JP6412207B2 - Position identification device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a position identification device that identifies a position and an angle of a moving body on a map based on distance data of the surrounding environment measured by a distance sensor and map data of the surrounding environment, and a moving body including the position identification device. is there. In this specification, the term “moving body” and the term “mobile robot” are used together, but “mobile robot” is used as an embodiment of “moving body”. There is no significant difference.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a position and orientation estimation device that estimates the position and angle of a moving body using distance data measured by a laser distance sensor and map data is known. For example, Patent Document 1 relates to a technique for recognizing the position and orientation of a user in a real environment, which is used in autonomous movement control or the like of a mobile robot. A technique for calculating the position and orientation of a mobile robot by using sensing data from a distance sensor mounted on the mobile robot and a two-dimensional environmental map showing the geometric state of the environment is disclosed. ing.

JP 2009-109200 A

  The technique described in Patent Document 1 describes a method for estimating the position and orientation of a mobile robot by matching sensing data measured by a distance sensor with an environmental map. However, since there is a problem that the processing amount of data becomes enormous and the calculation time becomes long, it has been desired to reduce the processing amount. For this reason, no proposal has been made to perform processing using a map other than estimating the position and orientation.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and moves by matching distance data and map data within a predetermined area (running area, specific area (designated area)) set in advance. A position identification apparatus for classifying the type of object irradiated by the laser distance sensor by estimating (identifying) the position and orientation of the body and collating the distance data with the map data again using the estimated position and orientation It aims at providing the mobile robot provided with.

A position identification device according to the present invention is mounted on a moving body, and includes a distance sensor that measures a distance to an object around the moving body, and is measured by map data of the surrounding environment and the distance sensor. Specific area storage means for estimating the position and angle of the moving object using distance data, and storing the specific object as a request for transport in the map data as a specific area; and the map data Determining whether or not an object exists in the specific area using the estimated position and angle, and specifying an approximate size of the object determined to exist in the specific area by the distance data; and a object determination means for determining whether or not the specific object, the object determination unit, when an object existing in the specific area is determined to the a specific object, the movable body is pre And performing an instruction to convey a particular object to specify the transport destination.

In the position identification device according to the present invention, the specific object is a carriage .

In the position identification device according to the present invention, the moving body is a mobile robot .

  The mobile robot according to the present invention compares the distance data with map data based on the identified position and angle, thereby matching an object with a map, an object on a travel path, an object in a specific area of the map, etc. Thus, it is possible to construct a control system that travels while avoiding obstacles and safely moving a mobile object while improving convenience.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the mobile robot of this embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the driving | running route of a mobile robot, and the state of surrounding environment. (A) shows the map data of surrounding environment, (b) is explanatory drawing which shows the driving | running | working area | region and designation | designated (specification) area | region of a mobile robot in map data. It is explanatory drawing which shows the state which irradiates a laser with respect to an object etc. from the laser distance sensor comprised by the mobile robot, and discriminate | determines an object. (A) is explanatory drawing which shows the state which is measuring the distance to the map object seen from the mobile robot 1 in comparison with Fig.3 (a), (b) is an object in the travel area memorize | stored previously. It is explanatory drawing which shows the state determined that A is placed, (c) is an explanatory view showing the state where it is determined that the carriage B is placed in the pre-stored designated area A1, (D) is an explanatory view showing a state in which it is determined that there is an object other than the travel areas 1, 2, 3 and the designated area.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a mobile robot 1 as a mobile body according to an example of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the mobile robot 1 is output from the relative position calculation unit 2 and the relative position calculation unit 2 to which the target positions Xg and Yg and the target angle Θg output from the target point commanding device 9 are input. The control command unit 3 to which the control commands dx, dy, dθ are input, the travel speed command output from the control command unit 3 and the travel control unit 4 to which the turning speed command is input, and the travel control unit 4 Laser distance sensor for measuring the distance from the left and right motors 5 as the traveling means to which the left motor speed command and the right motor speed command are input, respectively, and the surrounding environment (wall, device, object A, etc.) to be described later 6, position identification means 7 that estimates the position and angle of the mobile robot 1 from the surrounding environment map data 10 and the surrounding environment distance data measured by the laser distance sensor 6, and communicates with the outside for notification or the like. The And a communication apparatus 8.

  The position identification means 7 stores map data 10 of the surrounding environment in which the mobile robot 1 travels, and position information and map data up to the surrounding environment (wall, device, object, etc.) measured by the laser distance sensor 6. 10 is provided. In order to identify the positional relationship between the mobile robot 1 and the surrounding environment, the position identifying means 7 divides the area into “traveling area” and “designated area” in advance as shown in FIG. . The “traveling area” is an area where the mobile robot 1 travels as the name suggests, and the “designated area” is a place for a carriage or an object. For this purpose, the position identification means 7 includes a travel area storage means 12 for storing the travel area of the mobile robot 1 and a specific area (designated area) storage means for storing a specific area (designated area) other than the travel area of the mobile robot 1. 13. Then, from the surrounding environment (wall, device, object, etc.) information measured by the laser distance sensor 6, the presence of the “object” is determined by the object determination unit 14. Furthermore, referring to each area information from the travel area storage means 12 and the specific area storage means 13, whether the “object” determined to exist is a map object, a travel obstacle object, or a specified area object. The processing is performed in each processing unit, the map object proximity determination unit 15, the travel obstacle object processing unit 16, and the designated area object processing unit 17. The map object and the traveling obstacle object need to pay attention to the traveling mobile robot 1. Therefore, information is output to the vehicle speed limit calculation unit 18, and information is calculated by the vehicle speed limit calculation unit 18. If it is determined that it is necessary to limit the vehicle speed, a speed limit command is issued to the control command unit 3.

  The distance data measured by the laser distance sensor 6 is collated with the map data 10 to obtain the position and angle data of the mobile robot 1. The position and angle data of the mobile robot 1 after collation by the data collation unit 11 is input to the object determination unit 14 together with the distance data measured by the laser distance sensor 6 and the map data 10. As described above, the object determination means 14 refers to each area information from the travel area storage means 12 and the specific area storage means 13 and the “object” determined to exist is a map object or a travel obstacle object. It is determined whether the object is a specified area object. The map object information is processed by the map object proximity determination unit 15, the travel obstacle object information is processed by the travel obstacle object processing unit 16, and the designated area object information is processed by the designated area object processing unit 17.

  FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the travel route of the mobile robot and the state of the surrounding environment. As shown in the figure, there are walls, devices 1 to 5, an object B, a carriage C, and an object C as objects in the surrounding environment where the mobile robot 1 can travel. Here, the object B is placed so as to cover the travel route (dotted line) of the mobile robot 1, and the carriage C is placed in the carriage parking place. Then, the mobile robot 1 is intended to travel while avoiding the object B so as not to contact the object B when traveling on the travel route indicated by the dotted line.

  3A shows map data of the surrounding environment, and FIG. 3B shows travel areas 1, 2, and 3 of the mobile robot 1 and a designated (specific) area A1 in the map data. The map data of the surrounding environment in (a) is stored in advance, and the travel areas 1, 2, and 3 and the designated (specific) area A1 in (b) are stored in the travel area by a predetermined operation by the user. It can be stored in the means 16 and the specific area storage means 17.

  FIG. 4 shows a state in which an object is discriminated by irradiating a laser to the objects A and B from the laser distance sensor 6 configured in the mobile robot 1. As indicated by arrows in the figure, the laser light emitted from the laser distance sensor 6 of the mobile robot 1 is in the range of 90 degrees to the left and right, that is, in the range of 180 degrees with respect to the front side of the mobile robot 1. Irradiated. As indicated by a thick black line, the distance to the boundaries of the objects A and B and the surrounding environment can be measured by reflected light. The detection state shown in FIG. 4 is a result of identifying (estimating) the position and posture of the mobile robot 1 by collating the distance data of the laser distance sensor 6 and the map data 10 by matching processing. That is, it can be considered that the position and posture of the mobile robot 1 are identified by the distance data that matches the map data 10.

  4 is classified as shown in FIG. Of the distance data, FIGS. 5A, 5B, 5C, and 5D indicate that the classification is performed with bold lines.

  In FIG. 5, (a) indicates distance data that matches the map data 10 by comparing again with the map data 10 shown in FIG. 3 (a). Since these data are described on the map, they can be regarded as fixed objects or stationary objects.

  FIG. 5B shows a state in which it is determined that the object A is placed in the travel area stored in advance. The object A existing in the travel area 2 can be an obstacle to travel of the mobile robot 1. That is, since the object A is on the travel area scheduled to travel from now on, it is determined that there is a possibility of collision when traveling on the planned travel route. Note that the approximate size of the object A can be estimated from the distance data, but no further specification is made.

  Here, when the travel area 2 is stored in the travel area storage means 12, as shown in FIG. 4, the “object” existing in the travel area 2 is extracted from the “object” determined to exist. To do. In the embodiment, three travel areas are set. However, the “object” existing in the travel area may be determined when the mobile robot 1 enters the travel area. That is, the “object” existing in the travel area 1 is determined when entering the area from the entrance, and the “object” present in the travel area 3 is determined from the end of the travel area 2 to the travel area 3. It is possible to do it before entering. In addition, if the vehicle enters the traveling area during traveling, it is necessary to cope with it.

  FIG. 5C shows a state in which it is determined that the carriage B is placed in the designated area A1 stored in advance. The cart B in the designated area A1 does not become an obstacle to the traveling of the mobile robot 1, but when the designated area A1 is used as a cart parking place, the detected one can be regarded as the cart B. Thus, if there is a carriage in the designated area A1 that is a carriage parking place, it means that the carriage 1 is requested to be transported by the mobile robot 1. Therefore, when the detected mobile robot 1 is not performing other work, the carriage B can be automatically transported to a designated transport destination by pulling it. In addition, when the mobile robot 1 is doing other work or is moving to another place, it can be communicated to the host controller outside by communication that the cart B has been found. . Note that if something different from the cart is placed depending on the size of the object, it can be determined.

  FIG. 5D shows a state in which it is determined that an object exists in areas other than the travel areas 1, 2, 3 and the designated area. While the presence of the “object” is determined, an object that is neither in the traveling area nor in the designated area and is not a map object is determined as another object and processed.

  According to the above configuration, the position identification device 7 that identifies an object provided in the surrounding environment by the reflected light of the irradiated laser beam and estimates the position and angle of the mobile robot 1 that is arranged to be movable in the surrounding environment. 2, the map data of the surrounding environment where the mobile robot 1 travels is stored, the laser distance sensor 6 that measures the distance from the mobile robot 1 to the object provided in the surrounding environment, and the laser distance sensor 6 measures the distance. Means for discriminating an object provided in the surrounding environment based on the distance data from the mobile robot 1 to the object and map data, travel area storage means 12 for storing the travel area of the mobile robot 1, Specific area storage means 13 for storing a specific area different from the travel area, and within or within the travel area of the mobile robot 1 stored in the travel area storage means 12 Is obtained by a object determination means 14 for determining whether the object is placed in 憶 means 13 stored in the particular area. Thus, the distance data and the map data 10 are collated again based on the identified position and orientation, so that the distance data can easily be found in an object that matches the map data 10, an object on the traveling area, or in a specific area. It can be classified into objects and objects in other areas. Conventionally, the mobile robot is controlled based on short distance data indicating that it is approaching among the distance data, but the type of the approaching distance data can be provided as information, so that the mobile robot 1 Therefore, it is possible to determine whether or not the vehicle should be decelerated and stopped, so that it is possible to perform better robot control.

  In the position identification unit of the present embodiment, the distance from the mobile robot 1 to the object is measured a plurality of times by the laser distance sensor 6, and the object is detected based on a plurality of distance data obtained by the plurality of measurements. It is possible to classify whether it is a moving body or a stationary body. Further, the control device determines that the mobile robot 1 has approached the object based on the distance data, and determines the travel route based on the determination as to whether or not the object determined by the object determination means 14 is placed in the travel region. change. Further, the control device decelerates the mobile robot 1 when determining that the mobile robot 1 has approached the object based on the distance data, and stops before the mobile robot 1 is collided with the object. When the approaching object matches the map data 10, the object can be regarded as a stationary object or a stationary object, so that the rate of deceleration of the traveling speed can be reduced as long as safe traveling can be guaranteed. It is.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Mobile robot 2 Relative position calculation part 3 Control command part 4 Travel control part 5 Left and right motor 6 Laser distance sensor (distance sensor)
7 Position identification means (position identification device)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 8 Communication apparatus 9 Target point instruction | command apparatus 10 Map data 11 Data collation part 12 Travel area memory | storage means 13 Specific area memory | storage means (designated area memory | storage means)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 14 Object determination means 15 Map object proximity determination part 16 Run obstacle object process part 17 Designated area object process part 18 Vehicle speed restriction | limiting calculation part

Claims (3)

A movable body that is mounted on a movable body, includes a distance sensor that measures a distance to an object around the movable body, and uses the map data of the surrounding environment and the distance data measured by the distance sensor. In the position identification device for estimating the position and angle of
A specific area storage means for storing, in the map data, a place where the specific object that is the target of the transport request exists,
The map data and the estimated position and angle are used to determine whether an object is present in the specific area, and the approximate size of the object determined to be present in the specific area is determined based on the distance data. An object determination means for determining whether or not the specific object by specifying;
Equipped with a,
The object determining means, when determining that the object existing in the specific area is the specific object, gives an instruction for causing the moving body to transport the specific object to a designated transport destination. Feature location identification device. The position identification device according to claim 1,
The position identification device , wherein the specific object is a carriage . The position identification device according to claim 1 or 2,
The position identifying apparatus, wherein the moving body is a mobile robot .

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