Robot for providing guidance service using artificial intelligence and method of operating the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11449074-B2
Application number	US-201916605462-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 18, 2019
Priority date	Jun 18, 2019
Publication date	Sep 20, 2022
Grant date	Sep 20, 2022

Abstract

A robot for providing a guidance service using artificial intelligence. The robot measures distances between external robots and the robot and, based on the measured distances, determines that robots are concentrated in a specific area. Based on the determination that robots are concentrated in the specific area, the robot moves some of the external robots to the specific area.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A robot for providing a guidance service using artificial intelligence, the robot comprising:
a communication unit; and
a processor configured to:
measure a distance between each of a plurality of external robots located in a first area and the robot,
determine a number of external robots for which the measured distance is within a certain distance, and
transmit, through the communication unit and to one or more external robots, a command for moving the one or more external robots among the plurality of external robots to a second area different from the first area based on the determined number of external robots within the certain distance of the robot being equal to or greater than a certain number,

wherein the processor acquires situation information of a user and position information of the user, and
wherein the processor transmits, through the communication unit and to the one or more external robots, the command for moving the one or more external robots to the second area corresponding to the acquired position information based on the acquired situation information indicating that the user needs guidance.

2. The robot according to claim 1 , wherein the processor receives task status information from each of the plurality of external robots and transmits the command for moving an external robot which has completed a task thereof to the second area when the external robot which has completed the task thereof is present based on the received task status information.

3. The robot according to claim 2 ,
wherein the processor requests area information from an external server through the communication unit and receives the area information according to the request, and
wherein the area information includes positions of the plurality of areas and the number of robots respectively disposed in the plurality of areas.

4. The robot according to claim 3 , wherein the processor determines, as the second area, an area in which the number of robots is smallest among the plurality of areas.

5. The robot according to claim 3 , wherein the processor determines, as the second area, as an area in which a ratio of the number of robots to the number of users is largest among the plurality of areas.

6. The robot according to claim 1 , further comprising a distance sensor configured to measure a time difference between a transmitted signal transmitted to an external robot and a response signal received in response to the transmitted signal through the communication unit,
wherein the processor measures the distance between each external robot and the robot based on the measured time difference.

7. The robot according to claim 1 , further comprising a global positioning system (GPS) module,
wherein the processor acquires first position coordinates of the robot through the GPS module, receives second position coordinates from an external robot, and measures a distance between the first position coordinates and the second position coordinates as the distance between each external robot and the robot.

8. The robot according to claim 1 , wherein the situation information includes one or more of voice information of the user or action information of the user.

9. The robot according to claim 8 ,
wherein the processor determines an action of the user from an acquired image using the image and an image recognition model and determines that the user needs the guidance when the determined action of the user is prestored, and
wherein the image recognition model is an artificial neural network model learned using a deep learning algorithm or a machine learning algorithm.

10. A method of operating a robot for providing a guidance service using artificial intelligence, the method comprising:
measuring a distance between each of a plurality of external robots located in a first area and the robot;
determining a number of external robots for which the measured distance is within a certain distance;
determining whether the number of external robots within the certain distance of the robot is equal to or greater than a certain number; and
transmitting, through the communication unit and to one or more external robots, a command for moving the one or more external robots among the plurality of external robots to a second area different from the first area based on the determined number of external robots being equal to or greater than the certain number,
wherein the method further comprises:
acquiring situation information of a user and position information of the user, and
transmitting, through the communication unit and to the one or more external robots, the command for moving the one or more external robots to the second area corresponding to the acquired position information based on the acquired situation information indicating that the user needs guidance.

11. The method according to claim 10 , further comprising receiving task status information from each of the plurality of external robots,
wherein the transmitting includes transmitting the command for moving an external robot which has completed a task thereof to the second area, when the external robot which has completed the task thereof is present based on the received task status information.

12. The method according to claim 11 , further comprising:
requesting area information from an external server; and
receiving the area information according to the request, and
wherein the area information includes positions of the plurality of areas and the number of robots respectively disposed in the plurality of areas.

13. The method according to claim 12 , further comprising determining, as the second area, an area in which the number of robots is smallest among the plurality of areas.

14. The method according to claim 12 , further comprising determining, as the second area, as an area in which a ratio of the number of robots to the number of users is largest among the plurality of areas.

Assignees

• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Lee Inho
• Lee Junmin

Classifications

• H04W4/029 Primary

  Location-based management or tracking services · CPC title

• G06V20/10

  Terrestrial scenes (scenes under surveillance with static cameras G06V20/52; scenes perceived from the exterior of a vehicle G06V20/56; scenes perceived from the interior of a vehicle G06V20/59) · CPC title

• G06F18/2148

  characterised by the process organisation or structure, e.g. boosting cascade · CPC title

• G05B13/027

  using neural networks only · CPC title

• B25J9/1664

  characterised by motion, path, trajectory planning · CPC title