JP6822788B2 - Cleaning robot - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a cleaning robot.

As is well known, cleaning robots that automatically clean the room are widely used.
Patent Document 1 discloses a cleaning robot 100 as shown in FIG. 7. The cleaning robot 100 is controlled by the control unit 120.
The control unit 120 controls the rotation and height position of the side brush 104 and the main brush 105 of the cleaning unit based on the environmental information acquired by the laser radar 112, the ultrasonic sensor 113, and the distance image camera 114 and the map information of the cleaning target area. It also controls the opening / closing time interval and opening / closing amount of the flapper 107, and also controls the traveling by the drive wheels 102 and the eccentric caster 103.
The laser radar 112 measures the distance by irradiating a range of ± 90 ° with respect to the traveling direction of the traveling horizontal plane at regular angles, and measures the two-dimensional arrangement of obstacles and walls as seen from the robot body 100. To do.

It is difficult to use the cleaning robot 100 as described above in the construction work place during the construction period for the following reasons. In the construction workshop, there are restricted areas that require careful entry, such as places where construction materials are accumulated and floors immediately after concrete is placed. Normally, a cone bar is provided between the two cones and the top of the cones so as to surround such an exclusion zone, whereby the worker recognizes the exclusion zone.
However, in the cleaning robot 100 as described above, since only the information in the horizontal plane at the height position where the laser radar 112 is installed can be acquired, even if the two cones can be recognized, the height is different from that of the laser radar 112. The cone bar straddling between the cones located in is unrecognizable. As a result, the cleaning robot 100 slips under the cone bar or, after contacting the cone bar, pushes the cone bar into the restricted area and invades the restricted area.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2006-209644

An object to be solved by the present invention is to provide a cleaning robot capable of recognizing a spatially provided exclusion zone and preventing intrusion into an exclusion zone.

The present invention employs the following means in order to solve the above problems. That is, the present invention is a cleaning robot provided with traveling means and cleaning means, and is a distance measuring device that measures the distance to the obstacle by emitting light and receiving the reflected light reflected by the obstacle. And, the control device further includes a distance measuring device control unit that changes the emission angle of the light in the vertical direction, and the control device avoids the obstacle based on the measurement result in the distance measuring device. Provided is a cleaning robot including a traveling direction determining unit that determines a traveling direction, and a traveling control unit that controls traveling in the traveling direction determined by the traveling direction determining unit.
According to the above configuration, in the cleaning robot, the distance measuring device is installed because the distance measuring device control unit changes the emission angle of the light emitted from the distance measuring device in the vertical direction to detect an obstacle. Objects above the height position can also be detected spatially. That is, for example, a spatially provided exclusion zone such as a cone bar bridged between cones can be detected as an obstacle, so the direction of travel is determined so as to avoid under the exclusion zone without slipping under it. By controlling the traveling means by the unit, it is possible to prevent the intrusion into the restricted area.

In one aspect of the invention, the cleaning means comprises a cleaning brush and the obstacles include dust.
According to the above configuration, when dust is scattered on the floor surface, the dust is rolled up by the cleaning brush and scattered in the air. At this time, since the light emitted from the distance measuring device is reflected by the dust, the dust is detected as an obstacle, and the traveling direction determining unit determines a new traveling direction so as to avoid the dust, and this new traveling direction is determined. Attempts to control the traveling means in the traveling direction. However, in such a case, since the dust is scattered all around the cleaning robot, the dust is detected as an obstacle even in the new traveling direction, the new traveling direction is further determined, and the traveling means is traveled. Try to control. That is, the cleaning robot detects the dust until most of the dust scattered on the floor surface is cleaned by the cleaning means and the dust is hardly scattered around the cleaning robot. Since the direction of travel is repeatedly determined, it is possible to focus on cleaning areas with a lot of dust.
Further, it is not necessary to specially prepare a sensor other than the distance measuring device for detecting the dust on the floor surface. Furthermore, even if the direction of travel is determined by the direction-of-traveling unit based on some well-thought-out strategy, such as random, it is possible to intensively and effectively clean dust-rich areas. it can. Therefore, the manufacturing cost of the cleaning robot can be reduced.

In one aspect of the present invention, the distance measuring device is a laser range finder, and the light is laser light.
According to the above configuration, it is possible to effectively detect the dust scattered in the air when the obstacle is particularly dusty.

In one aspect of the present invention, the lower limit of the light emission angle is a direction parallel to the floor surface.
According to the above configuration, since the distance measuring device does not detect the floor surface as an obstacle, it is not necessary to determine whether or not the detected obstacle is the floor surface, and therefore, a cleaning robot can be easily manufactured. be able to.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a cleaning robot capable of recognizing a spatially provided exclusion zone and preventing entry into an exclusion zone.

(A) is a side view and (b) is a plan view of the cleaning robot shown as the embodiment of the present invention. It is explanatory drawing of the distance measuring apparatus in the cleaning robot shown as the embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram of the control device in the cleaning robot shown as the embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the determination policy of the traveling direction of the cleaning robot shown as the embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the determination policy of the traveling direction of the cleaning robot shown as the embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the operation of the cleaning robot shown as the embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the conventional cleaning robot.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

1A and 1B are a side view and a plan view of the cleaning robot 1 shown as an embodiment of the present invention. In the present embodiment, the cleaning robot 1 is used in the construction work place during the construction period.
The cleaning robot 1 includes a traveling means 2 and a cleaning means 3. In the present embodiment, the cleaning robot 1 includes an inner housing 5 and an outer housing 18, and each component including the traveling means 2 and the cleaning means 3 is mainly attached to the inner housing 5 and is inside. The outer housing 18 is provided so as to surround the housing 5 and each component, but it goes without saying that the configuration is not limited to this.

The traveling means 2 includes a drive wheel motor 6 (6A, 6B), a drive wheel 7 (7A, 7B), a belt 8, and a caster 9.
The cleaning robot 1 has two drive wheels 7 of the right drive wheel 7A and the left drive wheel 7B on the rear side in the traveling direction on the right side in FIG. 1, and one caster 9 on the front side in the traveling direction I on the left side in FIG. The cleaning robot 1 is provided, and the cleaning robot 1 is placed on the floor surface F so that these three drive wheels 7 and casters 9 are in contact with the floor surface F. Two drive wheel motors 6, a right drive wheel motor 6A and a left drive wheel motor 6B, are provided fixed to the inner housing 5 corresponding to each of the right drive wheel 7A and the left drive wheel 7B. There is. Electric power is supplied from the battery 4 to each drive wheel motor 6. The right drive wheel motor 6A and right drive wheel 7A, and the left drive wheel motor 6B and left drive wheel 7B are each connected by a belt 8 and thereby generated by each drive wheel motor 6 (6A, 6B). The power is transmitted to the corresponding drive wheels 7 (7A, 7B).

The amount of rotation of the right drive wheel motor 6A and the left drive wheel motor 6B is individually controlled by the travel control unit 26 of the control device 20, which will be described later with reference to FIG. When the rotation amount of the right drive wheel motor 6A and the rotation amount of the left drive wheel motor 6B are the same, the cleaning robot 1 goes straight. When the rotation amount of the right drive wheel motor 6A is larger than the rotation amount of the left drive wheel motor 6B, the cleaning robot 1 advances so as to bend to the left. When the rotation amount of the right drive wheel motor 6A is smaller than the rotation amount of the left drive wheel motor 6B, the cleaning robot 1 advances so as to bend to the right.
The caster 9 includes a support shaft portion 9b connected to the inner housing 5 so as to extend in the vertical direction, and a disc-shaped wheel portion 9a rotatably connected to the lower end of the support shaft portion 9b. There is. The support shaft portion 9b is provided so as to be freely rotatable at 360 ° in a horizontal plane with respect to the inner housing 5, whereby the caster 9 rotates following the traveling direction of the cleaning robot 1.
The height of the bottom surface 5a of the inner housing 5 from the floor surface F, the diameter of the drive wheels 7, and the torque of the drive wheel motor 6 are driven by the nails and screws even if they are dropped in the construction work place. The wheel 7 is designed so that it can be overcome without being locked.
The two drive wheel motors 6 are controlled by the traveling control unit 26 of the control device 20 described later with reference to FIG.

The cleaning means 3 includes a side brush (cleaning brush) 10, a side brush drive motor 11, a drum brush 12, a drum brush drive motor 13, and a hopper 14.
The side brush 10 is formed by joining the brush portion 10b to one surface of the circular support plate portion 10a, the support plate portion 10a is parallel to the floor surface F, and the brush portion 10b is in contact with the floor surface F. It is positioned so as to be rotatable in a horizontal plane at the center position of the support plate portion 10a, and is attached to the inner housing 5. In particular, as shown in FIG. 1 (b), the side brush 10 is located in front of the cleaning robot 1 on the right side so that a part of the brush portion 10b projects outward mainly in the right direction from the outer housing 18. It is provided. The side brush 10 is rotated in the counterclockwise direction A in FIG. 1B by a side brush drive motor 11 that is operated by being supplied with electric power from the battery 4, so that dust or the like located on the floor surface F is formed. Is moved to the front of the drum brush 12, which will be described later.
The side brush drive motor 11 is controlled so that the side brush 10 rotates at a constant speed by the cleaning control unit 25 of the control device 20 described later with reference to FIG.

The drum brush 12 is formed in a cylindrical shape, and the brush is provided on the side surface of the cylindrical shape. The drum brush 12 is positioned so that the axial direction coincides with the left-right direction of the cleaning robot 1, and is rotatably attached to the inner housing 5 at a cylindrical central axis position. As shown in FIG. 1A, the drum brush 12 is attached to the lower side of the cleaning robot 1, and the lower side of the drum brush 12 projects downward from the outer housing 18 and comes into contact with the floor surface F. It is provided as follows. The drum brush 12 is rotated in the counterclockwise direction B in FIG. 1A by a drum brush drive motor 13 that is operated by being supplied with electric power from the battery 4, so that dust and the like located on the floor surface F are formed. Is entwined and caught, and transported to the inside of the outer housing 18.
A hopper 14 is provided behind the drum brush 12. The hopper 14 receives and stores dust and the like conveyed to the inside of the outer housing 18 by the drum brush 12.
The drum brush drive motor 13 is controlled so that the drum brush 12 rotates at a constant speed by the cleaning control unit 25 of the control device 20 described later with reference to FIG.

The cleaning robot 1 includes a distance measuring device 15. The distance measuring device 15 measures the distance to the obstacle by emitting light and receiving the reflected light reflected by the obstacle.
In the present embodiment, the distance measuring device 15 is a laser range finder, and the light is laser light. By rotating a mirror that reflects light, for example, the distance measuring device 15 emits light at a frequency of 1081 times per second, for example, 135 ° to the left and right from the front C of the distance measuring device 15, for a total of 270 °. The distance to the surrounding object is measured by reciprocating and emitting light from the light emitting unit 15c and scanning in the horizontal direction. The light range of the distance measuring device 15 is, for example, about 10 m.
The distance measuring device 15 advances in the straight direction of the cleaning robot 1 parallel to the floor surface F and the front C of the distance measuring device 15 when viewed in a horizontal plane as shown in FIG. 1A on the front side of the cleaning robot 1. The directions I are provided so as to coincide. As a result, the distance measuring device 15 is provided so as to be able to irradiate light to the left and right around the straight direction I of the cleaning robot 1, for example, in a range of 135 °.

The distance measuring device 15 extends in the left-right direction of the cleaning robot 1 on the lower side thereof, and extends in the vertical direction with a shaft 15a provided so as to be orthogonal to the straight-ahead direction I of the cleaning robot 1 in a horizontal plane. It is attached to the inner housing 5 via the supporting portion 15b.
As shown in FIG. 1B, a distance measuring device drive motor 16 is provided at one end of the shaft 15a. The distance measuring device drive motor 16 is a stepping motor in this embodiment. The distance measuring device drive motor 16 rotates the distance measuring device 15 in the vertical direction around the axis 15a by the distance measuring device control unit 27 of the control device 20 described later with reference to FIG. 3, and determines the light emission angle. It is controlled to change in the vertical direction. FIG. 2A shows a state in which the front C of the distance measuring device 15 coincides with the straight-ahead direction I of the cleaning robot 1. In the present embodiment, this state is the initial position of the distance measuring device 15 and the lower limit of the light emission angle. FIG. 2B shows a state in which the distance measuring device 15 is rotated upward so that the front C of the distance measuring device 15 faces upward by 45 ° from the straight direction I of the cleaning robot 1. In the present embodiment, this state is the position where the upper limit of the light emission angle is set.
The distance measuring device 15 reciprocates between the lower limit position and the upper limit position shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, for example, once per second, at a speed at which the light emission angle from the distance measuring device 15 reciprocates once per second. It is rotated in the vertical direction.

With the above configuration, the distance measuring device 15 is a distance measuring device in an angle range of −135 ° to 135 ° in the horizontal direction and 0 ° to 45 ° in the vertical direction with the straight-ahead direction I of the cleaning robot 1 as a base point. Detects an object located within a space of 15 to 10 m. The information acquired by the distance measuring device 15 is transmitted to the obstacle determination unit 23 and the display control unit 28 of the control device 20, which will be described later, using FIG.

The cleaning robot 1 includes an infrared sensor 17 as shown in FIG. The infrared sensor 17 is provided on the bottom surface 5a of the inner housing 5 at a position in front of the caster 9 which is the frontmost wheel so as to emit infrared rays downward, and is formed on the floor surface F. For example, high steps and holes of 25 mm or more are detected before the caster 9 reaches them. The information acquired by the infrared sensor 17 is transmitted to the traveling direction determining unit 24 of the control device 20, which will be described later, using FIG.

The cleaning robot 1 includes an input device 21. The input device 21 receives inputs such as the movement speed of the cleaning robot 1 and the movement direction instruction when the cleaning robot 1 is manually moved, and displays and controls the travel control unit 26 of the control device 20 described later with reference to FIG. It is transmitted to the unit 28.

The cleaning robot 1 includes an output device 22. FIG. 3 shows that the output device 22 displays a user interface for prompting input by the input device 21, various inputs input by the input device 21, and information on obstacles detected by the distance measuring device 15. Is controlled by the display control unit 28 of the control device 20 described later using the above.

The cleaning robot 1 includes a control device 20. As shown in FIG. 3, the control device 20 includes an obstacle determination unit 23, a traveling direction determination unit 24, a cleaning control unit 25, a travel control unit 26, a distance measurement device control unit 27, and a display control unit 28. There is.

The obstacle determination unit 23 receives the information transmitted from the distance measuring device 15. Each of the distance measuring devices 15 from the distance measuring device 15 is in an angle range of −135 ° to 135 ° in the horizontal direction and 0 ° to 45 ° in the vertical direction, with the straight-ahead direction I of the cleaning robot 1 as the base point. In the direction, when there is an object in the space within 10 m from the distance measuring device 15, it is determined whether it is an obstacle or not as described later, and if an obstacle is detected, the direction and the distance. The distance from the measuring device 15 to the object is transmitted to the obstacle determination unit 23.
However, depending on the frequency of reciprocation in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction of the light, if the control device 20 tries to process information at all angles within the above angle range, the amount of data to be processed becomes large, and particularly the processing of the control device 20. If the capacity is not high, it can be difficult to process. Here, what greatly affects the running of the cleaning robot 1 is information on an object of the cleaning robot 1 at an angle position particularly close to the straight-ahead direction I. Therefore, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the obstacle determination unit 23 is, for example, −30 ° (angle position E) to 30 ° (angle) in the horizontal direction with the front C of the distance measuring device 15 as the base point. Information in the angle range of position D) is extracted from the information received from the distance measuring device 15, and the following obstacles are determined for the object located in this angle range.

The obstacle determination unit 23 estimates the type of the object as follows, and determines whether or not the object is an obstacle.
For example, when an object is detected at substantially the same distance in the entire range of an angle range of 0 ° to 45 ° in the vertical direction, it can be estimated that the object is a wall and an obstacle.
Further, when an object is detected only at a height of a certain small range in the above-mentioned vertical angle range, and an object is detected at a height of the same constant range at other angles in the horizontal direction, it is in the air. A small object is located extending horizontally, and it can be estimated that this object is a cone bar 51, that is, an obstacle to be avoided.
Further, if the object is detected all above a certain angle in the vertical angle range, but it is determined that the object is located higher than the total height of the cleaning robot 1, this is the case. May actually determine that it is not an obstacle and that the area below it can be cleaned.

Here, the obstacle contains dust. That is, even when the obstacle determination unit 23 determines that the object is dust, in the present embodiment, the obstacle determination unit 23 transmits information to the traveling direction determination unit 24 as an obstacle.
When the side brush 10 tries to clean the floor surface F in which the dust is scattered and the dust is wound up in the air from the floor surface F, the distance measuring device 15 recognizes the dust as an object.
When the object is a wall, a cone 50, a cone bar 51, or the like as shown in FIG. 4, since the range of the distance measuring device 15 is 10 m in the present embodiment, the object is transmitted from the distance measuring device 15. The distance of the object can take a value of, for example, 1 m to 10 m, but in the case of dust, since it scatters in the space around the cleaning robot 1, the distance is 0 to 0.1 m, which is compared with the wall, cone bar 51, etc. Can be a very small value.
As described above, in the obstacle determination unit 23, when the value of the distance is equal to or less than a predetermined value, it can be estimated that the object is dusty.

As described above, when the obstacle determination unit 23 detects an object within an angle range of -30 ° to 30 ° in the horizontal direction and 0 ° to 45 ° in the vertical direction with the straight direction I as the base point, , It is determined whether or not each of them is an obstacle, and the direction in which the object determined to be an obstacle is located and the distance to the obstacle are transmitted to the traveling direction determination unit 24.

The traveling direction determining unit 24 obtains obstacle direction and distance information in an angle range of -30 ° to 30 ° in the horizontal direction and 0 ° to 45 ° in the vertical direction with the straight-ahead direction I of the cleaning robot 1 as a base point. Received from the object determination unit 23. The traveling direction determining unit 24 determines the traveling direction so as to avoid obstacles based on this information, that is, the measurement result in the distance measuring device 15.
The traveling direction determining unit 24 instructs the traveling control unit 26 to go straight when there is no object determined by the obstacle determination unit 23 as an obstacle.

When there is an object determined by the obstacle determination unit 23 as an obstacle, the traveling direction determining unit 24 determines the traveling direction as follows.
For example, as shown in FIG. 4, a cone bar 51 is provided between the two cones 50 and the tops of the cones 50, and the obstacle, that is, the cone bar 51, is provided in the direction D on the right side from the straight direction I. When the distance is shorter than the distance to the cone bar 51 in the left direction E, the traveling direction determining unit 24 determines that the cleaning robot 1 is approaching the cone bar 51 from the diagonal right side. Then, the traveling control unit 26 is instructed to turn left and avoid the cone bar 51.
On the contrary, when the distance in the right direction D from the straight direction I is longer than the distance in the left direction E, the traveling direction determining unit 24 is in an oblique direction with respect to the cone bar 51 by the cleaning robot 1. It is determined that the vehicle is approaching from the left side, and the traveling control unit 26 is instructed to turn to the right side and avoid the cone bar 51.
In this way, when it is determined that the vehicle is approaching the obstacle from an oblique direction, the traveling direction determining unit 24 bends in an obtuse angle of either the left or right direction so that the obstacle can be avoided. Instruct the traveling control unit 26 to avoid obstacles. This is because when trying to turn at an acute angle, the inner ring difference becomes large and there is a high possibility of collision with an obstacle.

When the distance in the direction D on the right side from the straight direction I is equal to the distance in the direction E on the left side, the traveling direction determining unit 24 determines that the cleaning robot 1 is approaching the cone bar 51 so as to be orthogonal to the cone bar 51. The traveling control unit 26 is instructed to make a judgment and turn to the right to avoid the cone bar 51.
At this time, if the side brush 10 is bent to the left to avoid the cone bar 51, the side brush 10 is attached to the front right side of the cleaning robot 1. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, the side brush 10 is on the drum brush 12 side when turning left. A gap S may occur between the locus G drawn by the end point 10c of the drum brush 12 and the locus H drawn by the end point 12a on the side brush 10 side of the drum brush 12 when turning left. Since this gap S is a place that is not cleaned by either the side brush 10 or the drum brush 12, an uncleaned area remains on the floor surface F. In order to prevent this, when it is determined that the vehicle is approaching so as to be orthogonal to the obstacle, the traveling control unit 26 is instructed to turn to the right and avoid the cone bar 51.

In the present embodiment, as described above, the obstacle determination unit 23 determines the dust as an obstacle, so the traveling direction determining unit 24 determines the traveling direction in order to avoid the dust. In this case, for example, as described with reference to FIG. 4, the traveling direction is determined based on the distance from the straight direction I in the right direction D and the distance in the left direction E, but the vehicle bends in either the left or right direction. Even if the dust is still scattered immediately after that, the distance measuring device 15 recognizes the scattered dust as an object, and the obstacle determination unit 23 determines the dust as an obstacle. Therefore, the cleaning robot 1 stops the scattering of the dust. Most of the dust scattered on the floor surface F is cleaned, and the side brush 10 operates so as to continue rotating on the spot without advancing until the dust cannot be rolled up in the air.

The traveling direction determination unit 24 also receives information from the infrared sensor 17. When the infrared sensor 17 detects a step or a hole on the floor surface F in the traveling direction, the traveling direction determining unit 24 stops the cleaning robot 1 on the spot and causes the traveling control unit 26 to move backward. Control.

The cleaning control unit 25 controls the side brush drive motor 11 and the drum brush drive motor 13 so as to rotate the side brush 10 and the drum brush 12 at a constant speed.

The travel control unit 26 controls the travel means 2 in the travel direction determined by the travel direction determination unit 24. More specifically, the travel control unit 26 controls the amount of rotation for each of the right drive wheel motor 6A and the left drive wheel motor 6B based on the instruction from the traveling direction determination unit 24.
The travel control unit 26 also receives the movement direction instruction input to the input device 21 by the operator from the input device 21. In this case, the movement direction instruction received from the input device 21 is prioritized over the instruction from the traveling direction determination unit 24, and the right drive wheel motor 6A and the left drive wheel motor 6B are based on the movement direction instruction. The amount of rotation is controlled for each.

The distance measuring device control unit 27 changes the light emission angle in the vertical direction. More specifically, the distance measuring device control unit 27 rotates the distance measuring device 15 in the vertical direction to change the direction, and sets the emission angle of light from the distance measuring device 15 to the lower limit position shown in FIG. The distance measuring device drive motor 16 is controlled so as to change in the vertical direction between the upper limit positions.

The display control unit 28 receives various inputs input by the input device 21, information about an object detected by the distance measuring device 15, and the like, and outputs and displays these by the output device 22. 22 is controlled.

Next, the control procedure of the cleaning robot 1 by the control device 20 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3 and 6.

The process is started when the operator instructs the input device 21 to start cleaning (step S1).
First, the control device 20 initially sets the distance measuring device 15. Specifically, the distance of the control device 20 is such that the emission angle of the light from the distance measuring device 15 is the lower limit position corresponding to the straight-ahead direction I of the cleaning robot 1 as shown in FIG. 2A. The measuring device control unit 27 adjusts the distance measuring device drive motor 16 (step S2).
After that, in a state where the distance measuring device 15 is operated to reciprocate and emit light in the horizontal direction (step S3), the distance measuring device 15 is set to the lower limit position and as shown in FIG. 2 (b). The distance measuring device control unit 27 of the control device 20 controls the distance measuring device 15 so as to reciprocate and rotate between the direction parallel to the straight direction I and the upper limit position facing upward by 45 ° (step S4). ..
In steps S1 to S4 described above, with the cleaning robot 1 stopped, the distance measuring device 15 starts from the straight-ahead direction I of the cleaning robot 1 as a base point, −135 ° to 135 ° in the horizontal direction, and 0 ° to 0 ° in the vertical direction. It is in a state of detecting an object located in a space within 10 m from the distance measuring device 15 in an angle range of 45 °. After that, the display control unit 28 of the control device 20 continues to display the information about the object detected by the distance measuring device 15 on the output device 22.

After the preparation of the distance measuring device 15 is completed, the cleaning control unit 25 of the control device 20 controls the side brush drive motor 11 and the drum brush drive motor 13, and the side brush 10 and the drum brush 12 are each controlled at a constant speed. Rotate. At the same time, the travel control unit 26 of the control device 20 operates the right drive wheel motor 6A and the left drive wheel motor 6B at the same rotation amount to move the cleaning robot 1 straight (step S5).

The control device 20 detects an obstacle while cleaning and controlling the cleaning robot 1 by the cleaning control unit 25 and the travel control unit 26 (step S6).
Specifically, the obstacle determination unit 23 of the control device 20 receives the information transmitted from the distance measuring device 15, and as shown in FIG. 4, the obstacle determination unit 23 in the horizontal direction with the front C of the distance measuring device 15 as the base point. Information on the object in the angle range of −30 ° (angle position E) to 30 ° (angle position D) is extracted from the information received from the distance measuring device 15. As described above, the obstacle determination unit 23 further determines whether or not each of the extracted objects is an obstacle, and advances the direction in which the object determined to be an obstacle is located and the distance to the obstacle. It is transmitted to the direction determination unit 24.
The traveling direction determining unit 24 of the control device 20 instructs the traveling control unit 26 to go straight if the obstacle information is not transmitted from the obstacle determining unit 23, and the traveling control unit 26 instructs the right drive wheel motor 6A. By operating the left drive wheel motor 6B at the same rotation amount, the cleaning robot 1 is made to go straight (step S7).

When the obstacle determination unit 23 transmits the obstacle information, the traveling direction determining unit 24 determines the traveling direction so as to avoid the obstacle based on the measurement result of the distance measuring device 15 (step). S8).
For example, as shown in FIG. 4, when the distance from the straight direction I to the right direction D with respect to the obstacle is shorter than the distance in the left direction E, the traveling direction determining unit 24 cleans. The robot 1 determines that the robot 1 is approaching the obstacle from the right side in the oblique direction, and instructs the traveling control unit 26 to turn to the left side and avoid the obstacle.
On the contrary, when the distance from the straight direction I to the right direction D is longer than the distance in the left direction E, the traveling direction determining unit 24 determines the traveling direction when the cleaning robot 1 is oblique to the obstacle. It is determined that the vehicle is approaching from the left side, and the vehicle is instructed to turn to the right side to avoid obstacles.
In this way, when it is determined that the vehicle is approaching the obstacle from an oblique direction, the traveling direction determining unit 24 bends in an obtuse angle of either the left or right direction so that the obstacle can be avoided. Instruct the traveling control unit 26 to avoid obstacles.
When the distance in the direction D on the right side from the straight direction I is equal to the distance in the direction E on the left side, the traveling direction determining unit 24 determines that the cleaning robot 1 is approaching the obstacle so as to be orthogonal to the obstacle. Judgment is made, and the traveling control unit 26 is instructed to turn to the right and avoid obstacles.
Further, when the infrared sensor 17 detects a step or a hole on the floor surface F in the traveling direction, the traveling direction determining unit 24 stops the cleaning robot 1 on the spot and controls the traveling so as to move backward. The unit 26 is controlled.

The travel control unit 26 changes the direction of the cleaning robot 1 by controlling the amount of rotation of each of the right drive wheel motor 6A and the left drive wheel motor 6B based on the instruction from the traveling direction determination unit 24. And avoid obstacles (step S9).
After that, the process returns to step S6 again, and the obstacle detection process and subsequent steps are repeated.
At this time, for example, when an obstacle is dusty, even if it is bent in either the left or right direction in step S9, immediately after that, in step S6, the distance measuring device 15 recognizes the dust still scattered as an object. In order to shift to the avoidance direction determination process in step S8, the cleaning robot 1 has stopped the scattering of dust, and most of the dust scattered on the floor surface is cleaned, and the side brush 10 cleans the dust in the air. It works to keep spinning on the spot without moving forward until the dust can no longer be rolled up.

The control device 20 appropriately determines whether or not the cleaning is completed (step S10). In the present embodiment, it is determined that the cleaning is completed when a predetermined fixed time has elapsed from the start of the process.
When it is determined that the cleaning is completed, the process is completed and the power of the cleaning robot 1 is turned off (step S11).
If it is determined that the cleaning is not completed, the process returns to step S6 again, and the obstacle detection process and subsequent steps are repeated.

Next, the effect of the cleaning robot 1 will be described.

The cleaning robot 1 detects an obstacle by changing the emission angle of the light emitted from the distance measuring device 15 in the vertical direction by the distance measuring device control unit 27, so that the height position where the distance measuring device 15 is installed is installed. Objects above it can also be detected spatially. That is, for example, a spatially provided off-limits display such as a cone bar 51 bridged between cones 50 as shown in FIG. 4 can be detected as an obstacle, and thus slips under the off-limits display. By controlling the traveling means 2 by the traveling direction determining unit 24 so as to avoid it, it is possible to prevent the intrusion into the restricted area.

When dust is scattered on the floor surface F, the side brush 10 winds up the dust and scatters it in the air. At this time, since the light emitted from the distance measuring device 15 is reflected by the dust, the dust is detected as an obstacle, and the traveling direction determining unit 24 determines a new traveling direction so as to avoid the dust. The traveling means 2 is attempted to be travel-controlled in a new direction of travel. However, in such a case, since the dust is scattered all around the cleaning robot 1, the dust is detected as an obstacle even in the new traveling direction, the new traveling direction is further determined, and the traveling means 2 Try to control the running. That is, the cleaning robot 1 keeps dust until most of the dust scattered on the floor surface is cleaned by the cleaning means 3 and almost no dust is scattered around the cleaning robot 1. Since the detection of dust and the determination of the direction of travel are repeated, it is possible to focus on cleaning areas with a lot of dust.
Further, since the distance measuring device 15 is configured to detect the dust wound up in the air by the side brush 10, a sensor other than the distance measuring device 15 for detecting the dust on the floor surface F can be used. There is no need to prepare specially. Furthermore, even if the direction of travel is determined by the direction-of-travel unit 24 based on some well-thought-out strategy, such as random, dust-rich areas should be cleaned intensively and effectively. Can be done. Therefore, the manufacturing cost of the cleaning robot 1 can be reduced.

Further, since the distance measuring device 15 is a laser range finder, the laser light emitted by the laser range finder can accurately detect dust. Therefore, it is possible to effectively detect the dust scattered in the air.

Further, the distance measuring device 15 is within 10 m from the distance measuring device 15 in an angle range of −135 ° to 135 ° in the horizontal direction and 0 ° to 45 ° in the vertical direction with the straight-ahead direction I of the cleaning robot 1 as a base point. Since it is configured to detect an object located in the space, the distance measuring device 15 does not detect the floor surface F as an obstacle. Therefore, it is not necessary to determine whether or not the detected obstacle is the floor surface F, and the cleaning robot 1 can be easily manufactured.

The cleaning robot 1 of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment described with reference to the drawings, and various other modifications can be considered within the technical scope thereof.
For example, in the above embodiment, dust and the like are only stored in the hopper 14 after being entangled and caught by the drum brush 12, but a vacuum motor may be installed to suck the dust and the like. However, if a vacuum motor is used, the battery 4 is consumed more and the noise becomes louder, which may limit the situations in which the cleaning robot can be used.
Further, in the above embodiment, the side brush 10 is provided in front of the right side of the cleaning robot 1, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the side brush 10 may be provided in front of the left side of the cleaning robot 1 or in front of the cleaning robot 1. It may be provided on both the left and right sides.

Further, in the above embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the obstacle determination unit 23 obtains information on an object in an angle range of −30 ° to 30 ° in the horizontal direction with the front C of the distance measuring device 15 as a base point. , Although it is extracted from the information received from the distance measuring device 15, this angle range may be another angle. For example, by increasing this range to −60 ° to 60 °, −85 ° to 85 °, etc., objects located in both the left and right directions of the cleaning robot 1 can be recognized as obstacles. It may be regarded as an obstacle, and more advanced control such as cleaning while moving along the wall may be possible. As described above, this angle range should be comprehensively formulated together with the processing capacity of the control device 20 and the like.
Further, in the above embodiment, the distance measuring device 15 is controlled so that the emitted light rotates in the vertical direction between the positions facing upward from 0 ° to 45 °, which is an upper limit angle of 45. ° indicates the distance measuring device so as not to mistakenly recognize a part of the outer housing 18 as an obstacle, such as the eaves 18a covering the upper part of the distance measuring device 15 shown in FIG. 1 (a). As long as 15 is an angle that does not detect the outer housing 18, it may be another larger angle. Further, for example, when the distance measuring device 15 is provided at a position close to the height of the cone bar 51, the upper limit angle may be another smaller value.
Further, in the above embodiment, the horizontal reciprocation frequency of the light emitted from the distance measuring device 15 is 1081 times per second, and the vertical rotation frequency of the distance measuring device 15 is once per second. However, it goes without saying that other values may be used.

Further, in the above embodiment, the processing units from the obstacle determination unit 23 to the display control unit 28 are stored in one control device 20, but the control device 20 is not limited to this. A part of the processing unit may be realized on the second processing unit after providing a second processing device different from the above.

Further, in the above embodiment, the rotation speeds of the side brush 10 and the drum brush 12 are controlled by the cleaning control unit 25 so as to be constant, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, when the obstacle determination unit 23 determines that the object is dust, it is estimated that a large amount of dust is scattered on the floor surface in the place being cleaned, and the rotation speed of the side brush 10 and the drum brush 12 is increased. It may be allowed to increase the efficiency of dust recovery.
Further, in the above embodiment, when an obstacle is detected, the process of determining the avoidance direction, avoiding the obstacle, and detecting the obstacle again is repeated, so that the obstacle is dusted as described above. In some cases, the obstacle determination unit 23 determined that the obstacle was dusty, although it was operating so as to continue rotating on the spot without moving forward until the dust scattering had subsided and the surrounding area was cleaned. If this happens, the cleaning robot 1 may not rotate and may stop there until the dust lands on the floor to continue cleaning only.

Further, in the above embodiment, as described with reference to FIG. 6, the determination as to whether or not the cleaning in step S10 is completed is performed based on the elapsed time from the start of cleaning, but this is limited to this. I can't. For example, by performing a process so as to stop when the remaining capacity of the battery 4 becomes 20% or less, the remaining amount of the battery 4 becomes too low and the distance measuring device 15 cannot normally detect an object. It is possible to clean for as long as possible while avoiding.

Further, in the above embodiment, the cleaning robot 1 is used in the construction work place during the construction period, but it goes without saying that the cleaning robot 1 is not limited to this. For example, in a nuclear power plant, the exclusion zone is surrounded by cones and cone bars in advance, and in the event of a nuclear accident, dust and the like are removed until the radiation dose drops to the extent that workers can enter. It may be used for dyeing.

In addition to this, as long as the gist of the present invention is not deviated, the configuration described in the above embodiment can be selected or changed to another configuration as appropriate.

1 Cleaning robot 16 Distance measuring device Drive motor 2 Traveling means 17 Infrared sensor 3 Cleaning means 18 Outer housing 4 Battery 20 Control device 5 Inner housing 21 Input device 6 Drive wheel motor 22 Output device 7 Drive wheel 23 Obstacle determination unit 8 Belt 24 Travel direction determination unit 9 Caster 25 Cleaning control unit 10 Side brush (cleaning brush) 26 Travel control unit 11 Side brush drive motor 27 Distance measuring device control unit 12 Drum brush 28 Display control unit 13 Drum brush drive motor
14 Hopper
15 Distance measuring device

Claims (4)

A cleaning robot equipped with traveling means and cleaning means,
A distance measuring device that measures the distance to the obstacle by emitting light and receiving the reflected light reflected by the obstacle.
With more control devices
The control device
A distance measuring device control unit that changes the light emission angle in the vertical direction,
An obstacle determination unit that estimates the type of obstacle based on the measurement results from the distance measuring device.
A traveling direction determining unit that determines the traveling direction so as to avoid the obstacle based on the measurement result of the distance measuring device.
A traveling control unit that controls traveling in the traveling direction determined by the traveling direction determining unit,
With
The obstacle determining unit, when the distance from the distance measuring device to the obstacle is less than the predetermined value, the obstacle is estimated to dust,
By repeating the detection of the obstacle, the avoidance direction determination by the traveling direction determining unit, and the direction change by the traveling control unit until the obstacle presumed to be dust is no longer detected, the dust is generated. A cleaning robot that focuses on cleaning many places . The cleaning means includes a cleaning brush, and if the obstacle contains dust,
The cleaning robot according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning robot repeats changing the direction to the determined avoidance direction, determining the avoidance direction, and detecting an obstacle until the dust scattered by the cleaning brush is no longer detected. The cleaning robot according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the distance measuring device is a laser range finder, and the light is laser light. The cleaning robot according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the lower limit of the light emission angle is a direction parallel to the floor surface.

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