JP7464780B2 - Autonomous Mobile Work Device - Google Patents

Description

Article 30, paragraph 2 of the Patent Act applied. September 27, 2019: Publicly released through sale to JR Niigata Railway Service Co., Ltd. September 30, 2019: Publicly released through sale to Keio Equipment Service Co., Ltd. October 31, 2019: Publicly released through sale to Sankei Building Maintenance Service Co., Ltd. November 13, 2019 to November 15, 2019: Publicly released through exhibition at the Building Maintenance Human Fair & Clean EXPO 2019

The present invention relates to an autonomous mobile work device that can perform automated mobile work by autonomously traveling and working automatically.

Conventionally, autonomous mobile work devices are configured to operate by switching between a learning mode in which the device manually drives and performs work (cleaning) while storing driving data and work data (cleaning data), and a reproduction (automatic driving) mode in which the device controls driving and work (automatic driving work) according to the stored driving data and work data. Autonomous mobile work devices are configured, for example, as industrial (commercial) cleaning robots (autonomous mobile cleaning devices) and are used to clean floors in commercial facilities such as shopping malls, and to perform automated work in work areas such as factories and railway terminals.

When the road is narrow, the autonomous mobile work device may come into contact with walls or obstacles on the left or right while traveling or turning, and may damage the walls, obstacles, or the device itself. For this reason, the autonomous mobile work device is designed to stop moving forward if it determines that the road is narrow from the planned route.

For example, in the autonomous vehicle of Patent Document 1, the narrow road determination unit determines whether the sum of the absolute values of the X-axis components of the right composite wall distance vector and the left composite wall distance vector, which are obtained by combining wall distance vectors that have the same orientation in the X-axis direction among the wall distance vectors obtained by adding a reference distance to the environmental map vector extending from the reference position to the surrounding points, exceeds a first threshold value, thereby making a narrow road determination.

JP 2017-4230 A

Conventional autonomous working devices can accurately determine that a road is narrow even when there is a bottleneck in the travel route where the passage width is merely narrowed temporarily, by averaging the road width over the travel direction. The autonomous working device then determines that a road width that does not allow a safe turn is narrow and stops proceeding. However, depending on the operator, the work area, or the work position, there are cases where the operator wants to proceed and continue automatic work even on a narrow road. In contrast, conventional autonomous working devices will stop uniformly when they determine that a road is narrow, so that automatic travel work cannot be performed on narrow roads and areas beyond the narrow road, and the narrow road and areas beyond the narrow road remain as unworked areas.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the problems described above, and the objective of the present invention is to provide an autonomous mobile work device that can safely continue autonomous work within narrow roads, even when the narrow roads are present on the travel route in the work area, and can prevent the occurrence of unworked areas.

In order to solve the above problems, a first autonomous driving work device of the present invention is an autonomous driving work device capable of performing autonomous driving work by autonomously driving and working automatically, comprising: a device main body; a driving unit that drives the device main body within a predetermined work area; a working unit that performs work on a driving path within the work area of the device main body; a reproduction control unit that controls the driving unit and the working unit to perform the autonomous driving work based on a pre-stored environmental map of the work area, as well as driving data and work data; and a driving pattern setting unit that sets, as a driving pattern when an undetected obstacle that was not detected when the environmental map was created is detected when performing the autonomous driving work, either an avoidance driving pattern that drives while avoiding the undetected obstacle or a narrow road driving pattern that stops the autonomous driving work without avoiding the undetected obstacle, wherein when the driving pattern setting unit detects a narrow road with a road width less than a predetermined width threshold during the autonomous driving work , it sets the narrow road driving pattern for the narrow road , and the reproduction control unit controls the driving unit in accordance with the driving pattern set by the driving pattern setting unit.

According to the first autonomous driving work device of the present invention, even if a narrow road exists in the work area, a narrow road driving pattern can be set so that the narrow road can be driven during autonomous driving work, and the narrow road can be made into a work area, and no unworked areas are generated. In addition, when a narrow road driving pattern is set, the autonomous driving work is stopped when an undetected obstacle is detected, so that dangers when autonomous driving work is performed in a narrow road can be avoided, in other words, safety can be ensured. In this way, even if a narrow road exists in the driving route of the work area, autonomous driving work can be safely continued in the narrow road, and the generation of unworked areas can be suppressed.

To solve the above problem, the second autonomous driving work device of the present invention further includes a mode switching unit capable of switching the operation mode between a learning mode and a reproduction mode, and a learning control unit that performs a learning driving operation in the learning mode by creating the environmental map and acquiring and storing the driving data during manual driving of the driving unit and the work data during manual work of the work unit, and the reproduction control unit performs the autonomous driving operation in the reproduction mode.

According to the second autonomous driving work device of the present invention, the driving pattern setting unit can set a driving pattern in the case where an undetected obstacle that was not detected when performing a learning driving work in the learning mode is detected when performing an autonomous driving work in the reproduction mode. In addition, the driving pattern setting unit can set a narrow road driving pattern in the case where the vehicle travels on a narrow road with a road width less than the width threshold when performing a learning driving work in the learning mode.

In order to solve the above problem, the third autonomous driving work device of the present invention further includes a measurement unit that measures the positional relationship between the device body and non-work objects around the device body, and a narrow road determination unit that determines the position of the driving path where the road width is less than the predetermined width threshold as the narrow road, and in the learning mode, the narrow road determination unit calculates the road width of each position of the driving path from the environmental map of the work area created based on the measurement results of the measurement unit, or calculates the road width of each position of the driving path based on the measurement results of the measurement unit and the maximum width of the device body, and determines the narrow road based on the calculated road width, and the driving pattern setting unit automatically sets the narrow road driving pattern when the narrow road determination unit determines the narrow road in the learning mode.

According to the third autonomous driving work device of the present invention, by performing learning driving work, it is possible to reliably determine narrow roads included in the driving route of the work area before performing autonomous driving work. Furthermore, if a narrow road is included in the driving route, the narrow road will become a work area, but since a narrow road driving pattern is automatically set, autonomous driving work can be safely continued within narrow roads and the occurrence of unworked areas can be suppressed.

To solve the above problem, in the fourth autonomous mobile work device of the present invention, the narrow road determination unit determines narrow road flag information according to the road width at each position of the travel route, and if the road width is equal to or greater than the width at which manual turning is possible, determines the narrow road flag information to be a normal road, if the road width is less than the width at which manual turning is possible, determines the narrow road flag information to be a narrow road with a stepwise narrowness level according to the road width, and further determines the narrow road flag information to be a no-passage narrow road if the road width is equal to or less than the minimum width of the autonomous mobile work device.

According to the fourth autonomous mobile work device of the present invention, it is possible to accurately determine various narrow roads that exist in the work area. Therefore, by referring to the narrow road flag information, it is possible to understand how narrow roads affect the passage of the autonomous mobile work device.

To solve the above problem, the fifth autonomous mobile work device of the present invention further includes a pivot turn button for instructing the traveling unit to pivot turn the device body, and when traveling on the narrow road determined by the narrow road determination unit, if the road width of the narrow road is less than the width at which manual turning is possible and is equal to or greater than the width at which pivot turning is possible, the learning control unit limits the turning operation of the device body to pivot turning by the pivot turn button.

According to the fifth autonomous mobile work device of the present invention, when the autonomous mobile work device is driven on a narrow road during learning driving work, the autonomous mobile work device can continue the learning driving work safely without colliding with non-work objects such as walls or obstacles.

In order to solve the above problem, in the sixth autonomous mobile work device of the present invention, in the reproduction mode, the narrow road determination unit calculates the road width of the traveling direction side position of the traveling path based on the measurement result of the measurement unit and the maximum width of the device body, and if the calculated road width is equal to or greater than the predetermined width threshold, determines that the traveling direction side is not the narrow road, and if the road width is less than the predetermined width threshold, determines that the traveling direction side is the narrow road, and the traveling pattern setting unit automatically sets the avoidance traveling pattern when the narrow road determination unit determines that the traveling direction side is not the narrow road in the reproduction mode, and automatically sets the narrow road traveling pattern when the narrow road determination unit determines that the traveling direction side is the narrow road.

According to the sixth autonomous driving work device of the present invention, when autonomous driving work is performed in a work area that includes a mixture of narrow roads and normal roads, autonomous driving work can be continued on narrow roads according to a narrow road driving pattern, and on normal roads autonomous driving work can be continued while avoiding undetected obstacles according to an avoidance driving pattern. Therefore, autonomous driving work can be performed efficiently without much effort, and because narrow roads can be used as work areas, autonomous driving work can be performed without creating unworked areas.

To solve the above problem, the seventh autonomous mobile work device of the present invention, when the narrow road determination unit determines that a predetermined position on the travel path is a narrow road in the learning mode or the reproduction mode, notifies the operator of the existence of the narrow road and stores narrow road flag information corresponding to the width of the narrow road.

According to the seventh autonomous driving work device of the present invention, by an operator noticing the presence of a narrow road while performing a learning driving operation, the operator can determine whether to drive on the narrow road and whether to set a narrow road driving pattern. In addition, by an operator noticing the presence of a narrow road while performing an automated driving operation, the operator can move undetected obstacles on the narrow road in advance and grasp the progress of the automated driving operation.

To solve the above problem, in the eighth autonomous mobile work device of the present invention, the learning control unit stops the learning driving operation when the narrow road determination unit determines in the learning mode that the narrow road has a road width that is equal to or less than the minimum width of the autonomous mobile work device.

According to the eighth autonomous mobile work device of the present invention, the work plan created from the driving data and work data during the learning driving work will not include narrow roads with widths less than the minimum width of the autonomous mobile work device as work areas. Therefore, when the created work plan is executed in reproduction mode, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of unworked areas.

To solve the above problem, in the ninth autonomous mobile work device of the present invention, when the narrow road driving pattern is set in the reproduction mode, the reproduction control unit stops the autonomous mobile work for a predetermined stop time when the undetected obstacle is detected on the narrow road.

According to the ninth autonomous mobile work device of the present invention, when a moving object such as a person or a placed object such as luggage is detected on a narrow road as an undetected obstacle during an automatic traveling operation, the moving object can be moved out of the detection range during the stopping time, or the placed object can be carried out of the detection range during the stopping time, so that the undetected obstacle is no longer detected, and the automatic traveling operation can be continued by passing the moving object or the placed object.

To solve the above problem, in the tenth autonomous mobile work device of the present invention, when the narrow road driving pattern is set in the reproduction mode, the reproduction control unit notifies the operator of the stop of the autonomous mobile work when the autonomous mobile work is stopped according to the narrow road driving pattern because the undetected obstacle is detected on the narrow road.

According to the tenth autonomous driving work device of the present invention, if a moving object such as a person or a placed object such as luggage is detected on a narrow road as an undetected obstacle during autonomous driving work, the operator who is notified that the autonomous driving work has stopped can immediately urge the moving object to leave the detection range, or can remove the placed object from the detection range. Therefore, since the detected undetected obstacle can be moved immediately, the autonomous driving work can be continued without prolonging the work time.

To solve the above problem, in the eleventh autonomous driving work device of the present invention, the reproduction control unit notifies the operator of the stop of the autonomous driving work by at least one of sound output, screen display, turning on or blinking a warning light, and communication with a terminal held by the operator.

According to the eleventh autonomous driving work device of the present invention, it is possible to more reliably and more quickly inform the operator that the autonomous driving work has stopped. Therefore, it is possible to move an undetected obstacle that has been detected more quickly, so that the autonomous driving work can be continued without prolonging the work time.

To solve the above problem, in the twelfth autonomous driving work device of the present invention, the reproduction control unit resumes the autonomous driving work if the undetected obstacle is no longer detected on the narrow road after a predetermined stop time has elapsed since the autonomous driving work was stopped according to the narrow road driving pattern, and notifies the operator again of the stop of the autonomous driving work if the undetected obstacle is detected on the narrow road.

According to the twelfth autonomous driving work device of the present invention, it is possible to more reliably and more quickly inform the operator that the autonomous driving work has stopped. Therefore, it is possible to move undetected obstacles that have been detected more quickly, so that the autonomous driving work can be continued without prolonging the work time.

In order to solve the above problem, the thirteenth autonomous mobile work device of the present invention includes a plurality of detectors that detect non-work objects around the device body on both the left and right sides and the front side of the device body, and the reproduction control unit, in the reproduction mode, when the avoidance driving pattern is set, causes all of the plurality of detectors to detect the non-work objects, and when the narrow road driving pattern is set, causes one of the plurality of detectors that is located on the front side of the device body to detect the non-work objects, and controls the traveling unit to slow down or stop when the non-work object is detected close to the device body.

According to the thirteenth autonomous mobile work device of the present invention, when traveling through a narrow road in a work area during autonomous mobile work, non-work objects such as walls and obstacles that make up the narrow road are no longer detected on either side of the autonomous mobile work device, and the device does not slow down or stop due to the presence of non-work objects on either side, allowing autonomous mobile work to continue without prolonging work time. Furthermore, non-work objects in front of the autonomous mobile work device are reliably detected on narrow roads, allowing autonomous mobile work to continue safely.

In order to solve the above problem, the 14th autonomous mobile work device of the present invention includes a plurality of detection units that detect non-work objects around the device body, on both the left and right sides and the front side of the device body, and the reproduction control unit, in the reproduction mode, when the avoidance driving pattern is set, causes all of the plurality of detection units to detect the non-work objects, and when the narrow road driving pattern is set, causes one of the plurality of detection units that corresponds to the narrow road flag information determined by the narrow road determination unit to detect the non-work objects, and controls the traveling unit to decelerate or stop when the non-work object is detected close to the device body.

According to the 14th autonomous driving work device of the present invention, when traveling through a narrow road in a work area during autonomous driving work, the detection range on both the left and right sides of the autonomous driving work device can be changed according to the width of the narrow road. Furthermore, since non-work objects such as walls and obstacles that make up the narrow road will no longer be detected on both the left and right sides of the autonomous driving work device, there is no need to slow down or stop due to the presence of non-work objects on both the left and right sides, and autonomous driving work can be continued without prolonging the work time. Furthermore, non-work objects in front of the autonomous driving work device on narrow roads are reliably detected, so autonomous driving work can be continued safely.

To solve the above problem, the fifteenth autonomous mobile work device of the present invention has a plurality of detectors arranged vertically on the front side of the device body for detecting non-work objects around the device body, and the reproduction control unit, in the reproduction mode, when the avoidance driving pattern is set, causes one of the plurality of detectors to detect the non-work object, and when the narrow road driving pattern is set, causes all of the plurality of detectors to detect the non-work object, and controls the traveling unit to slow down or stop when the non-work object is detected close to the device body.

According to the fifteenth autonomous mobile work device of the present invention, even if there is a non-work object on the front side of the device main body 2 that is difficult to detect by the laser range finder of the measuring unit due to its vertical position, for example, if the non-work object is near the floor surface, the non-work object can be detected more reliably because the detection range in the vertical direction is widened by multiple detection units arranged in the vertical direction. Therefore, contact with the non-work object can be more reliably prevented, and autonomous mobile work can be continued more safely.

To solve the above problem, in the 16th autonomous mobile work device of the present invention, the driving pattern setting unit sets the driving pattern according to the activity time period of the users who use the work area, and at this time, sets the narrow road driving pattern during the time period when there are many users, and sets the avoidance driving pattern during the time period when there are few users.

According to the sixteenth autonomous mobile work device of the present invention, a driving pattern suitable for the activity time period in the work area can be easily set as the driving pattern in reproduction mode without any hassle on the part of the operator.
This reduces the number of times the automatic driving operation has to be stopped, allowing the automatic driving operation to continue without prolonging the operation time.

In order to solve the above problem, the seventeenth autonomous driving work device of the present invention further includes a display unit, which operably displays a driving pattern setting button that switches between the avoidance driving pattern and the narrow road driving pattern during the autonomous driving operation.

According to the seventeenth autonomous mobile work device of the present invention, even while an autonomous mobile work is being performed, it is possible to switch between the avoidance driving pattern and the narrow road driving pattern in response to any operation by the operator.

In order to solve the above problems, the 18th autonomous driving work device of the present invention has a plurality of detection units on both the left and right sides and the front of the device body that detect non-work objects around the device body, and the reproduction control unit, when the avoidance driving pattern is set in the driving pattern setting unit , causes all of the plurality of detection units to detect the non-work objects, and when the narrow road driving pattern is set, causes the detection unit among the plurality of detection units that is located on the front side of the device body to detect the non-work objects, and controls the driving unit to slow down or stop when the non-work object is detected near the device body.

According to the 18th autonomous mobile work device of the present invention, when traveling through a narrow road in a work area during autonomous mobile work, non-work objects such as walls and obstacles that make up the narrow road are no longer detected on either side of the autonomous mobile work device, so there is no slowing down or stopping due to the presence of non-work objects on either side, allowing autonomous mobile work to continue without prolonging work time. Also, non-work objects in front of the autonomous mobile work device are reliably detected on narrow roads, allowing autonomous mobile work to continue safely.

According to the present invention, an autonomous mobile work device can safely continue autonomous navigation work within narrow roads even when the narrow roads exist on the travel route in a work area, and prevent the occurrence of unworked areas.

1 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of an autonomous mobile work device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an autonomous mobile work device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 11 is a table showing an example of a cleaning plan created in learning traveling and cleaning in the autonomous mobile work device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a schematic diagram showing examples of normal roads and narrow roads according to the road width of a travel route in an autonomous mobile working device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the detection ranges of a measurement unit and an obstacle detection unit from above when an avoidance driving pattern is set in an autonomous mobile working device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. This is an overview diagram showing an example of the detection range of the measurement unit and obstacle detection unit from above when a narrow road driving pattern is set and the autonomous mobile work device is traveling on a narrow road of narrow road level 1 or narrow road level 2 in an autonomous mobile work device according to an embodiment of the present invention. This is an overview diagram showing an example of the detection range of the measurement unit and obstacle detection unit from above when an autonomous mobile work device according to an embodiment of the present invention is traveling on a narrow road of narrow road level 3 with a narrow road driving pattern set. 13 is an overview diagram showing an example of the detection ranges of the measurement unit and obstacle detection unit when a narrow road driving pattern is set in an autonomous mobile work device according to an embodiment of the present invention, viewed from the right. FIG. 2 is a front view showing an example of an operation display unit and a mode selection screen of the autonomous mobile working device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 11 is a front view showing an example of a data setting screen that is displayed on the operation display unit when an avoidance driving pattern is set in an autonomous mobile working device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 11 is a front view showing an example of a data setting screen that is displayed on the operation display unit when a narrow road driving pattern is set in the autonomous mobile work device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an example of an operation at the start of autonomous traveling and cleaning in an autonomous traveling work device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 13 is a flowchart showing an example of an automatic traveling and cleaning operation when a narrow road traveling pattern is set in an autonomous traveling work device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 13 is a flowchart showing an example of an automatic traveling and cleaning operation when an avoidance traveling pattern is set in an autonomous traveling work device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the operation of automatic traveling and cleaning when an undetected obstacle is detected in an autonomous traveling work device according to an embodiment of the present invention when an avoidance traveling pattern is set. 13 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the operation of automatic traveling and cleaning when an undetected obstacle is detected in an autonomous traveling work device according to an embodiment of the present invention when a narrow road traveling pattern is set. FIG.

The following describes embodiments of the present invention with reference to the drawings. The following embodiments are preferred specific examples of the present invention and disclose various preferred techniques, but the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to these aspects.

An autonomous traveling work device 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, the autonomous traveling work device 1 comprises a device main body 2 for housing each part, a travel unit 3 for traveling the device main body 2, and a travel operation unit 4 for accepting manual operation of the travel unit 3. The autonomous traveling work device 1 can be equipped with a work mechanism (work unit) for performing a predetermined work on the device main body 2, and for example, is equipped with a cleaning unit 5 as a work unit for performing cleaning work on the floor surface FL below the device main body 2, and functions as an autonomous traveling cleaning device. The autonomous traveling work device 1 cleans the floor surface FL of, for example, a commercial facility such as a shopping mall, or a part of the area thereof as a cleaning area (work area).

The autonomous mobile work device 1 also includes a measuring unit 6 that measures the positional relationship between the device body 2 and non-work objects such as surrounding walls and obstacles (e.g., ornaments, etc.), and an obstacle detecting unit 7 that detects walls and obstacles within a predetermined distance. The autonomous mobile work device 1 also includes an operation display unit 8 consisting of a touch panel 29 (see FIG. 9) for operating and displaying various functions of the autonomous mobile work device 1, and a power supply unit 9 that supplies power to each part of the autonomous mobile work device 1 and controls the remaining charge and charging of the battery (not shown). The autonomous mobile work device 1 also includes a control unit 10 that controls each part and various functions of the autonomous mobile work device 1 (traveling by the traveling unit 3, cleaning work by the cleaning unit 5, measurement by the measuring unit 6, etc.), and a memory unit 11 that stores a cleaning plan (work plan) consisting of the traveling data of the traveling unit 3 and the cleaning data (work data) of the cleaning unit 5 (see FIG. 2).

The autonomous mobile work device 1 may be provided with a bumper 12 on the device body 2 to prevent damage when it collides with an obstacle or the like. As shown in FIG. 2, the autonomous mobile work device 1 may also be provided with a warning light 13 for issuing warnings to the operator of the autonomous mobile work device 1, a speaker 14 for informing the operator of the autonomous mobile work device 1 and users of the cleaning area of the operation of the autonomous mobile work device 1 and warnings, and a communication unit 15 for communicating with external devices.

Next, we will provide an overview of the operation of the autonomous mobile work device 1.

The autonomous driving work device 1 is a vehicle capable of driving autonomously through manual operation and automatic operation, and can be switched between any of the following operating modes: learning mode, reproduction (automatic driving) mode, and manual mode.

In the learning mode and the manual mode, the autonomous driving work device 1 performs learning driving and cleaning (learning driving work) and manual driving and cleaning (manual driving work), respectively, and performs manual driving and manual cleaning (manual work) according to the manual operation of the driving operation unit 4 and the operation display unit 8 by the operator. In the learning driving and cleaning, an environmental map of the cleaning area is created and stored in association with the learning driving, and driving data indicating the driving route and driving state during the learning driving and cleaning data indicating the cleaning state during the learning cleaning are acquired, and a cleaning plan including the driving data and cleaning data as shown in FIG. 3 is stored. The cleaning plan is stored in association with the environmental map during the learning driving and the driving pattern (avoidance driving pattern or narrow road driving pattern) set in the learning mode. When an undetected obstacle that was not detected in the learning mode is detected in the reproduction mode, the driving pattern is set to either an avoidance driving pattern in which the undetected obstacle is avoided while driving, or a narrow road driving pattern in which the automatic driving and cleaning is stopped without avoiding the undetected obstacle.

In the reproduction mode, the autonomous driving work device 1 performs automatic driving and cleaning (automatic driving work) and performs automatic driving and automatic cleaning (automatic work) according to automatic operation by the control unit 10 based on the selected cleaning plan and the corresponding environmental map and driving pattern so as to reproduce the cleaning plan selected by the operator from among the cleaning plans stored in the learning driving and cleaning.

As shown in FIG. 3, the cleaning plan is composed of multiple steps along the travel route, and each step is associated with travel data, cleaning data, and narrow road flag information. The interval between steps may be set to a predetermined time interval (e.g., 25 ms) when performing learning travel cleaning, or may be set to a predetermined travel distance (e.g., 0.5 m) of the autonomous mobile work device 1. In addition to the above, the cleaning plan may also store the elapsed time from the start of learning travel cleaning in association with each step.

The driving data includes, for example, self-position data on the driving route of the driving unit 3 (X and Y coordinates indicating the self-position on the environmental map, and the angle relative to the direction of the starting position), steering flags (straight ahead, left turn, right turn), driving speed in the direction of travel [m/s], and turning speed [deg/s], and the driving route can be illustrated based on the driving data. Alternatively, the driving speed may be switched to one of a number of speed stages, and the driving data may be stored by converting the stepwise speed of the driving speed into a number (for example, 8 stages from 0 to 7).

The cleaning data includes, for example, the pad pressure of the cleaning member 16 of the cleaning unit 5, the amount of water supplied by the cleaning liquid supply unit 17, and the amount of suction by the suction unit 18. The pad pressure is the force pressing the cleaning member 16 against the floor surface FL, the amount of water supplied is the amount of cleaning liquid (working liquid) supplied by the cleaning liquid supply unit 17 to the floor surface FL, and the amount of suction is the operating strength of the suction blower (not shown) when the suction unit 18 sucks up dirty water after cleaning from the floor surface FL. The pad pressure, amount of water supplied, and amount of suction may be switched to one of multiple levels of strength, and the cleaning data may be stored by converting the level of strength of the pad pressure, amount of water supplied, and amount of suction into numbers (for example, three levels from 0 to 2, or five levels from 0 to 4, etc.). The cleaning data may include the operation/stop and rotation speed of the cleaning member 16.

As shown in FIG. 4, the narrow road flag information is determined according to the road width at each position of the travel route, i.e., at the position of each step of the travel data, and indicates whether the travel route is narrow or not, and if it is narrow, indicates a narrow road level according to the road width. For example, if the travel route is a normal road rather than a narrow road, the narrow road flag information may be set to normal road, or may be set to no narrow road. A normal road is a travel route having a road width equal to or greater than the width at which the autonomous mobile work device 1 can be manually turned, and the width at which manual turning can be performed is a width at which the operator can safely turn without coming into contact with surrounding walls or obstacles when manually operating the autonomous mobile work device 1 in a state in which the autonomous mobile work device 1 is equipped with a wide part such as a squeegee 19 (large squeegee) that is larger than the width of the device main body 2, i.e., in a state of maximum width. If the travel route is narrow, the narrow road flag information is set to narrow road, and a narrow road level is also set.

As shown in FIG. 4, the narrow road level of the narrow road flag information is set in stages according to the width of the narrow road, and preferably the narrower the narrow road, the higher the level is set. For example, if the width of the narrow road is less than the width at which manual turning is possible, but is equal to or greater than the width at which pivot turning is possible, the narrow road level is set to narrow road level 1. Here, the width at which pivot turning is possible is the width at which the autonomous mobile work device 1 can make a pivot turn without coming into contact with surrounding walls or obstacles when the autonomous mobile work device 1 is equipped with wide parts. In addition, if the width of the narrow road is less than the width at which pivot turning is possible, but is equal to or greater than the width at which the autonomous mobile work device 1 can safely pass without coming into contact with surrounding walls or obstacles when the autonomous mobile work device 1 is equipped with wide parts, the narrow road level is set to narrow road level 2. Furthermore, if the width of the narrow road is less than the width at which the autonomous mobile work device 1 can safely pass when the wide parts are attached, but is equal to or greater than the width at which the autonomous mobile work device 1 can safely pass without coming into contact with surrounding walls or obstacles when the wide parts are removed, i.e., when the autonomous mobile work device 1 is at its minimum width (larger than the width of the device body 2), the narrow road level is set to 3. Here, the minimum width state of the autonomous mobile work device 1 also includes a state in which a part (narrow part) such as the squeegee 19 (small squeegee) that is equal to or smaller than the width of the device body 2 is attached.

In addition, if the width of the narrow road is less than the width that the autonomous mobile work device 1 can pass through with the wide parts removed, i.e., if it is less than the minimum width of the autonomous mobile work device 1, the narrow road flag information will indicate a narrow road that is prohibited from passage, and the vehicle will not travel on this narrow road during learning travel cleaning. In this case, the narrow road flag information or narrow road level does not need to be set, but may be set to a narrow road that is prohibited from passage.

Next, we will explain each part of the autonomous mobile work device 1.

The running unit 3 is provided at the bottom of the device body 2, and includes one front wheel 3a as a drive wheel and a pair of rear wheels 3b as auxiliary wheels. The front wheel 3a is provided at the front side in the traveling direction and in the center of the device width direction, and includes a running drive motor (not shown) and a front wheel rotation encoder (not shown). The running unit 3 drives the running drive motor to rotate the front wheel 3a to move the device body 2 forward, and stops the device body 2 by stopping the rotation of the front wheel 3a. The running speed of the autonomous mobile work device 1 (running unit 3) is adjusted (accelerated/decelerated) by controlling the drive of the running drive motor. Note that the running unit 3 may move the device body 2 backward by causing the running drive motor to reverse the front wheel 3a.

The front wheels 3a are equipped with a steering shaft (not shown), a steering motor (not shown), and a steering rotation encoder (not shown). The traveling unit 3 drives the steering motor to rotate the steering shaft to change the direction of the front wheels 3a and steers the device body 2, and moves the device body 2 forward while changing the direction of the front wheels 3a, causing the autonomous mobile work device 1 (traveling unit 3) to turn left (left turn) or right (right turn). The steering angle of the autonomous mobile work device 1 (traveling unit 3) is adjusted by controlling the driving of the steering motor. For example, the device body 2 turns forward or backward while controlling the steering motor to rotate the steering shaft and tilt the steering angle 90 degrees to the left or right with respect to the traveling direction, thereby causing the device body 2 to make a pivot turn to the left or right.

The pair of rear wheels 3b are provided at an interval in the device width direction (left and right direction) on the rear side of the traveling direction, and each is equipped with an encoder (not shown) for grasping the traveling distance from the rotation amount. The pair of rear wheels 3b rotate in response to the movement of the device main body 2 driven by the front wheels 3a. The adjustment (acceleration/deceleration) of the traveling speed and steering of the autonomous traveling work device 1 (traveling unit 3) may be performed by controlling the traveling drive motor and the steering motor while feeding back the rotation amount of each of the rear wheels 3b using the encoder provided on the rear wheels 3b. Note that in this embodiment, an example with the front drive wheels 3a and the rear auxiliary wheels 3b has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this example, and for example, in other embodiments, the front auxiliary wheels 3a and a pair of rear drive wheels 3b may be provided.

When the operation mode is set to the learning mode or manual mode, the traveling unit 3 operates in response to manual operation of the traveling operation unit 4 by the operator. When the operation mode is set to the reproduction mode, the traveling unit 3 operates in response to control of the control unit 10 (reproduction control unit 26) based on the travel data and environmental map of the cleaning plan selected by the operator.

The driving operation unit 4 is provided at the upper rear of the device body 2, and includes a handle (not shown) and a throttle (not shown) that can be manually operated by the operator. The driving operation unit 4 accepts manual operations by the operator while the operation mode is set to the learning mode or manual mode, but is configured not to accept manual operations by the operator other than the operation of the emergency stop button 28 while the operation mode is set to the reproduction mode.

The driving operation unit 4 converts the steering amount of the steering wheel by the operator into an electric signal, and outputs the electric signal to the steering motor to drive it, thereby rotating the steering shaft of the front wheels 3a and turning the device main body 2 left (left turn) or right (right turn). The steering angle of the autonomous driving work device 1 (driving unit 3) is adjusted according to the steering amount of the steering wheel of the driving operation unit 4. Specifically, by counting the number of pulses of the steering rotation encoder when the steering wheel is operated, the steering amount of the steering wheel is converted into the number of pulses, and the steering motor is controlled according to this number of pulses, so that the steering angle of the autonomous driving work device 1 can be adjusted. The steering angle (deg) is based on the traveling direction of the traveling unit 3 as a reference (0 degrees), and a left turn is indicated as a positive angle with respect to the traveling direction, and a right turn is indicated as a negative angle with respect to the traveling direction. The steering angle may be detected by converting it into an electric signal using a variable resistor.

The driving operation unit 4 also converts the amount of throttle rotation (opening) by the operator into an electrical signal, and outputs the electrical signal to the driving motor to drive it, thereby rotating the front wheels 3a and moving the device body 2 forward in the direction of travel. The driving speed of the autonomous driving work device 1 (driving unit 3) is adjusted according to the amount of throttle rotation of the driving operation unit 4.

The cleaning unit 5 is provided at the bottom of the device body 2 and is configured to clean the floor surface FL below the device body 2. When the operation mode is set to the learning mode or manual mode, the cleaning unit 5 operates in response to manual operation of the operation display unit 8 by the operator. When the operation mode is set to the reproduction mode, the cleaning unit 5 operates in response to control (automatic operation) of the control unit 10 (reproduction control unit 26) based on the cleaning data of the cleaning plan selected by the operator.

The cleaning unit 5 is, for example, composed of a wet cleaning mechanism that cleans the floor surface FL using cleaning liquid, and includes a cleaning member 16 that comes into contact with the floor surface FL to clean the floor surface FL, a cleaning liquid supply unit 17 that supplies cleaning liquid to the floor surface FL, and a suction unit 18 that sucks up the cleaning liquid used to clean the floor surface FL, i.e., dirty water. The cleaning unit 5 also includes a cleaning member motor (not shown) that rotates the cleaning member 16 on the floor surface FL, and a cleaning member actuator (not shown) that moves the cleaning member 16 up and down relative to the floor surface FL. The cleaning unit 5 also includes a dirty water recovery unit (not shown) that recovers the dirty water sucked up by the suction unit 18.

The cleaning member 16 is detachably attached to a cleaning shaft (not shown) that protrudes downward from inside the device body 2. When the cleaning member motor rotates the cleaning shaft, the cleaning member 16 rotates around the cleaning shaft as the rotation axis, and when the cleaning member actuator moves the cleaning shaft up and down, the cleaning member 16 also moves up and down.

The cleaning member 16 is composed of a pair of cleaning pads or a pair of cleaning brushes, which are attached side by side in the width direction (left and right direction) of the device at approximately the center in the direction of travel. The left cleaning pad or cleaning brush rotates clockwise when viewed from above, and the right cleaning pad or cleaning brush rotates counterclockwise when viewed from above, rotating from the front to the rear at the center in the width direction. This allows dirty water and dust in front of the pair of cleaning pads or pair of cleaning brushes to be collected at the center in the width direction and discharged to the rear.

The cleaning liquid supply unit 17 includes a cleaning liquid tank that contains the cleaning liquid and a supply pump connected to the cleaning liquid tank, and uses the supply pump to supply and spray the cleaning liquid from the cleaning liquid tank onto the floor surface FL. The cleaning liquid supply unit 17 supplies the cleaning liquid, for example, by applying a voltage to the supply pump to rotate the impeller of the supply pump. The amount of cleaning liquid supplied is adjusted by changing this voltage to adjust the impeller rotation speed. For example, by storing correlation data between the voltage and the amount of cleaning liquid supplied in the memory unit 11 in advance, when a specified amount of water is requested, a voltage corresponding to this amount of water is applied to the supply water pump to adjust to the requested amount of water.

The suction unit 18 is composed of a suction blower. The wastewater collection unit includes a squeegee 19, a wastewater duct (not shown), and a wastewater tank (not shown), and the squeegee 19 is installed rearward of the cleaning member 16 and in contact with the floor surface FL. The wastewater collection unit receives and collects the wastewater discharged rearward from the cleaning member 16 with the squeegee 19, and the suction unit 18 is connected to the wastewater duct and sucks the wastewater collected by the squeegee 19 into the wastewater duct. In the wastewater collection unit, the wastewater sucked into the wastewater duct is collected in the wastewater tank connected to the wastewater duct.

In this type of cleaning unit 5, the cleaning liquid supply unit 17 sprays cleaning liquid onto the floor surface FL while the cleaning member motor rotates the cleaning pad or cleaning brush of the cleaning member 16 and the cleaning member actuator presses it against the floor surface FL, thereby cleaning the floor surface FL, and the wastewater after cleaning is collected by the wastewater collection unit.

The measurement unit 6 includes a laser range finder (LRF) 6a that measures position information (e.g., angle and distance with respect to the traveling direction of the device body 2) between the device body 2 and non-work objects such as surrounding walls and obstacles. The measurement unit 6 measures position information between the device body 2 and non-work objects at predetermined intervals (e.g., every 25 ms) while the device body 2 is traveling. The LRF 6a is disposed in a cutout portion formed by cutting out the front side of the device body 2 in the left-right direction, and has a detection range that extends to the front side and both the left and right sides as shown in Figures 5 to 8. Note that in Figures 5 to 8, the detection range of the LRF 6a is shown as a sector around the LRF 6a.

The obstacle detection unit 7 includes a plurality of proximity sensors 7a (detection units) such as ultrasonic sensors that detect the presence or absence of walls or obstacles within a predetermined distance from the device main body 2, a step sensor 7b such as an infrared sensor that detects steps on the floor surface FL near the device main body 2, and a bumper sensor 7c that is attached to the bumper 12 on the lower front side of the device main body 2 and detects contact with walls or obstacles. The obstacle detection unit 7 may be constantly operating while the device main body 2 is traveling.

As shown in Figs. 5 to 7, the multiple proximity sensors 7a are arranged across both the left and right sides and the front side of the device body 2, and are preferably arranged symmetrically. In Figs. 5 to 7, the detection range of each proximity sensor 7a is shown as a sector around each proximity sensor 7a. For example, the proximity sensors 7a arranged in the center of the left side and the center of the right side of the device body 2 have a detection range to the left and right of the device body 2 and detect non-work objects such as walls and obstacles to the left and right of the device body 2. In addition, the proximity sensors 7a arranged in the front left and front right parts of the device body 2 have a detection range to the front left and front right of the device body 2 and detect non-work objects to the front left and front right of the device body 2. Furthermore, the proximity sensors 7a arranged in the front left and front right parts of the device body 2 have a detection range to the front left and front right of the device body 2 and detect non-work objects to the front left and front right of the device body 2.

As shown in FIG. 8, the multiple proximity sensors 7a may be arranged at different positions in the vertical direction on the front side of the device body 2, so that they have detection ranges at different positions in the vertical direction. In FIG. 8, the detection range of each proximity sensor 7a is shown as a sector around each proximity sensor 7a. For example, multiple proximity sensors 7a are arranged at the front left and front right of the device body 2, each arranged in the vertical direction.

The operation display unit 8 is provided near the driving operation unit 4 on the upper rear side of the device body 2, and as shown in FIG. 9, includes a key switch 27, an emergency stop button 28, and a touch panel 29, and each part of the operation display unit 8 is connected to the control unit 10. The operation display unit 8 may be configured as an operation display panel attached to the device body 2, or may be configured as a tablet terminal or the like that is detachably attached to the device body 2. The operation display unit 8 configured as a tablet terminal or the like is connected to the control unit 10 via wireless communication by the communication unit 15, making it possible to remotely operate the autonomous driving work device 1.

The key switch 27 is configured to be switchable between on and off. By switching the key switch 27 on, power is supplied from the power supply unit 9 to each part and the autonomous mobile work device 1 operates, whereas by switching the key switch 27 off, the power supply from the power supply unit 9 to each part is stopped and the operation of the autonomous mobile work device 1 is stopped. The emergency stop button 28, when operated, forcibly stops (brakes) the operation of each part of the autonomous mobile work device 1 (in particular, the automatic traveling and cleaning in the reproduction mode).

The touch panel 29 displays various screens in response to control signals from the control unit 10, and transmits operation signals based on touch operations on each screen to the control unit 10. For example, when the key switch 27 is turned on to operate the autonomous mobile work device 1, the touch panel 29 displays a mode selection screen 30 on which an operation mode can be selected, as shown in FIG. 9.

The mode selection screen 30 displays a learn button 31, an automatic button 32, and a manual button 33 in an operable manner.

When the learn button 31 or the manual button 33 is operated, the operation mode is switched to the learn mode or the manual mode, and the touch panel 29 displays a data setting screen 40 on which data relating to manual driving and manual cleaning can be set, as shown in Figs. 10 and 11. When the auto button 32 is operated, the operation mode is switched to the reproduction mode, and the touch panel 29 displays a cleaning plan selection screen (not shown) on which a cleaning plan for automatic driving and cleaning can be selected.

The data setting screen 40 displays a speed change button 41 for changing the traveling speed of the traveling unit 3. The speed change button 41 includes, for example, an up button that increases the traveling speed stepwise each time it is operated, and a down button that decreases the traveling speed stepwise each time it is operated.

The data setting screen 40 displays a cleaning switch 42 for the cleaning member 16 of the cleaning unit 5 and a pad pressure adjustment button 43 for adjusting the pad pressure of the cleaning member 16. The cleaning switch 42 switches between running and stopping cleaning by the cleaning member 16 each time it is operated. The pad pressure adjustment button 43 switches the pad pressure of the cleaning member 16 in a stepwise and cyclical manner each time it is operated.

The data setting screen 40 displays a supply switch 44 for the cleaning liquid supply unit 17 of the cleaning unit 5 and a supply water volume adjustment button 45 for adjusting the volume of water supplied by the cleaning liquid supply unit 17. Each time the supply switch 44 is operated, it switches between operating and stopping the supply of cleaning liquid by the cleaning liquid supply unit 17. Each time the supply water volume adjustment button 45 is operated, it switches the volume of water supplied by the cleaning liquid supply unit 17 in a stepwise and cyclical manner.

The data setting screen 40 displays a suction switch 46 for the suction unit 18 of the cleaning unit 5 and a suction volume adjustment button 47 for adjusting the suction volume of the suction unit 18. The suction switch 46 switches between on and off suction by the suction unit 18 each time it is operated. The suction volume adjustment button 47 switches the suction volume of the suction unit 18 in a stepwise and cyclical manner each time it is operated.

Furthermore, on the data setting screen 40, in the learning mode, a learning start button 48 for starting a learning drive cleaning, a learning interrupt button 49 for interrupting the learning drive cleaning, a learning completion button 50 for completing the learning drive cleaning, and a memory button 51 for storing the results of the learning drive cleaning as a cleaning plan are displayed so that they can be operated. Note that the learning interrupt button 49 and the learning completion button 50 may be displayed only while the learning drive cleaning is being performed, and the memory button 51 may be displayed only after the learning drive cleaning is completed.

Furthermore, the data setting screen 40 displays a driving pattern setting button 52 and a pivot turn button 53.

In the learning mode and reproduction mode, the driving pattern setting button 52 sets the driving pattern to an avoidance driving pattern or a narrow road driving pattern according to manual operation, and for example switches between the avoidance driving pattern and the narrow road driving pattern each time it is pressed. In the avoidance driving pattern, as shown in FIG. 10, the driving pattern setting button 52 displays "Avoidance", and in the narrow road driving pattern, as shown in FIG. 11, the driving pattern setting button 52 displays "No Avoidance". In addition, the driving pattern setting button 52 may be operable when traveling on a narrow road with a road width less than a predetermined width threshold in the learning mode. Here, the width threshold is, for example, set by the driving operation unit 4 to a width that allows the autonomous mobile work device 1 to safely turn manually without coming into contact with surrounding walls or obstacles.

In manual mode or learning mode, the pivot turn button 53 instructs the driving unit 3 to make a pivot turn in response to manual operation, not by operating the steering wheel of the driving operation unit 4. For example, the pivot turn button 53 may instruct the driving unit 3 to make a pivot turn for each unit angle with a single press, or may instruct the driving unit 3 to continue making a pivot turn while the button is being pressed. The pivot turn button 53 may be configured with different buttons for left and right turns. It is preferable that the pivot turn button 53 be operable when the driving unit 3 is stopped moving. In this embodiment, an example in which the pivot turn button 53 is provided on the data setting screen 40 will be described, but as another example, the pivot turn button 53 may be provided on the driving operation unit 4.

The cleaning plan selection screen (not shown) is configured to allow the selection of each cleaning plan stored in the memory unit 11, and also includes operation buttons (not shown) that allow the starting, pausing, and stopping of automatic running cleaning of the selected cleaning plan. When automatic running cleaning of the selected cleaning plan is started, the touch panel 29 displays a screen indicating that automatic running cleaning is in progress.

The power supply unit 9 includes a battery (power source) and a charging circuit mounted inside the device main body 2, and charges the battery by connecting to an external power source, and also supplies power to each part of the autonomous mobile work device 1. The power supply unit 9 may output a signal indicating the remaining battery charge to the control unit 10.

The control unit 10 is composed of a computer such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), and as shown in FIG. 2, is connected to a memory unit 11 including a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), a hard disk, a flash memory, etc. The control unit 10 is also connected to each part of the autonomous mobile work device 1, such as the above-mentioned traveling unit 3, traveling operation unit 4, cleaning unit 5, measuring unit 6, obstacle detection unit 7, operation display unit 8, power supply unit 9, warning light 13, speaker 14, and communication unit 15.

The control unit 10 is also connected to be able to communicate with external devices via the communication unit 15. The communication unit 15 performs wireless communication with external devices such as the operation display unit 8, which is configured as a tablet terminal or the like that is separate from the device main body 2, and the operator terminal 60 held by the operator, using a wireless LAN such as Wi-Fi or a communication standard such as Bluetooth (registered trademark).

The memory unit 11 stores programs and data for controlling each part and various functions of the autonomous mobile work device 1, and the control unit 10 performs calculation processing based on the programs and data stored in the memory unit 11, thereby controlling each part and various functions. For example, the control unit 10 operates as a mode switching unit 20, a learning control unit 21, a map creation unit 22, a cleaning plan creation unit 23, a driving pattern setting unit 24, a narrow road determination unit 25, and a reproduction control unit 26 by executing a program stored in the memory unit 11. This allows the autonomous mobile work device 1 to autonomously travel and work automatically according to a program stored in advance. The memory unit 11 also stores one or more cleaning plans, as well as an environmental map and a driving pattern corresponding to each cleaning plan.

The mode switching unit 20 switches the operation mode to one of the learning mode, reproduction mode, and manual mode. For example, the mode switching unit 20 switches the operation mode to the learning mode, reproduction mode, and manual mode, respectively, in response to the operation of the learning button 31, the automatic button 32, and the manual button 33 on the mode selection screen 30 described above.

In the learning mode, the learning control unit 21 starts learning driving and cleaning in response to the operation of the learning start button 48 on the data setting screen 40, and starts acquiring driving data of the driving unit 3 and cleaning data of the cleaning unit 5. While the learning driving and cleaning is being performed, the learning control unit 21 acquires driving data and cleaning data at predetermined step intervals and temporarily stores them in the memory unit 11.

The learning control unit 21 acquires, for example, self-position data (X and Y coordinates, angle) based on the position information measured by the measurement unit 6 as driving data. In addition, the front wheel rotation encoder of the front wheel 3a of the driving unit 3 detects the driving rotation speed of the front wheel 3a, and acquires the driving speed of the driving unit 3 based on the detection result. Furthermore, the steering rotation encoder of the front wheel 3a of the driving unit 3 detects the steering rotation speed of the front wheel 3a, and acquires the turning speed of the driving unit 3 based on the detection result.

The learning control unit 21 acquires, as cleaning data, for example, the stepped strengths set via the data setting screen 40 for the pad pressure of the cleaning member 16 of the cleaning unit 5, the amount of water supplied by the cleaning liquid supply unit 17, and the suction amount of the suction unit 18.

Furthermore, the learning control unit 21 may temporarily store in the memory unit 11 the driving pattern set by the driving pattern setting unit 24 during the learning driving and cleaning. In addition, the learning control unit 21 may temporarily store in the memory unit 11 the narrow road determination result by the narrow road determination unit 25 for each position (each step) of the driving route of the learning driving and cleaning, associating it with each step as narrow road flag information.

For example, if the narrow road determination unit 25 determines that each step is a narrow road during the learning driving and cleaning, the learning control unit 21, as described below, acquires narrow road flag information determined by the narrow road determination unit 25 at each step interval during the learning driving and cleaning, and stores it in the memory unit 11 in association with each step. That is, in this case, the narrow road flag information is acquired each time a step is passed during the learning driving and cleaning, similar to the driving data and cleaning data, and stored one by one. Alternatively, if the narrow road determination unit 25 does not determine that each step is a narrow road during the learning driving and cleaning, the learning control unit 21, as described below, acquires narrow road flag information for each step determined by the narrow road determination unit 25 based on the environmental map when the learning driving and cleaning is completed, and stores it in the memory unit 11 in association with each step. That is, in this case, the narrow road flag information is acquired for all steps after the learning driving and cleaning is completed and stored at once.

In addition, when traveling on a narrow road determined by the narrow road determination unit 25 during learning travel cleaning, if the road width of the narrow road is less than the width at which manual turning is possible but is equal to or greater than the width at which pivot turning is possible, the learning control unit 21 may restrict the turning operation of the device main body 2 by manual operation using the travel operation unit 4, and only enable pivot turning using the pivot turn button 53. Note that, when the road width of the narrow road is less than the width at which pivot turning is possible, the learning control unit 21 may restrict not only the turning operation using the travel operation unit 4, but also the turning operation using the pivot turn button 53.

Furthermore, when the narrow road determination unit 25 determines during learning driving and cleaning that the road width is equal to or less than the minimum width of the autonomous mobile work device 1, i.e., a narrow road that is prohibited from passage, the learning control unit 21 may control the driving unit 3 and the cleaning unit 5 to stop the learning driving and cleaning if the autonomous mobile work device 1 approaches the prohibited narrow road due to manual operation by the driving operation unit 4.

Then, in response to the operation of the learning interruption button 49 on the data setting screen 40 (interruption operation of learning driving and cleaning), the learning control unit 21 interrupts the learning driving and cleaning, forcibly stops manual driving and manual cleaning in the learning mode, and stops acquiring driving data and cleaning data.

The learning control unit 21 also completes the learning driving and cleaning in response to the operation of the learning completion button 50 on the data setting screen 40, and stops acquiring driving data and cleaning data.

While the learning driving and cleaning is being performed in the learning mode, the map creation unit 22 estimates the robot's own position and creates an environmental map in real time using techniques such as SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping).

Specifically, during the learning driving cleaning of a specified cleaning area, the map creation unit 22 acquires position information of the device main body 2 and non-work objects around the device main body 2 as the measurement result of the measurement unit 6, and creates a local map of the surroundings of the device main body 2 at predetermined time intervals or predetermined distance intervals based on the measurement result of the measurement unit 6. In addition, the map creation unit 22 estimates the self-position (coordinates) of the autonomous mobile work device 1 in the local map based on the local map and the detection results (amount of movement of the traveling unit 3) by each encoder of the traveling unit 3.

When the learning travel cleaning is completed, the map creation unit 22 creates an environmental map of the cleaning area by stitching together (combining) each local map. The map creation unit 22 also creates a travel route by stitching together (combining) the self-position (each piece of position information measured by the measurement unit 6) in the local map. By using this environmental map, the travelable range along the travel route can be grasped based on the self-position in the local map and the position information of non-work objects measured by the measurement unit 6, and the road width at each position (each step) of the travel route can be calculated based on this travelable range.

When the learning driving and cleaning is completed in response to the operation of the learning completion button 50 on the data setting screen 40, the cleaning plan creation unit 23 creates a cleaning plan (work plan) by associating the driving data, cleaning data, and narrow road flag information temporarily stored in the memory unit 11 by the learning control unit 21 for each step.

The cleaning plan creation unit 23 displays an inquiry screen on the touch panel 29 to inquire the operator about inputting a plan name for the created cleaning plan, and adds the plan name input by the operator to the created cleaning plan. After inputting the plan name, the cleaning plan creation unit 23 stores the created cleaning plan in the memory unit 11 in association with the environmental map created by the map creation unit 22 and the driving pattern set by the driving pattern setting unit 24 in the same learning driving cleaning in response to the operation of the storage button 51 on the data setting screen 40. Note that, when the environmental map, driving data, and cleaning data are created in advance by using the autonomous mobile work device 1 as a computer, or by an external device such as the operator terminal 60, or by automatically creating a driving route according to a program input in advance, without performing learning driving cleaning, the cleaning plan creation unit 23 may create a cleaning plan for these environmental maps, driving data, and cleaning data, and even in this case, narrow road flag information and driving patterns may be set.

The driving pattern setting unit 24 sets, as a driving pattern when an undetected obstacle that was not detected in the learning mode (when creating the environmental map) is detected in the reproduction mode (when performing automatic driving and cleaning), either an avoidance driving pattern in which the robot travels while avoiding the undetected obstacle, or a narrow road driving pattern in which the robot stops automatic driving and cleaning without avoiding the undetected obstacle. The avoidance driving pattern and narrow road driving pattern may be set by manual operation such as pressing a button by the operator in both the learning mode and the reproduction mode. Note that the cleaning area in which the narrow road driving pattern is set by manual operation by the operator may be set to a road width equal to or greater than a predetermined width threshold, according to the operator's judgment.

When setting a driving pattern in the learning mode, the driving pattern setting unit 24 basically sets a narrow road driving pattern in response to manual operation of the driving pattern setting button 52 or automatically in response to the determination of a narrow road by the narrow road determination unit 25 when the autonomous mobile work device 1 drives (detects) a narrow road with a road width less than a predetermined width threshold during learning driving cleaning (when creating the environmental map), in other words, when a narrow road is included in the driving route of the cleaning area where learning driving cleaning was performed. On the other hand, the driving pattern setting unit 24 may set an avoidance driving pattern when the autonomous mobile work device 1 does not drive a narrow road with a road width less than a predetermined width threshold during learning driving cleaning, i.e., when a narrow road driving pattern is not set. Furthermore, when the reproduction control unit 26 performs automatic travel and cleaning based on a pre-created environmental map, travel data, and cleaning data, regardless of whether the travel and cleaning is a learning travel and cleaning, the travel pattern setting unit 24 may set a travel pattern for when an undetected obstacle that was not detected when the environmental map was created is detected when performing automatic travel and cleaning, and may manually or automatically set a narrow road travel pattern if a narrow road with a road width less than a predetermined width threshold is detected when the environmental map is created.

The driving pattern setting unit 24 accepts manual operation of the narrow road driving pattern using the driving pattern setting button 52 while the autonomous mobile work device 1 is performing learning driving and cleaning, or when learning driving and cleaning is completed. Alternatively, the driving pattern setting unit 24 automatically sets the narrow road driving pattern when the narrow road determination unit 25 determines that a narrow road is present while the autonomous mobile work device 1 is performing learning driving and cleaning in the learning mode.

When setting a driving pattern in the reproduction mode, the driving pattern setting unit 24 accepts manual operation of a narrow road driving pattern using the driving pattern setting button 52 after selecting a cleaning plan and before starting automatic driving and cleaning. Alternatively, while automatic driving and cleaning is being performed, the driving pattern is switched and set according to the narrow road determination result by the narrow road determination unit 25. At this time, if the narrow road determination unit 25 determines that the position on the traveling direction side of the driving route is not a narrow road, the driving pattern setting unit 24 automatically sets an avoidance driving pattern, whereas if it determines that the road is a narrow road, it automatically sets a narrow road driving pattern.

Furthermore, when performing automatic driving and cleaning, the driving pattern setting unit 24 may automatically set a driving pattern according to the time period during which users who use the cleaning area are active. For example, the driving pattern setting unit 24 sets a narrow road driving pattern during time periods such as daytime when there are many users in the cleaning area, and sets an avoidance driving pattern during time periods such as nighttime when there are few users.

In the learning mode or reproduction mode, the narrow road determination unit 25 calculates the road width at each position of the travel route, and determines that the position of the travel route is not narrow if the road width is equal to or greater than a predetermined width threshold, and determines that the position of the travel route is narrow if the road width is less than the predetermined width threshold.

When the narrow road determination unit 25 determines the presence of a narrow road, the learning control unit 21 or the reproduction control unit 26 controls the speaker 14, the operation display unit 8, the warning light 13, or the communication unit 15 to notify the operator of the presence of the narrow road by at least one of the following: sound output by the speaker 14, screen display by the operation display unit 8, lighting or blinking of the warning light 13, and communication with the operator terminal 60 held by the operator via the communication unit 15. At this time, the communication with the operator terminal 60 by the communication unit 15 may be by sending an e-mail or a short message via a short message service. In the learning mode, it is preferable to notify the operator of the presence of a narrow road and to prompt the operator to set a narrow road driving pattern.

For example, when determining whether a road is narrow in the learning mode, the narrow road determination unit 25 acquires position information of the device main body 2 and non-work objects around the device main body 2 as the measurement result of the measurement unit 6 while performing the learning driving and cleaning, and calculates the road width at each position of the driving route based on the measurement result of the measurement unit 6 and the maximum width of the device main body 2. In addition, when completing the learning driving and cleaning, the narrow road determination unit 25 uses an environmental map of the cleaning area created based on the measurement result of the measurement unit 6 to grasp the driving range of each position (each step) of the driving route based on the self-position in the local map and the position information of the non-work objects that is the measurement result of the measurement unit 6, and measures the road width of this driving range to calculate the road width at each position of the driving route.

Alternatively, when determining whether a road is narrow in the reproduction mode, the narrow road determination unit 25 calculates the road width at a position in the travel direction of the travel route based on the measurement results of the measurement unit 6 and the maximum width of the device main body 2 while the automatic travel cleaning is being performed, in the same manner as the operation during the learning travel cleaning described above.

Furthermore, in the learning mode, when the narrow road determination unit 25 calculates the road width at each position (each step) of the travel route, it determines narrow road flag information corresponding to the road width and stores the narrow road flag information in association with each step of the cleaning plan.

For example, if the road width of the travel route is equal to or larger than the width at which manual turning is possible, the narrow road determination unit 25 determines the narrow road flag information to be a normal road, and if the road width of the travel route is less than the width at which manual turning is possible, the narrow road flag information to be a narrow road. Note that the narrow road determination unit 25 may, but need not, store the narrow road flag information for a normal road in the cleaning plan.

When the narrow road flag information is determined to be a narrow road, the narrow road determination unit 25 further determines a narrow road level according to the road width. When the road width of the narrow road is less than the width at which manual turning is possible but is equal to or greater than the width at which pivot turning is possible, the narrow road determination unit 25 determines the road to be narrow road level 1. When the road width of the narrow road is less than the width at which pivot turning is possible but is equal to or greater than the width at which the autonomous mobile work device 1 can pass with the wide parts attached, the narrow road determination unit 25 determines the road to be narrow road level 2. When the road width of the narrow road is less than the width at which the autonomous mobile work device 1 can pass with the wide parts attached but is equal to or greater than the width at which the autonomous mobile work device 1 can pass with the minimum width attached, the narrow road determination unit 25 determines the road to be narrow road level 3. In addition, in the case of a narrow road, the narrow road determination unit 25 may store the narrow road level in the cleaning plan instead of the narrow road flag information.

In addition, if the road width of a narrow road is equal to or smaller than the minimum width of the autonomous mobile work device 1, the narrow road determination unit 25 determines that the narrow road level is a prohibited narrow road. However, since the autonomous mobile work device 1 does not travel through a prohibited narrow road, the narrow road flag information or narrow road level of the prohibited narrow road is not stored in the cleaning plan.

When the operation mode is reproduction mode and a cleaning plan is selected in response to an operation of the cleaning plan selection screen displayed on the touch panel 29, the reproduction control unit 26 reads out the selected cleaning plan from the memory unit 11, and controls the traveling unit 3 and the cleaning unit 5 to perform automatic traveling and cleaning based on the traveling data and cleaning data of this cleaning plan as well as the environmental map and traveling pattern corresponding to the cleaning plan.

At this time, the reproduction control unit 26 performs the automatic traveling and cleaning while estimating the self-position of the autonomous traveling work device 1 on the environmental map corresponding to the cleaning plan. For example, the reproduction control unit 26 uses the map creation unit 22 to create a local map using a technology such as SLAM, estimates the self-position of the autonomous traveling work device 1 in the local map, and matches the local map with the environmental map to estimate the self-position on the environmental map. In addition, the reproduction control unit 26 may acquire narrow road flag information determined by the narrow road determination unit 25 during the automatic traveling and cleaning and store it in the storage unit 11. At that time, the local maps created for estimating the self-position may be joined together to create a partial environmental map, and the narrow road flag information may be acquired using the narrow road determination. The reproduction control unit 26 can obtain accurate narrow road flag information, such as whether the narrow road is partially narrowed or continuously narrowed, and can continue the automatic traveling and cleaning according to the accurate narrow road flag information.

The reproduction control unit 26 then controls the traveling unit 3 by matching the self-position data for each step of the traveling data of the cleaning plan with the self-position estimated on the environmental map, while controlling the cleaning work for each step based on the cleaning data of the cleaning unit 5.

In addition, if an undetected obstacle that was not detected in the learning mode is detected in the direction of travel by the measurement unit 6 or the obstacle detection unit 7 during automatic travel and cleaning, the reproduction control unit 26 controls the travel unit 3 and the cleaning unit 5 according to the travel pattern.

For example, when an avoidance driving pattern is set, the reproduction control unit 26 performs automatic travel and cleaning until the distance between the device main body 2 and the undetected obstacle becomes a predetermined safe distance, and then controls the travel unit 3 to travel while avoiding the undetected obstacle while maintaining a predetermined safe distance between the device main body 2 and the undetected obstacle. During such an avoidance operation of the undetected obstacle, the reproduction control unit 26 may control the cleaning unit 5 to continue automatic cleaning, or may control the cleaning unit 5 to stop automatic cleaning. Also, when an avoidance driving pattern is set, if the narrow road determination unit 25 determines that a narrow road has a road width less than a predetermined width threshold, the reproduction control unit 26 controls the travel unit 3 and the cleaning unit 5 to perform automatic travel and cleaning until the distance from the narrow road becomes a predetermined safe distance, and then to stop automatic travel and cleaning. Alternatively, the reproduction control unit 26 may search for and move to a position where the reproduction mode can be resumed without entering the narrow road, and resume the reproduction mode from the resumable position to continue automatic travel and cleaning.

When a narrow road driving pattern is set, the reproduction control unit 26 controls the driving unit 3 and the cleaning unit 5 to perform automatic driving and cleaning until the distance between the device main body 2 and the undetected obstacle becomes a predetermined safe distance, and then to stop automatic driving and cleaning. When automatic driving and cleaning is stopped according to the narrow road driving pattern in this way, the reproduction control unit 26 stops automatic driving and cleaning for a predetermined stop time. If an undetected obstacle is no longer detected after the predetermined stop time has elapsed, the reproduction control unit 26 resumes automatic driving and cleaning, while if an undetected obstacle is detected again, the reproduction control unit 26 repeats stopping automatic driving and cleaning for the predetermined stop time again. In addition, when a narrow road driving pattern is set, even if the narrow road determination unit 25 determines that the road width is less than the predetermined width threshold, the reproduction control unit 26 continues automatic driving and cleaning as long as the road is not a no-passage narrow road. Note that the reproduction control unit 26 may control the driving unit 3 to decelerate in the narrow road.

When the reproduction control unit 26 stops the automatic travel cleaning according to the narrow road travel pattern, the reproduction control unit 26 controls the speaker 14, the operation display unit 8, the warning light 13, or the communication unit 15 to notify the operator of the stop of the automatic travel cleaning by at least one of the following: sound output by the speaker 14, screen display by the operation display unit 8, lighting or blinking of the warning light 13, and communication with the operator terminal 60 held by the operator via the communication unit 15. At this time, the communication with the operator terminal 60 by the communication unit 15 may be sending an e-mail or a short message through a short message service. Note that the reproduction control unit 26 also notifies the operator of the stop of the automatic travel cleaning in a similar manner when an undetected obstacle is detected again after the above-mentioned predetermined stop time has elapsed and the automatic travel cleaning is stopped again.

Furthermore, in the automatic traveling cleaning, the reproduction control unit 26 detects non-work objects such as obstacles using the laser range finder 6a of the measurement unit 6 and the multiple proximity sensors 7a of the obstacle detection unit 7, controls the traveling unit 3 to decelerate when the distance to the non-work object approaches a predetermined safe distance, and controls the traveling unit 3 to stop when the distance to the non-work object falls below the predetermined safe distance. At this time, the reproduction control unit 26 may selectively use the proximity sensor 7a according to the traveling pattern set by the traveling pattern setting unit 24 or according to the narrow road flag information determined by the narrow road determination unit 25.

For example, when an avoidance driving pattern is set, the reproduction control unit 26 operates all of the multiple proximity sensors 7a on both the left and right sides and the front of the device main body 2 as shown in FIG. 5, and detects non-work objects based on the detection results of all of the multiple proximity sensors 7a. Also, when an avoidance driving pattern is set, the reproduction control unit 26 operates only one of the multiple proximity sensors 7a arranged in the vertical direction on the front side of the device main body 2 to obtain the detection result of this proximity sensor 7a, or operates all of the multiple proximity sensors 7a to obtain the detection result of only one proximity sensor 7a, and detects non-work objects based on the obtained detection result.

On the other hand, when a narrow road driving pattern is set, as shown in Figures 6 and 7, the reproduction control unit 26 operates only the proximity sensor 7a located on the front side of the device body 2 out of the multiple proximity sensors 7a located on both the left and right sides and the front side of the device body 2 so as not to detect the walls on both the left and right sides of the device body 2 as non-work objects, and obtains the detection result of this proximity sensor 7a, or operates all of the multiple proximity sensors 7a to obtain the detection result of only the proximity sensor 7a located on the front side of the device body 2, and detects non-work objects based on the obtained detection result.

Alternatively, when a narrow road driving pattern is set, the reproduction control unit 26 operates only the proximity sensor 7a selected from the multiple proximity sensors 7a according to the narrow road flag information determined by the narrow road determination unit 25, acquires the detection result of this proximity sensor 7a, or operates all of the multiple proximity sensors 7a, acquires the detection result of only the proximity sensor 7a selected according to the narrow road flag information, and detects non-work objects based on the acquired detection result.

For example, when the narrow road flag information is narrow road level 1 or narrow road level 2, as shown in FIG. 6, the detection results of the proximity sensors 7a located in the center left and center right of the device body 2 are not obtained, but the detection results of the proximity sensors 7a located in the front left and front right parts of the device body 2 and the proximity sensors 7a located in the front left and front right parts of the device body 2 are obtained to detect non-work objects.

In addition, when the narrow road flag information is narrow road level 3, as shown in FIG. 7, the detection results of the proximity sensors 7a located in the center left and center right of the device body 2 and the proximity sensors 7a located in the front left and front right of the device body 2 are not obtained, but the detection results of the proximity sensors 7a located in the front left and front right of the device body 2 are obtained to detect non-work objects.

In addition, when a narrow road driving pattern is set, as shown in FIG. 8, the reproduction control unit 26 operates all of the multiple proximity sensors 7a arranged vertically on the front side of the device main body 2, and detects non-work objects based on the detection results of all of the multiple proximity sensors 7a.

The operation of the automatic running and cleaning will be described with reference to the flowcharts in Figures 12 to 14 regarding the reproduction control unit 26. First, the operation of setting the running pattern at the start of the automatic running and cleaning will be described.

When the operation mode is the reproduction mode, the reproduction control unit 26 reads out the cleaning plan selected by the operator from the storage unit 11 (step S1 in FIG. 12) and controls the automatic travel and cleaning based on the travel data and cleaning data of the cleaning plan. At this time, if the travel pattern is associated with the cleaning plan (step S2 in FIG. 12: YES), and if the travel pattern is a narrow road travel pattern (step S3 in FIG. 12: YES), the travel pattern setting unit 24 sets the narrow road travel pattern (step S11 in FIG. 13). On the other hand, if the travel pattern is an avoidance travel pattern (step S3 in FIG. 12: NO), the travel pattern setting unit 24 sets the avoidance travel pattern (step S21 in FIG. 14).

If the cleaning plan does not have a driving pattern associated with it (step S2 in FIG. 12: NO), the reproduction control unit 26 acquires an environmental map associated with the cleaning plan, and the narrow road determination unit 25 determines whether the driving route in the environmental map includes a narrow road (step S4 in FIG. 12). If a narrow road is included (step S5 in FIG. 12: YES), the driving pattern setting unit 24 sets a narrow road driving pattern (step S11 in FIG. 13). On the other hand, if a narrow road is not included (step S5 in FIG. 12: NO), the driving pattern setting unit 24 sets an avoidance driving pattern (step S21 in FIG. 14).

Next, the operation when the narrow road driving pattern is set (step S11 in FIG. 13) will be described. While performing automatic traveling and cleaning (step S12 in FIG. 13), the reproduction control unit 26 detects non-work objects such as obstacles using the laser range finder 6a of the measurement unit 6 and the multiple proximity sensors 7a of the obstacle detection unit 7 (step S13 in FIG. 13). Then, if no non-work objects are detected (step S13 in FIG. 13: NO), the reproduction control unit 26 continues automatic traveling and cleaning (step S14 in FIG. 13).

On the other hand, if a non-work object is detected (step S13 in FIG. 13: YES), as shown in FIG. 16, the reproduction control unit 26 continues automatic traveling and cleaning until the distance between the device main body 2 and the non-work object becomes a predetermined safe distance (step S15 in FIG. 13: NO). Also, when the distance between the device main body 2 and the non-work object becomes equal to or less than the predetermined safe distance (step S15 in FIG. 13: YES), the reproduction control unit 26 temporarily suspends automatic traveling and cleaning (step S16 in FIG. 13) and notifies the operator that automatic traveling and cleaning has stopped (step S17 in FIG. 13).

After that, when a predetermined stop time has elapsed, the reproduction control unit 26 detects the non-work object again (step S18 in FIG. 13), and if a non-work object is detected again (step S18 in FIG. 13: YES), it repeats stopping the automatic traveling and cleaning (step S16 in FIG. 13) and notifying the operator (step S17 in FIG. 13); on the other hand, if the non-work object itself moves or the operator moves the non-work object and the non-work object is no longer detected (step S18 in FIG. 13: NO), it continues the automatic traveling and cleaning (step S14 in FIG. 13).

The reproduction control unit 26 then repeats the above process until the autonomous mobile work device 1 reaches the destination (end point of the travel route) in the cleaning area during autonomous mobile cleaning (step S19 in FIG. 13: NO), and ends the autonomous mobile cleaning when the autonomous mobile work device 1 reaches the destination (step S19 in FIG. 13: YES).

Next, the operation when an avoidance driving pattern is set (step S21 in FIG. 14) will be described. While performing automatic driving and cleaning (step S22 in FIG. 14), the reproduction control unit 26 detects non-work objects such as obstacles using the laser range finder 6a of the measurement unit 6 and the multiple proximity sensors 7a of the obstacle detection unit 7 (step S23 in FIG. 14). Then, if no non-work objects are detected (step S23 in FIG. 14: NO), the reproduction control unit 26 continues automatic driving and cleaning (step S24 in FIG. 14).

On the other hand, if a non-work object is detected (step S23 in FIG. 14: YES), as shown in FIG. 15, the reproduction control unit 26 continues automatic traveling and cleaning until the distance between the device body 2 and the non-work object becomes a predetermined safe distance (step S25 in FIG. 14: NO). Also, when the distance between the device body 2 and the non-work object reaches a predetermined safe distance (step S25 in FIG. 14: YES), the reproduction control unit 26 controls the traveling unit 3 to travel while avoiding the non-work object while maintaining a safe distance between the device body 2 and the non-work object (step S26 in FIG. 14). Furthermore, when the autonomous traveling work device 1, which has avoided the non-work object, returns to the traveling route of the cleaning plan, the reproduction control unit 26 continues automatic traveling and cleaning (step S24 in FIG. 14).

The reproduction control unit 26 then repeats the above process until the autonomous mobile work device 1 reaches the destination (end point of the travel route) in the cleaning area during autonomous mobile cleaning (step S27 in FIG. 14: NO), and ends the autonomous mobile cleaning when the autonomous mobile work device 1 reaches the destination (step S27 in FIG. 14: YES).

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the autonomous driving work device 1 capable of performing autonomous driving cleaning (autonomous driving work) that autonomously drives and automatically cleans (works) includes the device main body 2, the driving unit 3 that drives the device main body 2 within a predetermined cleaning area (working area), the cleaning unit 5 (working unit) that cleans (works) on the driving path within the cleaning area of the device main body 2, a reproduction control unit 26 that controls the driving unit 3 and the cleaning unit 5 to perform automatic driving cleaning based on a pre-stored environmental map of the cleaning area, as well as driving data and cleaning data, and a driving pattern setting unit 24 that sets either an avoidance driving pattern that drives while avoiding the undetected obstacle or a narrow road driving pattern that stops automatic driving cleaning without avoiding the undetected obstacle as a driving pattern when an undetected obstacle that was not detected when the environmental map was created is detected during automatic driving cleaning. The driving pattern setting unit 24 manually or automatically sets the narrow road driving pattern when a narrow road with a road width less than a predetermined width threshold is detected when the environmental map is created. The reproduction control unit 26 controls the driving unit 3 according to the driving pattern set by the driving pattern setting unit 24, and when a narrow road driving pattern is set, the vehicle is driven regardless of whether the road is narrow or not.

With this configuration, even if a narrow road exists in the cleaning area, the autonomous mobile work device 1 can set a narrow road driving pattern to drive through the narrow road when performing automatic driving and cleaning, so that the narrow road can be made into a cleaning area and uncleaned areas are not generated. Furthermore, when a narrow road driving pattern is set, automatic driving and cleaning is stopped upon detection of an undetected obstacle, so that dangers when performing automatic driving and cleaning in narrow roads can be avoided, in other words, safety can be ensured. In this way, even if a narrow road exists in the driving route of the cleaning area, automatic driving and cleaning in narrow roads can be safely continued and the generation of uncleaned areas can be suppressed.

In this embodiment, the autonomous driving work device 1 further includes a mode switching unit 20 that can switch the operation mode between a learning mode and a reproduction mode, and a learning control unit 21 that, in the learning mode, creates an environmental map and performs learning driving and cleaning (learning driving work) that acquires and stores driving data during manual driving of the driving unit 3 and cleaning data during manual cleaning (manual work) of the cleaning unit 5. The reproduction control unit 26 performs automatic driving and cleaning in the reproduction mode.

With this configuration, in the autonomous mobile work device 1, the travel pattern setting unit 24 can set a travel pattern in the case where an undetected obstacle that was not detected when performing learning travel cleaning in the learning mode is detected when performing autonomous travel cleaning in the reproduction mode. In addition, the travel pattern setting unit 24 can set a narrow road travel pattern in the case where a narrow road with a road width less than the width threshold is traveled when performing learning travel cleaning in the learning mode.

In this embodiment, the autonomous mobile work device 1 further includes a measurement unit 6 that measures the positional relationship between the device main body 2 and non-work objects around the device main body 2, and a narrow road determination unit 25 that determines that a position on the travel path where the road width is less than a predetermined width threshold is a narrow road. In the learning mode, the narrow road determination unit 25 calculates the road width at each position on the travel path from an environmental map of the cleaning area created based on the measurement results of the measurement unit 6, or calculates the road width at each position on the travel path based on the measurement results of the measurement unit 6 and the maximum width of the device main body 2, and determines that the road is a narrow road based on the calculated road width. When the narrow road determination unit 25 determines that a road is a narrow road in the learning mode, the travel pattern setting unit 24 automatically sets a narrow road travel pattern.

With this configuration, the autonomous mobile work device 1 can reliably determine narrow roads included in the travel route of the cleaning area by performing learning travel cleaning before performing automatic travel cleaning. Furthermore, if a narrow road is included in the travel route, the narrow road will become a cleaning area, but because a narrow road travel pattern is automatically set, automatic travel cleaning can be safely continued within narrow roads and the occurrence of uncleaned areas can be suppressed.

In addition, in this embodiment, in the autonomous mobile work device 1, the narrow road determination unit 25 determines narrow road flag information according to the road width at each position of the travel route. At this time, if the road width is equal to or greater than the width at which manual turning is possible, the narrow road determination unit 25 determines the narrow road flag information as a normal road, if the road width is less than the width at which manual turning is possible, the narrow road flag information as a narrow road with a step-by-step narrowness level according to the road width, and further if the road width is equal to or less than the minimum width of the autonomous mobile work device 1, the narrow road flag information as a no-passage narrow road.

With this configuration, the autonomous mobile work device 1 can accurately determine various narrow roads that exist in the cleaning area. Therefore, by referring to the narrow road flag information, it is possible to understand how narrow roads affect the passage of the autonomous mobile work device 1.

In this embodiment, the autonomous mobile work device 1 further includes a pivot turn button 53 for instructing the traveling unit 3 to make a pivot turn of the device body 2. When traveling on a narrow road determined by the narrow road determination unit 25, if the road width of the narrow road is less than the width at which manual turning is possible and is equal to or greater than the width at which pivot turning is possible, the learning control unit 21 limits the turning operation of the device body 2 to a pivot turn using the pivot turn button 53.

With this configuration, when the autonomous mobile work device 1 is driven on a narrow road during learning cleaning, the autonomous mobile work device 1 can continue learning cleaning safely without colliding with non-work objects such as walls or obstacles.

In addition, in this embodiment, in the autonomous mobile work device 1, the narrow road determination unit 25 calculates the road width of the traveling direction side position of the traveling route based on the measurement result of the measurement unit 6 and the maximum width of the device main body 2 in the reproduction mode, and determines that the traveling direction side is not a narrow road if the calculated road width is equal to or greater than a predetermined width threshold, and determines that the traveling direction side is a narrow road if the road width is less than the predetermined width threshold. In the reproduction mode, the traveling pattern setting unit 24 automatically sets an avoidance traveling pattern if the narrow road determination unit 25 determines that the traveling direction side is not a narrow road, and automatically sets a narrow road traveling pattern if the narrow road determination unit 25 determines that the traveling direction side is a narrow road.

With this configuration, when the autonomous mobile work device 1 performs automatic travel and cleaning in a cleaning area that contains a mixture of narrow roads and normal roads, it can continue automatic travel and cleaning on narrow roads according to a narrow road driving pattern, and on normal roads it can continue automatic travel and cleaning while avoiding undetected obstacles according to an avoidance driving pattern. This allows automatic travel and cleaning to be performed efficiently without hassle, and because narrow roads can be included in the cleaning area, automatic travel and cleaning can be performed without leaving any uncleaned areas.

In addition, in this embodiment, in the autonomous mobile work device 1, when the narrow road determination unit 25 determines that a specific position on the travel route is a narrow road in the learning mode or reproduction mode, the learning control unit 21 or reproduction control unit 26 notifies the operator of the presence of a narrow road and stores narrow road flag information corresponding to the width of the narrow road.

With this configuration, the operator of the autonomous mobile work device 1 can determine whether to drive through a narrow road or set a narrow road driving pattern by noticing the presence of a narrow road while performing learning driving and cleaning. In addition, by noticing the presence of a narrow road while performing automatic driving and cleaning, the operator can move undetected obstacles on the narrow road in advance and grasp the progress of the automatic driving and cleaning.

In addition, in this embodiment, in the autonomous mobile work device 1, the learning control unit 21 stops the learning traveling and cleaning when the narrow road determination unit 25 determines in the learning mode that the road width is narrower than the minimum width of the autonomous mobile work device 1.

With this configuration, in the autonomous mobile work device 1, the cleaning plan created in the learning and cleaning travel will not include as a cleaning area a narrow road whose width is less than the minimum width of the autonomous mobile work device 1. Therefore, when the created cleaning plan is executed in reproduction mode, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of uncleaned areas.

In addition, in this embodiment, in the autonomous mobile work device 1, when a narrow road driving pattern is set in the reproduction mode, the reproduction control unit 26 stops the automatic traveling and cleaning for a predetermined stop time when an undetected obstacle is detected on a narrow road.

With this configuration, when the autonomous mobile work device 1 detects a moving object such as a person or a placed object such as luggage as an undetected obstacle on a narrow road during automatic cleaning, the moving object will leave the detection range during the stopping time, or the placed object will be carried out of the detection range during the stopping time, so that the undetected obstacle will no longer be detected, and the automatic cleaning can be continued by passing the moving object or placed object.

In addition, in this embodiment, in the autonomous mobile work device 1, when a narrow road driving pattern is set in the reproduction mode, the reproduction control unit 26 notifies the operator that the automatic traveling and cleaning has been stopped according to the narrow road driving pattern because an undetected obstacle has been detected on a narrow road.

With this configuration, in the autonomous mobile work device 1, if a moving object such as a person or a placed object such as luggage is detected on a narrow road as an undetected obstacle during automatic cleaning, the operator who is notified that automatic cleaning must be stopped can immediately urge the moving object to leave the detection range, or can remove the placed object from the detection range. Therefore, since a detected undetected obstacle can be moved immediately, automatic cleaning can be continued without prolonging the work time.

In addition, in this embodiment, in the autonomous mobile work device 1, the reproduction control unit 26 notifies the operator of the stop of automatic traveling and cleaning by at least one of the following: sound output from the speaker 14, screen display on the operation display unit 8, lighting or flashing of the warning light 13, and communication with the operator terminal 60 held by the operator.

With this configuration, the autonomous mobile work device 1 can more reliably and quickly notify the operator that autonomous mobile cleaning has stopped. This allows undetected obstacles that have been detected to be moved more quickly, allowing autonomous mobile cleaning to continue without prolonging the operation time.

In addition, in this embodiment, in the autonomous mobile work device 1, the reproduction control unit 26 resumes the automatic traveling and cleaning if an undetected obstacle is no longer detected on the narrow road after a predetermined stop time has elapsed since the automatic traveling and cleaning was stopped according to the narrow road traveling pattern, and notifies the operator again of the stop of the automatic traveling and cleaning if an undetected obstacle is detected on the narrow road.

With this configuration, the autonomous mobile work device 1 can more reliably and quickly notify the operator that autonomous mobile cleaning has stopped. This allows undetected obstacles that have been detected to be moved more quickly, allowing autonomous mobile cleaning to continue without prolonging the operation time.

In addition, in this embodiment, the autonomous mobile work device 1 is provided with multiple proximity sensors 7a (detection units) that detect non-work objects around the device main body 2, on both the left and right sides and the front side of the device main body 2. When an avoidance driving pattern is set in the reproduction mode, the reproduction control unit 26 causes all of the multiple proximity sensors 7a to detect non-work objects, and when a narrow road driving pattern is set, causes the proximity sensor 7a located on the front side of the device main body 2 out of the multiple proximity sensors 7a to detect non-work objects, and controls the traveling unit 3 to decelerate or stop when a non-work object approaching the device main body 2 is detected.

With this configuration, when the autonomous mobile work device 1 travels through narrow roads in the cleaning area during autonomous cleaning, it will no longer detect non-work objects such as walls or obstacles that make up the narrow road on either side of the autonomous mobile work device 1, and will not slow down or stop due to the presence of non-work objects on either side, allowing autonomous cleaning to continue without prolonging the work time. Also, since non-work objects in front of the autonomous mobile work device 1 are reliably detected on narrow roads, autonomous cleaning can continue safely.

Alternatively, in this embodiment, the autonomous mobile work device 1 includes multiple proximity sensors 7a (detection units) that detect non-work objects around the device body 2 on both the left and right sides and the front side of the device body 2. When an avoidance driving pattern is set in the reproduction mode, the reproduction control unit 26 causes all of the multiple proximity sensors 7a to detect non-work objects, and when a narrow road driving pattern is set, causes the reproduction control unit 26 to detect non-work objects by the proximity sensor 7a among the multiple proximity sensors 7a that corresponds to the narrow road flag information determined by the narrow road determination unit 25, and controls the traveling unit 3 to decelerate or stop when a non-work object approaching the device body 2 is detected.

With this configuration, when the autonomous mobile work device 1 travels along narrow roads in the cleaning area during autonomous cleaning, the detection range on both the left and right sides of the autonomous mobile work device 1 can be changed according to the width of the narrow road. Furthermore, since non-work objects such as walls and obstacles that make up the narrow road will no longer be detected on both the left and right sides of the autonomous mobile work device 1, there is no need to slow down or stop due to the presence of non-work objects on both the left and right sides, and autonomous cleaning can be continued without prolonging the work time. Furthermore, since non-work objects in front of the autonomous mobile work device 1 are reliably detected on narrow roads, autonomous cleaning can be continued safely.

In addition, in this embodiment, the autonomous mobile work device 1 is provided with multiple proximity sensors 7a (detection units) that detect non-work objects around the device main body 2, arranged vertically on the front side of the device main body 2. In the reproduction mode, when an avoidance driving pattern is set, the reproduction control unit 26 causes one of the multiple proximity sensors 7a to detect a non-work object, and when a narrow road driving pattern is set, causes all of the multiple proximity sensors 7a to detect a non-work object, and controls the traveling unit 3 to decelerate or stop when a non-work object approaching the device main body 2 is detected.

With this configuration, even if there is a non-work object in front of the device main body 2 that is difficult to detect by the LRF 6a of the measuring unit 6 due to its vertical position, for example, if the non-work object is near the floor surface FL, the autonomous mobile work device 1 can more reliably detect the non-work object because the multiple proximity sensors 7a arranged in the vertical direction provide a wide vertical detection range. This makes it possible to more reliably prevent contact with non-work objects and continue autonomous mobile cleaning more safely.

In addition, in this embodiment, in the autonomous mobile work device 1, the driving pattern setting unit 24 sets a driving pattern according to the activity time period of the users who use the cleaning area, and at this time, a narrow road driving pattern is set during the time period when there are many users, and an avoidance driving pattern is set during the time period when there are few users.

With this configuration, the autonomous mobile work device 1 can easily set a driving pattern suitable for the activity period in the cleaning area as the driving pattern for the reproduction mode, without any hassle on the part of the operator.
Therefore, the number of times the automatic traveling and cleaning is stopped can be reduced, so that the automatic traveling and cleaning can be continued without prolonging the working time.

In the above embodiment, when an undetected obstacle that was not detected in the learning mode is detected in the reproduction mode, if an avoidance driving pattern is set, the undetected obstacle is avoided while driving, and on the other hand, if a narrow road driving pattern is set, the automatic driving operation is stopped without avoiding the undetected obstacle. However, the present invention is not limited to this example. For example, in another embodiment, when an undetected obstacle that was not detected in the learning mode is detected in the reproduction mode, the narrow road determination unit 25 may determine a narrow road according to the road width composed of the undetected obstacle. Then, the reproduction control unit 26 may perform automatic driving cleaning according to narrow road flag information, which is the determination result of the narrow road determination unit 25 caused by this undetected obstacle. In addition, such narrow road flag information caused by an undetected obstacle may be temporarily referred to in the automatic driving cleaning, or may be rewritten in the cleaning plan. The rewritten cleaning plan may be stored in the memory unit 11, or may be stored in the memory unit 11 after reflecting the operator's intention by manual operation. For example, when a store in a shopping mall closes and temporary fencing construction is carried out, the fencing may extend significantly into the passageway, narrowing the passageway width and temporarily narrowing the normal passageway. Later, when a new store opens, the fencing is removed and the passageway width widens back to normal, but it is best for the operator to decide whether to rewrite the change in narrow passageway flag information caused by such a temporary undetected obstacle in the cleaning plan and to store the rewritten cleaning plan.

The present invention may be modified as appropriate without going against the gist or concept of the invention as can be read from the claims and the entire specification, and an autonomous mobile work device with such modifications is also included in the technical concept of the present invention.

The present invention is an autonomous mobile work device capable of performing autonomous mobile work, traveling autonomously and working automatically, and can be suitably used in industrial (commercial) work robots, such as automatic floor washing and cleaning devices that perform floor cleaning work in commercial facilities such as shopping malls, and automatic work in work areas such as factories and railway terminals, and security devices that perform surveillance using cameras.

1 Autonomous mobile work device 3 Traveling unit 4 Travel operation unit 5 Cleaning unit (working unit)
6 Measuring unit 7 Obstacle detection unit 8 Operation display unit 9 Power supply unit 10 Control unit 11 Memory unit 13 Warning light 14 Speaker 15 Communication unit 20 Mode switching unit 21 Learning control unit 22 Map creation unit 23 Cleaning plan creation unit 24 Travel pattern setting unit 25 Narrow road determination unit 26 Reproduction control unit 60 Operator terminal

Claims (18)

An autonomous traveling and working device capable of performing an autonomous traveling and working operation,
A device body,
a travel unit that travels the device body within a predetermined work area;
a working unit that performs work on a travel path within the work area of the device body;
a reproduction control unit that controls the traveling unit and the working unit to perform the automatic traveling work based on a pre-stored environmental map of the work area, as well as traveling data and work data;
a driving pattern setting unit that sets, as a driving pattern when an undetected obstacle that was not detected when creating the environmental map is detected during the automatic driving operation, either an avoidance driving pattern in which the automatic driving operation is stopped without avoiding the undetected obstacle,
the driving pattern setting unit, when detecting a narrow road having a road width less than a predetermined width threshold during the automatic driving operation, sets the narrow road driving pattern for the narrow road,
The reproduction control unit controls the traveling unit in accordance with the traveling pattern set by the traveling pattern setting unit. a mode switching unit capable of switching an operation mode between a learning mode and a reproduction mode;
a learning control unit that performs a learning driving operation in the learning mode to create the environmental map and acquire and store the driving data during manual driving of the traveling unit and the operation data during manual operation of the working unit,
2. The autonomous driving and working device according to claim 1, wherein the reproduction control unit performs the autonomous driving work in the reproduction mode. a measuring unit that measures a positional relationship between the device body and a non-work object around the device body;
and a narrow road determination unit that determines a position of the travel route where the road width is less than the predetermined width threshold as the narrow road,
the narrow road determination unit, in the learning mode, calculates a road width at each position of the travel route from the environmental map of the work area created based on the measurement results of the measurement unit, or calculates a road width at each position of the travel route based on the measurement results of the measurement unit and the maximum width of the device body, and determines the narrow road based on the calculated road width;
3. The autonomous mobile work device according to claim 2, wherein the driving pattern setting unit automatically sets the narrow road driving pattern when the narrow road determination unit determines that the road is a narrow road in the learning mode. The narrow road determination unit determines narrow road flag information according to the road width at each position of the travel route, and if the road width is equal to or greater than the width at which manual turning is possible, determines the narrow road flag information as a normal road, if the road width is less than the width at which manual turning is possible, determines the narrow road flag information as a narrow road with a stepwise narrowness level according to the road width, and further determines the narrow road flag information as a no-passage narrow road if the road width is equal to or less than the minimum width of the autonomous mobile work device. The travel unit further includes a pivot turn button for instructing the device body to pivot,
The autonomous mobile work device of claim 3 or claim 4, characterized in that when traveling on the narrow road determined by the narrow road determination unit, if the road width of the narrow road is less than the width at which manual turning is possible and is greater than or equal to the width at which a pivot turn is possible, the learning control unit limits the turning operation of the device main body to a pivot turn using the pivot turn button. the narrow road determination unit, in the reproduction mode, calculates a road width at a position on the traveling direction side of the travel route based on the measurement result of the measurement unit and the maximum width of the device body, and if the calculated road width is equal to or greater than the predetermined width threshold, determines that the traveling direction side is not the narrow road, and if the road width is less than the predetermined width threshold, determines that the traveling direction side is the narrow road;
An autonomous mobile work device as described in any one of claims 3 to 5, characterized in that, in the reproduction mode, when the narrow road determination unit determines that the side in the direction of travel is not the narrow road, the driving pattern setting unit automatically sets the avoidance driving pattern, and when the narrow road determination unit determines that the side in the direction of travel is the narrow road, the driving pattern setting unit automatically sets the narrow road driving pattern. The autonomous mobile work device according to any one of claims 3 to 6, characterized in that when the narrow road determination unit determines that a predetermined position on the travel route is a narrow road in the learning mode or the reproduction mode, it notifies an operator of the existence of the narrow road and stores narrow road flag information corresponding to the road width of the narrow road. The autonomous mobile work device according to any one of claims 3 to 7, characterized in that the learning control unit stops the learning driving operation when the narrow road determination unit determines in the learning mode that the narrow road has a road width equal to or less than the minimum width of the autonomous mobile work device. The autonomous mobile work device according to any one of claims 2 to 8, characterized in that, when the narrow road driving pattern is set in the reproduction mode, the reproduction control unit stops the autonomous mobile work for a predetermined stop time when the undetected obstacle is detected on the narrow road. The autonomous mobile work device according to any one of claims 2 to 9, characterized in that, when the narrow road driving pattern is set in the reproduction mode, the reproduction control unit notifies an operator of the stop of the autonomous mobile work when the autonomous mobile work is stopped according to the narrow road driving pattern because the undetected obstacle is detected on the narrow road. The autonomous driving operation device according to claim 10, characterized in that the reproduction control unit notifies the operator of the stop of the autonomous driving operation by at least one of sound output, screen display, turning on or blinking a warning light, and communication with a terminal held by the operator. The autonomous driving work device according to claim 10 or 11, characterized in that the reproduction control unit resumes the autonomous driving work if the undetected obstacle is no longer detected on the narrow road after a predetermined stop time has elapsed since the autonomous driving work was stopped according to the narrow road driving pattern, and notifies the operator again of the stop of the autonomous driving work if the undetected obstacle is detected on the narrow road. A plurality of detectors for detecting non-work objects around the device body are provided on both the left and right sides and the front side of the device body,
An autonomous mobile work device as described in any one of claims 2 to 12, characterized in that, in the reproduction mode, when the avoidance driving pattern is set, the reproduction control unit causes all of the multiple detection units to detect the non-work object, and when the narrow road driving pattern is set, causes a detection unit among the multiple detection units that is arranged on the front side of the device main body to detect the non-work object, and controls the traveling unit to slow down or stop when the non-work object is detected close to the device main body. A plurality of detectors for detecting non-work objects around the device body are provided on both the left and right sides and the front side of the device body,
The autonomous mobile work device according to claim 4, characterized in that, in the reproduction mode, when the avoidance driving pattern is set, the reproduction control unit causes all of the multiple detection units to detect the non-work object, and when the narrow road driving pattern is set, the reproduction control unit causes a detection unit among the multiple detection units that corresponds to the narrow road flag information determined by the narrow road determination unit to detect the non-work object, and controls the traveling unit to decelerate or stop when the non-work object is detected near the device main body. a plurality of detectors for detecting non-work objects around the device body, the detectors being provided on a front side of the device body in a vertical direction;
An autonomous mobile work device as described in any one of claims 2 to 14, characterized in that, in the reproduction mode, when the avoidance driving pattern is set, the reproduction control unit causes one of the multiple detection units to detect the non-work object, and when the narrow road driving pattern is set, causes all of the multiple detection units to detect the non-work object, and when the non-work object is detected in proximity to the device main body, controls the traveling unit to slow down or stop. The autonomous mobile work device according to any one of claims 1 to 15, characterized in that the driving pattern setting unit sets the driving pattern according to the time period during which users who use the work area are active, and at this time, sets the narrow road driving pattern during the time period during which there are many users, and sets the avoidance driving pattern during the time period during which there are few users. Further comprising a display unit,
The autonomous driving work device according to any one of claims 1 to 16, characterized in that the display unit operably displays a driving pattern setting button for switching between the avoidance driving pattern and the narrow road driving pattern during the autonomous driving operation. A plurality of detectors for detecting non-work objects around the device body are provided on both the left and right sides and the front side of the device body,
An autonomous mobile work device as described in any one of claims 1 to 17, characterized in that when the avoidance driving pattern is set in the driving pattern setting unit , the reproduction control unit causes all of the multiple detection units to detect the non-work object, and when the narrow road driving pattern is set , causes a detection unit among the multiple detection units that is arranged on the front side of the device main body to detect the non-work object, and controls the traveling unit to slow down or stop when the non-work object is detected close to the device main body.

Images