KR20020038296A - Apparatus for detecting obstacle in mobile robot and method for detecting the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: An apparatus and method for sensing an obstacle in a mobile robot are provided to discriminate that whether the robot can be passed or must be bypassed the obstacle by providing information with regard to a shape of the obstacle using a line laser and a vision camera. CONSTITUTION: A mobile robot comprises a running portion for accomplishing a movement of the mobile robot, a sensor for sensing an obstacle such as a wall, etc., a control section(20) for controlling a movement path of the mobile robot by controlling the running portion and the sensor, a power supplying section(50) for supplying a power to each parts of the mobile robot and an RF remote control sending portion(60). An obstacle sensing apparatus is connected at the control section(20) and is performed a decision with regard to the obstacle. The obstacle sensing apparatus is composed of a line laser(13) for emitting a linear beam, a vision camera(11) for recognizing the reflected linear beam and a vision board(12) for sending to a control section(20). A program for calculating a distance to the obstacle from the image data is loaded to the control section(20).

Description

Apparatus for detecting obstacle in mobile robot and method for detecting the same}

The present invention relates to an obstacle detecting apparatus and a sensing method of a mobile robot, and more particularly, to an obstacle detecting apparatus and a sensing method of a mobile robot that detects and travels an obstacle by a line laser and a vision camera emitting a linear beam. .

In general, the conventional mobile robot, a moving unit for realizing movement, an obstacle detecting device for detecting an obstacle such as a wall, the control unit for controlling the moving path of the mobile robot by controlling the driving unit and the obstacle detecting device and stores power It is composed of a power supply unit for supplying power to each of the parts. The conventional mobile robot having the above configuration proceeds by driving the driving unit by the power of the power supply unit, and recognizes the obstacle present in the traveling direction by the obstacle detecting device so as to avoid the obstacle by itself.

Conventional mobile robots have moved by avoiding obstacles by judging the distance to the obstacle in the traveling direction using an ultrasonic sensor. The ultrasonic sensor includes an ultrasonic transmitter for emitting ultrasonic waves and an ultrasonic receiver for receiving reflected ultrasonic waves reflected back to an obstacle. The control unit of the mobile robot measures the time between the radiated ultrasonic signal and the received ultrasonic reflection signal, thereby calculating the distance to the obstacle and controlling the motor of the driving unit, thereby allowing the mobile robot to travel while avoiding the obstacle.

However, with such a conventional obstacle detection device and detection method, the distance of the obstacle in the driving direction can be detected, but it is not possible to provide accurate information about the obstacle, such as the shape of the obstacle, whether or not it can pass through the obstacle. And there is a problem that can not make an accurate determination of obstacle avoidance.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above problems, obstacles using a line laser and vision camera so that the mobile robot can determine whether the obstacles in the driving direction can pass through and make accurate decisions about obstacle avoidance. An object of the present invention is to provide an obstacle detection device and a detection method of a mobile robot that can provide information on the shape of the mobile robot.

1 is a schematic perspective view of a mobile robot equipped with an obstacle detection device of a mobile robot according to the present invention;

2 is a functional block diagram of a mobile robot shown in FIG.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a method of detecting an obstacle using an obstacle detecting device of a mobile robot according to the present invention;

4 is a view for explaining an equation for calculating the distance of the obstacle in the obstacle detection method of the mobile robot according to the present invention;

5 is a diagram briefly illustrating a process of creating a 3D image using a line image.

* Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings *

One; Mobile robot 10; Obstacle Sensing Device

11; Vision camera 12; Vision board

13; Line laser 20; Control

30; A driving part 31; Motor drive

32; Motor 33; wheel

50; Power supply 60; RF remote control transceiver

In order to achieve the above object, an obstacle detecting apparatus of a mobile robot according to the present invention includes a line laser which emits a linear beam against an obstacle existing in the forward direction; A vision camera recognizing the linear beam reflected from the obstacle; And a vision board for processing image data captured by the vision camera. Here, the vision camera includes a filter that can recognize only the linear beam of the line laser.

In addition, it is preferable to further include a plurality of line lasers provided to form a constant angle with the linear beam emitted from the line laser.

In addition, the obstacle detection method of the mobile robot for achieving the object of the present invention, a line laser for emitting a linear beam, a vision camera for recognizing the linear beam and a vision board for processing the image recognized by the vision camera A sensing method for detecting an obstacle by an obstacle detecting device of a mobile robot, the method comprising: emitting a linear beam to the obstacle by the line laser; Recognizing, by the vision camera, the linear beam reflected from the obstacle; The vision board processing an image recognized by the vision camera; And calculating a distance from the image processed by the vision board to the obstacle.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail with respect to the obstacle detecting apparatus and method of the mobile robot having the configuration as described above.

1 is a schematic perspective view of a mobile robot equipped with an obstacle detecting apparatus of a mobile robot according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the mobile robot of FIG. 1.

Referring to the drawings, the mobile robot 1 includes a driving unit 30 for implementing the movement of the mobile robot 1, an obstacle detecting device 10 for detecting an obstacle such as a wall, and the driving unit 30 and an obstacle. A control unit 20 for controlling the movement path of the mobile robot 1 by controlling the sensing device 10, a power supply unit 50 for storing power and supplying power to each unit, and an RF remote control transmitter for transmitting and receiving commands ( 60). In addition, the traveling part 30 is comprised by the two wheels 33, the motor 32 which rotates each wheel, and the motor drive 31. As shown in FIG.

The control unit 20 is connected to two motor drives 31, a power supply unit 50 made of a capacitor, and an R / F remote control transmitter 60 for controlling start / stop of the mobile robot by remote communication. Is configured to be able to control the mobile robot (1) as a whole. In addition, the control unit 20 is connected to the obstacle detecting device 10 can determine the obstacle.

The obstacle detecting apparatus 10 processes the image recognized by the vision camera 11 and the vision camera 11 which recognizes the line laser 13 emitting the linear beam and the reflected linear beam, and the controller 20. It consists of a vision board 12 to transmit to. In addition, the controller 20 is loaded with a program for calculating the distance from the image data received by the vision board 12 to the obstacle.

The line laser 13 is called a first light emitter, and the trajectory of the emitted beam draws a straight line on a plane perpendicular to the optical axis of the line laser 13. The line laser 13 is installed in front of the mobile robot 1 to detect an obstacle present in the forward direction.

The vision camera 11 is installed above the line laser 13 so as to recognize a linear beam of the line laser 13 reflected from an obstacle. A filter is attached to the vision camera 11 so that only the reflected beam of the line laser 13 can be recognized. This filter passes only a specific wavelength corresponding to the linear beam of the line laser 13, thereby allowing the vision camera 11 to recognize only the linear beam of the line laser 13.

The vision board 12 is installed at one side of the vision camera 11 to facilitate connection of the control unit 20 and the vision camera 11 to a line.

Hereinafter, a method of detecting an obstacle by the obstacle detecting apparatus 10 having the above configuration will be described.

The method of detecting the obstacle by the mobile robot 1 includes the steps of the line laser 13 emitting a linear beam with respect to the obstacle present in the driving direction (S10), and the linear camera reflecting the linear beam reflected from the obstacle. Recognizing step (S20), the step of making the image data processed by the vision board 12 to facilitate the software operation of the image recognized by the vision camera 11 (S30) and the obstacle using the image data Comprising a step to calculate the distance (S40).

When the linear beam emitted from the line laser 13 is irradiated to the obstacle in the light emitting step S10, the linear beam is deformed according to the shape of the obstacle. In the recognition step S20, the vision camera 11 recognizes the reflected beam of the linear beam deformed through the filter to form an image. In the image data processing step (S30), in order to simplify the image recognized in the recognition step (S20), the vision board 12 performs thresholding and thinning again of the image to perform image thinning. Make the size as small as possible. In the distance calculation step S40, the distance to the obstacle is calculated using the image data obtained in the image data processing step S30. The mobile robot 1 repeatedly performs the above-described obstacle detection method until it can fully know information about the obstacle in the driving direction.

Here, the distance between the obstacle and the mobile robot 1 can be easily calculated by trigonometry if only a few values are known. That is, as shown in Fig. 4, the engraving of the line laser 13 and the mobile robot 1 The distance between the vision camera 11 and the line laser 13 And the distance between the lens 11a of the vision camera 11 and the image surface 11b where an image of an obstacle is formed. And the distance from the lens center axis to the image on the image surface 11b Knowing this, we can find Z, which is the distance between the obstacle and the mobile robot (1), by

Referring to Figure 4,

Equation of

Here Wow If you substitute and clean up,

Can be obtained.

Therefore, in this equation, the stamping of the line laser 13 and the mobile robot 1 And the distance between the lens 11a of the vision camera 11 and the image surface 11b where an image of an obstacle is formed. And Since the value of can be made constant, the distance from the image plane to the lens center axis to the image By calculating the value of, the distance Z between the obstacle and the mobile robot 1 can be calculated.

When such calculation is performed on the entire image data, it is possible to determine the shape of the obstacle of the portion to which the linear beam is irradiated.

In another embodiment of the present invention, a three-dimensional image may be formed using a plurality of line lasers. That is, a plurality of line lasers are provided so that the incidence angle of the linear beam of the line laser incident on the obstacle is within a certain angle, that is, within the range that the vision camera can recognize. Thereafter, a plurality of line lasers are irradiated, and a vision camera recognizes the reflection beams of several line lasers at once, and image processing can be performed to obtain a three-dimensional image. It shows the process of making. This allows the mobile robot to obtain more detailed information about the obstacle because data can be obtained closer to the shape of the actual obstacle.

As described above, according to the obstacle detecting apparatus and method of the mobile robot according to the present invention, the line robot and the line laser can be used to determine whether the mobile robot can pass an obstacle present in the driving direction and to make an accurate determination about obstacle avoidance. The vision camera can be used to provide information about the shape of the obstacle.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described specific preferred embodiments, and the present invention belongs without departing from the gist of the present invention as claimed in the following claims. Those skilled in the art will be able to implement various modifications.

Claims (4)

In the obstacle detection device of the mobile robot for detecting an obstacle present in the front of the traveling direction, A line laser emitting a linear beam against the obstacle; A vision camera recognizing the linear beam reflected from the obstacle; And a vision board for processing image data captured by the vision camera. The method of claim 1, wherein the vision camera, Obstacle detection device of the mobile robot, characterized in that it comprises a filter that can recognize only the linear beam of the line laser. The obstacle detecting apparatus of the mobile robot according to claim 1, further comprising a plurality of line lasers installed to form a predetermined angle with the linear beam emitted from the line laser. A mobile robot obstacle detection method for detecting an obstacle by an obstacle detection device of a mobile robot including a line laser emitting a linear beam, a vision camera that recognizes the linear beam, and a vision board that processes an image recognized by the vision camera. To The line laser emitting a linear beam against the obstacle; Recognizing, by the vision camera, the linear beam reflected from the obstacle; The vision board processing an image recognized by the vision camera; Calculating a distance from the image processed by the vision board to the obstacle; obstacle detection method of a mobile robot, characterized in that it comprises a.