JP4288510B2 - Article delivery method and apparatus from human to robot - Google Patents

Description

  The method of the present invention relates to a physical interface between a person and a machine. In particular, a robot for handling an article with a wireless tag attached thereto from a person does not use a visual device such as a camera. The present invention relates to a method for delivering an article from a person to a robot, which can be delivered by means, and an apparatus for carrying out the method.

  In addition to conventional industrial use, robots are increasingly being used in service fields where human interaction is important. Actually, various types of nursing robots and humanoid robots have been commercialized. On the other hand, handling of articles is one of the important tasks of industrial and service robots, and it is particularly required to reliably deliver articles.

In this regard, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for accurately and accurately transferring an article from process to process by an industrial robot, that is, from machine to machine without using a pallet. Non-Patent Document 1 describes a technique in which a stereo camera is used to deliver an article from a person's hand intended for service to an arm-type robot hand, that is, from person to machine.
JP 2004-082232 A View-based stereo tracking for handing of things. Kazuaki Seki, Ken Ito, Shigeyuki Sakane, IEEJ Transactions C, Vol. 123, No. 4, pp. 794-803, 2003

  When delivering an article from a person to a service robot, unlike a machine, it is difficult for a person to position the article accurately and deliver it to the robot. In addition, since the positioning of the article by a person is inaccurate, it is necessary to calculate the position and orientation of the article using complicated image processing by an expensive visual device. However, when a person delivers an article to a person, it is normal to deliver it taking into account the ease of receipt of the other party.

  Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method of executing an article delivery from a person to a machine by a simple means that does not use a visual device by presenting the person with how the machine can easily receive the article.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, a method for delivering an article from a person to a robot according to the present invention provides a method in which a user tags a wireless tag that is attached to an article to be delivered to a robot and records unique information of the article on a reading surface. The robot that is applied is brought close to or in contact with the reading surface of the attached reading device, the reading device reads the unique information of the article recorded in the wireless tag, and the robot is a database connected to the network, and Inquiring the specific information with respect to a database holding the marking of the reading surface corresponding to information and the correspondence with the positional relationship between the articles, and the marking of the reading surface acquired by the robot from the database Displaying the positional relationship between the articles on a display device attached to the robot; Use person, the place in a positional relationship where the display of the article in accordance with the display of the display device is specified, the robot, characterized in that receiving the articles placed by the user.

  Further, the article delivery method from another person to the robot according to the present invention is the article delivery method from the person to the robot, in which the marking uses a straight line or a curve, and a plurality of types are provided by different line types or different colors. It is a line drawing drawn by a line.

  The article delivery method from another person to the robot according to the present invention is the article delivery method from the person to the robot, wherein the marking is composed of a plurality of lines indicating orthogonal coordinates, and at least one of the lines. Is characterized by an arrow indicating the direction.

  Further, an article delivery device from a person to a robot according to the present invention comprises a reading device main body and a reading surface with a marking on the surface, and the wireless tag data affixed to the article and recording the unique information of the article. Based on the RFID tag reading device to be read on the reading surface and the unique information of the article read by the RFID tag reading device, the data on the positional relationship between the marking on the reading surface and the article is stored in a database connected to the network. Data retrieval means for retrieving and retrieving, and a display device for displaying the marking on the reading surface and the positional relationship between the articles based on the positional relationship data captured by the data retrieval means

  Further, according to the present invention, there is provided an article delivery apparatus from another person to the robot, wherein the marking uses a straight line or a curve, and a plurality of types of markings are made using different line types or different colors. It is a line drawing drawn by a line.

  Further, the article delivery apparatus from another person to the robot according to the present invention is the article delivery apparatus from the person to the robot, wherein the marking is composed of a plurality of lines indicating orthogonal coordinates, and at least one of the lines. Is characterized by an arrow indicating the direction.

  The user is a user who gives an article to the robot and instructs handling. The wireless tag is also called an RFID tag, which is a wireless tag including an IC portion and an antenna portion capable of communicating with a reading device. The device is a device capable of reading the identification number unique to the wireless tag and the contents of the memory when the wireless tag has a memory as the unique information of the tag.

  The database is a server client type system operating on an information processing apparatus accessible on a corporate LAN or the Internet, for example, and is a database in which access means are notified to the robot in advance.

  The marking is a line drawing drawn using straight lines and curves, and with different line thicknesses and line types and colors such as solid lines and dotted lines, and the markings are intended to assist the user in viewing.

  The positional relationship between the marking on the reading surface and the article refers to the relative position and orientation of the article placed in contact with the reading surface, which is a two-dimensional plane, with reference to the marking applied on the reading surface. Is information that can be uniquely identified.

  This positional relationship is held in the database as an image file in a format that can be displayed by, for example, a browser program opened on the screen of the display device by the user.

  According to the present invention, the delivery of an article from a person to a machine can be executed by a simple means without using a visual device by presenting to the person how the machine can easily receive the article.

  According to the present invention, a user delivers a problem to a robot by a simple means that does not use a visual device by presenting to a person how to receive the article from the person to the machine. The wireless tag attached to the article and recording the unique information of the article is brought close to or in contact with the reading surface of the attached reading device to the robot with markings on the reading surface, and the reading device records the wireless tag. The robot reads the unique information of the article, and the robot is a database connected to the network, and the database holds the correspondence between the marking on the reading surface corresponding to the unique information and the positional relationship between the articles. Inquires for specific information, and the marking and reading surface of the reading surface acquired by the robot from the database. The positional relationship between the articles is displayed on a display device attached to the robot, and the user arranges the articles in a positional relationship designated by the display in accordance with the display on the display device, and the robot arranges the user. The wireless tag data realized by the method for receiving the article and comprising a reading device main body and a reading surface on which the surface is marked, and the RFID tag affixed to the article and recording the unique information of the article are recorded on the reading surface. Based on the RFID tag reading device to be read and the unique information of the article read by the RFID tag reading device, the database connected to the network is used to search for and read data on the marking of the reading surface and the positional relationship between the articles. Based on the data search means and the positional relationship data captured by the data search means, the reading It was achieved by a device and a display device for displaying the positional relationship between Ri surface of marking and said article.

  FIG. 1 shows an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an arm-type robot equipped with a gripper for handling an article at the hand. The embodiment includes an arm-type robot R1 with a gripper, a robot control device C1, a wireless tag reading device W1, a display device V1, a database D1, an article O1 to which a wireless tag T1 is attached, and a network N1 that connects the robot and the database. Consists of components.

  FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the wireless tag reader of the present invention. In the figure, the wireless tag reading device W1 includes a reading device main body W11 and a reading surface W12. Further, the reading device main body W11 communicates with the wireless tag T1 attached to the article O1 placed in a state where the user approaches or comes into contact with the reading surface W12 with the reading surface W12 being separated, and the wireless tag T1. Read the unique information held by. For the reading surface W12, a material that does not prevent the reading device main body W11 from communicating with the wireless tag T1 and reading information, for example, a paper material or a plastic material is used.

  FIG. 3 shows an example of the marking applied on the reading surface W12. The marking is composed of lattice-shaped straight lines arranged at equal intervals and two oriented arrows A11 and A12 which are drawn with a thick line perpendicular to the center of the reading surface W12 and can be distinguished from the lattice-shaped straight lines. . The marking is for assisting the user to grasp the positional relationship between the reading surface and the article by visual recognition.

  The positional relationship between the reading surface and the article is expressed by the relative position and orientation of the article with reference to the marking. The relative position of the article is displayed on the display device with reference to the lattice-like straight line, and the relative orientation of the article is based on the rotation from the two arrows, and is visually recognized by the user.

  FIG. 4 shows the flow of data between the components shown in FIG. In the figure, specific information I1 related to the article O1 held by the wireless tag T1 is read when the user brings the wireless tag T1 attached to the article O1 closer to the reading device W1. The reading device W1 notifies the robot control device C1 that the unique information I1 has been read. The robot controller C1 makes an inquiry about the specific information I1 to the database D1 with this notification as a trigger.

  The database D1 searches the unique information I1 triggered by this inquiry, and uses the positional relationship display data I2 held as data in a format that can be displayed by the browser program opened on the screen of the display device V1 by the user. Provided to the control device C1. The robot control device C1 displays the positional relationship display data I2 on the display device V1 when the positional relationship display data I2 can be acquired. The user positions the article O1 with higher accuracy on the reading surface according to the position and orientation indicated by the positional relationship data I2 displayed on the browser program opened on the screen of the display device V1.

  5 to 7 show a wireless tag reading device in which a user has a cup-shaped article O2 in the embodiment, that is, a cylindrical surface with a bottom surface and a grip, and a marking M2 on the reading surface. The situation is shown about the example handed over to the equipped robot. In this example, the wireless tag is affixed to the outside of the bottom surface of the article O2, and the wireless tag reader main body is placed below the central portion of the marking M2 where the two arrows A21 and A22 intersect.

  FIG. 5 shows that the user places the article O2 on the marking M2 such that the bottom surface of the article O2 is in contact with the reading surface without paying special attention to the position and orientation of the article O2, and as a result, the bottom surface of the article O2. This shows that the wireless tag attached to the outside has entered a range in which the wireless tag of the main body of the reading device placed under the center portion of the marking M2 can be read.

  FIG. 6 shows a state in which the reading device main body reads the unique information of the wireless tag attached to the article O2, and as a result, the positional relationship display data I21 is displayed on the screen of the display device V1.

  FIG. 7 shows the positional relationship between the marking M2 and the article O2 according to the positional relationship display data I21 displayed on the screen of the display device V1. The state where the article O2 is rearranged so as to coincide with the positional relationship display data I21 with reference to the rotation from the book arrow is shown.

  The arm-type robot with the gripper attached to the hand executes a pre-programmed operation on the assumption that the article O2 is arranged in a positional relationship according to the positional relation display data I21, and approaches the article O2. Hold and carry out predetermined handling.

  The method and apparatus for delivering an article from a person to a robot according to the present invention can be effectively used not only for a service robot such as a care robot but also for a general industrial robot.

It is a related figure of the component of an Example. It is a figure which shows the component of the wireless tag reader of an Example. It is a figure which shows the marking on the reading surface of an Example. It is a data relationship figure of the component of an Example. It is a figure which shows a mode that the user put the article | item on the reading surface in the Example. It is a figure which shows a mode that the display apparatus displayed how to put an article | item in an Example. It is a figure which shows a mode that the user repositioned the article by the display of the display apparatus in the Example.

Claims (6)

The reading device attached to the robot whose marking is applied to the wireless tag on which the user has recorded the unique information including the identification number unique to the wireless tag attached to the item to be delivered to the robot. Approach or touch the surface,
The reading device reads the unique information of the article recorded on the wireless tag,
The robot inquires about the specific information from a database connected to a network and holds the marking on the reading surface corresponding to the specific information and the positional relationship display data between the articles,
The robot displays the marking on the reading surface acquired by inquiry from the database and the positional relationship display data between the articles on a display device attached to the robot,
The user arranges the article according to the display on the display device in the same positional relationship as the positional relationship display data ,
An article delivery method from a person to a robot, wherein the robot receives the article arranged by a user.   2. The method for delivering an article from a person to a robot according to claim 1, wherein the marking is a line drawing drawn by a plurality of types of lines using different line types or different colors using straight lines or curves.   3. The method for delivering an article from a person to a robot according to claim 2, wherein the marking is composed of a plurality of lines indicating coordinates orthogonal to each other, and at least one of the lines is provided with an arrow indicating a direction. A gripper for handling articles;
A wireless tag comprising a reading device main body and a reading surface with markings on the surface, and reading the data of the wireless tag attached to the article and recorded with unique information including an identification number unique to the wireless tag of the article on the reading surface A reading device;
Based on the unique information of the article read by the wireless tag reader, a data search means for searching and capturing the data of the positional relationship between the marking of the reading surface and the article in a database connected to a network;
A display device for displaying the positional relationship between the marking of the reading surface and the article by the positional relationship data captured by the data search means ;
A robot control device that performs a pre-programmed operation and grips an article by the gripper ;
When the wireless tag reader is attached to an article handed over to a robot by a user and the wireless tag of the article is brought close to or in contact with the reading surface of the reader, unique information of the article recorded on the wireless tag is recorded. reading,
The data search means transmits the unique information to a database holding the marking of the reading surface corresponding to the unique information read by the wireless tag reading device and the positional relationship display data between the articles, and makes an inquiry ,
The display device displays the positional relationship display data between the marking of the reading surface and the article acquired by the data search means inquiring of a database,
The robot control device executes a pre-programmed operation on the premise that the user has arranged the article in the same positional relationship as the positional relationship display data according to the display on the display device. An article delivery device from a person to a robot characterized by performing control for gripping an article.   5. The article delivery apparatus from a person to a robot according to claim 4, wherein the marking is a line drawing drawn by a plurality of types of lines using different line types or different colors using straight lines or curves. 6. The apparatus for delivering an article from a person to a robot according to claim 5, wherein the marking includes a plurality of lines indicating coordinates orthogonal to each other, and an arrow indicating a direction is attached to at least one of the lines.

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