JP5755011B2 - Robot group control apparatus and method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a robot group control apparatus and method, and more particularly, to a robot group control apparatus and method for stopping operation of a plurality of robots that are movable and individually perform work by remote control.

  In a robot that operates in an environment where people are present, such as public facilities and offices, detection of physical contact between humans and objectives using a robot-mounted touch sensor, obstacle detection based on image data using a CCD camera, and voice Autonomous robots that perform coping actions to reduce or avoid danger or perform emergency stops are known for personal safety measures and robot body maintenance measures by detecting voices by the detection unit (for example, patents) References 1, 2).

JP 2004-306247 A JP 2010-162619 A

  In a robot group system in which a plurality of movable robots are arranged in a predetermined area such as a public facility or office, and each robot in the predetermined area individually performs tasks such as visitor guidance and transportation, all robots A robot group control device that manages the robots in a batch is provided, the operation status of each robot is displayed on a monitor belonging to the robot group control device, and one operator visually monitors the operation status of each robot displayed on the monitor It is possible.

  In such a robot group system, there is a case where it is desired to stop the operation of a certain robot according to an operator's judgment or request. In such a case, a stop command is issued to the robot to be stopped by manual operation of the operator. To stop the operation of the robot.

  In such a case, since the operator pays attention to the robot to be stopped, other robots may not be sufficiently monitored. Therefore, the operation of one robot is stopped according to the operator's judgment or request. In this case, it may be possible to automatically stop the operation of other robots at the same time in order to improve the maintenance of the robot group system.

  The problem to be solved by the present invention is to safely perform simultaneous stop of robots in a robot group system in which each robot in a predetermined area individually performs work.

  A robot control apparatus according to the present invention is a robot control apparatus for remotely controlling a plurality of robots (100) that are movable and capable of individually performing work, and each of at least an operation state and a surrounding state of each robot. A state information detection unit (30) for detecting state information indicating one of the states, a stop procedure database (32) for storing a plurality of types of robot stop procedures set in accordance with the state information for the robot, and a command from the operator Alternatively, when the stop command is issued by the stop command unit (34) for issuing a stop command under a predetermined condition and the stop command unit (34), each robot is detected by the state information detection unit (30). A stop procedure selection unit (36) for selecting a robot stop procedure from the stop procedure database (32) based on the state information to be stored, and each robot For preparative has shutdown procedure command section for executing the robot stop procedure is selected and (38).

According to this configuration, when the robots in the predetermined area are stopped all at once, each robot can be safely stopped with an optimal stop procedure according to the state of each robot, even if each robot performs an operation individually.

  In a preferred embodiment of the robot control apparatus according to the present invention, the stop command unit (34) is a map information defining a travel route of the robot at the time of emergency stop command from the outside, at the time of editing work performed by the robot. When the operation mode of the specific robot is changed from the work automatic execution mode to the sequential operation mode, the stop command is issued when at least one of the operators monitoring the robot group is absent.

  In a preferred embodiment of the robot control apparatus according to the present invention, the robot stop procedure stored in the stop procedure database (32) includes: an immediate stop of movement, a stop after moving to the retreat position, and a speed of movement. One or a combination of stop after deceleration, immediate stop of work in progress, stop at end of work in progress.

  Preferably, the robot control device according to the present invention preferably further sets a work continuation priority setting for each robot according to the work being performed by each robot when a robot group stop command is issued. The stop procedure selection unit (36) changes the robot stop procedure to stop at the end of the work in progress according to the priority set by the work continuation priority setting unit (40).

  According to this configuration, work that is deeply involved with a person is prevented from being interrupted, and the corresponding person is not uncomfortable or annoying.

  In a preferred embodiment of the robot control apparatus according to the present invention, the state information detected by the robot state information detection unit (30) includes the moving speed of the robot, the passage width of the moving position of the robot, the surrounding people or the surroundings. One or a combination of robot movements.

  A robot group control method according to the present invention is a robot group control method for remotely controlling a plurality of robots that are movable and capable of individually performing work, and are set according to the state information of the robots Using a stop procedure database that stores multiple types of robot stop procedures, a status information detection step for detecting status information indicating at least one of the operation status and surrounding status of each robot, and a stop from a command from an operator or a predetermined condition A stop procedure selection step for selecting a robot stop procedure from the stop procedure database based on the status information detected by the status information detection step for each robot when a command is issued; A stop procedure command step for executing the robot stop procedure.

According to this control method, when stopping robots in a predetermined area all at once, each robot can be safely stopped with an optimal stop procedure according to the state of each robot, even if each robot is individually performing work. .

  According to the robot group control device and the control method of the present invention, when stopping robots in a predetermined area all at once, even if each robot is performing an individual work, it has an optimal stop procedure according to the state of each robot. Each robot stops safely.

1 is a system configuration diagram showing one embodiment of a robot group system in which a robot group control device according to the present invention is used. The block diagram of the control system of the humanoid biped walking robot used for the robot group system by this embodiment. (A)-(C) is explanatory drawing which shows the relationship between the robot at the time of a stop, and a person. The flowchart which shows the process routine which implements the robot group control method by this invention.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of a robot group system using a robot group control apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

  A plurality of robots 100 are arranged in a predetermined area A such as a public facility or office. The robot 100 performs work individually and is collectively managed by the upper robot group control device 10.

  Prior to the description of the robot group control device 10, the robot 100 will be described with reference to FIG. The robot 100 is a known humanoid robot that performs bipedal walking, and includes a main control unit 102 including a microcomputer, a work command storage unit 103, a left-eye video camera 104, and a right-eye video camera 106. The rear video camera 105, the image processing unit 108 that inputs video signals (shooting information) from the video cameras 104 to 106 and performs image processing, the audio input unit 110 using a microphone or the like, and the audio from the audio input unit 110 A voice identification unit 112 that performs voice identification by inputting a signal, a voice output unit 114 such as a speaker, a voice synthesis unit 116 that generates a voice signal to be output to the voice output unit 114, and a failure caused by laser irradiation, infrared irradiation, or the like Object search unit 118, gyro sensor 120 for inverted pendulum stabilization control, and movement (motion of the robot's head, arms, and legs) An autonomous motion control unit 122 that controls the head, a head drive unit 124, an arm drive unit 126, a leg drive unit 128, a wireless communication unit 132 that performs bidirectional wireless communication with the robot group control device 10, And a battery power supply unit 130 using a rechargeable battery with the power supply of the entire robot.

  The left-eye video camera 104 and the right-eye video camera 106 capture a landscape in front of the robot (front). Information captured by the video cameras 104 and 105 is obtained by image processing by the image processing unit 108, the passage width of the movement position of the robot (own device) 100, the movement of people around the robot (own device) 100 and other robots 100. Is converted into state information indicating the surrounding state of the robot 100 for recognizing the above.

  The robot 100 may be added with a rear video camera 105 that captures a scene behind the robot (back side). Further, the left-eye video camera 104, the right-eye video camera 106, and the rear video camera 105 can be replaced with an omnidirectional camera 107 such as a fish-eye lens video camera or a swivel video camera.

  The head driving unit 124, the arm driving unit 126, and the leg driving unit 128 each include a servo motor, and drive the head, arm, and leg of the mobile robot 100.

  The work command storage unit 103 stores the work command received by the wireless communication unit 132. In the work execution mode, the main control unit 102 reads out and analyzes the work command from the work command storage unit 103, and according to the work command, moves to the target position, transports, delivers the article, guides the visitors, shakes and shakes, bows Autonomously perform greetings and other services.

The movement of the robot 100 to the target position is performed by biped walking by the leg drive unit 128 under the control of stabilization of the inverted pendulum with reference to the signal from the gyro sensor 120. This walking is a movement set while avoiding a person or an obstacle on the moving route based on an image based on the imaging signals of the left eye camera 104 and the right eye camera 106 and an obstacle search by the obstacle search unit 118. Done along the path.

  The robot 100 has its own movement state such as movement position, movement speed, battery (battery) remaining amount, posture (movement position of head, arm, leg), etc., and movement of surrounding people or surrounding robots, etc. The state information indicating the surrounding state is transmitted as cyclic information from the wireless communication unit 132 to the robot group control device 10 every predetermined time.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the robot group control apparatus 10 includes an operation panel 12 having a keyboard and various function buttons, a monitor 14 capable of displaying a screen using a liquid crystal display panel, and the like in the area A. A wireless communication unit 16 that performs bidirectional wireless communication with all the robots 100 is connected.

  The robot group control apparatus 10 is based on a microcomputer system, and includes a work (task) command unit 20 and a work (task) editing unit 24. The work command unit 20 reads a work command designated by an operator operation on the operation panel 12 from the work storage unit 22, and transmits the work command and the map information in the map information storage unit 26 to the designated robot 100 via the wireless communication unit 16. Send by.

  The work editing unit 24 is activated when a work editing button provided on the operation panel 12 is pressed by an operator, edits a service by an operator operation, and moves with reference to map information stored in the map information storage unit 26. The route is edited, and a work command for completion of editing is written in the work storage unit 22. The work storage unit 22 is a storage that stores a plurality of work commands edited by the work editing unit 24 in a readable and writable manner.

  The map information storage unit 26 is a storage that stores, in a readable and writable manner, map information such as a passage that the robot 100 in the area A can move (run). The map information in the map information storage unit 26 can be edited by the map editing unit 28 that is activated when the map information editing button provided on the operation panel 12 is pressed by the operator.

  The robot group control device 10 further includes a state information detection unit 30, a stop procedure database 32, a stop command unit 34, a stop procedure selection unit 36, and a stop procedure command unit 38.

The state information detection unit 30 receives state information indicating the operation state and the surrounding state of each robot 100 received by the wireless communication unit 16, and a video of a video camera (ceiling camera, laser range funder, etc.) 42 that monitors the area A over a wide area. A video is taken in, information related to work is acquired from the work storage unit 22, information related to area attributes such as passage width is acquired from the map information storage unit 26, and the state of each robot 100 is detected. The state information detected by the state information detection unit 30 includes, for each robot 100, the movement speed, the remaining battery level, the passage width of the movement position, the movements of surrounding people and other robots. The status information of each robot 100 detected by the status information detection unit 30 is sent to the stop procedure selection unit 36 and the work (task) continuation priority setting unit 40.

  The stop procedure database 32 stores a plurality of types of robot stop procedures preset for the robot 100 in accordance with the state information described above. The robot stop procedure stored in the stop procedure database 32 includes a stop procedure for running movement and upper body motion including the head and arms. With regard to traveling movement, there are one or a combination of an immediate stop of movement, a stop after moving to the retreat position, a stop after deceleration of the moving speed, an immediate stop of work in progress, and a stop at the end of work in progress. With regard to the upper body movement, there are immediate stop, deceleration and stop at the home position, stop at the home position at a steady speed, stop after completion of work in progress, and the like.

  In the present embodiment, as shown in Table 1, the stop procedure database 32 stores individual robot stop procedures for each operation continuity determined by the state information of the robot 100. In the example shown in Table 1, the operation continuity is set in five stages of “1” to “5”, and the larger the operation continuity number is, the more the robot 100 can continue the current operation, and the operation continues. The smaller the degree number is, the more difficult it is for the robot 100 to continue the current operation.

  The robot stop procedure for each of the operation continuity levels “1” to “5” in the example shown in Table 1 is as follows.

  When the operation continuity is “1”, the traveling movement is decelerated and stopped, and the upper body movement of the upper body movement of the arm and head is immediately stopped. When the operation continuity is “2”, the travel movement is decelerated and stopped after moving to the retracted position such as the side of the passage, etc., and the upper body movement is reduced by reducing the arm and head movement speed, The head is returned to a predetermined home position (default position), and the upper body motion is stopped when the head is returned to the home position. When the movement continuity is “3”, the traveling movement is immediately stopped on the spot, and the upper body movement is returned to the predetermined home position with the arm and head at the normal movement speed for the upper body movement. Stop upper body movement when returning to position. When the motion continuity is “4”, the travel movement is stopped after moving to the retracted position such as the side of the passage at a steady speed, and the arm and head are determined in advance at the steady motion speed for the half-body motion. Return to the home position, and stop the upper body movement when returning to the home position. When the operation continuity is “5”, the work command currently being executed is continuously executed for both the travel movement and the upper body motion, and both the travel movement and the upper body motion are stopped when the work command is completed. .

  The stop command unit 34 is one of the above-described work editing button and map information editing button when the operator presses an emergency stop button provided on the operation panel 12 in order to make an emergency stop of a robot. Is pressed by the operator, or when the operation mode of the specific robot 100 is changed from the work automatic execution mode to the sequential operation mode by the operator, or when the operator monitoring the robot group is absent. The determination of the absence of an operator who monitors the robot group can be made based on an image of a video camera (not shown) provided on the monitor 14 or the like.

  The stop procedure selection unit 36 is activated when a stop command is issued from the stop command unit 34, and the operation continuity is determined according to the state information from the state information detection unit 30 according to a predetermined operation continuity determination rule. The robot stop procedure is calculated for each robot 100, the robot stop procedure corresponding to the calculated operation continuity is selected from the stop procedure database 32, and the selected robot stop procedure is transferred to the stop procedure command unit 38. An example of the operation continuity determination rule in the stop procedure selection unit 36 is shown in Table 2.

  The rules for determining the continuity of motion shown in Table 2 are the relationship between the robot 100 and the person and the movement state of the robot 100 (movement with the person following the back, person-to-face, person behind (Following movement, moving around a place where there is no person around), and the movement speed of the robot 100 (high speed, low speed, zero) and the path width (wide, narrow) of the movement position of the robot 100 The operation continuity is set to 5 levels of 1 to 5. The larger the operation continuity number, the higher the operation continuity level, and the smaller the operation continuity number, the lower the operation continuity level. In this example, when the robot 100 is not moving (stopped), or when the robot 100 is moving in a place where there are no people around and the passage width is wide, the operation continuity level 5 having the highest operation continuity level is obtained. When the robot 100 is moving at a high speed in a place where the passage width is narrow and a person is following behind the robot 100, the operation continuity 1 having the lowest operation continuity is set.

  The stop procedure command unit 38 transmits the robot stop procedure command selected by the stop procedure selection unit 36 for each robot 100 to the corresponding robot 100 by the wireless communication unit 16, and the robot stop procedure is automatically performed by each robot 100. To run.

  Accordingly, since the robot 100 having the operation continuity level “5” has a high operation continuity level, the robot 100 having the operation continuity levels “4” and “3” is stopped after the operation being performed is completed. Depending on the width of the passage, the movement stopped at the side of the passage or the movement is stopped on the spot, and the upper body movement is stopped when the arm and head return to the home position. As a result, the stopped robot 100 does not take an unnatural posture. This is considered necessary for autonomous robots that are supposed to be compatible with humans. Since the robot 100 with the motion continuity level “2” has a low motion continuity level, the robot 100 decelerates, stops moving, and stops the upper body motion. The robot 100 with the lowest motion continuity level “1” has no movement. It decelerates and stops, but the upper body motion stops immediately. When the movement continuity is “1” or “2”, the movement is performed in a state where the person is following the back surface. Therefore, if the movement of the robot 100 stops suddenly, the person behind it may collide with the robot 100. Then, slow down and stop moving.

  If there is a person around the robot 100, it is preferable that the robot 100 is stopped after a voice announcement such as “I will stop”.

  In the present embodiment, the work continuation priority setting unit 40 sets the work continuation priority for each robot 100 in accordance with the type of work being performed by the robot 100. The stop procedure selecting unit 36 changes the operation continuation level to “5” according to the work continuation priority set by the work continuation priority setting unit 40 and the original operation continuation level, and the work currently being executed is the last. To be done.

  This is because work that is closely related to people, such as handshake, handing of goods, visitor guidance, etc., may cause discomfort and inconvenience to the corresponding person if the work is stopped during execution, Such work should be done to the end.

  Table 3 shows an example of the work continuation priority setting by the work continuation priority setting unit 40. The work continuation priority is set to 10 levels “1” to “10”. The larger the work continuation priority number, the higher the work continuation priority, and the smaller the work continuation priority number, the work continuation priority. The degree is low.

  As shown in FIG. 3A, the robot R1 moves following the person H1 through the passage with a narrow passage width, and the robot R2 moves to the destination at a low speed in front of the person H1. In this case, when an emergency stop is applied to the robot R1, the robot R1 that is an emergency stop target immediately stops on the spot. Since the operation continuation level of the robot R2 is “3” in Table 2 and the work continuation priority is “1” in Table 3, the robot R2 immediately stops moving on the spot as shown in Table 1. .

  As shown in FIG. 3B, the robot R1 moves following the person H1 through the passage with a narrow passage width, and the robot R2 moves to the destination at a high speed in front of the person H1. In this case, when an emergency stop is applied to the robot R1, the robot R1 that is an emergency stop target immediately stops on the spot. Since the operation continuation degree of the robot R2 is “1” in Table 2 and the work continuation priority is “1” in Table 3, the robot R2 stops moving after deceleration as shown in Table 1.

  Since the passage width is narrow, the robot R2 has no room to retreat to the side of the passage, and the robot R2 is moving at high speed, if the robot R2 is stopped immediately, the subsequent person H1 may collide with the robot R2. May stop moving while decelerating while making a voice announcement such as “stop”.

  As shown in FIG. 3C, the robot R1 moves following the person H1 through the passage with a narrow passage width, and the robot R2 guides the person H2 in front of the person H1 at a low speed. In this case, when an emergency stop is applied to the robot R1, the robot R1 that is an emergency stop target immediately stops on the spot. The operation continuation level of the robot R2 is “3” in Table 2, and the work continuation priority is “10” in Table 3. Therefore, the robot R2 changes the stop procedure in Table 1 to change the work continuation priority. Continue to guide people H2 who are high. Alternatively, the robot R2 may stop the guidance of the person H2 by making an announcement to the guidance person H2 that the guidance is to be stopped.

  The operation continuity level and work continuation priority level of each robot 100 are displayed on the monitor 14 and can be reported to the operator.

  Next, a processing routine of the robot group control method according to the present embodiment performed by the robot group control apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  First, status information of each robot 100 is acquired (step S10). Next, the operation continuity of each robot 100 is calculated based on the acquired state information (step S11), and a stop procedure corresponding to the operation continuity is determined for each robot 100 (step S12).

  Next, the work continuation priority is calculated according to the work being performed by each robot 100 (step S13), and the stop procedure for the work continuation is changed according to the calculated work continuation priority (step S14). ). Then, the robot 100 stop procedure whose state is similar to that of the emergency stop target robot 100 is changed (step S15), and a stop procedure command is output to each robot 100 (step S16).

  Next, it is determined whether or not all of the robots 100 have been stopped within a predetermined t seconds after the start of stop control (step S17). If the stop of all the robots 100 is completed within t seconds, this routine is terminated. On the other hand, if the stop is not completed, this routine is repeated from the beginning.

  In addition to the above-described embodiment, the operation continuity can be defined by the following function expression.

  Operation continuity = f (ω1 × movement speed, ω2 × relative position and relative speed with a person, ω3 × passage width, ω4 × work continuation priority, ω5 × arm movement range by execution work, ω6 × arm by execution work Contact between the person and the person, ω7 x remaining battery level (SOC), ω8 x distance to the charging station, ω9 x distance to the retreatable location, ω9 x error type and level that occurred, ω10 x density of people around , Ω11 × area attribute, ω12 × time, ω13 × work similarity)

  ω1 to ω13 are weighting coefficients, and an appropriate value may be set for each item. The area attribute is, for example, a space behind the door, a resting place, a passage intersection, or the like.

  In addition, when the operation continuity of the robot 100 is low, the operations other than the robot 100 having the low operation continuity may be reduced. In this case, it is possible to focus only on the emergency stop button of the robot 100 with a low degree of continuity of operation or to fix the pointer. Further, it is preferable that the log monitor output is blocked until the stop of all the robots 100 is completed so that the operator's attention is directed to the situation of the robot currently focused on.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Robot group control apparatus 12 Operation panel 14 Monitor 16 Wireless communication part 20 Work command part 22 Work storage part 24 Work edit part 26 Map information storage part 28 Map information edit part 30 Status information detection part 32 Stop procedure database 34 Stop command part 36 Stop procedure selection unit 38 Stop procedure command unit 40 Work continuation priority setting unit 100 Robot

Claims (4)

A robot group control device for remotely controlling a plurality of robots that are movable and capable of performing work individually,
A state information detection unit for detecting state information indicating at least one of an operation state and a surrounding state of each robot;
A stop procedure database storing a plurality of types of robot stop procedures set according to the state information of the robot;
A stop command unit that issues a command from the operator or a stop command under a predetermined condition;
When a stop command is issued by the stop command unit, for each robot, a stop procedure selection unit that selects a robot stop procedure from the stop procedure database based on state information detected by the state information detection unit;
For each robot, it has a stop procedure command unit that executes the selected robot stop procedure ,
The robot stop procedure stored in the stop procedure database includes an immediate stop of movement, a stop after moving to the retreat position, a stop after deceleration of the moving speed, an immediate stop of work in progress, and an end of work in progress. One or a combination of stops,
Furthermore, it has a work continuation priority setting unit for setting work continuation priority for each robot,
The said stop procedure selection part is a robot group control apparatus which changes a robot stop procedure to the stop at the time of completion | finish of the operation in process according to the priority set by the said work continuation priority setting part .   The stop command unit is operated sequentially from the automatic operation mode when the emergency stop command is issued from the outside, when editing the work performed by the robot, when editing the map information defining the travel route of the robot. The robot group control device according to claim 1, wherein when the mode is changed, the stop command is issued when at least one of the operators monitoring the robot group is absent. The status information detected by the pre-Symbol state information detecting unit, the moving speed of the robot, the passage width of the movement positions of the robot, to claim 1 or 2, which is one or a combination of the movement of people around or around the robot The robot group control device described. A robot group control method for remotely controlling a plurality of robots that are movable and capable of performing work individually,
Using a stop procedure database that stores multiple types of robot stop procedures set according to the robot status information,
A state information detection step of detecting state information indicating at least one of the operation state and the surrounding state of each robot;
Stop procedure for selecting a robot stop procedure from the stop procedure database based on the status information detected by the status information detection step for each robot when a command from the operator or a stop command is issued under a predetermined condition A selection step;
A stop procedure command step for executing the selected robot stop procedure for each robot ;
The robot stop procedure stored in the stop procedure database includes an immediate stop of movement, a stop after moving to the retreat position, a stop after deceleration of the moving speed, an immediate stop of work in progress, and an end of work in progress. A robot group control method that is one or a combination of stops and changes a robot stop procedure to a stop at the end of a work in progress according to a preset priority of work continuation .

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