 that is radially displaceable with respect to the body 131 is attached to the outer peripheral portion of the body 131 . Further, as shown in FIG. 2 , a suction port 138 for sucking dust into the main body 131 is provided on the bottom surface of the main body 131 .

The moving means 132 is a device that causes the mobile robot 130 to travel and change directions based on instructions from the movement control device 170 . The moving means 132 is not particularly limited, but in the case of the first embodiment, a pair of wheels 140 rotatably attached to the main body 131, a driving motor (not shown) that applies torque to the wheels 140, and , and a housing 141 that accommodates a driving motor. The moving means 132 has casters 142 functioning as auxiliary wheels on the bottom surface of the main body 131 . The main body 131 of the mobile robot 130 can move freely, such as straight forward, backward, left rotation, right rotation, etc., by independently rotating the rotation of the two wheels 140 of the moving means 132 .

If the cleaning means 134 cleans dust and dirt under the main body 131 or around the main body 131, it can be exemplified by collecting dust by suction or wiping with a mop or non-woven fabric. . In the case of the first embodiment, the cleaning means 134 is a unit for sweeping up dust and sucking the dust from the suction port 138. A rotating brush 146 arranged near the suction port 138 rotates It has a brush drive motor 147, a suction unit 133, etc.

The suction unit 133 is a unit that sucks dust from a suction port 138 and holds the sucked dust inside the main body 131 , and includes an electric fan (not shown) and a dust holding section 143 . The electric fan sucks the air inside the dust holding portion 143 and discharges the air to the outside of the main body 131 to suck the dust from the suction port 138 and store the dust in the dust holding portion 143 .

3 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the movement control device according to Embodiment 1. FIG. The movement control device 170 is a device that controls the movement means 132 to move the mobile robot 130 . The movement control device 170 includes a processor, and as processing units realized by executing a program in the processor, a self-location recognition unit 171, an emergency information acquisition unit 172, an area identification unit 173, and an evacuation point selection unit 174. , and a retraction unit 175 . Note that the movement control device 170 moves the mobile robot 130 to clean the floor based on normal information, such as route information included in cleaning information, when emergency information is not acquired.

The self-position recognition unit 171 is a processing unit that recognizes the position of the mobile robot 130 based on position-related information, which is information from sensors. In the case of the first embodiment, the self-position recognition unit 171 acquires position-related information indicating the relative positional relationship of the object with respect to the main body 131, and compares it with map information such as a floor map to determine movement within the floor. It recognizes the relative position of the robot 130 as its own position. Specifically, the self-position recognition unit 171 detects the direction and distance of objects such as walls and furniture existing around the main body 131, and acquires 2.5-dimensional position information. In addition, the self-position of the mobile robot 130 is grasped from information on the direction and distance of the object detected by the self-position recognition unit 171 and map information such as a route map and a floor map which are separately stored.

The type of sensor from which information is acquired by the self-position recognition unit 171 is not particularly limited. LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), ToF (Time of Flight) cameras, etc. can be exemplified. In addition, as the self-position recognition unit 171, a compound eye camera that acquires the illumination light and natural light reflected by the object as an image and acquires the position and distance based on parallax, a GPS (Global Positioning System) sensor, and the rotation amount of the wheel 140 can be exemplified by sensors that detect Note that the self-position recognition unit 171 may recognize the self-position based on information from a plurality of sensors.

In the case of the first embodiment, the self-position recognition unit 171 detects the relative self-position with respect to a predetermined position based on the track record of the movement of the mobile robot 130 by the moving means 132 . Specifically, for example, an odometry sensor such as an encoder that detects the rotation angle of each of the pair of wheels 140 rotated by a running motor, an acceleration sensor that detects acceleration during running, and a gyro that detects angular acceleration during turning. The mobile robot 130 may be equipped with an inertial sensor such as a sensor as a self-positioning device. Also, the self-locating device may include an LPS (Local Positioning System).

The self-location recognition unit 171 acquires the self-location using SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping). Specifically, while continuously acquiring scan data from odometry and LiDAR, which are self-position detecting devices, the map is created, and the self-position is obtained by calculation based on the created map.

The emergency information acquisition unit 172 is a processing unit that acquires emergency information. Emergency information is information that notifies the occurrence of disasters such as fires and earthquakes. The method of notifying the emergency information is not particularly limited, and for example, radio wave communication from a management system in charge of the area in which the mobile robot 130 moves may be used. Alternatively, an alarm sound such as a siren issued by the management system may be acquired by a microphone provided in the mobile robot 130, and the emergency information acquisition unit 172 may acquire emergency information based on the sound information from the microphone. In addition, a camera, an illuminance sensor, and the like provided in the mobile robot 130 acquire alarm light emission such as blinking light notified by the management system, and an emergency information acquisition unit 172 obtains emergency information based on light information from the camera, illuminance sensor, and the like. can be obtained.

Alternatively, the emergency information acquisition unit 172 may generate emergency information by detecting the occurrence of an earthquake based on information from an inertial sensor including a gyro sensor provided in the mobile robot 130 . Note that the generation of emergency information is included in the acquisition of emergency information. Alternatively, emergency information may be generated by the emergency information acquiring unit 172 detecting the occurrence of a fire based on information from a temperature sensor, smoke sensor, etc. provided in the mobile robot 130 .

The area identification unit 173 identifies an area in which the mobile robot 130 can move based on the emergency information acquired by the emergency information acquisition unit 172 . For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the movable area is determined by considering the position of an emergency closing member 201, such as a fire door or fire shutter, which is closed in the event of an emergency. The area specifying unit 173 specifies based on the self-position recognized by the self-position recognizing unit 171 in . The position of the emergency closing member 201 is obtained in advance by the region identification unit 173 and stored in the storage device.

The evacuation point selection unit 174 extracts information from the self-position recognition unit 171 from the self-position recognized by the self-position recognition unit 171 when the emergency information acquisition unit 172 acquires the emergency information in the area specified by the area specification unit 173. At least one evacuation point (double circle in FIG. 4) is selected from a plurality of evacuation candidate points 202 within the specified area within the range that can be detected by the acquired sensor. The evacuation candidate points 202 are points set in advance at one or a plurality of points within the evacuation area 203, which is an area where the mobile robot 130 does not interfere with people's evacuation in an emergency. The position of the evacuation point candidate 202 is obtained in advance by the evacuation point selection unit 174 and stored in the storage device.

The method of selecting the evacuation point by the evacuation point selection unit 174 is not limited. can be detected, for example, if the sensor is LiDAR, a candidate evacuation point 202 is selected from within a circle centered on the self-position and having a radius equal to the LiDAR detection limit distance (eg, 20 m).

The evacuation point selection unit 174 sets a higher priority to the evacuation candidate point 202 that is selected and is located in front of the self's traveling direction (arrow in FIG. 4). The priority of the evacuation candidate point 202 is set lower than that of the evacuation candidate point existing ahead, and the closer the evacuation candidate point 202 is, the higher the priority is set. As a result, it is possible to suppress the amount of change in the direction of the mobile robot 130 and to set the evacuation candidate point 202 with a higher priority as the point to which the mobile robot 130 can reach quickly. The evacuation candidate point 202 with the highest priority may be selected as the evacuation point (double circle in FIG. 4).

Further, the evacuation point selection unit 174 selects an object that will hinder traveling until the evacuation candidate point 202 with priority set based on information from a sensor (for example, LiDAR) from which the self-position recognition unit 171 acquires position-related information. It is also possible to raise the priority of the evacuation candidate point 202 with no object and select the evacuation candidate point 202 with the highest priority as the evacuation point. According to this, the mobile robot 130 can reach the evacuation point quickly in a nearly straight line while suppressing the amount of direction change.

In addition, the evacuation point selection unit 174 determines whether the mobile robot 130 has traveled up to the evacuation candidate point based on the movement record of the mobile robot 130 until the emergency information acquisition unit 172 acquires the emergency information, not based on the information from the sensor. It is also possible to raise the priority of the evacuation candidate points 202 having no obstacles and select the evacuation candidate point 202 with the highest priority as the evacuation point. Specifically, if there is a track record of movement through which the mobile robot 130 has passed in order to clean all of the linear area connecting the self-position of the mobile robot 130 and the evacuation candidate point 202, the evacuation candidate point 202 is moved up and down. The priority is raised as a point with no obstacles.

The acquisition destination of the movement record is not particularly limited, but for example, a cleaning control unit provided in the mobile robot 130 can be exemplified as an acquisition destination. The cleaning control unit is a processing unit that acquires in advance a floor map to be moved by the mobile robot 130 and determines a cleaning plan in advance. The layout of obstacles such as walls, pillars, partitions, furniture, etc. that hinder movement is registered in the floor map in advance. The cleaning control section controls the moving means 132 and the cleaning means 134 according to the cleaning plan determined using the acquired floor map, and performs cleaning. In addition, the results of moving and cleaning are generated as the moving results.

When the emergency information acquisition unit 172 acquires disaster location information indicating a fire location or the like as emergency information, the evacuation location selection unit 174 may give higher priority to the evacuation candidate location 202 as the location is farther from the disaster location.

The evacuation unit 175 controls the moving means 132 so as to move to the selected evacuation point in as short a time as possible. Further, after the mobile robot 130 reaches the evacuation point, which is the evacuation candidate point 202 with a high priority, the evacuation unit 175 may move the mobile robot 130 to the nearest wall surface from the evacuation point. The evacuation unit 175 may detect the nearest wall surface based on the sensor from which the self-position recognition unit 171 acquires information. As a result, the mobile robot 130 can be further prevented from becoming an obstacle for people to evacuate.

In addition, the retraction unit 175 may control the moving means 132 so that the mobile robot 130 contacts the wall surface in a posture that minimizes the amount of protrusion of the mobile robot 130 from the wall surface when reaching the nearest wall surface. As a result, when the aspect ratio (ratio of length to width) of the shape of the mobile robot 130 projected onto the floor surface is large, the mobile robot 130 can be stopped along the wall surface to facilitate the evacuation of people. You can avoid getting in the way. The wall surface includes not only the wall of the building but also the surface formed like a wall by furniture or the like.

According to the mobile robot 130 according to the first embodiment, the mobile robot 130 searches for the evacuation candidate point 202 reachable under the condition that the emergency information is notified, and moves to the evacuation point which is the evacuation candidate point 202 with high priority. Moving. As a result, the mobile robot 130 that has acquired the emergency information can quickly move to the evacuation point, thereby avoiding a situation in which the mobile robot 130 interferes with the evacuation of people.

(Embodiment 2)
Next, another embodiment of the mobile robot 130 will be described. Parts (parts) having the same action, function, shape, mechanism, and structure as those of the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof may be omitted. Further, the following description will focus on points different from the first embodiment, and descriptions of the same contents may be omitted.

The mobile robot 130 described in the second embodiment is a robot-type cleaner that performs cleaning while moving autonomously, and includes a mobile means 132 and a mobile control device 170 . In the case of the second embodiment, mobile robot 130 includes main body 131 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, cleaning means 134, and sensor 136 for acquiring position information.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a movement control device according to Embodiment 2. FIG. The movement control device 170 is a device that controls the movement means 132 to move the mobile robot 130 . The movement control device 170 includes a processor, and as processing units realized by executing a program in the processor, a self-position recognition unit 171, an emergency information acquisition unit 172, an area identification unit 173, and a cost map acquisition unit 176. , a control updating unit 177 , a cost map updating unit 178 , and a saving unit 175 .

The cost map acquisition unit 176 acquires a cost map indicating the priority for evacuation assigned to each section within the specified area. A cost map is a map generated corresponding to a floor map or the like. Specifically, for example, the cost map includes, as shown in FIG. This is information that divides the floor map into a low area 205 and a lowest area 206 that is the opening/closing area of the emergency door 210 and has the lowest priority.

In the case of the second embodiment, the save unit 175 selects a segment with a higher priority than the priority corresponding to the segment including the self-position recognized by the self-position recognition unit 171, based on the cost map acquired by the cost map acquisition unit 176. The moving means 132 is controlled to move to . Specifically, as shown in FIG. 6, when the mobile robot 130 determines that part of the mobile robot 130 is above the low area 205 based on its own position, the evacuation unit 175 moves to the nearest medium area 204. It controls the moving means 132 . The evacuation unit 175 controls the moving unit 132 so as to move to the evacuation area 203 having a higher priority. Alternatively, the evacuation unit 175 may control the moving means 132 based on a route passing through a section with a higher priority without selecting a route passing through a section with a lower priority.

Alternatively, the saving unit 175 may use a route search algorithm such as the A* (A-star) algorithm to find and move a route that moves only in a direction with a higher priority. That is, after moving to the middle region 204 , the saving unit 175 does not search for a route back to the low region 205 . As a result, the mobile robot 130 can be reliably moved to a retraction position having a higher priority than the position before retraction when a retraction time-out occurs, including when the elapsed time exceeds the time limit, which will be described later.

The control updating unit 177 measures the elapsed time from when the emergency information acquiring unit 172 acquires the emergency information, and when the elapsed time exceeds the time limit, the control updating unit 177 gives the highest priority within the area where the mobile robot 130 can move. If the high segment has not been reached, the control of the evacuation unit 175 is updated so that the mobile robot 130 is moved to the nearest wall surface from the current position of the mobile robot 130 .

Note that when the emergency information acquisition unit 172 acquires an evacuation instruction, which is the second emergency information, the control update unit 177 does not reach the highest priority category within the area in which the mobile robot 130 can move. Alternatively, the control of the evacuation unit 175 may be updated so that the mobile robot 130 is moved to the wall surface closest to the current position of the mobile robot 130 .

In addition, the control updating unit 177 is configured to stop the mobile robot 130 on the spot when the mobile robot 130 reaches the movement limit time indicating the time during which the mobile robot 130 can move after starting to move toward the high-priority section. The control of the saving unit 175 may be updated. Also, the movement limit time may be dynamically changed according to the situation. For example, the movement limit time may dynamically change according to the following equation 1.

Movement time limit = Cost map x (Movement time limit - Elapsed time)/Movement time limit Expression 1
A cost map is the priority of the partition containing the mobile robot's 130 self-position.

Also, if the priority of the location where the mobile robot 130 is present is lower than the priority of the movement start position at a predetermined time before the movement limit time, the control of the evacuation unit 175 is updated so as to return to the movement start position. You may

The cost map updating unit 178 updates the acquired cost map based on the emergency information acquired by the emergency information acquiring unit 172 . For example, when the emergency information acquisition unit 172 acquires disaster location information indicating a fire location or the like as emergency information, the cost map update unit 178 may lower the priority of a category close to the disaster location. Further, when the emergency information includes detailed evacuation routes for people, the cost map updating unit 178 may update the cost map based on the acquired evacuation routes for people.

According to the mobile robot 130 according to the second embodiment, when an emergency occurs while the mobile robot 130 is moving in front of the emergency door, whether the mobile robot 130 exists in the area to which the mobile robot 130 should move is determined according to the cost map. can be determined immediately. Therefore, when an emergency situation occurs, the mobile robot 130 moving within the opening/closing area of the emergency door 210 can be immediately prevented from interfering with the opening/closing of the emergency door 210 and the evacuation of people.

(Embodiment 3)
Next, another embodiment of the mobile robot 130 will be described. It should be noted that parts (parts) having the same actions, functions, shapes, mechanisms, and structures as those of the first and second embodiments are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof may be omitted. Further, the following description will focus on points that are different from the first and second embodiments, and descriptions of the same contents may be omitted.

The mobile robot 130 described in the third embodiment is a robot-type cleaner that performs cleaning while moving autonomously, and includes a mobile means 132 and a mobile control device 170 . In the case of the second embodiment, mobile robot 130 includes main body 131 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, cleaning means 134, and sensor 136 for acquiring position information.

The type of sensor 136 is not particularly limited, and may include sensors other than sensors that acquire position information. Also, the mobile robot 130 may have a plurality of sensors. Examples of sensors 136 that specifically acquire position information include LiDAR, ToF cameras, compound eye cameras, GPS sensors, odometry sensors, and inertial sensors including gyro sensors. Examples of the sensor 136 other than the sensor that acquires position information include a digital camera, an ultrasonic ranging sensor, and a ranging sensor that detects an obstacle based on the presence or absence of reflection of infrared rays.

7 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a movement control device according to Embodiment 3. FIG. The movement control device 170 is a device that controls the movement means 132 to move the mobile robot 130 . The movement control device 170 includes a processor, and as processing units realized by executing a program in the processor, a self-position recognition unit 171, an emergency information acquisition unit 172, an area identification unit 173, and a floor map acquisition unit 179. , a prohibited area recognition unit 180 , a save map generation unit 181 , a current status notification unit 182 , a muffling unit 183 , and a save unit 175 .

Emergency information acquisition unit 172 detects the occurrence of an emergency based on information from sensor 136 and generates emergency information. For example, when the mobile robot 130 is stopped, or when the mobile robot 130 is stopped while moving, a signal from a gyro sensor, which is one of the sensors 136, is stored for a predetermined period, and the stored gyro sensor is used. The signal from the gyro sensor is compared with the signal currently acquired from the gyro sensor to detect the occurrence of an earthquake. This makes it possible to separate ordinary shaking, such as the shaking caused by passing trucks and trains and the shaking caused by the wind, from the shaking caused by an earthquake, and detect the shaking caused by an earthquake as the occurrence of an emergency. Further, the floor map acquired by the floor map acquisition unit 179, which will be described later, includes information about the height of the floor (floor number), and the gyro sensor signal may be stored for each floor height. In this case, the occurrence of an earthquake may be detected based on the signal of the gyro sensor stored for the floor at the same height as the floor on which the mobile robot 130 exists. This makes it possible to accurately grasp the different tremors on each floor and detect the occurrence of earthquakes with a high degree of accuracy.

Also, the emergency information acquisition unit 172 may acquire emergency information generated by another mobile robot. As a result, the occurrence of an earthquake detected by the mobile robot 130 present on the higher floor can be transmitted to the mobile robot 130 present on the lower floor, and the mobile robot 130 which failed to detect the shaking of the earthquake also takes an appropriate evacuation action. be able to.

The floor map acquisition unit 179 acquires the floor map of the floor including the self-position of the mobile robot 130 . The floor map acquisition unit 179 may acquire a map created by SLAM by the self-location recognition unit 171 as a floor map, or may acquire a floor map created when the building is designed. In addition, evacuation candidate points may be indicated on the floor map, and an evacuation priority may be set for each section.

The prohibited area recognizing unit 180 recognizes areas where stopping is prohibited based on the information from the sensor 136 in the acquired floor map. For example, the prohibited area recognizing unit 180 acquires image information from a digital camera, which is one of the sensors 136, and identifies prohibited area objects such as people, normal doors, emergency doors, and firefighting entry marks affixed to windows. is recognized, and an area in front of or around the recognized object and having a shape and size corresponding to the object is recognized as a prohibited area. Also, the prohibited area object may be recognized by shape recognition from point cloud data acquired from LiDER. This makes it possible to recognize the prohibited area according to the current situation, and for example, when there is a person, it is possible to move the mobile robot 130 in the direction where there is no person.

The prohibited area recognizing unit 180 may recognize the person as the person who failed to escape when the emergency information acquiring unit 172 recognizes the person after a predetermined evacuation time limit has passed since the emergency information was acquired. As a result, the position of the mobile robot 130 and the fact that the person has failed to escape can be notified to an external management system or the like, thereby assisting the rescue operation.

The evacuation map generation unit 181 superimposes the prohibited area recognized by the prohibited area recognition unit 180 on the floor map to generate an evacuation map. The evacuation map may include evacuation candidate points 202, or may function as a cost map.

The evacuation unit 175 moves the mobile robot 130 from the prohibited area based on the generated evacuation map, and controls the moving means 132 so as not to approach the prohibited area. Further, the evacuation unit 175 moves the mobile robot 130 to a high-priority area.

The current situation notification unit 182 notifies people of the current situation based on the emergency information acquired by the emergency information acquisition unit 172 . Specifically, the current status notification unit 182 outputs current status information to notification means such as a display, a light, and a speaker, and notifies people of the current status through the notification means. The current status notification unit 182 may output the current status information after the mobile robot 130 has finished moving for evacuation. Current status information can be, for example, information indicating that there is an emergency, or information indicating a fire alarm by emitting a siren sound from a speaker and outputting information for blinking a light.

In addition, the current status reporting unit 182 may output evacuation information such as an evacuation route, an evacuation direction, and a location where a fire broke out as current status information.

The muffling unit 183 stops the electronic sound normally generated by the mobile robot 130 while the mobile robot 130 is moving by the evacuation unit 175 . As a result, it is possible to prevent the electronic sound generated by the mobile robot 130 from interfering with the in-house announcement such as an evacuation instruction that is broadcast to people in an emergency.

According to the mobile robot 130 according to the third embodiment, the evacuation position of the mobile robot 130 can be determined based on the prohibited area that the mobile robot 130 can recognize in addition to the predetermined map information regarding evacuation. This makes it possible to secure an evacuation route for people more safely.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. For example, another embodiment realized by arbitrarily combining the constituent elements described in this specification or omitting some of the constituent elements may be an embodiment of the present invention. The present invention also includes modifications obtained by making various modifications to the above-described embodiment within the scope of the gist of the present invention, that is, the meaning of the words described in the claims, which a person skilled in the art can think of. be

For example, the mobile robot 130 is a cleaning robot that cleans while running on the floor. It doesn't matter if it's a robot.

Further, when the mobile robot 130 is recognized as being inside the elevator by the self-position recognition unit 171, the prohibited area recognition unit 180, or the like, the evacuation unit 175 may control the moving means 132 so as not to take evacuation action. good. Also, the current status notification unit 182 does not have to output the current status information.

In addition, a robot system comprising a plurality of mobile robots 130 and a server capable of communicating with each of the mobile robots 130 is constructed, and signals from sensors 136 provided in the plurality of mobile robots 130 are used as position information (height information). Information may be included), and the server may perform comprehensive analysis to determine the epicenter of an earthquake, whether or not a tsunami will occur, and predict the arrival of S-waves. Furthermore, the server may predict the occurrence of an earthquake.

A heat source sensor may be provided as the sensor 136, and the emergency information acquisition unit 172 may detect the occurrence of a fire and the location of the fire to generate emergency information.

In addition, the mobile robot 130 has a plurality of electrode members such as metal wires and metal chains extending from the main body 131 to the floor surface, and detects whether the floor surface is flooded based on the current flowing between the two electrode members. Then, the emergency information acquisition unit 172 may generate emergency information about flooding. Based on the emergency information, the evacuation unit 175 may control the moving means 132 so as to move to a non-flooded location.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present disclosure is applicable to robots that move autonomously, such as cleaning robots, security robots, catering robots, guidance robots, advertising robots, and the like.

130 Mobile robot 131 Main body 132 Moving means 133 Suction unit 134 Cleaning means 136 Sensor 138 Suction port 139 Bumper 140 Wheel 141 Housing 142 Caster 143 Dust holder 146 Rotating brush 147 Brush drive motor 170 Movement control device 171 Self position recognition unit 172 Emergency information Acquisition unit 173 Area identification unit 174 Evacuation point selection unit 175 Evacuation unit 176 Cost map acquisition unit 177 Control update unit 178 Cost map update unit 179 Floor map acquisition unit 180 Prohibited area recognition unit 181 Evacuation map generation unit 182 Current status notification unit 183 Silence unit 201 Emergency closing member 202 Evacuation candidate point 203 Evacuation area 204 Middle area 205 Low area 206 Lowest area 210 Emergency door

Claims (5)

A mobile robot that moves autonomously,
means of transportation;
a movement control device that controls the movement means,
The movement control device is
a self-position recognition unit that recognizes the self-position based on information from the sensor;
an emergency information acquisition unit that acquires emergency information;
an area identification unit that identifies a movable area based on the acquired emergency information;
an evacuation point selection unit that selects an evacuation point from a plurality of evacuation candidate points within an area specified within a range that can be detected by the sensor from the self-position recognized by the self-position recognition unit;
an evacuation unit that controls the moving means to move to the selected evacuation point. The evacuation point selection unit,
A higher priority is set for evacuation candidate points that are closer to the front in the direction of travel, and the evacuation candidate points that are behind are given lower priority than the evacuation candidate points that are ahead and exist behind. 2. The mobile robot according to claim 1, wherein a higher priority is set for closer evacuation candidate points. The evacuation point selection unit,
2. Priority of evacuation candidate points having no obstacles to travel to the evacuation candidate point based on information from the sensor, and selecting the evacuation candidate point with the highest priority as the evacuation point; or 3. The mobile robot according to 2. The evacuation point selection unit,
Any of claims 1 to 3, wherein priority is given to evacuation candidate points that do not have obstacles to travel to the evacuation candidate point based on the movement record, and the evacuation candidate point with the highest priority is selected as the evacuation point. 1. The mobile robot according to 1. The retraction unit is
5. The moving means according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the moving means is controlled so that the mobile robot comes into contact with the wall surface in a posture that minimizes the amount of protrusion from the wall surface after reaching the evacuation point. mobile robot.

Images