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Autonomous moving apparatus having obstacle avoidance function

  • US 6,515,614 B2
  • Filed: 10/11/2001
  • Issued: 02/04/2003
  • Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2000
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. An autonomous moving apparatus moving to a destination while detecting and avoiding an obstacle, comprising:

  • a scan-type sensor that scans a horizontal plane in a traveling direction to thereby detect a position of an obstacle;

    a non-scan-type sensor that detects, without scanning, an obstacle in a space different from the scanning plane scanned by the scan-type sensor;

    a specific-configuration detecting element that determines the presence of an object having a specific configuration based on detected-object distance information for each scanning angle of the scan-type sensor to thereby detect a preset specific configuration;

    an obstacle detecting element that determines an estimated position of an obstacle or an area where the obstacle is present based on detection information from both of the scan-type and non-scan-type sensors if any specific configuration is detected by the specific-configuration detecting element and, otherwise, determines an estimated position of the obstacle only based on detection information from the scan-type sensor; and

    a controller for controlling the autonomous moving apparatus to travel to the destination, based on the position of the obstacle obtained by the obstacle detecting element.

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