Article handling system and method and article management system and method

• US 7,187,998 B2
• Filed: 01/11/2006
• Issued: 03/06/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/17/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Matsukawa, Yoshihiko, Sato, Satoshi, Yamada, Osamu, Okamoto, Shusaku, Naruoka, Tomonobu
• Primary Examiner(s): Black; Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): Marc; McDieunel
• Application Number:
  US11/330,379
• Publication Number:
  US 20060111811A1
• Time in Patent Office: 419 Days
• Field of Search: 700/245
• US Class Current: 700/245
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 5/007 mounted on wheels
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 9/0003 Home robots, i.e. small robots for domestic use
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 9/1697 Vision controlled systems
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 2203/041 Camera
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/39387 Reflex control, follow movement, track face, work, hand, visual servoing
• 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 1/0255 using acoustic signals, e.g. ultra-sonic singals sonar systems designed for anti-collision purposes G01S15/93
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0274 using mapping information stored in a memory device navigation using map-matching G01C21/30

Abstract

A camera or other sensing unit senses the conditions of articles and mobile entities, including humans within a living space. An article management/operation server manages, within an article database, attribute information about the articles, including operators, according to the information from the sensing unit. The server receives a user'"'"'s instruction, input through a console unit, and refers to the article database to convert this instruction into a control command, which is then transmitted to a life-support robot.

Claims

1. A system for managing an article existing in a life space, comprising:

a designation device for designating a transfer subject article and a placement location which is a destination of the transfer subject article;

a laborer robot having a holder for holding an article, the laborer robot holding the transfer subject article in the holder to place the transfer subject article at the placement location;

a database containing information about an article in the life space and map information of the life space; and

a holding position determination section for determining, based on information about the transfer subject article and the placement location which are stored in the database, a holding position of the transfer subject article held by the holder to be a position at which the laborer robot places the transfer subject article at the placement location without re-holding the transfer subject article,

wherein the holding position determination section selects a contact region in which the transfer subject article is in contact with the placement location and determines the holding position such that the holder does not overlap the contact region based on information about the transfer subject article and the placement location which are stored in the database before the holder holds the transfer subject article, and

the holding position determination section checks an available space at the placement location based on information about the placement location which is contained in the database and selects the contact region such that at least the transfer subject article is accommodated within the available space.

2. A system for managing an article existing in a life space, comprising:

a designation device for designating a transfer subject article and a placement location which is a destination of the transfer subject article;

a laborer robot having a holder for holding an article, the laborer robot holding the transfer subject article in the holder to place the transfer subject article at the placement location;

a database containing information about an article in the life space and map information of the life space; and

a holding position determination section for determining, based on information about the transfer subject article and the placement location which are stored in the database, a holding position of the transfer subject article held by the holder to be a position at which the laborer robot places the transfer subject article at the placement location without re-holding the transfer subject article,

wherein the holding position determination section selects a contact region in which the transfer subject article is in contact with the placement location and determines the holding position such that the holder does not overlap the contact region based on information about the transfer subject article and the placement location which are stored in the database before the holder holds the transfer subject article, and

the holding position determination section checks an available space at the placement location based on information about the placement location which is contained in the database and selects the contact region such that the transfer subject article is accommodated within the available region excluding a space necessary for a placement operation of the holder.

3. A system for managing an article existing in a life space, comprising:

a designation device for designating a transfer subject article and a placement location which is a destination of the transfer subject article;

a laborer robot having a holder for holding an article, the laborer robot holding the transfer subject article in the holder to place the transfer subject article at the placement location;

a database containing information about an article in the life space and map information of the life space; and

a holding position determination section for determining, based on information about the transfer subject article and the placement location which are stored in the database, a holding position of the transfer subject article held by the holder to be a position at which the laborer robot places the transfer subject article at the placement location without re-holding the transfer subject article,

wherein the holding position determination section determines whether a placement location designated as the transfer destination is inside or outside a box, and

if the placement location is inside the box, the holding position determination section determines the holding position without selecting a contact region of the transfer subject article.

4. A system for managing an article existing in a life space, comprising:

a designation device for designating a transfer subject article and a placement location which is a destination of the transfer subject article;

a laborer robot having a holder for holding an article, the laborer robot holding the transfer subject article in the holder to place the transfer subject article at the placement location;

a database containing information about an article in the life space and map information of the life space; and

a holding position determination section for determining, based on information about the transfer subject article and the placement location which are stored in the database, a holding position of the transfer subject article held by the holder to be a position at which the laborer robot places the transfer subject article at the placement location without re-holding the transfer subject article,

wherein the article existing in the life space includes a specific article which has human-grasp part and human-nongrasp part,

the holding position determination section determines whether or not the transfer subject article is the specific article and the placement location is a human, and

if the transfer subject article is the specific article and the placement location is a human, the holding position determination section selects the human-nongrasp part as the holding position.

5. A robot controller for instructing a laborer robot to handle an article existing in a life space, the laborer robot having a holder for holding the article, the laborer robot holding a transfer subject article in the holder to place the transfer subject article at a placement location based on information input from an designation device through which the transfer subject article and the placement location as a transfer destination are designated, the robot controller comprising:

a holding position determination section for retrieving information about the transfer subject article and the placement location from a server which includes a database containing information about an article in the life space and map information of the life space and determining based on the retrieved information a holding position of the transfer subject article held by the holder to be a position at which the laborer robot places the transfer subject article at the placement location without re-holding the transfer subject article,

wherein the holding position determination section selects a contact region in which the transfer subject article is in contact with the placement location and determines the holding position such that the holder does not overlap the contact region based on information about the transfer subject article and the placement location which are stored in the database before the holder holds the transfer subject article, and

the holding position determination section checks an available space at the placement location based on information about the placement location which is contained in the database and selects the contact region such that at least the transfer subject article is accommodated within the available space.

6. A robot controller for instructing a laborer robot to handle an article existing in a life space, the laborer robot having a holder for holding the article, the laborer robot holding a transfer subject article in the holder to place the transfer subject article at a placement location based on information input from an designation device through which the transfer subject article and the placement location as a transfer destination are designated, the robot controller comprising:

a holding position determination section for retrieving information about the transfer subject article and the placement location from a server which includes a database containing information about an article in the life space and map information of the life space and determining based on the retrieved information a holding position of the transfer subject article held by the holder to be a position at which the laborer robot places the transfer subject article at the placement location without re-holding the transfer subject article,

wherein the holding position determination section selects a contact region in which the transfer subject article is in contact with the placement location and determines the holding position such that the holder does not overlap the contact region based on information about the transfer subject article and the placement location which are stored in the database before the holder holds the transfer subject article, and

the holding position determination section checks an available space at the placement location based on information about the placement location which is contained in the database and selects the contact region such that the transfer subject article is accommodated within the available region excluding a space necessary for a placement operation of the holder.

7. A robot controller for instructing a laborer robot to handle an article existing in a life space, the laborer robot having a holder for holding the article, the laborer robot holding a transfer subject article in the holder to place the transfer subject article at a placement location based on information input from an designation device through which the transfer subject article and the placement location as a transfer destination are designated, the robot controller comprising:

a holding position determination section for retrieving information about the transfer subject article and the placement location from a server which includes a database containing information about an article in the life space and map information of the life space and determining based on the retrieved information a holding position of the transfer subject article held by the holder to be a position at which the laborer robot places the transfer subject article at the placement location without re-holding the transfer subject article,

wherein the holding position determination section determines whether a placement location designated as the transfer destination is inside or outside a box, and

if the placement location is inside the box, the holding position determination section determines the holding position without selecting a contact region of the transfer subject article.

8. A robot controller for instructing a laborer robot to handle an article existing in a life space, the laborer robot having a holder for holding the article, the laborer robot holding a transfer subject article in the holder to place the transfer subject article at a placement location based on information input from an designation device through which the transfer subject article and the placement location as a transfer destination are designated, the robot controller comprising:

a holding position determination section for retrieving information about the transfer subject article and the placement location from a server which includes a database containing information about an article in the life space and map information of the life space and determining based on the retrieved information a holding position of the transfer subject article held by the holder to be a position at which the laborer robot places the transfer subject article at the placement location without re-holding the transfer subject article,

wherein the article existing in the life space includes a specific article which has human-grasp part and human-nongrasp part,

the holding position determination section determines whether or not the transfer subject article is the specific article and the placement location is a human, and

if the transfer subject article is the specific article and the placement location is a human, the holding position determination section selects the human-nongrasp part as the holding position.