JP4882275B2 - Autonomous mobile robot and its movement status recording system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an autonomous mobile robot that automatically performs operations such as transporting objects, leading a person, following a person, and a system for recording the movement status thereof, and more particularly to a hospital, an office, and a public facility. The present invention relates to a technology that can prevent troubles caused by an autonomous mobile robot in a facility used by ordinary people, and that can safely and reliably perform the above operations.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in order to control a plurality of operations at the same time in a vehicle that can automatically run in an unattended state, the control functions are shared by using two microcomputers. Further, as described in Patent Document 1, for example, these two microcomputers are used to diagnose whether the other microcomputer is functioning normally, and either one of the microcomputers is normal. When it does not function properly, the vehicle is urgently stopped and a microcomputer that does not function normally is identified and replaced with a normal one.

  However, even in the case of an autonomous mobile robot with such safety measures, in the unlikely event that it comes into contact with a person, the testimony of the person who contacted it or the testimony of the person who witnessed it in the surrounding area is trusted. Is done. For this reason, even if the autonomous mobile robot is intentionally contacted maliciously and there is no negligence on the autonomous mobile robot side, it is conceivable that the manager or manufacturer of the autonomous mobile robot is forced to take responsibility.

Therefore, conventionally, a method has been adopted in which surveillance cameras are installed at various locations in the movement range (activity environment) of the autonomous mobile robot, and an objective situation is recorded, but there is no area that becomes a blind spot of the surveillance camera. In order to achieve this, it is often necessary to install a large number of surveillance cameras, which increases the installation cost.
JP-A-7-36728

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and provides an autonomous mobile robot that can record its objective movement status without installing many surveillance cameras in the movement range of the autonomous mobile robot. It is intended to do.

  In addition, the present invention provides a movement status recording system for an autonomous mobile robot capable of recording objective movement status of the autonomous mobile robot by a surveillance camera in addition to the movement status recorded by the autonomous mobile robot. It is the purpose.

  The autonomous mobile robot 1 of the present invention is an autonomous mobile robot 1 that autonomously moves to a destination, and stores a sensing means 2 that can detect the presence or absence of an obstacle present in the surroundings, and a map within a moving range. And a moving mechanism 4 for moving to the destination indicated on the map stored in the storage means 3 while confirming that there is no obstacle in the moving direction from the detection result of the sensing means 2 A control unit 5 for controlling the moving mechanism 4, an operation monitoring unit 6 for monitoring whether or not the control unit 5 is operating normally, and the operation monitoring unit 6 causes an abnormal operation of the control unit 5. The power supply shut-off means 7 for shutting off the power supply to the moving mechanism 4, the image pick-up means 8 for picking up the surrounding situation, and the images picked up by the image pick-up means 8 are continuously displayed. Image recording means for recording It is to characterized in that it comprises and.

In the present invention, when the image recording means 9 to continuously record an image taken by the imaging means 8, information on whether the operation is normal of the control unit 5 also that records simultaneously.

  In the present invention, when the image recording means 9 continuously records the images picked up by the image pickup means 8, it is preferable to simultaneously record information about the movement trajectory of the autonomous mobile robot 1.

  In the present invention, when the image recording unit 9 continuously records images picked up by the image pickup unit 8, it is preferable to simultaneously record information about the detection result of the sensing unit 2.

  In the present invention, the wireless communication means 11 that can be connected to the network 10 is provided. When the image recording means 9 continuously records the images picked up by the image pickup means 8, the wireless communication means 11 connects the network. It is preferable that the time is acquired from the time server 12 on 10 and the acquired time is recorded simultaneously.

  In the present invention, it is preferable that the control unit 5 controls the moving mechanism 4 to stop moving when the image recording unit 9 determines that the image pickup unit 8 has not captured the image normally. .

  In the present invention, it is preferable to stop the image recording by the image recording means 9 in a standby state where the autonomous mobile robot 1 does not move.

  In the present invention, it is preferable to start image recording by the stopped image recording means 9 when the sensing means 2 detects a moving object.

  The movement status recording system of the autonomous mobile robot 1 of the present invention includes a monitoring camera 13 that captures an image of the movement status of any one of the autonomous mobile robots 1 and includes a communication means 14 that can be connected to the network 10. Thus, it is preferable to acquire the time from the time server 12 on the network 10 and to record the image captured by the monitoring camera 13 together with the acquired time.

  In the present invention, the autonomous mobile robot 1 itself is provided with the imaging means 8, so that the autonomous mobile robot 1 captures images while moving the surrounding situation of the autonomous mobile robot 1, and the image is continuously recorded on the image recording means 9. The objective movement situation of the autonomous mobile robot 1 can be recorded without installing many surveillance cameras in the movement range of the autonomous mobile robot 1.

  Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described.

  The autonomous mobile robot 1 of the present invention is a mobile device (robot system) that adapts to the work environment and situation and moves autonomously to its destination by its own judgment, and has an appearance as shown in FIG. Can be illustrated. The autonomous mobile robot 1 includes a body 20, wheels 21, an in-vehicle camera 22, a sensor 23, and the like.

  The body 20 is formed of metal or the like, and electronic devices constituting a control unit 5, a storage unit 3, an operation monitoring unit 6, a power supply cutoff unit 7, an image recording unit 9, and the like, which will be described later, are included therein. Built in. The body 20 also includes a power source such as a battery. In addition, it is preferable that the electronic device is stored in the body 20 in a packaged state.

  A plurality of wheels 21 are provided in the lower part of the body 20. Although all these wheels 21 can be driven wheels that are rotationally driven by the motor 24, for example, two wheels 21 can be formed as drive wheels and other wheels 21 can be formed as auxiliary wheels that are not driven. It is. In this case, the autonomous mobile robot 1 can be moved forward and backward by rotationally driving the two drive wheels in the same direction, and the autonomous mobile robot 1 can be moved on the spot by rotationally driving the two drive wheels in the reverse direction. Rotate the to change direction. Further, it is preferable to provide two or more auxiliary wheels before and after the body 20 in order to stably support the body 20.

  The in-vehicle camera 22 is provided on the upper portion of the body 20 as the image pickup means 8, and a camera provided with an image pickup device such as a CCD or a CMOS sensor can be used. Although one on-vehicle camera 22 may be provided, it is preferable to provide a plurality of in-vehicle cameras. In this case, each in-vehicle camera is configured so that the number of blind spots of the in-vehicle camera 22 is reduced and the entire periphery of the autonomous mobile robot 1 can be imaged. It is preferable to arrange 22 toward the front, rear and both sides of the autonomous mobile robot 1.

  A plurality of sensors 23 are provided on the outer surface of the body 20 as the sensing means 2. These sensors 23 are mainly configured as distance measuring sensors that measure a distance from the autonomous mobile robot 1 by detecting a person or an obstacle present around the autonomous mobile robot 1. As such a sensor 23, for example, a laser radar 23a, an ultrasonic sensor 23b, or the like can be used. In this case, the laser radar 23a is mounted on the lower outer surface of the body 20, and the ultrasonic sensor 23b is a vehicle-mounted camera 22. It is possible to equip the entire outer surface of the body 20 that is likely to become a blind spot.

  In FIG. 2, reference numeral 40 denotes a touch panel, which is provided on the upper portion of the body 20. This touch panel 40 is installed on a turntable 41 and is formed to be rotatable so that it can be directed in any of the front, rear and side directions of the autonomous mobile robot 1. The touch panel 40 is a user interface, and is configured such that an operator can set a destination by operating the touch panel 40.

  FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of the autonomous mobile robot 1. The control unit 5 is for controlling the operation of the moving mechanism 4. For example, a microcomputer including a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, a program stored in these, and the like can be used. The control unit 5 includes a motor control unit 5a for controlling the motor 24, a sensor measurement unit 5b for calculating data obtained by the sensing means 2, and a map storage unit 5c for storing a map. It is configured. The map storage unit 5c is used as a storage unit 3 that stores in advance a map within a range in which the autonomous mobile robot 1 moves.

  The moving mechanism 4 includes the wheel 21, a plurality of motors 24, and an encoder 25 connected to each motor 24. The motor 24 is controlled by the motor control unit 5a for driving start and stop, displacement (rotation amount), and the like. By this, the rotation amount of the wheels 21 connected to the motors 24 can be controlled. . The encoder 25 detects a displacement amount of the motor 24 as an electronic digital amount, and data obtained by the encoder 25 is input to the control unit 5. And the control part 5 judges the movement amount of the autonomous mobile robot 1, a moving direction, a present position, etc. by calculating the data input from the encoder 25. FIG.

  The operation monitoring unit 6 is for monitoring whether the operation of the control unit 5 is normal. For example, a microcomputer including a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and a program stored in these can be used. . When the operation monitoring unit 6 monitors whether the operation of the control unit 5 is normal or not, for example, whether or not a 1-bit digital signal is repeated as follows: →→ ON → OFF → ON → OFF →. Thus, a watch dog (WD) signal method for determining whether the signal is normal or abnormal can be used. That is, one bit of a specific output of the microcomputer of the control unit 5 is input to one bit of a specific input of the microcomputer of the operation monitoring unit 6 so that the microcomputer of the control unit 5 operates normally. If so, the specific one-bit output is programmed so as to repeat the operation of .fwdarw.ON.fwdarw.ON.fwdarw.OFF.fwdarw. It can be realized by programming so as to determine whether the operation of the control unit 5 is normal or abnormal. If the microcomputer operation of the control unit 5 is normal by such programming, the state of the signal changes from ON to OFF or from OFF to ON within a certain time. If the operation continues, the operation monitoring unit 6 determines that the operation of the control unit 5 is normal. On the other hand, if the operation of the microcomputer of the control unit 5 is abnormal, the ON or OFF state will be continued. Therefore, the operation monitoring is performed when the signal state does not change for a certain time or more. The unit 6 determines that the operation of the control unit 5 is abnormal.

The power supply shut-off means 7 is for shutting off the power supply to the motor 24 of the moving mechanism 4 and can include, for example, a relay. Usually, a device called a driver is connected to the motor 24 in order to control the current flowing to the motor 24, but the driver obtains the current flowing to the motor 24 from a battery mounted on the autonomous mobile robot 1. Yes. Therefore, as long as the power supply interruption means 7 is operated by the output signal of the microcomputer of the operation monitoring unit 6 and the electric circuit between the battery and the driver is interrupted, the power supply interruption means 7 is not limited to the relay. Can be used.
The power supply shut-off means 7 is operated by an instruction from the operation monitoring unit 6 and shuts off the power supply to the moving mechanism 4 when the operation monitoring unit 6 determines that the operation of the control unit 5 is abnormal. Accordingly, the driving of the motor 24 is stopped and the movement of the autonomous mobile robot 1 is stopped.

  The image recording means 9 is for continuously recording an image of the situation (such as the presence or absence of a person or an obstacle) around the autonomous mobile robot 1 imaged by the in-vehicle camera 22 as the imaging means 8 as a moving image or the like. For example, a microcomputer including a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, a program stored in these, and the like can be used. The image recording unit 9 includes a recording unit 9a for recording an image captured by the in-vehicle camera 22, and a recording information control unit 9b for controlling input / output of an image to / from the recording unit 9a, an operation of the imaging unit 8, and the like. It is prepared for. The image recorded in the recording unit 9a is formed so as to be removable and visible through various interfaces, such as using the touch panel 40 as a display.

  The autonomous mobile robot 1 formed as described above moves to the destination as follows. First, data necessary for movement of the autonomous mobile robot 1 such as the current position and destination is input to the control unit 5 of the autonomous mobile robot 1. This input is performed by the operator operating a user interface such as the touch panel 40 provided on the autonomous mobile robot 1, whereby the autonomous mobile robot 1 moves on a map stored in advance in the map storage unit 5 c. The destination is set. Next, the autonomous mobile robot 1 derives a route to the destination indicated on the map by the control unit 5, and starts driving the motor 24 of the moving mechanism 4 by the motor control unit 5a based on the result. At the same time, the wheels 21 are rotationally driven by the motor 24 and the autonomous mobile robot 1 starts moving. Thereafter, the autonomous mobile robot 1 moves while traveling to the destination by the moving mechanism 4. During this movement, the autonomous mobile robot 1 has a person or an obstacle in its surroundings, particularly in its moving direction, by the sensing means 2. The detection result is input to the sensor measurement unit 5b. Then, from the detection result of the sensing means 2, the autonomous mobile robot 1 moves while confirming that there is no obstacle in the movement direction by the sensor measurement unit 5 b, but it is determined by the sensor measurement unit 5 b that a person or an obstacle exists. In this case, the motor control unit 5a controls the driving of the motor 24 to stop the movement of the autonomous mobile robot 1 or change the moving direction so as not to collide with a person or an obstacle. In addition, the autonomous mobile robot 1 constantly monitors whether or not the control unit 5 is operating normally during movement, and the operation monitoring unit 6 determines that the operation of the control unit 5 is abnormal. In this case, the power supply from the power supply to the motor 24 is cut off by the power supply cut-off means 7. As a result, the autonomous mobile robot 1 stops moving and inadvertently collides with a person or an obstacle. Can be prevented. Thus, the autonomous mobile robot 1 of the present invention autonomously travels to the destination and moves.

  Then, the autonomous mobile robot 1 of the present invention moves to the destination while always imaging the situation around itself by the in-vehicle camera 22 of the imaging unit 8 and the image captured by the imaging unit 8 is recorded by the recording information control unit 9b. As the moving image is continuously stored as a moving image in the recording unit 9a, it is continuously recorded. As a result, the surrounding situation during movement of the autonomous mobile robot 1 can be recorded as an objective image. Therefore, it is possible to record the objective movement situation of the autonomous mobile robot 1, and even if a situation of contact with a person occurs, the testimony of the person who contacted or the testimony of the person who witnessed this in the surroundings In addition, the image recorded by the autonomous mobile robot 1 can also be used as objective evidence. Therefore, if the autonomous mobile robot 1 is intentionally contacted maliciously, there should be no negligence on the autonomous mobile robot 1 side. It is considered that the administrator and the manufacturer of the autonomous mobile robot 1 are less likely to be held accountable. In addition, it is not necessary to install many surveillance cameras at various locations in the movement range (activity environment) of the autonomous mobile robot, and the problem of increased installation costs can be reduced.

  In the present invention, when images taken by the image pickup means 8 are continuously recorded in the image recording means 9, information on whether or not the operation of the control unit 5 is normal is also recorded by the image recording means 9 at the same time. It is preferable to record in the part 9a. Here, the information on whether or not the operation of the control unit 5 is normal may be recorded as the monitoring result of the control unit 5 by the operation monitoring unit 6, and thereby the runaway of the control unit 5 and the movement mechanism 4 associated therewith can be recorded. It is possible to easily determine whether there is a runaway or the like.

  In the present invention, when the images taken by the imaging means 8 are continuously recorded in the image recording means 9, information on the movement trajectory of the autonomous mobile robot 1 is also recorded by the image recording means 9 at the same time. It is preferable to record in the part 9a. Here, the information about the locus of movement of the autonomous mobile robot 1 may be calculated by the control unit 5 calculating the passing position of the autonomous mobile robot 1 based on the encoder 25, and the result may be recorded. In addition, it is possible to easily determine whether or not the autonomous mobile robot 1 has undergone a sudden change in behavior due to the runaway of the moving mechanism 4 associated therewith, and the validity of the recorded image can be verified. .

  In the present invention, when the images picked up by the image pickup means 8 are continuously recorded in the image recording means 9, information about the detection result of the sensing means 2 is also recorded at the same time in the recording section of the image recording means 9. It is preferable to record in 9a. Information about the detection result of the sensing means 2 may be calculated by the sensor measurement unit 5b by calculating the presence or absence of a person or an obstacle detected by the sensing means 2, and the result may be recorded. It is possible to determine whether or not 5 is operating normally, and the validity of the recorded image can be verified.

  Further, in the present invention, the control unit 5 stops the movement of the moving mechanism 4 when the recording information control unit 9b of the image recording unit 9 determines that the imaging unit 8 does not capture an image normally. It is preferable to control by. In this case, by providing the recording information control unit 9b with a process for determining the brightness of the image captured by the imaging unit 8, what is the daylighting unit of the imaging unit 8 (for example, the lens portion of the in-vehicle camera 22)? The recording information control unit 9b can determine that the image cannot be captured normally due to being covered. When the recording information control unit 9b determines that an abnormality has occurred in the imaging unit 8 as described above, the motor control unit 5a controls the driving of the motor 24 and stops the movement of the autonomous mobile robot 1. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the recording of the objective movement situation from becoming insufficient by preventing the movement in a state where the movement situation is not accurately recorded.

  In the present invention, it is preferable to stop the image recording by the image recording means 9 in a standby state where the autonomous mobile robot 1 does not move. Here, the standby state in which the autonomous mobile robot 1 does not move occurs at a fixed position such as a movement start position, a movement end position (destination) of the autonomous mobile robot 1 or a standby position provided in the movement route. By stopping the image recording by the image recording means 9 in the standby state, the recording area and power of the recording unit 9a can be saved, and the autonomous mobile robot 1 can be continuously operated for a long time.

  Further, in the present invention, even when the movement of the autonomous mobile robot 1 is stopped, when the sensing means 2 detects an object moving around, the image recording means is stopped. It is preferable to start recording an image according to 9. As described above, the situation around the autonomous mobile robot 1 can be recorded as an objective image by switching between the restart and stop of the recording of the movement situation as necessary.

  FIG. 3 shows another embodiment. This embodiment is a movement status recording system of an autonomous mobile robot provided with a network 10 such as the Internet or an intranet. The autonomous mobile robot 1 includes a wireless communication means 11 that can be connected to the network 10 as a body 20 and an electronic device. As a built-in. The other configuration of the autonomous mobile robot 1 is the same as that of the embodiment shown in FIG. The network 10 is provided with a time server (computer system) 12 that accurately records time such as Japan standard time, and is provided with wireless communication means 15 that can be wirelessly connected to the wireless communication means 11 of the autonomous mobile robot 1. ing. As the wireless communication means 11 and 15, a known wireless transceiver (for example, a device similar to an access point of a wireless LAN system) can be used.

  In this embodiment, the autonomous mobile robot 1 continuously records images picked up by the image pickup means 8 in the image recording means 9 in the same manner as described above. The time acquired from the time server 12 on 10 and the time acquired from the time server 12 through the control unit 5 are input to the image recording unit 9, and this time is recorded simultaneously with the image captured by the imaging unit 8. Is recorded in the recording unit 9a, so that an image of the movement status of the autonomous mobile robot 1 can be recorded with an accurate time, and a more objective movement status of the autonomous mobile robot 1 can be recorded. It is.

  FIG. 4 shows another embodiment. This embodiment is a movement status recording system for an autonomous mobile robot that includes a network 10 similar to that described above, and further includes a monitoring camera 13, a monitoring image recording device 30, and communication means 14 connected thereto. The configuration of is the same as that of the embodiment shown in FIG. The surveillance camera 13 is conventionally installed as a security camera in a building or the like, and an image captured by the surveillance camera 13 is recorded in a surveillance image recording device 30 such as a video device connected to the surveillance camera 13. It has come to be. Further, the communication means 14 is connected to the network 10 by wire, and can be a personal computer, for example. The communication means 14 may be a wireless transceiver equivalent to the wireless communication means 11 provided in the autonomous mobile robot 1.

  In this embodiment, by installing the monitoring camera 13 that captures the movement status of the autonomous mobile robot 1, in addition to the image of the movement status recorded by the autonomous mobile robot 1 itself, the surveillance camera 13 also moves autonomously. An image of the movement status of the robot 1 can be recorded, and a more objective movement status of the autonomous mobile robot 1 can be recorded. Further, by acquiring the time from the time server 12 on the network 10 by the communication unit 14 and recording the image captured by the monitoring camera 13 together with the acquired time in the monitoring image recording device 30, the movement of the autonomous mobile robot 1 The situation can be recorded with accurate time, and the movement situation of the autonomous mobile robot 1 can be recorded more objectively. In the present invention, the surveillance cameras 13 can be installed at a plurality of locations in the movement range of the autonomous mobile robot 1, but the number of installations is smaller than in the conventional case where the autonomous mobile robot 1 is not provided with the imaging means 8. Therefore, the installation cost of the monitoring camera 13 can be reduced as compared with the conventional case.

It is a block diagram which shows an example of embodiment of the autonomous mobile robot of this invention. It is the schematic which shows the form of an autonomous mobile robot same as the above. It is a block diagram which shows an example of embodiment of the movement condition recording system of an autonomous mobile robot same as the above. It is a block diagram which shows an example of other embodiment of the movement condition recording system of an autonomous mobile robot same as the above.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Autonomous mobile robot 2 Sensing means 3 Memory | storage means 4 Movement mechanism 5 Control part 6 Operation | movement monitoring part 7 Power supply interruption | blocking means 8 Imaging means 9 Image recording means 10 Network 11 Wireless communication means 12 Time server 13 Monitoring camera 14 Communication means

Claims (8)

An autonomous mobile robot that autonomously moves to a destination, a sensing means that can detect the presence or absence of obstacles in the surroundings, a storage means for storing a map within a moving range, and detection of the sensing means A moving mechanism for moving to the destination indicated on the map stored in the storage means while confirming that there are no obstacles in the moving direction from the result, a control unit for controlling the moving mechanism, and a control unit An operation monitoring unit for monitoring whether or not the device is operating normally, and a power supply interruption for cutting off the power supply to the moving mechanism when the operation monitoring unit determines that the operation of the control unit is abnormal And an image recording means for continuously recording images captured by the imaging means, and the image recording means continuously captures images captured by the imaging means. In When recording, the autonomous mobile robot operation of the control unit is also characterized in that the recording at the same time whether the information was normal. 2. The autonomous system according to claim 1, wherein when the image recording unit continuously records the images captured by the imaging unit on the image recording unit, the information about the locus of movement of the autonomous mobile robot is also recorded simultaneously. Mobile robot. The information about the detection result of the sensing means is simultaneously recorded when the image recording means continuously records the images taken by the imaging means on the image recording means. Autonomous mobile robot. A wireless communication means connectable to the network, and when the image recording means continuously records images taken by the imaging means on the image recording means, the wireless communication means obtains the time from a time server on the network; 4. The autonomous mobile robot according to claim 1, wherein the acquired time is also recorded simultaneously . 5. The control unit according to claim 1 , wherein when the image recording unit determines that the image is not normally captured by the imaging unit, the control unit controls the movement of the moving mechanism to stop. 6. Autonomous mobile robot. 6. The autonomous mobile robot according to claim 1 , wherein recording of an image by the image recording unit is stopped in a standby state in which the robot does not move. The autonomous mobile robot according to claim 1 , wherein when the moving object is detected by the sensing means, image recording by the stopped image recording means is started . A monitoring camera for imaging the movement status of the autonomous mobile robot according to any one of claims 1 to 7 is installed, and communication means that can be connected to a network is provided, and the time is acquired from a time server on the network by the communication means. A movement status recording system for an autonomous mobile robot, which records an image captured by a surveillance camera together with the acquired time.

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