JPS60196817A - Direction control system of moving robot - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To control the movement of a moving robot in an optional direction by arranging plural direction discriminating sensors in one direction of the robot and setting up marks on direction converting points in accordance with the sensors. CONSTITUTION:When the robot reaches a point S3, line sensors 15, 16 detect the line of a circle 41, the direction of the robot is corrected so as to be turned to the center of the circle 41 on the basis of the detecting signals and the robot is advanced from the position by the radius (r) of the circle 41 which has been previously stored and stopped at the center part of the circle 41. The robot rotates the body at the center of the circle 41 and the direction discriminating sensors 13a, 13b, 14a, 14b detect marks M1-M4 and the direction of the robot is discriminated on the basis of the detected contents. When the body is turned to the direction of a specified work station, the rotation of the body is stopped and then the robot advances in the direction of the specified work station. Thus, the robot advances to working areas W1-W7 corresponding to specified work stations 51a-51g to execute specified work such as arm operation, loading/unloading of a container and automatic docking to an automatic charging jack.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a mobile robot direction control method for controlling the moving direction of a mobile robot in a self-propelled mobile robot system.

[Prior Art and its Problems] Conventionally, self-propelled mobile robot systems have been considered in which articles are transported by mobile robots, for example, in offices, factories, and the like. Some conventional mobile robot systems of this type use a gyro compass to determine the position and direction of the mobile robot. However, the above-described gyro compass is very expensive, and there are also problems in that slippage during movement cannot be corrected.

In order to solve such problems, the present applicant previously proposed in Japanese Patent Application No. 58-246410, ``a mobile robot 1- that can reliably control the position and direction of the mobile robot and also reduces costs. ``Position and Direction Control System''. In the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application No. 58-246410, a pair of direction identification sensors are provided at the front and rear of the robot, and marks are provided at each direction change point of the robot path. As shown in Fig. 1(a), this mark is made by drawing a cross-shaped line 2.3 from the center of a circle 1 with a constant radius r, and on the line 2.3, the above-mentioned mark 1 is drawn. Two strip marks Ml, M are in contact with each other.
I am drawing 2. These strip marks M1 and M2 have different combinations of black and white.

When the band-like mark is correctly located on the circle 1, the position is set so that it faces the front direction identification sensors FL, FR and the rear direction identification sensor R.

By configuring each mark in this way, the mobile robot can reach above the mark and detect the direction identification sensors FL, F.
When R, RL, and RR reach the strip marks Ml and M2, the direction of the mobile robot can be determined based on the detection signals for the strip marks M1 and M2 of the direction identification sensors FL, FR, RL, and RR. FIG. 1(b) shows the direction identification sensor FL when the upper side of the drawing is (+)Y, the lower side is (-), the right side is (+)X, and the left side is (-)X.

It shows the relationship between the detection signals of FR, RL, and RR and the direction in which the robot is facing. In addition, Fig. 1(a)'
, 4a is the right wheel of the robot, and 4b is the left wheel.

Direction identification sensors FL, FR, RL as described above.

By detecting the marks M1 and M2 using RR, it is possible to detect the position and control the direction of the robot.

However, in the above method, the front and rear marks are detected by the direction identification sensors FL, FRSRL, and RR installed at the front and rear of the robot, so it is difficult to set many directions, not just the four directions (front, rear, left, and right). Then, there is a problem that the mark cannot be set in any direction due to restrictions.

[Object of the Invention] The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a direction control method for a mobile robot that can move the robot in any direction.

[Summary of the Invention J The present invention provides a plurality of direction identification sensors in one direction of the robot I-, and sets marks at direction change points corresponding to the sensors, so that the direction of the robot can be set in any direction. It is something.

[Embodiment of the Invention] An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, the configuration of the self-propelled mobile robot will be explained with reference to FIG. In the figure, 11 is a main CPU, to which an input device 12, direction identification sensors 13a, 13b, 114a, 14b, line sensors 15 and 16 are connected, and also stores data for the robot body. A RAM 17, a ROM 18 storing a program for controlling the robot body, and a servo CPU 19 are connected. The input device 12 includes a road map data input key 1, a destination designation key, a start key, a home position return switch, and the like. The direction identification sensors 13a, 13b, 14a.

14b is provided near the front caster 10a. Note that 10b is a rear caster. And the above servo C
P tJ 19 has a RAM 2 that stores wheel data.
0 and a ROM 21 storing a wheel servo control program are connected. Servo CPU 19 drives motor 24.25 by means of servo circuit 22.23. The motors 24, 25 rotate the right wheel 28 and the left wheel 29 via gear boxes 26, 27, respectively. The rotational movement of the motors 24 and 25 is controlled by the encoder 30.
．． 31 and sent to the servo circuits 22, 23 and the servo CPU 19. Further, the motor 24.
The line sensors 15 and 16 are arranged near the lines 25 and 25, respectively. Further, 32 is a power supply section consisting of a battery or the like, and its output voltage is supplied to the above-mentioned circuit section as an operating voltage.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the configuration of marks provided at direction change points and the like on the robot passage. As shown in the figure, the circle 41 is set depending on the size of the robot 1-, the purpose of movement, etc., and for example, the radius r is set so that the wheels 28 and 29 fit within it.

A unit mark 42 is drawn on the inside of the holder 41 in the direction in which the robot is to be moved. This unit mark 42 includes, for example, two pairs of rectangular marks Ml arranged in parallel.
, =M2, M3, and M4.

The marks M1 and M2 are provided on the side in contact with the circle 41, and the marks M3 and M4 are provided on the inside thereof.

In this case, the marks M1 and M2 are the direction identification sensor 13a,
13b, marks M3 and M4 are provided corresponding to the direction identification sensors 14a and 14b, and the contents of the marks are set by a combination of black and white.

Therefore, the unit mark 42 is actually, for example, the fourth
As shown in Figure (a), a plurality of them are provided along the inside of the circle 41. In this case, each unit mark 42 includes marks M1 to
M4 is set to have different combinations of black and white. By configuring the direction identification sensors 13a, 13b, 14a, and 14b and the unit mark 42 as described above, it is possible to determine the direction in which the mobile robot is facing based on the mark detection signals of the direction identification sensors 13a, 13b, 114a, and 14b. can. Figure 4(b) is the same as Figure 4(a).
Each unit mark 42 and direction identification sensor 13a, 13b, 1 when eight unit marks 42 are provided as shown in FIG.
This shows the correspondence relationship between detection signals A, B, C, and D of 4a and 14b. Although FIG. 4(a) above shows the case in which eight unit marks 42 are provided at equal intervals, the number of unit marks 42, the spacing, etc. are, for example, shown in FIGS.
It can be set arbitrarily as shown in C).

FIG. 6 shows an example of the configuration of the robot passage.

In the figure, 81 to S3 are direction change points provided on the robot passage, and W1 to W7 are workstations 51a.
The work area for ~51Q, S4 is a position correction point established in the long traffic route between 83 and W7, and the work area for 81Q is
The above-mentioned marks are attached in advance to the positions of ~S4 and W1~W7, respectively. For example, three unit marks are provided at the direction change point S1, two unit marks are provided at S2, eight unit marks are provided at $3, and two unit marks are provided at S4 and W1 to W7. is Ml, M2
, M3, and M4 (not shown in the figure).

Therefore, when the robot is commanded to move to the workstations 51a to 51b on the robot passage as described above, the robot enters from the position Sl and moves in a pre-programmed direction corresponding to the number of marks passed. Then, the process proceeds to S3 via S2. The robot is S
Since the directions to the plurality of workstations 518 to 51g in No. 3 are also programmed in advance, the directions are determined according to the contents of the program. That is, when the robot reaches the point S3, the line sensor 15.16 detects the line of the circle 41, and based on the detection signal, the robot's direction is corrected to face the center of the circle 41, and from that position it is memorized in advance. It advances by the radius r of the circle 41 and stops at the center of the circle 41. Then, the robot rotates the main body to the center of the circle 41, and detects the direction identification sensors 13a, 1.
From 3b, 14a, 14b d? -ri Ml, M
2, M3, and M4 are detected, and the direction of the robot is identified from the detected contents as explained in FIG. 4 above. When the main body faces the designated workstation, the main body stops rotating, and then moves forward toward the designated workstation. As described above, the operator advances to the work areas w1 to w1 for the designated workstations 51a to 51g, and performs designated operations such as arm movement, container attachment/detachment, or automatic docking to the automatic charging jack. Further, proceeding from the workstation to another work area is performed in the same manner.

[Other Embodiments of the Invention] FIG. 7 shows another embodiment of the present invention, in which a positioning mark 52 directed toward the center of the circle 41 is provided inside the unit mark 42, and the positioning mark 52 is provided on the robot side. A positioning sensor 53 is provided corresponding to 52. When the positioning mark is detected by the positioning sensor 53, the direction identification +J13a, 13b,
The contents of the unit mark 42 are identified by 14a and 14b. With such a configuration, the direction identification sensors 13a, 13b, 14a, 1
The force unit mark 42 can be read at the correct position at all times, making it possible to control the direction of the robot more reliably.

FIG. 8 shows still another embodiment of the present invention, in which marks M1 to M4 constituting a unit mark 42 are arranged in series from the periphery of the circle 41 toward the center, and direction identification sensors 13a, 13b are used. , 14a, 14b are arranged in series corresponding to the marks M1 to M4.

FIG. 9(b) shows an example of a combination of marks M1 to M°4 and detection signals of direction identification sensors 13a 113b, 14a 114b. When four marks are arranged in series in this way, 15 different directions can be identified. In this case, of the 15 combinations, 8 types may be used for direction identification, and the remaining 7 types may be assigned to the direction and next movement or work specification. For example, 20 CI
By assigning commands such as move forward, move forward slowly, and turn 90 degrees with radius R, the content of commands can be greatly expanded.

[Effects of the Invention] As detailed above, according to the present invention, a plurality of direction identification sensors are provided in one direction of the robot, and marks at direction change points are set correspondingly, so that the mobile robot can Can be moved in any direction.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIGS. 1(a) and 1(b) are diagrams for explaining the operation of the conventional direction control system for mobile robots, and FIGS. 2 to 6 show an embodiment of the present invention. A block diagram showing the configuration of a mobile robot, FIGS. 3 to 5 are diagrams showing an example of the configuration of marks, FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a robot passage, and FIGS. It is a figure which shows the example of a mark structure in other Example. 10a, 10b...Casters, 13a, 1
3b, 14a. 14b... Direction identification sensor, 15.16... Line sensor, 28.29... Wheel, 41... Circle, 42...
...Unit mark, 51a-51Q...Work station, 52...Positioning mark, 53...Positioning sensor. Applicant's agent Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue Figure 3 (b) Figure 5 (a)

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) In a self-propelled mobile robot system, a plurality of direction identification sensors are provided in one direction of the robot, and marks for controlling the robot's direction are provided at arbitrary intervals on the robot's path corresponding to the direction identification sensors. and means for reading the mark with the direction identification sensor and determining the content of the mark to control the robot direction. (2) A direction control system for mobile robot I according to claim 1, wherein the direction control mark is a plurality of marks provided in parallel. (3) The direction control method for a mobile robot according to claim 1, wherein the direction control mark is a plurality of marks provided in series.