Method of moving in power assist mode reflecting physical characteristics of user and robot implementing thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11513532-B2
Application number	US-202016805260-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 28, 2020
Priority date	Jul 10, 2019
Publication date	Nov 29, 2022
Grant date	Nov 29, 2022

Abstract

A robot can include a cart to receive one or more objects; a camera sensor to photograph a periphery of the robot and capture an image of a user of the robot; a handle assembly coupled to the cart; a moving part to move the robot; a force sensor to sense a force applied to the handle assembly; and a controller configured to generate physical characteristics information on physical characteristics of the user of the robot based on the image of the user, and adjust at least one of a moving direction of the robot, a moving speed of the moving part and a value of torque applied to a motor of the moving part, based on the physical characteristics information and a magnitude of the force applied to the handle assembly sensed by the force sensor.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A robot comprising:
a cart configured to receive one or more objects;
a camera sensor configured to photograph a periphery of the robot and capture an image of a user of the robot;
a handle assembly coupled to the cart;
a moving part configured to move the robot;
a force sensor configured to sense a force applied to the handle assembly;
an obstacle sensor configured to detect an obstacle disposed around the robot; and
a controller configured to:
generate physical characteristics information on physical characteristics of the user of the robot based on the image of the user, and
adjust at least one of a moving direction of the robot, a moving speed of the moving part and a value of torque applied to a motor of the moving part, based on the physical characteristics information and a magnitude of the force applied to the handle assembly sensed by the force sensor,

wherein the controller is further configured to:
calculate an obstacle avoidance level for the robot based on a distance between the robot and the obstacle detected by the obstacle sensor and a moving speed of the robot, and
update the physical characteristics information of the user based on a comparison of the obstacle avoidance level and the force applied to the handle assembly.

2. The robot of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
control the camera sensor to capture the image of the user in a direction of the handle assembly when the robot begins to be controlled by the user,
extract gender information on a gender of the user from the image, and
generate the physical characteristics information based on the gender information.

3. The robot of claim 2 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
generate height information on a height of the user based on the image and shoulder width information on a shoulder width of the user based on the image, and
update the physical characteristics information of the user based on the height information and the shoulder width information.

4. The robot of claim 2 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
extract age information on an age of the user based on the image, and
generate the physical characteristics information of the user based on the age information.

5. The robot of claim 1 , wherein the physical characteristics information comprises a parameter to calculate a moving speed of the moving part or a value of the torque, in proportion to the magnitude of the force applied to the handle assembly sensed by the force sensor.

6. The robot of claim 1 , wherein the camera sensor is further configured to:
photograph an image of an article located in a receiving portion of the cart,
extract gender information on a gender of the user based on the image of the article, and
update the physical characteristics information of the user based on the gender information.

7. The robot of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
accumulatively store the force applied to the handle assembly and calculate a representative value of the force, and
update the physical characteristics information based on the representative value of the force.

8. The robot of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
in response to the robot being stopped and subsequently moved, control the camera sensor to capture another image and determine whether the user is replaced with another user based on the another image, and
update the physical characteristics information based on a comparison of the obstacle avoidance level and the force applied to the handle assembly or the another image.

9. The robot of claim 1 , further comprising:
an artificial intelligence processor configured to:
receive the image captured by the camera sensor,
generate description information of the image, and
output at least one of gender information on a gender of the user in the image, age information on an age of the user in the image, and relation information based on a relationship between an article in the image and the gender of the user.

10. A method for moving a robot, the method comprising:
photographing, by a camera sensor of the robot, a periphery of a handle assembly at a time point at which the robot moves and capturing an image of a user of the robot;
generating, by a controller of the robot, physical characteristics information on physical characteristics of the user of the robot based on the image;
adjusting, by the controller, at least one of a moving direction of the robot, a moving speed of the moving part and a value of torque applied to a motor of the moving part, based on the physical characteristics information and a magnitude of a force applied to the handle assembly sensed by a force sensor;
detecting, by an obstacle sensor in the robot, an obstacle disposed around the robot;
calculating, by the controller, an obstacle avoidance level for the robot based on a distance between the robot and the obstacle detected by the obstacle sensor and a moving speed of the robot; and
updating, by the controller, the physical characteristics information of the user based on a comparison of the obstacle avoidance level and the force applied to the handle assembly.

11. The method for moving the robot of claim 10 , further comprising:
controlling, by the controller, the camera sensor to capture the image of the user in a direction of the handle assembly when the robot begins to be controlled by the user;
extracting, by the controller, gender information on a gender of the user from the image; and
generating, by the controller, the physical characteristics information based on the gender information.

12. The method for moving the robot of claim 11 , further comprising:
generating, by the controller, height information on a height of the user based on the image and shoulder width information on a shoulder width of the user based on the image; and
updating, by the controller, the physical characteristics information of the user based on the height information and the shoulder width information.

13. The method for moving the robot of claim 11 , further comprising:
extracting, by the controller, age information on an age of the user based on the image; and
generating, by the controller, the physical characteristics information of the user based on the age information.

14. The method for moving the robot of claim 10 , wherein the physical characteristics information comprises a parameter to calculate a moving speed of the moving part or a value of the torque, in proportion to the magnitude of the force applied to the handle assembly sensed by the force sensor.

15. The method for moving the robot of claim 10 , the method further comprises:
photographing, by the camera sensor, an image of an article located in a receiving portion of the robot;
extracting, by the controller, gender information on a gender of the user based on the image of the article; and
updating, by the controller, the physical characteristics information of the user based on the gender information.

16. The method for moving the robot of claim 10 , the method further comprises:
accumulatively storing, by the controller, the force applied to the handle assembly and calculating a representative value of the force; and
updating, by the controller, the physical characteristics information based on the representative value.

17. The method for moving the robot of the user of claim 16 , further comprising:
in response to the robot being stopped and subsequently moved, controlling, by the controller, the cam

Assignees

• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Park Hyeri

Classifications

• B62B5/0073

  Measuring a force · CPC title

• B25J5/007

  mounted on wheels · CPC title

• B62B5/0096

  Identification of the cart or merchandise, e.g. by barcodes or radio frequency identification [RFID] · CPC title

• G06V40/178

  estimating age from face image; using age information for improving recognition · CPC title

• B25J9/1633

  compliant, force, torque control, e.g. combined with position control · CPC title