SWARM INTELLIGENCE-BASED MOBILE ROBOT, METHOD FOR CONTROLLING THE SAME, AND SURVEILLANCE ROBOT SYSTEM

• US 20110135189A1
• Filed: 09/01/2010
• Published: 06/09/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Inventors: LEE, Chang Eun
• Application Number:
  US12/873,569
• Publication Number:
  US 20110135189A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/153
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 9/1682 Dual arm manipulator; Coordination of several manipulators
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/39155 Motion skill, relate sensor data to certain situation and motion
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/39169 Redundant communication channels with central control
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0027 involving a plurality of vehicles, e.g. fleet or convoy travelling fleet control of land vehicles from a control room G05D1/0297; traffic control systems for road vehicles G08G1/00; for marine craft G08G3/00; for aircraft G08G5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0295 by at least one leading vehicle of the fleet

Abstract

A plurality of swarm intelligence-based mobile robots, each having multiple legs and multiple joints, the mobile robot includes: an environment recognition sensor for collecting sensed data about the surrounding environment of the mobile robot; a communication unit for performing communication with a remote controller, a parent robot managing at least one mobile robot, or the other mobile robots located within a predefined area; and a control unit for controlling the motions of the multiple legs and multiple joints to control movement of the mobile robot to a given destination based on control data transmitted from the remote controller through the communication unit or based on communication with the other mobile robots within the predefined area or based on the sensed data collected by the environment recognition sensor.

Claims

1. A plurality of swarm intelligence-based mobile robots, each having multiple legs and multiple joints, the mobile robot comprising:

an environment recognition sensor for collecting sensed data about the surrounding environment of the mobile robot;

a communication unit for performing communication with a remote controller, a parent robot managing at least one mobile robot, or the other mobile robots located within a predefined area; and

a control unit for controlling the motions of the multiple legs and multiple joints to control movement of the mobile robot to a given destination based on control data transmitted from the remote controller through the communication unit or based on communication with the other mobile robots within the predefined area or based on the sensed data collected by the environment recognition sensor.

2. The mobile robot of claim 1, further comprising an image pickup unit for picking up the surrounding environment of the mobile robot to create image data.

3. The mobile robot of claim 2, wherein the control unit transmits the sensed data and the image data to the remote controller, and receives the control data in response to the sensing data and the image data.

4. The mobile robot of claim 1, wherein the control unit transmits the sensed data to the remote controller, and thereafter receives the control data in response to the sensed data.

5. The mobile robot of claim 1, wherein the control unit controls the movement of the mobile robot while maintaining a preset distance from its neighboring mobile robots through communication with the neighboring mobile robots.

6. The mobile robot of claim 1, wherein, when the mobile robot gets out of a communication range of the remote controller, or enters a shadow area remote controller while communicating with the remote controller through the communication unit, the control unit performs communication with the remote controller via the parent robot located within the defined area.

7. The mobile robot of claim 1, wherein the mobile robot acquires situation information about the surrounding environment in conjunction with a ubiquitous sensor network.

8. A method for controlling multiple swarm intelligence-based mobile robots having multiple legs and multiple joints, the method comprising:

selecting at least one of the mobile robots;

performing communication with the selected mobile robot;

moving the selected mobile robot through the communication and collecting sensed data and/or image data about the surrounding environment of the selected mobile robot; and

controlling movement of the selected mobile robot based on the sensed data and/or image data,

wherein the remaining mobile robots are set to be at an autonomous driving mode and travel through communication with their neighboring mobile robots or through recognition of their surroundings based on the sensed data and/or image data.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein, when the selected mobile robot gets out of a communication range of a remote controller or enters a shadow area, the communication with the selected mobile robot is performed via a parent robot managing the selected mobile robot.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein said controlling movement of the selected mobile robot includes:

analyzing obstacle information and/or surrounding situation information based on the sensed data and/or the image data; and

controlling the movement of the selected mobile robot based on the analyzed obstacle information and/or surrounding situation information.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the surrounding situation information is transmitted to other remote controller via a remote control station connected to the remote controller.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the surrounding situation information is transmitted to the other remote controller using a text messaging function of the remote control station.

13. A swarm intelligence-based surveillance robot system, the robot system comprising:

multiple child robots having multiple legs and multiple joints;

a remote controller for selectively controlling the multiple child robots and receiving surrounding environment information or image information from the controlled child robots; and

a parent robot for performing a relay function between the remote controller and the multiple child robots.

14. The robot system of claim 13, wherein an operator of the remote controller selects at least one of the multiple child robots through an interface provided by the remote controller to remotely and manually control the selected child robot, and allows unselected child robots to autonomously move and control themselves.

15. The robot system of claim 14, wherein the unselected child robots that autonomously move and control themselves move to a preset destination, while avoiding obstacles, at a speed which is determined by finding out surrounding situation information using an environment recognition sensor embedded therein.

16. The robot system of claim 14, wherein the unselected child robots that autonomously move and control themselves perform movement by communicating with the selected child robot that is remotely and manually controlled.

17. The robot system of claim 14, wherein the selected child robot that is remotely and manually controlled is controlled by transmitting sensed data collected by an environment recognition sensor or image data picked up by an image pickup unit to the remote controller and then receiving control data as a response.

18. The robot system of claim 13, wherein, when the selected child robot that is remotely and manually controlled gets out of a communication range of the remote controller or enters a shadow area, the selected child robot communicates with the remote controller via the parent robot managing the selected child robot that is remotely and manually controlled.

19. The robot system of claim 14, wherein the remote controller transmits data required for the autonomous driving and autonomous control to the unselected child robots to thereby allow the unselected child robots to autonomously control themselves.

20. The robot system of claim 19, wherein the data required for the autonomous movement and autonomous control is created by recognizing presence/absence, number and type of a target on an area to which the child robots move, analyzing the surrounding situation of the recognized target, autonomously creating target control patterns based on the analyzed surrounding situation, determining an optimum control pattern appropriate for the situation among the created target control patterns, and using the determined optimum control pattern.