Virtual rail based cruise method and apparatus and robot using the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11260529-B2
Application number	US-201916584968-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 27, 2019
Priority date	Dec 19, 2018
Publication date	Mar 1, 2022
Grant date	Mar 1, 2022

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a virtual rail based cruise method as well as an apparatus and a robot using the same. The method includes: obtaining a digital map including a virtual rail; performing a path planning based on the virtual rail, a current position of the robot, and a cruise end point to obtain a cruise path; and obtaining parameter(s) of the robot by calculating through a preset path tracking algorithm based on the cruise path and the current position of the robot, and controlling the robot based on the control parameter(s). In this manner, the problems of the prior art that needs to lay a rail or set an auxiliary device which causes high cost and inconvenience in usage as well as the rail needs to be re-laid or the auxiliary device needs to be reinstalled when the route is to be changed can be solved.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented virtual rail based cruise method for a robot comprising executing on a processor of the robot steps of:
obtaining area data of a virtual rail, performing a rasterizztion on a digital map based on the area data of the virtual rail, and labeling areas of the virtual rail and areas of a non-virtual rail with different attribute values in the rasterized digital map to obtain the digital map comprising the virtual rail;
performing a path planning based on the virtual rail, a current position of the robot, and a cruise end point to obtain a cruise path; and
obtaining one or more control parameters of the robot by calculating through a preset path tracking algorithm based on the cruise path and the current position of the robot, and controlling the robot based on the one or more control parameters;
wherein the step of performing the path planning based on the virtual rail, the current position of the robot, and the cruise end point to obtain the cruise path comprises:
taking a point of the virtual rail closest to the current position of the robot as a rail entry position point, in response to the current position of the robot being not within the virtual rail;
taking a point of the virtual rail closest to the cruise end point as a rail exit position point, in response to the cruise end point being not within the virtual rail;
taking a linear path from the current position of the robot to the rail entry position point as a rail entry path and taking a linear path from the rail exit position point to the cruise end point as a rail exit path;
performing the path planning through a preset path planning algorithm based on one of the current position of the robot and the rail exit position point, the rail entry position point and the cruise end point, and the rail entry position point and the rail exit position point to obtain the rail path; and
connecting the rail path with at least one of the rail entry path and the rail exit path to obtain the cruise path; and
wherein the step of performing the path planning through the preset path planning algorithm based on one of the current position of the robot and the rail exit position point, the rail entry position point and the cruise end point, and the rail entry position point and the rail exit position point to obtain the rail path comprises:
in response to the current position of the robot being within the virtual rail while the cruise end point being not within the virtual rail, performing the path planning through the preset path planning algorithm based on the current position of the robot and the rail exit position point to obtain the rail path;
in response to the current position of the robot being not within the virtual rail while the cruise end point being within the virtual rail, performing the path planning through the preset path planning algorithm based on the rail entry position point and the cruise end point to obtain the rail path; and
in response to the current position of the robot and the cruise end point being both not within the virtual rail, performing the path planning through the preset path planning algorithm based on the rail entry position point and the rail exit position point to obtain the rail path.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of performing the path planning based on the virtual rail, the current position of the robot, and the cruise end point to obtain the cruise path comprises:
performing the path planning through a preset path planning algorithm based on the current position of the robot and the cruise end point to obtain the cruise path, in response to the current position of the robot and the cruise end point being both within the virtual rail.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein before the step of obtaining the one or more control parameters of the robot by calculating through the preset path tracking algorithm based on the cruise path and the current position of the robot, and controlling the robot based on the one or more control parameters further comprises:
smoothing the cruise path through a preset curve fitting algorithm to obtain the smoothed cruise path.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the preset curve fitting algorithm comprises a three degree B-spline algorithm.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the robot comprises a localization equipment, and the current position of the robot is obtained through the localization equipment.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein a raster of the areas of the virtual rail is assigned an occupation attribute, and a raster of the areas of the non-virtual rail is assigned a non-occupation attribute.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the path planning is performed through a Dijkstra algorithm.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more control parameters comprise a linear velocity and an angular velocity of the robot, and the linear velocity and the angular velocity of the robot are calculated through following tracking control rate formula:

{

ω
=

k
⁢

⁢
Δφ

+

φ
d

v
=

γρ
⁢

⁢

cos
⁡

(

Δ
⁢

⁢
φ

)

;

where, ω is the angular velocity of the robot, ν is the linear velocity of the robot, k and γ are preset constants, Δφ is a pose comprised angle between a forward-looking position point in the cruise path and the current position of the robot.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the pose comprised angle is a difference between a pose angle of the robot at the forward-looking position point and a pose angle of the robot at the current position of the robot, ρ is an Euclidean distance between the forward-looking position point in the cruise path and the current position of the robot, and φ d is a virtual angular velocity of the robot.

10. A virtual rail based cruise apparatus for a robot comprising:
a virtual rail module configured to obtain area data of a virtual rail, perform a rasterization on a digital map based on the area data of the virtual rail, and label areas of the virtual r

Assignees

• Ubtech Robotics Corp Ltd

Inventors

• Zhang Jian
• Xiong Youjun
• Liu Zhichao
• Bai Longbiao
• Jiang Chenchen
• Zhang Simin
• Liu Hongjian
• Bi Zhanjia
• Zhao Yongsheng
• Pang Jianxin

Classifications

• G05D1/0212

  with means for defining a desired trajectory (involving a plurality of land vehicles G05D1/0287) · CPC title

• G05D1/0274

  using mapping information stored in a memory device (navigation using map-matching G01C21/30) · CPC title

• G05D1/0276

  using signals provided by a source external to the vehicle (involving a plurality of vehicles G05D1/0287; automatically controlling vehicle speed responsive to externally generated signals B60K31/0058) · CPC title

• G05D1/0221

  involving a learning process · CPC title

• G05D1/0214

  in accordance with safety or protection criteria, e.g. avoiding hazardous areas (monitoring the location of vehicles within a certain area, e.g. forbidden or allowed areas, in traffic control systems for road vehicles G08G1/13) · CPC title