WO2014058161A1

WO2014058161A1 - Mobile robot and movement method for mobile robot using virtual wall

Info

Publication number: WO2014058161A1
Application number: PCT/KR2013/008432
Authority: WO
Inventors: 송세경; 전영진; 채윤현
Original assignee: Song Se Kyong
Priority date: 2012-10-08
Filing date: 2013-09-17
Publication date: 2014-04-17
Also published as: KR20140045025A

Abstract

The movement method for a robot according to the present invention comprises the steps of: (a) observing at least one externally provided position-recognition display; (b) using the position-recognition display(s) to calculate the relative movement direction and relative coordinates of the robot relative to the position-recognition display(s); and (c) calculating the movement speed so as to assess whether there has been a collision with a virtual wall in accordance with the relative movement direction and relative coordinates within a first time. The present invention makes it possible for the robot to move without going outside a specific area through the use of the virtual wall, even without operations requiring a substantial amount of computing power such as map compilation and absolute position estimation.

Description

Mobile Robot and Mobile Robot Movement Method Using Virtual Wall

The present invention relates to a mobile robot using a virtual wall and a moving method thereof, and more particularly, to a moving method using a virtual wall of a mobile robot that does not calculate a target point and a moving path.

In the past, autonomous mobile robot technology and a moving method for moving to a desired target point without collision have been disclosed.

In order for the mobile robot to recognize the surrounding environment information, calculate the travel path, and reach the target location, the mobile robot must recognize the absolute magnetic location and construct a map.

The mobile robot recognizes the surrounding environment information and constructs a map by the SLAM (Simultaneous Localization And Mapping) technique and the moving route map building by the worker. The SLAM technique automatically constructs a movement path map of the surrounding environment through internal or external sensors at a certain position, and repeats the process of finding the position of the moved robot again based on the configured map. At the same time, it is necessary to construct a new map every time the environment changes, and there is a problem that it is difficult to apply in public places where the space is small and the space is not constant. In addition, the movement route map building by the worker has a high time and expertise in making a driving pattern, is very expensive when using high resolution vision, requires a high performance CPU for real-time image processing, and has to move along a predetermined path.

In other words, the conventional robot moving along a predetermined driving pattern or driving route can be moved along the driving pattern or driving route only by constructing the entire surrounding map using the SLAM technique or the movement route map building by the operator, or continue in real time. To find out where the robot is. In this case, as described above, not only the amount of calculation is increased, but also the time required for constructing the map at the initial stage of the robot driving, and there is a problem that can be used only in limited space.

However, in the case of a mobile robot that does not have a specific target point among autonomous mobile robots, there is a case where a map configuration such as SLAM technique and map building and absolute position estimation are not necessary.

For example, in the case of a mobile robot that provides information while moving autonomously to an audience at an exhibition hall, if the robot recognizes the audience while moving around the space freely, the robot may move to the audience and provide information to the audience. Therefore, by providing information to the viewers who need the service according to the surrounding environment while moving freely rather than a specific driving route, a more familiar, natural and suitable service is possible for the visitors.

In this case, it is not necessary to perform a high computational processing such as map construction and absolute position estimation, and it is necessary to control so that the autonomous movement of the robot does not leave a specific area.

In this case, the movement of the guide robot can be naturally moved and moved along a random driving path instead of a predetermined driving path, and can be used as soon as only the virtual wall can be recognized.

Therefore, there is a need for a mobile robot and a method of moving the robot, which does not leave a specific area without a map building, such as map construction and absolute position estimation, and does not have a high computational amount and implements natural movement.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in an effort to provide a robot moving method and a mobile robot capable of moving a specific region without a map configuration and absolute position estimation.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for moving a robot that can move a specific area and a method for implementing a virtual wall for a mobile robot.

According to the movement of the robot for solving the problem of the present invention, (a) observing at least one or more position recognition display installed outside, (b) relative to the position recognition display using the position recognition display Calculating a moving direction and relative coordinates; and (c) determining a virtual wall collision based on the relative moving direction and the relative coordinates within a first time by calculating a moving speed.

The method of moving the robot may further include converting the moving direction when it is determined that the virtual wall collides in the step (c).

In the moving method of the robot, the moving direction converted in the step (d) may be a direction away from the virtual wall.

In the moving method of the robot, in the step (d), the converted moving direction is converted using at least one of an angle between the virtual wall and the relative moving direction or a position with respect to the relative moving direction of the virtual wall. It may be a direction of movement.

In the movement method of the robot, the position recognition display may be visually distinguished up, down, left and right.

In the robot moving method, step (a) may be observed by any one of an infrared camera, a visible light camera, an infrared light receiving means, a wireless communication means, and an ultrasonic wave receiving means.

In the robot moving method, the step (b) is a robot for the position recognition display using the distance of the position recognition display from the robot and the vertical vector of the virtual wall centered on the position recognition display and the angle of the robot. It may be to calculate the relative movement direction and relative coordinates of.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the mobile robot for solving the problem of the present invention, the position recognition observation unit for observing at least one or more position recognition display installed outside, using the position recognition display for the position recognition display It includes a virtual wall determination unit for calculating the relative movement direction and relative coordinates of the robot, calculates the movement speed to determine whether the virtual wall collision within a first time and a moving unit for moving the robot.

The mobile robot may further include a movement control unit for converting the movement direction when it is determined that the virtual wall collision.

The movement controller of the mobile robot may determine a movement direction converted to a direction away from the virtual wall.

The movement controller of the mobile robot may determine a movement direction converted using at least one of an angle between the virtual wall and the relative movement direction or a position of the virtual wall with respect to the relative movement direction.

The position recognition display of the mobile robot may be visually distinguished up, down, left and right.

The position recognition observer of the mobile robot may include any one of an infrared camera, a visible light camera, an infrared light receiving means, a wireless communication means, and an ultrasonic receiving means.

The virtual wall determination unit of the mobile robot may control the robot to perform a preset action when determining the observed position recognition display as a preset home display.

According to the present invention, a robot can perform a service while moving a specific area without a map configuration and absolute position estimation.

In addition, according to the present invention, the robot can move and perform services without leaving a specific area by using a virtual wall.

In addition, according to the present invention, the robot can move and move naturally because it can be moved by a random moving line instead of a predetermined driving path, and the robot can be used immediately by simply setting the position recognition display attached to the outside.

1 is a flowchart illustrating a method of moving a robot according to the present invention.

2 is a block diagram of a mobile robot according to the present invention.

3 is an embodiment of a position display.

4 is an embodiment of a moving method using a virtual wall of a mobile robot according to the present invention.

5 is an embodiment of a moving method using a virtual wall of a mobile robot according to the present invention.

6 shows an installation example of the position indication display.

7 is an embodiment of a moving method using a virtual wall of a mobile robot according to the present invention.

8 is an embodiment of a home display.

9 is an embodiment of a position display.

411, 412, 413, 414, 510, 611, 612, 613, 614, 811, 812, 813, 824: Position recognition display

815: home sign

430, 530, 740, 741: virtual wall

450, 620, 820: safe area

440, 520, 640, 840: mobile robot

Details of the object and technical configuration of the present invention and the resulting effects will be more clearly understood by the following detailed description based on the accompanying drawings. With reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail an embodiment according to the present invention.

As those skilled in the art can implement various applications of the present invention through the embodiments of the present disclosure, any embodiments described in the detailed description of the present invention are illustrative for better understanding of the present invention. It is not intended that the scope be limited to the embodiments.

Each functional unit represented herein is merely an example of an implementation of the present invention. Accordingly, other implementations may be used in other implementations of the invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. In addition, each functional unit may be implemented in purely hardware or software configurations, but may be implemented in a combination of various hardware and software configurations that perform the same functions.

An embodiment of a robot moving method according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 1.

The robot movement method according to an aspect of the present invention includes (a) position recognition display observation step (S110), (b) moving direction and coordinate calculation step (S120), (c) virtual wall collision determination step (S130). do.

A virtual fence is a boundary that the robot must not pass over, which means that it can be realized using a position display and act like a virtual wall. The safety zone means an interior zone composed of virtual walls, and may be implemented as a polygon.

For example, referring to FIG. 4, virtual lines 430 extending from both sides of the position recognition marks 411, 412, 413, and 414 may operate as virtual walls.

In FIG. 4, the position recognition mark is located at the center of the virtual wall. However, the position recognition mark may act as a vertex at a right angle to configure a safe area.

In addition, in FIG. 4, a four-sided safety region using four position recognition marks is taken as an example, but various types of safety regions may be configured by using at least three position recognition marks.

The position recognition mark should be provided externally, and the virtual extension line in the left and right directions from the position indication mark should act as a virtual wall.

That is, when the position recognition mark is recognized, it should be possible to determine whether the robot is currently inside the safety area.

Therefore, the position recognition display for implementing the virtual wall is sufficient if the upper, lower, left, and right of the position recognition display can be distinguished from each other when visually implemented, it is not necessary to uniquely distinguish each position recognition display (Fig. 3 or In FIG. 9, all of them may be used as a position recognition display for implementing a virtual wall.

In order to realize the virtual wall, when the position recognition display is visually implemented, the robot as shown in FIG. 3 or FIG. 9 may have a virtual line extending to both sides from the position recognition display as shown in FIG. Can be installed outside of

Referring to the visually implemented example of the position recognition display of FIG. 3, the position recognition display may be distinguished from both the case recognized from the bottom side and the case recognized from the top side, the right side, and the left side. As described above, the position recognition display may be installed on the outside so that the virtual extension line in the left and right directions from the position recognition display in which the top, bottom, left and right are distinguishable from each other may be the side of the desired safety region, thereby realizing the virtual wall and the safety region.

Referring to the visually implemented position recognition display of FIG. 3 and the installation example of FIG. 6, the lower direction of the visually implemented position recognition display of FIG. 3 is always installed to face the inside of the safety area as shown in FIG. 6. Virtual walls and safe areas can be implemented.

Where the location indication is displayed so that it can be visually observed, it can be displayed by a specific material so that it can be observed by a specific light such as infrared light, and by any one of an infrared camera, a visible light camera, and an infrared light receiving unit. Can be observed.

Alternatively, if the moving robot can determine the virtual wall for the safe area, the position recognition display can be performed. Therefore, the moving robot can be observed as the wireless communication means or the ultrasonic receiving means even if the visual indication is not performed.

For example, if the distance of the position recognition mark from the robot and the vertical vector of the virtual wall and the angle of the robot with respect to the position indication mark are known, the relative movement direction and the relative coordinates of the robot can be known. It can also be observed by means or by means of ultrasonic reception.

When the location recognition display is observed by the wireless communication means, the location recognition display may be implemented as a beacon, and after preset time synchronization with the robot, may transmit a preset radio wave. In this case, the robot may know the relative movement direction and relative coordinates of the robot with respect to the beacon by using the radio wave received from the beacon. This method is related to the prior art and is not described in detail herein.

Referring to FIG. 4, when the robot moves freely in the safety area 450 surrounded by the virtual wall 430, and moves 421 toward the virtual wall 430, position recognition marks 411, 412, and 413 installed outside are provided. , 414).

When the position recognition display installed outside from the position recognition observation unit is observed during the movement of the robot, the robot calculates the relative movement direction and relative coordinates of the robot with respect to the position recognition display.

Referring to FIG. 5, relative coordinates are calculated using the current position of the robot and the position of the position recognition mark observed in the position recognition observation unit.

Referring to FIG. 5, the robot 520 may move from a position of FIG. 5 (a) to a direction closer to the virtual wall 530 formed by the position recognition display 510 from FIG. 5 (b).

The robot may calculate the time to hit the virtual wall 530 formed by the position recognition display 510 by calculating the speed by the current moving unit.

In the case of FIG. 5A, if the time to hit the virtual wall 530 exceeds the preset first time, the robot 520 determines that the current virtual wall 530 is not colliding, and does not change the moving direction. .

When the robot 520 continues to move in the same direction as shown in FIG. 5B, the time that the robot 520 hits the virtual wall 530 is within a preset first time, and the robot 520 collides with the current virtual wall 530. I think I will.

When the robot 520 determines that the virtual wall 530 collides, the robot 520 may change the moving direction so that the virtual wall 530 may continue to move to the safe area without colliding with the virtual wall 530.

In this case, the robot 520 may determine the moving direction in a direction away from the virtual wall 530.

For example, the moving direction to be converted when colliding with the virtual wall may be set in advance in a direction to rotate left or right by a certain angle from the moving direction before the conversion.

In this case, the rotation direction may be determined using an angle formed between the virtual wall and the moving direction of the robot.

For example, as shown in FIG. 5C, when the virtual wall 530 is on the left side of the moving direction of the robot 520 and the robot 520 is determined to collide with the virtual wall 530, the robot 520 turns right. If the virtual wall 530 is to the right of the robot 520 moving direction and the robot 520 collides with the virtual wall 530 as shown in FIG. 5D, the robot 520 determines to turn left. Can be.

The rotation angle may be set in advance, or set to be randomly determined in a predetermined angle range, and in this case, the rotation angle may be determined using an angle between the virtual wall and the relative moving direction of the robot.

Referring to FIG. 7, while the robot moves 710 toward the virtual wall A 741, a collision with the virtual wall A 741 is determined, the robot moves to another virtual wall B 742 as the moving direction is changed again. Collision with can be determined again.

In this case, when the moving direction is determined again toward the virtual wall A 741 (731), the robot may repeat the virtual wall A 741 and the virtual wall B 742. Accordingly, the converted movement direction may determine the rotation angle of the converted movement direction such that the movement direction does not exceed the vertical surface vector of the virtual wall when the robot rotates to the right.

A mobile robot according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 2.

The mobile robot according to the present invention includes a position recognition observer 210, a virtual wall determiner 220, and a mover 230.

The position recognition observer 210 observes the position recognition display installed outside and transmits the result of the conversion to the virtual wall determination unit 220.

The location indication may be displayed to be visually observed or may be displayed by a specific material such that it may be observed by a specific light such as infrared light, and may be viewed by any one of an infrared camera, a visible light camera, and an infrared light receiving unit. Can be. Position recognition display may be displayed so that the top, bottom, left and right are distinguished so that the robot can distinguish the safe zone and the direction of the virtual wall.

The virtual wall determination unit 220 calculates the relative movement direction and the relative coordinates of the robot with respect to the position recognition display through the converted electrical signal, and calculates whether the robot is in a safe area or the movement speed of the robot. Determine whether to collide with the virtual wall.

The virtual wall determination unit 220 determines whether to collide with the virtual wall within the first time in consideration of the moving speed of the robot when determining whether the virtual wall collides, and if it is determined that the virtual wall collision, the moving control unit ( 240 may be further included.

The virtual wall determination unit 220 transmits the relative movement direction and relative coordinates of the robot to the position recognition display to the movement control unit 240 when it is determined that the virtual wall collision, the movement control unit 240 and the relative movement direction of the robot The relative coordinates can be used to change the direction of movement of the robot so that it does not collide with the virtual wall.

In addition, when the virtual wall determination unit 220 determines the observed position recognition display as a preset home display, the virtual wall determination unit 220 may control the robot to perform a preset action.

Referring to FIG. 8, when the robot 840 freely moves the safety area 820 formed of the position recognition marks 811 to 814 visually embodied, the robot 840 observes the preset home mark 815. The home display 815 may be set to move to a location where the home display 815 is located or to perform a predetermined action such as playing a specific content while staying for a predetermined time.

The home display is not limited in kind as long as it can be distinguished from the location recognition display. In addition, the acts performed when the home display is observed may also have various applications and do not limit the kind thereof.

The home display may be implemented as a plurality of home displays of the first home display and the second home display, which can be distinguished from each other by the application of the user, and the robot may be configured to perform the first or second action preset according to each home display. Naturally, you can set it.

When the robot converts the movement direction, the movement control unit 240 may change the movement direction of the robot according to the virtual wall collision schedule, and may be a direction away from the virtual wall, and the angle or the virtual wall between the virtual wall and the relative movement direction of the robot. The movement direction may be converted by using at least one of positions with respect to the relative movement direction of the robot.

The moving unit 230 means a means for moving the robot, such as a wheel, biped walking leg, a caterpillar, and the like.

Certain terms used in the embodiments described in order to facilitate understanding of the present invention do not limit the present invention. The present invention may include all components that are natural to those skilled in the art and all components having equivalent values.

Claims

(a) observing at least one or more position indications installed outside;

(b) calculating a relative movement direction and relative coordinates of the robot with respect to the position indication display using the position indication display;

(c) determining a virtual wall collision based on the relative direction of movement and the relative coordinates within a first time by calculating a movement speed;

Robot movement method including
The method of claim 1,

(d) converting the moving direction when it is determined that the virtual wall collides in the step (c);

Moving method of the robot further including
The method of claim 2,

In step (d),

The moving direction which is converted is a direction away from the virtual wall
The method of claim 3, wherein

In step (d),

The moving direction to be converted is a moving direction which is converted using at least one of an angle between the virtual wall and the relative moving direction or a position with respect to the relative moving direction of the virtual wall.
The method of claim 1,

The position recognition display method of moving the robot, characterized in that visually distinguished up, down, left and right
The method of claim 1,

In step (b),

The relative movement direction and relative coordinates of the robot with respect to the position recognition display are calculated using the distance of the position recognition display from the robot and the vertical vector of the virtual wall centered on the position recognition display and the angle of the robot. Robot movement method
The method of claim 1,

In step (b),

Method of moving the robot, characterized in that observed by any one of an infrared camera, visible light camera, infrared light receiving means, wireless communication means, ultrasonic receiving means
A position recognition observation unit for observing at least one or more position recognition marks installed outside;

A virtual wall determination unit configured to calculate a relative movement direction and relative coordinates of the robot with respect to the position recognition display by using the position recognition display, calculate a moving speed, and determine whether a virtual wall collides within a first time; And

A moving unit for moving the robot;

Mobile robot including
The method of claim 8,

If it is determined that the virtual wall collision mobile robot further comprises a movement control unit for changing the movement direction
The method of claim 9,

The movement controller determines a movement direction converted into a direction away from the virtual wall.
The method of claim 10,

The movement control unit,

A moving robot which determines a moving direction to be converted using at least one of an angle between the virtual wall and the relative moving direction or a position with respect to the relative moving direction of the virtual wall.
The method of claim 8,

The position recognition display is a mobile robot, characterized in that visually distinguished up, down, left and right
The method of claim 8,

The position recognition observation unit,

A mobile robot comprising any one of an infrared camera, a visible light camera, an infrared light receiving means, a wireless communication means, and an ultrasonic wave receiving means.
The method of claim 8,

The virtual wall determination unit,

In the case of determining the observed position recognition display as a preset home display, the robot may be controlled to perform a preset action.