WO2022210194A1 - System - Google Patents

Abstract

This system (1), which includes a delivery robot (2) that moves through an entrance (58) or a corridor (50) of an apartment building (5) in order to distribute packages (100) delivered by a vendor to individual doors (56), is a system of moving bodies with which it is possible to maintain high positioning accuracy by using autonomous navigation such as inertial navigation, wherein: the delivery robot (2) estimates the amount of displacement associated with movement, and moves while estimating the post-movement position by adding the estimated displacement amount to the initial position of the delivery robot (2) when starting to move; or, once a magnetic marker (10) placed in a waiting space (505) has been detected, the delivery robot (2) specifies the absolute position and resets the estimated displacement amount to zero.

Description

system

The present invention relates to a system in which a moving object moves in space.

Conventionally, for example, vehicles that move within a predetermined space by autonomous automatic driving have been put into practical use (see Patent Document 1, for example). Such vehicles include, for example, automated guided vehicles in factories and mobile vehicles in facilities. For example, these vehicles use GPS (Global Positioning System) or the like to move along a predetermined route while measuring the position of the vehicle.

For example, a vehicle that moves outdoors, such as between buildings in a factory, can receive satellite radio waves relatively stably, and can use GPS to determine the position of the vehicle. On the other hand, for example, in an indoor environment such as a factory, the reception condition of satellite radio waves is not good, so the actual situation is that positioning by GPS becomes difficult. Therefore, as a system that can be applied to indoor environments such as factories, there is a proposal for a system that automatically drives an unmanned guided vehicle toward a destination while estimating the position of the vehicle using inertial navigation. In inertial navigation, for example, the amount of movement of the vehicle is estimated by double integrating the acceleration, and the turning angle (amount of change in direction) of the vehicle is estimated by integrating the yaw rate (angular velocity).

JP 2020-135619 A

However, the system using conventional inertial navigation has the following problems. That is, when estimating the amount of movement or the turning angle by integrating the acceleration or yaw rate, the accumulation of errors due to integration is unavoidable, and there is a possibility that the accuracy of positioning may be impaired due to the accumulated errors.

The present invention has been made in view of the conventional problems described above, and aims to provide a system that can maintain high positioning accuracy in a mobile system that uses autonomous navigation such as inertial navigation.

The present invention is a system in which a moving object moves in space,
A magnetic marker that exerts magnetism on the periphery is arranged in the space, while the moving body is equipped with a magnetic sensor that measures the magnitude of the acting magnetism,
a control unit that moves the moving body;
a detection unit that detects a magnetic marker by processing values measured by the magnetic sensor;
a variation estimation unit for estimating at least one of a positional variation and an azimuth variation associated with movement of the moving object;
a positioning unit for estimating the position or orientation of the mobile object after movement by adding the amount of variation estimated by the variation amount estimation unit to the position or orientation of the mobile object when the mobile object started to move. ,
The variation estimator is in a system that resets the variation to zero when the magnetic marker is detected.

The system of the present invention is a system for moving a moving body in a space in which magnetic markers are arranged. This system estimates the amount of variation that accompanies the movement of the mobile object, and uses the amount of variation to estimate the position or orientation of the mobile object. In this system, the variation amount of the moving object estimated by the variation estimation unit is reset to zero in response to the detection of the magnetic marker.

In the system of the present invention, when a magnetic marker is detected, it is possible to cut off the accumulation of errors contained in the variation amount by resetting the variation amount to zero. Therefore, in this system, it is possible to maintain high accuracy in estimating the amount of variation of the moving object, and to estimate the position or orientation of the moving object with high accuracy.

As described above, the system of the present invention is a system with excellent characteristics that can maintain high positioning accuracy of mobile objects.

Explanatory drawing of the system in Example 1. FIG. FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of the receiving box and the delivery box as viewed from the side in the first embodiment; FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a magnetic marker in Example 1; 1 is a front view of an RFID tag in Example 1. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a home delivery robot in Embodiment 1. FIG. 2 is a bottom view of the home delivery robot in Embodiment 1. FIG. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of the home delivery robot according to the first embodiment; FIG. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating changes in magnetic measurement values in the front-rear direction when passing through a magnetic marker in Example 1; FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the distribution of magnetic measurement values in the width direction by the magnetic sensors Cn arranged in the width direction according to the first embodiment; FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the flow of overall system processing in the first embodiment; FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a loading operation of a parcel by a home delivery robot in the first embodiment; FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing the flow of movement control of a home delivery robot according to the first embodiment; FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the flow of reset processing by the home delivery robot in the first embodiment; Structural drawing of the condominium in Example 2. FIG. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the movement control flow of the home delivery robot in the second embodiment; FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the flow of interrupt processing in the second embodiment; Explanatory drawing of the system in Example 3. FIG. FIG. 11 is a perspective view showing a mark post in Example 3; The top view of the drone in Example 3. FIG. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the flow of overall system processing in the third embodiment; FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing a work target area and a route of a control target in Example 3; FIG. 11 is a flow chart showing the flow of flight control of a drone in Embodiment 3; FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the flow of interrupt processing in the third embodiment; FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the flow of reset processing in the third embodiment; FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of a method for specifying the direction of the home delivery robot 2 in the fourth embodiment;

Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described using the following examples.
(Example 1)
This example relates to a system 1 in which a home delivery robot 2 delivers a package 100 such as a home delivery service to each house 56 of a collective housing such as an apartment 5 . This content will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 13. FIG.

The delivery robot 2 in the system 1 is an example of a moving body that autonomously moves within the condominium 5 by inertial navigation, as shown in FIG. The delivery robot 2 transports the package 100 that has arrived at the delivery box 4B provided at the entrance 58, which is an example of a delivery location, to the delivery box 4A of each house (each dwelling unit) 56. In the system 1 , a magnetic marker 10 is arranged in a waiting space 505 for the home delivery robot 2 provided at the corner of the entrance 58 . When the magnetic marker 10 is detected, the home delivery robot 2 resets the amount of variation estimated by inertial navigation for positioning.

The condominium 5 in this example is, for example, a five-story housing complex with an elevator 52 . The structure of each floor of the condominium 5 is similar except that the entrance 58 is provided on the first floor. On each floor, each house 56 is arranged side by side facing the passage 50 provided linearly. A resident of the condominium 5 can enter the entrance 58 from the doorway 580 on the first floor, and use the elevator 52 provided at the entrance 58 to move upstairs.

On the wall 581 of the entrance 58 facing the doorway 580, a plurality of receiving boxes 4B for delivery of packages by a home delivery company are installed side by side. The receiving box 4B forms part of the wall 581 and is embedded in the wall 581 so as to face both the outside of the condominium 5 and the entrance 58 .

In each door 56, a delivery box 4A for receiving the package 100 is provided on the side of the entrance door 560 facing the passage 50. The delivery box 4A forms part of the wall 561 that separates each door 56 from the passage 50, and is embedded in the wall 561 so as to face both the interior of each door 56 and the passage 50. FIG.

In the system 1 of this example, the space where the residents can freely come and go, such as the corridor 50 and the entrance 58 forming the common space in the condominium 5, is the space in which the home delivery robot 2 moves. For example, when delivering a package 100 to a dwelling unit 56 on the first floor, the home delivery robot 2 starts from the entrance 58 on the first floor and uses the passageway 50 to reach the dwelling unit 56 of the delivery destination. Further, for example, when delivering the package 100 to a dwelling unit 56 on the second floor or higher, the home delivery robot 2 enters the elevator 52 from the entrance 58 on the first floor and uses the elevator 52 to move to the target floor.

As described above, in the system 1, the waiting space 505 for the home delivery robot 2 is provided at the corner of the entrance 58 where the receiving box 4B is installed. A magnetic marker 10 is arranged in the standby space 505 . The home delivery robot 2 uses the magnetic marker 10 to adjust its standby position in the standby space 505 . This standby position is the initial position and initial orientation of the home delivery robot 2 in movement control (see FIG. 12), which will be described later.

The configurations of the home delivery box 4A, the receiving box 4B, and the elevator 52, which are facilities on the condominium 5 side, will be described below, and then the configurations of the magnetic marker 10 and the home delivery robot 2 will be described in order. After that, the contents of the operation of the system 1 will be explained.

(Delivery box)
The delivery box 4A is a locker-type facility installed in each house 56 of the condominium 5, as shown in FIGS. In addition, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram shared with the receiving box 4B. Reference numerals 471 and 472 in the figure indicate the configuration provided only by the receiving box 4B, and are the reference numerals for the configuration not provided by the home delivery box 4A. As described above, the delivery box 4A is embedded in the wall 561 beside the entrance door 560 of each house 56 and installed. The home delivery box 4A is substantially flush with the outer wall surface of each door 56 on the passage 50 side, and is substantially flush with the inner wall surface of the room such as the entrance of each door 56. - 特許庁In addition, in FIG. 2, the A side is the passage 50 side, and the B side is the interior side of each door 56. As shown in FIG.

The home delivery box 4A is equipped with a package storage section 40 for storing packages 100, as shown in FIG. In the home delivery box 4A, a base portion 43 forming the lower side of the parcel storage portion 40 accommodates a controller 400, a motor (not shown), and the like. A lamp 451 for indicating the presence or absence of the package 100 is arranged at the upper end of the front surface of the delivery box 4A facing the indoor side (B side). In addition, a numeric keypad 452 for inputting a personal identification number or the like is arranged at a position adjacent to the lower side of the baggage storage section 40 . The lamp 451 and numeric keypad 452 are an interface for the resident that notifies the resident of the delivery of the package 100 and is operated by the resident.

As shown in FIG. 2, the luggage storage section 40 has a pair of openings 41 and 42 facing each other in a direction penetrating through the wall 561 . The openings 41 and 42 are provided with slide doors 411 and 421 that can be raised and lowered. The openings 41 and 42 are opened and closed by the vertical movement of the slide doors 411 and 421 . The bottom surface of the baggage storage section 40 is formed by a plurality of conveying rollers 403 arranged in parallel. Each conveying roller 403 has a bar shape parallel to the opening surfaces of the openings 41 and 42 and is rotatably mounted. The transport rollers 403 are useful for facilitating the loading and unloading of the load 100 . It should be noted that the transport rollers 403 of the home delivery box 4A are not connected to a motor or the like, and only rotate following the movement of the parcel 100. As shown in FIG.

The controller 400 is a unit for controlling motors (not shown) that move the slide doors 411 and 421 up and down, the lighting state of the lamp 451, and the like. The controller 400 has a communication function for exchanging information with the home delivery robot 2, and is configured to be able to take in information input with a numeric keypad 452. FIG.

The controller 400 raises and lowers the slide door 411 on the passage 50 side (side A) according to the request signal (open request signal, close request signal) received from the home delivery robot 2 to open and close the opening 41 . Further, when the correct password is input using the numeric keypad 452 , the controller 400 drives the slide door 421 on the indoor side (side B) to open the opening 42 . The controller 400 drives the slide door 421 to close the opening 42 when the baggage 100 is taken out.

(receiving box)
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the receiving box 4B is a locker-type facility for delivery of packages 100 by a delivery company or the like. As described above, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram shared with the home delivery box 4A. Reference numerals 451 and 452 in the figure indicate the components provided in the home delivery box 4A and the components not provided in the receiving box 4B.

As described above, each receiving box 4B has a surface on the A side in FIG. It is embedded in the wall 581 and installed. The B-side surface in FIG. 2 of each receiving box 4B is exposed to the entrance 58 which is indoors.

The description of the receiving box 4B will be described below, focusing on the differences from the delivery box 4A. The conveying rollers 403 of the receiving box 4B are different from the delivery box 4A in that they are driven by a motor. The load receiving box 4B can carry out the load 100 by rotating the transport roller 403 .

On the front surface of the receiving box 4B facing the outdoor side (A side) corresponding to the outside of the condominium 5, a lamp 471 for indicating the presence or absence of the luggage 100 is arranged at the upper end, and is positioned adjacent to the lower side of the luggage storage section 40. A push button 472 is arranged in the . A lamp 471 and a push button 472 are interfaces for the courier. The push button 472 is a button operated by the delivery company to open the opening 41 . The lamp 471 is a lamp for notifying the delivery company whether or not the parcel 100 is stored.

The receiving box 4B has a wireless unlocking mechanism (not shown). The wireless unlocking mechanism is configured to unlock when a wireless key (not shown) possessed by a home delivery company or the like approaches. When the push button 472 is operated while the wireless unlocking mechanism is unlocked, the controller 400 of the receiving box 4B lowers the slide door 411 to open the opening 41 on the outdoor side (side A). Let The controller 400 raises the slide door 411 and closes the opening 41 when the load 100 is carried in.

The controller 400 of the receiving box 4B has a communication function for exchanging information with the home delivery robot 2, like the controller of the delivery box 4A. The controller 400 raises and lowers the slide door 421 on the side of the entrance 58 (side B) to open and close the opening 42 in response to request signals (open request signal, close request signal) received from the home delivery robot 2 . In addition, the controller 400 rotates the transport rollers 403 in response to a delivery request signal received from the home delivery robot 2 to carry out the parcel 100 toward the home delivery robot 2 .

When the package 100 is stored in the package storage unit 40, the controller 400 of the package receiving box 4B externally outputs a package receipt signal including the box number and the package receipt time, which are identification information of the package receiving box 4B. A receipt signal is an output signal to the home delivery robot 2 . On the delivery robot 2 side, it can be grasped that the parcel 100 has been delivered to the consignment receiving box 4B of the transmission source in response to the reception of the consignment reception signal.

(elevator)
The elevator 52 is an elevator used by residents, and is provided at an entrance 58, for example. The delivery robot 2 in the system 1 of this example uses the elevator 52 when moving across floors. The elevator 52 is an example of a transport device capable of transporting the home delivery robot 2, which is an example of a mobile object, to another floor (another location).

In order to support the use of the home delivery robot 2, the elevator 52 has a communication function for exchanging information with the home delivery robot 2. Specifically, a communication unit (not shown) is incorporated in the elevator car (not shown) of the elevator 52 and the operation panel 520 on each floor. When the home delivery robot 2 is positioned in front of the operation panel 520 of each floor, the elevator 52 detects this through communication with the home delivery robot 2 and executes control to stop the elevator car on that floor.

The communication unit of the elevator car can transmit door opening/closing information to the home delivery robot 2, and can receive information from the home delivery robot 2 indicating that the passenger has boarded the elevator car. Furthermore, the communication unit of the elevator car can receive the information of the destination floor from the home delivery robot 2 . When the elevator 52 acquires information on the destination floor from the home delivery robot 2, the elevator 52 executes control to move the elevator car to that floor and stop it.

(magnetic marker)
The magnetic marker 10 is, as shown in FIG. 3, a marker as a magnetism generating source that exerts magnetism on its surroundings. As described above, in the system 1 of this example, the magnetic marker 10 is arranged in the waiting space 505 of the entrance 58 for the home delivery robot 2 . As for the arrangement position of the magnetic marker 10, instead of or in addition to the entrance 58 of this example, the position on the route that the home delivery robot 2 always passes when returning to the waiting space 505, or the waiting space where the home delivery robot 2 travels. It may be a position on the route that must be passed when moving from 505 toward the receiving box 4B, a position in front of the elevator 52, an intermediate position in the passage 50, or the like.

The magnetic marker 10 has a sheet shape with a diameter of 100 mm and a thickness of 2 mm, as shown in FIG. The magnetic marker 10 can be attached to the floor surface 5S of the entrance 58, passage 50, or the like. The magnetic marker 10 is a sheet body in which two magnet sheets 10S having a thickness of 1 mm are pasted together. The magnet sheet 10S is a ferrite rubber magnet (magnet) in which magnetic particles of iron oxide, which is a magnetic material, are dispersed in a polymer material, which is a base material.

It is also possible to provide a protective layer on the surface of the magnetic marker 10 to improve anti-slip properties and wear resistance. As the protective layer, for example, a layer made of a composite material in which glass fibers are impregnated with a resin may be employed. An adhesive layer may be provided on the back surface of the magnetic marker 10, and a release paper may be pasted thereon. In this case, the magnetic marker 10 can be applied immediately by peeling off the release paper.

In the magnetic marker 10 of this example, a sheet-like RFID tag (Radio Frequency Identification Tag, wireless tag) 15 (Fig. 4) is sandwiched between two magnetic sheets 10S. The RFID tag 15 is a sheet-like electronic component in which an IC chip 157 is mounted on the surface of a tag sheet 150 cut from, for example, a PET (PolyEthylene Terephthalate) film. A printed pattern of a loop coil 151 and an antenna 153 is provided on the surface of the tag sheet 150 . The loop coil 151 is a receiving coil that generates an exciting current by electromagnetic induction from the outside. Antenna 153 is a transmission antenna for wirelessly transmitting the above-described tag information and the like.

The RFID tag 15 is an electronic component that operates by wireless external power supply and outputs tag information through wireless communication. In particular, the RFID tag 15 of this example transmits tag information including structural information around the magnetic marker 10 . The structural information is information representing the structure of the space in which the home delivery robot 2 moves, and is information representing the surrounding environment around the corresponding magnetic marker 10 . In this example, structural information representing a pattern of distribution of boundaries in the vertical direction (referred to as vertical edges) in the surrounding environment around the magnetic marker 10 is exemplified. This structural information specifies the azimuthal (angular) deviation of each longitudinal edge based on the reference orientation. The structural information is used to specify the orientation (orientation, absolute orientation) of the home delivery robot 2 .

The vertical edge is, for example, the vertical boundary between the receiving box 4B and the inner wall surface, the vertical boundary forming the boundary between the adjacent receiving boxes 4B, or the corner of the wall formed at the connection point between the entrance 58 and the passage 50. , a vertical boundary between the door of the elevator 52 and the wall, and the like. The structural information output by the RFID tag 15 includes, for example, information on the direction (angle) of the vertical edge based on a specific direction such as true north.

Note that, as described above, the magnet sheet 10S is a sheet-shaped magnet in which iron oxide magnetic powder is dispersed in a polymer material. The magnet sheet 10S has electrical properties such that eddy currents and the like are less likely to occur during wireless power feeding due to its low electrical conductivity. Therefore, even when the RFID tag 15 is sandwiched between the two magnetic sheets 10S, the RFID tag 15 can efficiently receive wirelessly transmitted power and can transmit tag information with high reliability.

(Delivery robot)
The home delivery robot 2 is a mobile robot having an external shape like a vertical small refrigerator, as shown in FIG. The home delivery robot 2 has a box shape with a height of 1.2 m and a length and width of 70 cm in the front-rear direction. The home delivery robot 2 has drive wheels 26 and is self-propelled. Note that FIG. 5 shows a state in which the opening 241 is open.

A camera 322C that constitutes an image sensor 322 (see FIG. 7) and an object detection unit 323 that detects obstacles and the like are arranged in front of the home delivery robot 2 . Both the camera 322C and the object detection unit 323 are positioned on the front center line 2C of the home delivery robot 2 . The camera 322</b>C is embedded at a position above the opening 241 in the frame surrounding the opening 241 . The object detection unit 323 is arranged below the opening 241 . Ultrasonic sensors 325 for detecting objects using ultrasonic waves are arranged at the lower end of the home delivery robot 2 and at four corners on the periphery.

The camera 322C is a camera that captures the front of the home delivery robot 2. The camera 322</b>C is adjusted so that its optical axis is parallel to the longitudinal axis of the delivery robot 2 . The forward image from the camera 322C is used not only for monitoring the forward direction, but also for extracting vertical edges, which are boundaries in the vertical direction. Although details will be described later, the vertical edge extracted from the front image is used to specify the orientation (absolute orientation) of the home delivery robot 2 .

The object detection unit 323 is a lidar unit that detects objects using laser light. The object detection unit 323 includes a laser light source (not shown), a scanner for changing the direction of laser light, a processing circuit, and the like. The object detection unit 323 is arranged in a curved convex shape protruding from the front surface of the home delivery robot 2 so that the outer peripheral edge of the cross section along the floor surface 5S forms a substantially arcuate shape. A curved convex front surface of the object detection unit 323 is formed by a translucent window through which laser light can pass. The object detection unit 323 scans a horizontal range of approximately 180 degrees with a laser beam to detect an obstacle in front, a structure in front, and the like.

In the home delivery robot 2, as shown in FIG. 5, a storage section 24 for storing the package 100 is provided at the top. An opening 241 in front of the home delivery robot 2 is an opening for taking out the package 100 from the storage section 24 and putting the package 100 into the storage section 24 . The dimensional specifications of the storage section 24, such as the ground clearance of the bottom surface, the ground clearance of the ceiling, the width, etc., are substantially the same as the dimensional specifications of the luggage storage section 40 (see FIG. 2). By setting the dimensional specifications of the storage section 24 in this manner, delivery of the package 100 between the storage section 24 and the receiving box 4B and the home delivery box 4A is facilitated.

A sliding door 242 that can be raised and lowered is attached to the opening 241 of the storage section 24 . The opening 241 is opened by lowering the sliding door 242 and closed by raising the sliding door 242 . The bottom surface of the storage section 24 is formed by a plurality of rod-shaped conveying rollers 243 arranged in parallel. Each transport roller 243 is parallel to the opening surface of the opening 241 and is rotationally driven by a motor (not shown). The home delivery robot 2 conveys the parcel 100 according to the rotation of the conveying roller 243, receives the parcel 100 from the parcel receiving box 4B, and delivers the parcel 100 to the home delivery box 4A of each house 56.

A camera 324C constituting a code reader 324 (see FIG. 7) is installed on the ceiling of the storage section 24. This camera 324</b>C is a camera for photographing the two-dimensional code printed or attached on the top surface of the package 100 . The photographed image of the two-dimensional code is input to the code reader 324, and recorded information (destination information) such as the delivery address and room number is read from the two-dimensional code.

The delivery robot 2 includes a pair of left and right drive wheels 26L and R and a pair of front and rear driven wheels 27F and R, as shown in FIG. The pair of left and right driving wheels 26L and 26R are positioned at the center of the home delivery robot 2 in the front-rear direction. The pair of front and rear driven wheels 27F and 27R are positioned at the center of the home delivery robot 2 in the width direction.

The drive wheels 26L/R are wheels that are individually rotationally driven by motors 260L/R. The driven wheels 27F/R are free wheels that can roll in any direction. For example, if a difference in rotation is set for the drive wheels 26L and 26L by driving the motors 260L and 260R individually, the home delivery robot 2 can move along an arc-shaped locus according to the difference in rotation. For example, by rotating the left and right drive wheels 26R and 26L in opposite directions, the home delivery robot 2 can be rotated on the spot.

Also, on the bottom surface of the home delivery robot 2, as shown in FIG. 6, a tag reader 321 that communicates with the RFID tag 15 of the magnetic marker 10 and a measurement unit 20 that measures magnetism, angular velocity (yaw rate), and the like are attached.

The tag reader 321 functions as an information reading unit that reads information wirelessly output by the RFID tag 15 . The tag reader 321 wirelessly transmits power necessary for operating the RFID tag 15 and receives tag information transmitted by the RFID tag 15 . In the system 1 of this example, the RFID tag 15 outputs surrounding structural information as tag information.

As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the measurement unit 20 is a unit in which a sensor array 21 in which magnetic sensors Cn (n=1 to 15) are arranged in a straight line and an IMU (Inertia Measurement Unit) 22 are integrated. is. The measurement unit 20 has a rod shape with a total length of 65 cm and is attached along the width direction of the home delivery robot 2 . The mounting position of the measurement unit 20 in the front-rear direction is midway between the pair of left and right drive wheels 26L and R and the front driven wheel 27F. Moreover, the mounting height of the measurement unit 20 with respect to the floor surface 5S (see FIG. 1) is approximately 50 mm.

The IMU 22 is an inertial navigation unit for estimating the position and orientation (orientation) of the home delivery robot 2 by inertial navigation. The IMU 22 functions as a variation estimation unit for estimating the variation associated with the movement of the home delivery robot 2, as a positioning unit for estimating the position and orientation of the delivery robot 2 using the estimated variation, and the like. I have it. The IMU 22 includes a biaxial acceleration sensor 222 that measures acceleration in the longitudinal direction and width direction, a gyro sensor 223 that measures angular velocity (yaw rate), and the like.

The IMU 22 estimates the (cumulative) amount of change in the direction of the home delivery robot 2 by integrating the yaw rate after it starts moving. Then, the IMU 22 estimates the moment-by-moment orientation of the home delivery robot 2 by adding the estimated amount of change in orientation to the orientation (initial orientation) of the home delivery robot 2 when it starts moving.

Also, the IMU 22 divides the period of movement into sufficiently short time intervals and estimates the two-dimensional displacement amount (positional variation amount) for each interval. This interval is, for example, a temporal interval corresponding to the processing time of one loop of repetitive control by movement control in FIG. 12, which will be referred to later. The IMU 22 obtains a two-dimensional displacement amount by double-integrating accelerations in the front-rear direction and in the width direction for each section.

The IMU 22 accumulates the two-dimensional displacement amount of each section along the direction of the home delivery robot 2 in each section (for example, average value, median value, etc.). Estimate the amount of displacement. Then, the IMU 22 estimates a position shifted from the position (initial position) of the home delivery robot 2 at the start of movement by the amount of two-dimensional displacement after the start of movement as the momentary position of the home delivery robot 2. do.

The sensor array 21 of the measurement unit 20 includes 15 magnetic sensors Cn (n is an integer of 1 to 15) arranged in a straight line along the longitudinal direction of the rod-shaped measurement unit 20, and a CPU (not shown). and a detection processing circuit 212 . The detection processing circuit 212 is an example of a detection section that detects the magnetic marker 10 . The detection processing circuit 212 executes detection of the magnetic marker 10 by processing the measurement value of the magnetic sensor Cn. In the sensor array 21 of this example, 15 magnetic sensors Cn are arranged at regular intervals of 4 cm.

The magnetic sensor Cn is a sensor that detects magnetism using the well-known MI effect (Magneto Impedance Effect), in which the impedance of a magnetosensitive material such as an amorphous wire changes sensitively according to an external magnetic field. The magnetic sensor Cn detects a magnetic component acting along a magnetosensitive body such as an amorphous wire, and outputs a sensor signal representing the magnitude of the magnetic component (magnetism measurement value).

In the magnetic sensor Cn of this example, magnetosensitive bodies (not shown) are arranged along two orthogonal axial directions. The magnetic sensor Cn is capable of detecting magnetic components acting in two orthogonal directions. In this example, each magnetic sensor Cn of the sensor array 21 is incorporated into the sensor array 21 and the sensor for the home delivery robot 2 so that each magnetic sensor Cn of the sensor array 21 detects the magnetic components in the longitudinal direction and the width direction of the home delivery robot 2 . An array 21 is attached.

The detection processing circuit 212 (FIG. 7) is an arithmetic circuit that executes marker detection processing for detecting the magnetic marker 10 and the like. The detection processing circuit 212 is configured using memory devices such as a CPU (central processing unit) that executes various calculations, a ROM (read only memory) and a RAM (random access memory).

The detection processing circuit 212 acquires the sensor signal (magnetism measurement value, measurement value) output by the magnetic sensor Cn, executes marker detection processing, and inputs the result of the marker detection processing to the control unit 32 . The contents of the marker detection process will be described in detail following the description of the electrical configuration of the home delivery robot 2 .

The home delivery robot 2 is electrically configured around a control unit 32 as shown in FIG. The control unit 32 performs movement control (see FIG. 12) for self-running the home delivery robot 2, and various internal processes such as reset processing (see FIG. 13) of the amount of variation estimated by inertial navigation. It is the unit that executes.

The control unit 32 is electrically connected to various sensors, an information reader for reading information, motors such as the motors 260L and 260R, a hard disk device as a storage medium, and the like. A map database (map DB) 34 is provided in the storage area of the hard disk device.

Sensors include the object detection unit 323, the image sensor 322 including the camera 322C (see FIG. 5) for photographing the front, an ultrasonic sensor 325 for detecting surrounding obstacles, and measuring magnetism, acceleration, and the like. There is a measurement unit 20 or the like that Information readers include the tag reader 321 and the code reader 324 including the camera 324C (see FIG. 5).

The map DB 34 is a database that stores a two-dimensional map that shows the structure of the passage 50, the entrance 58, etc. where the delivery robot 2 can move. As described above, the map DB 34 is constructed using the storage area of the hard disk device. A two-dimensional map is prepared for each floor of the condominium 5 .

For example, in the two-dimensional map of the first floor, the absolute positions of the home delivery box 4A of each house 56, each receiving box 4B, the elevator 52, the waiting space 505 of the home delivery robot 2, the position of the magnetic marker 10, etc. are specified. . The map DB 34 is an example of a database that stores position information of the magnetic markers 10 . In the two-dimensional map of the second floor and above, the absolute positions of the delivery box 4A of each house 56, the elevator 52, etc. are specified. Here, the absolute position is an absolute position within the condominium 5 .

A box number, which is identification information, is attached to each position of the receiving box 4B specified on the two-dimensional map of the first floor. The home delivery robot 2 uses the box number included in the receipt signal transmitted by the receipt box 4B to identify the position of the receipt box 4B, which is the sender, on the two-dimensional map (first floor).

Specific information such as the room number is attached to the position of the delivery box 4A of each house 56 specified in the two-dimensional map of each floor. The home delivery robot 2 identifies the floor of the delivery destination using unique information such as the room number, and also identifies the position where the corresponding home delivery box 4A is located on the two-dimensional map of that floor.

The control unit 32 (FIG. 7) includes an electronic board (not shown) on which a CPU that executes various calculations, memory elements such as ROM and RAM, etc. are mounted. The control unit 32 implements various functions by causing the CPU to execute programs stored in the ROM or the like. The functions realized by the control unit 32 include a route setting section that sets the route along which the home delivery robot 2 moves, a control section that moves the home delivery robot 2 along the route, a communication circuit section that executes communication with external devices, and the like. There is a function as

When the destination of the destination is determined, the route setting unit calculates and sets the route from the position where the home delivery robot 2 is located to the destination. The routes include, for example, a route from the waiting space 505 to the receiving box 4B, a route from the receiving box 4B to the home delivery box 4A of the dwelling unit 56 of the delivery destination, and a route from the home delivery box 4A of the dwelling unit 56 of the delivery destination to the waiting space 505. , and so on. If there is an obstacle on the route, a route for bypassing the obstacle and returning to the original route is calculated and set at any time.

The route set by the route setting unit is a route represented by a line segment on the two-dimensional map of the map DB 34. For example, if the position of the delivery robot 2 on the two-dimensional map can be specified, the deviation from the route set by the route setting unit can be specified. Also, if the direction of the home delivery robot 2 on the two-dimensional map can be specified, the deviation in direction from the same route can be specified.

The control unit executes control for moving the home delivery robot 2 along the route set by the route setting unit. The control unit controls the motors 260L and 260R to rotate the driving wheels 26L and 26L, thereby causing the home delivery robot 2 to run on its own. The control unit controls to eliminate the positional deviation of the home delivery robot 2 based on the route set by the route setting unit, the azimuthal deviation of the home delivery robot with respect to the direction of the route, and the like. A home delivery robot 2 is self-propelled along a route.

The communication circuit unit communicates with external devices such as the delivery box 4A, the receiving box 4B, and the communication unit (not shown) of the elevator 52. The communication circuit unit, for example, transmits a signal for opening and closing the opening 42 and carrying out the package 100 to the receiving box 4B. For example, a signal for opening and closing the opening 41 is transmitted to the delivery box 4A. Further, for example, to the communication unit of the elevator 52, a signal for stopping the elevator car on the floor where the home delivery robot 2 is located and a signal for directing the elevator car to the target floor are transmitted. Further, the communication circuit unit acquires the information of the stopped floor from the communication unit of the elevator 52 . As a result, the control unit can specify the destination floor (floor number) as an example of the transport destination position (transport position) of the home delivery robot 2 by the elevator 52, which is an example of the transport device.

Here, the contents of marker detection processing by the sensor array 21 (measurement unit 20) will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9. FIG.

As described above, each magnetic sensor Cn of the sensor array 21 can measure magnetic components in the front-rear direction and width direction of the home delivery robot 2 . For example, when this magnetic sensor moves forward and passes directly above the magnetic marker 10, the magnetic measurement value in the front-rear direction reverses the positive and negative values before and after the magnetic marker 10 as shown in FIG. changes to cross zero at the position of .

While the home delivery robot 2 is running, when a zero cross Zc in which the polarity of the magnetic measurement value in the front-rear direction detected by any of the magnetic sensors Cn occurs, the measurement unit 20 is positioned directly above the magnetic marker 10. I can judge. The detection processing circuit 212 determines that the magnetic marker 10 is detected when the measurement unit 20 is positioned directly above the magnetic marker 10 and the zero crossing Zc of the magnetic measurement value in the front-rear direction occurs.

For example, a magnetic sensor having the same specifications as the magnetic sensor Cn forming the sensor array 21 is assumed to move along an imaginary line in the width direction passing directly above the magnetic marker 10 . In this case, as shown in FIG. 9, the positive and negative of the magnetic measurement value in the width direction are reversed on both sides of the magnetic marker 10, and the value changes so as to cross zero at the position directly above the magnetic marker 10. FIG. In the case of the sensor array 21 (measurement unit 20) in which 15 magnetic sensors Cn are arranged in the width direction, the magnetic measurement in the width direction detected by the magnetic sensor Cn depends on which side of the magnetic marker 10 it is on. The positive and negative values are different.

Based on the distribution of FIG. 9 exemplifying the magnetic measurement value in the width direction of each magnetic sensor Cn of the sensor array 21, the two magnetic sensors Cn adjacent to each other across the zero cross Zc where the positive and negative of the magnetic measurement value in the width direction are reversed. The position of the magnetic marker 10 in the width direction is the intermediate position or the position directly below the magnetic sensor Cn where the magnetic measurement value in the width direction is zero and the magnetic measurement values of the magnetic sensors Cn on both outer sides are reversed. becomes.

The detection processing circuit 212 can measure the deviation of the position of the magnetic marker 10 in the width direction with respect to the central position of the measurement unit 20 (the position of the magnetic sensor C8) as the amount of lateral displacement of the home delivery robot 2 with respect to the magnetic marker 10. . For example, in the case of FIG. 9, the position of the zero cross Zc is a position corresponding to C9.5, which is midway between C9 and C10. Since the distance between the magnetic sensors C9 and C10 is 4 cm as described above, the amount of lateral deviation with respect to the magnetic marker 10 is (9.5−8)×4 cm=6 cm with the magnetic sensor C8 positioned at the center of the measurement unit 2 as a reference. becomes.

Next, the operation of the system 1 configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. 10 to 13. FIG. Hereinafter, (1) overall system processing, (2) home delivery robot movement control, and (3) inertial navigation reset processing will be described in this order. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the flow of overall processing by system 1. As shown in FIG. 11 is a diagram referred to in the description of FIG. 10. FIG. FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the content of movement control for causing the home delivery robot 2 to run on its own. FIG. 13 is a flow chart showing the flow of reset processing of the amount of variation (displacement amount, azimuth variation amount) associated with movement estimated by inertial navigation.

(1) Overall processing of the system The overall processing of the system 1 (FIG. 10) is a series of processes from the delivery robot 2 receiving the package 100 delivered to the receiving box 4B to delivering it to the delivery box 4A of the dwelling unit 56. is. As described above, the home delivery robot 2 on standby waits for delivery of the parcel 100 by the home delivery company in the waiting space 505 (see FIG. 1) of the entrance 58 of the condominium 5 . Although details will be described later, the above (3) inertial navigation reset process (FIG. 13) is executed while waiting in the waiting space 505 .

As shown in FIG. 10, the control unit 32 waits in the standby space 505 to receive the above-mentioned receipt signal from any of the receipt boxes 4B (S101: NO). As described above, the receipt signal is a signal including the box number (identification information) of the receipt box 4B to which the package 100 has been delivered. When the control unit 32 receives the receipt signal (S301: YES), it determines the route to the receipt box 4B corresponding to the box number included in the receipt signal (S102). Then, the control unit 32 executes movement control P11 for moving the home delivery robot 2 along the route determined by the calculation. The content of the inertial navigation-based movement control P11 will be described later with reference to FIG.

The control unit 32 repeatedly executes the movement control P11 until the home delivery robot 2 arrives at the consignment receiving box 4B that sent the consignment receiving signal (S104: NO). The arrival position of the home delivery robot 2 with respect to the receiving box 4B is a position where the front opening 241 faces the opening 42 of the receiving box 4B with a small gap (FIG. 11). When the delivery robot 2 reaches this arrival position (S104: YES), the control unit 32 terminates the movement control P11.

The control unit 32 loads the package 100 at the arrival position (see FIG. 11) where the home delivery robot 2 faces the receiving box 4B with a small gap (S104: Yes→S105). When the cargo 100 is loaded, the control unit 32 lowers the slide door 242 to open the opening 241 and transmits an open request signal requesting opening of the opening 42 to the cargo receiving box 4B.

The receiving box 4B lowers the sliding door 421 and opens the opening 42 in response to receiving the open request signal. After opening the opening 42 , the receiving box 4</b>B rotates the conveying roller 403 so that the cargo 100 can be carried out from the opening 42 . At this time, it is preferable to rotationally drive the transport roller 243 of the home delivery robot 2 in synchronization with the transport roller 403 of the receiving box 4B. If the transport rollers 403 of the delivery box 4B and the transport rollers 243 of the home delivery robot 2 rotate synchronously, the package 100 can be transported from the delivery box 4B to the home delivery robot 2 more smoothly.

When the home delivery robot 2 finishes loading the package 100, the control unit 32 raises the slide door 242 to close the opening 241, and directs the close request signal for closing the opening 42 to the receiving box 4B. to send. The receiving box 4B raises the slide door 421 and closes the opening 42 in response to receiving the close request signal. This completes the loading of the parcel 100 by the home delivery robot 2 .

When the loading of the cargo 100 is completed, the control unit 32 controls the code reader 324 to read the recorded information from the two-dimensional code printed on the cargo 100 (S106). As described above, the two-dimensional code records destination information such as the delivery address of the parcel 100 and the room number. In accordance with the control by the control unit 32, the code reader 324 first reads a code image of a two-dimensional code printed on the upper surface of the package 100 by means of a camera 324C (see FIG. 5) provided on the ceiling of the storage section 24. get. The code reader 324 then processes the code image to read the destination information, which is the recorded information of the two-dimensional code.

When the control unit 32 acquires the destination information of the delivery destination, it refers to the two-dimensional map stored in the map DB 34 and calculates the route to the home delivery box 4A of the delivery destination (S107). Then, the control unit 32 executes movement control P11 (described later with reference to FIG. 12) for moving the home delivery robot 2 along the route determined by the calculation.

The control unit 32 repeatedly executes the movement control P11 until the delivery robot 2 reaches the delivery destination delivery box 4A (S109: NO). The arrival position of the home delivery robot 2 with respect to the home delivery box 4A is a position where the front opening 241 faces the opening 41 of the home delivery box 4A with a small gap. When the delivery robot 2 reaches this arrival position (S109: YES), the control unit 32 terminates the movement control P11.

The control unit 32 delivers the parcel 100 at the arrival position where the home delivery robot 2 faces the home delivery box 4A with a small gap (S109: Yes→S110). The control unit 32 lowers the slide door 242 to open the opening 241 and transmits an open request signal requesting opening of the opening 41 to the delivery box 4A.

The delivery box 4A lowers the slide door 411 and opens the opening 41 in response to receiving the open request signal. The control unit 32 conveys the parcel 100 toward the home delivery box 4A by driving the conveying roller 243 to rotate. As described above, the transport roller 403 of the home delivery box 4A is a rotatable roller that rotates following the movement of the parcel 100. As shown in FIG. Therefore, the home delivery robot 2 can carry the parcel 100 toward the home delivery box 4A with little resistance.

When the delivery of the package 100 to the delivery box 4A is completed (S110), the control unit 32 raises the slide door 242 to close the opening 241, and issues the close request signal for closing the opening 41. Send to Box 4A. Delivery box 4A raises slide door 411 and closes opening 41 in response to receiving the close request signal. This completes the delivery of the parcel 100 to the home delivery box 4A.

Subsequently, the control unit 32 determines a route for returning to the waiting space 505 by calculation (S111). Then, the control unit 32 executes movement control P11 (described later with reference to FIG. 12) for moving the home delivery robot 2 along the route determined by the calculation.

The control unit 32 repeatedly executes the movement control P11 until it reaches the waiting space 505 (S113: NO). When the home delivery robot 2 returns to the standby space 505 (S113: YES), the control unit 32 executes reset processing P12, which will be described later with reference to FIG.

The control unit 32 repeats the overall processing of FIG. 10 until all packages 100 delivered to the receiving box 4B are delivered to each house 56. The delivery robot 2 delivers the parcels 100 to each house 56 in the order of earliest parcel reception time included in the parcel reception signal. After delivering all the parcels 100 delivered to the parcel receiving box 4B, the home delivery robot 2 shifts to a waiting state in the waiting space 505.例文帳に追加

(2) Movement Control Three movement controls P11 in FIG. 10 are controls for moving the home delivery robot 2 by self-running while positioning by inertial navigation. Each movement control P11 is repeatedly executed until the home delivery robot 2 arrives at the destination. The contents of this movement control P11 will be described with reference to FIG.

In the movement control P11 (FIG. 12), the IMU 22 repeatedly estimates the position and orientation of the home delivery robot 2 (S201). As described above, the IMU 22 integrates the yaw rate to estimate the azimuth fluctuation amount, and adds the estimated azimuth fluctuation amount to the azimuth of the home delivery robot 2 at the start of movement, thereby to estimate In addition, for each sufficiently short time interval corresponding to the processing time of one loop of the movement control P11, the two-dimensional displacement amount is estimated by double integrating the acceleration in the longitudinal direction and the width direction. .

The IMU 22 accumulates the two-dimensional displacement amount of each section along the direction of the home delivery robot 2 in each section (for example, average value, median value, etc.), thereby calculating the two-dimensional displacement amount after the start of movement. to estimate Then, the IMU 22 estimates the position of the home delivery robot 2 as the position shifted from the position of the home delivery robot 2 at the start of movement by the amount of two-dimensional displacement after the start of movement.

The initial position and initial orientation of the home delivery robot 2 at the start of movement are absolute positions or absolute orientations specified in reset processing P12 described below. The variation amount estimated by the IMU 22 is handed over from the first movement control P11 to the second movement control P11 in FIG. 10, and further handed over to the third movement control P11.

The position and orientation estimated by the IMU 22 in step S201 are absolute positions or absolute orientations on the two-dimensional map stored in the map DB34. The control unit 32 identifies the deviation of the position and orientation estimated by the IMU 22 from the preset control target path (S202). Here, the control target path is a path obtained by path calculations S102, S107, and S111 in FIG. The deviation is the positional deviation of the position of the home delivery robot 2 estimated in step S201 above and the azimuthal deviation of the direction of the home delivery robot 2 estimated in the same way.

The control unit 32 individually controls the motors 260R and 260L so that the home delivery robot 2 can move on the set route based on the specified position and orientation deviation (S203). When a person, an obstacle on the route, or the like is detected by the camera 322C or the object detection unit 323, the control unit 32 stops the rotation of the drive wheels 26R and 26L or executes control to detour. In the detour control, the control unit 32 performs calculation of the detour route and control for moving the delivery robot 2 along the detour route. A detour route is a route that deviates from the route set by route calculations S102, S107, and S111 in FIG. 10, avoids obstacles, and returns to the original route.

(3) Reset process The reset process P12 (Fig. 13) is a process for eliminating the effects of cumulative errors contained in these fluctuation amounts by resetting to zero the amount of variation in the position and orientation estimated by inertial navigation. is. As described above, when estimating the position and orientation of the home delivery robot 2, the IMU 22 performs yaw rate integration, acceleration double integration, and the like. In general, integral operations are operations that tend to accumulate errors cumulatively.

The yaw rate measured by the 2-axis gyro sensor 223 and the acceleration measured by the 2-axis acceleration sensor 222 are likely to include errors due to drift due to temperature and aging, and furthermore, errors accumulate cumulatively in the amount of fluctuation obtained by integral calculation. can be The errors in the fluctuation amount can accumulate and expand as the moving distance and moving time of the home delivery robot 2 increase.

According to the reset process P12, by resetting the amount of variation estimated by inertial navigation to zero, it is possible to temporarily cut off the accumulation of errors. Then, it is possible to eliminate the influence caused by the accumulated error in the amount of variation. In the reset process P12, the displacement amount, which is the positional variation amount estimated by the IMU 22, and the azimuth variation amount can be reset to zero. Further, in this reset process P12, the magnetic marker 10 is used to identify the absolute position and absolute orientation of the home delivery robot 2, which are used as the initial position and initial orientation in the movement control P11 in FIG.

The reset process P12 (FIG. 13) is executed while the home delivery robot 2 has returned to the waiting space 505 provided at the entrance 58. In the reset process P<b>12 , the control unit 32 first executes a marker detection process P<b>13 for detecting the magnetic marker 10 . The control unit 32 moves the home delivery robot 2 in small steps inside the waiting space 505 until the magnetic marker 10 is detected (S301: NO), thereby searching for the magnetic marker 10 (S311).

When the magnetic marker 10 is detected (S301: YES), the control unit 32 adjusts the position of the home delivery robot 2 so that the magnetic sensor C8 positioned in the center of the sensor array 21 is positioned right above the magnetic marker 10. Alignment is executed (S302). Specifically, the control unit 32 aligns the home delivery robot 2 so that the sensor array 21 is positioned at the zero cross Zc in FIG. 8 and the magnetic sensor C8 is positioned at the zero cross Zc in FIG. (S302). At this time, the orientation of the home delivery robot 2 is arbitrary, and only the positioning of the magnetic sensor C8 directly above the magnetic marker 10 is controlled.

When the magnetic sensor C8 is positioned right above the magnetic marker 10, the control unit 32 specifies the position of the magnetic marker 10 as the position (absolute position) of the home delivery robot 2 (S303). It should be noted that the arrangement positions of the magnetic markers 10 are specified on the two-dimensional map as described above. Also, the control unit 32 controls the tag reader 321 to acquire the tag information of the RFID tag 15 provided on the magnetic marker 10 (S304). As described above, the tag information is structural information representing the distribution pattern of vertical edges around the magnetic marker 10 . In this structural information, the orientational deviation of each vertical edge based on the reference orientation determined on the two-dimensional map of the condominium 5 is specified.

The control unit 32 controls the image sensor 322 that monitors the front and the object detection unit 323, and attempts to extract vertical edges in the environment ahead (S305). For example, the control unit 32 can emphasize vertical edge components by performing image processing such as edging processing for emphasizing high-frequency components on the forward image captured by the camera 322C. Furthermore, the processed image subjected to the edging process is subjected to, for example, a binarization process in which the pixel value of luminance equal to or higher than the threshold is set to 1 and the pixel value of luminance less than the threshold is set to 0, so that the image in the front image is Extract vertical edges. Then, the control unit 32 identifies the azimuth distribution pattern of each vertical edge in the forward environment with reference to the longitudinal axis of the home delivery robot 2 .

The control unit 32 examines the correlation between the first distribution pattern of vertical edges represented by the structural information related to the tag information and the second angular distribution pattern of front vertical edges extracted in step S305. , the direction of the home delivery robot 2 is specified (S306). Specifically, the control unit 32 adjusts the degree of correlation between the first distribution pattern and the second distribution pattern while angularly shifting the axis of the home delivery robot 2 in the front-rear direction with respect to the reference orientation related to the structural information. investigate. The control unit 32 then identifies the azimuthal deviation when the second distribution pattern is most consistent with the first distribution pattern and has the highest correlation. This azimuth deviation is the angular deviation of the longitudinal axis of the home delivery robot 2 with respect to the reference azimuth related to the structural information. Based on this azimuth deviation, the absolute azimuth of the longitudinal axis of the home delivery robot 2 can be identified with reference to the reference azimuth related to the structural information.

When the control unit 32 can identify the absolute position and absolute orientation of the home delivery robot 2, the control unit 32 determines the amount of fluctuation estimated by the IMU 22, such as the amount of change in orientation estimated by integration of the yaw rate and the amount of displacement estimated by double integration of acceleration. The amount is reset to zero (S307). The control unit 32 also stores the absolute position and absolute orientation of the home delivery robot 2 specified in the reset process P12 as the initial position or initial orientation before starting movement.

When the control unit 32 resets the amount of variation estimated by the IMU 22 to zero (S307), it controls the home delivery robot 2 to wait for the delivery of a new parcel 100 in the same posture. Alternatively, the position and orientation of the home delivery robot 2 may be adjusted. At the time of this adjustment, the amount of displacement and the amount of change in orientation estimated by the IMU 22 may be stored.

The system 1 of this example configured as described above is a system in which the home delivery robot 2 moves within the condominium 5 by autonomous self-propulsion using inertial navigation. In this system 1 , the two-dimensional displacement amount and the azimuth variation amount, which are the amount of variation estimated by inertial navigation, are reset to zero according to the detection of the magnetic marker 10 .

When the delivery robot 2 detects the magnetic marker 10, the absolute position of the delivery robot 2 can be identified based on the position of the magnetic marker 10. After the absolute position is specified by detecting the magnetic marker 10 in this way, the two-dimensional displacement amount and the azimuth variation amount accompanying the movement are estimated from zero start by inertial navigation. Therefore, when the magnetic marker 10 is detected, there is no need to use the past two-dimensional displacement amount or azimuth variation amount estimated by inertial navigation for positioning.

Every time the magnetic marker 10 is detected, if the past two-dimensional displacement amount and azimuth variation amount estimated by inertial navigation are reset to zero, the accumulation of errors due to the integral of the yaw rate and the double integral of the acceleration can be eliminated. You can cut it off once. Therefore, in the system 1 of the present embodiment, there is no possibility that estimation errors due to inertial navigation will accumulate infinitely, and situations in which positioning errors due to inertial navigation become excessive can be avoided.

In particular, in the configuration of this example, the magnetic marker 10 is arranged in the standby space 505 to which the home delivery robot 2 returns each time it delivers the parcel 100 . Therefore, the system 1 can always reset the amount of variation estimated by inertial navigation to zero each time one parcel 100 is delivered. Therefore, in this system 1, there is no possibility that the accuracy of positioning by inertial navigation will deteriorate significantly while the package 100 is being delivered, and the package 100 can be delivered to each house 56 with high reliability.

Note that this example illustrates a configuration in which the magnetic markers 10 are arranged only in the standby space 505 . Instead of or in addition to this configuration, the magnetic markers 10 may be arranged at locations where the home delivery robot 2 frequently passes. For example, the elevator hall 525 (see FIG. 1) in front of the elevator 52 is a place that the home delivery robot 2 must pass through when moving between floors. Therefore, it is also preferable to dispose the magnetic marker 10 in the elevator hole 525 . Alternatively, the magnetic marker 10 may be arranged in the section connecting the elevator 52 and the dwelling unit 56 closest to the elevator 52 in the corridor 50 on each floor. This section on the passageway 50 is a section through which the home delivery robot 2 must pass when delivering the package 100 to one of the dwelling units 56 on each floor. Further, for example, the magnetic marker 10 may be arranged on the floor surface of the elevator 52 . In this case, each time the home delivery robot 2 uses the elevator 52, it is possible to reset the amount of variation due to inertial navigation. Elevator 52 moves in the vertical direction while there is no movement in the horizontal plane. Therefore, when the magnetic marker 10 is arranged on the floor surface of the elevator 52, it is possible to specify the position of each floor on the two-dimensional map. On the other hand, the position in the height direction, that is, the selection of the floor where the delivery robot 2 is located can be specified by the delivery robot 2 side that outputs the information on the destination floor, as described above. Note that the floor surface of the elevator 52 is an example of an area where the elevator 52 receives the home delivery robot 2 .

(Example 2)
This example is an example in which the control specifications are changed based on the first example so that the home delivery robot 2 detects the magnetic marker 10 as necessary. This content will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 14 to 16 used to describe the first embodiment.

In the configuration of this example, as shown in FIG. 14, magnetic markers 10 are arranged at a plurality of locations within the condominium 5 . The magnetic markers 10 are arranged, for example, in corners of elevator halls 525 on each floor. The position of the magnetic marker 10 in each elevator hall 525 is specified on the two-dimensional map of each floor.

In addition to the configuration of the first embodiment, the control unit 32 (FIG. 7) provided in the home delivery robot 2 obtains an index value representing the degree of error included in the amount of variation (the amount of displacement and the amount of variation in direction) estimated by the IMU 22. It has a function as an error estimator. The control unit 32 as a control section switches the control applied to the home delivery robot 2 according to the result of threshold processing for the index value obtained by the error estimating section. The control unit 32 of this example switches to control for causing the home delivery robot 2 to reach the position where the magnetic marker 10 is arranged when the index value becomes equal to or greater than the threshold value or exceeds the threshold value.

Here, the error included in the amount of variation estimated by the IMU 22 tends to cumulatively increase due to the process of integrating the measured yaw rate and acceleration. The time when the absolute position and absolute orientation are specified using the magnetic marker 10 (the time of the reset process) is the time when the IMU 22 starts estimating the amount of change from zero. is zero. On the other hand, if the elapsed time from this point or the distance moved from the absolute position specified using the magnetic marker 10 increases, the error included in the amount of variation estimated by the IMU 22 increases cumulatively.

This example is an example in which the elapsed time from the time when the absolute position and absolute orientation are identified using the magnetic marker 10 is used as an index value representing the degree of error included in the amount of error variation by the IMU 22 . As the index value, instead of or in addition to the elapsed time, a moving distance from the absolute position specified using the magnetic marker 10 may be used.

In the movement control of this example (FIG. 15), based on the movement control of FIG. 12 of the first embodiment, step S211 for threshold judgment regarding the elapsed time after the reset processing and the interrupt processing executed according to the result of the threshold processing P21 has been added. If the elapsed time is within the threshold (S211: YES), control similar to that of the first embodiment is executed. On the other hand, when the elapsed time after the reset process exceeds the threshold (S211: NO), the interrupt process P21 is executed as an interrupt. This interrupt process P21 is a process of switching the control applied to the home delivery robot 2 from the control for moving to a preset destination to the movement control P11 for detecting the magnetic marker 10 .

When the interrupt process P21 (FIG. 16) is started, the control unit 32 first stores the position (an example of the interrupted position) and orientation of the home delivery robot 2 at that time (S401). Then, the control unit 32 refers to the two-dimensional map stored in the map DB 34 and searches for the magnetic marker 10 with the lowest movement cost from the current position (S402). Here, the movement cost increases as the distance increases, and when crossing floors, it is a cost that is more expensive than movement on the same floor. In the above step S402, the movement cost necessary for the home delivery robot 2 to move is obtained for each of the arranged magnetic markers 10 to which the home delivery robot 2 moves. Set as a detection target.

When the magnetic marker 10 serving as the destination is found, the control unit 32 calculates a route to return to the original position and orientation stored in step S401 via the position of the magnetic marker 10. (S403). The control unit 32 applies movement control P11 to the home delivery robot 2 so that it can move along the newly set route. This movement control P11 is the same control as the movement control of the first embodiment.

The control unit 32 repeatedly executes the movement control P11 until it reaches the arrangement position of the magnetic marker 10 (S404: NO→S415: NO). After that, when reaching the arrangement position of the magnetic marker 10 (S404: YES), the control unit 32 executes the reset process P12 (FIG. 13). As described in the first embodiment, this reset process P12 is a process of identifying the absolute position and absolute orientation of the home delivery robot 2 and resetting the amount of variation (amount of displacement, amount of variation in orientation) estimated by the IMU 22 to zero. . Furthermore, in the reset process of the second embodiment, the elapsed time after the reset process is also reset to zero.

When the reset process P12 ends, the control unit 32 resumes the movement control P11. This movement control P11 is continuously executed until the original position (an example of the interrupt position) and heading stored in step 401 can be restored (S404: NO→S405: NO). After that, when the home delivery robot 2 can return to its original position and orientation (S415: YES), the control unit 32 terminates the interrupt processing and switches to the original movement control (FIG. 15).

In the configuration of this example, the home delivery robot 2 detects the magnetic marker 10 as needed and executes reset processing at any time. There is no When the home delivery robot 2 returns to the entrance 58, if there is any parcel 100 left in the receiving box 4B, the delivery robot 2 can immediately go to the receiving box 4B. Further, by adopting the configuration of this example, it becomes possible to receive a plurality of parcels 4B from a plurality of receiving boxes 4B and deliver the parcels 100 to a plurality of dwelling units 56 without returning to the entrance 58 .
Other configurations and effects are the same as those of the first embodiment.

(Example 3)
This example is an example in which the system of Example 2 is applied to a system that executes the work of spraying agricultural chemicals on a field 600 . This content will be described with reference to FIGS. 17 to 24. FIG.

The system 1 (Fig. 17) of this example is an example of a system in which the drone 2 autonomously flies and sprays agricultural chemicals on the field 600. In this system 1, several mark posts 6 are erected around a field 600 as marks. A magnetic marker 10 is provided on the upper end surface of each mark post 6 (FIG. 18).

The magnetic marker 10 is formed into a columnar shape from a ferrite plastic magnet in which magnetic powder such as iron oxide is dispersed in a polymeric material as a base material. The magnetic force of this magnetic marker 10 is equivalent to that of the magnetic marker of the first embodiment. The magnetic marker 10 is embedded in a hole drilled in the upper end surface of the mark post 6 . A sheet-like RFID tag 15 is attached to the end surface of the magnetic marker 10 . The RFID tag 15 can wirelessly output tag information including position information and identification information of the mark post 6 .

In the system 1, the topography of the field 600 is specified, and a three-dimensional map in which the position of each mark post 6 is specified is managed. Mark post identification information is attached to the position of each mark post 6 on the three-dimensional map. Furthermore, on the three-dimensional map, each area in the field 600 is associated with information such as the type of cultivated crops.

Drone 2 (Fig. 19) is an example of a mobile object capable of autonomous flight using inertial navigation. The drone 2 is a multicopter with four rotor blades 2P around the body 2B. The drone 2 can fly by individually controlling the four rotor blades 2P. In addition, the size of the body 2B of the drone 2 is approximately 30 cm in the longitudinal direction and approximately 20 cm in width.

As shown in FIG. 19, the body 2B of the drone 2 includes a control unit 32, a front camera 383, an ultrasonic sensor 384, a sensor array 21 including a plurality of magnetic sensors, a tag reader 321 communicating with the RFID tag 15, a GPS unit 381 and an IMU 22. and other positioning units are installed.

The control unit 32 includes a route setting section that sets a route for the drone 2 to move, a control section that moves the drone 2 along the route, a communication circuit section that executes communication with an external server device (not shown), and a map DB. (database), etc. The map DB is constructed using the storage area of the internal memory of the control unit 32 . The map DB stores the above three-dimensional map data. The communication circuit unit receives instruction information including geographical information for specifying a work target area and information such as work content from an external server device (not shown). The route setting unit sets a flight route by referring to map data based on instruction information received from the outside.

The front camera 383 is a camera for photographing the front. Control unit 32 detects mark post 6 by, for example, performing image processing on the image captured by front camera 383 . The GPS unit 381 is a unit that measures an absolute position using GPS (Global Positioning System), which is a kind of GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System).

The IMU 22 has a gyro sensor that measures angular velocity around three orthogonal axes, an acceleration sensor that measures acceleration in three axial directions, an electronic compass, and the like. The angular velocity and acceleration measured by the IMU 22 can be used for attitude control of the drone 2, and can also be used for autonomous flight by inertial navigation. The IMU 22, which is an example of a variation estimating unit, estimates the amount of variation in the orientation of the drone 2 by integrating angular velocity or the like, and estimates the amount of displacement (positional variation) of the drone 2 by double integrating acceleration or the like.

The tag reader 321 is a communication unit that wirelessly communicates with the RFID tag 15 held by the magnetic marker 10 (see FIG. 18). The tag reader 321 wirelessly transmits power necessary for operating the RFID tag 15 to operate the RFID tag 15 and receives tag information output by the RFID tag 15 . As described above, the tag information includes position information and identification information of the corresponding mark post 6 (magnetic marker 10).

Regarding the tag information, while excluding the position information of the magnetic marker 10, it is preferable to store the position information associated with the identification information of the magnetic marker 10 in the map DB of the control unit 32. In this case, the control unit 32 as a data reading section should refer to the storage area of the map DB, which is a database, and read the position information of the magnetic marker 10 associated with the identification information included in the tag information.

Next, the operation of the system 1 of this example will be described with reference to FIGS. 20 to 24. FIG. FIG. 20 is a flow chart showing the flow of the overall processing of pesticide spraying work by the drone 2. As shown in FIG. FIG. 21 is a reference diagram during the description of FIG. FIG. 22 is a flow chart of flight control applied to the drone 2. FIG. FIG. 23 is a flowchart showing the flow of interrupt processing for executing reset processing. FIG. 24 is a flowchart showing the flow of reset processing.

The drone 2 waits in a parking area (not shown) until instruction information is received from the outside (S501: NO). Note that, while the drone 2 is parked, the absolute position and absolute azimuth of the drone 2 are specified. Moreover, the amount of variation estimated by the IMU 22 is also reset to zero. When the control unit 32 receives instruction information from the outside (S501: YES), the control unit 32 calculates and sets a route R (FIG. 21) for efficiently flying within the work area (600A) related to the instruction information (S502). . The control unit 32 repeatedly executes the flight control P31 (described later with reference to FIG. 22) until the work related to the instruction information is completed (S503: NO).

In the flight control P31 (Fig. 22), the control unit 32 determines whether or not the elapsed time after the start of flight is within a threshold value (S601). During flight control P31, if the elapsed time after the start of flight is within the threshold (S601: YES), the IMU 22 estimates the position and orientation of the drone 2 (S602). At this time, the IMU 22 estimates the position and orientation of the drone 2 by adding the amount of displacement or the amount of change in orientation to the absolute position and absolute orientation specified while the drone is parked.

The position and orientation estimated by the IMU 22 in step S602 are the positions or orientations on the three-dimensional map stored in the map DB. The control unit 32 identifies the deviation of the position and orientation estimated by the IMU 22 from the preset control target path R (see FIG. 21) (S603). The deviation is the deviation of the position of the drone 2 estimated in step S602 above, and the deviation of the azimuth of the drone 2 estimated similarly. The control unit 32 individually controls the four rotors 2P so that the drone 2 can fly along the route R (FIG. 21) based on the identified position and orientation deviations (S604). On the other hand, if it is determined in step S601 that the elapsed time after the start of flight has exceeded the threshold (S601: NO), the control unit 32 executes the interrupt process P21.

In the interrupt process P21 (Fig. 23), the control unit 32 first stores the position and orientation of the drone 2 at that time (S701). Then, the control unit 32 refers to the three-dimensional map of the field 600 and selects the mark post 6 closest to the current position as the destination (S702).

When the control unit 32 selects the destination mark post 6, the control unit 32 calculates and sets a route via the mark post 6 to return to the original position and bearing stored in step S701 (S703). ). The control unit 32 applies flight controls P31 to the drone 2 so that it can move along the newly established path.

The control unit 32 repeatedly executes the flight control P31 until the destination mark post 6 is reached (S704: NO→S715: NO). After that, when the destination mark post 6 is reached (S704: YES), the control unit 32 executes the reset process P12. This reset process P12 is a process of specifying the absolute position and absolute azimuth of the drone 2 and resetting the variation amount (displacement amount, azimuth variation amount) estimated by the IMU 22 to zero. The content of the reset process P12 is substantially the same as the reset process of the second embodiment. In the reset process P12, the elapsed time after the start of flight is also reset to zero.

The reset process P12 (FIG. 24) is executed after reaching above the mark post 6. In the reset process, the control unit 32 first executes the detection process of the magnetic marker 10 (S800). The control unit 32 controls the drone 2 to fly over the mark post 6 until the magnetic marker 10 is detected (S801: NO), thereby searching for the magnetic marker 10 (S811).

When the magnetic marker 10 is detected (S801: YES), the control unit 32 adjusts the position of the drone 2 so that the magnetic sensor C8 positioned in the center of the sensor array 21 is positioned right above the magnetic marker 10. is executed (S802). At this time, the azimuth, which is the orientation of the drone 2, is arbitrary, and only the alignment of the magnetic sensor C8 with respect to the magnetic marker 10 is subject to control. The position of the magnetic sensor C8 is controlled to be, for example, directly above the magnetic marker 10 and at a height of 10 cm. The height from the magnetic marker 10 can be grasped by measuring the distance to the upper surface of the marker post 6 with the ultrasonic sensor 384 .

The control unit 32 acquires tag information wirelessly output from the RFID tag 15 when the magnetic sensor C8 is positioned directly above the magnetic marker 10 at a height of 10 cm (S803). As described above, this tag information includes position information and identification information of the mark post 6 . Control unit 32 identifies the position of mark post 6 as the absolute position of drone 2 (S804). As the altitude of the drone 2, the height obtained by adding 10 cm to the height of the upper end surface of the mark post 6 is specified.

Further, when the magnetic sensor C8 is positioned directly above the magnetic marker 10, the control unit 32 acquires a forward image showing two or more mark posts 6 by the forward camera 383 (S805). The control unit 32 detects the mark post 6 in the image by performing image processing on this forward image. Then, the control unit 32 identifies the absolute orientation of the airframe 2B based on the position of the mark post 6 in the image (S806). When the position and orientation of the drone 2 can be identified in this way, the control unit 32 resets the amount of displacement and the amount of fluctuation in orientation estimated by the IMU 22 to zero (S807).

According to the system 1 of this example, the drone 2 can automatically perform the pesticide spraying work while repeating the reset process as needed. If the reset process P12 for resetting the amount of variation estimated by the IMU 22 to zero is executed as needed, the positioning error due to inertial navigation does not become excessive.

It should be noted that the configuration of this example can be widely applied, for example, to exterior inspections of structures such as buildings and bridges using the drone 2. Furthermore, the configuration of this example may also be applied to agricultural machines that perform farm work while moving within a predetermined area, such as a cultivator that plows a field and a combine harvester that harvests rice or wheat. Furthermore, the configuration of this example may also be applied to a cleaning robot that cleans a predetermined area. Furthermore, the configuration of this example may also be applied to an underwater drone for underwater exploration. Furthermore, the configuration of this example may also be applied to heavy machinery for mining natural resources, heavy machinery for civil engineering work, vehicles for transporting earth and sand, and the like.

Also, the control unit 32 may be configured so as to be able to receive information such as real-time weather conditions such as wind speed and rainfall, and flight positions of other drones 2 from the outside at any time. In this case, a dynamic map reflecting real-time weather conditions and the like can be constructed, and flight control using the dynamic map becomes possible.
Other configurations and effects are the same as those of the first or second embodiment.

(Example 4)
This example is an example in which the method for specifying the orientation (absolute orientation) of the home delivery robot 2 is modified based on the system 1 of the first embodiment. This content will be described with reference to FIG.
In the system 1 of this example, a magnetic marker (main marker) 10M without an RFID tag is adopted instead of the magnetic marker with an RFID tag in Example 1, and a magnetic marker (sub-marker) 10S is used for this main marker 10M. is attached. The sub-marker 10S is detectable by the home delivery robot 2 and is an auxiliary marker for specifying the approach direction of the home delivery robot 2 with respect to the main marker 10M.

The main marker 10M is arranged near the center of the waiting space (reference numeral 505 in FIG. 1). The sub-marker 10S is arranged on the movement route that the home delivery robot 2 always passes when returning to the standby space, regardless of the difference in the movement route. When returning to the waiting space, the delivery robot 2 can always detect the sub-marker 10S and the main marker 10M in this order. Note that the main marker 10M and the sub-marker 10S have different magnetic polarities detected by the home delivery robot 2 so that the home delivery robot 2 can easily distinguish between them. In this example, the main marker 10M is the N pole, and the sub marker 10S is the S pole.

The orientation of the sub-marker 10S with respect to the main marker 10M is the orientation specified on the two-dimensional map. The azimuth connecting the main marker 10M and the sub-marker 10S is the reference azimuth for specifying the absolute azimuth of the home delivery robot 2 . A marker span M, which is the distance between the main marker 10M and the sub-marker 10S, is 30 cm.

In the configuration of this example, when the delivery robot 2 returns to the waiting space, the delivery robot 2 is controlled so as to enter the waiting space by linear movement. In addition, the approach direction of the home delivery robot 2 to the standby space varies depending on the route set at that time, but is within a certain range of azimuthal variation. The sub-marker 10S is arranged at a position such that the sensor array 21 passes right above it regardless of the variations in the approach direction of the home delivery robot 2 with respect to the waiting space.

Even while the home delivery robot 2 is being controlled to move linearly, due to a slight slip of the driving wheels 26, a slight difference in the outer diameters of the driving wheels 26L and 26R, etc., The orientation of the robot 2 may change. The marker span M of 30 cm is a sufficiently short distance that can ignore the influence of possible changes in the orientation of the home delivery robot 2 in this way.

In the configuration of this example, when the delivery robot 2 passes two magnetic markers 10 (the main marker 10M and the sub-marker 10S) arranged with a marker span M of 30 cm, the movement direction of the delivery robot 2, that is, the The orientation (orientation, absolute orientation) can be specified. Specifically, it is possible to identify the deviation angle Ax of the azimuth (front-rear direction) of the home delivery robot 2 with reference to the direction dir connecting the main marker 10M and the sub-marker 10S.

The deviation angle Ax can be calculated using the lateral deviation amount with respect to the main marker 10M and the sub-marker 10S, as shown in the following formula. Here, when the delivery robot 2 returns to the standby space, the amount of lateral deviation with respect to the sub-marker 10S detected first is assumed to be OF1, and the amount of lateral deviation with respect to the main marker 10M detected later is assumed to be OF2. However, the lateral deviation amounts OF1 and OF2 are defined to be positive or negative values with the center of the delivery robot 2 in the width direction (the position of the magnetic sensor C8) as a boundary. By using the deviation angle Ax, the absolute orientation of the home delivery robot 2 can be identified with reference to the known direction dir connecting the main marker 10M and the sub-marker 10S.

Change in lateral deviation OFd = |OF2-OF1|
Deviation angle Ax = arcsin (OFd/M)

It is also possible to compare the absolute orientation specified using the two magnetic markers 10 (main marker 10M, sub-marker 10S) and the absolute orientation estimated by the IMU 22 . According to this comparison, it is possible to specify an error (referred to as an estimated error) included in the direction estimated by the IMU 22 . Based on the estimated error, it is possible to set or adjust the zero point of the yaw rate, the error correction of the calculated value, the adjustment of the correction coefficient in the azimuth calculation process, and the setting and adjustment of constants such as the initial value applied to the azimuth calculation process. Become.

Also, the marker span M of the two magnetic markers 10 is known. Therefore, if the time difference between the detection points is known, the moving speed can be specified with high accuracy. If the moving speed is known, the speed error obtained by integrating the acceleration measured by the IMU 22 can be specified. Based on the speed estimation error, the zero point of acceleration, the error correction of the calculated value, the adjustment of the correction coefficient in the speed calculation process, the setting of constants such as the initial value and the integral constant applied to the speed calculation process. Adjustment etc. becomes possible.
Other configurations and effects are the same as those of the first embodiment.

Although the specific examples of the present invention have been described in detail above as examples, these specific examples merely disclose an example of the technology included in the scope of claims. Needless to say, the scope of claims should not be construed to be limited by the configurations and numerical values of specific examples. The scope of claims encompasses techniques in which the above-described specific examples are variously modified, changed, or appropriately combined using known techniques and knowledge of those skilled in the art.

1 system 10 magnetic marker 10M main marker 10S sub-marker (auxiliary marker)
100 Baggage 15 RFID tag (wireless tag)
2 Mobile objects (delivery robots, drones)
20 measurement unit 21 sensor array Cn magnetic sensor 212 detection processing circuit (detection unit)
22 IMU (fluctuation estimation unit, positioning unit)
32 control unit (path setting unit, control unit, communication circuit unit, error estimation unit)
321 tag reader (information reading unit)
34 map database (map DB, database)
4A Delivery box 4B Receipt box 5 Condominium 5S Floor 50 Passage 505 Waiting space 52 Elevator 525 Elevator hall 58 Entrance (receiving place)
6 mark post

Claims (13)

1. A system in which a moving body moves in space,
   A magnetic marker that exerts magnetism on the periphery is arranged in the space, and a magnetic sensor that measures the magnitude of the acting magnetism is mounted on the moving body,
   a control unit that moves the moving body;
   a detection unit that detects a magnetic marker by processing values measured by the magnetic sensor;
   a variation estimation unit for estimating at least one of a positional variation and an azimuth variation associated with movement of the moving body;
   a positioning unit for estimating the position or orientation of the mobile object after movement by adding the amount of variation estimated by the variation amount estimation unit to the position or orientation of the mobile object when the mobile object started to move. ,
   The variation estimating unit resets the variation to zero when the magnetic marker is detected.
2. 2. The method according to claim 1, comprising an error estimating unit that obtains an index value representing the degree of error contained in the amount of variation estimated by the variation estimating unit,
   A system in which the control unit switches control to be applied to the moving object according to a result of threshold processing regarding the index value.
3. 3. The controller according to claim 2, wherein when the index value becomes equal to or exceeds a threshold value, the control unit switches the control applied to the moving object to movement control for detecting the magnetic marker. A system that performs a process.
4. 4. The control unit according to claim 3, wherein the control unit stores an interrupt position that is the position of the moving object when switching to the movement control by the interrupt process,
   A system configured to end the interrupt process and switch to the original control when the moving object returns to the interrupt position after executing the interrupt process.
5. 5. According to claim 3, when executing the interrupt process, the control unit obtains a movement cost necessary for the moving body to move with respect to the magnetic markers placed in the space, and determines that the movement cost is the lowest. A system for setting a small magnetic marker as a detection target by the movement control.
6. 6. In any one of claims 1 to 5, the moving body receives a package at a predetermined receiving location and then moves along a path in the space to carry the package to a specified location. A system that is a vehicle.
7. 7. The magnetic marker according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the magnetic marker comprises a magnet as a magnetism generating source, and a wireless tag capable of wirelessly outputting information capable of specifying an arrangement position of the magnetic marker. ,
   A system in which the moving object includes an information reading unit that reads information wirelessly output from the wireless tag.
8. A system according to claim 7, wherein the information wirelessly output by the wireless tag includes information representing the structure of the space and structural information representing the surrounding environment of the corresponding magnetic marker.
9. 9. In claim 8, the structural information is information including at least vertical edge information representing a distribution of boundaries in the vertical direction around the corresponding magnetic marker among the boundaries forming the structure of the space,
   A system in which the moving body includes a unit for extracting vertical edges representing vertical boundaries that constitute the surrounding environment.
10. 10. The database according to any one of claims 1 to 9, which stores position information capable of specifying the arrangement position of the magnetic marker;
    a data reading unit that, when any magnetic marker is detected, refers to the storage area of the database and reads position information that can specify the arrangement position of the magnetic marker.
11. 11. The magnetic marker according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the moving body is detectable and is provided with an auxiliary marker for specifying an approach direction of the moving body with respect to the magnetic marker. system.
12. 12. The system according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein a waiting space for the moving body to wait is provided in the space, and a magnetic marker is arranged in the waiting space so that the moving body can be detected. system.
13. 13. The space according to any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein a transporting device capable of transporting the moving object is provided in the space, and an area in which the transporting device receives the moving object is capable of detecting the moving object. Magnetic markers are arranged as
    A system in which the control unit can identify a position of a transport destination of the moving body by the transport device.

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