JP7380764B1 - Information processing system and information processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to realize an information processing system that is easy to use for users. [Solution] An information processing system (100) includes a device identification unit that identifies an information processing device that can execute a task specified by a user from among a plurality of information processing devices (robots 3) that autonomously travel within a building. (11); a selection reception unit (203) that presents device information regarding the identified information processing device to the user and allows the user to select a desired information processing device; and a selection reception unit (203) that allows the user to move the information processing device. It includes a destination reception unit (201) that accepts a destination designation, and a management unit (110) that outputs a movement command to a selected information processing device to the specified destination. [Selection diagram] Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to an information processing system and an information processing method for managing autonomously running information processing devices.

In recent years, information processing devices such as robots that move to a requested location and perform tasks have been increasingly utilized. For example, there are an increasing number of cases in which autonomous information processing devices are responsible for various tasks within buildings (delivery of packages, cleaning, security, etc.). For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a method for easily realizing inter-layer movement of a robot.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 5-210414

A wide variety of information processing devices having various functions can be installed in a building in response to various requests from users. Therefore, it may be difficult for the user to understand which information processing device to request work to.

An object of one aspect of the present invention is to simplify the selection of an information processing device and to realize an information processing system that is easy to use for users.

In order to solve the above problems, an information processing system according to one aspect of the present invention selects an information processing device that can execute a task specified by a user from among a plurality of information processing devices that autonomously travel within a building. a device specifying unit that identifies the information processing device; a selection reception unit that presents device information regarding the identified information processing device to the user and causes the user to select the desired information processing device; The information processing apparatus includes a destination reception unit that receives a designation of a destination of a processing device, and a management unit that outputs a movement command to the selected information processing device to the specified destination.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an information processing method according to one aspect of the present invention selects an information processing device that can execute a task specified by a user from among a plurality of information processing devices that autonomously travel within a building. a step of identifying a device; a step of accepting a selection by presenting device information regarding the identified information processing device to the user and allowing the user to select the desired information processing device; and a step of accepting the information by the user. The method includes a destination receiving step of receiving a designation of a destination of a processing device, and a management step of outputting a movement command to the selected information processing device to the specified destination.

The information processing system according to each aspect of the present invention may be realized by one or more computers, and in this case, by operating one or more computers as each section (software element) included in the information processing system. A control program for an information processing system that implements the information processing system on a computer, and a computer-readable recording medium on which the program is recorded also fall within the scope of the present invention.

According to one aspect of the present invention, it is possible to simplify the selection of an information processing device and to realize an information processing system that is easy to use for users.

1 is a diagram schematically showing the configuration of an information processing system according to a first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of main parts of a smartphone. FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of processing of an information processing method executed by the information processing system. FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing the configuration of an information processing system according to a second embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure of a robot database. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure of a task management table. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a queue for each robot. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a specific example of destination information. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a user interface for supporting a user to call a robot. FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of processing of an information processing method executed by the information processing system. 3 is a flowchart showing the flow of movement management processing executed by the robot management server. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of progress presentation processing performed by a smartphone. It is a figure which shows an example of the progress presentation screen displayed on a smartphone by progress presentation processing. 3 is a flowchart showing the flow of task management processing executed by the robot management server. FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of elevator movement processing executed by the robot and the elevator control device.

[Embodiment 1]
Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail.

<Information processing system>
FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing the configuration of an information processing system 100 according to the first embodiment. FIG. 1 includes a functional block diagram showing the main configuration of a robot management server 1, which is one of the devices included in the information processing system 100.

The information processing system 100 is a system that manages at least a plurality of robots 3 (information processing devices) that autonomously travel within a building, and supports the use of the robots 3 by users. The information processing system 100 includes, as an example, a robot management server 1, a smartphone 2, and a robot 3. The robot management server 1 manages a plurality of robots 3 that autonomously run within a building, and provides services using the robots 3 to users. For example, the robot management server 1 is a server device that provides services to terminal devices operated by users.

The smartphone 2 is a terminal device operated by a user who uses the robot 3. In this embodiment, the smartphone 2 is owned by each user. Each user can operate the smartphone 2 owned by the user to select a robot 3 to which he/she wishes to request work, specify a calling location, and call the selected robot 3. The calling place is a destination to which the robot 3 should move in order to perform the work specified by the user, and may be, for example, the room number of the room where the user is present. The terminal device can communicate with the robot management server 1 via a communication network, and in other examples, it is not limited to the smartphone 2, but may be a notebook PC, a desktop PC, a tablet terminal, or the like. A terminal device may be shared by multiple users. For example, one terminal device is installed in each department or room, and users belonging to that department or room can call the robot 3 using that one terminal device.

The robot 3 is an information processing device that acts on objects in the building or people related to the building by autonomously running at least inside the building and performing some kind of work using its built-in functions. be. In this embodiment, as an example, the robot 3 will be described as one that autonomously moves within one single-level (one-story) building. In another example, the robot 3 may be able to move between a plurality of buildings built on the same site by running along an outdoor path. In another example, the robot 3 may be able to move within a building with multiple floors using an elevator. An example in which a robot 3 that can move between floors using an elevator is applied will be described later in Embodiment 2.

The robot 3 may perform any type of work. In this embodiment, as an example, it is assumed that the robot 3 is a garbage collection robot that moves to a calling place designated by a user, receives garbage from the user at the calling place, and stores it. In another example, the robot 3 may be a sales robot that provides products such as food, drink, or goods to the user in exchange for payment (cash, electronic money, points, etc.). The robot 3 may be a serving robot that receives a food order from a user at a calling place designated by the user and transports the cooked food to the calling place. The robot 3 may be a delivery robot that receives a package at a call location specified by the user and delivers the package to a delivery location specified by the user.

In this embodiment, a unit of work to be performed by the robot 3 in response to one request from a user is referred to as a "task." For example, if a robot 3 receives a first work request from a first user and also receives a second work request from a second user, the robot 3 holds two tasks. It can be said that. Furthermore, when the robot 3 is executing a task in response to the first work request, the status of this robot 3 can be said to be "task processing", and the task corresponding to the second work request at this time is This can be called an "unprocessed task" (unprocessed work). Task management of the robot 3 is executed by the robot management server 1.

(Configuration of robot management server 1)
As shown in FIG. 1, the robot management server 1 includes, for example, a control section 10, a storage section 15, and an input/output interface 16. The control unit 10 controls the robot management server 1 in an integrated manner. The control unit 10 is configured by, for example, an arithmetic device such as a CPU (central processing unit) or a dedicated processor. Each part of the control unit 10, which will be described later, is realized by the above-mentioned arithmetic unit reading out a program stored in a storage device such as a ROM (read only memory) into a RAM (random access memory) and executing the program. can.

The storage unit 15 stores various data used by the control unit 10. The storage unit 15 may be configured as a storage device external to the robot management server 1, or may be configured as a built-in memory included in the robot management server 1. The above-mentioned ROM, RAM, etc. can be used as the storage unit 15.

The input/output interface 16 is a mechanism for realizing data input/output between the robot management server 1 and other devices. In this embodiment, as an example, the input/output interface 16 includes at least a communication unit that communicates with the smartphone 2 and the robot 3 via a communication network.

The control unit 10 includes at least a device identification unit 11 and a management unit 110. The control unit 10 may further include a list providing unit 12. The management unit 110 is configured to include at least the movement instruction unit 102. The management unit 110 may further include a task management unit 101, a monitoring unit 103, and a notification unit 104.

The device identifying unit 11 identifies a robot 3 that can perform a task designated by a user, from among a plurality of robots 3 that autonomously travel within a building. The list providing unit 12 provides the list (device information) of the robots 3 specified by the device specifying unit 11 to the smartphone 2 of the user. The list may include, for example, identification information or a robot name for uniquely identifying the robot 3 on the information processing system 100. In the following, identification information for uniquely identifying the robot 3 on the information processing system 100 will be referred to as a robot ID.

The management unit 110 executes various information processing for managing each robot 3 belonging to a building. Specifically, the task management unit 101 of the management unit 110 manages the assignment of tasks to the robots 3 or the processing progress of tasks assigned to each robot 3. The movement instruction unit 102 of the management unit 110 outputs a movement command to the robot 3 selected by the user to a destination specified by the user regarding the task to be processed.

The monitoring unit 103 of the management unit 110 monitors the status of each robot 3. More specifically, the monitoring unit 103 receives information indicating the current situation from the robot 3 and grasps the current situation of the robot 3. In this embodiment, the status of the robot 3 is classified into, for example, (1) at rest, (2) in movement, and (3) in task processing. The monitoring unit 103 may receive information indicating the current position of the robot 3 from the robot 3 and grasp the current position of the robot 3. For example, map information of a building is shared between devices in the information processing system 100, and the robot 3 sends coordinate information of the current location or room identification information of the room it is currently in as information indicating the current location to the monitoring unit. 103.

The notification unit 104 of the management unit 110 notifies the smartphone 2 of the user who requested the robot 3 to perform the work, of the status or current position of the robot 3 ascertained by the monitoring unit 103. For example, the notification unit 104 may notify that the robot 3 to which the user has requested a task has started moving to a destination specified by the user in response to a movement command from the movement instruction unit 102. Furthermore, the notification unit 104 may notify the user of the current position of the moving robot 3. For example, the notification unit 104 transmits a message indicating that the robot 3 has started moving or information indicating the current position of the robot 3 to the user's smartphone 2, thereby notifying the user of this information. Can be notified.

According to the above configuration, the information processing system indicates to the user that the robot 3 has started moving to the destination in order to respond to the user's request, and where the robot 3 is currently moving. can do. Thereby, the user can successively grasp that his or her turn has come and where the robot 3 is currently passing. In this way, by predicting the arrival of the robot 3, the user can wait for his or her turn without feeling anxious or stressed about not knowing how long he or she will have to wait.

(Configuration of smartphone 2)
FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing the main configuration of the smartphone 2. As shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the smartphone 2 includes, for example, a control section 20, a communication section 21, an operation section 22, and a display section 23. The smartphone 2 may include various members that are generally included in the smartphone 2 in addition to those shown in FIG. 2 . The control unit 20 controls the smartphone 2 in an integrated manner. The control unit 20 is configured by, for example, an arithmetic device such as a CPU or a dedicated processor. Each part of the control unit 20, which will be described later, can be realized by the above-mentioned arithmetic unit reading a program stored in a storage device such as a ROM into a RAM or the like and executing the program.

The communication unit 21 realizes data transmission and reception between the smartphone 2 and other devices via a communication network. The operation unit 22 is an input device for accepting user operations. The operation unit 22 inputs an instruction signal corresponding to the received user's operation to the control unit 20. As an example, the operation section 22 may constitute a touch panel together with the display section 23. The display unit 23 is an output device that visually presents the information processed by the control unit 20 to the user. For example, the display unit 23 is configured by a liquid crystal display (LCD), an organic EL (electro-luminescence) display, or the like. For example, the display unit 23 may display user interface (UI) components of a robot calling application for selecting the robot 3, specifying the robot calling location, and calling the robot 3.

The control unit 20 includes at least a destination reception unit 201 and a selection reception unit 203. The control unit 20 may further include a query execution unit 202, a call execution unit 204, and a status notification unit 205.

The destination reception unit 201 accepts the user's designation of the destination of the robot 3. The query execution unit 202 receives the type of work desired by the user and inquires of the robot management server 1 about robots 3 that can perform the specified type of work. The type of work performed by the robot 3 is hereinafter referred to as a work type. How to set the work type for classifying the group of robots 3 is arbitrary. For example, robots with the same garbage collection function, such as work type 1 "garbage collection (plastic bottles)", work type 2 "garbage collection (confidential documents)", work type 3 "garbage collection (general garbage)", etc. 3, the robots 3 may be classified according to the type of garbage to be collected. In another example, the robots 3 are classified according to general functional differences, such as work type 1 "garbage collection", work type 2 "sales", work type 3 "waiting", work type 4 "delivery", etc. You may.

For example, the query execution unit 202 sends a query to the robot management server 1 that includes the work type specified by the user and identification information for uniquely managing the smartphone 2 of the user on the information processing system 100. Send. Identification information for uniquely managing the smartphone 2 on the information processing system 100 is hereinafter referred to as a terminal ID.

In this way, the query execution unit 202 may request the robot management server 1 for a list of robots 3 that can perform the work desired by the user. In other words, the query is a robot list request signal that requests the robot management server 1 for a list of robots 3 that can perform a specified work type. The query execution unit 202 may include the destination received by the destination reception unit 201 in the above-described query.

The selection reception unit 203 presents device information regarding the robot 3 specified by the robot management server 1 to the user, and allows the user to select a desired robot 3. For example, the selection reception unit 203 causes the display unit 23 to display a list of robots 3 that the device identification unit 11 of the robot management server 1 has identified as being capable of performing the work desired by the user. The selection reception unit 203 allows the user to select a desired robot 3 by displaying each of the robots 3 listed in the above-mentioned list on the display unit 23 together with UI components that allow selection operations.

It does not matter which one of the process in which the destination receiving unit 201 accepts the designation of the destination and the process in which the selection accepting unit 203 accepts the selection of the robot 3 are executed first. For example, after the movement destination reception unit 201 first receives the specification of the movement destination, and the query execution unit 202 sends a query including the movement destination and work type to the robot management server 1, the selection reception unit 203 The selection of the desired robot 3 may be accepted from the list. In another example, after the selection reception unit 203 receives the selection of the desired robot 3 from the user via the list displayed on the display unit 23, the destination reception unit 201 specifies the destination of the robot 3. You may accept it.

The calling execution unit 204 calls the robot 3 selected by the user to the robot management server 1 . As an example, the call execution unit 204 may generate a request indicating that the robot 3 is to perform a task, and send it to the robot management server 1. The request is made by the robot management server 1 in order to have the robot 3 selected by the user come to the destination (calling location) specified by the user in order to have the robot 3 selected by the user perform the work desired by the user. This is a robot call signal to request a robot. For example, the calling execution unit 204 generates a request that includes the terminal ID of the user's smartphone 2, the robot ID of the robot 3 selected by the user, and the calling location (destination of the robot 3) specified by the user. You may.

The task management unit 101 of the robot management server 1 that has received the above-mentioned request can perform various task management, such as assigning a task based on the request to the selected robot 3.

The status notification unit 205 notifies the user of the current status of the robot 3 provided by the notification unit 104 of the robot management server 1. For example, the status notification unit 205 identifies the current status of the robot 3 according to the status signal transmitted from the notification unit 104. Then, the situation notification unit 205 may cause the display unit 23 to display a situation indicator that visually represents the situation of the specified robot 3 or the current position of the robot 3. More specifically, the status notification unit 205 may cause the display unit 23 to display a character string explaining that the robot 3 has started moving in order to respond to a user's work request. Further, the status notification unit 205 may cause the display unit 23 to display a character string or a map indicating the current position of the robot 3.

(Configuration of robot 3)
The robot 3 includes, for example, a control section (not shown), and the control section includes a movement control section 301, a task processing section 302, and a reporting section 303, as shown in FIG. Each part of these control units can be realized by the above-mentioned arithmetic unit reading a program stored in a storage device such as a ROM into a RAM or the like and executing the program. In addition to what is shown in FIG. 1, the robots 3 may have functions related to the work they each perform, and may also be equipped with a self-propelled mechanism that self-propelled robots generally have. Good too.

The movement control unit 301 controls the self-propelled mechanism of the robot 3 to move the robot 3 to a specified destination. When the robot 3 receives a movement command output from the movement instruction unit 102 of the robot management server 1, the movement control unit 301 starts the movement of the robot 3 with the movement destination indicated in the movement command as the destination.

The task processing unit 302 controls functions related to the work requested by the user and processes the task at a designated calling location (movement destination). When the task processing unit 302 arrives at the calling location, it may automatically process the task, or it may process the task according to an instruction or operation from a user waiting there.

The reporting unit 303 reports the status of the robot 3 to the robot management server 1. For example, the reporting unit 303 may transmit status information indicating the current status of the robot 3 to the robot management server 1. In this embodiment, the status of the robot 3 is classified into, for example, (1) at rest, (2) on the move, and (3) on task processing.

The status "dormant" means that the robot 3 does not hold any tasks and is in an idle state. The dormant robot 3 may stop at the place where it finished processing the last task and wait for a movement command for the next task, or it may return to a predetermined dock provided in the building and perform the next task there. It may also be waiting for a task movement command. The status "moving" means that the robot 3 is moving toward the calling location of the task in order to process the task at the head of the processing order. The robot 3 may be in a "moving" state from when it receives a movement command including a movement destination from the movement instruction unit 102 and starts moving until it arrives at the movement destination. The status "task processing" means that the robot 3 has arrived at the destination (calling location) and is in the process of performing some work in response to a user's request. The period from when the robot 3 issues a signal indicating that it has arrived at its destination until when it issues a signal indicating that the task has been completed may be considered as a "task processing" situation. After completing the task, the robot 3 transitions from task processing to resting, and upon receiving the destination corresponding to the next task from the movement instruction unit 102, transitions to moving.

The reporting unit 303 may periodically generate situation information and send it to the robot management server 1, or may send changed situation information to the robot management server 1 when the situation changes. You may do both.

For example, when the robot 3 receives a movement command from the robot management server 1 while the robot 3 is at rest, the movement control unit 301 starts movement to the specified movement destination. As a result, the status of the robot 3 changes from resting to moving. At this time, the reporting unit 303 sends the robot management server 1 status information "movement start" indicating that the robot 3 has started moving, thereby informing the robot management server 1 that the status has transitioned to moving. You may report to

For example, when the robot 3 arrives at the destination and the movement control unit 301 finishes controlling the movement mechanism, the task processing unit 302 controls functions related to the work requested by the user and processes the task. do. As a result, the status of the robot 3 changes from moving to task processing. At this time, the reporting unit 303 transmits the status information "arrived at destination" indicating that the robot 3 has arrived at the movement destination to the robot management server 1, thereby indicating that the status has changed from moving to task processing. This may be reported to the robot management server 1.

For example, when the robot 3 completes a task, it stops on the spot and waits for the next movement command. As a result, the status of the robot 3 changes from task processing to rest. At this time, the reporting unit 303 sends status information “task completed” indicating that the robot 3 has completed the task to the robot management server 1, thereby indicating that the status has transitioned from task processing to inactive. It may also be reported to the robot management server 1.

The reporting unit 303 may add the current position of the robot 3 to the above-mentioned situation information and transmit it to the robot management server 1. In addition, while the robot 3 is moving, the reporting unit 303 includes the status "moving" and the current position at predetermined time intervals (for example, every 10 seconds to several minutes). The situation information may be sent to the robot management server 1.

<Processing flow of robot calling phase>
FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of processing of the information processing method executed by the information processing system 100. The information processing method shown in FIG. 3 is an information processing method that supports calling a robot by a user, and is executed by the information processing system 100 in the robot calling phase.

The information processing method according to the present embodiment includes a device specifying step (step S106) of specifying a robot 3 capable of executing a task specified by a user from among a plurality of robots 3 autonomously running in a building; a selection reception step (step S110) in which a list (device information) regarding robots 3 that have been selected is presented to the user and the user selects a desired robot 3; and a movement step in which the user designates a destination for the robot 3. The process includes a first reception step (step S102) and a management step (step S115) of outputting a movement command to the selected robot 3 to a specified movement destination. An example of the information processing method will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 3 as follows.

In step S101, the smartphone 2 may start a robot calling application, for example, in accordance with a user's operation via the operation unit 22. The robot calling application is a program that enables the smartphone 2 to execute the functions of each part of the control unit 20 shown in FIG. When the smartphone 2 starts the robot calling application, the smartphone 2 may acquire the terminal ID of the smartphone 2 used in the robot calling application.

In step S102 (movement destination reception step), the destination reception unit 201 causes the display unit 23 to display a calling place designation field for inputting the place where the user wants the robot 3 to come, and displays the destination of the robot 3. Accepts specifications. The destination reception unit 201 may execute step S102 after step S110 (selection reception step), which will be described later.

In step S103, the query execution unit 202 displays a list of work types on the display unit 23 in a selectable manner, and allows the user to select the work type of the work that the robot 3 wants to perform. The query execution unit 202 may execute step S103 before step S102.

In step S104, the query execution unit 202 generates a query and sends it to the robot management server 1. For example, the query execution unit 202 may generate a query that includes the terminal ID of the user's smartphone 2, the calling location (movement destination) specified by the user in step S102, and the work type specified by the user. good.

In step S105, upon receiving the query from the smartphone 2, the robot management server 1 advances the process from YES in step S105 to step S106.

In step S106, the device identifying unit 11 identifies the robot 3 that can perform the work of the work type specified in the query. For example, the storage unit 15 of the robot management server 1 stores a database of robots 3 belonging to a building, and the device identification unit 11 identifies a set of robots 3 that can perform a specified work type. It may also be extracted from the database. At this time, the device specifying unit 11 may exclude from the set robots 3 that cannot go to the destination specified in the query, or may exclude busy robots 3 from the set. For example, busy information indicating the degree of busyness of the robot 3 may be managed in the database. The busy information may be the number of unprocessed tasks that the robot 3 has, that is, the number of unprocessed tasks (the number of unprocessed work), or it may be the number of unprocessed tasks that the robot 3 has, or it may be the number of unprocessed tasks that the robot 3 has. It may be the time it takes to respond to a user's request, that is, the waiting time. The device identifying unit 11 may exclude a robot 3 whose busy information exceeds a reference value from the list as a busy robot.

In step S107, the list providing unit 12 generates a list for the set of robots 3 specified by the device specifying unit 11. The list providing unit 12 may sort the list based on predetermined conditions. For example, the list providing unit 12 may generate a list of the robots 3 in the order in which the current position of the robot 3 is closest to the specified destination. Alternatively, the list providing unit 12 may generate a list of robots 3 in descending order of the number of unprocessed tasks. Alternatively, the list providing unit 12 may generate a list of robots 3 in descending order of waiting time.

The list providing unit 12 may generate a list including the robot ID of the robot 3 and the types of work that the robot 3 can perform. If the busy information of the robots 3 is managed in the database described above, the list providing unit 12 may include the busy information of each robot 3 in the list.

In step S108, the list providing unit 12 provides the generated list to the smartphone 2 that is the sender of the query. The list providing unit 12 can identify the destination of the sender smartphone 2 based on the terminal ID included in the query, and can transmit the list to the smartphone 2 via the input/output interface 16.

In step S109, upon receiving the list of robots 3 from the robot management server 1, the smartphone 2 advances the process from YES in step S109 to step S110.

In step S110 (selection reception step), the selection reception unit 203 of the smartphone 2 causes the display unit 23 to display the list received in step S109. The selection reception unit 203 displays the list along with a UI component that allows the user to select a desired robot 3, and receives the selection of the robot 3 by the user.

In step S111, the selection reception unit 203 waits for a user's operation to select the robot 3. Assume that one of the robots 3 is selected via the UI parts displayed on the display unit 23, and a UI part (for example, a call button) instructing to call is pressed. In this case, the smartphone 2 advances the process from YES in step S111 to step S112.

In step S112, the call execution unit 204 generates a request and sends it to the robot management server 1. For example, the calling execution unit 204 sends a request that includes the terminal ID of the smartphone 2 of the requesting user, the robot ID of the robot 3 selected by the user, and the destination (calling location) specified by the user. May be generated. If the destination specified in step S102 is temporarily managed in association with the user's terminal ID when the query is received (step S105), the call execution unit 204 selects the destination as the destination. A request may be generated by omitting it.

In step S113, upon receiving the request from the smartphone 2, the management unit 110 of the robot management server 1 advances the process from YES in step S113 to step S114.

In step S114, the management unit 110 determines whether the robot 3 indicated in the request is at rest. If the status of the robot 3 is inactive, the management unit 110 advances the process from YES in step S114 to step S115. If the robot 3 is not at rest, that is, if it is moving or processing a task, the management unit 110 advances the process from NO in step S114 to step S116.

In step S115 (management step), the movement instruction unit 102 outputs a movement command to the robot 3 specified in the request to the destination specified in the request. Here, the task management unit 101 may manage tasks for each robot 3 using a queue, and stores the task corresponding to the request received in step S113 at the head of the queue of the selected robot 3. You may.

In step S116, the task management unit 101 adds the task corresponding to the request to the end of the queue of the robot 3 indicated in the request.

In step S117, the notification unit 104 may transmit a status signal corresponding to the current status of the robot 3 to the client's smartphone 2. Specifically, the notification unit 104 may transmit to the smartphone 2 a status signal indicating that the robot 3 selected by the user is currently responding to a previous request. .

As described above, the information processing system 100 completes the robot calling phase and moves to the robot status monitoring phase. The robot status monitoring phase is a phase in which the status of the robot 3 called by the user is sequentially monitored and an information processing method is executed to notify the user of the grasped status. Details of the robot situation monitoring phase will be explained in detail in the second embodiment with reference to FIGS. 10 to 13.

<Effect>
As described above, the information processing system 100 according to the first embodiment identifies an information processing device that can execute a task specified by a user from among a plurality of information processing devices (robots 3) that autonomously travel within a building. a device identification unit 11; a selection reception unit 203 that presents device information (list) regarding the identified information processing devices to the user and allows the user to select a desired information processing device; The information processing apparatus includes a destination receiving section 201 that accepts a specification of a destination, and a management section 110 (movement instruction section 102) that outputs a movement instruction to a selected information processing apparatus to the specified destination.

As described above, the information processing method according to Embodiment 1 is a device that identifies an information processing device that can execute a task specified by a user among a plurality of information processing devices (robots 3) that autonomously move within a building. a specifying step (step S106); a selection receiving step (step S110) in which device information (list) regarding the specified information processing device is presented to the user and the user selects a desired information processing device; a moving destination receiving step (step S102) that receives the designation of the moving destination of the information processing device; a management step (step S115) that outputs a moving command to the selected information processing device to the specified moving destination; including.

According to the above configuration or method, the information processing system allows the user to select a desired information processing device from among the information processing devices that can execute the task specified by the user, and selects the selected information processing device. is moved to the destination specified by the user.

In this way, even if the user does not know which information processing device to request a task, by simply specifying the desired task, the user can receive information about information processing devices that can perform the task. Obtainable. Then, the user can easily select the information processing device to request the work, specify the call location (movement destination) of the information processing device, and easily send the desired information processing device to the desired information processing device. Can be called to the calling location.

As a result, it is possible to simplify the selection of information processing devices and to realize an information processing system that is easy to use for users.

[Embodiment 2]
Other embodiments of the invention will be described below. For convenience of explanation, members having the same functions as the members described in the above embodiment are given the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will not be repeated.

<Information processing system>
FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing the configuration of an information processing system 200 according to the second embodiment. The information processing system 200 differs from the information processing system 100 according to the first embodiment in that the information processing system 200 further includes an elevator control device 4.

In this embodiment, the robot 3 can move within a building consisting of multiple floors across floors using an elevator. In response to the hall call from the robot 3, the elevator control device 4 moves the car to the departure floor where the robot 3 is located, and in response to the destination floor call from the robot 3, moves the car to the destination floor specified by the robot 3. The robot raises and lowers the basket up to the maximum height and supports the movement of robot 3 across floors.

The elevator control device 4 is configured to communicate with a terminal device of an elevator user, receive information indicating the departure floor of the user from the terminal device, and respond to the user's request regarding use of the elevator. You can adopt what is available. The elevator control device 4 can receive an elevator usage request from the robot 3. The elevator usage request includes information indicating the departure floor and destination floor of the robot 3. Further, the elevator control device 4 can provide information on one or more cars to be controlled to the robot management server 1 or the robot 3 in the same manner as providing information to a terminal device. That is, the information processing system according to each embodiment can be easily applied to an existing elevator system installed in a building.

(Configuration of elevator control device 4)
As shown in FIG. 4, the elevator control device 4 includes, as an example, a control section 40 and an input/output interface 46. The control unit 40 controls the elevator control device 4 in an integrated manner. The control unit 40 is configured by, for example, an arithmetic device such as a CPU or a dedicated processor. Each part of the control unit 40, which will be described later, can be realized by the above-mentioned arithmetic unit reading a program stored in a storage device such as a ROM into a RAM or the like and executing the program.

The input/output interface 46 is a mechanism for realizing data input/output between the elevator control device 4 and other devices. In this embodiment, as an example, the input/output interface 46 includes at least a communication unit that communicates with the robot management server 1 and the robot 3 via a communication network.

The control unit 40 may include, for example, a car control unit 41 and a car information providing unit 42. The car control unit 41 controls each car of an elevator installed in a building. In response to an elevator use request received from the robot 3, the car control unit 41 communicates with a power mechanism (not shown) of each car, and executes operations such as raising and lowering the car, stopping the car, and opening/closing the door.

Specifically, when the car control unit 41 receives an elevator use request specifying a departure floor and a destination floor from the robot 3, the car control unit 41 moves the car to the departure floor, causes the robot 3 to get on the car, and returns to the destination floor. move it to. The car control unit 41 may send a signal (a boarding instruction) to the robot 3 to prompt the robot 3 to get on the car when the car arrives at the departure floor, or send a signal to the robot 3 to get off the car when the car arrives at the destination floor. (Get off the train) may also be sent.

When controlling a plurality of cars, the elevator control device 4 selects the optimal one to allocate to the robot 3 based on the departure floor and destination floor specified by the robot 3 and the current floor indicating the current location of each car. You may choose a basket. After determining the car to be assigned to the robot 3, the elevator control device 4 may notify the robot 3 of a car number (for example, No. 1, No. 2, ..., No. N, etc.) that identifies the determined car. .

The car information providing unit 42 generates car information including the current floor of the car, and transmits the car information to the robot management server 1 via the input/output interface 46 . The cart information providing unit 42 may periodically provide the latest cart information to the robot management server 1, or may provide cart information to the robot management server 1 in response to a request from the robot management server 1. It's okay. Further, the car information providing unit 42 may provide car information to the robot management server 1 every time an event of the robot 3 getting on and off the car occurs. The car information includes at least the current floor indicating the current location of the car, and may further include a car number for identifying the car if there are multiple cars to be controlled.

(Configuration of robot 3)
The movement control unit 301 according to this embodiment further has a function of moving between floors using an elevator. Specifically, if the movement destination instructed by the movement instruction unit 102 of the robot management server 1 is different from the floor where the robot 3 is currently located, the movement control unit 301 indicates the floor where the robot 3 is currently located as the departure floor and the movement destination. An elevator use request with the selected floor as the destination floor is generated and transmitted to the elevator control device 4. Then, the movement control unit 301 starts moving to the elevator hall known in advance. When the movement control unit 301 receives the car number of the car to board from the elevator control device 4, it may move the robot 3 to a position where it can board the car with the designated car number.

When the movement control unit 301 receives a boarding instruction from the elevator control device 4, the movement control unit 301 moves the robot 3 into the car that has arrived at the departure floor. When the car arrives at the destination floor and receives an alighting instruction from the elevator control device 4, the movement control unit 301 moves the robot 3 out of the car. The movement control unit 301 moves the robot 3 from the place where it got off the car to the called room according to the movement destination.

The reporting unit 303 may report to the robot management server 1 in more detail regarding the “moving” status of the robot 3 and the status of moving between floors using an elevator. As an example, in this embodiment, among the situations of (1) at rest, (2) while moving, and (3) during task processing, (2) while moving further includes (2a) while moving, and (2b) elevator (2c) Traveling in an elevator; (2d) Getting off an elevator.

The status "moving" means that the robot 3 is currently moving horizontally without using an elevator. For example, when the robot 3 is moving from the current position to another room on the same floor, when the robot 3 is moving from the current position to the elevator hall, from the place where the robot 3 gets off the elevator to the calling place room ``While moving'' includes times such as moving to. The reporting unit 303 changes the status from resting to moving by transmitting status information “movement start” indicating that the robot 3 has started moving in response to a movement command to the robot management server 1. The transition may be reported to the robot management server 1.

The situation "getting on the elevator" means that the robot 3 got on the elevator car. The reporting unit 303 transmits the situation information "Elevator boarding" to the robot when the robot 3 starts moving into the car or finishes moving into the car in response to a boarding instruction from the elevator control device 4. It may also be sent to the management server 1. Thereby, the robot management server 1 can grasp that the status has changed from "moving" to "getting on the elevator." When there are multiple cars controlled by the elevator control device 4, the reporting unit 303 may include the car number of the car specified by the elevator control device 4 in the above-mentioned situation information and report it.

The status "moving in an elevator" means that the robot 3 is in the process of moving between floors within the car. The reporting unit 303 may transmit the status information "moving in an elevator" to the robot management server 1 when the elevator car starts moving up and down, but this may be omitted. Even if the robot management server 1 does not receive the situation information "Moving in an elevator", after receiving the situation information "Getting into an elevator", the robot management server 1 does not allow the robot 3 to move in an elevator until it receives the situation information "Getting off an elevator", which will be described later. It may be determined that the device is on the move.

The situation "getting off the elevator" means that the robot 3 got off the elevator car. The reporting unit 303 sends the situation information "getting off the elevator" to robot management when the robot 3 starts moving to get out of the car or goes out of the car in response to an instruction to get off the elevator from the elevator control device 4. It may also be sent to server 1. Thereby, the robot management server 1 can grasp that the status has changed from "moving in an elevator" to "getting off the elevator." When there are multiple cars controlled by the elevator control device 4, the reporting unit 303 may include the car number of the car specified by the elevator control device 4 in the above-mentioned situation information and report it.

The reporting unit 303 omits reporting of the situation information during horizontal movement from the place where the car is disembarked to the destination, and when the robot 3 arrives at the specified movement destination, the situation information “arrival at destination” is sent to the robot management. It may also be sent to server 1. Even if the robot management server 1 does not receive a report that the robot 3 is moving horizontally, after receiving the status information ``getting off the elevator'' and until receiving the status information ``arriving at destination,'' the robot 3 continues to ``move'' towards the destination. It may be determined that it is "medium". Then, upon receiving the status information "arrived at destination", the robot management server 1 may determine that the status of the robot 3 has transitioned to "processing task".

As described above, the reporting unit 303 may transmit the status information to the robot management server 1 every time an elevator ascending/lowering event occurs, or periodically transmit the current position of the robot 3 to the robot management server 1. You may.

(Configuration of robot management server 1)
In this embodiment, the monitoring unit 103 of the robot management server 1 monitors the status of each robot 3, including the movement of each robot 3 using an elevator. More specifically, the monitoring unit 103 receives situation information from the robot 3 and acquires car information provided from the elevator control device 4 to grasp the situation of the robot 3.

When the monitoring unit 103 receives the status information "start moving" from the robot 3, it determines that the status of the robot 3 has transitioned from "resting" to "moving."

When the monitoring unit 103 receives the status information "getting in the elevator" and the car number from the robot 3, it determines that the status of the robot 3 has transitioned to "getting in the elevator." Further, the monitoring unit 103 acquires the current floor of the car with the received car number, and specifies the floor on which the robot 3 has boarded (hereinafter referred to as the boarding floor). When a predetermined second (for example, 5 seconds) has elapsed since receiving the status information, the monitoring unit 103 may estimate that the status of the robot 3 has transitioned to "moving in an elevator."

When the monitoring unit 103 receives the status information "getting off the elevator" and the car number from the robot 3, it determines that the status of the robot 3 has transitioned from "moving in the elevator" to "getting off the elevator." Furthermore, the monitoring unit 103 acquires the current floor of the car with the received car number, and specifies the floor on which the robot 3 alights (hereinafter referred to as the alighting floor). When a predetermined second (for example, 5 seconds) has elapsed since receiving the status information, the monitoring unit 103 may estimate that the status of the robot 3 has changed to "moving" again.

When the monitoring unit 103 receives the status information "arrived at destination" from the robot 3, it determines that the status of the robot 3 has transitioned to "task processing in progress."

The notification unit 104 may sequentially transmit the current status of the robot 3 determined by the monitoring unit 103 to the user's smartphone 2 as a status signal representing the status.

For example, when the monitoring unit 103 determines that the status of the robot 3 has transitioned from “resting” to “moving,” the notification unit 104 may send a status signal indicating “starting moving” to the smartphone 2. good. The smartphone 2 that has received the status signal interprets that the robot 3 has finished responding to the previous request and has started moving to respond to the user's request.

For example, when the monitoring unit 103 determines that the status of the robot 3 has transitioned to “boarding an elevator” and specifies the boarding floor, the notification unit 104 sends a status signal indicating “boarding the elevator, boarding floor = f1”. It may also be sent to the smartphone 2. The smartphone 2 that has received the situation signal interprets that the robot 3 has boarded the elevator on the f1 floor.

Thereafter, the notification unit 104 may transmit a status signal indicating "moving in an elevator" to the smartphone 2 until it is determined that the status has transitioned to "getting off the elevator", or may omit the transmission. It's okay.

For example, when the monitoring unit 103 determines that the status of the robot 3 has transitioned to “getting off from the elevator” and specifies the getting off floor, the notifying unit 104 sends a status signal indicating “getting off the elevator, getting off the floor = f2”. It may also be sent to the smartphone 2. The smartphone 2 that has received the situation signal interprets that the robot 3 has gotten off the elevator at the f2 floor.

For example, when the monitoring unit 103 receives the status information “arrived at destination” from the robot 3, the notification unit 104 may transmit a status signal indicating “arrived at destination” to the smartphone 2. The smartphone 2 that receives the situation signal interprets that the robot 3 has arrived at the destination specified by the user.

As described above, when the robot 3 selected by the user moves to a specified destination using an elevator, the notification unit 104 (management unit 110) determines the current position ( The boarding floor or the exiting floor) may be notified to the user.

According to the above configuration, the information processing system presents to the user the position of the elevator car in which the robot 3 rides to travel to the destination. Thereby, the user can wait for the arrival of the robot 3 while specifically grasping the movement status of the robot 3 across the hierarchy.

<Data structure>
(robot database)
The robot management server 1 may manage information about the robots 3 belonging to a building using a database. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the data structure of the robot database. The robot database is stored in the storage unit 15, for example. The data structure of the data handled by the robot management server 1 is shown as an array or queue as an example, and there is no intention to limit the data structure to the format shown, and the data structure handled by the robot management server 1 may be modified as appropriate. data structure may be employed. The same applies to other figures showing data structures.

The robot database includes, for example, each element of robot ID, function, position, situation, number of unprocessed tasks (busy information), and movement speed. The robot ID is identification information for uniquely identifying the robot 3 on the information processing system 100. In addition to the robot ID, the name of the robot 3 may be stored.

The function is information indicating the type of work that the robot 3 can perform. In this embodiment, the robots 3 belonging to the building are robots that have a function of collecting garbage, and each robot 3 is classified according to the type of work corresponding to the type of garbage to be collected.

The position is information indicating the current position of the robot 3. In this embodiment, the position and destination of the robot 3 are represented by a combination of a floor and a room number.

The situation is information indicating the current situation of the robot 3. In this embodiment, as described above, the status of the robot 3 is (1) at rest, (2a) moving, (2b) getting on the elevator, (2c) moving on the elevator, (2d) getting off the elevator, ( 3) It is classified as either task processing in progress.

The number of unprocessed tasks is information indicating the number of tasks for which the robot 3 has not completed its work. The tasks that the robot 3 is currently handling may or may not be counted in the number of unprocessed tasks. In addition to the number of unprocessed tasks, waiting time may also be stored.

The moving speed is information indicating the moving speed as the moving performance of the robot 3. The robot management server 1 can calculate the time required for the robot 3 to move by referring to the distance that the robot 3 has to move to complete the task and the moving speed. In a configuration in which waiting time is not calculated, or in a configuration in which travel time is not considered in calculating waiting time, the element of travel speed may be omitted in the database.

The device identifying unit 11 can refer to the function column of the database shown in FIG. 5 to extract a set of robots 3 that can execute the work specified by the user.

The list providing unit 12 refers to the column for the number of unprocessed tasks in the database, and generates a list sorted in descending order of the number of unprocessed tasks, or excludes robots 3 whose number of unprocessed tasks is greater than or equal to a predetermined value from the list. You can The list providing unit 12 can also estimate the waiting time for each robot 3 based on the number of unprocessed tasks and the movement speed, and generate a list sorted in descending order of waiting time. Calculation of the waiting time may be executed by the task management unit 101, as described later.

The monitoring unit 103 determines the current status of the robot 3 according to the content of the status information reported from the reporting unit 303 of the robot 3, and updates the status column. When the monitoring unit 103 receives a report of the current position from the robot 3, it may update the position column.

(Task management table)
The robot management server 1 may manage requests received from the user's smartphone 2 using a task management table. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the data structure of the task management table. The task management table is stored in the storage unit 15, for example.

The task management table includes, for example, the following elements: task ID, processing order, calling date and time, terminal ID, robot ID, movement destination, and progress. The task ID is identification information for uniquely identifying one task corresponding to one request received from the smartphone 2.

The processing order is information indicating the order of the task among the tasks held by one robot 3. The task management unit 101 usually determines the processing order of tasks in descending order of the date and time when requests were received from the smartphone 2. The task management unit 101 may move up the processing order by one every time one task is completed. Further, the task management unit 101 may update the processing order of the task whose processing has been completed to a null value.

The call date and time indicates the date and time when the request was issued from the smartphone 2 or the date and time when the request was received by the robot management server 1. The terminal ID is identification information of the smartphone 2 that issued the request. The robot ID is identification information of the robot 3 selected by the user. The destination is identification information of the calling location specified by the user. Progress is information indicating the processing progress of the task. “Processing” means that the robot 3 is currently responding to the task. If the user starts moving to the destination corresponding to the task, it may be determined that the task is being handled. “Unprocessed” means that the robot 3 has not yet started moving regarding the task. "Complete" means that the robot 3 has completed the task.

When the task management unit 101 receives a request from the smartphone 2, it assigns a task ID and a processing order and registers it in the task management table shown in FIG. 6. The task management unit 101 may associate a progress of "unprocessed" with a task whose processing order is not the first (for example, "1").

The movement instruction unit 102 reads the robot ID and movement destination of the task whose processing order is first from the task management table, and instructs the robot 3 corresponding to the robot ID to move to the movement destination. Output the command. When the robot 3 starts moving in response to this movement command, the task management unit 101 may update the progress of the task from "unprocessed" to "processing". When the task management unit 101 receives the status information “task completed” from the robot 3, it may update the progress of the task from “in progress” to “completed”.

(Queue)
When the tasks in the task management table shown in FIG. 6 are arranged in processing order for each robot 3, they can be represented as a queue as shown in FIG. The task management unit 101 may create a queue for each robot 3, store it in the storage unit 15, and refer to it as appropriate. However, the queue shown in FIG. 7 is shown for the purpose of helping understanding the functions of the task management section 101, and the robot management server 1 does not necessarily create or maintain such a queue.

In the illustrated example, tasks are stored in the order in which they were requested, starting from the left end of the queue. The task at the head (left end) of the queue is the task whose processing order is 1, and the second task from the left is the task whose processing order is 2. When a request is issued to a robot 3 whose queue is empty, that is, a robot 3 that is at rest, the task management unit 101 stores the task corresponding to the request at the head of the queue, and performs the movement corresponding to the task. A movement command indicating the destination is output to the robot 3.

When a request is issued to a robot 3 in which one or more tasks are stored in a queue, the task management unit 101 stores the task corresponding to the request at the end of the queue of the robot 3.

The task management unit 101 may calculate busy information for each robot 3 based on the state of the queue. For example, the task management unit 101 may set the number of tasks stored in the queue as the number of unprocessed tasks. The task management unit 101 stores the identified number of unprocessed tasks in the column for the number of unprocessed tasks shown in FIG.

The task management unit 101 may calculate the waiting time based on the number of unprocessed tasks and the average processing time per task. Alternatively, the task management unit 101 may determine the number of unprocessed tasks, the average processing time per task, the movement distance of the movement route specified based on the movement destination associated with each task in the queue, and the robot The waiting time may be calculated based on the moving speed of No. 3.

The list providing unit 12 can include this busy information when generating a list of robots 3 that can perform the work desired by the user. Furthermore, the list providing unit 12 may exclude from the list robots 3 whose busy information exceeds a reference value. The selection receiving unit 203 of the smartphone 2 that has received such a list can present to the user a list of robots 3 whose busy information is less than or equal to the reference value, that is, which are not busy.

According to the above-described configuration, the information processing system can present to the user a list (device information) regarding robots 3 (information processing devices) whose busyness level is below the standard. In other words, the presented list does not include information regarding robots 3 that are highly busy and are delayed in executing designated tasks. Therefore, the user can use a robot that has a relatively short time required for the robot 3 to be able to respond to movement commands (that is, the time required for the robot 3 to finish responding to all movement commands that it has already received). can be easily selected.

The busy information may be, for example, the number of unprocessed tasks, which is information indicating the number of unprocessed tasks that the robot 3 should process in response to requests from one or more other users. The selection receiving unit 203 of the smartphone 2 that has received the list including the number of unprocessed tasks may, for example, send the number of unprocessed tasks indicating the number of unprocessed tasks among the tasks assigned to the robot 3 as busy information. It may be presented together with the list of robots 3.

According to the above configuration, the information processing system presents the list of robots 3 and the number of tasks held by the robots 3 to the user. Thereby, the user can select the desired robot 3 after predicting how much waiting time will occur.

Further, the selection reception unit 203 may cause the display unit 23 to display only a list of robots 3 for which the number of unprocessed tasks is equal to or less than a predetermined number. According to the above configuration, information regarding the robot 3 that has a relatively large number of unprocessed tasks based on requests from other users and is likely to be slow in responding to the user's requests is not presented. Therefore, the user is concerned that the time required for the robot 3 to be able to respond to movement commands based on the user's own requests (in other words, the time required for the robot 3 to finish responding to all requests already received) is relative. Therefore, it is possible to easily select a robot 3 that is relatively short.

In another example, the busy information may be a waiting time indicating the time required for the robot 3 to complete all outstanding tasks and respond to a user's request. The waiting time may be calculated according to the number of unprocessed tasks requested by other users, and the waiting time may be calculated according to the number of unprocessed tasks requested by other users. The calculation may also take travel time into account. Furthermore, the waiting time may be calculated by including the travel time from the location where another user's last task was processed to the location where the user called. The selection receiving unit 203 of the smartphone 2 receives the list including the waiting time, and selects, for each robot 3, the number of unprocessed tasks, the travel distance required to sequentially execute each of the unprocessed tasks, and the movement of the robot 3. The time required for the robot 3 to arrive at the destination designated by the user, estimated based on the speed, may be presented together with the list of robots 3 as busy information.

According to the above configuration, the information processing system presents to the user the list of robots 3 as well as the time required for the robot 3 to arrive at the destination specified by the user, that is, the waiting time of the user. do. Thereby, the user can select the desired robot 3 after grasping how long the waiting time will be.

Further, the selection reception unit 203 may cause the display unit 23 to display only a list of robots 3 whose waiting time is less than or equal to a predetermined time. According to the above configuration, information regarding the robot 3 that has a relatively large number of unprocessed tasks based on requests from other users and is likely to be slow in responding to the user's requests is not presented. Therefore, the user is concerned that the time required for the robot 3 to be able to respond to movement commands based on the user's own requests (in other words, the time required for the robot 3 to finish responding to all requests already received) is relative. Therefore, it is possible to easily select a robot 3 that is relatively short.

(Destination information)
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a specific example of destination information. The destination information is information for sharing a location that the user can specify as a calling location, a location representing the current location of the robot 3, and the like between the devices of the information processing system 100 (200).

In the illustrated example, the destination information is map information in which the positional relationship of each area is plotted on plane coordinates for each floor. Destination information is not limited to map information, but includes reception on the 1st floor, hallway on the 1st floor, room A on the 1st floor, room D on the 1st floor, inside the elevator, hallway on the 2nd floor, room A on the 2nd floor, room B on the 2nd floor, etc. It may also be an array of character strings that identify individual areas within a building by combining floors and room numbers, such as .

The destination information may be stored in a storage device that can be accessed by the robot management server 1, smartphone 2, and robot 3, or common destination information may be stored in each of the robot management server 1, smartphone 2, and robot 3. It may be distributed in advance.

The destination reception unit 201 of the smartphone 2 may cause the display unit 23 to display a UI component that allows the user to select a desired calling location from the destination information. The reporting unit 303 of the robot 3 may select the current position of the robot 3 from the movement destination information and report it to the robot management server 1. The robot management server 1 can use the movement destination information to grasp the current position of each robot 3 and the calling location specified by the user.

<Screen example of robot calling phase>
FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a UI for supporting the user to call the robot 3. In this embodiment, as an example, a UI screen is displayed on the display unit 23 via a robot calling application installed in the smartphone 2, thereby enabling the user to easily call the desired robot 3. .

The processing flow in the robot calling phase is as described using FIG. 3. A specific example of the UI screen shown in FIG. 9 will be described below with reference to FIG. 3.

In step S102, the destination reception unit 201 displays the destination designation screen Scr1 on the display unit 23, and receives the designation of the destination from the user. The destination designation screen Scr1 may be displayed first as the initial screen of the robot calling application upon startup, or may be displayed after passing through an initial screen of another design.

The control unit 20 generates a destination designation screen Scr1 so as to include at least a UI component 91 for specifying a destination. The UI component 91 may be realized by, for example, a graphical user interface (GUI) such as a drop-down list or a list box. The user can easily specify a desired destination from the selectable destinations included in the destination information by operating the GUI. The UI component 91 may be map information as shown in FIG. 8 in which a destination can be selected. Alternatively, the UI component 91 may be configured as a text box so that the user can manually input a character string indicating the destination.

In step S103, the query execution unit 202 displays a work type designation screen on the display unit 23, and receives a work type designation from the user. As in the illustrated example, the destination designation screen Scr1 may also serve as the work type designation screen. That is, the control unit 20 may generate the destination designation screen Scr1 that further includes the UI component 92 for designating the work type.

When a movement destination is specified via the UI component 91 and a work type is specified via the UI component 92, the query execution unit 202 generates a query including the specified movement destination and work type, and sends the query to the robot management server. 1 (step S104). When the query execution unit 202 executes a query, a query execution screen Scr2 is displayed. The query execution screen Scr2 shows, as an example, an example in which "5FA room" is designated as the destination and "all" is designated as the work type.

In step S109, when the robot management server 1 provides the list in response to the above-described query, the selection reception unit 203 executes the query on the list of robots, for example, the robot list 93 shown in the figure, based on the received list. Display it on the screen Scr2. The robot list 93 is made up of, for example, buttons that can be selected for each robot, and the user can select the robot 3 corresponding to the button by pressing a button on which information about the robot 3 is written. can. On the button, for example, the robot ID of the robot 3, the type of work that the robot 3 can perform, and the busy information of the robot 3 may be written as information about the robot 3. The busy information may be, for example, the number of unprocessed tasks held by the robot 3, or the number in parentheses may represent the number of unprocessed tasks. For example, the entry "ro001 PET bottle (0)" in the top button of the robot list 93 indicates that robot 3 with robot ID "ro001" is a robot that collects PET bottles and currently has an unprocessed task. Not available (ready for immediate dispatch).

In the illustrated example, the work type is designated as "all." Therefore, buttons are displayed for all robots 3 in the robot list 93. In another example, for example, if the work type "plastic bottle" is specified, only the button for the robot 3 that collects plastic bottles is displayed in the robot list 93.

The user can call the robot 3 by pressing the button of the desired robot 3 from the robot list 93 to select the robot 3 and pressing the call button 94. When the call button 94 is pressed while the selection reception unit 203 has accepted the robot selection, the control unit 20 causes the display unit 23 to display the call execution screen Scr3. Then, in step S112, the call execution unit 204 generates a request and sends it to the robot management server 1. Specifically, the call execution unit 204 uses the terminal ID of the smartphone 2 being operated, the movement destination input in the UI component 91, and the robot ID of the robot 3 corresponding to the button selected from the robot list 93. Generate a request containing .

By operating the UI components described above, the user can easily check the robots 3 that can perform the desired work, select and call the desired robot 3.

<Processing flow of robot status monitoring phase>
FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of processing of the information processing method executed by the information processing system 200. The information processing method shown in FIG. 10 is an information processing method for monitoring the status of a robot that responds to a work request from a user, and is executed by the information processing system 200 in the robot status monitoring phase that follows the robot calling phase. Ru. The robot status monitoring phase is started, for example, in response to the robot management server 1 outputting a movement command to the robot 3 in step S115 shown in FIG.

In step S201, upon receiving a movement command from the robot management server 1, the movement control unit 301 of the robot 3 advances the process from YES in step S201 to step S202. The movement command includes information indicating the movement destination. After step S201, the robot 3 and elevator control device 4 execute elevator movement processing (step S200). The elevator movement process (step S200) shown in FIG. 10 includes the processes of steps S202 to S206.

In step S202, the movement control unit 301 sets the destination specified by the movement command as the destination, and starts moving toward the destination. If the floor of the current position of the robot 3 is different from the floor of the destination, the movement control unit 301 uses the elevator with the floor of the current position as the departure floor and the floor of the destination as the destination floor. The request is sent to the elevator control device 4.

In step S203, the elevator control device 4 selects a car in which the robot 3 is to be placed in response to the elevator use request, and the car control unit 41 of the car moves the car to the departure floor. The elevator control device 4 may transmit the car number of the selected car to the robot 3. When the movement control unit 301 receives the car number of the car to be boarded from the elevator control device 4, the movement control unit 301 continues to move to a position where the car with the specified car number can be boarded. When the movement control unit 301 receives a boarding instruction from the elevator control device 4, the movement control unit 301 moves the robot 3 into the car that has arrived at the departure floor. When the car arrives at the destination floor and receives an alighting instruction from the elevator control device 4, the movement control unit 301 moves the robot 3 out of the car. The movement control unit 301 moves the robot 3 from the place where it got off the car to the called room according to the movement destination. Details of the task management process in which the robot 3 moves using an elevator will be described later with reference to FIG.

In step S204, the car information providing unit 42 transmits the current floor of the moved car to the robot management server 1. The car information providing unit 42 may periodically transmit the current floors of all the cars to be controlled to the robot management server 1.

In step 205, the reporting unit 303 of the robot 3 advances the process from YES in step S205 to step S206 when the situation of the robot 3 regarding movement changes.

In step S206, the reporting unit 303 transmits status information regarding movement to the robot management server 1. Among the situation information reported by the reporting unit 303, the above-mentioned "start of movement," "boarding in elevator," "moving in elevator," "getting off elevator," and "arrival at destination" correspond to movement-related situation information. When the reporting unit 303 reports the status information “boarding the elevator” or “getting off the elevator”, the reporting unit 303 reports the status information including the car number specified by the elevator control device 4. Details of the elevator movement process (step S200) will be described later with reference to FIG. 15.

In step S207, the robot management server 1 executes movement management processing. The movement management process is a process of grasping the movement status of the robot 3, that is, the movement progress, and notifying the smartphone 2 of the user who is waiting for the robot 3 to work on the movement progress. In this embodiment, the robot management server 1 integrates the current position of the car provided from the elevator control device 4 in step S204 and the movement-related status information provided from the robot 3 in step S206, and Understand the progress of movement. Details of the movement management process (step S207) will be described later with reference to FIG. 11.

In step S208, the smartphone 2 executes a progress presentation process. The progress presentation process is a process of presenting the movement progress of the robot 3 to the user. Details of the progress presentation process (step S208) will be described later with reference to FIG. 12. As described above, the robot 3 will eventually arrive at its destination while the movement progress is being grasped and the movement progress is being presented to the user.

In step S209, the movement control unit 301 of the robot 3 detects that the robot 3 has arrived at the set destination. Upon arriving at the destination, the robot 3 advances the process from YES in step S209 to step S210.

In step S210, the reporting unit 303 reports the status information “arrival at destination” to the robot management server 1. The task processing unit 302 then processes a task in response to a user's work request.

In step S211, when the task processing unit 302 completes the task, the process proceeds from YES in step S211 to step S212.

In step S212, the reporting unit 303 reports status information "task completed". In the status information as a task completion report, the reporting unit 303 may set the basket number to a null value or may omit the data element of the basket number.

In step S213, the robot management server 1 executes task management processing. The task management process is a process of updating the progress of a task in response to a task completion report. For the robot 3 that has completed one task, the task management process also includes a process of reading a new task from the queue and outputting a new movement command to the robot 3. Details of the task management process (step S213) will be described later with reference to FIG. 14.

According to the above information processing method, the situation of the robot 3 is always grasped, and the user waiting for the robot 3 is notified of the situation in a timely manner. Therefore, users can wait for their turn without feeling anxious or stressed about not knowing how long they should wait.

(Elevator usage processing)
FIG. 15 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of the elevator movement process (step S200 in FIG. 10) executed by the robot 3 and the elevator control device 4.

In step S202a, the robot 3 transmits an elevator use request to the elevator control device 4. The process in step S202a is an example of the process included in the process in step S202 in FIG.

In step S203a, the elevator control device 4 selects the car in which the robot 3 that sent the elevator usage request is to ride. The elevator control device 4 transmits the car number of the selected car to the robot 3 in step S203b.

The elevator control device 4 controls the selected car and moves it to the departure floor of the robot 3. In step S205a, the robot 3 moves to a boarding area where the car with the specified car number can be boarded. If the car has arrived at the departure floor, the elevator control device 4 transmits a boarding instruction to the robot 3 in step S203c. Further, the elevator control device 4 transmits the current position of the car to the robot management server 1 in step S204a.

In step S205b, the robot 3 that has received the boarding instruction starts to board the specified car. The robot 3 transmits status information regarding movement to the robot management server 1 in step S206a. The robot 3 that has boarded the car transmits a boarding completion notification to the elevator control device 4 in step S205c.

In step S203d, the elevator control device 4 moves the car in which the robot 3 rides to the designated destination floor. When the car has arrived at the destination floor, the elevator control device 4 transmits a disembarkation instruction to the robot 3 in step S203e. Further, the elevator control device 4 transmits the current position of the car to the robot management server 1 in step S204b.

In step S205d, the robot 3 that has received the dismounting instruction starts dismounting from the car. The robot 3 that has alighted from the car transmits a disembarkation completion notification to the elevator control device 4 in step S205e. Furthermore, the robot 3 transmits situation information regarding movement to the robot management server 1 in step S206b.

Here, the processing of steps S203a to S203e is an example of the processing included in the processing of step S203 in FIG. 10, and the processing of steps S204a to S204b is an example of the processing included in the processing of step S204 in FIG. . Furthermore, the processing in steps S205a to S205e is an example of the processing included in the processing in step S205 in FIG. 10, and the processing in steps S206a to S206b is an example of the processing included in the processing in step S206 in FIG.

After the processing in steps S204a, S204b, S206a, and S206b, the robot management server 1 performs movement management processing (step S207 in FIG. 10).

(Movement management processing)
FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the flow of the movement management process (step S207 in FIG. 10) executed by the robot management server 1.

In step S301, upon receiving car information from the elevator control device 4, the monitoring unit 103 advances the process from YES in step S301 to step S302. The car information is information indicating the current position of the car, and includes the car number of the car and the current floor of the car. While not receiving cart information, the monitoring unit 103 may proceed to step S303 from NO in step S301.

In step S302, the monitoring unit 103 updates the current floor of the car for which the car information has been received.

In step S303, upon receiving the movement-related situation information from the robot 3, the monitoring unit 103 advances the process from YES in step S303 to step S304. If the status information regarding movement is not received, the monitoring unit 103 may proceed to step S310 from NO in step S303.

In step S304, the monitoring unit 103 identifies the terminal ID of the client's smartphone 2. Based on the robot ID included in the status information received in step S303, the monitoring unit 103 determines the task currently being handled by the robot 3 from the task management table (FIG. 6) or the queue of the robot 3 (FIG. 7). The task ID of the task can be specified. The monitoring unit 103 can identify the terminal ID of the client's smartphone 2 based on the task ID.

In step S305, the monitoring unit 103 analyzes the status information received in step S303. If the status information includes a value indicating A "movement start" or D "arrival at destination" and the car number is empty, the monitoring unit 103 moves from step S305 A or D to step S306. Proceed with the process. If the status information includes a value B indicating "ride in elevator" and a car number, the monitoring unit 103 advances the process from B in step S305 to step S307. If the status information includes a value indicating C "getting off the elevator" and a car number, the monitoring unit 103 advances the process from C in step S305 to step S309.

In step S306, if A is determined in step S305, the monitoring unit 103 determines that the robot 3 has started moving to process the client's task. Then, the notification unit 104 transmits a status signal indicating "start of movement" to the smartphone 2 identified in step S304. If D in step S305, the monitoring unit 103 determines that the robot 3 has arrived at the calling location specified by the client. Then, the notification unit 104 transmits a status signal indicating "arrival at destination" to the smartphone 2.

In step S307, the monitoring unit 103 reads the current floor (f1 floor) for the car with the car number received in step S305, and determines that the robot 3 has entered the elevator on the f1 floor. Then, the notification unit 104 transmits to the smartphone 2 a status signal indicating "boarding the elevator, boarding floor=f1".

In step S308, the monitoring unit 103 determines that the robot 3 is moving in the elevator until the robot 3 reports the status information of "getting off the elevator." During this time, the notification unit 104 may transmit a status signal indicating "moving in an elevator" to the smartphone 2, or may omit the transmission.

In step S309, the monitoring unit 103 reads the current floor (f2 floor) for the car with the car number received in step S305, and determines that the robot 3 has gotten off the elevator at the f2 floor. Then, the notification unit 104 transmits to the smartphone 2 a status signal indicating "get off the elevator, get off floor = f2".

After steps S306 to S309, the monitoring unit 103 may return to step S301 and repeat the subsequent processing.

In step S310, when the monitoring unit 103 receives the status information "task completed" from the robot 3 (YES in step S310), the monitoring unit 103 ends the movement management process.

As described above, in this embodiment, the robot 3 can move between floors of the building using the building's elevator. The monitoring unit 103 of the robot management server 1 cooperates with the elevator control device 4, integrates the situation information provided from the robot 3 and the car information provided from the elevator control device 4, and monitors the robot moving between floors. 3 movement progress and current position can be grasped.

(Progress presentation process)
FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the flow of the progress presentation process (step S208 in FIG. 10) executed by the smartphone 2. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a progress presentation screen displayed on the smartphone 2 by the progress presentation process. Every time the status notification unit 205 of the smartphone 2 receives a status signal representing the status of the robot 3 from the robot management server 1, it generates a progress presentation screen including a status indicator that is visualization information corresponding to the status signal, It is displayed on the display section 23.

In step S401, the status notification unit 205 receives a status signal indicating "working" from the robot management server 1 that executed step S117 (FIG. 3) (YES in step S401). In this case, in step S402, the status notification unit 205 causes the display unit 23 to display a progress presentation screen Scr11 including a status indicator 81 indicating that the robot 3 is responding to the previous request. The user who sees this can understand that his or her turn has not yet come.

In step S403, the status notification unit 205 receives a status signal indicating "start of movement" (YES in step S403). In this case, in step S404, the status notification unit 205 causes the display unit 23 to display a progress presentation screen Scr12 including a status indicator 82 indicating that the vehicle is moving to respond to the user's request. The user who sees this can understand that his or her turn has come, and can also understand that the robot 3 is on its way to the calling location specified by the user.

In step S405, the status notification unit 205 receives a status signal representing "boarding elevator, boarding floor=f1" (YES in step S405). In this case, in step S406, the status notification unit 205 causes the display unit 23 to display a progress presentation screen Scr13 including a status indicator 83 indicating that the robot 3 has boarded the elevator and the floor on which the robot 3 has boarded. The user who sees this can understand from which floor the robot 3 got on the elevator.

In step S407, the status notification unit 205 may receive a status indicator indicating "moving in an elevator." Alternatively, the status notification unit 205 may determine that, after receiving the status signal "getting on the elevator" in step S406, it has not received the status signal "getting off the elevator" (YES in step S407). In either of these cases, in step S408, the status notification unit 205 causes the display unit 23 to display a progress presentation screen Scr14 including a status indicator 84 indicating that the robot 3 is in the elevator and is ascending and descending. The user who sees this can understand that the robot 3 is in the middle of riding the elevator.

In step S409, the status notification unit 205 receives a status signal indicating "get off the elevator, get off floor=f2" (YES in step S409). In this case, in step S410, the status notification unit 205 causes the display unit 23 to display a progress presentation screen Scr15 including a status indicator 85 indicating that the robot 3 has disembarked from the elevator and the floor on which the robot 3 alighted. The user who sees this can understand at what floor the robot 3 got off the elevator.

In step S411, the status notification unit 205 receives a status signal indicating "arrival at destination" (YES in step S411). In this case, in step S412, the status notification unit 205 causes the display unit 23 to display the progress presentation screen Scr16 including the status indicator 86 indicating that the robot 3 has arrived at the destination. The user who sees this can understand that the robot 3 has arrived at his or her calling location.

As shown in the figure, the situation indicators 81 to 86 may be character strings or sentences, or may be symbols, icons, illustrations, or a combination of these to express the situation.

(Task management processing)
FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing the flow of the task management process (step S213 in FIG. 10) executed by the robot management server 1. The task management process is started, for example, when the robot management server 1 receives status information as a completion report from each robot 3.

In step S501, the task management unit 101 deletes the completed task from the queue corresponding to the robot 3 that sent the completion report. Here, the task management unit 101 may further update the progress of the completed task from "in progress" to "completed" in the task management table shown in FIG. Further, the task management unit 101 may subtract one from the number of unprocessed tasks of the robot 3 described above in the robot database shown in FIG.

In step S502, the task management unit 101 determines whether any tasks remain in the queue of the robot 3 described above. If one or more tasks are stored in the queue, the task management unit 101 advances the process from YES in step S502 to step S503. If the queue is empty, the task management unit 101 advances the process from NO in step S502 to step S505. Here, the task management unit 101 may determine whether or not the number of unprocessed tasks of the robot 3 described above is 0 in the robot database shown in FIG.

In step S503, the task management unit 101 obtains the destination associated with the task at the head of the queue. For example, the task management unit 101 may read the movement destination associated with the task ID of the first task from the task management table shown in FIG.

In step S504, the task management unit 101 outputs a movement command to the robot 3 to instruct it to move to the acquired movement destination, and ends the task management process. The robot 3 can perform the following tasks according to this movement command (see FIG. 10). Here, the task management unit 101 may update the progress of the first task from "unprocessed" to "processing" in the task management table shown in FIG.

In step S505, the task management unit 101 updates the status of the robot 3 described above to "dormant" and ends the task management process. For example, the task management unit 101 may update the status of the robot 3 described above from "task processing" to "pause" in the robot database shown in FIG. 5.

As described above, in this embodiment, the number of unprocessed tasks held by the robot 3 and the status of the robot 3 are always managed in the latest state in the robot management server 1. Thereby, the robot management server 1 can accurately present the current status of the robot 3 to the user in response to an inquiry from the user. For example, a list of the robots 3 showing the status of the robots 3 (specifically, busy information) is provided from the robot management server 1 to the smartphone 2, and the smartphone 2 can present the list to the user. . As a result, the user can select the desired robot 3 while checking the status of the robot 3.

[Example of implementation using software]
The functions of the robot management server 1, smartphone 2, and robot 3 (hereinafter collectively referred to as the "device") are programs for making a computer function as the device, and each control block of the device (in particular, the control unit) 10, the control unit 20, and each unit included in the robot 3) can be realized by a program for causing a computer to function.

In this case, the device includes a computer having at least one control device (for example, a processor) and at least one storage device (for example, a memory) as hardware for executing the program. By executing the above program using this control device and storage device, each function described in each of the above embodiments is realized.

The above program may be recorded on one or more computer-readable recording media instead of temporary. This recording medium may or may not be included in the above device. In the latter case, the program may be supplied to the device via any transmission medium, wired or wireless.

Further, part or all of the functions of each of the control blocks described above can also be realized by a logic circuit. For example, an integrated circuit in which a logic circuit functioning as each of the control blocks described above is formed is also included in the scope of the present invention. In addition to this, it is also possible to realize the functions of each of the control blocks described above using, for example, a quantum computer.

Further, each process described in each of the above embodiments may be executed by AI (Artificial Intelligence). In this case, the AI may operate on the control device, or may operate on another device (for example, an edge computer or a cloud server).

〔summary〕
As is clear from the above description, the information processing system according to aspect 1 of the present invention selects an information processing device that can execute a task specified by a user from among a plurality of information processing devices that autonomously travel within a building. a device specifying unit that identifies the information processing device; a selection reception unit that presents device information regarding the identified information processing device to the user and causes the user to select the desired information processing device; The information processing apparatus includes a destination receiving unit that receives a designation of a destination of a processing device, and a management unit that outputs a movement command to the selected information processing device to the specified destination.

In the information processing system according to aspect 2 of the present invention, in the aspect 1, the selection reception unit is a device related to the information processing device whose busy information indicating the current busyness level of the identified information processing device is less than or equal to a reference value. Information may be presented.

In the information processing system according to aspect 3 of the present invention, in the aspect 2, the selection receiving unit calculates the number of unprocessed tasks that have not been completed among the tasks assigned to the information processing device. The information may be presented together with the device information.

In the information processing system according to aspect 4 of the present invention, in the aspect 2 or 3, the selection reception unit is configured to determine the number of unprocessed tasks that have not been completed among the tasks assigned to the information processing device; The information processing device arrives at the specified destination, which is estimated based on the travel distance required for the information processing device to execute each outstanding task and the travel speed of the information processing device. The time required to complete the process may be presented as the busy information together with the device information.

In the information processing system according to aspect 5 of the present invention, in any one of aspects 1 to 4, the management unit causes the selected information processing device to start moving to the movement destination in response to the movement command. The user may be notified of the fact that the information processing apparatus has been moved and the position of the information processing apparatus during the movement.

In the information processing system according to aspect 6 of the present invention, in any one of aspects 1 to 5, when the selected information processing device moves to the destination using an elevator, The user may be notified of the current position of the elevator car in which the processing device boarded.

An information processing method according to aspect 7 of the present invention includes a device identifying step of identifying an information processing device capable of executing a task specified by a user from among a plurality of information processing devices that autonomously travel within a building; a selection reception step of presenting device information regarding the information processing device that has been selected to the user and allowing the user to select the desired information processing device; and receiving designation of a destination of the information processing device by the user. The method includes a moving destination receiving step, and a managing step of outputting a moving command to the specified moving destination to the selected information processing device.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the claims, and embodiments obtained by appropriately combining technical means disclosed in different embodiments. are also included within the technical scope of the present invention.

1 Robot management server (server device)
2 Smartphone (terminal device)
3 Robot (information processing device)
4 Elevator control device 10 Control unit 11 Device identification unit 12 List providing unit 15 Storage unit 16 Input/output interface 20 Control unit 21 Communication unit 22 Operation unit 23 Display unit 40 Control unit 41 Car control unit 42 Car information providing unit 46 Input/output interface 93 Robot list (equipment information)
100, 200 Information processing system 101 Task management unit 102 Movement instruction unit 103 Monitoring unit 104 Notification unit 110 Management unit 201 Movement destination reception unit 202 Query execution unit 203 Selection reception unit 204 Call execution unit 205 Status notification unit 301 Movement control unit 302 Task Processing unit 303 Reporting unit

Claims (7)

a device identification unit that identifies an information processing device capable of executing a task specified by a user from among a plurality of information processing devices that autonomously travel within a building;
a selection reception unit that presents device information regarding the identified information processing device to the user and causes the user to select the desired information processing device;
a destination reception unit that accepts a destination of the information processing device from the user;
a management unit that outputs a movement command to the specified movement destination to the selected information processing device;
Information processing system. The selection reception unit presents device information regarding the information processing device whose busy information indicating the current busyness level of the identified information processing device is less than or equal to a reference value.
The information processing system according to claim 1. The information processing according to claim 2, wherein the selection reception unit presents the number of unprocessed tasks that have not been completed among the tasks assigned to the information processing device as the busy information together with the device information. system. The selection reception unit is
the number of unprocessed tasks that have not been completed among the tasks assigned to the information processing device;
a travel distance required for the information processing device to execute each unprocessed work;
a moving speed of the information processing device;
3. The information processing system according to claim 2, wherein the time required for the information processing device to arrive at the specified destination, which is estimated based on , is presented as the busy information together with the device information. The management unit notifies the user that the selected information processing device has started moving to the destination in response to the movement command and the location of the information processing device during the movement. , The information processing system according to claim 1. The management unit, when the selected information processing device moves to the destination using an elevator, notifies the user of the current position of the elevator car in which the information processing device rides. The information processing system according to item 5. An information processing method performed by a computer, the method comprising:
a device identification step of identifying an information processing device that can execute a task specified by a user from among a plurality of information processing devices that autonomously travel within the building;
a selection reception step of presenting device information regarding the identified information processing device to the user and allowing the user to select the desired information processing device;
a moving destination receiving step for receiving a designation of a moving destination of the information processing device by the user;
a management step of outputting a movement command to the specified movement destination to the selected information processing device;
Information processing method.

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