Autonomous action robot, and control method for autonomous action robot

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9639084-B2
Application number	US-201514831279-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 20, 2015
Priority date	Aug 27, 2014
Publication date	May 2, 2017
Grant date	May 2, 2017

Abstract

An autonomous action robot includes: a sound acquisition unit that acquires an acoustic signal; a sound source localization unit that estimates a direction of a sound source with respect to the acoustic signal; a distance measurement unit that performs measurements related to distance for a predetermined range; a map information generation unit that generates two-dimensional map information and that estimates a self-location of the autonomous action robot, using information of the distance; a sound source direction determination unit that re-estimates the direction of the sound source based on the two-dimensional map information, the estimated self-location information, and the estimated sound source direction; an action generation unit that generates an action plan based on the two-dimensional map information and the sound source direction estimated by the sound source direction determination unit; and a control unit that controls the autonomous action robot according to the action plan.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An autonomous action robot comprising:
a sound acquisition unit configured to acquire an acoustic signal;
a sound source localization unit configured to estimate a direction of a sound source with respect to the acoustic signal, using the acquired acoustic signal;
a distance measurement unit configured to perform measurements related to distance for a predetermined range;
a map information generation unit configured to generate two-dimensional map information and that estimates a self-location of the autonomous action robot, using information of the distance;
a sound source direction determination unit configured to re-estimate the direction of the sound source by determining whether the acoustic signal is a reflection reflected from a reflective object or a direct sound from the sound source, based on the two-dimensional map information, the estimated self-location information, and the estimated sound source direction;
an action generation unit configured to generate an action plan for moving toward a first direction if the acoustic signal is determined as a reflection and that generates an action plan for moving toward a second direction that differs from the first direction if the acoustic signal is determined as a direct sound, based on the two-dimensional map information and the sound source direction estimated by the sound source direction determination unit; and
a control unit configured to control the autonomous action robot according to the action plan.

2. The autonomous action robot according to claim 1 , wherein the second direction is a direction that is closer to the sound source than the first direction.

3. The autonomous action robot according to claim 1 further comprising a detection unit configured to detect angular velocity and acceleration of the autonomous action robot, and the map information generation unit corrects the estimated self-location, using detection results detected by the detection unit.

4. The autonomous action robot according to claim 1 further comprising
an image capturing unit configured to capture images, and
an integration unit configured to integrate the generated two-dimensional map information and three-dimensional map information that uses a three-dimensional image based on the captured image,
and the action generation unit generates an action plan, using map information that is integrated by the integration unit.

5. The autonomous action robot according to claim 1 , wherein the sound source direction determination unit:
calculates a line segment that shows a relationship between an estimated self-location and an obstacle at each frame, using the sound source direction localized by the sound source localization unit and the estimated self-location that indicates the self-location estimated by the map information generation unit;
calculates an intersection point between the line segment and the obstacle at a given frame;
calculates two points in the vicinity of the calculated intersection point on the line segment at the given frame;
calculates the total distance from the calculated two points to the line segment at an f-th frame (where f is an integer not less than 2); and
determines whether the acoustic signal is a direct sound or a reflection based on the calculated results.

6. The autonomous action robot according to claim 5 , wherein the sound source direction determination unit uses the sound source direction localized by the sound source localization unit and information showing the self-location estimated by the map information generation unit, and calculates the line segment Γ f w that shows the relationship between the estimated self-location and the obstacle at each frame, using the following equation;

Γ
f
w

⁡

(

x
w

,

y
w

)

=

⁢

cos
⁡

(

ψ
f
r

+

θ
f
w

)

⁢

(

y
w

-

y
f
w

)

-

sin
⁡

(

ψ
f
r

+

θ
f
w

)

⁢

(

x
w

-

x
f
w

)

Assignees

• Honda Motor Co Ltd
• Honda Motor Ltd

Inventors

• Nakamura Keisuke
• Nakadai Kazuhiro

Classifications

• G01S3/8083

  determining direction of source · CPC title

• G01S17/42

  Simultaneous measurement of distance and other co-ordinates (indirect measurement G01S17/46) · CPC title

• G05D1/0274 Primary

  using mapping information stored in a memory device (navigation using map-matching G01C21/30) · CPC title

• Y10S901/46

  Sensing device · CPC title

• G05D1/0255

  using acoustic signals, e.g. ultra-sonic singals (sonar systems designed for anti-collision purposes G01S15/93) · CPC title