JPH02222808A - Moving robot - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable detection of a position moved easily and accurately by calculating a linear movement of a robot from a sum of rotations of a pair of measuring rings adapted to turn in the same direction of a drive ring when it is moved. CONSTITUTION:A pair of measuring rings 6 and 6 are provided rotatably on both sides of a robot body so that they turn in the same direction of a pair of drive rings 5 and 5 when the robot body is moved and rotation values of the measuring rings 6 and 6 are detected by a pair of encoders 8 and 8 through sensors 7 and 7. A movement value measuring means 10 determines a sum of rotations of the measuring rings 6 and 6 from output signals of the encoders 8 and 8 to measure a linear movement of a truck section and inputs a signal thereof into a position coordinates discriminating means 26. In addition, an angle theta of displacement of the measuring rings 6 and 6 in direction of movement thereof is detected by a moving direction angle detection means 25, a detection signal of which is inputted into the means 26. This enables the learning of position coordinates with respect to a reference point at the moment by the means 26 from the movements of the measuring rings 6 and 6 and the angle thetaof displacement in the direction of movement, thereby calculating the position.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Field of Application] The present invention relates to a mobile robot such as a mobile camera robot for studio use that is capable of measuring moving distance.

[Summary of the Invention] The present invention provides a mobile robot having a drive wheel rotated by a motor at the bottom of the robot body, which has a drive wheel attached to the bottom of the robot body so as to face the same direction as the drive wheel when the robot body moves. A pair of rotatably provided measuring wheels, a pair of rotation amount detection means for detecting the rotation amount of the pair of measurement wheels, and a rotation amount detection means for detecting the rotation amount of the pair of measurement wheels based on the output signal of the pair of rotation amount detection means. By being equipped with a movement measuring means that determines the phase of the amount of rotation and measures the amount of movement of the robot body, the position (distance) that the mobile robot throat has moved can be easily detected, and the desired position can be easily detected. It was designed so that it could move freely on its own.

[Prior Art] For example, a mobile camera robot for use in a studio of a broadcasting station is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 45-34050. The automatic guidance of a mobile camera robot used in such a studio is generally to move it on rails arranged vertically and horizontally on the floor of the studio.

[Problem to be solved by the invention] In the studio mentioned above, generally a plurality of mobile camera robots (about three) are required, and when switching to manned operation by a cameraman, the rails get in the way. However, in order to automatically guide multiple mobile camera robots, the entire floor must be covered with rails, making it difficult to easily install and remove the rails.

There are also guidance methods that embed conductive wires in the floor of the studio and electromagnetically detect the moving position, or emit radio waves or ultrasonic waves from a reference position and detect this to detect the moving position, but the former method In this case, burying the conductor is essential, which increases the cost, and the latter method requires multiple movable Mera robots.

When using a vehicle, radio waves were blocked and interfered with, making it impossible to reliably and easily guide the vehicle to self-propulsion.

Therefore, the present invention provides a pathless, self-navigating mobile robot that can easily and reliably detect the amount of movement.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The mobile robot of the present invention includes: a pair of measurement wheels rotatably provided at the bottom of the robot body so as to face in the same direction as the drive wheels when the robot body moves; a pair of rotation amount detection means for detecting the amount of rotation of the measuring wheels; and the sum of the rotation amounts of the pair of measurement wheels is determined based on the output signal of the pair of rotation amount detection means, and the amount of movement of the robot body is calculated. and a movement amount measuring means for measuring the amount of movement.

1. Since the linear movement amount (distance) of the mobile robot is calculated from the sum of the rotation amounts of a pair of measuring wheels facing in the same direction as the drive wheel during movement, the moved position can be easily determined.

Additionally, even if there are no fixed paths such as rails, mobile robots can easily and reliably move anywhere.

[Example] Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 3, l is a studio mobile camera robot used in broadcasting stations and the like. This mobile camera robot 1
, a pair of driving wheels 5, 5 rotated by a motor 4 is provided at the center of an equilateral triangular prism-shaped cart portion (lower portion) 3 of the robot body 2;
When the robot main body 2 moves, the pair of drive wheels 5, 5
The pair of drive wheels 5 of the truck portion 3 are oriented in the same direction as the
A pair of measuring wheels 6, 6 rotatably provided on both sides of , 5.
and a pair of encoders (rotation amount detection means) 8 that detect the amount of rotation of the pair of measurement wheels 6.6 via a sensor 7.
．． 8, and each pair of driven wheels 9.9 rotatably provided at three corners of the truck section 3 so as to face in the same direction as the pair of drive wheels 5.5 when the robot main body 2 moves. and determine the sum of the rotation amounts of the pair of measuring wheels 6, 6 based on the output signals of the pair of encoders 8, 8,
It is generally composed of a movement amount measuring means 10 for detecting the movement m of the robot main body 2<the distance traveled by itself.

The pair of measuring wheels 6, 6 and each pair of driven wheels 9°9 are as follows:
The wheel direction changing means 11 causes the wheels to face in the same direction as the drive wheels 5.5. This wheel direction changing means 11
A rotating shaft 13 rotates the pair of driving wheels 5, 5 and the pair of measuring wheels 6, 6 via the base 12, and a drive shaft 16a connects a pinion 15 that meshes with a gear 14 fixed to the rotating shaft 13. a motor 16 which is fixed to a base 17 and rotates the rotating shaft 13; three rotating shafts 18 which rotate each pair of driven wheels 9, 9 via a base 17; and a sprocket fixed to the rotating shaft 18. 19 and a sprocket 20 fixed to the rotating shaft 13, the motor 1
A chain 21 that rotates both rotating shafts 13° 18 synchronously by the drive of 6, and a sprocket 22 fixed to each of the three rotating shafts 18, A chain 23 that rotates each rotary shaft 18 in the same direction, and a chain 23 that is arranged facing the gear 14 via a sensor 24, and a displacement angle (θ) of the pair of measuring wheels 6, 6 in the moving direction. The encoder 25 serves as a moving direction angle detecting means for detecting the angle of movement. The rotating shafts 13 and 18 are rotatably supported by the lower chassis 3a of the truck portion 3 via bearings (not shown) or the like. Further, the motor 16 is attached to the upper chassis 3b of the truck section 3.

The movement amount measuring means 10 includes the pair of encoders 8,
8, the sum of the rotation amounts of the pair of measuring wheels 6, 6 is determined, the amount of movement (distance) of the truck portion 3 in the linear direction is determined, and the signal is sent to the position coordinate determining means 26. input. When changing the direction of movement (advancement) of the robot body 2, the pair of measuring wheels 6, 6 rotate, but since both rotate in opposite directions, they cancel each other out and are not detected as the amount of movement of the trolley section 3. The displacement angle θ of the pair of measurement wheels 6, 6 in the moving direction is detected by the encoder 25,
The detection signal is input to the position coordinate determining means 26. Based on the amount of movement of the pair of measurement wheels 6, 6 and the angle θ of displacement in the movement direction, the position coordinates with respect to the reference point (origin) at that time are determined by the position coordinate determination means 26, and the position is calculated. There is. The robot control means 28 is controlled by the position coordinate determination means 26 and the movement pattern input means 27, and the motor 4 is driven via the robot drive means 29 based on this control signal, thereby controlling the robot body. 2 is a pair of driving wheels 5.5 at the desired position;
You are free to move in any direction, and you can move freely.

According to the mobile camera robot l of the following embodiment, a pair of measurement wheels 6 facing in the same direction as a pair of drive wheels 5.5 when moving.
, 6 is used to calculate the amount of movement of the mobile camera robot l in the linear direction, so that the moved position can be easily detected. Furthermore, even if there is no fixed path such as a rail, the mobile camera robot 1 can be moved easily and reliably anywhere.

In addition, the amount of movement of the robot body 2 is determined by a pair of encoders 8.
．． Based on the output signal from the pair of measuring wheels 6, 8, the moving amount measuring means 10 calculates the rotation amount phase of the pair of measuring wheels 6, 6, and calculates the angle θ at which the moving direction of the robot body 2 changes.
6. Since the rotation amount of the pair of measurement wheels 6.6 is detected with a separately provided encoder 25, the rotation of the pair of measurement wheels 6.6 can be measured with ultra-precision and corrected sequentially using a microcomputer, etc. This is not necessary, and the cost of the entire robot can be reduced.

According to the embodiment, the amount of movement of the robot body 2 is determined by the sum of the rotation amounts of the pair of measurement wheels 6, 6 based on the output signals from the pair of encoders 8, 8, and the movement direction of the robot body 2 is determined by the sum of the rotation amounts of the pair of measurement wheels 6, 6. Although the changed angle is detected by a separately installed encoder 25, if the rotation of a pair of measuring wheels can be measured with ultra-precision at low cost, the direction of movement of the robot body can be determined by the difference in the amount of rotation of a pair of measuring wheels. It may also be possible to detect a change in .

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, the amount of movement of the mobile robot in the linear direction is calculated from the sum of the amount of rotation of a pair of measurement wheels facing in the same direction as the drive wheel during movement. , the position of the mobile robot can be easily detected. In addition, fixed paths such as rails are not required, and costs can be reduced, and the mobile robot can be easily automatically guided and moved to a desired position.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of the main parts of a mobile camera robot for a studio showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic explanatory diagram of wheel direction changing means, and FIG. 3 is an overall perspective view of the mobile camera robot. FIG. 4 is a schematic bottom view of the cart portion of the mobile camera robot, and FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the mobile camera robot. 1... Mobile robot, 2... Robot body, 3
...Dolly part (lower part), 4...Motor, butt...Drive wheel, 6.6...Pair of measuring wheels, 8...Encoder (rotation amount detection means), 10...Movement amount Measurement means. Fig. 2, Fig. 4, 18 descendants of butterflies whose wheels are connected to each other.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In a mobile robot having a drive wheel rotated by a motor at the bottom of the robot body, the drive wheel is rotatably provided at the bottom of the robot body so as to face the same direction as the drive wheel when the robot body moves. A pair of measurement wheels, a pair of rotation amount detection means for detecting the amount of rotation of the pair of measurement wheels, and a sum of the amount of rotation of the pair of measurement wheels based on the output signal of the pair of rotation amount detection means. , a movement amount measuring means for measuring the movement amount of the robot body.