Autonomous mobile robot control system, control method thereof, a non-transitory computer readable medium storing control program thereof, and autonomous mobile robot control device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2022066454-A1
Application number	US-202117392541-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 3, 2021
Priority date	Aug 26, 2020
Publication date	Mar 3, 2022
Grant date	—

Abstract

To effectively enhance the operation efficiency of an autonomous mobile robot, an autonomous mobile robot control system includes a host management device, and a plurality of environmental cameras, wherein the host management device performs moving body detection processing that detects in the moving range, moving body path estimation processing that estimates a moving route of each of the plurality of moving bodies on the basis of characteristics of each of the detected moving bodies, avoidance procedure generation processing that sets a plurality of moving bodies whose moving routes overlap among the detected moving bodies as avoidance processing target moving bodies, and generates an avoidance procedure for the avoidance processing target moving bodies so as not to interfere with each other's motion, and robot control processing that gives an instruction to perform avoidance behavior to the avoidance processing target moving bodies on the basis of the generated avoidance procedure.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An autonomous mobile robot control system comprising:
an autonomous mobile robot; a host management device configured to manage the autonomous mobile robot on the basis of a route plan defining a moving route of the autonomous mobile robot; and a plurality of environmental cameras configured to capture images of a moving range of the autonomous mobile robot and transmit the captured images to the host management device, wherein the host management device performs moving body detection processing that detects a plurality of moving bodies in the moving range on the basis of image information acquired using the plurality of environmental cameras, moving body path estimation processing that estimates a moving route of each of the plurality of moving bodies on the basis of characteristics of each of the detected moving bodies, avoidance procedure generation processing that sets a plurality of moving bodies whose moving routes overlap among the detected moving bodies as avoidance processing target moving bodies, and generates an avoidance procedure for the avoidance processing target moving bodies so as not to interfere with each other's motion, and robot control processing that gives an instruction to perform avoidance behavior to the avoidance processing target moving bodies on the basis of the generated avoidance procedure.

2 . The autonomous mobile robot control system according to claim 1 , wherein the moving body detection processing detects objects being movable and including at least one of a person, the autonomous mobile robot, and a carrying trolley as the moving bodies from the image information.

3 . The autonomous mobile robot control system according to claim 1 , wherein the moving body path estimation processing includes
identifying a moving route of the autonomous mobile robot in a period later than the present time on the basis of route plan information indicating a route plan for the autonomous mobile robot, and estimating a moving route of the moving body different from the autonomous mobile robot among the detected moving bodies on the basis of characteristics of the moving body and an action history of the moving body in a period earlier than the present time.

4 . The autonomous mobile robot control system according to claim 1 , wherein
the avoidance procedure generation processing performs moving body determination processing that determines whether at least one of the avoidance processing target moving bodies is a person or an object including a person, and when at least one of the avoidance processing target moving bodies is a person or an object including a person, and another one of the avoidance processing target moving bodies is the autonomous mobile robot, the avoidance procedure generation processing generates the avoidance procedure for the autonomous mobile robot set as the avoidance processing target moving body so as not to interfere with motion of the avoidance processing target moving body whose moving route overlaps a moving route of the autonomous mobile robot.

5 . The autonomous mobile robot control system according to claim 1 , wherein
the avoidance procedure generation processing performs moving body determination processing that determines whether at least one of the avoidance processing target moving bodies is a person or an object including a person, when at least one of the avoidance processing target moving bodies is not a person or an object including a person, the avoidance procedure generation processing performs priority identifying processing that identifies priorities of moving bodies included in the avoidance processing target moving bodies, and the avoidance procedure generation processing generates the avoidance procedure for the autonomous mobile robot corresponding to the moving body with low priority so as not to interfere with motion of the other avoidance processing target moving bodies.

6 . The autonomous mobile robot control system according to claim 1 , wherein the avoidance behavior includes giving an instruction to issue a warning to a notification device installed in the moving range, and
the host management device performs facility control processing that gives an instruction to issue a warning to the notification device on the basis of the avoidance procedure.

7 . The autonomous mobile robot control system according to claim 1 , wherein
when there is a security area where access is limited to a specific person in a moving route which the moving body is to follow, the avoidance procedure generation processing performs person determination processing that determines whether a person included in the moving body is a person allowed to enter the security area, when an unauthorized person determined not to be allowed to enter the security area exists at a specified distance from the moving body, the avoidance procedure generation processing generates measures to prohibit entry into the security area as the avoidance procedure, and the host management device performs facility control processing that gives an instruction to take measures to ensure security of the security area on the basis of the avoidance procedure.

8 . An autonomous mobile robot control method in an autonomous mobile robot control system including a host management device configured to manage an autonomous mobile robot on the basis of a route plan defining a moving route of the autonomous mobile robot, and a plurality of environmental cameras configured to capture images of a moving range of the autonomous mobile robot and transmit the captured images to the host management device, comprising:
detecting a plurality of moving bodies in the moving range on the basis of image information acquired using the plurality of environmental cameras by the host management device; estimating a moving route of each of the plurality of moving bodies on the basis of characteristics of each of the detected moving bodies by the host management device; setting a plurality of moving bodies whose moving routes overlap among the detected moving bodies as avoidance processing target moving bodies, and generating an avoidance procedure for the avoidance processing target moving bodies so as not to interfere with each other's motion by the host management device; and giving an instruction to perform avoidance behavior to the avoidance processing target moving bodies on the basis of the generated avoidance procedure by the host management device.

9 . A non-transitory computer readable medium storing an autonomous mobile robot control program executed in a host management device of an autonomous mobile robot control system including the host management device configured to manage an autonomous mobile robot on the basis of a route plan defining a moving route of the autonomous mobile robot, and a plurality of environmental cameras configured to capture images of a moving range of the autonomous mobile robot and transmit the captured images to the host management device, the autonomous mobile robot control program causing a computer to execute:
detecting a plurality of moving bodies in the moving range on the basis of image information acquired using the plurality of environmental cameras; estimating a moving route of each of the plurality of moving bodies on the basis of characteristics of each of the detected moving bodies; setting a plurality of moving bodies whose moving routes overlap among the detected moving bodies as avoidance processing target moving bodies, and generating an avoidance procedure for the avoidance processing target moving bodies so as not to interfere with each other's motion; and giving an instruction to perform avoidance behavior to the avoidance proces

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Takai Tomohisa
• Yamaguchi Yuhei
• Toyoshima Satoshi
• Watanabe Yuta
• Taira Tetsuya
• Honda Mikio
• Oda Shiro
• Otsuki Nobuhisa

Classifications

• H04N23/00

  Cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors; Control thereof · CPC title

• H04N23/90

  Arrangement of cameras or camera modules, e.g. multiple cameras in TV studios or sports stadiums · CPC title

• B60W60/0011

  involving control alternatives for a single driving scenario, e.g. planning several paths to avoid obstacles · CPC title

• G05D1/0251

  extracting 3D information from a plurality of images taken from different locations, e.g. stereo vision (stereoscopic image analysis H04N13/00; depth recovery from images G06T7/593) · CPC title

• G05D1/0088

  characterized by the autonomous decision making process, e.g. artificial intelligence, predefined behaviours (using knowledge based models G06N5/00) · CPC title