JP7200492B2 - Equipment control device, equipment control method and program - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a device control device, a device control method, and a program.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, the one disclosed in Patent Document 1 is known as a control device for a robot. A robot to which this conventional control device is applied is equipped with a microphone and configured to be able to speak. In this conventional control device, it is determined how many speakers are speaking around the robot based on sounds around the robot picked up by microphones. In addition, the volume of the robot's utterance is controlled to a higher value when it is determined that many people are chatting, and when it is determined that a specific person is speaking , is controlled to a smaller value. Thus, the conventional control device controls the volume of the robot's utterance sound so as not to disturb the surrounding atmosphere.
On the other hand, as a device such as a robot in recent years, it is known to perform a predetermined operation by driving a driven part with a driving part. A relatively loud operation sound (noise) such as a sound may occur.

JP 2014-186421 A

However, when the above-described conventional control device is applied to a device such as the above-mentioned recent robot, the conventional control device cannot reproduce the utterance sound of the robot based on the sounds around the robot acquired by the microphone as described above. Only the volume is controlled. For this reason, in the conventional control device, it is not possible to prevent the problem that relatively loud operating noise as described above is generated and is offensive to the ears.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a device control device, a device control method, and a program that can prevent a malfunction such that the operating sound of a device becomes offensive.

In order to achieve the above object, a device control device according to the present invention is a device control device that operates when a driven part is driven by a driving part, wherein the volume of environmental sound around the device is controlled by environmental sound volume acquisition means for acquiring; determination means for determining whether the volume of the environmental sound acquired by the environmental sound volume acquisition means is smaller than the volume of the operating sound of the device; and the environmental sound by the determination means is smaller than the volume of the operating sound of the device, the volume of the operating sound of the device generated when the driven unit is driven by the driving unit when the device is operated and a control means for operating the device by controlling the driving section so that the driving section and the driven section are respectively composed of a plurality of driving sections and a plurality of driven sections. , a predetermined priority different from each other is set in advance for the operations of the plurality of driven parts, and the control means, when performing control so as to suppress the volume of the operation sound of the device, controls the operation of the plurality of driven parts among the driving units, the driving unit corresponding to the low-priority driven unit, which is the driven unit having the lower priority of the operation, is controlled so that the driving speed of the low-priority driven unit is reduced; It is characterized by
Further, a device control method according to the present invention is a device control method in which a driven part is driven by a driving part to operate, and includes an environmental sound volume acquisition step of acquiring the volume of environmental sound around the device. a determination step of determining whether or not the volume of the environmental sound obtained in the environmental sound volume obtaining step is smaller than the volume of the operating sound of the device; and When the device is operated when the volume of the device is determined to be lower than the volume of the operation sound, the volume of the operation sound of the device generated when the driven unit is driven by the driving unit is suppressed . and a control step of operating the device by controlling the drive unit, wherein the drive unit and the driven unit are respectively composed of a plurality of drive units and a plurality of driven units, and the plurality of driven units Predetermined priorities different from each other are set in advance for the operations of the drive units, and the control step includes controlling to suppress the volume of the operation sound of the device, among the plurality of drive units. and controlling a driving portion corresponding to a low-priority driven portion, which is a driven portion having a lower priority of operation, such that the driving speed of the low-priority driven portion is reduced. .
Further, the program according to the present invention causes a computer of a device operated by a driven portion to be driven by a driving portion to obtain environmental sound volume acquisition means for acquiring the volume of environmental sound around the device, and the environmental sound volume acquisition means. determining means for determining whether or not the volume of the environmental sound acquired by the above is smaller than the volume of the operating sound of the device, and the determining means determines that the volume of the environmental sound is smaller than the volume of the operating sound of the device; By controlling the drive unit so as to suppress the volume of the operation sound of the device generated when the driven unit is driven by the drive unit when the device is operated when the determination is made. functioning as control means for operating the device , the driving unit and the driven unit are respectively composed of a plurality of driving units and a plurality of driven units, and the operations of the plurality of driven units are different from each other A predetermined priority is set in advance, and when the control means performs control so that the volume of the operation sound of the device is suppressed, the priority of the operation among the plurality of driving units is lower. A drive unit corresponding to a low-priority driven unit, which is a driven unit, is controlled such that the driving speed of the low-priority driven unit is reduced .

ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the control apparatus of an apparatus, the control method of an apparatus, and a program which can prevent the malfunction that the operation sound of an apparatus becomes harsh can be provided.

FIG. 2 is an operation image diagram of the equipment, (a) is the initial state of the equipment when the environmental sound is low, (b) is the operation of the equipment when the environmental sound is low, and (c) is the case of (a). (d) is the operation of the device when the ambient sound is louder than (b). 6 is a flowchart showing device setting processing according to the first embodiment. 4 is a flow chart of control processing of the neck drive unit according to the first embodiment. 4 is a flowchart of control processing of an arm drive unit according to the first embodiment; 4 is a flow chart of control processing of a leg drive unit according to the first embodiment; 4 is a flow chart of control processing of the utterance unit according to the first embodiment; 9 is a flow chart of control processing of the neck drive unit according to the second embodiment. It is an example of a neck voltage value VONECK calculation map. 9 is a flow chart of control processing of an arm drive unit according to the second embodiment; It is an example of an arm voltage value VOARM calculation map. It is an example of an arm suppression angle θSUB calculation map. 9 is a flow chart of control processing of the leg drive unit according to the second embodiment. It is an example of a leg voltage value VOTIRE calculation map. 10 is a flow chart of control processing of the neck drive unit according to the third embodiment. 13 is a flow chart of control processing of an arm drive unit according to the third embodiment; It is a flow chart of control processing of the leg actuator concerning a 3rd embodiment.

Embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an operation image diagram of a device 100 to which a control device 30 according to an embodiment is applied. In FIG. 1, the length of the arrow indicates the magnitude of the motion, and the size of the letter indicates the volume. It should be noted that "--unit" constituting the control device 30 of the device 100 described in the text corresponds to "--means" described in the scope of claims.

As shown in FIG. 1, the device 100 includes a main body 40, a driven portion 10, a driving portion 20 that drives the driven portion 10, a control device 30 that controls the driving portion 20, and an utterance portion 50. .
The device 100 operates by driving the driven section 10 by the driving section 20 .

The device 100 is, for example, a humanoid robot. In this case, the main body 40 of the device 100 (hereinafter sometimes referred to as a robot) is provided with the control device 30 and the driving section 20, and the driven section 10 is attached to the main body 40 via the driving section 20. is provided. The device 100 is also provided with a camera for acquiring image information, a distance sensor, a touch sensor, an acceleration sensor, and the like (none of which are shown), and these cameras and various sensors are connected to the control device 30. ing.
The driven part 10 can be expressed in various ways depending on how it moves, and has one neck 11, two arms 12 and two legs 13. It is connected to the driving section 20 so as to be interlocked with driving.
The drive unit 20 includes a transmission device such as an electric motor and gears, and includes a neck drive unit 21, an arm drive unit 22, and a leg drive unit 23 for driving the neck 11, the arms 12, and the legs 13, respectively. have.

The neck body 11 imitates a human head, is connected to the main body 40 via the neck driving part 21, and can be tilted and rotated with respect to the main body 40 with a predetermined degree of freedom.
The arm body 12 is connected to the main body 40 via the arm drive section 22, and can swing and rotate with respect to the main body 40 with a predetermined degree of freedom so as to express human hand gestures.
The leg 13 is, for example, a wheel with a tire, which makes the main body 40 movable, and is connected to the main body 40 via the leg drive section 23 . In addition, the leg 13 may be a leg having joints like a human being.

The drive unit 20 (the neck drive unit 21, the arm drive unit 22, and the leg drive unit 23) includes transmission devices such as electric motors and gears, and operates according to commands from the control device 30 to drive corresponding driven units. 10 (neck body 11, arm body 12 and leg body 13) are driven.
With such a configuration, the device 100 operates the driven part 10 via the driving part 20 according to the command from the control device 30, thereby enabling various expressions.

The utterance unit 50 is composed of, for example, a speaker, and operates according to a command from the control device 30 to generate a utterance sound corresponding to the command.

The control device 30 is also connected to potentiometers (not shown) for detecting the rotational angular positions of the neck 11, the arms 12, and the legs 13, and the control device 30 outputs the detection signals of these potentiometers. , the rotational angular positions of the neck 11, the arms 12 and the legs 13 are calculated as needed.

The control device 30 controls the operation of the device 100 via the driving section 20 . The control device 30 has an environmental volume acquisition unit 31, a drive control unit 32, and an utterance control unit 33, and includes, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), It is composed of an I/O interface and the like (none of which is shown).
The environmental sound volume acquisition unit 31 is composed of, for example, a microphone or the like, and calculates (acquires) the volume SVENV of the environmental sound around the device 100 based on the detection signal of the microphone.
The drive control unit 32 is composed of, for example, the above-described CPU, RAM, ROM, I/O interface, etc., and the driven unit 10 is driven by the drive unit 20 according to the acquired environmental sound volume SVENV. The drive unit 20 is controlled so that the volume of the operation sound of the device 100 generated thereby is suppressed.
The speech control unit 33 is composed of, for example, the above-described CPU, RAM, ROM, I/O interface, etc., and makes the volume of the speech sound produced by the speech unit 50 of the device 100 (robot) higher than the volume of the environmental sound. to control.
By the control by the drive control unit 32 as described above, the volume of the operation sound can be suppressed according to the acquired volume SVENV of the environmental sound. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the operation sound of the device 100 from becoming offensive.
Further, by the control by the speech control unit 33 as described above, even if the volume SVENV of the environmental sound is large, the volume of the speech sound of the device 100 (robot) can be made higher than the volume SVENV of the environmental sound. ) can be easily heard.

The control device 30 further includes a determination unit (step B2, see FIG. 3, etc.) that determines whether or not the volume SVENV of the environmental sound is smaller than a predetermined threshold value. When it is determined that SVENV is smaller than the threshold value, the drive unit 20 is controlled such that the volume of the operation sound of the device 100 is suppressed. As a result, when the volume SVENV of the environmental sound is equal to or higher than the predetermined threshold value, the volume of the operation sound of the device 100 is not offensive, so the drive unit 20 is driven as usual, and the volume of the operation sound of the device 100 is reduced. If the volume SVENV of the environmental sound is smaller than a predetermined threshold value, which is conspicuous even if the noise is the same, the drive unit 20 can be driven slowly to suppress the volume of the operation sound. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the operation sound of the device 100 from becoming offensive.

In the control device 30, the determining section (see step B2 in FIG. 3, etc.) determines whether or not the environmental sound volume SVENV acquired immediately before the driven section 10 is driven by the driving section 20 is smaller than a threshold value. , and the drive control unit 32 controls the drive unit 32 so that the volume of the operation sound of the device 100 is suppressed when it is determined that the volume SVENV of the environmental sound acquired immediately before is smaller than the threshold value. 20 (see step B4 and the like in FIG. 3). Therefore, the volume of the operation sound of the device 100 can be adjusted in real time according to the volume SVENV of the environmental sound.

In the control device 30, the drive control unit 32 executes normal control to control the driving unit 20 regardless of the environmental sound, and the environmental sound volume acquisition unit 31 controls the environmental sound when the driven unit 10 is not being driven by the driving unit 20. Acquires the sound volume SVENV, acquires the overall volume of the environmental sound and the operation sound of the device 100 while the driven unit 10 is being driven, and determines the acquired environment sound volume SVENV. When the sound volume SVENV is smaller than the overall volume obtained during execution of normal control, it is determined that the environmental sound volume SVENV is smaller than the operating sound volume of the device 100 . Therefore, even if the operation sound of the device 100 is not set in advance, the volume of the operation sound of the device 100 can be adjusted in real time according to the volume SVENV of the environmental sound.

In the control device 30, the driving section 20 and the driven section 10 are configured by a plurality of driving sections 20 and a plurality of driven sections 10, respectively. (For example, neck 11>legs 13>arms 12 are preset in descending order of priority).
In order for the drive control unit 32 to suppress the volume of the operation sound of the device 100, the low-priority driven unit (for example, arm The driving units 20 (for example, the arm driving unit 22 and the leg driving unit 23) corresponding to the body 12 and the legs 13) are controlled such that the driving speed of the low-priority driven units decreases and the driving amount of the low-priority driven units decreases. (Movement amount) is controlled to be small (see step C4 in FIG. 4, steps D5 and D6 in FIG. 5, etc.).
In addition, the drive control unit 32 corresponds to the high priority driven unit (for example, the neck 11), which is the driven unit 10 having a higher operation priority, in order to suppress the volume of the operation sound of the device 100. The driving section 20 (for example, the neck driving section 21) is controlled so that the driving speed of the high-priority driven section is lowered (see step B4 in FIG. 3, etc.). As a result, for the low-priority driven parts whose operation priority is low, both the driving amount (movement amount) and driving speed are sacrificed to reduce the operation noise, and the high-priority driven parts whose operation priority is high are reduced. Since it is possible to reduce the operation noise by reducing the driving speed without sacrificing the driving amount (movement amount), the functionality and expressiveness caused by the operation of the device 100 (robot) are excessively impaired. Therefore, the operation sound can be suppressed according to the volume SVENV of the environmental sound.

FIGS. 1(a) to 1(d) show an example of the operation of the device 100 controlled by the controller 30 as described above. When the environmental sound is relatively small, the device 100 operates from the initial state shown in FIG. 1(a) to the operation sound as shown in FIG. Each driven part 10 operates, and the utterance part 50 produces sound with a volume higher than the volume SVENV of the environmental sound and lower than normal.
On the other hand, when the environmental sound is relatively loud, the device 100 changes from the initial state shown in FIG. 1(c) to the normal operation sound as shown in FIG. Each driven part 10 operates within a range or speed, and the utterance part 50 produces a sound that is louder than the volume SVENV of the environmental sound and higher than normal.

(First embodiment)
Next, a first mode (hereinafter referred to as first embodiment) for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail. The same numbers or symbols are given to the same elements throughout the description of the embodiment.
FIG. 2 is a flow chart of setting processing of the device 100 according to the first embodiment, and FIGS. 50 control processes, which are executed by the CPU of the control device 30. FIG.

(Setting process of device 100)
As shown in FIG. 2, the control device 30 performs setting processing of the device 100 according to the following control method.
First, the user turns on a main power supply (not shown) that supplies power to the driving unit 20, the control device 30, and the speaking unit 50 of the device 100 (robot) to start the device 100. FIG.
At the same time, the control device 30 changes the neck driving flag F_NECK, the arm driving flag F_ARM, the leg driving flag F_TIRE, and the speaking flag F_UTTER stored in a memory (not shown) provided in the control device 30 to Reset everything to 0. The neck driving flag F_NECK, the arm driving flag F_ARM, and the leg driving flag F_TIRE are set to 1 while each driven unit 10 is being driven, and are set to 0 when not being driven. The speaking flag F_UTTER is set to 1 while the speaking section 50 is speaking, and is set to 0 when the speaking section 50 is not speaking. Each flag is stored in the RAM of the control device 30 and updated as needed according to the operation of each driven unit 10 and the utterance unit 50 .

First, the control device 30 determines whether or not all the driven parts 10 (the neck 11, the arms 12, and the legs 13) and the utterance part 50 are stopped. (step A1).
When all the driven parts 10 and the utterance part 50 are stopped (step A1: YES), the control device 30 calculates the volume SVENV of the environmental sound by the environmental volume acquisition part 31 (step A2), and Go to A3. On the other hand, if all the driven parts 10 and the speaking part 50 have not stopped (step A1: NO), step A2 is skipped and the process proceeds to step A3.

At step A3, the controller 30 determines whether or not the neck driving flag F_NECK is zero.
If the neck driving flag F_NECK is 0 (YES at step A3), the process proceeds to step A4.
If the neck driving flag F_NECK is not 0 (NO in step A3), the process proceeds to step A6.

At this step A4, the control device 30 determines whether or not there is an instruction to drive the neck body 11 to the neck driving section 21 or not.
Here, the control device 30, for example, the sound information based on the input signal acquired from the environmental volume acquisition unit 31 (microphone) of the device 100 (robot), the image information acquired by the camera of the device 100, and A driving instruction is issued to the neck driving section 21 according to the analysis results based on the detection signals of the various sensors provided in the device 100 .
For example, the device 100 acquires a question from the user by the environmental sound volume acquisition unit 31, analyzes the content of the voice of the question, controls the neck driving unit 21 according to the content, and instructs to drive the neck driving unit 21. Tilt the body 11 vertically and nod, or shake the neck body 11 sideways.
If there is a drive instruction to the neck driving section 21 (YES at step A4), the process proceeds to step A5.
If there is no drive instruction to the neck drive unit 21 (NO in step A4), the process proceeds to step A6.

At step A5, the controller 30 sets the neck driving flag F_NECK to 1, and proceeds to step A6.

At this step A6, the control device 30 determines whether or not the arm driving flag F_ARM is zero.
If the arm driving flag F_ARM is 0 (YES at step A6), the process proceeds to step A7.
If the arm driving flag F_ARM is not 0 (NO in step A6), the process proceeds to step A9.

In this step A7, the control device 30 determines whether or not there is a drive instruction to the arm drive section 22.
Here, the control device 30, for example, acquires sound information based on an input signal acquired from the environmental sound volume acquisition unit 31 (microphone), image information acquired by the camera of the device 100, and various A driving instruction is given to the arm driving section 22 according to the analysis result based on the detection signal of the sensor.
For example, the device 100 acquires a question from the user by the environmental sound volume acquisition unit 31, analyzes the content of the voice of the question, and controls the arm driving unit 22 according to the content by instructing to drive the arm. The body 12 is raised or the arms 12 are swung up and down.
If there is an instruction to drive arm 12 to arm drive unit 22 (YES in step A7), the process proceeds to step A8.
If there is no drive instruction to arm drive unit 22 (NO in step A7), the process proceeds to step A9.

In step A8, the control device 30 sets the arm driving flag F_ARM to 1, and proceeds to step A9.

At this step A9, the control device 30 determines whether or not the leg driving flag F_TIRE is zero.
If the leg driving flag F_TIRE is 0 (YES at step A9), the process proceeds to step A10.
If the leg driving flag F_TIRE is not 0 (NO in step A9), the process proceeds to step A12.

At step A10 described above, the control device 30 determines whether or not there is a drive instruction to the leg drive section 23 .
Here, the control device 30, for example, acquires sound information based on an input signal acquired from the environmental sound volume acquisition unit 31 (microphone), image information acquired by the camera of the device 100, and various A driving instruction is given to the leg driving section 23 according to the analysis result based on the detection signal of the sensor.
For example, the device 100 acquires a question from the user by the environmental sound volume acquisition unit 31, analyzes the content of the voice of the question, and controls the leg drive unit 23 according to the content by instructing to drive the leg drive unit 23. The main body 40 is moved by rotating the body 13 (tire).
If there is an instruction to drive leg 13 to leg drive section 23 (YES in step A10), the process proceeds to step A11.
If there is no drive instruction to leg drive unit 23 (NO in step A10), the process proceeds to step A12.

In step A11, the control device 30 sets the leg driving flag F_TIRE to 1, and proceeds to step A12.

At step A12, control device 30 determines whether or not speech flag F_UTTER is zero.
If the speaking flag F_UTTER is 0 (YES at step A12), the process proceeds to step A13.
If the speaking flag F_UTTER is not 0 (NO in step A12), the process returns to step A1.

At step A<b>13 described above, the control device 30 determines whether or not there is an instruction to drive the utterance unit 50 .
Here, the control device 30, for example, acquires sound information based on an input signal acquired from the environmental volume acquisition unit 31 (microphone), image information acquired by the camera of the device 100, and various types of information provided in the device 100. A driving instruction is given to the utterance unit 50 according to the analysis result based on the detection signal of the sensor.
For example, the device 100 acquires a question from the user by the environmental sound volume acquisition unit 31, analyzes the contents of the voice of the question, controls the utterance unit 50 according to the content, and controls the utterance unit 50 to respond to the question. Say your response.
If there is a drive instruction to the utterance unit 50 (YES in step A13), the process moves to step A14.
If there is no instruction to drive the utterance unit 50 (NO in step A13), the process returns to step A1.

In step A14 above, control device 30 sets the speaking flag F_UTTER to 1, and returns to step A1.

As described above, since the control device 30 performs the setting process of the device 100, the drive units 20 (neck drive unit 21, arm drive unit 22, leg drive unit 23) and speech unit 50 are all stopped. In this case, the environmental sound volume SVENV can be obtained. Therefore, the control device 30 can acquire the volume SVENV of the pure environmental sound that is not mixed with the operation sound generated by the device 100 itself at a timely timing while the device 100 is activated.
In addition, since the control device 30 sets a flag corresponding to each drive unit 20 when there is an instruction to drive each drive unit 20, each drive unit 20 can be controlled independently.

Next, control processing of the driving section 20 (the neck driving section 21, the arm driving section 22, the leg driving section 23) and the speaking section 50 will be individually described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 6. FIG. As described above, a predetermined priority is set for the operations of the plurality of driven parts 10 consisting of the neck 11, the arms 12 and the legs 13. and the priority of the leg 13, and the priority of the leg 13 is higher than the priority of the arm 12 (priority: neck 11>leg 13>arm 12). In these control processes, when suppressing the operation sound of the device 100 according to the volume SVENV of the environmental sound, the drive speed of the neck 11 is reduced and the drive speed of the leg 13 is reduced according to the above-described priority. The driving amount of the leg 13 is reduced, and the arm 12 is stopped (driving speed=0, driving amount=0).

(Control processing of neck drive unit 21)
First, the control processing of the neck driving section 21 will be described with reference to FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, the control device 30 performs control processing of the neck driving section 21 according to the following control method.

At step B1 in FIG. 3, the controller 30 determines whether the neck driving flag F_NECK is 1 or not.
If the neck driving flag F_NECK is not 1 (NO in step B1), the process returns to step B1.
If the neck driving flag F_NECK is 1 (YES in step B1), the process proceeds to step B2.

In step B2 above, the control device 30 compares the environmental sound volume SVENV with the neck movement sound SVNECK, and determines whether or not the environmental sound volume SVENV is smaller than the neck movement sound SVNECK.
This neck motion sound SVNECK is a motion sound generated by the entire neck drive unit 21 and neck body 11 under control in the normal mode, which will be described later. Stored in ROM. In this case, the neck motion sound SVNECK is set to 40 dB, for example.
If the environmental sound volume SVENV is greater than or equal to the neck movement sound SVNECK (NO in step B2), the process proceeds to step B3.
If the environmental sound volume SVENV is smaller than the neck movement sound SVNECK (YES in step B2), the process proceeds to step B4.

In step B3, the controller 30 sets the neck voltage value VONECK to be applied to the electric motor of the neck driving section 21 to the target neck voltage value VONOBJ, which is a predetermined fixed value, and proceeds to step B5.
That is, when the environmental sound is relatively loud, the operation sound is not offensive to the user, so the control device 30 operates the neck driving section 21 at the target neck voltage value VONOBJ, which is the voltage value in the normal mode.

In step B4, the controller 30 sets the neck voltage value VONECK to be applied to the electric motor of the neck driving section 21 to a value obtained by subtracting the neck voltage suppression value VNREF from the target neck voltage value VONOBJ, which is a fixed value. , go to step B5.
That is, when the environmental sound is relatively small, the operating sound of the neck drive unit 21 and the neck body 11 is offensive to the user. The neck drive unit 21 is operated with the suppression value VNREF).
As a result, when the environmental sound is relatively small, the electric motor, the gears, and the neck body 11 that serve as the neck drive section 21 rotate at a low rotational speed (driving speed). Operation noise can be suppressed. In other words, the drive control section 32 controls the neck drive section 21 so that the driving speed of the neck body 11 is reduced in order to suppress the volume of the operation sound of the device 100 .
Here, the neck voltage suppression value VNREF is set in advance so that the neck voltage value VONECK calculated by the subtraction thereof is the lowest voltage value at which the neck drive section 21 and the neck body 11 can be operated without any trouble. .

In step B5, the control device 30 calculates the target neck angle θNOBJ, which is the target value of the rotational angular position of the neck 11, and proceeds to step B6.
Here, the control device 30, for example, according to the analysis result of the sound information based on the input signal acquired from the environmental volume acquisition unit 31 (microphone), the image information acquired by the camera of the device 100, the target neck Calculate the angle θNOBJ.

At step B6, the control device 30 performs feedback (FB) control based on the target neck angle θNOBJ and the actual neck angle θNECK which is the rotational angular position of the neck body 11 calculated as described above. , go to step B7.
That is, the control device 30 feedback-controls the neck driving section 21 so that the actual neck angle θNECK becomes the target neck angle θNOBJ. In this feedback control, the neck voltage value VONECK set in step B3 or B4 is applied to the electric motor of the neck driving section 21. FIG.

At step B7, the control device 30 determines whether or not the movement of the neck 11 has been completed.
Specifically, when the actual neck angle θNECK converges to the target neck angle θNOBJ, it is determined that the motion of the neck body 11 has been completed (YES in step B7), and the process proceeds to step B8.
When the actual neck angle .theta.NECK does not converge to the target neck angle .theta.NOBJ, it is determined that the movement of the neck body 11 has not been completed (NO in step B7), and the process returns to step B6. As described above, the feedback control based on the target neck angle θNOBJ and the actual neck angle θNECK is repeated until θNECK converges to θNOBJ.

In step B8, the control device 30 sets the neck driving flag F_NECK to 0 in order to end the driving of the neck body 11 under the control of the neck driving section 21 this time, and returns to step B1.

In this way, when the control device 30 operates the neck drive unit 21, if the volume SVENV of the environmental sound is smaller than the neck movement sound SVNECK, that is, if the environmental sound is relatively quiet, SVENV≧SVNECK By applying a smaller voltage to the neck driving portion 21, the driving speed of the neck body 11 is adjusted to decrease, so that operation noise can be suppressed. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the operation sound of the device 100 from becoming offensive.
In addition, when suppressing the operation sound of the device 100, the driving speed of the neck 11 is reduced without limiting the driving amount of the neck 11 having the highest priority of operation (high priority driven portion). Although it takes a long time, it is possible to make the neck 11 perform a desired motion and ensure the functionality and expressiveness of the neck 11 .

(Control processing of arm driving unit 22)
Next, control processing of the arm driving section 22 will be described with reference to FIG.
As shown in FIG. 4, the control device 30 performs control processing of the arm driving section 22 according to the following control method.

First, at step C1 in FIG. 4, the control device 30 determines whether the arm driving flag F_ARM is 1 or not.
If the arm driving flag F_ARM is not 1 (NO in step C1), the process returns to step C1.
If the arm driving flag F_ARM is 1 (YES in step C1), the process proceeds to step C2.

In step C2 described above, the control device 30 compares the environmental sound volume SVENV with the arm action sound SVARM, and determines whether or not the environmental sound volume SVENV is smaller than the arm action sound SVARM. This arm motion sound SVARM is a motion sound generated by the entire arm drive unit 22 and arm body 12 under control in the normal mode, which will be described later. Stored in ROM. In this case, the arm action sound SVARM is set to 60 dB, for example.

If the environmental sound volume SVENV is greater than or equal to the arm action sound SVARM (NO in step C2), the process proceeds to step C3.
If the environmental sound volume SVENV is smaller than the arm action sound SVARM (YES in step C2), the process proceeds to step C4.

In step C3, the control device 30 sets the arm voltage value VOARM to be applied to the electric motor of the arm driving section 22 to the target arm voltage value VOAOBJ, which is a predetermined fixed value, and proceeds to step C5.
That is, when the environmental sound is relatively loud, the operating sound of the arm drive unit 22 and the arm body 12 is not offensive to the user. 22 is activated.

In step C4 above, the control device 30 sets the arm voltage value VOARM to be applied to the electric motor of the arm driving section 22 to 0 (zero), and proceeds to step C8, which will be described later.
That is, when the ambient sound is relatively small, the operating sound of the arm drive section 22 and the arm body 12 is offensive to the user, so the control device 30 does not drive the arm drive section 22 . That is, the control in the quiet mode is executed, and the electric motor of the arm driving section 22 is stopped together with the arm body 12 .
As a result, when the ambient noise is relatively small, the electric motor, the gears, and the arm 12 serving as the arm drive section 22 are stopped, so that the operating noise generated from the electric motor, the gears, and the arm 12 as a whole can be suppressed. In other words, the drive control unit 32 controls the arm drive unit 22 so that the drive speed of the arm 12 is reduced (stopped) in order to suppress the volume of the operating sound of the device 100 .

In step C5 described above, the control device 30 calculates the target arm angle θAOBJ, which is the target value of the rotational angular position of the arm 12, and proceeds to step C6.
Here, the control device 30, for example, according to the analysis result of the sound information based on the input signal acquired from the environmental volume acquisition unit 31 (microphone), the image information acquired by the camera of the device 100, the target arm Calculate the angle θAOBJ.

In step C6 above, the control device 30 performs feedback (FB) control based on the target arm angle θAOBJ and the actual arm angle θARM which is the rotational angular position of the arm 12 calculated as described above. and go to step C7.
That is, the control device 30 feedback-controls the arm driving section 22 so that the actual arm angle θARM becomes the target arm angle θAOBJ. In this feedback control, the arm voltage value VOARM set in step C3 is applied to the electric motor of the arm driving section 22. FIG.

At step C7 described above, the control device 30 determines whether or not the movement of the arm 12 has been completed.
Specifically, when the actual arm angle θARM converges to the target arm angle θAOBJ, it is determined that the motion of the arm 12 is completed (YES in step C7), and the process proceeds to step C8.
When the actual arm angle .theta.ARM does not converge to the target arm angle .theta.AOBJ, it is determined that the motion of the arm 12 has not been completed (NO in step C7), and the process returns to step C6. As described above, the feedback control based on the target arm angle θAOBJ and the actual arm angle θARM is repeated until θARM converges to θAOBJ.

In step C8, the control device 30 sets the arm driving flag F_ARM to 0 in order to end the current driving of the arm 12 under the control of the arm driving section 22, and returns to step C1.

In this way, when the control device 30 operates the arm drive unit 22, the volume SVENV of the environmental sound is smaller than the neck movement sound SVNECK, that is, if the environmental sound is relatively quiet, SVENV≧SVNECK By applying a smaller voltage to the arm driving section 22 than in the case of the above, the driving speed of the arm 12 is adjusted to decrease, so that operation noise can be suppressed. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the operation sound of the device 100 from becoming offensive.
In addition, when suppressing the operation sound of the device 100, the arm 12 (low-priority driven part) having the lowest operation priority is stopped, so that the above effects can be effectively obtained.

(Control processing of leg drive unit 23)
Next, control processing of the leg driving section 23 will be described with reference to FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, the control device 30 performs control processing of the leg driving section 23 according to the following control method.

First, at step D1 in FIG. 5, the control device 30 determines whether the leg driving flag F_TIRE is 1 or not.
If the leg driving flag F_TIRE is not 1 (NO in step D1), the process returns to step D1.
If the leg driving flag F_TIRE is 1 (YES at step D1), the process proceeds to step D2.

In step D2, the control device 30 calculates a target leg drive amount MAOBJ, which is a target value for the drive amount of the leg 13 (the amount of movement of the tire that is the leg 13), and proceeds to step D3.
Here, the control device 30, for example, according to the analysis result of the sound information based on the input signal acquired from the environmental volume acquisition unit 31 (microphone), the image information acquired by the camera of the device 100, the target leg A driving amount MAOBJ is calculated.

In step D3, the control device 30 compares the environmental sound volume SVENV with the leg movement sound SVTIRE, and determines whether the environmental sound volume SVENV is smaller than the leg movement sound SVTIRE.
This leg motion sound SVTIRE is a motion sound generated by the entire leg drive unit 23 and leg body 13 under normal mode control, which will be described later. stored in In this case, the leg movement sound SVTIRE is set to 80 dB, for example.

If the environmental sound volume SVENV is greater than or equal to the leg movement sound SVTIRE (NO in step D3), the process proceeds to step D4.
If the environmental sound volume SVENV is smaller than the leg movement sound SVTIRE (YES in step D3), the process proceeds to step D5.

In step D4, the controller 30 sets the leg voltage value VOTIRE to be applied to the electric motor of the leg drive unit 23 to the target leg voltage value VOTOBJ, which is a predetermined fixed value, and proceeds to step D7.
That is, when the environmental sound is relatively loud, the operating sound of the leg driving unit 23 and the leg 13 is not offensive to the user. 23 is activated.

In step D5, the controller 30 sets the leg voltage value VOTIRE to be applied to the electric motor of the leg drive unit 23 to a value obtained by subtracting the leg voltage suppression value VTREF from the target leg voltage value VOTOBJ. Go to D6.
That is, when the environmental sound is relatively small, the operating sound of the leg drive unit 23 and the leg 13 is offensive to the user. The leg drive unit 23 is operated with the voltage suppression value VTREF).
As a result, when the ambient sound is relatively small, the electric motor and gears that form the leg drive section 23 and the tires that form the leg 13 rotate at a low rotational speed (driving speed), so that the electric motor, gears and tires as a whole rotate. can suppress the operating noise generated from In other words, the drive control unit 32 controls the leg drive unit 23 so as to reduce the driving speed of the leg 13 in order to suppress the volume of the operation sound of the device 100 .
Here, the leg voltage suppression value VTREF is set in advance so that the leg voltage value VOTIRE calculated by the subtraction becomes the lowest voltage value at which the leg drive unit 23 and the leg 13 can operate without any trouble. .

Following step D5, in step D6, control device 30 sets target leg drive amount MAOBJ to minimum leg drive amount MAMIN, which is a predetermined minimum value, and proceeds to step D7. This minimum leg driving amount MAMIN is set to a value smaller than the MAOBJ value calculated in step D2.
That is, when the environmental sound is relatively small, the operating sound of the leg driving unit 23 and the leg 13 is offensive to the user. (Step D5), the leg drive section 23 is operated with the minimum leg drive amount MAMIN, which is a relatively small drive amount in the quiet mode.

In step D7 above, the control device 30 performs feedback (FB ) control and go to step D8.
That is, the control device 30 feedback-controls the leg driving section 23 so that the actual leg driving amount MAACT becomes the target leg driving amount MAOBJ. In this feedback control, the leg voltage value VOTIRE set in step D4 or D5 is applied to the electric motor of the leg drive section 23. FIG.

At step D8, the control device 30 determines whether or not the movement of the leg 13 has been completed.
Specifically, when the actual leg drive amount MAACT converges to the target leg drive amount MAOBJ, it is determined that the movement of the leg 13 is completed (YES in step D8), and the process proceeds to step D9.
When the actual leg drive amount MAACT does not converge to the target leg drive amount MAOBJ, it is determined that the movement of the leg 13 has not been completed (NO in step D8), and the process returns to step D7. As described above, feedback control based on the actual leg drive amount MAACT and the target leg drive amount MAOBJ is repeated until MAACT converges to MAOBJ.

In step D9, the control device 30 sets the leg driving flag F_TIRE to 0 in order to end the current driving of the leg 13 under the control of the leg driving section 23, and returns to step D1.

In this way, when the leg drive unit 23 is operated, the control device 30 controls the volume SVENV of the environmental sound to be smaller than the leg operation sound SVTIRE, that is, if the environmental sound is relatively quiet, SVENV≧SVTIRE. , the driving speed of the leg 13 is adjusted to decrease by applying a smaller voltage to the leg driving unit 23, and the driving amount of the leg 13 is adjusted to decrease (MAOBJ← MAMIN), operation noise can be suppressed. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the operation sound of the device 100 from becoming offensive.
In addition, when suppressing the operation sound of the device 100, the driving amount of the leg 13 (low-priority driven portion) whose operation priority is lower than that of the neck 11 and higher than that of the arm 12 is set to Since it is adjusted to be smaller than , the functionality and expressiveness of the leg 13 can be secured to some extent.

(Control processing of utterance unit 50)
Next, control processing of the utterance unit 50 will be described with reference to FIG.

As shown in FIG. 6, the control device 30 performs control processing of the utterance unit 50 according to the following control method.

First, at step E1 in FIG. 6, the control device 30 determines whether or not the speaking flag F_UTTER is 1 or not.
If the speaking flag F_UTTER is not 1 (NO in step E1), the process returns to step E1.
If the speaking flag F_UTTER is 1 (YES at step E1), the process proceeds to step E2.

In step E2 described above, the control device 30 sets the target speech volume SVOBJ, which is the target value of the speech volume of the speech unit 50, to the volume SVENV of the acquired environmental sound, which is the volume of a predetermined audible sound set in advance. The audible volume SVAUD is added, and the process proceeds to step E3. As a result, the volume of the utterance sound produced by the utterance unit 50 is controlled to be the target utterance volume SVOBJ.

At this step E3, the control device 30 sets the speaking flag F_UTTER to 0, and returns to the step E1.

In this way, when the control device 30 operates the utterance unit 50, the volume of the utterance unit 50 is adjusted so that the audible volume SVAUD is higher than the volume SVENV of the environmental sound. When the ambient sound is loud, the volume can be increased, and when the environmental sound is relatively quiet, the volume can be suppressed. Therefore, the speech sound of the device 100 can be easily heard, and it is possible to prevent the trouble of the speech sound of the device 100 being offensive.

It should be noted that the control processing of the neck driving unit 21 (see FIG. 3), the control processing of the arm driving unit 22 (see FIG. 4), the control processing of the leg driving unit 23 (see FIG. 5), and the control processing of the utterance unit 50 (see FIG. 5). 6) are executed in synchronization with each other.

Further, in the first embodiment, the neck voltage suppression value VNREF used in step B4 of FIG. 3 is set to a predetermined fixed value, but it may be set variably according to the environmental sound volume SVENV ( Smaller SVENV sets VNREF to a larger value). This also applies to the leg voltage suppression value VTREF used in step D5 of FIG.
Furthermore, in the first embodiment, when SVENV<SVRAM (step C2: YES), VOARM is set to 0 to stop the arm 12 (step C4), but steps D5 and D6 in FIG. , VOARM may be set to a value obtained by subtracting a predetermined suppression value from VOAOBJ, and the target arm drive amount, which is the target value of the drive amount of the arm 12, may be set to the minimum value. Also in this case, this predetermined suppression value may be variably set according to the volume SVENV of the environmental sound.

In the first embodiment, the neck action sound SVNECK, the arm action sound SVARM, and the leg action sound SVTIRE are used for the discrimination in steps B2, C2, and D3, respectively, but other suitable threshold values may be used. . For example, a threshold obtained by adding or subtracting a predetermined value to each of the neck action sound SVNECK, the arm action sound SVARM, and the leg action sound SVTIRE may be used for determination in each of steps B2, C2, and D3. Alternatively, the determination in each of steps B2, C2 and D3 may use a threshold value that is set independently of each corresponding one of the neck action sound SVNECK, the arm action sound SVARM and the leg action sound SVTIRE.
Furthermore, in the first embodiment, the volume of the utterance sound of the utterance unit 50 is controlled according to the volume SVENV of the environmental sound, but it may be controlled independently of the volume SVENV of the environmental sound.

(Second embodiment)
Next, with reference to FIGS. 7 to 13, a second mode (hereinafter referred to as a second embodiment) for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail.
The setting processing of the device 100 and the control processing of the utterance unit 50 according to the second embodiment are the same as the setting processing of the device 100 (see FIG. 2) and the control processing of the utterance unit 50 (see FIG. 6) according to the first embodiment. is executed as In the following, the description of the processing common to the processing according to the first embodiment is omitted, and the control processing of the neck driving unit 21 (see FIG. 7) and the control processing of the arm driving unit 22, which are different from the first embodiment, are omitted. (See FIG. 9) and the control processing of the leg drive unit 23 (See FIG. 12) will be mainly described.
The control processing of the neck drive unit 21, the arm drive unit 22, the leg drive unit 23, and the utterance unit 50 (see FIG. 6) are the same as in the first embodiment. , may be executed synchronously.

(Control processing of neck drive unit 21)
First, control processing of the neck driving section 21 will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8. FIG. As shown in FIG. 7, the control device 30 performs control processing of the neck driving section 21 according to the following control method.

First, at step F1 in FIG. 7, the control device 30 determines whether the neck driving flag F_NECK is 1 or not.
If the neck driving flag F_NECK is not 1 (NO in step F1), the process returns to step F1.
If the neck driving flag F_NECK is 1 (YES in step F1), the process proceeds to step F2.

In this step F2, the control device 30 retrieves a predetermined neck voltage value VONECK calculation map as shown in FIG. voltage value to be applied to ).
Here, as shown in FIG. 8, the neck voltage value VONECK calculation map represents the relationship between the neck voltage value VONECK and the environmental sound volume SVENV. In the neck voltage value VONECK calculation map, in a range where the environmental sound volume SVENV is equal to or higher than the neck movement sound SVNECK, the neck voltage value VONECK is set to the target neck voltage value VONOBJ for the normal mode, and the environmental sound volume SVENV is set to the target neck voltage value VONOBJ for the normal mode. In a range smaller than the neck movement sound SVNECK, the neck voltage value VONECK is set to a smaller value as the volume SVENV of the environmental sound is smaller, in order to execute the control in the quiet mode in the second embodiment. When the volume SVENV is 0 (zero), it is set to the minimum neck voltage value VONMIN. This minimum neck voltage value VONMIN is set to the minimum voltage value with which the neck body 11 can be operated.
That is, when the environmental sound is relatively loud, the operation sound is not offensive to the user, so the control device 30 operates the neck driving section 21 at the target neck voltage value VONOBJ, which is the voltage value in the normal mode. When the environmental sound is relatively small, the operating sound becomes offensive to the user. Therefore, the voltage value for operating the neck driving unit 21 is lowered according to the volume SVENV of the environmental sound by control in the quiet mode. And it is operated so that the operation sound of the entire neck body 11 is reduced. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the operation sound of the device 100 from becoming offensive.

In step F3 following step F2, the control device 30 calculates the target neck angle θNOBJ, which is the target value of the rotational angular position of the neck body 11, as described in the first embodiment, and proceeds to step F4. .

In the above step F4 and steps F5 and F6 following step F4, the control device 30 performs the same processing as steps B6, B7 and B8 in FIG. 3 of the first embodiment.
That is, the feedback control based on the target neck angle θNOBJ and the actual neck angle θNECK (rotation angle position of the neck body 11) calculated as described in the first embodiment is performed so that the actual neck angle θNECK becomes the target neck angle θNOBJ. (steps F4 and F5). The neck voltage value VONECK calculated in step F2 is used for this feedback control.
Further, when the actual neck angle θNECK converges to the target neck angle θNOBJ by this feedback control (step F5: YES), the driving of the neck body 11 by the current control of the neck driving section 21 is terminated. To do so, the neck driving flag F_NECK is set to 0 (step F6), and the process returns to step F1.

As described above, when operating the neck drive unit 21, the control device 30 searches the map for calculating the neck voltage value VONECK according to the volume SVENV of the environmental sound, and adjusts the voltage applied to the neck drive unit 21. Therefore, when the environmental sound is relatively quiet, the operating sound can be suppressed according to the loudness (softness) of the environmental sound. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the operation sound of the device 100 from becoming offensive. In this case, the smaller the volume SVENV of the environmental sound, the lower the voltage applied to the neck driving section 21 (see FIG. 8), whereby the driving speed of the neck body 11 is adjusted to decrease further. By doing so, the operation noise can be suppressed more finely.
Further, when suppressing the operating sound of the device 100, as in the case of the first embodiment, the driving speed of the neck 11 is reduced without limiting the driving amount of the neck 11 having the highest priority of operation. , the functionality and expressiveness of the neck body 11 can be ensured.

(Control processing of arm driving unit 22)
Next, control processing of the arm driving section 22 will be described with reference to FIGS. 9 to 11. FIG. As shown in FIG. 9, the control device 30 performs control processing of the arm driving section 22 according to the following control method.

First, at step G1 in FIG. 9, the control device 30 determines whether the arm driving flag F_ARM is 1 or not.
If the arm driving flag F_ARM is not 1 (NO in step G1), the process returns to step G1.
If the arm driving flag F_ARM is 1 (YES at step G1), the process proceeds to step G2.

In step G2 described above, the control device 30 searches a predetermined arm voltage value VOARM calculation map as shown in FIG. voltage value to be applied to ).
Here, as shown in FIG. 10, the arm voltage value VOARM calculation map represents the relationship between the arm voltage value VOARM and the environmental sound volume SVENV. In the arm voltage value VOARM calculation map, the arm voltage value VOARM is set to the target arm voltage value VOAOBJ, which is a fixed value, in a range where the environmental sound volume SVENV is greater than the arm operation sound SVARM. In a range smaller than the operation sound SVARM and larger than the predetermined minimum arm operation sound SVMIN, the smaller the environmental sound volume SVENV is, the smaller the value is set. , is set to 0 (zero).
That is, when the ambient sound is relatively loud, the operating sound is not offensive to the user, so control device 30 operates arm driving section 22 at target arm voltage value VOABJ, which is the voltage value in the normal mode. When the environmental sound is relatively small, the operation sound is offensive to the user. Therefore, the quiet mode control in the second embodiment reduces the voltage value for operating the arm drive unit 22 in accordance with the volume SVENV of the environmental sound. , the arm drive unit 22 and the arm body 12 are operated so as to reduce the operating sound of the entire operation. In addition, when the environmental sound is very small, even a very small action sounds offensive to the user. By stopping the portion 22 and the arm 12, the operation sound of the entire arm driving portion 22 and the arm 12 is eliminated.

In step G3 following step G2, the control device 30 calculates the target arm angle θAOBJ as described in the first embodiment.

Next, the control device 30 calculates the arm suppression angle θSUB by searching an arm suppression angle θSUB calculation map as shown in FIG. 11 according to the environmental sound volume SVENV (step G4). Next, the controller 30 sets the target arm angle θAOBJ of the arm driving section 22 to a value obtained by subtracting the arm suppression angle θSUB from the target arm angle θAOBJ calculated in step G3 (step G5).

Here, as shown in FIG. 11, the arm suppression angle .theta.SUB calculation map expresses the relationship between the arm suppression angle .theta.SUB and the environmental sound volume SVENV. In the arm suppression angle θSUB calculation map, the arm suppression angle θSUB is set to 0 (zero) in a range in which the environmental sound volume SVENV is greater than the arm action sound SVARM, and the environmental sound volume SVENV is smaller than the arm action sound SVARM. , in a range larger than a predetermined minimum arm movement sound SVMIN, the smaller the environmental sound volume SVENV is, the larger the value is set, and in a range in which the environmental sound volume SVENV is smaller than the minimum arm movement sound SVMIN, the maximum value is set. It is set to the maximum arm suppression angle θMAX.
That is, when the environmental sound is relatively small, the operating sound of the arm drive unit 22 and the arm body 12 is offensive to the user. The arm drive unit 22 is operated at the arm suppression angle θSUB).
In step G5, when the target arm angle .theta.AOBJ becomes a negative value (when the arm suppression angle .theta.SUB is greater than the arm swing angle .theta.OBJ), the value of the target arm angle .theta.AOBJ is set to 0 (zero). Due to this and the setting of the arm voltage value VOARM to the value 0 described above (see FIG. 10), the control device 30 stops the arm driving section 22 and the arm body 12 .

That is, when the ambient sound is relatively loud, the operation sound does not become offensive to the user, so the control device 30 operates the arm driving section 22 at the arm swing angle θOBJ, which is the swing angle in the normal mode. When the environmental sound is relatively small, the operating sound becomes offensive to the user. range) is reduced to reduce the operating noise of the entire arm drive unit 22 and the arm body 12 . In addition, when the environmental sound is extremely low, even an extremely small movement is offensive to the user. To eliminate the operation sound of the entire arm body 12. - 特許庁As described above, it is possible to prevent the operation sound of the device 100 from becoming offensive.

In step G6 following step G5 and steps G7 and G8 following step G6, the control device 30 performs the same processes as steps C6, C7 and C8 in FIG. 4 of the first embodiment.
That is, the feedback control based on the target arm angle θAOBJ calculated in step G5 and the actual arm angle θARM (rotation angle position of the arm 12) calculated as described in the first embodiment is performed using the actual arm angle This is repeated until .theta.ARM converges to the target arm angle .theta.AOBJ (steps G6 and G7). The arm voltage value VOARM calculated in step G2 is used for this feedback control.
Further, when the actual arm angle θARM converges to the target arm angle θAOBJ by this feedback control (step G7: YES), it is determined that the driving is completed, and the current driving of the arm 12 by the control of the arm driving section 22 is terminated. To do so, the arm driving flag F_ARM is set to 0 (step G8), and the process returns to step G1.

As described above, when the arm drive unit 22 is operated, the control device 30 adjusts the voltage applied to the arm drive unit 22 by searching the map for calculating the arm voltage value VOARM corresponding to the volume SVENV of the environmental sound. The swing angle of the arm body 12 is adjusted by searching the map for calculating the arm suppression angle θSUB according to the volume SVENV of the sound volume SVENV. operation noise can be suppressed. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the operation sound of the device 100 from becoming offensive.
In this case, the lower the volume SVENV of the environmental sound, the lower the voltage applied to the arm drive unit 22 (see FIG. 10). By setting the target arm angle θAOBJ to a smaller value (FIG. 11 and step G5), the amount of movement of the arm 12 is adjusted to be smaller, so that the operation noise can be suppressed more finely.
Further, when suppressing the operation sound of the device 100, by setting the voltage applied to the arm driving unit 22 to 0 in a range where the volume SVENV of the environmental sound is smaller than the minimum arm operation sound SVMIN (see FIG. 10), Since the arm 12 with the lowest priority of action is stopped, the above effect can be obtained effectively.

(Control processing of leg drive unit 23)
Next, control processing of the leg driving section 23 will be described with reference to FIGS. 12 and 13. FIG. As shown in FIG. 12, the control device 30 performs control processing of the leg driving section 23 according to the following control method.

First, at step H1 in FIG. 12, the control device 30 determines whether the leg driving flag F_TIRE is 1 or not.
If the leg driving flag F_TIRE is not 1 (NO in step H1), the process returns to step H1.
If the leg driving flag F_TIRE is 1 (YES in step H1), the process proceeds to step H2.

In step H2 described above, the control device 30 retrieves the leg voltage value VOTIRE calculation map as shown in FIG. voltage value) is calculated, and the process proceeds to step H3.
Here, as shown in FIG. 13, the leg voltage value VOTIRE calculation map represents the relationship between the leg voltage value VOTIRE and the environmental sound volume SVENV. In the leg voltage value VOTIRE calculation map, the leg voltage value VOTIRE is set to the target leg voltage value VOTOBJ, which is a fixed value, in a range where the environmental sound volume SVENV is greater than the leg operation sound SVTIRE. In the range smaller than the operating sound SVTIRE, the lower the environmental sound volume SVENV, the smaller the value is set, and when the environmental sound volume SVENV is 0 (zero), the minimum leg voltage value VOTMIN is set. This minimum leg voltage value VOTMIN is set to the minimum voltage value that allows the leg 13 to move.
That is, when the ambient sound is relatively loud, the operation sound is not offensive to the user, so the control device 30 operates the leg driving section 23 at the target leg voltage value VOTOBJ, which is the voltage value in the normal mode. When the environmental sound is relatively small, the operation sound is offensive to the user. And the operation sound of the whole leg 13 is made small. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the operation sound of the device 100 from becoming offensive.

In step H3 described above, the control device 30 calculates the target leg driving amount MAOBJ as described in the first embodiment, and proceeds to step H4.

In step H4 described above, the control device 30 compares the environmental sound volume SVENV with the leg movement sound SVTIRE, and determines whether or not the environmental sound volume SVENV is smaller than the leg movement sound SVTIRE.
If the environmental sound volume SVENV is smaller than the leg movement sound SVTIRE (YES in step H4), the process proceeds to step H6.
If the environmental sound volume SVENV is greater than or equal to the leg motion sound SVTIRE (NO in step H4), the controller 30 sets the target leg driving amount MAOBJ of the leg driving section 23 to the quiet mode as in the first embodiment. , a predetermined minimum leg drive amount MAMIN is set (step H5), and the process proceeds to step H6.

In the above step H6 and steps H7 and H8 following step H6, the control device 30 performs the same processes as steps D7, D8 and D9 in FIG. 5 of the first embodiment.
That is, based on the target leg drive amount MAOBJ calculated or set in step H3 or H5 and the actual leg drive amount MAACT (actual drive amount of the leg 13) calculated as described in the first embodiment. Feedback control is repeatedly performed until the actual leg drive amount MAACT converges to the target leg drive amount MAOBJ (steps H6 and H7). The leg voltage value VOTIRE calculated in step H2 is used for this feedback control.
Further, when the actual leg driving amount MAACT converges to the target leg driving amount MAOBJ through this feedback control (step H7: YES), it is determined that the driving is completed, and the leg 13 is driven by the control of the leg driving section 23 this time. , the leg driving flag F_TIRE is set to 0 (step H8), and the process returns to step H1.

In this way, when the leg drive unit 23 is operated, the control device 30 adjusts the voltage applied to the leg drive unit 23 by searching the leg voltage value VOTIRE calculation map according to the environmental sound volume SVENV. Since the driving amount of the leg 13 is adjusted by setting the target leg driving amount MAOBJ according to the same as in the first embodiment, the operating sound can be suppressed when the environmental sound is relatively quiet. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the operation sound of the device 100 from becoming offensive.
In this case, the lower the environmental sound volume SVENV, the lower the voltage applied to the leg driving unit 23 (see FIG. 13), whereby the driving speed of the leg 13 is adjusted to decrease further. Therefore, the operation noise can be suppressed more finely.
Further, as in the case of the first embodiment, when suppressing the operation sound of the device 100, the priority of the operation is lower than that of the neck 11, and the driving amount of the leg 13, which is higher than that of the arms 12, is made smaller than usual. Since it is adjusted, the functionality and expressiveness of the leg 13 can be ensured to some extent.

In the second embodiment, when the environmental sound volume SVENV is smaller than each of the neck movement sound SVNECK, the arm movement sound SVARM, and the leg movement sound SVTIRE for the neck 11, the arms 12, and the legs 13, respectively, The driving unit 20 is controlled so that the volume of the operation sound of the device 100 is suppressed as the environmental sound volume SVENV becomes smaller. And, regardless of the leg movement sound SVTIRE, it may be performed in the entire range of the environmental sound volume SVENV.
Further, in the second embodiment, various parameters such as the neck voltage value VONECK are calculated using various corresponding maps shown in FIGS. 8, 10, 11 and 13. A formula (model formula) may be used.

(Third embodiment)
Next, with reference to FIGS. 14 to 16, a third mode (hereinafter referred to as third embodiment) for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail.
The setting processing of the device 100 and the control processing of the utterance unit 50 according to the third embodiment are the setting processing of the device 100 (see FIG. 2) and the control processing of the utterance unit 50 (see FIG. 2) according to the first and second embodiments. 6). In the following, the description of the processing common to the processing according to the first and second embodiments will be omitted, and the control processing of the neck driving unit 21 (FIG. 14) that is different from the first and second embodiments will be omitted. (see FIG. 15), the control processing of the arm driving section 22 (see FIG. 15), and the control processing of the leg driving section 23 (see FIG. 16).

First, an outline of the control processing of the neck drive section 21, the arm drive section 22 and the leg drive section 23 will be described. In each control process, each drive unit 20 is once controlled in the normal mode described in the first embodiment, and based on the detection signal of the microphone of the environmental sound volume acquisition unit 31 obtained while the driven unit 10 is being driven by this control, , the overall volume of the ambient sound and the operating sound of the device 100 is obtained (calculated) (step J5, etc., to be described later). Then, when the volume SVENV of the environmental sound acquired immediately before the driven part 10 is driven is smaller than the overall volume, it is determined that the volume SVENV of the environmental sound is smaller than the volume of the operation sound of the device 100 ( Step J7 and the like to be described later), the control in the quiet mode described in the first embodiment is executed. Note that the control processing of the utterance unit 50 according to the third embodiment is executed after the driving of the driven unit 10 is completed, unlike the case of the first embodiment. Further, the control processes of the neck drive section 21, the arm drive section 22 and the leg drive section 23 are executed in synchronization with each other, as in the case of the first embodiment.

(Control processing of neck drive unit 21)
Next, control processing of the neck driving section 21 will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 14, the control device 30 performs control processing of the neck driving section 21 according to the following control method.

At step J1 in FIG. 14, the controller 30 determines whether the neck driving flag F_NECK is 1 or not.
If the neck driving flag F_NECK is not 1 (NO in step J1), the process returns to step J1.

On the other hand, if the neck driving flag F_NECK is 1 (YES at step J1), the neck body 11 is driven under normal mode control by executing the following steps J2 to J4. That is, at step J2, the controller 30 sets the neck voltage value VONECK to the target neck voltage value VONOBJ.

Next, at step J3, the control device 30 calculates the target neck angle θNOBJ as described in the first embodiment. Next, in step J4, the control device 30 performs feedback control based on the target neck angle θNOBJ and the actual neck angle θNECK, and proceeds to step J5.
That is, the control device 30 controls the neck drive section 21 so that the actual neck angle θNECK becomes the target neck angle θNOBJ.

In step J5 described above, the control device 30 calculates the overall actual sound volume SVACT based on the detection signal from the microphone of the environmental sound volume acquisition section 31 at that time, and proceeds to step J6. This total actual sound volume SVACT is the environmental sound volume SVENV during execution of the control of the driving unit 20 in the normal mode, the driven unit 10 consisting of the neck 11, the arms 12 and the legs 13, and the neck driving unit. 21, the operating sound of the entire drive unit 20 consisting of the arm drive unit 22 and the leg drive unit 23. The reason for this will be described later.

Subsequently, in step J6 described above, the control device 30 converts the differential operation sound VERSV from the overall actual sound volume SVACT calculated in step J5 to the environmental sound calculated in step A2 of FIG. 2 described in the first embodiment. is set to the value obtained by subtracting the sound volume SVENV from the above, and the process proceeds to step J7. As described above, in step A2, the environmental sound volume SVENV is updated each time the environmental sound volume SVENV is calculated while all the driven units 10 and the speaking units 50 are stopped. corresponds to the volume SVENV of the environmental sound while both the driven part 10 and the speaking part 50 are stopped immediately before the driving of the driven part 10 and the speaking part 50 is started by setting various flags in subsequent steps A5, A8, A11 and A14. do. That is, the environmental sound volume SVENV corresponds to the environmental sound volume SVENV that does not include the operation sound of the device 100 and the speech sound of the speech unit 50 . Moreover, as is clear from the above setting method, the differential operation sound VERSV corresponds to the volume of the operation sound of the device 100 including the driven unit 10 and the driving unit 20 .

In step J7 described above, the control device 30 compares the differential operation sound VERSV with a predetermined reference sound volume SREF to determine whether the differential operation sound VERSV is greater than the reference sound volume SREF. This reference sound volume SREF is preset to a relatively small positive value.
If the differential operation sound VERSV is greater than the reference sound volume SREF (YES in step J7), that is, the sound volume SVENV of the environmental sound during stop immediately before the driving of the driven unit 10 and the utterance unit 50 is started is equal to the total actual sound volume. If it is smaller than SVACT, it is determined that the environmental sound volume SVENV is smaller than the operating sound volume of the device 100 generated by the control in the normal mode, and the process proceeds to step J8. In this step J8, the control device 30 sets the voltage value VONECK to a value obtained by subtracting the neck voltage suppression value VNREF from the target neck voltage value VONOBJ in order to execute the control in the quiet mode described in the first embodiment. , go to step J9.
On the other hand, if the differential operation sound VERSV is not greater than the reference sound volume SREF (NO in step J7), step J8 is skipped and the process proceeds to step J9.

At step J9, the control device 30 again performs feedback control based on the target neck angle θNOBJ and the actual neck angle θNECK, and proceeds to step J10. In this case, for this feedback control, the neck voltage value VONECK set as the target neck voltage value VONOBJ in step J2 is used in the case of control in the normal mode, and in step J8 in the case of control in the quiet mode. A neck voltage value VONECK set to (VONOBJ-VNREF) is used.

At step J10, the control device 30 determines whether or not the driving of the neck body 11 is completed in the same manner as at step B7 in FIG. 3 of the first embodiment. The feedback control in step J9 is repeated until convergence.

Then, when the actual neck angle θNECK converges to the target neck angle θNOBJ, the control device 30 determines that the driving of the neck 11 is completed (step J10: YES), and the current driving of the neck 11 by the neck driving section 21. , the neck driving flag F_NECK is set to 0 (step J11), and the process returns to step J1.

As described above, the environmental sound volume acquisition unit 31 of the control device 30 acquires the volume SVENV of the environmental sound around the device 100 when the driven unit 10 and the utterance unit 50 are not being driven (during stop) ( In step A2), when the driven unit 10 and the utterance unit 50 are being driven, the overall actual volume SVACT, which is the overall volume of environmental sounds and operation sounds of the device 100, is obtained (step J5, etc.). Then, if this environmental sound volume SVENV is smaller than the overall actual volume SVACT calculated during the execution of control in the normal mode (steps J2 to J4, etc.) (step J7: YES), the environmental sound volume SVENV determines that the volume of the operation sound of the device 100 is smaller than that of the device 100, and operates the neck body 11 and the neck driving section 21 by control in the quiet mode, as in the case of the first embodiment.
Therefore, unlike the case of the first embodiment, it is not necessary to set the neck movement sound SVNECK in advance. , the operating sound of the device 100 can be appropriately suppressed, and furthermore, the problem of the operating sound of the device 100 being offensive can be prevented.

(Control processing of arm driving unit 22)
Next, control processing of the arm driving section 22 will be described.
FIG. 15 is a flow chart of control processing of the arm driving section 22 according to the third embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 15, the control device 30 performs control processing of the arm driving section 22 according to the following control method.

First, in step K1, control device 30 determines whether arm driving flag F_ARM is 1 or not.
If the arm driving flag F_ARM is not 1 (NO in step K1), the process returns to step K1.

On the other hand, when the arm driving flag F_ARM is 1 (YES at step K1), the arm 12 is driven under normal mode control by executing the following steps K2 to K4. That is, in step K2, control device 30 sets arm voltage value VOARM to be applied to the electric motor of arm driving section 22 to target arm voltage value VOAOBJ.

At step K3 following step K2, the control device 30 calculates the target arm angle θAOBJ as described in the first embodiment. Next, at step K4, the control device 30 performs feedback control based on the target arm angle θAOBJ and the actual arm angle θARM.
That is, the control device 30 controls the arm driving section 22 so that the actual arm angle θARM becomes the target arm angle θAOBJ.

At step K5 following step K4, the control device 30 calculates the overall actual sound volume SVACT based on the detection signal from the microphone of the environmental sound volume acquisition section 31 at that time, as in step J5 of FIG.

In step K6 following step K5, the control device 30 sets the differential operation sound VERSV to a value obtained by subtracting the environmental sound volume SVENV from the total actual volume SVACT calculated in step K5, as in step J6 of FIG. set.

In step K7 following step K6, the control device 30 compares the differential operation sound VERSV with the reference sound volume SREF to determine whether the differential operation sound VERSV is greater than the reference sound volume SREF, as in step J7 of FIG. discriminate.
When the differential operation sound VERSV is greater than the reference sound volume SREF (YES in step K7), the control device 30 performs control in the quiet mode in the same manner as in the first embodiment, and sets the arm voltage value VOARM to 0. (zero) (step K8), and the process proceeds to step K11, which will be described later.

On the other hand, if the differential operation sound VERSV is not larger than the reference sound volume SREF (NO in step K7), the control device 30 again performs feedback control based on the target arm angle θAOBJ and the actual arm angle θARM (step K9). That is, the control device 30 controls the arm driving section 22 so that the actual arm angle θARM becomes the target arm angle θAOBJ. Thereby, the control device 30 operates the arm body 12 and the arm drive section 22 by the control in the normal mode.

At step K10 subsequent to step K9, the control device 30 determines whether or not the movement of the arm 12 is completed in the same manner as at step C7 in FIG. 4 of the first embodiment. The feedback control at step K9 is repeated until the angle converges to θAOBJ.

Then, when the actual arm angle θARM converges to the target arm angle θAOBJ, the control device 30 determines that the motion of the arm 12 is completed (YES in step K10), and the arm driving section 22 drives the arm 12 this time. , the arm driving flag F_ARM is set to 0 in step K11, and the process returns to step K1.

As described above, the environmental sound volume acquisition unit 31 of the control device 30 acquires the volume SVENV of the environmental sound around the device 100 when the driven unit 10 and the utterance unit 50 are not being driven (during stop) ( Step A2), when the driven unit 10 and the utterance unit 50 are being driven, obtain the overall actual volume SVACT, which is the overall volume of the environmental sound and the operation sound of the device 100 (step K5, etc.). Then, if the environmental sound volume SVENV is smaller than the total actual volume SVACT calculated during the execution of the control in the normal mode (steps K2 to K4, etc.) (step K7: YES), the environmental sound volume SVENV determines that the volume of the operation sound of the device 100 is smaller than that of the device 100, and stops the arm body 12 and the arm driving section 22 by control in the quiet mode, as in the case of the first embodiment.
Therefore, unlike the case of the first embodiment, it is not necessary to set the arm action sound SVARM in advance. , the operating sound of the device 100 can be appropriately suppressed, and furthermore, the problem of the operating sound of the device 100 being offensive can be prevented.

(Control processing of leg drive unit 23)
Next, control processing of the leg driving section 23 will be described with reference to FIG. 16 . As shown in FIG. 16, the control device 30 performs control processing of the leg driving section 23 according to the following control method.

First, in step L1, control device 30 determines whether leg driving flag F_TIRE is 1 or not.
If the leg driving flag F_TIRE is not 1 (NO in step L1), the process returns to step L1.

On the other hand, when the leg driving flag F_TIRE is 1 (YES in step L1), the leg 13 is driven by normal mode control by executing the following steps L2 to L4. That is, in step L2, control device 30 calculates target leg driving amount MAOBJ as described in the first embodiment.

In step L3 following step L2, control device 30 sets leg voltage value VOTIRE to target leg voltage value VOTOBJ. Next, in step L4, control device 30 performs feedback control based on target leg drive amount MAOBJ and actual leg drive amount MAACT.
That is, the control device 30 controls the leg driving section 23 so that the actual leg driving amount MAACT becomes the target leg driving amount MAOBJ.

In step L5 following step L4, the control device 30 calculates the overall actual volume SVACT based on the detection signal from the microphone of the environmental volume acquisition section 31 at that time, as in step J5 in FIG. As described above, the overall actual sound volume SVACT is the environmental sound volume SVENV during the control of the driving unit 20 in the normal mode, the driven unit 10 consisting of the neck 11, the arms 12 and the legs 13, and the , and the operation sound of the entire drive unit 20 consisting of the neck drive unit 21, the arm drive unit 22, and the leg drive unit 23. This is for the following reasons. That is, since the control processes of the neck driving section 21, the arm driving section 22 and the leg driving section 23 are executed in synchronization with each other as described above, steps J2 to J4 in FIG. 14, steps K2 to K4 in FIG. The normal mode control by execution of steps L2 to L4 of 16 are executed simultaneously, and as a result, the driven part 10 consisting of the neck 11, the arms 12 and the legs 13, the neck driving part 21 and the arm driving part This is because the driving section 20 consisting of 22 and the leg driving section 23 operates simultaneously under control in the normal mode.

Subsequently, in step L6 following step L5, the control device 30 subtracts the environmental sound volume SVENV from the total actual volume SVACT calculated in step L5 to obtain the differential operation sound VERSV, as in step J6 of FIG. Then, the process moves to step L7.

At step L7, the control device 30 compares the differential operation sound VERSV with the reference sound volume SREF to determine whether the differential operation sound VERSV is greater than the reference sound volume SREF, as at step J7 in FIG.
If the differential operation sound VERSV is greater than the reference sound volume SREF (YES in step L7), the control device 30 sets the leg voltage value VOTIRE to perform control in the quiet mode as in the first embodiment. , the value obtained by subtracting the leg voltage suppression value VTREF from the target leg voltage value VOTOBJ is set (step L8), the target leg drive amount MAOBJ is set to the minimum leg drive amount MAMIN (step L9), and the process proceeds to step L10.

On the other hand, if the differential operation sound VERSV is not greater than the reference sound volume SREF (NO in step L7), steps L8 and L9 are skipped to drive the leg 13 by normal mode control, and the process proceeds to step L10.

In step L10 described above, the control device 30 again performs feedback control based on the target leg drive amount MAOBJ and the actual leg drive amount MAACT. In this case, in the case of control in the normal mode, the feedback control uses the target leg drive amount MAOBJ calculated in step L2 and the neck voltage value VONECK set as the target neck voltage value VONOBJ in step L3. In the case of control in the quiet mode, the leg voltage value VOTIRE set to (VOTOBJ-VTREF) in step L8 and the target leg drive amount MAOBJ set to the minimum leg drive amount MAMIN in step L9 are used.

In step L11 following step L10, control device 30 determines whether or not driving of leg 13 is completed in the same manner as step D8 in FIG. 5 of the first embodiment. The feedback control in step L10 is repeated until the target leg drive amount MAOBJ is reached.

Then, when the actual leg drive amount MAACT converges to the target leg drive amount MAOBJ, the control device 30 determines that the drive of the leg 13 is completed (step L11: YES), and In order to end the driving of the leg, the leg driving flag F_TIRE is set to 0 (step L12), and the process returns to step L1.

As described above, the environmental sound volume acquisition unit 31 of the control device 30 acquires the volume SVENV of the environmental sound around the device 100 when the driven unit 10 and the utterance unit 50 are not being driven (during stop) ( Step A2), when the driven part 10 and the utterance part 50 are being driven, acquire the overall actual volume SVACT, which is the overall volume of the environmental sound and the operation sound of the device 100 (step L5, etc.). Then, if the environmental sound volume SVENV is smaller than the overall actual volume SVACT calculated during the execution of control in the normal mode (steps L2 to L4, etc.) (step L7: YES), the environmental sound volume SVENV determines that the volume of the operation sound of the device 100 is smaller than that of the device 100, and operates the leg 13 and the leg driving section 23 by control in the quiet mode, as in the first embodiment.
Therefore, unlike the case of the first embodiment, it is not necessary to set the leg operation sound SVTIRE in advance. , the operating sound of the device 100 can be appropriately suppressed, and furthermore, the problem of the operating sound of the device 100 being offensive can be prevented.

As described above, according to the control device 30 of the device 100 of the present invention, the control device 30 of the device 100 operates by driving the driven portion 10 by the driving portion 20, and the environmental sound around the device 100 is and suppresses the volume of the operation sound of the device 100 generated when the driven unit 10 is driven by the driving unit 20 according to the acquired volume SVENV of the environmental sound. Since the drive control unit 32 that controls the drive unit 20 is provided as described above, the volume of the operation sound of the device 100 can be suppressed according to the acquired volume SVENV of the environmental sound. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the operation sound of the device 100 from becoming offensive.

As described above, according to the control method of the device 100 of the present invention, the control method of the device 100 that operates by driving the driven part 10 by the driving part 20, wherein the volume of the environmental sound around the device 100 is An environmental sound volume acquisition step for acquiring SVENV, and the sound volume of the operation sound of the device 100 generated when the driven unit 10 is driven by the driving unit 20 is suppressed according to the acquired environmental sound volume SVENV. and a control step for controlling the driving unit 20, the volume of the operation sound of the device 100 can be suppressed according to the acquired volume SVENV of the environmental sound. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the operation sound of the device 100 from becoming offensive.

According to the program of the present invention described above, the volume SVENV of the environmental sound around the device 100 is acquired by the computer of the control device 30 of the device 100 that operates when the driven unit 10 is driven by the driving unit 20. and the volume SVENV of the environmental sound that is obtained, so that the volume of the operation sound of the device 100 that is generated when the driven unit 10 is driven by the driving unit 20 is suppressed. A control function for controlling the unit 20 is realized, so that the volume of the operation sound of the device 100 can be suppressed according to the acquired volume SVENV of the environmental sound. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the operation sound of the device 100 from becoming offensive.

In the third embodiment, the difference operation sound VERSV and the reference sound volume SREF are used for the discrimination in steps J7, K7 and L7. Alternatively, a negative predetermined value may be used. In that case, the operation noise of the device can be suppressed more strictly.
Further, in the third embodiment, when the environmental sound volume SVENV is smaller than the overall actual volume SVACT, it is determined that the environmental sound volume SVENV is smaller than the volume of the device 100 by the determination in steps J7, K7, and L7. However, for example, by frequency-analyzing the detection signal of the microphone of the environmental sound volume acquisition unit 31 obtained during execution of control in the normal mode, the volume of the environmental sound SVENV and the volume of the operation sound of the device can be individually determined. and compare the two.
Furthermore, regarding the third embodiment, as in the case of the second embodiment, the lower the volume SVENV of the environmental sound, the lower the volume of the operation sound of the device. In that case, various parameters such as the neck voltage value VONECK are calculated by searching a predetermined map corresponding to the differential operation sound VERSV, or by using the differential operation sound VERSV and a predetermined calculation formula. .

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the described embodiments (first to third embodiments) and can be implemented in various ways. For example, in the embodiment, device 100 is a robot comprising neck 11, arms 12, legs 13, and speaking unit 50, but for example, a robot comprising three or less of these four (eg, a robot cleaner). machine), or a robot with more driven parts. That is, each of the numbers of driven parts 10 and driving parts 20 may be an appropriate number other than three (one, two, four or more).

In addition, in the embodiment, the priority of the actions of the neck 11, the arms 12, and the legs 13 is set in the order of neck 11>legs 13>arms 12. may be set to other suitable heights.
Furthermore, in the embodiment, the drive unit is controlled so that the driving speed of the driven unit is reduced in order to suppress the operating sound of the device. For a larger device, the drive section may be controlled so that the drive amount of the driven section is reduced.

Also, in the embodiment, the device 100 is a robot, ie, an autonomously operable device, but may be other suitable devices that operate non-autonomously, such as an air conditioner.
Furthermore, in the embodiment, the control device 30 is provided in the device 100 (robot), but it may be provided outside the device, and the device may be remotely controlled by the control device provided outside. .

The invention described in the scope of claims originally attached to the application form of this application is additionally described below. The claim numbers of the claims described in the supplementary notes are as in the claims originally attached to the request of this application.
<Claim 1>
A control device for a device that operates when a driven part is driven by a driving part,
environmental sound volume acquisition means for acquiring the volume of environmental sound around the device;
Control means for controlling the driving section so as to suppress the volume of the operating sound of the device generated by driving the driven section by the driving section according to the volume of the acquired environmental sound. When,
A device control device comprising:
<Claim 2>
further comprising determination means for determining whether the volume of the environmental sound is smaller than a predetermined threshold;
The control means is characterized in that, when it is determined that the volume of the environmental sound is smaller than the threshold value, the control means controls the driving section so that the volume of the operation sound of the device is suppressed. , The control device of the equipment according to claim 1.
<Claim 3>
The determining means determines whether or not the volume of the environmental sound acquired immediately before driving the driven part by the driving part is smaller than the threshold value,
The control means controls the drive unit such that the volume of the operation sound of the device is suppressed when it is determined that the volume of the acquired environmental sound is smaller than the threshold value. 3. A control device for equipment according to claim 2.
<Claim 4>
4. The apparatus control apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said threshold value is set to a volume of an operation sound of said apparatus obtained in advance.
<Claim 5>
2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control means controls the driving section such that the lower the volume of the environmental sound, the lower the volume of the operating sound of the apparatus. Control device.
<Claim 6>
further comprising determination means for determining whether the volume of the environmental sound is lower than the volume of the operating sound of the device;
The control means controls the drive unit such that the volume of the operating sound of the device is suppressed when it is determined that the volume of the environmental sound is lower than the volume of the operating sound of the device. 2. A control device for equipment according to claim 1.
<Claim 7>
The control means performs normal control to control the drive unit regardless of the environmental sound,
The environmental sound volume acquiring means acquires the volume of the environmental sound when the driven part is not being driven by the driving part, and the environmental sound and the operation of the device when the driven part is being driven by the driving part. get the overall volume of the sound,
When the acquired volume of the environmental sound is smaller than the overall volume acquired during execution of the normal control, the determining means determines that the volume of the environmental sound is higher than the volume of the operation sound of the device. 7. The equipment control device according to claim 6, wherein it is determined that the distance is small.
<Claim 8>
8. The control device according to claim 1, wherein said control means controls said driving section so as to reduce the driving speed of said driven section in order to suppress the volume of the operating sound of said device. A control device for the equipment according to item 1.
<Claim 9>
wherein the driving section and the driven section are respectively composed of a plurality of driving sections and a plurality of driven sections, and different predetermined priorities are set in advance for operations of the plurality of driven sections;
The control means controls a driving unit corresponding to a low-priority driven unit, which is a driven unit having a lower priority for the operation, among the plurality of driving units, in order to suppress the volume of the operation sound of the device. is controlled such that the driving speed of the low-priority driven part decreases and the driving amount of the low-priority driven part decreases, and the high-priority driven part having a higher priority of the operation 9. The device control device according to claim 8, wherein the driving section corresponding to the driven section is controlled such that the driving speed of the high-priority driven section is lowered.
<Claim 10>
The device is a robot capable of speaking,
10. The device control device according to claim 1, further comprising speech control means for controlling the volume of the robot's speech sound to be louder than the environmental sound.
<Claim 11>
A control method for a device in which a driven part is driven by a driving part, comprising:
an environmental sound volume acquisition step of acquiring the volume of environmental sound around the device;
A control step of controlling the driving unit so as to suppress the volume of the operation sound of the device generated by driving the driven unit by the driving unit according to the volume of the acquired environmental sound. When,
A device control method comprising:
<Claim 12>
In the computer of the control device of the equipment that operates when the driven part is driven by the driving part,
an environmental sound volume acquisition function for acquiring the volume of environmental sound around the device;
A control function that controls the driving unit so as to suppress the volume of the operation sound of the device generated by driving the driven unit by the driving unit according to the volume of the acquired environmental sound. When,
program to realize

10 driven part 11 neck 12 arm 13 leg 20 driving part 21 neck driving part 22 arm driving part 23 leg driving part 30 control device 31 environmental volume acquisition part 32 drive control part 33 speech control part 40 main body 50 speech part 100 Device SVENV Environmental sound volume SVNECK Neck movement sound SVARM Arm movement sound SVTIRE Leg movement sound SVACT Overall actual volume

Claims (5)

A control device for a device that operates when a driven part is driven by a driving part,
environmental sound volume acquisition means for acquiring the volume of environmental sound around the device;
determining means for determining whether the volume of the environmental sound acquired by the environmental volume acquiring means is lower than the volume of the operation sound of the device;
It occurs when the driven part is driven by the driving part when the device is operated when the determination means determines that the volume of the environmental sound is smaller than the volume of the operating sound of the device. a control means for operating the device by controlling the drive unit such that the volume of the operating sound of the device is suppressed;
with
wherein the driving section and the driven section are respectively composed of a plurality of driving sections and a plurality of driven sections, and different predetermined priorities are set in advance for operations of the plurality of driven sections;
When performing control so that the volume of the operation sound of the device is suppressed, the control means controls a low-priority driven unit, which is a driven unit having a lower priority for the operation among the plurality of driving units. so that the drive speed of the low-priority driven unit is reduced.
A device control device characterized by: When controlling the drive unit corresponding to the low-priority driven unit such that the driving speed of the low-priority driven unit is reduced, the control unit reduces the drive amount of the low-priority driven unit. control to be
2. The device control device according to claim 1, characterized in that: When controlling the drive unit so that the volume of the operation sound of the device is suppressed, the control means controls the volume of the operation sound of the device to be suppressed to a lower level as the volume of the environmental sound is smaller. to control the drive unit;
3. The equipment control device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: A control method for a device in which a driven part is driven by a driving part, comprising:
an environmental sound volume acquisition step of acquiring the volume of environmental sound around the device;
a determination step of determining whether the volume of the environmental sound acquired in the environmental volume acquisition step is lower than the volume of the operation sound of the device;
Occurs when the driven unit is driven by the driving unit when the device is operated when the volume of the environmental sound is determined to be smaller than the volume of the operating sound of the device in the determining step. a control step of operating the device by controlling the driving unit such that the volume of the operating sound of the device is suppressed;
including
wherein the driving section and the driven section are respectively composed of a plurality of driving sections and a plurality of driven sections, and different predetermined priorities are set in advance for operations of the plurality of driven sections;
In the control step, when controlling to suppress the volume of the operation sound of the device, a low-priority driven unit, which is a driven unit having a lower priority for the operation, among the plurality of driving units. so that the drive speed of the low-priority driven unit is reduced.
A device control method characterized by: The computer of the equipment that operates when the driven part is driven by the driving part,
environmental sound volume acquisition means for acquiring the volume of environmental sound around the device;
determination means for determining whether or not the volume of the environmental sound acquired by the environmental volume acquisition means is lower than the volume of the operation sound of the device;
It occurs when the driven part is driven by the driving part when the device is operated when the determination means determines that the volume of the environmental sound is smaller than the volume of the operating sound of the device. Control means for operating the device by controlling the drive unit such that the volume of the operating sound of the device is suppressed;
function as
wherein the driving section and the driven section are respectively composed of a plurality of driving sections and a plurality of driven sections, and different predetermined priorities are set in advance for operations of the plurality of driven sections;
When performing control so that the volume of the operation sound of the device is suppressed, the control means controls a low-priority driven unit, which is a driven unit having a lower priority for the operation among the plurality of driving units. so that the drive speed of the low-priority driven unit is reduced.
A program characterized by

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