Robot control system and robot control method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10946525-B2
Application number	US-201715858374-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 29, 2017
Priority date	Jan 26, 2017
Publication date	Mar 16, 2021
Grant date	Mar 16, 2021

Abstract

A robot control system controlling a robot executing a personal service includes: a storage unit configured to store therein in advance trigger action information for which a task to be executed by the robot is formed by a series of actions and the actions and trigger conditions for respectively starting the actions are specified; a trigger determination unit configured to determine whether a trigger condition of the action is satisfied; an action execution unit configured to execute the action; and a task execution unit configured to sequentially select an action specified in the trigger action information of the task to be executed by the robot, cause the trigger determination unit to determine whether a trigger condition of the selected action is satisfied, and cause the action execution unit to execute the action when the trigger condition is satisfied.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A robot control system controlling a robot executing a personal service, the robot control system comprising:
a central processing unit;
an input/output device; and,
a memory communicatively coupled to the central processing unit, the memory
configured to store, in advance, trigger action information specifying a task to be executed by the robot, the task being formed by a series of actions, and specifying a trigger condition associated with an action in the series of actions, the trigger condition provided for starting the action in the series of actions;
the central processing unit configured to determine whether a trigger condition of the action is satisfied;
to execute the action;
to sequentially select the action specified in the trigger action information of the task to be executed by the robot, to determine whether a trigger condition of the selected action is satisfied, and execute the selected action when the trigger condition is satisfied;
wherein the robot control system is configured to control a plurality of robots working in coordination with each other to execute the task formed by the series of actions, the robot control system additionally comprising a coordination-type task management unit for determining that the task be responded to by a coordination response, the plurality of robots including a first robot allocated for execution of a first action of the task, and a second robot allocated for execution of a second action of the task which is started after completion of the first action of the task by the first robot;
wherein, upon the first robot exhibiting a behavior departing from the behavior expected by a person executing the personal service, the central processing unit inserts a handover action to be executed by the first robot between the first action and the second action;
the handover action being configured in the trigger action information and providing an indication to the user of coordination and replacement of the first robot by the second robot to provide the personal service in a way that appears natural to the user and eliminates user discomfort.

2. The robot control system according to claim 1 , wherein:
the trigger action information further has information on whether the action can be executed in parallel with other actions configured therein; and
the central processing unit determines whether the trigger condition of the selected action is satisfied during execution of a preceding action when the selected action can be executed in parallel with other actions, and determines whether the trigger condition of the selected action is satisfied after the preceding action has ended when the selected action cannot be executed in parallel with other actions.

3. The robot control system according to claim 1 , wherein the central processing unit manages the execution of the task,
stores therein task library information for specifying, for each task of a plurality of tasks, whether the task is a task that can be executed in parallel with other tasks of the plurality of tasks; and
refers to the task library information when the execution of the task is requested, starts the execution of the task regardless of whether other tasks are being executed as long as the task can be executed in parallel with other tasks, checks whether other tasks are being executed when the task cannot be executed in parallel with other tasks, and executes the task after other tasks have ended when other tasks are being executed.

4. The robot control system according to claim 2 , wherein the central processing unit is configured to manage the execution of the task, wherein:
the central processing unit stores therein task library information for specifying, for each task of a plurality of tasks, whether the task is a task that can be executed in parallel with other tasks of the plurality of tasks; and
the central processing unit refers to the task library information when the execution of the task is requested, starts the execution of the task regardless of whether other tasks are being executed as long as the task can be executed in parallel with other tasks, checks whether other tasks are being executed when the task cannot be executed in parallel with other tasks, and executes the task after other tasks have ended when other tasks are being executed.

5. The robot control system according to claim 1 , wherein
the robot usable for the personal service is provided in plurality,
in the trigger action information, allocation of the robot to execute the action can be configured, for each action in the series of actions,
the central processing unit of the robot control system configured to execute each action in the series of actions included in the trigger action information with use of the robot allocated for the execution of the action in the trigger action information.

6. The robot control system according to claim 2 , wherein
the robot usable for the personal service is provided in plurality,
in the trigger action information, allocation of the robot to execute the action can be configured, for each action in the series of actions,
the central processing unit of the robot control system configured to execute each action included in the trigger action information with use of the robot allocated for the execution of the action in the trigger action information.

7. The robot control system according to claim 5 , wherein the central processing unit is configured to configure an action included in a task and a robot to be used in the execution of the action on the basis of a required capability required for each action in the series of actions included in the task.

8. The robot control system according to claim 6 , wherein the central processing unit is configured to configure an action included in a task and a robot to be used in the execution of the action on the basis of a required capability required for each action in the series of actions included in the task.

9. The robot control system according to claim 8 , wherein the central processing unit inserts, when the first robot is allocated for execution of the first action and the second robot is allocated for execution of the second action after the first action, the handover action to be executed by the first robot between the first action and the second action so that the user can recognize robot replacement.

10. The robot control system according to claim 9 , wherein the central processing unit can configure in the trigger action information to the effect that the second action cannot be executed in parallel with other actions.

11. The robot control system according to claim 7 , wherein the central processing unit looks into whether there is a robot comprising a required capability required for all the actions included in the task and preferentially allocates, when there is a robot having the required capability, the robot to the action included in the task.

12. The robot control system according to claim 8 , wherein the central processing unit looks into whether there is a robot comprising a required capability required for all the actions included in the task and preferentially allocates, when there is a robot having the required capability, the robot to the action included in the task.

13. The robot control system according to claim 11 , wherein:
the actions included in the task may comprise an omittable action of which execution is omittable; and
the central processing unit looks into whether there is a robot having an essential required capability that is a required capability required for all actions other than the omittable action included in the ta

Assignees

• Hitachi Ltd

Inventors

• Dai Jingze
• Matsuda Tomohiro
• Yoshiuchi Hideya

Classifications

• B25J11/008 Primary

  Manipulators for service tasks · CPC title

• B25J9/1682 Primary

  Dual arm manipulator; Coordination of several manipulators · CPC title

• B25J9/1669

  characterised by special application, e.g. multi-arm co-operation, assembly, grasping · CPC title