Method and system for controlling elevator for robot passengers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12479690-B2
Application number	US-202017077585-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 22, 2020
Priority date	Oct 25, 2019
Publication date	Nov 25, 2025
Grant date	Nov 25, 2025

Abstract

A method of controlling an elevator includes detecting that a robot providing a service on a floor within a building has gotten on an elevator moving through floors within the building, and controlling the elevator to move to a floor where the robot is to provide the service. At least one of the internal user interface and the external user interface of the elevator is configured to indicate whether the robot is using the elevator.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method, performed by a computer system, of controlling at least one elevator for at least one robot passenger, comprising:
receiving a summons from a robot control system controlling the robot; selecting an elevator to be summoned to a floor indicated by the summons; controlling the selected elevator to move to the floor indicated by the summons; receiving a cancellation of the summons on the selected elevator from the robot control system when the robot is unable to get on the selected elevator; selecting another elevator to be summoned to the floor indicated by the summons; controlling the another elevator to move to the floor indicated by the summons; detecting that at least one robot providing a service on at least one of floors within a building has gotten on the selected elevator or the another elevator; controlling the selected elevator or the another elevator carrying the at least one robot to move to a floor where the at least one robot is to provide the service, wherein at least one of an internal user interface and an external user interface of the elevator carrying the at least one robot is configured to indicate whether the at least one robot is using the elevator carrying the at least one robot.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:
a plurality of elevators is provided in the building, and the method further comprises setting the elevator, among the plurality of elevators, as a dedicated elevator for the robot for a given time period.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein at least one of the external user interface and the internal user interface of the elevator set as the dedicated elevator is configured to indicate that the elevator has been set as the dedicated elevator.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the internal user interface is configured to indicate a floor where the at least one robot is to provide the service when the at least one robot gets on the elevator.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the internal user interface is configured to indicate information on a floor where another robot is to get on the elevator.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:
a plurality of robots provides services within the building, and when the plurality of robots are detected on the selected elevator or another elevator, controlling the selected elevator or the another elevator carrying the plurality of robots to sequentially move to floors where the plurality of robots are to provide services, respectively.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the elevator carrying the at least one robot is controlled to not move to a floor where a user summons the elevator carrying the at least one robot when the at least one robot has gotten on the elevator carrying the at least one robot.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the external user interface is configured to indicate that the at least one robot is getting on the elevator carrying the at least one robot or that the elevator carrying the at least one robot is used as a dedicated elevator for the robot, but not to indicate whether the elevator carrying the at least one robot goes up or down, a current location of the elevator carrying the at least one robot, and a floor where the elevator carrying the at least one robot is scheduled to stop.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the internal user interface is configured to have an inter-floor move button deactivated so that a user who has gotten on the elevator carrying the at least one robot is unable to set a floor to which the elevator carrying the at least one robot is to move.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein when a door of the elevator carrying the at least one robot is opened and the getting on of the at least one robot on the elevator carrying the at least one robot or a getting off of the at least one robot from the elevator carrying the at least one robot is performed, the internal user interface is configured to have a door close button deactivated so that a user who has gotten on the elevator carrying the at least one robot is unable to forcedly close the door of the elevator carrying the at least one robot.

11 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising setting a state of the elevator to be summoned as a full state when it is determined that a space sufficient for the at least one robot to get on the elevator to be summoned is not present,
wherein the state of the elevator to be summoned set in the full state is set as a summons-impossible state.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein:
the internal user interface of the elevator to be summoned is configured to output an indicator indicative of the full state, the indicator is output, until a user or the at least one robot in the elevator to be summoned gets off the elevator to be summoned and the sufficient space is secured, and the state of the elevator to be summoned is set as a summons-possible state when the sufficient space is secured.

13 . A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a program to perform the method according to claim 1 .

14 . A method, performed by a computer system, of controlling at least one elevator for at least one robot passenger, comprising:
receiving a summons from a robot control system controlling the robot; selecting an elevator to be summoned to a floor indicated by the summons; controlling the selected elevator to move to the floor indicated by the summons; receiving a cancellation of the summons on the selected elevator from the robot control system when a given number or more of users or robots are present in a waiting space for getting on the selected elevator; selecting another elevator to be summoned to the floor indicated by the summons; controlling the another elevator to move to the floor indicated by the summons; detecting that at least one robot providing a service on at least one of floors within a building has gotten on the selected elevator or the another elevator; and controlling the selected elevator or the another elevator carrying the at least one robot to move to a floor where the at least one robot is to provide the service, wherein at least one of an internal user interface and an external user interface of the elevator carrying the at least one robot is configured to indicate whether the at least one robot is using the elevator carrying the at least one robot.

15 . A method, performed by a computer system, of controlling at least one elevator for at least one robot passenger, comprising:
receiving a summons from a robot control system controlling a plurality of robots providing services within a building; selecting an elevator to be summoned to at least one floor indicated by the summons; controlling the selected elevator to move to the at least one floor indicated by the summons; detecting that the plurality of robots providing services on the at least one floor within the building has gotten on the selected elevator; and controlling the selected elevator carrying the plurality of robots to move to the at least one floor where the plurality of robots is to provide the services, wherein at least one of an internal user interface and an external user interface of the elevator carrying the plurality of robots is configured to indicate whether the at least one robot passenger is using the elevator, and the controlling of the selected elevator comprises controlling the selected elevator so that a robot to get off the selected elevator later, among the plurality of robots, gets on the selected elevator first.

16 . A system for controlling an elevator for at least one rob

Assignees

• Naver Labs Corp
• Naver Corp

Inventors

• Kim Seoktae
• Im Yesook

Classifications

• B66B1/3423

  Control system configuration, i.e. lay-out · CPC title

• B66B3/002

  Indicators · CPC title

• B66B2201/4661

  for priority users · CPC title

• B66B1/3446

  Data transmission or communication within the control system · CPC title

• B25J9/1666

  Avoiding collision or forbidden zones · CPC title