KR20070045474A - The driving control apparatus for moving robot and method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention improves cleaning coverage by dividing an arbitrary cleaning space (quadrant) and removing repetitive cleaning of the same area through cleaning information for each divided area, and automatically determining cleaning finishing timing through cleaning information. The present invention relates to a traveling control device and a method for moving a robot to increase cleaning efficiency by using the same, and the present invention divides the coordinate setting and the cleaning space into a plurality of cleaning areas by using the distance information acquired from the distance sensor. Then, the cleaning is performed in a zigzag driving manner by sequentially moving the divided cleaning areas. When the divided cleaning areas move again, the cleaning is switched by performing the zigzag driving direction. The zone cleaning information allows you to automatically end the cleaning when all cleaning zones have finished cleaning. The.

Mobile Robot, Cleaning Robot, Driving Control, Space Division, Quadrant

Description

Driving control device and method of the mobile robot {The Driving Control Apparatus for Moving Robot and Method Thereof}

1a to 1c is an exemplary view for explaining a driving method applied to a conventional mobile robot.

Figure 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a traveling control device of a mobile robot according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 3 is a flow chart showing a driving control process of a mobile robot according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 4 is an exemplary diagram of space division and driving direction in the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

110... User interface

120... Distance sensing sensor

140... Traveling device

150... Control

151... Space divider

152... Driving control

160... Memory

The present invention relates to driving control of a mobile robot, and more particularly, to clean cleaning coverage by dividing an arbitrary cleaning space (quadrant) and removing repeated cleaning of the same area through the cleaning information for each divided area. The present invention relates to a traveling control apparatus and a method of a mobile robot for improving cleaning efficiency by improving and automatically determining a cleaning finish time point through cleaning information.

In general, robots have been developed for industrial use and used as part of factory automation, or have been used to collect or collect information on behalf of humans in extreme environments that humans cannot tolerate. This field of robotics has been developed in recent years as it is used in the cutting-edge space development industry, and until recently, human-friendly home robots have been developed. A representative example of such a human-friendly home robot is a cleaning robot.

The cleaning robot, which is one of the mobile robots, is a device that cleans dust or foreign substances while driving a certain cleaning area such as a house or office by itself. In addition to the construction of a general vacuum cleaner that sucks in dust or foreign substances, such a cleaning robot includes a driving device including a left and right wheel motor for driving the cleaning robot, and a plurality of driving devices without colliding with various obstacles in the cleaning area. It consists of a sensor and a microprocessor that controls the whole device.

Meanwhile, an example of a traveling method of a conventional mobile robot is disclosed in FIGS. 1A to 1C.

As shown in FIG. 1, the driving method adopts a random method (FIG. 1A), a spiral method (FIG. 1B), and a zigzag method (FIG. 1C). There are advantages and disadvantages.

For example, in the random method, when an obstacle is encountered while driving, the obstacle is easily avoided and it is easy to move more than a certain distance, but the cleaning is not performed by moving in an arbitrary direction and an arbitrary distance. There is a disadvantage in that a large number of unoccupied areas are likely to occur, that is, a cleaning coverage rate is lowered.

In addition, the spiral type is a driving method that expands the work space by increasing the radius of rotation by rotating in a predetermined direction about the starting point. In the case of the spiral method, the cleaning coverage rate is higher than the random method because it moves with a certain rule, but the cleanable space is affected by the surrounding environment. Although it is advantageous for cleaning around the area, it is difficult to increase driving speed because it is not suitable for cleaning the entire space, that is, the room or living room having the shape of a square, etc., but traveling in a circle.

And the zigzag method is a driving method to clean the space by repeating traveling straight along the long path (short path) and short path. In this zigzag system, the length of the long path is the size of the moving width, the forward direction on the short path is the traveling direction, and the driving is performed so that the sum of the forward distances of the short paths is the traveling distance. . The zigzag method has the advantage of achieving the highest cleaning coverage rate in a cleaning area having a rectangular structure, such as a room or a living room, but it is difficult to maintain the zigzag property when the obstacles are complicatedly arranged in the cleaning area. There is a disadvantage that the efficiency is sharply lowered.

In other words, since the cleaning driving method applied to the conventional mobile robot is simply a local cleaning method and does not consider the cleaning coverage, there is a problem that the cleaning performance varies depending on the environment.

In addition, since the cleaning finish time is determined by the time setting by the user, even when the cleaning for all zones is not finished, the cleaning is terminated when the set time comes, resulting in a problem that the cleaning efficiency is lowered.

Accordingly, the present invention is proposed to solve the above problems of the prior art,

Its purpose is to divide (segment) an arbitrary cleaning space and to remove the repeated cleaning of the same area through the cleaning information for each divided area, and to improve the cleaning coverage. To provide.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a traveling control apparatus and a method of a mobile robot to increase cleaning efficiency by automatically determining a cleaning finish time point through cleaning information.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention for achieving the above object, the "driving control apparatus of a mobile robot",

A distance detection sensor for detecting a distance for spatial division and coordinate setting of the initial cleaning area;

The cleaning range may be improved by dividing the coordinate setting and the cleaning space by using the distance value detected by the distance detection sensor and controlling the driving device to perform the cleaning while driving the divided space.

The control unit may include: a space dividing unit configured to set coordinates by using the detected distance value and divide the cleaning space into a predetermined number of cleaning regions (divided spaces) based on the coordinates;

And a traveling controller configured to control the traveling device to perform cleaning while sequentially driving the cleaning area divided by the space dividing unit.

The space dividing unit divides the cleaning space into four cleaning regions.

The driving controller may control the driving so that cleaning is performed in a zigzag manner while sequentially driving the divided cleaning region.

In addition, the driving control unit controls the driving by switching the direction so as to be perpendicular to the zigzag direction when entering the cleaning area which has already been cleaned while the cleaning operation is performed while driving the divided cleaning area in a zigzag manner. It features.

In addition, when cleaning the divided space, the control unit is characterized in that the start of each divided space is set on the basis of the coordinate axis, and controls the driving so that cleaning is performed while moving from the center of the coordinate axis to the wall.

In addition, the mobile robot is characterized in that the cleaning robot.

On the other hand, "run control method of a mobile robot" according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention for achieving the above object,

Dividing the coordinate setting and the cleaning space into a plurality of cleaning regions by using the distance information acquired by the distance sensor;

Performing cleaning in a zigzag driving manner while sequentially moving the divided cleaning regions;

Switching the zigzag driving direction when the divided cleaning areas move again when the divided cleaning areas move;

When the cleaning of each divided cleaning area includes the step of automatically cleaning.

The cleaning area division divides the cleaning space into quadrants.

In addition, the switching of the zigzag traveling direction is to change the traveling direction to be perpendicular to the previous zigzag traveling direction.

The divided cleaning areas may be moved by recognizing each area based on the set coordinate axis.

In addition, the mobile robot is characterized in that the cleaning robot.

Hereinafter, described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings a preferred embodiment of the present invention. If it is determined that the detailed description of the known function or configuration related to the present invention may unnecessarily obscure the subject matter of the present invention, the detailed description thereof will be omitted.

2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a traveling control apparatus for a mobile robot according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

The traveling control apparatus for a mobile robot according to the present invention includes a user interface 110 including a plurality of operation buttons for controlling a system directly by a user and a display unit or an operation LED for displaying an operation state. The user interface 110 allows the user to manually control the cleaning robot, which is a mobile robot, and to visually check the current operating state of the robot.

In addition, the traveling control apparatus of the mobile robot according to the present invention includes a distance detecting sensor 120 for detecting a distance for spatial division and coordinate setting of the initial cleaning area and an obstacle detecting sensor 130 for detecting an obstacle.

In addition, the traveling control apparatus of the mobile robot according to the present invention may divide the coordinate setting and the cleaning space by using the distance value sensed by the distance sensor 120, and the traveling apparatus may perform cleaning while driving the divided space. A control unit 150 for controlling 140 is provided to improve cleaning coverage. Here, the controller 150 sets the coordinates using the detected distance value and divides the cleaning space into four cleaning regions (divided spaces) based on the coordinates. For this purpose, the controller 150 runs with the space divider 151. The control unit 152 is further provided.

In addition, the driving control apparatus of the mobile robot according to the present invention further includes a memory 160 that stores a driving scheme, and stores information such as a set coordinate value, divided cleaning area information, and a current cleaning area. .

Here, the traveling device 140 includes a left wheel motor driver 142 for driving the left wheel motor 141 and a right wheel motor driver 144 for driving the right wheel motor 143.

Although not shown in the drawings, the cleaning robot has a number of technical configurations for suctioning foreign substances on the floor, for example, a fan motor, a dust collecting filter, a suction pipe, a brush, a suction head, etc. to generate suction power. Which will be referred to as cleaning modules in the following description.

First, a person who wishes to clean the whole house places a cleaning robot in a room or a living room and issues a cleaning start command through the user interface 110.

When the cleaning start command is transmitted from the user, the distance sensor 120 detects the distance from the current position to the wall while rotating 360 ° from the current position. Here, when detecting the distance from the current position to the wall, there is a possibility that the position of the wall may be incorrectly detected by the obstacle. For this purpose, the distance is sensed while rotating 360 °, thereby compensating for the distance detection error from the current position to the wall. .

When the distance from the current position to the wall is detected by the distance sensor 120, the controller 150 stores the distance detection value in the memory 160, and the space divider 151 in the controller 150 Coordinates are set in consideration of the detected distance value and the current position, and the cleaning space 210 is divided into four cleaning areas (first cleaning area, second cleaning area, third cleaning area, and fourth cleaning area) based on the coordinates. Area) 211 to 214. Here, the cleaning area may be divided into fewer or more areas besides four, but it is preferable to divide the cleaning area into four cleaning areas in consideration of the zigzag method which is a basic driving method.

When the division of the cleaning area is completed, the driving controller 152 first runs the first cleaning area 211 in a zigzag manner, which is a basic driving method, based on the set coordinate value, and cleaning is performed by the cleaning module. . In this case, the driving direction is a driving direction moving from the center of the coordinate axis to the wall.

When the cleaning of the first cleaning area 211 is finished, the cleaning is moved to the second cleaning area 212 on the basis of the coordinate axis, and the cleaning is controlled while controlling the driving in the zigzag manner described above.

That is, when the cleaning of one region is completed, the cleaning of the entire cleaning space is performed by moving to the next region, and information about the region where the cleaning is performed is continuously stored in the memory 160.

In addition, during the cleaning of a specific area, there may be a case of moving to another cleaning area due to an obstacle. At this time, because the coordinate value is known and cleaning information is included, the moved area is a previously cleaned area or a new one. It is possible to determine whether the area. As a result of the determination, if the moved area is a new area, the area is cleaned again in a zigzag manner. If the moved area is a previously cleaned area, the direction is perpendicular to the previous zigzag direction. The switch will clean the area. This makes it possible to clean the uncleaned area when cleaning the previous cleaning area, thereby improving the cleaning coverage.

On the other hand, since the cleaning time is conventionally set by the user, the cleaning is automatically terminated after the set cleaning time passes even when the cleaning space is not completely cleaned. However, in the present invention, since the information on the divided cleaning area is known and the cleaning information on the area is also known, the cleaning is automatically terminated when the divided first to fourth cleaning areas 211 to 214 are finished. . That is, the cleaning finishing time is not determined by the user's time setting, but the cleaning robot recognizes the cleaning finishing time and finishes the cleaning.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a driving control method of a mobile robot according to the present invention.

As shown therein, step S101 of setting an initial position, step S103 of cleaning while driving in a preset zigzag manner, step S105 of checking whether the divided cleaning area is terminated and Checking whether all the divided cleaning areas have been cleaned at the end of the cleaning area (S107); and if the cleaning of all the divided areas is not completed, moving to another area (S109); Checking whether the area is a preclean area (S111), and if the moving area is not the preclean area, cleaning is performed by a zigzag driving method, and when the moving area is the preclean area, the cleaning is performed by switching the zigzag direction. It consists of a step (S113).

Referring to the driving control method of the mobile robot according to the present invention as described above in more detail as follows.

First, when a cleaning start command is transmitted by the user in step S101, the space dividing unit 151 in the controller 150 sets coordinates according to the distance value detected by the distance sensor 120, and cleans based on the coordinate axis. As shown in FIG. 4, the space is divided into four cleaning areas 211 to 214, and the space is stored in the memory 160.

After the cleaning space is divided, cleaning is performed through the cleaning module while driving the first cleaning area 211 in a zigzag driving manner as in step S103.

When the cleaning of the first cleaning area S105 is finished as in step S105 while the first cleaning area 211 is cleaned, the process moves to step S107 to confirm whether cleaning of all areas is completed. Here, since the cleaning completion information of each cleaning area is continuously stored in the memory 160 while the cleaning is performed, it is easy to know whether the cleaning of all areas is completed.

As a result of this check, when the cleaning of all the regions is finished, the cleaning is automatically terminated. In the past, since the cleaning finish time was determined by the user's time setting, the cleaning was automatically terminated after the set cleaning time even in the state where the cleaning of the cleaning space was not completed. However, in the present invention, since the cleaning is performed with the information on the cleaning area and the information on whether the cleaning is completed, the mobile robot can determine whether the cleaning is completed for all the cleaning areas, and the cleaning for all the cleaning areas is completed. Only when the cleaning is automatically terminated, the cleaning efficiency is increased.

On the other hand, when the cleaning of all the areas is not completed, the area moves as in step S109. After the area is moved, as shown in step S111, it is checked whether the moved area is the area that has been cleaned. If the area is not cleaned, the process moves to the step S103 described above, and the area is cleaned in a zigzag driving manner. . On the other hand, when the moved region is the region in which the cleaning is completed, the previous cleaning region is cleaned again while switching the driving direction in a direction perpendicular to the zigzag direction by using the previous zigzag driving information. In this case, since the driving direction is determined at a right angle with the previous zigzag driving direction, the cleaning is performed while driving only a place that is not cleaned at the time of the previous cleaning, thereby improving cleaning coverage.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described specific preferred embodiments, and various modifications can be made by any person having ordinary skill in the art without departing from the gist of the present invention claimed in the claims. Of course, such changes will fall within the scope of the claims.

According to the present invention described above, it is possible to improve the cleaning coverage by dividing an arbitrary cleaning space (quadrant) and removing the repeated cleaning of the same zone through the cleaning information for each divided area. .

In addition, it is possible to increase the cleaning efficiency by allowing automatic determination of the cleaning finishing time point through the cleaning information.

Claims (12)

A distance detecting sensor detecting a distance for space division and coordinate setting of the cleaning space; And a control unit for dividing a coordinate setting and a cleaning space by using the distance value detected by the distance detecting sensor, and controlling a traveling device to perform cleaning while driving the divided space. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the controller comprises: a space dividing unit configured to set coordinates using the sensed distance values and divide the cleaning space into a predetermined number of cleaning regions based on the coordinates; And a traveling control unit for controlling the traveling device to perform cleaning while sequentially driving the cleaning area divided by the space dividing unit. The traveling control apparatus for a mobile robot according to claim 2, wherein the space dividing unit divides the cleaning space into four cleaning regions. The traveling control apparatus for a mobile robot according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the traveling control unit controls the traveling so that cleaning is performed in a zigzag manner while sequentially traveling the divided cleaning regions. The method of claim 4, wherein the driving control unit switches the direction so that the driving control unit 100 is perpendicular to the zigzag direction when the driving unit re-enters the cleaning region where the cleaning has been performed while the divided cleaning region is driven in a zigzag manner. A traveling control device for a mobile robot, characterized in that the driving is controlled. The mobile robot of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to set the start of each divided space based on a coordinate axis and to control driving so that cleaning is performed while moving from the center of the coordinate axis to a wall. Odometer control device. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the mobile robot is a cleaning robot. Dividing the coordinate setting and the cleaning space into a plurality of cleaning regions by using the distance information acquired by the distance sensor; Performing cleaning in a zigzag driving manner while sequentially moving the divided cleaning regions; Switching the zigzag driving direction when the divided cleaning areas move again when the divided cleaning areas move; And automatically terminating the cleaning when the cleaning of all the cleaning areas is finished through the cleaning information of the divided cleaning areas. The traveling control method of claim 8, wherein the cleaning area division divides the cleaning space into quadrants. The driving control method of claim 8, wherein the switching of the zigzag driving direction is performed by changing the driving direction so that the switching is perpendicular to the previous zigzag driving direction. 10. The traveling control method according to claim 8 or 9, wherein the movement of each divided cleaning area recognizes each area on the basis of the set coordinate axis and moves the area. The method of claim 8, wherein the mobile robot is a cleaning robot.

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