Guide robot for shopping guiding system and method

• US 10,198,758 B2
• Filed: 03/28/2014
• Issued: 02/05/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ecovacs Robotics, Inc. (Ecovacs Robotics (Suzhou) Co. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Ecovacs Robotics, Inc. (Ecovacs Robotics (Suzhou) Co. Ltd.)
• Inventors: Qian, Dongqi
• Primary Examiner(s): Miller, Brittney N
• Application Number:
  US14/229,288
• Publication Number:
  US 20150278889A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,775 Days
• Field of Search: 705 261, 705 271
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces

Abstract

An intelligent shopping guiding system comprising a guide robot and a workstation computer is disclosed. The guide robot is coupled to the workstation computer, preferably over a wireless system and information between the guide robot and the workstation computer is transferred via wireless communication. As the front-end equipment of the shopping guiding system, the guide robot interacts with the customer and provides assistance and guidance to the customer to enhance their shopping experience. As the back-end equipment of the shopping guiding system, the workstation computer builds, stores, and maintains a customized message associated with a customer'"'"'s unique ID number. The unique ID number is associated with the customer'"'"'s personal characteristics such as, for example, biometric information, physiological, or other information suitable for identifying the customer.

Claims

1. A guide robot for a shopping guiding system, wherein the guide robot comprises:

a control unit comprising a processor configured to execute operating logic;

at least one biometric system coupled to the control unit, wherein each of the at least one biometric system comprises a sensor configured to capture personal characteristic information including a biometric identifier associated with a customer;

a communication interface coupled to the control unit, wherein the communication interface is configured to;

send the biometric identifier associated with the customer to a remote workstation computer, wherein the remote workstation computer retrieves a message file based on the biometric identifier and generates instructions configured to control the guide robot based on the message file, wherein the remote workstation computer retrieves the message file from its database if a match of the biometric identifier exists in its database, and wherein the remote workstation computer retrieves the message file from a cloud-based database that stores a message file associated with the customer if a match of the biometric identifier does not exist in its database; and

receive the instructions generated by the remote workstation computer; and

a user interface coupled to the control unit, wherein the user interface comprises;

an audio interface to communicate with the customer, wherein the audio interface comprises a microphone to receive audio input from the customer and a speaker to provide audio output to the customer; and

a video interface to communicate with the customer, wherein the video interface comprises a touchscreen to receive touch input from the customer and to provide visual output and tactile feedback to the customer; and

a self-moving unit;

wherein, in response to the instructions generated by the remote workstation computer, the operating logic is configured to control operation of the user interface by communicating a customized message to the customer and to control operation of the self-moving unit.

2. The guide robot of claim 1, wherein the communication interface comprises a wireless communication interface.

3. The guide robot of claim 1, wherein the visual output comprises at least one of textual or graphical information.

4. The guide robot of claim 1, wherein the at least one biometric system comprises an image acquisition system including an image sensor configured to capture a facial image to identify the customer based on the facial image.

5. The guide robot of claim 4, wherein the image sensor comprises a charge coupled device based image sensor.

6. The guide robot of claim 4, wherein the at least one biometric system further comprises one or more than one of:

a voice recognition system comprising a sensor configured to capture a voice sample as the biometric identifier to recognize the customer based on the voice sample;

an iris detection system comprising a sensor configured to capture an iris sample as the biometric identifier to distinguish the customer based on the iris sample; and

a fingerprint recognition system comprising a sensor configured to capture a fingerprint as the biometric identifier to recognize the customer based on the fingerprint.

7. The guide robot of claim 1, wherein the self-moving unit is coupled to at least one sensor, wherein the at least one sensor comprises a cliff sensor, an obstacle sensor, or a combination thereof.

8. The guide robot of claim 1, wherein the biometric identifier includes at least one of a physiological characteristic or a behavioral characteristic.

9. The guide robot of claim 8, wherein the physiological characteristic comprises a heart rate, a heart rate variability, a respiration rate, a body temperature, or a three-axis measurement of activity and torso angle associated with the customer.

10. The guide robot of claim 8, wherein the behavioral characteristic comprises a pattern of behavior including a typing rhythm or a gait associated with the customer.

11. The guide robot of claim 1, wherein the biometric identifier comprises physiologic data captured by the sensor of the at least one biometric system.

12. The guide robot of claim 1, wherein the operating logic is configured to control operation of the user interface to communicate shopping assistance information based on at least one of the customer'"'"'s interests, purchasing records, behaviors, tendencies, inquiries, or preferences stored in the message file of the customer.

13. The guide robot of claim 12, wherein the operating logic is configured to control operation of the user interface to communicate information about at least one of goods or services of interest to the customer.

14. The guide robot of claim 12, wherein the operating logic is configured to control operation of the user interface to communicate an answer to an inquiry of the customer.

15. The guide robot of claim 1, wherein the communication interface is further configured to send interaction information to the remote workstation computer, wherein the interaction information comprises at least one of new inquiries or new interests of the customer, and wherein the remote workstation computer updates the message file of the customer based on the interaction information.

16. The guide robot of claim 15, wherein the remote workstation computer updates the message file of the customer based on the interaction information during the communicating of the customized message.

17. The guide robot of claim 1, wherein the message file stored at the cloud-based database has been received from one of a plurality of other remote workstation computers coupled to a same network as the remote workstation computer.