WO2021137411A1

WO2021137411A1 - Mobile robot device including communication device

Info

Publication number: WO2021137411A1
Application number: PCT/KR2020/015311
Authority: WO
Inventors: 곽용수
Original assignee: 삼성전자주식회사
Priority date: 2020-01-03
Filing date: 2020-11-04
Publication date: 2021-07-08
Also published as: KR20210087839A

Abstract

A mobile robot device is disclosed. The mobile robot device comprises: a body which includes a motor; a communication device which includes an antenna element and a circuit board, and wirelessly communicates with an external device via the antenna element; and a wheel which is provided with a driving force via the motor, wherein the antenna element is disposed at the surface of the body.

Description

Mobile robotic device including communication device

The present disclosure relates to a mobile robot device including a communication device, and more particularly, to a mobile robot device that performs wireless communication with an external device through an antenna element.

With the development of robot technology, the supply of robots is becoming common not only in specialized academic fields or industries requiring large-scale labor but also in general households. In addition, a mobile robot capable of moving a position as well as a robot performing a function with a fixed position has been popularized.

A mobile robot is an essential device for transmitting images and sensor data, interworking and controlling with other devices, and connecting to a communication network for network interworking. In addition, due to the characteristics of a mobile robot based on movement, network connection requires interworking by wireless communication rather than wired communication. Accordingly, it is essential for the mobile robot to apply an antenna for wireless transmission and reception of signals.

According to the radiation characteristics of radio waves, when other metals or materials having high loss tangent characteristics are disposed around the antenna, the characteristics of the antenna change in an unintended direction or the radiation performance is deteriorated.

In the case of an existing mobile robot, a commonly used monopole or PIFA type antenna is built-in, and devices and parts that may affect the performance of the antenna have to be excluded in the surrounding space, so the utilization of the internal space is low. was present.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present disclosure is to solve the above problems, and an object of the present disclosure is to optimize the space utilization inside the mobile robot device by disposing an antenna element on the outside of the mobile robot device, and a mobile robot including a communication device to improve antenna performance. to provide the device.

In order to achieve the above object, a mobile robot device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes a main body including a motor, an antenna element, and a circuit board, and performs wireless communication with an external device through the antenna element. and a wheel receiving driving force through the device and the motor, wherein the antenna element is disposed on a surface of the main body.

In this case, the communication device may further include a coupling metal that is disposed between the antenna element and the circuit board and supplies power to the antenna element in a coupling manner.

In this case, the communication device includes a communication member disposed on the surface of the main body, in which a metal layer and an insulating layer are alternately disposed, and the outer metal layer of the communication member operates as the antenna element, and the outer metal layer is inside the outer metal layer. The metal layer of may act as the coupling metal to be electrically connected to the circuit board.

Meanwhile, the communication device may include a metal connection member for electrically connecting the circuit board and the antenna element.

In this case, the connecting member may be a 'C'-shaped clip.

Meanwhile, the circuit board may include an RF chip disposed on one surface of the circuit board for processing an antenna signal in the antenna element.

Meanwhile, in the circuit board, a ground may be disposed on one surface of the circuit board.

In this case, the ground and the antenna element may be disposed to be spaced apart by 3 mm or more.

Meanwhile, the antenna element may have a curvature corresponding to the surface of the mobile robot device.

Meanwhile, the antenna element may be located in an upper region of the main body.

Meanwhile, the antenna element may resonate in signals of a plurality of bands.

In this case, the band may include at least one of a 2.4 GHz band and a 5 GHz band.

Meanwhile, the total length of the antenna element of the antenna element may be 1/4 times the wavelength length of the communication band of the communication device.

Meanwhile, the mobile robot device may further include a processor for controlling the motor based on a control command provided from the external device.

Meanwhile, the mobile robot device further includes first and second side covers disposed on both sides of the body, and body covers disposed on the front, rear, and upper surfaces of the body, the first side cover and the second side cover The cover and the main body cover may have the same curvature.

Meanwhile, the mobile robot device may have a diameter of 90 mm to 100 mm.

On the other hand, the mobile robot device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes an antenna element and a coupling metal that supplies power to the antenna element in a coupling manner, and performs wireless communication with an external device through the antenna element. Including, the antenna element may be disposed on the surface of the main body.

1 is a perspective view schematically showing a mobile robot device 1 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the mobile robot apparatus 1 of FIG. 1 .

3 is a diagram illustrating a communication device 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the communication device 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

5 is a cross-sectional view of a communication device 200 according to another embodiment of the present disclosure.

6 is a diagram for explaining a frequency bandwidth according to a coupling power supply method.

7 is a view for explaining the antenna radiation efficiency of the communication device 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

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It should be understood that the embodiments described below are illustratively shown to help the understanding of the present disclosure, and the present disclosure may be implemented with various modifications, unlike the embodiments described herein. However, in the following description of the present disclosure, if it is determined that a detailed description of a related known function or component may unnecessarily obscure the subject matter of the present disclosure, the detailed description and specific illustration thereof will be omitted. In addition, the accompanying drawings are not drawn to scale in order to help understanding of the disclosure, but dimensions of some components may be exaggerated.

The terms used in this specification and claims have been chosen in consideration of the function of the present disclosure. However, these terms may vary depending on the intention, legal or technical interpretation of a person skilled in the art, and the emergence of new technology. Also, some terms are arbitrarily selected by the applicant. These terms may be interpreted in the meaning defined in the present specification, and if there is no specific term definition, it may be interpreted based on the general content of the present specification and common technical common sense in the art.

In the description of the present disclosure, the order of each step should be understood as non-limiting unless the preceding step must be logically and temporally performed before the subsequent step. That is, except for the above exceptional cases, even if the process described as a subsequent step is performed before the process described as the preceding step, the essence of the disclosure is not affected, and the scope of rights should also be defined regardless of the order of the steps.

In the present specification, expressions such as “have,” “may have,” “include,” or “may include” indicate the presence of a corresponding characteristic (eg, a numerical value, function, operation, or component such as a part) and does not exclude the presence of additional features.

Terms such as first, second, etc. may be used to describe various elements, but the elements should not be limited by the terms. The above terms may be used only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another. For example, without departing from the scope of the present disclosure, a first component may be referred to as a second component, and similarly, a second component may also be referred to as a first component.

In addition, terms such as 'front', 'rear', 'top', 'bottom', 'side', 'left', 'right', 'top', 'bottom' used in the present disclosure are defined based on the drawings. and the shape and position of each component are not limited by this term.

In addition, since the present specification describes components necessary for the description of each embodiment of the present disclosure, the present disclosure is not necessarily limited thereto. Accordingly, some components may be changed or omitted, and other components may be added. In addition, they may be distributed and arranged in different independent devices.

Further, an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and the contents described in the accompanying drawings, but the present disclosure is not limited or limited by the embodiments.

Hereinafter, the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 7 .

1 is a perspective view schematically showing a mobile robot device 1 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, and FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the mobile robot device 1 of FIG. 1 .

The mobile robot device 1 is a device having various functions, such as recognizing a surrounding environment, capable of autonomous driving and information collection, and transmitting information to a user.

The mobile robot device 1 may recognize the surrounding environment based on voice, sound, and image recognition. Also, the mobile robot device 1 may transmit information to a user by controlling other electronic products or outputting voice through wireless communication.

A detailed description of the wireless communication of the mobile robot device 1 will be described later with reference to FIGS. 3 to 7 .

The mobile robot device 1 can be physically moved by including a driving member, and through this, various functions of the mobile robot device 1 can be executed throughout the user's environment including indoors and outdoors.

When the mobile robot device 1 is used in the home, it interacts with electronic products such as TVs, vacuum cleaners, and washing machines placed in the home to execute functions and collect information, and transmit the collected information to family members including pets. can As a result, it is possible to connect all members of the home and electronic products.

The mobile robot device 1 can connect the user with family members who need help, including pets, by continuously checking and inspecting the environment in the home even when the user is absent. In addition, it is possible to check and operate other home appliances in the home through physical movement. Through this, it is possible to promote safety in the home and strengthen security.

The mobile robot apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may be implemented in the form of performing work at home, but is not limited thereto, and may be implemented as a robot apparatus according to various embodiments.

Referring to FIG. 1 , a mobile robot device 1 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes a main body 10 , a first side cover 31 surrounding the main body 10 , a second side cover 32 , and a main body cover. (33), the lower cover 34 and may include a wheel (20).

In the mobile robot device 1 , the plurality of

covers

31 , 32 , 33 , and 34 surrounding the main body 10 may have the same curvature, so that the overall appearance of the mobile robot device 1 is spherical. can be arranged to achieve

Referring to FIG. 2 , inside the mobile robot device 1 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a motor 40 for driving the mobile robot device 1 , a gear 50 , a battery 60 , and an actuator ) (not shown), bearings (not shown), wheels 20, and the like may be included.

In addition, although not shown in FIG. 1 , the mobile robot device 1 may include a processor for controlling the operation of the mobile robot device 1 , and a sensor for recognizing the surrounding environment and communication with other electronic devices. It may include a communication device.

The processor may control the overall operation of the mobile robot device 1 . To this end, the processor may include one or more of a central processing unit (CPU), an application processor (AP), or a communication processor (CP). The processor may be a microcontroller (MCU).

The processor may control hardware or software components connected to the processor by driving an operating system or an application program, and may perform various data processing and operations. In addition, the processor may load and process commands or data received from at least one of the other components into the volatile memory, and store various data in the non-volatile memory.

The mobile robot device 1 may enable stable autonomous driving by collecting and analyzing various information such as sounds, voices, and images in the surrounding environment. For example, the mobile robot device 1 may include a microphone 90 , a camera 80 , a sensor (reference number not assigned), etc. for collecting information about the surrounding environment.

Referring to FIG. 2 , the upper case 11 of the main body 10 may be disposed under the upper cover 33 .

Although not shown in FIG. 2 , the communication device 100 may be disposed inside the upper case 11 and inside the body 10 of the mobile robot device 1 . Since the communication device 100 is disposed at the outermost portion inside the main body 10 of the mobile robot device 1 , communication efficiency of the communication device may be maximized. A detailed description of the communication device 100 will be described later with reference to FIGS. 3 to 7 .

3 is a diagram illustrating the communication device 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, and FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the communication device 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

The mobile robot device 1 may communicate with an external electronic device such as a server through the communication device 100 or may perform a task through a network with the external electronic device. Such networks include, but are not limited to, for example, mobile or cellular networks, Local Area Networks (LANs), Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs), Wide Area Networks (WANs), It may be the Internet, a Small Area Network (SAN), or the like.

3 and 4 , the communication device 100 may be disposed inside the upper case 11 of the mobile robot device 1 and inside the body 10 of the mobile robot device 1 . The communication device 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes an antenna element 110 , a coupling metal 120 , a circuit board 130 , a connection member 140 , and a radio frequency (RF) chip 150 . can do.

The antenna element 110 is mounted inside the upper case 11 to transmit and receive electrical signals from the outside. However, the arrangement of the antenna element 110 is not limited thereto, and may be variously changed, such as the inner space of the body 10 or the outside of the upper case 11 .

The antenna element 110 may be fed from the circuit board 130 through the coupling metal 120 and the connection member 140 , and through this, the antenna element 110 may radiate an electrical signal. For example, the antenna element 110 may radiate an RF signal for wireless communication.

The antenna element 110 may be mounted on the upper case 11 to radiate an electrical signal upward of the mobile robot apparatus 1 . Accordingly, a wide radiation range of the antenna element 110 can be secured.

The antenna element 110 may have a metal thin plate shape. Meanwhile, the antenna element 110 may have a predetermined curvature. In this case, the antenna element 110 may have a curvature corresponding to the surface of the mobile robot apparatus 1 .

For example, when the antenna element 110 is disposed inside or on the surface of the upper case 11 , it may be formed to have the same curvature as the curvature of the upper case 11 corresponding to the corresponding position. Accordingly, the mobile robot apparatus 1 including the antenna element 110 may have a spherical shape as a whole.

The antenna element 110 may resonate in signals of a plurality of bands. In this case, the antenna element 110 may resonate in a signal of a band including at least one of the 2.4 GHz band and the 5 GHz band.

The coupling metal 120 may have a thin plate shape made of a metal material. In this case, the coupling metal 120 may have a smaller area than the antenna element 110 .

The coupling metal 120 may be disposed to be spaced apart from the antenna element 110 by a predetermined distance. A gap between the coupling metal 120 and the antenna element 110 may be formed of an insulating layer.

The coupling metal 120 may be electrically connected to the RF chip 150 through the connection member 140 . The connecting member 140 may be made of a metal material and may electrically connect the circuit board 130 and the coupling metal 120 to each other. The connecting member 140 may be a 'C'-shaped clip.

On the other hand, when only the antenna element 110 is present without the coupling metal 120 , the connection member 140 connects the circuit board 130 and the antenna element 110 in a direct feeding method directly connected to the antenna element 110 . can be electrically connected.

A ground (not shown) may be formed on one surface of the circuit board 130 . A metal ground clip (not shown) may be disposed between the antenna element 110 or the coupling metal 120 and the ground to ground the antenna element 110 or the coupling metal 120 .

The antenna element 110 may be disposed to be spaced apart from the ground by 3 mm or more.

The antenna element 110 and the coupling metal 120 may be electrically connected by an electrical coupling phenomenon. Through this, the antenna element 110 may receive an electrical signal from the RF chip 150 .

As the communication device 100 uses the coupling power supply method, the frequency bandwidth of the communication device 100 may be extended and stable wireless communication may be possible. A detailed description of the frequency bandwidth extension according to the coupling feeding method will be described later with reference to FIG. 6 .

The components of the communication device 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure can minimize the volume occupied inside the mobile robot device 1 due to a structure in which they are densely disposed outside the mobile robot device 1 .

Accordingly, the space inside the mobile robot device 1 can be utilized to the maximum. In addition, the overall size of the mobile robot device 1 can be reduced.

5 is a communication device 200 according to another embodiment of the present disclosure may be a thin-film multi-layer flexible printed circuit board (Flexible Printed Circuit Board, FPCB).

The communication device 200 may include a communication member in which metal layers 210 and 220 and insulating layers 260 are alternately disposed. The outer metal layer 210 may operate as an antenna element, and the metal layer 220 inside the outer metal layer may operate as a coupling metal.

The communication device 200 may be disposed on the surface of the main body 10 to perform a wireless communication operation of the mobile robot device 1 . However, the arrangement of the communication device 200 is not limited thereto, and may be arranged in various positions, such as the interior of the upper case 11 and the interior space of the main body 10 .

Although not shown in FIG. 5 , the communication device 200 may include components necessary for performing a wireless communication operation, such as a circuit board, an RF chip, and a connection member.

The outer metal layer 210 and the metal layer 220 inside the outer metal layer are electrically connected in a coupling power supply method to perform wireless communication. The operation of the antenna element 110 and the coupling metal 120 is described above in relation to the operation. As such, redundant descriptions are omitted.

In the communication device 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the antenna element 110 and the coupling metal 120 may be connected to each other in a coupling feeding method. Accordingly, an effect in which the capacitance is connected in series may occur, and the impedance of the low frequency band may be changed. For example, the impedance of the low frequency band may have a value of about 50Ω by the coupling feeding method. Accordingly, the frequency bandwidth of the communication device 100 may be extended to enable communication in a wider frequency band, and the size of the antenna element may be reduced.

Referring to Figure 6, the frequency bandwidth when using the coupling feeding method (Coupling Feed) 620 than the frequency bandwidth in the direct feeding method (Direct Feed) 610 that does not use the coupling feeding method is wider that Able to know.

7 is a graph illustrating performance of a WiFi antenna in a 2.4 to 5 GHz band of the communication device 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Referring to FIG. 7 , the communication device 100 may have a radiation performance of up to 62% in the 2.4 GHz band and up to 70% in the 5 GHz band. This is an advantage that occurs through the fact that the antenna element 110 is disposed outside the mobile robot device 1 so that the communication device 100 has a wide radiation range and the bandwidth is expanded by the coupling power supply.

In the above, preferred embodiments of the present disclosure have been shown and described, but the present disclosure is not limited to the specific embodiments described above, and is commonly used in the technical field to which the disclosure belongs without departing from the gist of the present disclosure as claimed in the claims. Various modifications may be made by those having the knowledge of, of course, and these modifications should not be individually understood from the technical spirit or perspective of the present disclosure.

Claims

A mobile robot device comprising:

a body having a motor;

a communication device including an antenna element and a circuit board, the communication device performing wireless communication with an external device through the antenna element; and

Including; a wheel receiving a driving force through the motor;

The antenna element is a mobile robot device disposed on the surface of the main body.
According to claim 1,

The communication device is

The mobile robot apparatus further comprising a coupling metal disposed between the antenna element and the circuit board and feeding power to the antenna element in a coupling manner.
3. The method of claim 2,

The communication device is

and a communication member disposed on the surface of the body, in which a metal layer and an insulating layer are alternately disposed;

The outer metal layer of the communication member operates as the antenna element, and the metal layer inside the outer metal layer operates as the coupling metal and is electrically connected to the circuit board.
According to claim 1,

The communication device is

and a connecting member made of a metal material for electrically connecting the circuit board and the antenna element.
5. The method of claim 4,

The connecting member is a 'C'-shaped clip of a mobile robot device.
According to claim 1,

The circuit board is

and an RF chip disposed on one surface of the circuit board for processing an antenna signal in the antenna element.
According to claim 1,

The circuit board is

A mobile robot device in which a ground is disposed on one surface of the circuit board.
8. The method of claim 7,

The ground and the antenna element is a mobile robot device that is disposed to be spaced apart more than 3mm.
According to claim 1,

The antenna element has a curvature corresponding to a surface of the mobile robot device.
According to claim 1,

The antenna element is located in the upper region of the main body of the mobile robot device.
According to claim 1,

The antenna element is a mobile robot device that resonates with signals of a plurality of bands.
12. The method of claim 11,

The band is

A mobile robot device comprising at least one of a 2.4 GHz band or a 5 GHz band.
According to claim 1,

The total length of the antenna element of the antenna element is 1/4 times the wavelength length of the communication band of the communication device.
According to claim 1,

The mobile robot device further comprising a; processor for controlling the motor based on a control command provided from the external device.
A mobile robot device comprising:

A communication device having an antenna element and a coupling metal feeding power to the antenna element in a coupling manner, and performing wireless communication with an external device through the antenna element;

wherein the antenna element is disposed on a surface of the mobile robot device.