KR102697179B1 - Management system of autonomous driving robot for moving between floors - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an inter-floor movement operation system of an autonomous driving robot, which is implemented through communication linkage between an elevator control module installed in an elevator and controlling floor selection, boarding/disembarking, and door opening/closing of the elevator; and an elevator operation control server that performs integrated control of the operation of each elevator installed in a building; and an autonomous driving robot. The present invention provides a technology for achieving stability and efficiency in an elevator boarding/disembarking situation of a robot in a process of performing inter-floor movement in conjunction with the elevator system of a building.

Description

{MANAGEMENT SYSTEM OF AUTONOMOUS DRIVING ROBOT FOR MOVING BETWEEN FLOORS}

The present invention relates to an autonomous driving robot operation system that performs inter-floor movement in conjunction with a building's elevator system, and relates to a technology that can achieve stability and efficiency in situations where a robot gets on or off an elevator.

Recently, autonomous service robots have been actively developed for the purpose of performing (acting on behalf of) errand services, delivery services, cleaning services, and guide services. Meanwhile, in order to provide the aforementioned services without being limited to the location and location within a building, technology that allows service robots to ride in an elevator and move autonomously between floors is inevitably applied. Accordingly, technology is required that allows autonomous service robots to stably move between floors by linking with the building's elevator system.

Korean Patent Registration No. 10-1523268 (registered on May 20, 2015) Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2022-0161705 (published on December 7, 2022) Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2022-0169667 (published on December 28, 2022)

The present invention is a technology for providing an autonomous driving robot operating system that performs inter-floor movement in conjunction with a building's elevator system, which can achieve stability and efficiency in situations where the robot gets on and off an elevator.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system for operating an inter-floor movement of an autonomous driving robot, which is implemented through communication linkage between an elevator control module installed in an elevator and controlling floor selection, boarding/disembarking, and door opening/closing of the elevator; and an elevator operation control server that performs integrated control of the operation of each elevator installed in a building; and an autonomous driving robot. The system provides a technology for establishing stability and efficiency in an elevator boarding/disembarking situation of a robot in a process of performing inter-floor movement in conjunction with the elevator system of a building.

According to the inter-floor movement autonomous driving robot operating system according to an embodiment of the present invention, in the process of performing inter-floor movement in conjunction with the elevator system of a building, it is possible to achieve the effect of establishing stability and efficiency in situations where the robot gets on and off an elevator.

FIG. 1 is a drawing for generally explaining an inter-floor movement operation system of an autonomous driving robot according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining a boarding process of an autonomous driving robot according to one embodiment of the inter-floor movement operation system of FIG. 1.

The present invention can be modified in various ways and has various embodiments, and specific embodiments are illustrated in the drawings and described in detail in the detailed description. However, this is not intended to limit the present invention to specific embodiments, but should be understood to include all modifications, equivalents, or substitutes included in the spirit and technical scope of the present invention.

In describing the present invention, if it is judged that a detailed description of a related known technology may unnecessarily obscure the gist of the present invention, the detailed description thereof will be omitted. In addition, numbers (e.g., first, second, etc.) used in the description of this specification are merely identifiers for distinguishing one component from another.

In addition, when a component is referred to as being "connected" or "connected" with another component throughout the specification, it should be understood that the component may be directly connected or directly connected to the other component, but may also be connected or connected via another component in between, unless otherwise specifically stated. In addition, when a part is said to "include" a component throughout the specification, this does not mean that other components are excluded, but rather that other components can be included, unless otherwise specifically stated. In addition, terms such as "part" and "module" described in the specification mean a unit that processes at least one function or operation, and this means that it can be implemented by one or more hardware or software, or a combination of hardware and software.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings.

[Overall interfloor movement operation system of autonomous driving robot]

FIG. 1 is a drawing for generally explaining an inter-floor movement operation system of an autonomous driving robot according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the inter-floor movement operation system according to an embodiment of the present invention is implemented through communication linkage between an elevator control module (200) installed in an elevator and controlling floor selection, boarding/descent, and door opening/closing of the elevator; an elevator operation control server (300) that performs integrated control of the operation of each elevator installed in a building; and an autonomous driving robot (100).

At this time, the elevator operation control server (300) and the elevator control module (200) can be communicated and linked through a wired or wireless communication network, the elevator operation control server (300) and the autonomous driving robot (100) can be communicated and linked through a wireless communication network, and the autonomous driving robot (100) and the elevator control module (200) can be communicated and linked through short-range wireless communication (e.g., BLE (Bluetooth low energy) beacon, etc.).

The autonomous driving robot (100) may be configured to include a communication unit (110) (e.g., a wireless communication module such as LTE/5G, a short-range communication module, etc.); a sensor unit (120); a map storage unit (130); an autonomous driving unit (140); a control unit (150); an output unit (160) (e.g., a display module, a voice/sound output module, etc.); a memory (170), etc. Accordingly, the autonomous driving robot (100) performs autonomous driving along a driving route set by a driving environment map pre-stored in the map storage unit (130), and performs obstacle detection and avoidance operations through the sensor unit (120) during the autonomous driving process. At this time, the sensor unit (120) may include a LiDAR sensor, an IMU sensor, an IR (Infrared) sensor, an image sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, etc. In addition, the autonomous driving robot (100) wirelessly transmits an elevator call signal including departure floor information and arrival floor information to the elevator operation control server (300) for interfloor movement in conjunction with the elevator.

The elevator control module (200) is installed in an elevator and may include a communication unit (210) (which may also include a wired/wireless communication module and a short-range communication module); an elevator control unit (220); a floor detection module (230); etc. At this time, the elevator control unit (220) controls floor selection, ascending/descending, and door opening/closing operations of the elevator. However, the floor detection module (230) may be installed independently and separately from the elevator control module (200), but may be configured to be data-linked with the elevator control module (200).

The elevator operation control server (300) may be configured to include a communication unit (310); an information processing unit (330); an operation control unit (340); a database (350); etc., in order to perform integrated control of the operation of each elevator installed in the building. In addition, the elevator operation control server (300) may also include a robot registration unit (320) for registering and managing an operation robot to perform inter-floor movement.

[Boarding process for interfloor movement of autonomous driving robots]

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining a boarding process of an autonomous robot according to an embodiment of the inter-floor movement operation system of FIG. 1. Hereinafter, an elevator boarding process of an autonomous robot for inter-floor movement will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 2.

The autonomous driving robot (100) wirelessly transmits an elevator call signal including departure floor information and arrival floor information to the elevator operation control server (300) for interfloor movement in conjunction with an elevator [see S110 of FIG. 2].

More specifically, the autonomous driving robot (100) can transmit the elevator call signal to the elevator operation control server when it moves to the coordinates of the elevator boarding waiting point preset in response to the departure floor on the driving environment map stored in the map storage unit (130).

Accordingly, the elevator operation control server (300) transmits a departure floor button selection signal to the elevator control module (200) so that the elevator call button determined in accordance with the departure floor and arrival floor information according to the elevator call signal is selected by the outdoor control board installed on the departure floor of the calling elevator [see S120 of FIG. 2].

For example, if the set departure floor is the 3rd floor and the arrival floor is the 10th floor, a departure floor button selection signal that selects the up button among the elevator call buttons on the outdoor control board of the elevator on the 3rd floor is transmitted to the elevator control module (200).

Thereafter, the elevator control module (200) broadcasts, through the short-range communication module, information on the direction of ascent and descent according to the subsequent ascent and descent operation of the calling elevator when the calling elevator stops at the departure floor [see S125 of FIG. 2].

As described above, the reason for broadcasting the information on the direction of boarding of the called elevator is as follows. When the autonomous robot (100) moves to the coordinates of the preset elevator boarding waiting point corresponding to the departure floor, and the called elevator stops at the corresponding departure floor and opens the door, the autonomous robot (100) cannot distinguish whether the elevator stopped at the departure floor because it was called or because a passenger riding in the called elevator selected the departure floor as the arrival floor.

Therefore, in an embodiment of the present invention, when a call elevator stops at a departure floor, information about the direction of boarding and disembarking after the stop is broadcasted at a predetermined time point before or at the time of the stop so that the autonomous robot (100) can confirm the information.

Accordingly, the autonomous driving robot (100) can determine whether the boarding direction information is the same as the target boarding direction from the departure floor to the arrival floor, and if the boarding direction information is the same as the target boarding direction, switch to a boarding preparation state, and if the boarding direction information is not the same as the target boarding direction, maintain the current boarding standby state.

In addition, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the elevator operation control server (300) obtains information related to free space in a calling elevator [see S130 of FIG. 2] and enables the free space-related information to be transmitted to an autonomous driving robot (100).

At this time, the process of obtaining information related to free space inside the calling elevator is specifically described below.

The elevator operation control server (300) calculates an unoccupied area of the elevator interior floor area that is not occupied by people and objects through image analysis based on an indoor image acquired from an image capturing device (e.g., CCTV, etc.) installed above the interior of the call elevator, at a pre-designated proximity point in time before the call elevator arrives at the departure floor or at a predetermined point in time after reaching the floor immediately preceding the departure floor (e.g., when the departure floor is the 3rd floor, the elevator departs from the 2nd or 4th floor depending on the ascending or descending direction) in the call elevator, after which the call elevator stops at the departure floor [see S131 of FIG. 2].

Thereafter, the elevator operation control server (300) compares the calculated unoccupied area with the minimum boarding space area required when the autonomous robot boards the elevator [see S133 of FIG. 2], and at a predetermined time before or after the arrival at the departure floor, transmits the free space-related information according to the comparison result directly to the autonomous robot or broadcasts it through a communication module mounted on the elevator control module [see S135 of FIG. 2].

At this time, the minimum boarding space area can be set in various ways by the operator depending on the system design method, but it is desirable to minimize problems such as collisions with people during boarding of the robot by setting it to exceed the occupied area when the operating robot is boarded.

In this case, the autonomous driving robot (100) receives information related to free space in the called elevator as described above [see S140 of FIG. 2], and executes a preset elevator boarding process based on the received information related to free space [see S150 of FIG. 2].

Below, the information related to free space and the preset elevator boarding process based on it are explained in more detail.

As a first case, the elevator operation control server (300) causes a boarding preparation message to be transmitted to the autonomous driving robot as the free space related information when the call elevator stops at the departure floor and the boarding direction information of the call elevator is the same as the target boarding direction confirmed based on the departure floor information and the arrival floor information according to the elevator call signal, and when the unoccupied area is equal to or greater than the minimum boarding space, so that the autonomous driving robot can execute a pre-designated boarding preparation process.

At this time, in order to ensure the safety of the robot's boarding, at least one of a robot boarding guidance message (e.g., guiding that the robot will board the next floor) and a robot entry cooperation request message (e.g., requesting that an entry path be secured for the robot to enter when the door is opened) can be output inside the call elevator through a voice output device mounted on the elevator control module (200) at at least one of the time points before and after the call elevator arrives at the departure floor and before and after the autonomous robot boards the elevator.

As a second case, the elevator operation control server (300) may process as follows when the call elevator stops at the departure floor, the boarding direction information of the call elevator is the same as the target boarding direction confirmed based on the departure floor information and arrival floor information according to the elevator call signal, and the unoccupied area is less than the minimum boarding area.

First, if the same floor button as the departure floor is not selected through the indoor control board of the calling elevator (i.e., if the departure floor of the robot does not correspond to the arrival floor of the passenger who boarded the elevator), a message indicating that boarding is not possible is transmitted to the autonomous driving robot as the information related to the free space.

Next, if the same floor button as the departure floor has been selected as the arrival floor through the indoor control board of the calling elevator, a boarding waiting message is transmitted as the free space related information to the autonomous driving robot. If the boarding waiting message is transmitted to the autonomous driving robot, the elevator operation control server (300) can recalculate the unoccupied area changed according to the number of people getting off the elevator at the departure floor through image analysis, and can retransmit the free space related information based on the comparison result between the recalculated unoccupied area and the minimum boarding free area to the autonomous driving robot.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the elevator operation control server (300) can include the passenger space area information in the free space-related information and transmit it to the autonomous driving robot (100).

Accordingly, as a third case, the autonomous driving robot (100) can maintain the current boarding standby state if the boarding direction information is not the same as the target boarding direction and the unoccupied area is less than the minimum boarding area, and can change the current boarding standby state to a boarding preliminary preparation state if the boarding direction information is not the same as the target boarding direction and the unoccupied area is greater than or equal to the minimum boarding area.

Even if the boarding direction information is not the same as the target boarding direction, if there is space for boarding, it is necessary to board in advance in case there is a shortage of boarding space in the future.

In a state of preliminary boarding readiness, the autonomous driving robot (100) estimates the number of people waiting to board the elevator that exists in advance between the elevator boarding entrance connecting the elevator door in front from the elevator boarding waiting point through object estimation (e.g., shape estimation based on LiDAR or object recognition based on camera image, etc.) using the sensor unit (120), calculates a boarding occupancy area predicted to be occupied based on the estimated number of people waiting to board based on a pre-specified criterion, and compares the remaining area obtained by subtracting the calculated boarding occupancy area from the boarding vacancy area information and the minimum boarding vacancy area to determine whether to board the elevator.

Accordingly, the autonomous driving robot (100) can re-convert the boarding preparation state to a boarding standby state when the remaining area is less than the minimum boarding area.

In addition, the autonomous driving robot (100) calculates an elevator boarding time expected to be required based on the estimated number of passengers waiting to board if the remaining area is greater than or equal to the minimum available boarding area based on a pre-designated criterion (e.g., multiplying the unit time required by the number of passengers waiting) and, if the calculated boarding time is subtracted from the pre-designated boarding time and the remaining time is less than the safe boarding time required for the autonomous driving robot to board the elevator (e.g., if the pre-designated boarding time is 40 seconds, the calculated boarding time of the waiting passengers is 12 seconds (4 passengers in total, 3 seconds per passenger), and the safe boarding time of the robot is 30 seconds), the boarding preliminary preparation state can be re-converted to a boarding standby state.

On the other hand, if the remaining area is greater than or equal to the minimum boarding area and the remaining time is greater than or equal to the safe boarding time, the autonomous driving robot (100) can switch the boarding preliminary preparation state to the boarding preparation state and execute a pre-designated boarding preparation process.

In one embodiment, the boarding request time may be set to the door opening/closing interval (time) from when the door of the elevator is opened until the door starts closing, assuming that the door open button is not pressed again. In addition, in one embodiment, information about the boarding request time may be transmitted to the autonomous driving robot (100) from at least one of the elevator operation control server (300) and the elevator control module (200) when the called elevator arrives at the departure floor. Through this, the autonomous driving robot (100) may perform time counting using the boarding request time information, thereby independently determining whether safe boarding is possible.

Although the present invention has been described above with reference to embodiments thereof, it will be readily understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications and changes may be made to the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as set forth in the claims below.

Claims (3)

An elevator control module installed in an elevator to control floor selection, boarding and descent, and door opening and closing of the elevator; and an elevator operation control server that performs integrated control of the operation of each elevator installed in a building; and an autonomous driving robot interfloor movement operation system implemented through communication linkage between the autonomous driving robot,
The above autonomous driving robot,
An autonomous driving unit that autonomously drives according to a driving route set by a pre-stored driving environment map; a sensor unit that detects an obstacle on the driving route to avoid obstacles; a communication unit that performs communication with the elevator operation control server and the elevator control module; Including, when moving to the coordinates of an elevator boarding waiting point preset corresponding to a departure floor on the driving environment map, an elevator call signal including the departure floor information and arrival floor information is wirelessly transmitted to the elevator operation control server,
The elevator control module installed in the call elevator selected by the elevator operation control server according to the elevator call signal is characterized in that, when the call elevator stops at the departure floor, it broadcasts the information on the direction of ascent and descent according to the subsequent ascent and descent operation of the call elevator through the short-range communication module.
When the above broadcasted boarding direction information is received, it is determined whether the boarding direction information is the same as the target boarding direction from the departure floor to the arrival floor, and if the boarding direction information is the same as the target boarding direction, it switches to a boarding preparation state, and if the boarding direction information is not the same as the target boarding direction, it maintains the current boarding standby state.
The above elevator operation control server,
A departure floor button selection signal is transmitted to the elevator control module so that an elevator call button determined in accordance with the departure floor and arrival floor information according to the elevator call signal is selected by an outdoor control board installed on the departure floor of the calling elevator,
After the elevator call button for the corresponding departure floor is selected according to the departure floor button selection signal, when the call elevator stops at the departure floor, at a predetermined proximity point before the call elevator arrives at the departure floor or at a predetermined point after reaching the floor immediately preceding the departure floor, an unoccupied area among the floor area of the interior of the elevator that is not occupied by people and objects is calculated through image analysis based on an indoor image acquired from an image capturing device installed indoors above the call elevator,
By comparing the calculated unoccupied area with the minimum boarding space area required when the autonomous robot boards the elevator, information related to the free space according to the comparison result is transmitted directly to the autonomous robot at a predetermined time before or after the arrival at the departure floor, or is broadcasted through the short-range communication module mounted on the elevator control module.
The above free space related information includes information on the passenger space area.
The above autonomous driving robot,
If the above boarding direction information is not the same as the target boarding direction and the non-occupied area is less than the minimum boarding area, the current boarding waiting state is maintained.
A system for operating an inter-floor movement of an autonomous robot, characterized in that when the above boarding direction information is not the same as the target boarding direction and the above unoccupied area is greater than or equal to the minimum available boarding area, the current boarding standby state is converted to a boarding standby state, the number of people waiting to board the elevator existing in advance between the elevator boarding entrance connecting the elevator boarding waiting point and the front elevator door is estimated through object estimation using the sensor unit, the boarding occupancy area predicted to be occupied according to the estimated number of people waiting to board is calculated according to a predetermined standard, and the remaining area obtained by subtracting the calculated boarding occupancy area from the boarding occupancy area information is compared with the minimum available boarding area to determine whether to board the elevator. In the first paragraph,
The above autonomous driving robot,
If the above remaining area is less than the above minimum boarding space, the boarding preparation state is re-converted to the boarding standby state.
If the remaining area is greater than or equal to the minimum boarding space, the elevator boarding time expected to be required based on the estimated number of passengers waiting to board is calculated based on pre-specified criteria, and if the remaining time obtained by subtracting the calculated boarding time from the pre-specified boarding time is less than the safe boarding time required for the autonomous robot to board the elevator, the boarding preliminary preparation state is re-converted to the boarding standby state.
An inter-floor movement operation system for an autonomous driving robot, characterized in that when the remaining area is greater than or equal to the minimum boarding area and the remaining time is greater than or equal to the safe boarding time, the boarding preliminary preparation state is converted to a boarding preparation state and a pre-designated boarding preparation process is executed. In the second paragraph,
Information about the above boarding request time is transmitted from at least one of the elevator operation control server and the elevator control module to the autonomous driving robot as the called elevator arrives at the departure floor.
An inter-floor movement operation system for an autonomous driving robot, characterized in that the autonomous driving robot independently performs a judgment on whether safe boarding is possible through time counting using the boarding requirement time information.