Moving object controller, landmark, and moving object control method

• US 10,248,131 B2
• Filed: 03/22/2016
• Issued: 04/02/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyushu Institute of Technology, Megachips Corporation
• Original Assignee: Kyushu Institute of Technology, Megachips Corporation
• Inventors: Nagamine, Kenta, Ikoma, Norikazu, Shingu, Fumiya, Hasegawa, Hiromu
• Primary Examiner(s): Whittington, Jess
• Application Number:
  US15/076,778
• Publication Number:
  US 20160282875A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,106 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0088 characterized by the autonomous decision making process, e.g. artificial intelligence, predefined behaviours using knowledge based models G06N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0236 in combination with a laser lasers per se H01S
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0248 in combination with a laser lasers per se H01S
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0251 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 Class Codes: G05D 1/0274 using mapping information stored in a memory device navigation using map-matching G01C21/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/22 Matching criteria, e.g. proximity measures
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/20 Analysis of motion motion estimation for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals H04N19/43, H04N19/51
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/50 Depth or shape recovery
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/60 Analysis of geometric attributes
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/73 using feature-based methods
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/10 Terrestrial scenes scenes under surveillance with static cameras G06V20/52; scenes perceived from the exterior of a vehicle G06V20/56; scenes perceived from the interior of a vehicle G06V20/59
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 901/01 Mobile robot
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 901/47 Optical

Abstract

The position of a moving object is estimated with high accuracy based on landmark information, and highly accurate state estimation is performed appropriately at high speed. A landmark detection unit obtains a distance between the moving object and each of two or more landmarks as landmark distance information based on observation data obtained by an observation obtaining unit. A candidate area obtaining unit determines a candidate area for a position of the moving object based on the landmark distance information obtained by the landmark detection unit, and obtains candidate area information indicating the determined candidate area. A state estimation unit estimates an internal state of the moving object based on the observation data, the landmark distance information, and the candidate area information to obtain moving object internal state estimation data, and estimates the environmental map based on the candidate area information and the landmark distance information to obtain environmental map data.

Claims

1. A moving object controller for controlling a mobile machine that moves in an environment in which at least one landmark set including two or more landmarks is arranged, the moving object controller being configured to perform processing for generating an environmental map expressed using information about the landmarks and perform processing for estimating an internal state of the mobile machine, the controller comprising:

observation obtaining circuitry configured to obtain observation data collected from a sensor;

landmark detection circuitry configured to obtain, based on the observation data obtained by the observation obtaining circuitry, (1) a distance between the mobile machine and each of the two or more landmarks included in the landmark set as landmark distance information, and (2) an angle formed by a predetermined axis and a line connecting the mobile machine and each of the two or more landmarks included in the landmark set as landmark angle information;

candidate area obtaining circuitry configured to obtain candidate area information indicating candidate areas for a position of the mobile machine based on the landmark distance information obtained by the landmark detection circuitry, the candidate area information including information for a plurality of intersection points between circles centered on each of the two or more landmarks, each circle having a radius corresponding to the distance between the mobile machine and the corresponding landmark;

state estimation circuitry configured to estimate the internal state of the mobile machine based on the observation data obtained by the observation obtaining circuitry, the landmark distance information and the landmark angle information generated by the landmark detection circuitry, and the candidate area information obtained by the candidate area obtaining circuitry, and estimate the environmental map based on the candidate area information, the landmark distance information, and the landmark angle information; and

control circuitry configured to control the mobile machine for moving autonomously based on outputs of the state estimation circuitry.

2. A moving object control method for controlling a mobile machine that moves in an environment in which at least one landmark set including two or more landmarks is arranged by performing processing for generating an environmental map expressed using information about the landmarks and performing processing for estimating an internal state of the mobile machine, the method comprising:

(a) obtaining observation data collected from a sensor;

(b) obtaining, based on the observation data obtained by the step of obtaining the observation data, (1) a distance between the mobile machine and each of the two or more landmarks included in the landmark set as landmark distance information, and (2) an angle formed by a predetermined axis and a line connecting the mobile machine and each of the two or more landmarks included in the landmark set as landmark angle information;

(c) obtaining candidate area information indicating candidate areas for a position of the mobile machine based on the landmark distance information obtained by the step of obtaining the landmark distance information and the landmark angle information, the candidate area information including information for a plurality of intersection points between circles centered on each of the two or more landmarks, each circle having a radius corresponding to the distance between the mobile machine and the corresponding landmark;

(d) estimating the internal state of the mobile machine based on the observation data obtained by the step of obtaining the observation data, the landmark distance information and the landmark angle information generated by the step of obtaining the landmark distance information and the landmark angle information;

estimating the environmental map based on the candidate area information, the landmark distance information, and the landmark angle information; and

(e) controlling the mobile machine for moving autonomously based on outputs of steps (d).