Self-driving robot and method of operating same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11654570-B2
Application number	US-202016870515-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 8, 2020
Priority date	Dec 27, 2019
Publication date	May 23, 2023
Grant date	May 23, 2023

Abstract

The self-driving robot comprises: a loading box including at least one loading space; a communication circuit configured to transmit or receive a signal; an information collection device configured to detect a surrounding environment; a driving device configured to implement movement of the self-driving robot; and a processor configured to control the loading box, the communication circuit, and the information collection device, wherein the processor performs control so that the self-driving robot identifies delivery authority information and position information of an event operator, in response to detecting a delivery event while moving along a moving path, and the self-driving robot determines whether to open the loading box, on the basis of the delivery authority information and the position information.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A robot comprising:
a bin including a plurality of loading boxes;
a communication circuit configured to transmit or receive a signal;
a first sensor configured to detect information regarding a surrounding environment;
a motor configured to implement movement of the robot; and
a processor configured to:
detect a delivery event by interaction with an operator while moving along a moving path;
identify delivery authority information and position information of the operator in response to detecting the delivery event, and
determine whether to allow the operator to access the bin based on the delivery authority information and the position information,

wherein the delivery authority information identifies an authorized area in which the operator is given authority to access to the bin,
wherein the processor is further configured to:
when the delivery event is a package take-over event for receiving an object from the operator, acquire delivery class information indicating whether an authentication of a recipient is required when delivering the object to the recipient,
select, based on the acquired delivery class information, one of a first loading box, of the plurality of loading boxes, associated with a first delivery class or a second loading box of the plurality of loading boxes, associated with a second delivery class,
open the selected one of the first loading box or the second loading box to take over the object from the operator, and
when the delivery event is a package hand-over event for delivering the object to the operator, determine whether the object related to the operator is loaded in the bin, and provide delivery information of the object to the operator when the object is not loaded in the bin, and

wherein the delivery information includes estimated arrival time of another robot loaded with the object related to the operator.

2. The robot of claim 1 , wherein the delivery authority information indicates whether the operator is authorized to hand-over or take-over the object, and
the processor, when determining whether to allow the operator to access the bin, is further configured to manage the robot to hand-over the object to the operator or take-over the object from the operator based on the delivery authority information.

3. The robot of claim 2 , wherein the processor, when managing the robot to hand-over the object to the operator, is further configured to output information indicating a position of the object in the bin.

4. The robot of claim 2 , wherein the bin includes a second sensor configured to detect a weight of contents receive inside the bin, and
the processor monitors the weight of contents received inside the bin and determines based on monitoring the weight of the contents received inside the bin and when handing-over the object to the operator, whether the object was removed from the bin.

5. The robot of claim 4 , wherein the processor outputs information indicating whether the operator obtained the object from the bin.

6. The robot of claim 2 , wherein the processor performs authentication of the operator before handing-over the object to the operator.

7. The robot of claim 1 , wherein the first loading box of the first delivery class is a loading box that requires the recipient's authentication upon delivery of the object, and
the second loading box of the second delivery class is a loading box that does not require the recipient's authentication upon delivery of the object.

8. The robot of claim 1 , wherein the processor induces event processing at the authorized area when the bin is closed.

9. The robot of claim 1 , wherein the processor identifies, when the robot enters a specified area while moving along the moving path, at least one object to be handed over at the specified area to a particular operator, and determines a location of the particular operator when the particular operator is absent from the specified area.

10. A method of operating a robot, the method comprising:
detecting a delivery event by interaction with an operator while moving along a moving path;
identifying, in response to detecting the delivery event, delivery authority information and position information of an operator; and
determining, based on the delivery authority information and the position information, whether to allow the operator to access a bin of the robot,
wherein the delivery authority information identifies an authorized area in which the operator is given authority to access the bin,
wherein determining whether to allow the operator to access bin of the robot includes:
when the delivery event is a package take-over event for receiving an object from the operator, acquiring delivery class information indicating whether authentication of a recipient is required when delivering of the object to the recipient;
selecting, based on the acquired delivery class information, one of a first loading box associated with a first delivery class or a second loading box associated with a second delivery class;
opening the selected one of the first loading box or the second loading box to take over the object from the operator; and
when the delivery event is a package hand-over event for delivering the object to the operator, determining whether e object related to the operator is loaded in the bin; and providing, when the object is not loaded in the bin, delivery information of the object to the operator, and

wherein the delivery information includes an estimated arrival time of another robot loaded with the object related to the operator.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the delivery authority information identifies whether to hand-over an object to the operator or to take-over the object from the operator, and
the method further comprises handing-over the object to the operator or taking-over the object from the operator based on the delivery authority information in response to determining whether to allow the operator to access the bin.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein handing-over the object comprises:
providing information identifying a position of the object in the bin.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein handing-over the object comprises:
monitoring a weight of contents inside the bin; and
determining, based on the weight of the contents inside the bin, whether the object was removed from the bin by the operator.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising outputting information indicating whether the hand-over of the object to the operator was successfully completed.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein handing-over the object to the operator comprises:
performing authentication of the operator before enabling the operator to acquire the object from the bin.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein the first loading box of the first delivery class is a loading box that requires the recipient's authentication upon delivery of the object, and
the second loading box of the second delivery class is a loading box that does not require the recipient's authentication upon delivery of the object.

17. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
performing event processing at the authorized area, when the bin is closed.

18. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
identifying, in response to the robot entering a specified area while moving along the moving path, at least one object to be handed over at the specified area; and
determining a location of a particular operator in response to determining that the particular operator for the hand-over of the a

Assignees

• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Jang Yujune
• Kim Hyoungmi
• Choi Jeongeun
• Han Sunghee

Classifications

• B25J9/1679

  characterised by the tasks executed · CPC title

• G06Q10/083 Primary

  Shipping · CPC title

• B25J9/1694 Primary

  characterised by use of sensors other than normal servo-feedback from position, speed or acceleration sensors, perception control, multi-sensor controlled systems, sensor fusion · CPC title

• B25J9/1674

  characterised by safety, monitoring, diagnostic · CPC title

• B25J9/161

  Hardware, e.g. neural networks, fuzzy logic, interfaces, processor · CPC title