JP4379358B2 - Self-propelled device and its program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a self-propelled device that is equipped with a power supply unit that can be charged by light and that runs independently and a program thereof.

A conventional self-propelled device has a rechargeable power supply unit, and when the remaining power level decreases due to traveling, the device moves to a specific place where there is an illumination or electromagnetic coil charging station in advance based on the map information. The electromagnetic coil is turned on by remote control and is generated and charged by a solar cell panel or charged by electromagnetic induction (for example, see Patent Document 1).
JP 2002-291170 A

  However, in the above-described conventional configuration, it is good if the lighting is on when the remaining amount of power in the power supply unit is low, but if the lighting is off, local lighting may be used for charging. Nevertheless, there is a problem that charging must be performed by turning on the illumination that illuminates a wide area.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the above-described conventional problems, and an object thereof is to provide a self-propelled device that can be charged by using as little electricity as possible for charging purposes and a program thereof.

In order to solve the above-described conventional problems, the self-propelled device and the program thereof according to the present invention include a self-propelled device main body, a power unit that can be charged with light, and a charge amount for detecting a charge amount of the power unit. On the travel map stored in the travel map storage means, the detection means, the travel means, the control means for controlling the travel means, the travel map storage means storing the position where the illuminance is not less than a predetermined value in advance. A travel position detecting means for detecting the travel position of the vehicle and a time measuring means . The travel map storage means stores in advance a position where the illuminance for each time or time zone is a predetermined value or more, and the charge amount detection means detects the travel position. When the amount of charge to be performed is less than a predetermined value or at the end of traveling, the self-propelled device body is moved to a position where the illuminance for each time or time period stored in the traveling map storage means is equal to or greater than a predetermined value. Wait and charge with light It is intended.

As a result, not only when the charge amount of the power supply unit is less than a predetermined value but also at the end of traveling, the self-propelled device main body has an illuminance based on position information that the illuminance for each time or time zone has a predetermined value or more By selecting and moving to a location that exceeds a predetermined value based on information such as a place with strong sunlight or a bright place in each time zone, charging can be performed with as little electricity as possible for charging purposes, saving energy. Will be removed.

  The self-propelled device and the program thereof according to the present invention can be charged with as little electricity as possible for charging, and energy saving can be achieved.

1st invention is a self-propelled apparatus main body, the power supply part which can be charged with light, the charge amount detection means for detecting the charge amount of a power supply part, a traveling means, and the control for controlling a traveling means Means, a travel map storage means for storing a position where the illuminance is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, a travel position detection means for detecting a travel position on the travel map stored in the travel map storage means, and a timing means The travel map storage means stores in advance a position where the illuminance for each time or time zone is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, and when the charge amount detected by the charge amount detection means is less than a predetermined value or at the end of travel, the travel map storage means By moving the self-propelled device main body to a position where the illuminance for each time or time zone stored in the map storage means is equal to or higher than a predetermined value, and standing by at that position, the self-propelled device performs charging by light. When the charge amount of the power supply is less than the specified value Only Not to be running at the end, by time or location information illuminance is equal to or higher than a predetermined value for each time period has previously, self-propelled apparatus body strong sunlight where illuminance for each time period, such as a bright location in the illumination Based on this information, by selecting a location of a predetermined value or more and moving and charging, charging can be performed with as little electricity as possible for charging purposes, and energy saving can be achieved.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the self-propelled device body includes a power supply unit that can be charged with light, a charge amount detection unit for detecting a charge amount of the power supply unit, a travel unit, and a control for controlling the travel unit. Illuminance detection means, travel position confirmation means for detecting the travel position, and a position where the illuminance is not less than a predetermined value from the travel position detected by the travel position confirmation means during travel and the illuminance detected by the illuminance detection means A travel map creating means for creating the travel map and a travel map storage means for storing the travel map created by the travel map means, and when the charge amount detected by the charge amount detecting means is less than a predetermined value or traveling At the end, by moving the self-propelled device main body to a position where the illuminance stored in the travel map storage means is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, Part charge amount is a predetermined value Just not to be running at the end time of the full, to move the self-propelled equipment body in response to a bad weather day, such as a rainy day on the basis of the traveling information of the immediately preceding can be charged.

According to a third aspect of the invention, in particular, in the first aspect of the invention or the second aspect , the self-propelled device main body waits for selecting a candidate for a position to be waited in descending order of the illuminance stored in the travel map storage means. A position candidate selection means is provided, and when the amount of charge per predetermined time is less than a predetermined value at a position waiting for charging by light, the position selected as the next candidate by the standby position candidate selection means If sufficient charge cannot be obtained at the standby position by moving the self-propelled device main body and waiting at that position for charging with light, the standby position candidate selection means will select the next candidate with high illuminance. Since the position is selected, the self-propelled device body can be efficiently moved to a position suitable for charging.

In particular, the fourth invention is a program by causing a computer to execute at least part of the functions of the self-propelled device of any one of the first to third inventions. At least a part of the self-propelled device of the present invention can be easily realized by cooperating hardware resources such as an information device, a computer, and a server. Also, by recording the program on a recording medium or distributing the program using a communication line, the program can be easily distributed / updated and installed.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In addition, this invention is not limited by this embodiment.

(Embodiment 1)
1 to 3 show a self-propelled device and a program thereof according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the self-propelled device main body 101 in the present embodiment includes a power supply unit 102 that can be charged with light and a charge amount detection for detecting the charge amount of the power supply unit 102. Means 105, traveling means 106, control means 109 for controlling traveling means 106, and traveling map storage means that stores in advance a position where the illuminance (including location information where sunlight is strong) is a predetermined value or more. 110, travel position detecting means 111 for detecting a travel position on the travel map stored in the travel map storage means 110, time measuring means 112 for measuring time, and illuminance stored in the travel map storage means 110 Standby position candidate selection means 113 for selecting candidates for positions to be standby in descending order of

  The power supply unit 102 includes a solar cell panel 103 for generating power by light, power storage means 104 for storing the energy, and an electrical connection unit 114 for receiving direct power supply. The charge amount detection means 105 detects the amount of electricity stored in the power storage means 104. The traveling means 106 also includes a motor 107 and driving wheels 108 driven by the motor 107. Further, the travel map storage means 110 has an illuminance of a predetermined value or more in advance for each daytime period (11:00 to 16:00 in the present embodiment) and nighttime period (16:00 to 11:00 in the next morning). The position is memorized. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the travel position detection unit 111 detects the travel position by calculating the travel distance and the travel direction based on the number of rotations of the drive wheel 108.

  When the charge amount detected by the charge amount detection means 105 is less than a predetermined value or at the end of travel, the self-propelled device body 101 is moved to a position where the illuminance stored in the travel map storage means 110 is equal to or greater than a predetermined value. And it waits in that position and performs charge by light.

  In the schematic diagram of the travel map of FIG. 2, the charging station 115 of the other party to which the electrical connection unit 114 of the self-propelled device main body 101 is connected (in this embodiment, automatic connection at the reference standby position 116 and automatic charging until the completion of charging) and , A travel end position 117 (a position when the travel for work or the like is terminated is, for example, this position) is shown. At the same time, in the travel map stored in the travel map storage means 110, the illuminance is higher than a predetermined value in the daytime time zone, and the illuminance is particularly high in the daytime time zone illuminance A rank position 118a and the illuminance is next to the A rank. High daytime illuminance B rank position 118b, nighttime illuminance A rank position 119a with particularly high illuminance at night time periods, and illuminance B rank position 119b with the highest illuminance next to A rank Respectively.

  The operation and action of the self-propelled device configured as described above will be described below based on the flowchart of FIG.

First, the control unit 109 detects that the remaining amount of the power storage unit 104 is detected by the charge amount detection unit 105 or ends the travel at the travel end position 117 as shown in FIG. It is checked whether it is a daytime time zone or a nighttime zone (steps 1 and 2). Next, if the time is a daytime time zone, the control means 109 determines that the standby position candidate selection means 113 has an illuminance from positions where the illuminance is a predetermined value or more in the daytime time zone stored in advance in the travel map storage means 110. It moves to the position closest to the current position of the self-propelled device main body 101 in the position selected as the A rank, that is, the daytime time zone illuminance A rank position 118a (steps 2 to 4). Next, after the movement, the control means 109, after the movement, at a predetermined time (in this embodiment, every 30 minutes) measured by the timekeeping means 112 for the amount of power generated by the solar cell panel 103 and stored in the power storage means 104. Then, it is checked whether the predetermined charge amount is obtained by the charge amount detection means 105. If the predetermined charge amount is obtained in a predetermined time (30 minutes), the charging is continued on the spot until the charging is completed (step 5, Step 6). When a predetermined amount of charge cannot be obtained within a predetermined time (30 minutes), the standby position candidate selecting unit 113 from among positions where the illuminance is greater than or equal to a predetermined value in the daytime time zone stored in advance in the travel map storage unit 110. Moves to the position closest to the current position of the self-propelled device main body 101 among the positions selected as the illuminance B rank, that is, the daytime illuminance B rank position 118b (step 5, step 7, and step 8). The operation of checking the amount of electricity generated by the solar cell panel 103 and stored in the power storage means 104 every 30 minutes in the place is the same as the operation at the daytime time zone illuminance A rank position 118a (steps 9 and 10). .

  If the standby position candidate selection means 113 does not have a position to be selected as the illuminance A rank, it is checked whether there is a position to be selected as the illuminance B rank. Then, it automatically connects to the charging station 115 and performs automatic charging until the charging is completed (Step 3, Step 7, and Step 19). In addition, even when a predetermined amount of charge cannot be obtained in 30 minutes while waiting at daytime illuminance B rank position 118b, it moves to reference standby position 116 and automatically connects to charging station 115 to perform automatic charging until charging is completed. (Step 9, Step 19).

  The operation in the case where the time is in the night time zone when the control unit 109 detects a decrease in the remaining amount of the power storage unit 104 or the travel end position 117 as shown in FIG. Using the A rank position 119a and the night time zone illuminance B rank position 119b as movement targets, the same operation as in the daytime zone is performed (step 2, steps 11 to 14, step 11, and steps 15 to 19).

  In the present embodiment, the travel position detecting means 111 for detecting the travel position on the travel map stored in the travel map storage means 110 is calculated by calculating the travel distance and the travel direction based on the rotational speed of the drive wheels 108. Although the position is detected, it may be calculated by detecting the traveling direction with a gyro sensor, or a device that detects the traveling position itself such as GPS may be used.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the storage in the travel map storage means 110 is a position where the illuminance is a predetermined value or more in advance for each daytime period (11:00 to 16:00) and nighttime period (16:00 to 11:00 the next morning). However, in this embodiment, the time is measured by the time measuring unit 112, but the time is started. It can be a 24-hour period from

  Furthermore, in the present embodiment, the ranks with the illuminance equal to or higher than the predetermined value are two, A and B. However, only the A rank may be provided, or a plurality of ranks may be provided more finely. Further, in the present embodiment, the battery is moved to the reference standby position 116 and automatically connected to the charging station 115 to perform automatic charging until the charging is completed. It may also be possible to prompt charging by direct direct electric power feeding.

  Further, in this embodiment, for example, when a predetermined charge amount cannot be obtained in 30 minutes at daytime illuminance A rank position 118a, it is moved to the next rank position, but as shown in FIG. In addition, when there are a plurality of positions with the same rank, it may be moved to another position with the same rank.

  As described above, the self-propelled apparatus main body 101 stores the power supply unit 102 that can be charged with light, the charge amount detection unit 105, the traveling unit 106, the control unit 109, and the position where the illuminance is a predetermined value or more in advance. The travel map storage means 110 and the travel position detection means 111 for detecting the travel position on the travel map are provided in the travel map storage means 110 when the charge amount is less than a predetermined value or at the end of the travel. By moving the self-propelled device main body 101 to a position where the stored illuminance is equal to or higher than a predetermined value and waiting at that position to perform charging by light, when the charge amount of the power supply unit 102 is less than the predetermined value Not only at the end of the run, but also at the end of the run, the self-propelled device body 101 includes the location information where the illuminance has a predetermined value or more (including location information with strong sunlight irradiation within the running range). ) By charging, it can charge in as little electricity for charging purposes, in which energy saving can be achieved.

  The travel map storage unit 110 is provided with a time measuring unit 112. The travel map storage unit 110 stores in advance a position where the illuminance for each time or time zone is equal to or greater than a predetermined value. By moving to a position where the illuminance at each time or time zone stored in the memory is higher than a predetermined value, and waiting at that position and charging with light, a place with strong sunlight or a place with bright lighting for each time zone It is possible to provide a self-propelled device that saves energy by selecting a location for charging based on the information of the vehicle and moving and charging.

  Further, the vehicle has a standby position candidate selection unit 113 for selecting candidates for positions to be standby in descending order of illuminance stored in the travel map storage unit 110, and a timing unit 112, and waits for charging by light. When the charging amount per predetermined time is less than the predetermined value at the position where the current position is selected, the standby position candidate selecting means 113 moves to the position selected as the next candidate and waits at that position to perform charging by light. If sufficient charge cannot be obtained at the standby position, the standby position candidate selection means 113 selects the next candidate position with high illuminance, so that it can efficiently move to a position suitable for charging. Traveling equipment can be provided.

  Furthermore, the power supply unit 102 includes an electrical connection unit 114 for obtaining direct power supply, and the travel map storage unit 110 does not store a position where the illuminance is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, or is predetermined at a position where it is moving and waiting. When the amount of charge per time is less than a predetermined value or when there is no candidate to be selected by the standby position candidate selection means 113, the power supply unit 102 moves to the reference standby position 116 and waits for direct power supply, If you can't get enough charge with light, you will automatically stand by in place to receive direct electricity supply, so you can get the amount of charge you get with sunlight or lighting, etc. It is possible to provide a self-propelled device that is energy-saving and can be charged by using as little electricity as possible, obtained by direct electricity supply.

(Embodiment 2)
4 and 5 show a self-propelled device and a program thereof according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. The same elements as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof is omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the self-propelled device in the present embodiment includes an illuminance detection means 120 for detecting illuminance and a travel map creation means 121 in addition to the configuration of the first embodiment. It is the type device main body 122 (however, in this embodiment, the time measuring means 112 of FIG. 1 is not provided). Further, in the schematic diagram of the travel map in FIG. 5, the travel locus 123 is similar to the illuminance A rank position 124 a in the travel route in which the detected illuminance is equal to or greater than a predetermined value in the travel locus 123. Among them, the illuminance B rank position 124b in the travel route in which the detected illuminance is equal to or higher than the predetermined value and the illuminance is the second highest after the A rank is shown. The rest is the same as in the first embodiment.

  About the self-propelled apparatus comprised as mentioned above, the operation | movement and an effect | action are demonstrated below.

  The travel map creating means 121 pairs the illuminance of the position of the travel locus 123 with the illuminance having a predetermined value or more from the position detected by the travel position detecting means 111 and the illuminance detected at that position during traveling. And is stored in the travel map storage means 110. The standby position candidate selecting unit 113 selects a candidate of the illuminance A rank position 124a having particularly high illuminance or the illuminance B rank position 124b having the next highest A illuminance in accordance with the travel map stored in the travel map storage unit 110.

  The basic operation after the control unit 109 detects a decrease in the remaining amount of the power storage unit 104 by the charge amount detection unit 105 or ends the travel at the travel end position 117 in FIG. 5 is the same as that of the first embodiment. (In this embodiment, the control means 109 does not perform time zone determination).

In the present embodiment, the standby position candidate selection unit 113 ranks the illuminance values that are greater than or equal to the predetermined value stored in the travel map storage unit 110. However, the travel map creation unit 121 ranks the illuminance values when the travel map is created. However, the standby position candidate selection unit 113 may perform only rank management for selecting candidates that have already been ranked as candidates.

  In the present embodiment, the moving position for charging by light is determined based on the illuminance of the immediately preceding traveling locus 123, but the traveling map storage unit 110 stores the initial value of the traveling map in advance. The position where the vehicle has not traveled may be moved based on the illuminance information stored in advance.

  Furthermore, in this embodiment, the movement position for charging by light is determined based on the illuminance of the immediately preceding traveling locus 123, but the traveling map storage means 110 stores the latest several days, The initial value of the travel map is stored in advance, the traveled position is updated as the latest illuminance value on the latest date, and the standby position candidate selecting means 113 selects the standby position candidate from the latest several days of data. Alternatively, it may be possible to provide a timekeeping means so that the latest several days can be created, stored and selected for each time zone.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the power supply unit 102 that can be charged with light, the charge amount detection means 105, the travel means 106, the control means 109, the illuminance detection means 120, and the travel position are detected. The travel position detection means 111 for generating the travel position, the travel map creation means 121 for creating a position where the illuminance is a predetermined value or more from the travel position detected during the travel and the illuminance at that position, and the travel map creation means 121 Travel map storage means 110 for storing a travel map, and when the charge amount is less than a predetermined value or at the end of travel, the illuminance stored in the travel map storage means 110 is moved to a position greater than or equal to a predetermined value. By charging at the location and charging with light, not only when the battery is low but also at the end of driving, it corresponds to the rainy day such as rainy day and based on the driving information just before that It is possible to provide a self-propelled device that may be charged by moving the self-propelled device body 122.

(Embodiment 3)
Next, a program for the self-propelled device according to the third embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  In the present embodiment, a program for causing a computer to execute at least part of the functions of the self-propelled devices of the first and second embodiments is used. That is, the computer executes all or a part of each means constituting the self-propelled device.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, in the form of a program, new functions can be distributed / recorded on a recording medium such as magnetic media or optical media or distributed using a communication circuit such as the Internet. Easy to update and install.

  As described above, the self-propelled device and the program thereof according to the present invention can be charged with as little electricity as possible for charging purposes, and energy saving can be achieved. It is useful as a traveling vacuum cleaner or a self-propelled robot.

The block diagram which shows the structure of the self-propelled apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention. Schematic diagram of a travel map for the self-propelled device Flow chart showing the flow of operation of the self-propelled device The block diagram which shows the structure of the self-propelled apparatus in Embodiment 2 of this invention. Schematic diagram of a travel map for the self-propelled device

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101,122 Self-propelled apparatus main body 102 Power supply part 105 Charge amount detection means 106 Travel means 109 Control means 110 Travel map storage means 111 Travel position detection means 112 Timing means 113 Standby position candidate selection means 114 Electrical connection part 115 Charging station 120 Illuminance Detection means 121 Travel map creation means

Claims (4)

The self-propelled device body includes a power supply unit that can be charged with light, a charge amount detection unit for detecting a charge amount of the power supply unit, a travel unit, a control unit for controlling the travel unit, and an illuminance in advance. comprising a traveling map storage means for storing a predetermined value or more positions, a traveling position detecting means for detecting a running position on the stored travel maps to the running map storage means, the timing means, the running map The storage means stores in advance a position where the illuminance for each time or time zone is a predetermined value or more, and is stored in the travel map storage means when the charge amount detected by the charge amount detection means is less than a predetermined value or at the end of travel. A self-propelled device that moves the self-propelled device body to a position where the illuminance for each time or time zone is a predetermined value or more, and waits at that position to charge by light. The self-propelled device main body includes a power supply unit that can be charged with light, a charge amount detection unit for detecting a charge amount of the power supply unit, a travel unit, a control unit for controlling the travel unit, and an illuminance detection unit Travel position confirmation means for detecting the travel position, travel for creating a position where the illuminance is a predetermined value or more from the travel position detected by the travel position confirmation means during travel and the illuminance detected by the illuminance detection means A travel map storage means for storing a travel map created by the travel map means, and the travel map when the charge amount detected by the charge amount detection means is less than a predetermined value or at the end of travel; A self-propelled device that moves the self-propelled device main body to a position where the illuminance stored in the storage means is equal to or higher than a predetermined value, and waits at that position to charge by light. The self-propelled device main body is provided with standby position candidate selection means for selecting candidate positions to be standby in descending order of illuminance stored in the travel map storage means, and is a standby position for charging by light When the amount of charge per predetermined time is less than a predetermined value, the self-propelled device main body is moved to the position selected as the next candidate by the standby position candidate selecting means, and is charged at that position and charged by light. The self-propelled device according to claim 1 or 2 to be performed. The program for making a computer perform at least one part of the function in the self-propelled apparatus of any one of Claims 1-3 .

Images