KR102428301B1 - Disinfection Robot - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a quarantine robot, and more particularly to the quarantine robot that is equipped with a disinfectant spray nozzle and a robot arm to disinfect an object to be disinfected using ultraviolet rays and to disinfect a remaining amount and surface disinfection through the disinfectant. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the quarantine robot includes: a robot driving unit that autonomously travels in a predetermined disinfection target area; and a quarantine unit seated in the robot driving unit. The quarantine unit includes: an ultraviolet lamp that irradiates ultraviolet light to a surrounding space when it is confirmed that there is no person within a predetermined distance; a spray nozzle spraying the disinfectant into the surrounding space; and a robot arm that wipes the disinfectant applied to the surrounding space.

Description

Disinfection Robot

The present invention relates to a disinfection robot, and more particularly, to a disinfectant robot having a disinfectant spray nozzle and a robot arm so that a disinfectant object can be disinfected using ultraviolet rays, and the residual amount and surface disinfection are possible through the disinfectant. .

Once every few years, a global infectious disease pandemic such as SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome), and COVID-19 (COVID-19) is taking place, and experts are The epidemic crisis is expected to continue.

In this situation, it is urgent to develop a quarantine robot that can sterilize and disinfect facilities while minimizing infection of medical staff in order to cope with a long-term epidemic and new infectious diseases.

In general, hospitals maintain a high level of hygiene through cleaning, floor cleaning, and hand washing, but hospital-acquired infections (HAI) continue to occur even in hospitals that maintain the highest level of hygiene. - The infection rate in the United States is 722 thousand persons per year, and it is at the level of Australia (200 thousand persons/year) and Denmark (50 thousand persons/year). This will result in up to $33 billion in annual spending in the United States, and $600 million and $164 million in Australia and Denmark, respectively -

In Korea, 159 medical personnel were infected with Corona for 9 months from the end of January 2020, and nurses accounted for the majority. There are cases in which quarantine work is being carried out together with the

Quarantine support personnel are not only burdened with infection, but also have high fatigue due to high work intensity, and are also concerned about prolonged exposure to chemicals due to sterilization and disinfection.

Domestic Patent Publication No. 10-2021-0127287 discloses an "autonomous driving space sterilization robot for indoor space quarantine".

According to the prior art as described above, it is possible to disinfect the indoor space by performing disinfection using ultraviolet rays and disinfection using chlorine dioxide gas.

However, since it is a type of device that sprays a disinfectant (gas) into the air, there is a limit to disinfecting objects in an indoor space.

The problem to be solved by the present invention is, in order to improve the limitations of the conventional quarantine robot as described above, disinfection using ultraviolet rays and disinfection using a disinfectant are performed in parallel, but the residual amount disinfection by spraying the disinfectant into the air and the disinfectant are applied to the equipment The goal is to provide a disinfection robot that can perform comprehensive disinfection by performing both surface disinfection after cleaning.

The present invention provides a robot driving unit for autonomously driving a predetermined quarantine target area in order to improve the limitations of the conventional quarantine robot as described above; and a quarantine unit mounted on the robot driving unit, wherein the quarantine unit includes: an ultraviolet lamp irradiating ultraviolet rays to the surrounding space when it is confirmed that there is no person within a predetermined distance; a spray nozzle for spraying a disinfectant into the surrounding space; and a robot arm that wipes off the disinfectant applied to the surrounding space.

In addition, the robot arm may be configured to be connected to the side of the quarantine unit so that the robot hand can contact both the ceiling and the floor of the surrounding space.

And, the robot arm may include: a first rotating unit rotating with respect to the side of the quarantine unit; a second rotation part connected to the first rotation part and rotating based on the first rotation part; a third rotation part connected to the second rotation part and rotating based on the second rotation part; a fourth rotation part connected to the third rotation part and rotating based on the third rotation part; a fifth rotation part connected to the fourth rotation part and rotating based on the fourth rotation part; a sixth rotation part connected to the fifth rotation part and rotating based on the fifth rotation part; and a robot hand provided in the sixth rotating part.

In addition, the robot arm includes: a position sensor for measuring the positions of the first to sixth rotating parts, and the robot hand; an angle sensor for measuring an angle at which the first to sixth rotating units are rotated from a predetermined origin; and a control unit for controlling the position of the robot hand by rotating the first to sixth rotating units based on the relative positions of the position sensors and the angles of the angle sensors.

In addition, the injection nozzle may include: a first nozzle disposed at each corner between the side surfaces of the quarantine unit; and a second nozzle disposed on the robot arm; and may perform residual disinfection by the first nozzle and surface disinfection by the second nozzle.

In addition, the ultraviolet lamp includes: a first lamp disposed to be included in at least two of the side surfaces of the quarantine unit; a second lamp disposed on one side of the robot arm; and a third lamp disposed under the robot driving unit; including, sterilization of the surrounding space by the first lamp, spot sterilization by the second lamp, and floor sterilization by the third lamp.

In addition, the article recognition unit for recognizing the recognition tag attached to the object disposed in the quarantine target area; and a communication unit for receiving the list of objects to be disinfected from the server; including, after recognizing and disinfecting the object, it is possible to update whether or not the object is disinfected in the list of objects to be disinfected.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to reduce the burden of personnel supporting quarantine by automating the surface disinfection of objects such as floors, hospital beds, doorknobs, light switches, furniture, and home appliances by means of a robot.

In addition, it is possible to remarkably improve the sanitation level of the area to be quarantined by using various disinfection methods such as disinfection by ultraviolet rays and disinfection residual amount/surface disinfection in parallel.

And, it is possible to disinfect the entire range from the ceiling to the floor of the indoor space through a predetermined robot arm structure.

In addition, it is possible to improve the disinfection efficiency by using ultraviolet lamps of various angles/positions.

In addition, by allowing the quarantine robot to recognize the objects, it is possible to check and manage whether or not disinfection of numerous objects is performed.

1 and 2 are perspective views of a quarantine robot according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a detailed view showing a robot arm of a quarantine robot according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a view showing that the height of the robot hand of the quarantine robot according to an embodiment of the present invention is variable.

Hereinafter, various embodiments of the present document will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, it is not intended to limit the technology described in this document to specific embodiments, and it should be understood to include various modifications, equivalents, and/or alternatives of the embodiments of this document. . In connection with the description of the drawings, like reference numerals may be used for like components.

In this document, expressions such as "comprises" or "may include" indicate the presence of the corresponding feature (eg, a numerical value, function, operation, or component such as a part), and do not exclude the presence of additional features. does not

In this document, expressions such as "A or B," "at least one of A and/and B," or "one or more of A or/and B" may include all possible combinations of the items listed together. . For example, "A or B," "at least one of A and B," or "at least one of A or B" means (1) includes at least one A, (2) includes at least one B; Or (3) it may refer to all cases including both at least one A and at least one B.

Expressions such as “first,” “second,” etc. used in this document can modify various components, regardless of order and/or importance, and are used only to distinguish one component from another. The components are not limited. For example, the first user equipment and the second user equipment may represent different user equipment regardless of order or importance. For example, without departing from the scope of the rights described in this document, a first component may be referred to as a second component, and similarly, the second component may also be renamed as a first component.

Various modifications can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the gist of the present invention as claimed in the claims of the present invention, and these modifications are the technical spirit or spirit of the present invention. It should not be understood individually from the perspective.

In terms of the terms used herein, the singular expression should be understood to include the plural expression unless the context clearly dictates otherwise, and terms such as "comprises" refer to the described feature, number, step, operation, element. , parts or combinations thereof are to be understood, but not to exclude the possibility of the presence or addition of one or more other features or numbers, step operation components, parts or combinations thereof.

In addition, the method according to the present invention can be implemented as computer-readable codes (programs) on a computer-readable recording medium. The computer-readable recording medium may include any type of recording device in which data readable by a computer system is stored. Examples of the computer-readable recording medium include ROM, RAM, CD-ROM, magnetic tape, floppy disk, optical data storage device, etc., and may also be implemented in the form of a carrier wave (eg, transmission over the Internet) include In addition, the computer-readable recording medium may store computer-readable codes that can be executed in a distributed manner by a network-connected distributed computer system.

One or more quarantine robots may be configured to autonomously drive while being dispersed in a quarantine target area. The lidar sensor, obstacle avoidance function, etc. for this purpose are areas of known technology, and thus detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The quarantine robot may include a speaker and/or a display for sending a predetermined guide message to a person, and may include an LED that emits a predetermined light.

First, in the standby mode (charging mode), the battery can be charged through the wireless charger provided in the quarantine robot waiting area (charging dock). Thereafter, the autonomous driving route, quarantine time (running time), etc. may be input by manipulating the quarantine robot server or the quarantine robot terminal.

Thereafter, in the autonomous driving mode, the vehicle travels along a designated path or an automatically generated path, and automatically avoids obstacles identified in the path. Guidance not to collide with, and with this, it is possible to stop some or all of the operation of the UV lamp so that the UV light is not irradiated to the person.

When the set quarantine time has elapsed or the battery is low, the robot may move to a standby location for the quarantine robot and switch to a charging (standby) mode. When the battery is forcibly switched to the charging mode due to insufficient battery, the driving command (autonomous driving route, quarantine time, etc.) It can be automatically switched to quarantine mode (driving mode).

Each of the steps to be described below may be performed in the form of centrally controlling a plurality of quarantine robots by a server or/and in a form in which the quarantine robots operate by themselves.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the robot driving unit (1) for autonomous driving in a predetermined quarantine target area; and a quarantine unit 2 mounted on the robot driving unit 1, wherein the quarantine unit 2 includes: an ultraviolet lamp 21 that irradiates ultraviolet rays to the surrounding space when it is confirmed that there is no person within a predetermined distance ); a spray nozzle 22 for spraying a disinfectant into the surrounding space; and a robot arm 23 that wipes off the disinfectant applied to the surrounding space.

In the embodiment of the present invention, an ultraviolet lamp 21 using an ultraviolet LED module is used, and as another embodiment, it is possible to use an ultraviolet mercury lamp.

The robot driving unit 1 and the quarantine unit 2 may be integrally configured or may be configured as a detachable module type. may do it

A 3D lidar sensor 24 may be provided at an upper end of the quarantine unit 2 , and a 2D lidar sensor 11 may be provided in the robot driving unit 1 . The 2D lidar sensor 11 may be used to detect a current location, route, surrounding terrain, etc. for autonomous driving, and the 3D lidar sensor 24 may be used to detect whether a person approaches the periphery of the robot.

A display 25 panel may be provided on the upper portion of the quarantine unit 2 to check the operation and status of the robot, and an emergency stop button and a power button may be disposed on one side.

A predetermined robot hand 237 may be provided on one side or one end of the robot arm 23 , and the robot hand 237 grips a cloth, cloth, mop, or the like, or attaches a cloth, cloth, mop, etc. It can be configured to be As another embodiment, the robot hand 237 in the form of a predetermined brush may be configured.

The brush-shaped robot hand 237 includes a rotatable brush; and a sterilization and drying device disposed to receive one side of the brush.

The sterilization and drying apparatus may sterilize the non-exposed surface of the brush with ultraviolet rays and dry it.

The quarantine target area or / and the surrounding space may include equipment such as floors, hospital beds, door knobs, light switches, furniture, home appliances, etc. can also be understood as

The ultraviolet lamp 21 approaches the object to be disinfected in the surrounding space and irradiates UV-C ultraviolet rays. If UV rays are irradiated for more than 15 minutes while approaching within 50cm of the object to be disinfected, more than 99% of bacteria/viruses/contaminants are sterilized/disinfected.

The quarantine robot may be operated by changing the driving speed and the disinfection method according to the driving mode.

In order to maximize the disinfection efficiency by the UV-C UV lamp 21 in a certain space (the area subject to quarantine or the surrounding space (one room)) at night time when there are no people or moving people, a predetermined interval (50 cm) The following intervals) may operate to stop the robot. For example, the robot stops at a certain point and irradiates the UV lamp 21 for a predetermined time (for example, 15 minutes) to disinfect the point, and after the disinfection of the point is completed, the robot moves about 40 cm and returns again. It can be controlled to proceed with the disinfection. For disinfection without omission, the disinfection points may be controlled to overlap by a predetermined interval as described above (when the disinfectable area is 50 cm, the interval between disinfection points is controlled to be 40 cm).

Conversely, since it is difficult to perform disinfection by the UV-C UV lamp 21 in a daytime time period with a large number of people and moving people in a certain space (because the UV lamp 21 stops working when a person approaches), It can operate in a way that increases the disinfection rate by For example, a robot stops near a major object to be disinfected (such as a doorknob) and sprays a disinfectant to the object to be disinfected and/or the surrounding space to disinfect ( residual amount) and wiping the disinfectant applied to the object to be disinfected with the robot hand 237 to perform surface disinfection. In addition, UV disinfection by the second lamp 212 and the third lamp 213 to be described later may be performed.

In addition, the robot arm 23 may be configured to be connected to the side surface of the quarantine unit 2 so that the robot hand 237 can contact both the ceiling and the floor of the surrounding space.

According to the operation of the robot arm 23, the robot hand 237 is configured to be able to contact all (most) accessible spaces such as surrounding objects, walls, floors, and under the bed from the indoor ceiling, so that the surface is disinfected without missing parts. can be performed.

However, since the frequency of human hand contact is not high in spaces such as ceilings, walls, and under the bed, it is desirable to set the frequency (weight) of surface disinfection low during autonomous driving. On the other hand, it is desirable to set the frequency of surface disinfection high for objects with high frequency of human hand contact, such as doorknobs, TV buttons, light switches, bed frames (handles), and refrigerator door handles. By setting weights according to the importance (frequency/probability of human hand contact) of such a device, it is possible to improve the quarantine efficiency compared to the operating time of the robot.

In addition, the robot arm 23 includes: a first rotating part 231 that rotates with respect to the side of the quarantine part 2 ; a second rotation part 232 connected to the first rotation part 231 and rotating with respect to the first rotation part 231; a third rotation part 233 connected to the second rotation part 232 and rotating based on the second rotation part 232; a fourth pivoting part 234 connected to the third pivoting part 233 and rotating with respect to the third pivoting part 233; a fifth rotational part 235 connected to the fourth rotational part 234 and rotating based on the fourth rotational part 234; a sixth rotational part 236 connected to the fifth rotational part 235 and rotating based on the fifth rotational part 235; and a robot hand 237 provided in the sixth rotating part 236 .

The first rotating part 231 may be connected to the vertical height adjusting part 238 . The vertical height adjusting unit 238 is provided on the side of the quarantine unit 2 to adjust the height of the first rotating unit 231 .

Since the robot arm 23 is connected to the side of the quarantine unit 2 , the center of gravity of the quarantine robot may be biased toward the robot arm 23 , so the center of gravity of the body of the quarantine unit 2 is the robot arm 23 . ) is preferably designed to be biased on the opposite side.

An embodiment in which a separate auxiliary robot arm (or a second robot arm, not shown) other than the robot arm 23 may be configured. In this case, when surface disinfection of objects not fixed to the ground, such as a TV, an auxiliary robot arm (not shown) supports a part of the object to help prevent the object from falling. The auxiliary robot arm (not shown) may be configured with reference to the configuration of the robot arm 23 described above.

The first rotating part 231 to the sixth rotating part 236 may include a motor for rotation, respectively, and a frame having a predetermined length (first motor 2311 to sixth motor 2361, The first frame 2312 to the fifth frame 2352/robot hand 237).

In addition, the robot arm 23 includes: a position sensor for measuring the positions of the first rotating part 231 to the sixth rotating part 236 , and the robot hand 237 ; an angle sensor for measuring the angle at which the first rotating part 231 to the sixth rotating part 236 are rotated from a predetermined origin; and a control unit for controlling the position of the robot hand 237 by rotating the first rotating unit 231 to the sixth rotating unit 236 based on the relative positions of the position sensors and the angles of the angle sensors. .

Since the control method for controlling the multi-axis robot using the position sensor and the angle sensor as described above is a known technique, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

In addition, the injection nozzle 22 includes: a first nozzle 221 disposed at each corner between the side surfaces of the quarantine unit 2 ; and a second nozzle 222 disposed on the robot arm 23 , to perform residual disinfection by the first nozzle 221 and surface disinfection by the second nozzle 222 .

The second nozzle 222 may be provided on one side of the robot hand 237 and can spray the disinfectant while controlling the robot arm 23 so that the disinfectant can be applied to the surface of the object to be disinfected without missing parts. have.

The first nozzle 221 may be adsorbed with harmful particles in the air and fall to the floor by spraying a disinfectant into the space through which the quarantine robot passes. In this case, the harmful particles and the adsorbed disinfectant may react with the harmful particles for a predetermined time to decompose/remove the harmful particles. The disinfectant can be naturally volatilized after disinfection or removed from the floor surface through surface disinfection (wiping operation).

In addition, the ultraviolet lamp 21 includes: a first lamp 211 disposed to be included on two or more of the side surfaces of the quarantine unit 2 ; a second ramp 212 disposed on one side of the robot arm 23; and a third lamp 213 disposed under the robot driving unit 1; including, sterilization of the surrounding space by the first lamp 211, and spot sterilization (object to be sterilized) by the second lamp 212 sterilization) and floor sterilization by the third lamp 213 may be performed.

The first lamp 211 can access and sterilize furniture/household appliances with a large surface area, such as a bed, shelf, refrigerator, etc., and the second lamp 212 is a robot hand attached to a small object having a complex shape/curved shape such as a doorknob. By approaching (237), it is possible to sterilize all areas of the object to be disinfected.

The third lamp 213 may sterilize the bottom surface of the robot and the bottom surface around the robot along the running section of the quarantine robot.

In this case, the ultraviolet lamp 21 'irradiating ultraviolet rays to the surrounding space when it is confirmed that there is no person within a predetermined distance' may be limited to only the first lamp 211 . For example, even if there is a person in the surrounding space, a doorknob that is spaced apart from a person by a certain distance so as not to irradiate the person with ultraviolet rays can be sterilized with the second lamp 212, and the bottom of the robot (robot driving unit 1) It is possible to sterilize the floor surface by irradiating ultraviolet rays with the third lamp 213 to the floor surface located at .

In addition, the article recognition unit for recognizing the recognition tag attached to the object disposed in the quarantine target area; and a communication unit for receiving the list of objects to be disinfected from the server; including, after recognizing and disinfecting the object, it is possible to update whether or not the object is disinfected in the list of objects to be disinfected.

If an attempt is made to disinfect a large object to be disinfected using the first lamp 211, but a person is detected nearby and the disinfection operation is stopped, other objects to be disinfected are first disinfected and then the object to be disinfected is omitted later. can be accessed again to perform disinfection.

The administrator can check the list of objects to be disinfected within the quarantine target area through the server. A manual (forced) control command can also be entered so that support personnel are dispatched or the disinfection robot proceeds with disinfection after checking the point.

The objects to be disinfected may be handled including data such as unique ID, shape (3D modeling data), centralized disinfection point, fixed status, and the like.

For example, ten beds provided in the quarantine target area may each have different unique IDs, and through this, it is possible to individually determine whether to disinfect all ten beds.

In addition, based on the shape data of the bed, a point with high frequency of human touch, such as a handle, is designated as an intensive disinfection point, and the disinfection robot performs disinfection work focusing on the centralized disinfection point during times of high human movement. can be controlled

Through the fixation data, for objects that are easy to fall over, such as TVs, fix them using the aforementioned auxiliary robot arm (not shown), or when controlling the robot arm 23, the robot hand 237 has a different force to push the object to be disinfected. By controlling the object to be disinfected to be smaller than when surface disinfection (wiping) is performed, it is possible to prevent damage to the object.

1: Robot driving part
11: 2D lidar sensor
2: Ministry of Quarantine
2' : side of quarantine department
21: UV lamp
211: first lamp
212: second lamp
213: third lamp
22: spray nozzle
221: first nozzle
222: second nozzle
23: robot arm
231: 1st East
2311: first motor
2312: first frame
232: 2nd rotation
2321: second motor
2322: second frame
233: 3rd East
2331: third motor
2332: third frame
234: 4th East
2341: fourth motor
2342: fourth frame
235: 5th East
2351: fifth motor
2352: 5th frame
236: 6th East
2361: sixth motor
237: robot hand
238: vertical height adjustment unit
24: 3D lidar sensor
25: display

Claims (6)

A robot driving unit that autonomously drives a predetermined quarantine target area; and
Including; a quarantine unit that is seated on the robot driving unit;
The quarantine department:
an ultraviolet lamp irradiating ultraviolet rays to the surrounding space when it is confirmed that there is no person within a predetermined distance;
a spray nozzle for spraying a disinfectant into the surrounding space; and
Including; robot arm that wipes the disinfectant applied to the surrounding space;
A quarantine robot that performs ① ultraviolet disinfection using the ultraviolet lamp, ② residual amount disinfection using the spray nozzle, and ③ surface disinfection using the spray nozzle and robot arm. The method according to claim 1,
The robot arm is:
It is connected to the side of the quarantine unit so that the robot hand can contact both the ceiling and the floor of the surrounding space,
A disinfectant robot that performs the surface disinfection by wiping the disinfectant applied to the object to be disinfected from the spray nozzle with a robot hand. 3. The method of claim 2,
The robot arm is:
a first rotating unit rotating with respect to the side of the quarantine unit;
a second rotation part connected to the first rotation part and rotating based on the first rotation part;
a third rotation part connected to the second rotation part and rotating based on the second rotation part;
a fourth rotation part connected to the third rotation part and rotating based on the third rotation part;
a fifth rotation part connected to the fourth rotation part and rotating based on the fourth rotation part;
a sixth rotation part connected to the fifth rotation part and rotating based on the fifth rotation part; and
Including, a quarantine robot; a robot hand provided in the sixth rotating part The method according to claim 1,
The spray nozzle is:
a first nozzle disposed at each corner between the side surfaces of the quarantine unit; and
Including; a second nozzle disposed on the robot arm;
A quarantine robot that performs residual disinfection by the first nozzle and surface disinfection by the second nozzle The method according to claim 1,
The UV lamp is:
a first lamp disposed to be included on at least two of the side surfaces of the quarantine unit;
a second lamp disposed on one side of the robot arm; and
Including; a third lamp disposed under the robot driving unit;
A quarantine robot that performs sterilization of the surrounding space by the first lamp, spot sterilization by the second lamp, and floor sterilization by the third lamp The method according to claim 1,
an article recognition unit for recognizing identification tags attached to objects disposed in the quarantine target area; and
Including; a communication unit for receiving a list of objects to be disinfected from the server;
After recognizing and disinfecting the object, a quarantine robot that updates whether the object is disinfected in the list of objects to be disinfected

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