JPS5858195B2 - Robot Tsutono Seigiyohouhou - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] The present invention acts (moves around) while recognizing an object,
Concerning robot control methods.

In recent years, research and development of industrial robots has become particularly active, and robots are now performing a variety of tasks in place of humans in harsh working environments, and some even share quite complex tasks.

In this case, we would like the robot to have its own identification function, move around freely based on its own judgment, recognize other objects or similar robots, and perform predetermined actions without coming into contact with each other. Sometimes, the biggest problem is how to judge the relative movement situation with others.

For example, if you leave two robots approaching each other, they will collide.

Therefore, when the two reach close range, it is necessary to take actions such as avoiding them, but in this case, it is necessary to analyze the following two states to determine whether they are relatively approaching. .

In other words, whether the robots are facing each other and approaching each other, or whether one is following the other and approaching based on their speed difference, in other words, it is a judgment of the forward and backward directions of mutual movement.

If they are approaching each other, a collision will occur unless one or both of them takes an evasive action, but if the distance approaches each other while following, simply stopping the latter will prevent a collision. The next action you should take will vary depending on the situation.

One way to judge this situation is to identify the respective distances before and after a certain period of time has elapsed, and if this distance shortens over time, it is determined that the situation is approaching, and then Based on speed, if the difference between the distance to the other party first identified and the distance traveled by oneself during this certain period of time is smaller than the identified distance after the elapse of time, the two are approaching each other. On the other hand, when it is large, it can be determined that one side is chasing the other and closing the gap between the two, and when it is equal, it can be determined that one is approaching the stationary opponent.

In this way, very complex control must be performed to determine the relative state of motion (approaching).

The present invention was proposed to solve this problem, and when the robot approaches the other party within a certain range, the robot that has identified it will first stop temporarily and wait a certain period of time. After the time has elapsed, the opponent is identified again, and if the situation still does not change, it is determined that they are approaching each other, and if the opponent is outside the range, it is determined that they are approaching during the following movement, and the next The present invention provides a control method that allows the robot to move into motion, which makes it extremely easy to judge the relative motion in the forward and backward directions, thereby greatly simplifying the control system of the robot.

The technical contents of the present invention will be explained below.

First, the robot of the present invention has at least an identification device for recognizing the other party and identifying its own position accordingly, and furthermore, it has the following features so as to perform a predetermined action according to the identification pattern. It must have certain functions.

That is, Fig. 1 shows a system circuit diagram of the robot, and 1 in the figure is an identification device for identifying the positional relationship between the robot and the object, and a detection unit 1a for visual recognition of the object.
and a comparison/discrimination unit 1b that determines the relative positional relationship based on this visual information.

2 is a storage device that stores operation modes so as to take a predetermined action based on this discrimination pattern; 3 is a storage device that logically analyzes the pattern and selects a priority mode from among the stored modes through a sequence; Select and drive 4
This is a control command device that issues specific operation commands to the robot.

More specifically, the identification device 1 uses light such as visible light or infrared rays as an identification medium, and performs identification by sensing light from a light source (or reflected light) installed on an object.

As is clear from FIG. 3, the detection unit 1a includes a sensor 10 including a light receiving element.

That is, the sensor 10 includes a filter 11, a lens 12,
It is composed of a light receiving element (silicon photocell) 13, which detects the amount of light from the object via a filter 11 and a lens 12, converts it into an electrical amount according to the detected amount of light, and outputs it.

The output of the light receiving element is then amplified by an amplifier 14 and input to a comparator 15.

By the way, as shown in FIG. 2, the sensors 10 are a plurality of sensors 10a, 10b, and 10c arranged in an annular shape (viewed in plan), in this embodiment, five sensors 10a, 10b, and 10c.

10d and 10e are provided, whereby the total viewing angle of the detection unit 1a is divided into five, and each sensor shares the respective viewing angle.

Therefore, when any sensor 10 outputs,
This means that the object is located in the direction of the viewing angle.

In order to determine the distance to the object captured in this field of view, comparators 15 and 16 are arranged in parallel as a comparison and determination section 1b.

In other words, comparators 15 and 16 with different set values are connected in parallel to the sensor 10 to discriminate between short distance 11 and long distance 12, and among these, comparator 15 for short distance corresponds to each sensor 10a to 10e. Then, 15a.

Five comparators 15b, 15c, 15a, and 15e are provided, and the long-distance comparator 16 is connected to the three sensors 1 in the center.
16b, 16c, 16 corresponding to 0b, 10ct10d
Based on these, comparators 15a to 15e output at a short distance 11 where the object approaches and the amount of light detected by the sensor 10 increases, and comparators 16b to 16d output at a long distance 12. The distance to the object can be determined.

Although the sensors 10a and 10e at both ends are configured to sense only short distances, it is of course possible to sense long distances as required.

The positional patterns that can be identified by this identification device 1 are A1, B1, B2 t C1 in FIG.

C2, Dl, D2. There are eight patterns of El.

The comparator 17 is installed to cause a predetermined action to occur on the closest object when a plurality of objects are simultaneously detected in a long distance area, and the sensors 10b and 10c
, 10d to compare the outputs of the comparators 17b, 17c with each other.

17d is the arrangement.

Operation modes are stored in the storage device 2 to cause predetermined operations to occur in accordance with the position patterns identified in this way.

The operation modes include follow mode, avoidance mode, and random mode. In follow mode, when an object is recognized in a long-distance area, the system causes the camera to pursue the object at a certain speed.

Avoidance mode allows the robot to take evasive action such as changing direction if it gets close to the target, while random mode allows the robot to move around freely when it does not recognize the target. It is.

It should be noted that these operation modes can be freely set depending on the purpose, and only one example is shown here.

The control command device 3 logically analyzes the position pattern and outputs the priority mode from among the selected operation modes through a sequence to the drive device 4 as a specific command signal.

This is where the gist of the control method of the present invention lies; when an object is captured in a certain viewing angle and the position relative to it is determined as the output of the comparator 15 of the identification device 1,
First, a command is issued to stop all actions for a certain period of time (this is the premise for causing evasive action at close range), and after this stop command is released, the object is identified again, and if the situation does not change. In other words, if the object is still in the short range area, avoidance mode is given priority and avoidance action is performed, and if the situation has changed (the object leaves the short range area), avoidance mode is canceled and It shifts to other movement modes (following, random), and as a result, it is possible to judge the relative movement with the object, that is, whether they are approaching each other and facing each other, or whether they are chasing a fleeing opponent. It means that it was done.

Specifically, the storage device 2 includes a clock oscillator CP1 and a shift register SR, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, for example.
Random signal generator RG consisting of 1, SR2, inverter RR1°RR2, exclusive OR circuits ER1, ER2, etc.
, matrix converter DM1, DM2, OR circuit OG
1. Consists of an inverter RR3, gate circuits GC1, GC2, etc. consisting of a plurality of AND circuits, and according to the outputs of comparators 15, 16, 17, follow-up mode signal X1 non-avoidance mode signal W1 temporary stop signal V1 follow-up command Of these, left turn Xl, straight ahead X2, right turn X3, among avoidance commands, right turn Y1, left turn Y2, straight ahead Y3, among random commands, signals such as right rotation Z1, left rotation Z2, etc. are obtained and It is sent to the control command device 3.

On the other hand, the control command device 3 specifically includes a gate circuit GC3 consisting of a plurality of AND circuits, as shown in FIG.
, GC4, GC5, OR circuit OG2, OG3, OG
4, OG5, one-shot multi-by-break MM1
It is composed of an inverter RR4, a matrix converter DM3, etc., and is ultimately connected to the motor and drive device 4 in response to each command signal from the storage device 2 mentioned above and a signal from an electromagnetic wave detector 21, which will be described later. It sends out a rotation signal J1, a right rotation signal J2, a left normal rotation signal J3, and a left rotation signal J4.

For example, when the target is far away and the input of the tracking comparators 16b to 16d does not reach the set value,
R circuit OG1 outputs 10" and gate circuit GC1
is closed to cut off the follow-up command xLx2°X3, while the gate circuit GC2 is opened and the random dancing command Z1. Z2 is sent to the control command device 3.

Then, the electromagnetic wave detector 21 outputs a non-avoidance signal "1",
And the matrix converter DM2 receives the non-avoidance mode signal W'
1" and open the gate circuits GC3 and GC5, this random command zLZ2 will be output to the motor drive device 4.
The robot randomly performs movements such as left and right forward rotation.

On the other hand, when the object comes close and the inputs of the tracking comparators 16b to 16d exceed the set values, the OR circuit OG1 outputs '&1'', and the gate circuit G
C2 is closed to cut off the random commands Z1 and Z2, while the gate circuit GC1 is opened and the follow-up commands X1. X2. X3 is sent to the control command device 3.

At this time, the comparators 17c to 17d determine the tracking direction so that the object is always captured as the center, and the tracking command X1. X2. X3 is selectively sent to the control command device 3 via the gate circuit GC1.

Then, when the gate circuits GC3 and GC5 are open as described above, the follow-up command xLx2 . x3 is sent to the motor drive device 4, and the robot performs a follow-up operation such as turning left, turning right, or going straight so that the robot always captures the object in the center.

If the robot approaches the target object at close range due to such a following operation, the comparators 15a to 15e
When any of them outputs XX□", the non-avoidance mode signal W of the matrix converter DM2 becomes "O" to close the gate circuit GC5, and the follow-up commands X1. X2. Blocks X3 and random commands Z1 and Z2.

In place of each of these instructions, gate circuit GC3,
If GC4 is open, avoidance command Y1. Y2. Y3 is sent to the motor drive device 4 so that the robot performs an avoidance operation such as turning left or right or moving straight to avoid the object.

At this time, if the matrix converter DM2 outputs the temporary stop signal v''1'', the gate circuit GC4 is closed for a predetermined period, so that the avoidance command yLy2 is temporarily closed.
．． y3 is cut off and the robot performs a temporary stop operation.

As shown in FIG. 4, the drive device 4 includes drive wheels 18, 18 and a driven wheel 19 connected to left and right drive motors ML 2MR.
Equipped with

The drive motor MLtMR rotates as appropriate according to commands from the control command device 3, thereby controlling the specific running direction of the robot.
The speed is determined.

Next, specific examples of control will be explained by giving a few examples.

Now, as shown in FIG. 5, the robot RA, which is following the object RB (in this case, the object will also be described as a robot), gradually approaches and approaches the object RB as shown in FIG. Assume that an RB is recognized in the distance range (any one of A12B1.C1, Dl, and El in FIG. 2).

Then, based on the identification pattern, an operation mode is selected (in this case, avoidance mode), and for this selected mode, the control command device 3 first issues a command to stop, and the robot stops at that point. Stop.

Since robot RB is continuously moving in the direction of the arrow,
(RB doesn't even see it in its field of view), and it is likely that it has escaped from the short range area by the time this stoppage is released (of course, it depends on the stoppage time and the speed of RB).

In this case, the robot RA does not need to take the avoidance mode, so the next operation mode is selected based on the pattern identified at this stage, which results in both robots RA.

The approaching state of RB means that it has been determined that RA has shortened the distance while chasing RB.

Moreover, as shown in FIG. 7, when both are approaching, both perform a following operation with the other as a target, and when the other is identified in a short distance area, the two come to a halt.

In this case, it is conceivable that both vehicles will stop together, and since there will naturally be no change in the situation after the vehicle stops, both will shift to avoidance mode and change direction.

This led to the conclusion that both sides were approaching each other facing each other.

Note that 21 in FIG. 1 is an output circuit of this robot, and the robot starts operating when the detector 22 detects, for example, ceiling lighting.

As explained above, when the present invention approaches an object within a certain range, it is first stopped at that spot for a certain period of time, then after the stop is released, the object is identified again, and if the situation does not change during that time, the avoidance mode is activated. However, if the situation changes, avoidance mode will be canceled and another mode will be used.
As a result, the forward and backward direction of the relative motion between the object and itself can be determined, and therefore, with extremely simple control, the same effect as conventionally considered complicated control can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a system circuit diagram of the robot of the present invention, Figure 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the viewing angle and identification distance of the detection unit, Figure 3 is an explanatory diagram of the sensor, and Figure 4 is a plan view of the drive device. , FIGS. 5 to 7 are operation explanatory diagrams showing an example of a control method, FIGS. 8 and 9 are circuit diagrams showing a specific example of the storage device in FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram showing a specific example. 1...Identification device, 1a...Detection section, 1
b...Comparison/discrimination unit, 2...Storage device,
2a... Storage device, 3... Control command device, 4... Drive device.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An identification device for recognizing an object and identifying its position, a storage device for storing an operation mode corresponding to the identified position pattern, and a storage device for logically analyzing the pattern and storing the stored operation mode. The robot, which is equipped with a control device that selects a priority mode and sends output commands to the drive device, stops in place for a certain period of time when it identifies that it has approached the target within a certain range, and then identifies the target again after the robot is stopped. A method for controlling a robot, characterized in that the robot is controlled to be in an avoidance mode when the situation does not change during that time, and to cancel the avoidance mode and shift to another operation mode when the situation changes.