WO2023171500A1

WO2023171500A1 - Travel robot system

Info

Publication number: WO2023171500A1
Application number: PCT/JP2023/007606
Authority: WO
Inventors: 秀樹長末; 昌昭中川
Original assignee: Dmg森精機株式会社
Priority date: 2022-03-11
Filing date: 2023-03-01
Publication date: 2023-09-14
Also published as: JP2023132875A; JP7285354B1

Abstract

This travel robot system: assesses whether or not an object detected by an object detection sensor is an obstacle disposed in a region in which an unmanned transport vehicle can travel (step S3); calculates an expected passage region of the unmanned transport vehicle along an expected transport route V (step S4) if it is assessed that the object is an obstacle disposed in the region in which travel is possible; predicts, on the basis of the calculated expected passage region and position information that pertains to the obstacle and is outputted by the object detection sensor, whether or not the unmanned transport vehicle will interfere with the obstacle (step S5); and stops the unmanned transport vehicle and causes a robot to execute an obstacle designation operation to designate the obstacle (steps S7 and S8) if it is predicted that interference will occur.

Description

traveling robot system

The present invention relates to a traveling robot system that includes an automatic guided vehicle and a robot mounted on the automatic guided vehicle.

Conventionally, as an example of the above-mentioned traveling robot system, the traveling robot system disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2004-042148 (Patent Document 1 below) is known. This traveling robot system includes a storage unit that stores an environmental map, a traveling route determining unit that determines a scheduled traveling route from its own position on the environmental map to a travel destination, and a scheduled traveling route determined by the traveling route determining unit. The vehicle is equipped with a travel control section that causes the automatic guided vehicle to travel along the road, and an obstacle detection section that detects obstacles. The traveling control section causes the automatic guided vehicle to travel along the avoidance route when the obstacle is detected by the obstacle detection section. Then, the automatic guided vehicle travels to the destination while avoiding obstacles while repeating the detection of obstacles and the search for an avoidance route. On the other hand, if the travel control unit cannot find an avoidance route, the automatic guided vehicle will stop near the obstacle.

In the traveling robot system disclosed in Patent Document 1, the automatic guided vehicle is configured to perform avoidance travel to avoid obstacles, but for example, when an obstacle is detected by the obstacle detection unit, the automatic guided vehicle performs avoidance travel to avoid obstacles. A system that immediately stops an automated guided vehicle without searching for a route is also known.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-042148

In the above-described conventional traveling robot system, if the automatic guided vehicle stops due to an obstacle, the operator can remove the obstacle and restart the automatic guided vehicle. However, for example, if there are multiple obstacles around the automated guided vehicle, the operator cannot easily determine which obstacle is causing the automated guided vehicle to stop, and the worker may be unable to remove the obstacle. There is a problem that the work cannot be done efficiently.

In addition, with conventional mobile robot systems, when an automated guided vehicle is stopped, the operator cannot determine whether the cause is a malfunction of the automated guided vehicle or the presence of an obstacle. There is a problem that recovery work takes time.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and is intended to automatically stop the automated guided vehicle when it is predicted that the automated guided vehicle will interfere with an obstacle, and to identify the cause of the stopping and remove it. It is an object of the present invention to provide a traveling robot system that allows surrounding workers to easily recognize obstacles that may occur.

A first aspect of the invention provides an automatic guided vehicle, a travel route determination unit that determines a scheduled travel route of the automatic guided vehicle, and a travel route determination unit that causes the automatic guided vehicle to travel along the scheduled travel route determined by the travel route determination unit. A traveling robot system comprising a traveling control section, a robot mounted on the automatic guided vehicle, and a robot control section that controls the operation of the robot,
an object detection sensor mounted on the automatic guided vehicle that detects an object existing within a predetermined range from the automatic guided vehicle and outputs position information that allows the position of the object to be specified;
an obstacle detection unit that detects whether the object detected by the object detection sensor is an obstacle placed in a travelable area of the automatic guided vehicle;
a passage area calculation unit that calculates a planned passage area of the automatic guided vehicle along the planned travel route when the object is detected as an obstacle by the obstacle detection unit;
Based on the expected passage area of the automatic guided vehicle calculated by the passage area calculation unit and the position information of the obstacle outputted from the object detection sensor, the automatic guided vehicle moves along the scheduled travel route. an interference prediction unit that predicts whether or not the vehicle will interfere with the obstacle if the vehicle continues to travel;
The travel control unit is configured to stop the automatic guided vehicle before interfering with the obstacle when the interference prediction unit predicts that the automatic guided vehicle will interfere with the obstacle,
The robot control unit is configured to cause the robot to perform an obstacle designation operation to point to the obstacle when the interference prediction unit predicts that the automatic guided vehicle and the obstacle will interfere. This relates to a mobile robot system.

According to the first invention, when an object within a predetermined range from the automatic guided vehicle is detected by the object detection sensor mounted on the automatic guided vehicle, the obstacle detection unit places the object in the travelable area. If it is determined that the object is an obstacle, the passage area calculation unit calculates a planned passage area along the scheduled travel route of the automatic guided vehicle. Then, based on the expected passage area of the automatic guided vehicle calculated by the passage area calculation unit and the position information of the obstacle outputted from the object detection sensor, it is determined whether the automatic guided vehicle will interfere with the obstacle. Predicted by the interference prediction unit. If the interference prediction unit predicts that the automatic guided vehicle will interfere with an obstacle, the automatic guided vehicle will stop traveling under the control of the travel control unit, and the robot will avoid the obstacle under the control of the robot control unit. Execute object specification action. This obstacle designation action is an action in which the robot points to an obstacle, and surrounding workers should be aware that when the robot performs the obstacle designation action, the cause of the automatic guided vehicle's stoppage is the obstacle rather than a malfunction. In addition, it is possible to easily identify obstacles that should be removed in order to restart the automatic guided vehicle.

Moreover, since the obstacle designation operation is performed by the existing robot mounted on the automatic guided vehicle, there is no need to separately install a display monitor or speaker to notify obstacles that may cause interference, and the system The entire structure can be constructed at low cost.

A second invention provides an automatic guided vehicle, a travel route determination unit that determines a scheduled travel route of the automatic guided vehicle, and causes the automatic guided vehicle to travel along the scheduled travel route determined by the travel route determination unit. A traveling robot system comprising a traveling control section, a robot mounted on the automatic guided vehicle, and a robot control section that controls the operation of the robot,
an object detection sensor mounted on the automatic guided vehicle that detects an object existing within a predetermined range from the automatic guided vehicle and outputs position information that allows the position of the object to be specified;
an obstacle detection unit that detects whether the object detected by the object detection sensor is an obstacle placed in a travelable area of the automatic guided vehicle;
a passing area calculating unit that calculates a scheduled passing area of the automatic guided vehicle along the scheduled travel route when the object is detected as an obstacle by the obstacle detecting unit;
Based on the scheduled passage area of the automatic guided vehicle calculated by the passage area calculation unit and the position information of the obstacle outputted from the object detection sensor, the automatic guided vehicle moves along the scheduled travel route. an interference prediction unit that predicts whether or not the vehicle will interfere with the obstacle if the vehicle continues to travel;
When the interference prediction unit predicts that the automatic guided vehicle and the obstacle will interfere, the travel route determination unit determines whether there is an avoidance route that can avoid the interference, If it is determined that the avoidance route exists, the current scheduled travel route is updated to the avoidance route,
The travel control unit is configured to stop the automatic guided vehicle before interfering with the obstacle when the travel route determining unit determines that there is no avoidance route that can avoid the interference. ,
If the travel route determination unit determines that there is no avoidance route that can avoid the interference, the robot control unit may cause the robot to have an obstacle that points to the obstacle that is predicted to cause the interference. The present invention relates to a traveling robot system configured to perform an object specifying operation.

According to the second invention, when the interference prediction unit predicts that the automatic guided vehicle will interfere with an obstacle, the travel route determination unit determines whether or not there is an avoidance route that can avoid the interference. If it is determined that an avoidance route exists, the current scheduled travel route is updated to the avoidance route, and the automatic guided vehicle travels along the updated avoidance route under the control of the travel control unit. On the other hand, if the travel route determination unit determines that there is no avoidance route that avoids interference between the automatic guided vehicle and the obstacle, the current scheduled travel route is not updated. In this case, under the control of the travel control unit, the automatic guided vehicle stops without performing avoidance travel, and the robot, under the control of the robot control unit, detects obstacles that are predicted to cause interference with the automatic guided vehicle. Executes an obstacle designation action that points to an object. Therefore, the same effects as the first invention can be obtained.

In a third aspect of the invention, the robot is an articulated robot that performs a predetermined task, and the obstacle designation operation is such that the tip of the robot on the work side is predicted to interfere with an automatic guided vehicle by the interference prediction unit. This is an operation in which the robot is positioned opposite to or above an obstacle.

According to the third invention, when the automatic guided vehicle is stopped and the robot executes the obstacle designation operation, the worker looks at the obstacle pointed to by the tip of the robot on the work side and selects the automatic guided vehicle. The obstacle that caused the vehicle to stop can be easily recognized.

In a fourth invention, the robot is an articulated robot, a camera equipped with a lighting device is attached to the robot, and the obstacle designation operation is such that the illumination light of the lighting device This is an action that causes the robot to take a posture toward an obstacle that is predicted to interfere with the automated guided vehicle.

According to the fourth invention, when the automatic guided vehicle stops and the robot performs an obstacle designation operation, the worker looks at the destination of the illumination light of the lighting device and identifies the cause of the automatic guided vehicle stopping. Obstacles can be easily recognized. Furthermore, the entire system can be constructed at low cost by using, for example, a camera illumination device used by a robot to recognize an object to be grasped as the illumination device.

As described above, according to the traveling robot system according to the present invention, it is determined whether the object detected by the object detection sensor is an obstacle placed in the travelable area of the automatic guided vehicle, and the robot system is able to travel. If it is determined that the obstacle is placed in the area, the area where the automated guided vehicle is scheduled to pass along the planned travel route is calculated, and the calculated area and the obstacle output from the object detection sensor are calculated. Based on the position information, it is predicted whether or not the automatic guided vehicle will interfere with the obstacle if it continues to travel along the planned travel route, and if it is predicted that it will interfere, the automatic guided vehicle will be stopped. At the same time, by having the robot perform an obstacle designation operation that points to the obstacle, the automatic guided vehicle can automatically stop before it interferes with the obstacle, and the cause of the stop and the obstacle to be removed can be determined. Objects can be easily recognized by surrounding workers.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the schematic configuration and operation example of a traveling robot system according to an embodiment. FIG. 1 is an external perspective view showing an automatic guided vehicle equipped with a robot. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a control system. FIG. 3 is a plan view showing an obstacle designation operation by the robot. FIG. 3 is a side view of the vehicle seen from the left side, showing an obstacle designation operation by the robot. It is a flowchart which shows an example of obstacle designation control. FIG. 4B is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 4B showing modification example 1; FIG. 4A is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 4A showing modification example 2; FIG. 4B is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 4B showing modification example 2; It is an explanatory view for explaining an example of operation of a traveling robot system concerning other embodiments.

《Embodiment》
FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the schematic configuration of a traveling robot system 1 according to an embodiment. This traveling robot system 1 includes an automatic guided vehicle 10 and a robot 20 mounted on the upper part of the automatic guided vehicle 10, and as described later, it is predicted that the automatic guided vehicle 10 will interfere with an obstacle 5. In this case, the automatic guided vehicle 10 is stopped and the robot 20 is configured to perform an obstacle designation operation of pointing to the obstacle 5.

The traveling robot system 1 performs wireless communication between an on-vehicle control device 30 (see FIG. 3) housed in the guided vehicle body 11 of the automatic guided vehicle 10 and the on-vehicle control device 30 installed in a factory building. However, it further includes a host control device 40 that controls the automatic guided vehicle 10 and the robot 20. Under the control of the on-vehicle control device 30 that receives instructions from the host control device 40, the automatic guided vehicle 10 passes through work positions P1 and P2 adjacent to each

work station

3a and 3b installed in the building. Run. Each of the

work stations

3a, 3b is configured by, for example, a machine tool. Under the control of the on-vehicle control device 30, the robot 20 performs a workpiece attachment/detachment operation (an example of a predetermined operation) when the automatic guided vehicle 10 stops at the work positions P1 and P2 of each of the

work stations

3a and 3b. Note that the work station 3 and obstacles 5 shown in FIG. 1 are merely examples, and their shapes, numbers, and placement positions are not limited to the example shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 2 is an external perspective view showing the automatic guided vehicle 10 on which the robot 20 is mounted. In the following description, unless otherwise specified, front side and rear side mean the front side and rear side in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, and left side and right side mean the left side and right side in the vehicle width direction. As shown in the figure, the automatic guided vehicle 10 has a guided vehicle main body 11 in the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped that is long in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle. The transport vehicle main body 11 accommodates the vehicle-mounted control device 30 therein, and has the robot 20 mounted on its upper surface. At the four corners of the lower end of the transport vehicle main body 11, four drive wheels 12, front, rear, left and right, are attached. The four drive wheels 12 are independently rotationally driven by traveling motors 13a (see FIG. 3) connected to respective axles. Further, each drive wheel 12 has a vertically extending steering shaft (not shown), and is configured to be able to be steered around the vertical axis by a steering motor 13b connected to the steering shaft. The automatic guided vehicle 10 is capable of moving straight, traveling sideways, or turning by changing the steering angle of each drive wheel 12 using the steering motor 13b under the control of the on-vehicle control device 30. In the following description, the traveling motor 13a and the steering motor 13b will be referred to as the traveling actuator 13 unless they are particularly distinguished.

A distance sensor 14 (an example of an object detection sensor) is attached to the front side of the carrier body 11. The distance sensor 14 is a sensor for measuring the distance to another object, and is configured by, for example, a LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) device. Here, as an example of other objects, for example, a fixed installation object such as a machine tool installed in a building, an obstacle 5 placed in the travelable area of the automatic guided vehicle 10 (an area excluding fixed installation objects), etc. can be mentioned. The distance sensor 14 has a light emitting section, and scans the laser beam emitted from the light emitting section in the vertical and horizontal directions to detect an object existing within a predetermined range in front of the automatic guided vehicle 10. Irradiate with laser light. The distance sensor 14 measures the distance to the light irradiation position on the object surface by measuring the time it takes for the laser beam to reflect on the object and return, and calculates the measured distance and the scanning of the light at the time of the measurement. Correlate with corner information and output as distance data. This distance data corresponds to position information for specifying the position of the object, and is transmitted in real time to the host control device 40 via the on-vehicle control device 30.

The robot 20 is mounted on the front end of the upper surface of the carrier body 11. A pallet 4 that holds workpieces before and after processing is loaded on the rear side of the robot 20 on the upper surface of the carrier body 11. The robot 20 is a six-axis articulated robot having a first arm 21, a second arm 22, a third arm 23, and six axes A1 to A6. A hand 24 is attached. The hand 24 has three gripping claws 24a that are slidable in the radial direction with respect to the center thereof, and grips the workpiece by pinching it from the outside in the radial direction with the three gripping claws 24a.

A hand-mounted camera 25 (corresponding to a camera equipped with an illumination device) is attached to the upper part of the hand 24 to take an image of the work to be gripped. The hand-mounted camera 25 includes a camera body 25a and a ring illumination 25b (an example of a lighting device) attached to the camera body 25a coaxially with the optical axis thereof. The ring illumination 25b is provided to ensure illuminance during imaging by the camera body 25a. The camera body 25a and the ring illumination 25b are controlled by a robot control section 31b, which will be described later. The hand-mounted camera 25 transmits image data captured by the camera body 25a to the robot control unit 31b.

Next, with reference to FIG. 3, the control system 100 that controls the traveling robot system 1 will be explained. This control system 100 includes the vehicle-mounted control device 30 and the host control device 40.

The on-vehicle control device 30 is a microcomputer including a CPU, ROM, RAM, etc., and includes a CPU 31 and a wireless communication section 32, as shown in FIG.

The wireless communication unit 32 includes a transmitting circuit, a receiving circuit, and a transmitting/receiving antenna, and transmits and receives various signals and data to and from the higher-level control device 40 by wireless communication in response to instructions from the CPU 31. An example of this data is, for example, distance data of an object detected by the distance sensor 14.

The CPU 31 is connected to the travel actuator 13, the distance sensor 14, the robot 20, and the hand-mounted camera 25 so as to be able to send and receive signals. The CPU 31 functions as a travel control section 31a and a robot control section 31b by executing a computer program stored in a ROM or the like.

The travel control unit 31a controls the travel actuator 13 so that the automatic guided vehicle 10 travels along a scheduled travel route V calculated by a travel route determining unit 41b of a higher-level control device 40, which will be described later.

The robot control unit 31b causes the robot 20 to perform a work operation or an obstacle designation operation. The work operation is a predetermined operation that the robot 20 performs on each work station 3, and includes, for example, work for attaching and detaching a workpiece. In this example, the robot control unit 31b corrects the position of the hand 24 relative to the workpiece by correcting the working posture based on the image captured by the hand-mounted camera 25 when causing the robot 20 to perform a work operation. It is composed of The obstacle designation operation is an operation in which the robot 20 points to the obstacle 5 when the cause of the automatic guided vehicle 10 stopping is the obstacle 5 . Details of the obstacle designation operation will be described later.

The upper control device 40 is a microcomputer having a CPU, ROM, RAM, etc., and includes a CPU 41, a wireless communication section 42, and a map data storage section 43.

The wireless communication unit 42 includes a transmitting circuit, a receiving circuit, and a transmitting/receiving antenna, and transmits and receives various signals and data to and from the vehicle-mounted control device 30 by wireless communication in response to instructions from the CPU 41.

The map data storage unit 43 is a functional unit that stores map data, and is composed of a storage medium such as a magnetic disk, for example. The map data includes information on the travelable area of the automatic guided vehicle 10 within the building. The travelable area is an area excluding fixed installations such as machine tools, and is an area in which the automatic guided vehicle 10 can physically travel. In this example, this map data is automatically generated based on the distance data output from the distance sensor 14. The method for generating map data is not limited to this; for example, the map data may be generated manually by an operator operating an operation panel (not shown) such as a touch panel provided on the automatic guided vehicle 10. .

The CPU 41 functions as a job generation section 41a, a travel route determination section 41b, an obstacle detection section 41c, a passage area calculation section 41d, and an interference prediction section 41e by executing a computer program stored in the ROM or the like.

The job generation unit 41a acquires the loading status of conveyed objects in the automatic guided vehicle 10 and the retention status of conveyed objects at each work station 3, and determines the movement start point and movement of the automatic guided vehicle 10 based on the acquired conditions. Decide on your destination.

The travel route determination unit 41b determines (calculates) a scheduled travel route V from the travel start point determined by the job generation unit 41a to the travel destination. This planned travel route V is determined so that the travel distance of the automatic guided vehicle 10 is the shortest within the travelable area defined in the map data. Note that the condition is not limited to the shortest moving distance; for example, the condition that the power consumption is the minimum may be adopted.

The obstacle detection unit 41c determines whether the object is an obstacle 5 placed in the travelable area of the automatic guided vehicle 10 based on the distance data of the object received from the on-vehicle control device 30 and the map data. Detect whether or not. As described above, the travelable area is an area excluding fixed objects such as machine tools shown in the map data, and the obstacle detection unit 41c detects fixed objects such as machine tools that already exist on the map data. is not detected as the obstacle 5, and only objects placed in the travelable area are detected as the obstacle 5.

When the obstacle 5 is detected by the obstacle detection unit 41c, the passage area calculation unit 41d determines the planned passage area R of the automatic guided vehicle 10 along the scheduled travel route V determined by the travel route determination unit 41b. calculate. In this example, the passing area calculation unit 41d calculates as the expected passing area R the area through which the planar shape of the automatic guided vehicle 10 is predicted to pass. Note that the planned passage area R may be a three-dimensional area in consideration of the three-dimensional shape of the automatic guided vehicle 10.

The interference prediction unit 41e determines whether the automatic guided vehicle 10 will pass through the area R calculated by the passing area calculation unit 41d and the distance data (position information) of the obstacle 5 output from the distance sensor 14. It is predicted whether the car 10 will interfere with an obstacle 5 if it continues to travel along the planned travel route V. Specifically, the interference prediction unit 41e identifies the coordinate position of the obstacle 5 on the map data based on the distance data of the obstacle 5 output from the distance sensor 14. Then, the interference prediction unit 41e determines whether at least a part of the obstacle 5 overlaps with the calculated expected passage area R in plan view, and if it is determined that it overlaps, the automatic guided vehicle 10 and the obstacle It is predicted that object 5 will interfere in the future, and if it is determined that they will not overlap, it is predicted that interference between the two will not occur. The prediction result by the interference prediction unit 41e is transmitted to the travel control unit 31a and robot control unit 31b of the vehicle-mounted control device 30 via the wireless communication unit 42.

When the interference prediction unit 41e predicts that the automatic guided vehicle 10 will interfere with the obstacle 5, the traveling control unit 31a stops driving the traveling motor 13a of the automatic guided vehicle 10 and stops the automatic guided vehicle 10. . The timing of stopping the automatic guided vehicle 10 is preferably, for example, when the distance between the automatic guided vehicle 10 and the obstacle 5 becomes a predetermined distance or less (for example, 1 m or less).

If the interference prediction unit 41e predicts that the automatic guided vehicle 10 will interfere with the obstacle 5, the robot control unit 31b causes the robot 20 to perform an obstacle designation operation.

The obstacle designation operation in this example is an operation in which illumination light is emitted toward the obstacle 5 from the ring illumination 25b attached to the third arm 23 of the robot 20. 4A and 4B show the operating postures of the robot 20 when executing the obstacle designation motion, FIG. 4A is a plan view of the robot 20 seen from above, and FIG. 4B is a plan view of the robot 20 seen from the left side. FIG.

When the robot control unit 31b causes the robot 20 to perform the obstacle designation operation, it first causes the robot 20 to take a predetermined forward leaning posture (for example, the posture shown in FIG. 2). The tilting angles of each of the arms 21 to 23 in this forward leaning posture are stored in a storage section (not shown) by performing a teaching operation in advance. Then, the robot control unit 31b causes the robot 20 to rotate the entire robot 20 around the axis A1 and rotate the third arm 23 around the axis A6 based on this forward-leaning posture, thereby equipping the hand-mounted camera 25 with the robot 20. The light irradiation direction of the ring illumination 25b is directed toward the obstacle 5 (see FIGS. 4A and 4B). In this example, the robot control unit 31b controls the rotation angle of the robot 20 around the axes A1 and A6 so that the optical axis of the ring illumination 25b (the central axis of the ring illumination 25b) passes through the center of gravity G of the obstacle 5. decide. Here, the center of gravity position G of the obstacle 5 may be calculated based on the three-dimensional shape of the obstacle 5 estimated from the distance data detected by the distance sensor 14. In addition, instead of the center of gravity position G, the center position C of the side surface of the obstacle 5 on the automatic guided vehicle 10 side is calculated, and the axis A1 of the robot 20 and the axis The rotation angle around A6 may also be determined.

Then, the robot control unit 31b causes the ring illumination 25b to emit illumination light toward the obstacle 5, with the optical axis of the ring illumination 25b directed toward the gravity center position G of the obstacle 5. In this example, illumination light is continuously emitted toward the obstacle 5 from the ring illumination 25b. Note that the manner in which the illumination light is emitted is not limited to this; for example, it may be alternately turned on and turned off (that is, blinked).

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of obstacle designation control executed in cooperation between the host control device 40 and the vehicle-mounted control device 30.

In step S1, the travel route determining unit 41b determines (calculates) a scheduled travel route V for the automatic guided vehicle 10 from the travel start point to the travel destination. When determining the planned driving route V, a large number of route candidates are generated using, for example, a genetic algorithm, and the shortest route is calculated as the planned driving route V from among the generated large number of route candidates.

In step S2, the travel control unit 31a controls the travel actuator 13 to start the automatic guided vehicle 10 traveling along the scheduled travel route V determined in step S1.

In step S3, it is determined whether or not the obstacle 5 has been detected by the obstacle detection unit 41c, and if this determination is NO, the process returns, while if it is YES, the process proceeds to step S4.

In step S4, the passage area calculation unit 41d calculates the planned passage area R of the automatic guided vehicle 10 along the planned travel route V calculated in step S1.

In step S5, the interference prediction unit 41e determines whether or not the automatic guided vehicle 10 will pass through the automatic guided vehicle 10 based on the expected passage area R of the automatic guided vehicle 10 calculated in step S4 and the distance data of the obstacle 5 output from the distance sensor 14. It is predicted whether or not the vehicle will interfere with the obstacle 5 if it continues traveling along the planned travel route V. If this determination is NO, the process returns, whereas if this determination is YES, the process advances to step S6.

In step S6, the traveling control unit 31a determines whether the distance between the automatic guided vehicle 10 and the obstacle 5 is less than a predetermined distance (for example, 1 m or less) based on the distance data of the obstacle 5 output from the distance sensor 14. If the determination is NO, the process returns, whereas if the determination is YES, the process advances to step S7.

In step S7, the travel control unit 31a stops driving the travel motor 13a to stop the automatic guided vehicle 10.

In step S8, the robot control unit 31b causes the robot 20 to perform the above-described obstacle designation operation, and then returns. Note that in this example, the robot 20 starts executing the obstacle designation operation after the automatic guided vehicle 10 has stopped; however, this is not limited to this, and before or at the same time as the automatic guided vehicle 10 has stopped. The execution of the obstacle designation operation may be started.

An example of the operation of the traveling robot system 1 configured as described above will be explained with reference to FIG. 1. In FIG. 1, the movement start point of the automatic guided vehicle 10 is a work position P1 set for the first work station 3a, and the movement destination is a work position P1 set for the second work station 3b. An example of position P2 is shown. First, the travel route determining unit 41b calculates a planned travel route V from the work position P1, which is the movement start point, to the work position P2, which is the movement destination, and then, under the control of the travel control unit 31a, the automatic guided vehicle 10 starts traveling along the scheduled travel route V. After the start of travel, when the obstacle detection unit 41c detects the obstacle 5 at the intermediate position P3, the passage area calculation unit 41d calculates the expected passage area R of the automatic guided vehicle 10, and then the interference prediction unit 41e calculates the expected passage area R of the automatic guided vehicle 10. , when the automatic guided vehicle 10 continues to travel along the planned travel route V based on the planned passage area R calculated by the passage area calculation unit 41d and the distance data of the obstacle 5 output from the distance sensor 14. It is predicted whether or not there will be interference with the obstacle 5. In the example of FIG. 1, since it is predicted that interference will occur, the prediction result to that effect is transmitted from the interference prediction unit 41e to the vehicle-mounted control device 30. In the vehicle-mounted control device 30, in response to this prediction result, the travel control section 31a stops the automatic guided vehicle 10, and the robot control section 31b causes the robot 20 to perform an obstacle designation operation. As a result, the automatic guided vehicle 10 stops at the intermediate position P3 before interfering with the obstacle 5, and the optical axis of the ring illumination 25b attached to the third arm 23 of the robot 20 is directed toward the obstacle 5. , illumination light is emitted toward the obstacle 5 from the ring illumination 25b. As a result, surrounding workers recognize that the obstacle 5 illuminated by the illumination light from the ring illumination 25b is the cause of the automatic guided vehicle 10 stopping, and take appropriate measures such as removing the obstacle 5. can be taken.

As explained above, in this embodiment, when it is predicted that the automatic guided vehicle 10 will interfere with the obstacle 5, the automatic guided vehicle 10 is stopped and the robot 20 mounted on the automatic guided vehicle 10 is stopped. By performing the object designation operation, interference between the automatic guided vehicle 10 and the obstacle 5 can be avoided, and the obstacle 5 that caused the automatic guided vehicle 10 to stop can be easily recognized by surrounding workers. can be done. In addition, the existing robot 20 mounted on the automatic guided vehicle 10 can be used to notify surrounding workers of the obstacle 5 that caused the automatic guided vehicle 10 to stop, so the operator can use the display monitor, speaker, etc. There is no need to separately provide a notification means, and the entire system can be constructed at low cost.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, since the ring illumination 25b illuminates the obstacle 5 that caused the automatic guided vehicle 10 to stop, the automatic guided vehicle 10 The obstacle 5 that caused the vehicle to stop can be more clearly recognized by surrounding workers. Furthermore, since the ring illumination 25b is an illumination device attached to the hand-mounted camera 25, the entire system can be constructed at a lower cost than when a dedicated illumination device is separately provided.

《Modification 1》
FIG. 6 shows modification example 1. In this modified example, the obstacle designation operation by the robot 20 is different from the above embodiment. Note that other hardware configurations and control processing other than this point are the same as those in the embodiment described above, so detailed explanations will be omitted.

That is, in this modified example, the obstacle designation operation by the robot 20 is to move the hand 24 (corresponding to the working side tip of the robot 20) attached to the tip of the third arm 23 of the robot 20 to face the obstacle 5. It is said to be an action that causes

In this obstacle designation operation, it is preferable that the surface of the hand 24 on the gripping claw 24a side faces the obstacle 5. Further, in this obstacle designation operation, it is preferable to operate the robot 20 so that the axis of the third arm 23 passes through the center of gravity position G of the obstacle 5. Note that instead of the center of gravity position G, the center position C of the side surface of the obstacle 5 closer to the automatic guided vehicle 10 may be used.

According to this modification, when the automatic guided vehicle 10 is stopped and the robot 20 takes a posture in which the hand 24 attached to the third arm 23 faces the obstacle 5, the operator can By looking at the posture of the robot 20, it can be recognized at a glance that the obstacle 5 is the cause of the automatic guided vehicle 10 stopping. Further, unlike the embodiments described above, it is not necessary to operate the ring illumination 25b when executing the obstacle designation operation, so that energy saving can be improved.

《Modification 2》
FIGS. 7A and 7B show a second modification. In this modification, the obstacle designation operation by the robot 20 is different from the embodiment and the first modification. Note that other hardware configurations and control processing other than this point are the same as those in the embodiment described above, so detailed explanations will be omitted.

That is, in this modification, the obstacle designation operation by the robot 20 is to move the hand 24 (corresponding to the working side tip of the robot 20) attached to the tip of the third arm 23 of the robot 20 to the upper side of the obstacle 5. It is said that the action is to position the This obstacle designation operation is preferably performed so that a gap is secured between the hand 24 and the upper surface of the obstacle 5. Moreover, it is preferable to perform this obstacle designation operation so that the hand 24 is positioned above the end of the obstacle 5 on the side closer to the automatic guided vehicle 10.

According to this modification, if the robot 20 takes a posture such that the hand 24 is positioned above the obstacle 5 when the automatic guided vehicle 10 stops, the worker can change the posture of the robot 20. It can be recognized at a glance that the obstacle 5 is the cause of the automatic guided vehicle 10 stopping. In particular, in the obstacle designation operation of this modification, the hand 24 is positioned above the obstacle 5, which causes the automatic guided vehicle 10 to stop, compared to the embodiment and modification 1. It is possible to point out the obstacle 5 even more clearly. Further, unlike the embodiments described above, it is not necessary to operate the ring illumination 25b when executing the obstacle designation operation, so that energy saving can be improved.

《Other embodiments》
In the embodiment and each modification example, when the interference prediction unit 41e predicts that the automatic guided vehicle 10 will interfere with the obstacle 5, the automatic guided vehicle 10 is stopped without searching for an avoidance route. However, the invention is not limited to this, and for example, the travel route determination unit 41b determines whether or not there is an avoidance route for avoiding interference between the automatic guided vehicle 10 and the obstacle 5, and performs the avoidance. If it is determined that a route exists, the current scheduled travel route V is updated to the corresponding avoidance route, while if it is determined that there is no avoidance route, the current scheduled travel route V is not updated. good. According to this, after the obstacle 5 is detected by the obstacle detection unit 41c, the automatic guided vehicle 10 stops only after the travel route determination unit 41b determines that there is no avoidance route that avoids the obstacle 5. Accordingly, the robot 20 executes the obstacle designation operation under the control of the robot control unit 31b.

According to such a traveling robot system 1, for example, as shown in FIG. 8, when two

obstacles

5a and 5b are arranged to protrude alternately from the left and right side walls forming the traveling path of the automatic guided vehicle 10. In addition, the automatic guided vehicle 10 can travel between the

obstacles

5a and 5b. At this time, as shown by the solid line in FIG. 8, if the automatic guided vehicle 10 stops between two

obstacles

5a and 5b, in the conventional traveling robot system, one of the two

obstacles

5a and 5b There was a problem in that surrounding workers could not recognize whether the automatic guided vehicle 10 had stopped due to this. On the other hand, in the traveling robot system 1 of the present invention, even if the automatic guided vehicle 10 stops between two

obstacles

5a and 5b, the robot 20 can move around the obstacle under the control of the robot control unit 31b. The object specifying operation is executed to point to the obstacle 5 (in the example of FIG. 8, the obstacle 5a) that caused the automatic guided vehicle 10 to stop. Therefore, surrounding workers can recognize at a glance that the automatic guided vehicle 10 has stopped due to the obstacle 5a pointed to by the robot 20.

In the embodiment and each modification example, the automatic guided vehicle 10 is configured to autonomously travel without a track, but the present invention is not limited to this. The automatic guided vehicle 10 may be configured to run on a track along a guide such as a magnetic tape or a light reflective tape, for example.

In the embodiment and each modification example, the control system 100 includes the host control device 40 and the vehicle-mounted control device 30; however, the control system 100 is not limited to this, and each functional section of the host control device 40 is configured to be controlled by the vehicle-mounted control device 40. The functions may be integrated into the device 30, or conversely, the functional units of the vehicle-mounted control device 30 may be integrated into the host control device 40 to remotely control the automatic guided vehicle 10.

In the embodiment and each modification example, the hand 24 is attached to the tip of the third arm 23 of the robot 20, but the hand 24 is not necessarily required. For example, when the work performed by the robot 20 is an air blowing operation, an air blowing device may be attached instead of the hand 24. In this case, the air blow device corresponds to the tip of the robot 20 on the working side.

In the embodiment and each modification, the distance sensor 14 is configured to scan the laser beam in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction, but may be configured to scan only in the horizontal direction, for example. Even in this case, the two-dimensional position of the obstacle 5 can be specified based on the distance data output from the distance sensor 14, so based on the two-dimensional position of the obstacle 5, the robot 20 can It is possible to perform an action of pointing to the object 5 (an obstacle designation action).

In the embodiment and each modification, the distance sensor 14 detects an object existing within a predetermined range in front of the automatic guided vehicle 10; however, the present invention is not limited to this. An object existing within a predetermined range on the left side, right side, or rear side may be detected.

In the embodiment and each modification example, the object detection sensor is the distance sensor 14, but the object detection sensor is not limited to this, and may be an image sensor, for example. In this case, the coordinate position of each pixel and the respective brightness value output from the image sensor function as position information for specifying the position of the object.

Furthermore, the present invention includes any combination of the above embodiment and each modification.

Note that the description of the embodiments described above is illustrative in all respects and is not restrictive. Modifications and changes can be made as appropriate by those skilled in the art. The scope of the invention is indicated by the claims rather than the embodiments described above. Furthermore, the scope of the present invention includes changes from the embodiments within the scope of the claims and equivalents.

R Planned passage area V Planned travel route 1 Traveling robot system 5 Obstacle 5a Obstacle 5b Obstacle 10 Automatic guided vehicle 14 Distance sensor (object detection sensor)
20 Robot 24 Hand (the tip of the robot on the working side)
25 Hand-worn camera (camera)
25b Ring lighting (lighting device)
31a Travel control section 31b Robot control section 41a Job generation section 41b Travel route determination section 41c Obstacle detection section 41d Passage area calculation section 41e Interference prediction section

Claims

an automatic guided vehicle; a travel route determination unit that determines a scheduled travel route for the automatic guided vehicle; a travel control unit that causes the automatic guided vehicle to travel along the scheduled travel route determined by the travel route determination unit; A traveling robot system comprising a robot mounted on an unmanned guided vehicle and a robot control unit that controls the operation of the robot,
an object detection sensor mounted on the automatic guided vehicle that detects an object existing within a predetermined range from the automatic guided vehicle and outputs position information that allows the position of the object to be specified;
an obstacle detection unit that detects whether the object detected by the object detection sensor is an obstacle placed in a travelable area of the automatic guided vehicle;
a passage area calculation unit that calculates a planned passage area of the automatic guided vehicle along the planned travel route when the object is detected as an obstacle by the obstacle detection unit;
Based on the expected passage area of the automatic guided vehicle calculated by the passage area calculation unit and the position information of the obstacle outputted from the object detection sensor, the automatic guided vehicle moves along the scheduled travel route. an interference prediction unit that predicts whether or not the vehicle will interfere with the obstacle if the vehicle continues to travel;
The travel control unit is configured to stop the automatic guided vehicle before interfering with the obstacle when the interference prediction unit predicts that the automatic guided vehicle will interfere with the obstacle,
The robot control unit is configured to cause the robot to perform an obstacle designation operation to point to the obstacle when the interference prediction unit predicts that the automatic guided vehicle and the obstacle will interfere. A traveling robot system that is characterized by:
an automatic guided vehicle; a travel route determination unit that determines a scheduled travel route for the automatic guided vehicle; a travel control unit that causes the automatic guided vehicle to travel along the scheduled travel route determined by the travel route determination unit; A traveling robot system comprising a robot mounted on an unmanned guided vehicle and a robot control unit that controls the operation of the robot,
an object detection sensor mounted on the automatic guided vehicle that detects an object existing within a predetermined range from the automatic guided vehicle and outputs position information that allows the position of the object to be specified;
an obstacle detection unit that detects whether the object detected by the object detection sensor is an obstacle placed in a travelable area of the automatic guided vehicle;
a passage area calculation unit that calculates a planned passage area of the automatic guided vehicle along the planned travel route when the object is detected as an obstacle by the obstacle detection unit;
Based on the expected passage area of the automatic guided vehicle calculated by the passage area calculation unit and the position information of the obstacle outputted from the object detection sensor, the automatic guided vehicle moves along the scheduled travel route. an interference prediction unit that predicts whether or not the vehicle will interfere with the obstacle if the vehicle continues to travel;
When the interference prediction unit predicts that the automatic guided vehicle and the obstacle will interfere, the travel route determination unit determines whether there is an avoidance route that can avoid the interference, If it is determined that the avoidance route exists, the current scheduled travel route is updated to the avoidance route,
The travel control unit is configured to stop the automatic guided vehicle before interfering with the obstacle when the travel route determination unit determines that there is no avoidance route that can avoid the interference. ,
If the travel route determination unit determines that there is no avoidance route that can avoid the interference, the robot control unit may cause the robot to have an obstacle that points to the obstacle that is predicted to cause the interference. A traveling robot system characterized by being configured to execute an object-specifying motion.
The robot is an articulated robot that performs a predetermined task,
The obstacle designation operation is an operation of causing the tip of the robot on the work side to face an obstacle that is predicted to interfere with the automatic guided vehicle by the interference prediction unit, or to position it above the obstacle. The traveling robot system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that:
The robot is an articulated robot,
A camera equipped with a lighting device is attached to the robot,
The obstacle designation operation is characterized in that the robot takes a posture such that the illumination light of the illumination device faces an obstacle predicted by the interference prediction unit to interfere with the automatic guided vehicle. A traveling robot system according to any one of claims 1 to 3.