Article transporting robot

• US 7,269,479 B2
• Filed: 01/30/2007
• Issued: 09/11/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/02/2004
• 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, Tanigawa, Toru, Yamada, Osamu, Okamoto, Shusaku, Naruoka, Tomonobu
• Primary Examiner(s): Black; Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): Marc; McDieunel
• Application Number:
  US11/699,342
• Publication Number:
  US 20070124024A1
• Time in Patent Office: 224 Days
• Field of Search: 700/254
• US Class Current: 700/245
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 19/023 including video camera means
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 5/007 mounted on wheels
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 9/0003 Home robots, i.e. small robots for domestic use

Abstract

An article transporting robot or an article transporting system includes a state recognizing means for recognizing the state of the article, a transportation method specifying means for specifying the transportation method according to the state recognized by the state recognizing means, and a transporting device for transporting the article according to the transportation method specified by the transportation method specifying means.

Claims

1. An article transporting robot for transporting an article in which an ID of the article in a living space is same but the article has different transportation methods in accordance with conditions of the article, the article transporting robot comprising:

a condition recognizing means for recognizing the condition of the article to be transported;

a transportation method specifying means for specifying the transportation method of the article according to the condition of the article recognized by the condition recognizing means;

a transporting device for transporting the article to be transported according to the transportation method specified by the transportation method specifying means; and

a transporting information database for storing transporting information corresponding the condition and the transporting operation of the mounted or accommodated object, for every mounting or accommodating condition of the object of each article, wherein

the transporting information further includes information regarding a next condition of the article changed as a result transporting the article to a transporting place by the transporting device,

the transportation method specifying means specifies the transporting information corresponding to the condition of the article with reference to the transporting information database, and after selecting the transporting information corresponding to the condition of the recognized article, further selects different information corresponding to the next condition based on the information on the next condition contained in the selected transporting information, and

the transporting device further transports the article according to the different transporting information when the different transporting information is selected.

2. The article transporting robot according to claim 1, wherein the condition recognizing means recognizes whether or not another article is stacked on the article to be transported.

3. The article transporting robot according to claim 1, wherein, depending on the condition of the article, the transportation method of the article and the transporting location change.

4. The article transporting robot according to claim 1, further comprising:

a holding device for holding the article, wherein

the article is transported while the article is being held by the holding device.

5. The article transporting robot according to claim 1, wherein

the article to be transported is a dish,

the article transporting robot functions as a robot that performs a work of clearing away the dish after meal, and

the transporting location and the transportation method change between a condition in which the dish is dirty and a condition in which the dish is clean.

6. An article transporting robot for transporting an article in which an ID of the article in a living space is the same but the article having different transportation methods in accordance with conditions of the article, the article transporting robot comprising:

a condition recognizing means for recognizing the condition of the article to be transported;

a transportation method specifying means for specifying the transportation method of the article according to the condition of the article recognized by the condition recognizing means; and

a transporting device for transporting the article to be transported according to the transportation method specified by the transportation method specifying means;

wherein

the article to be transported has a function of placing thereon or accommodating therein an object, and

the condition recognizing means recognizes a condition whether or not the article to be transported is placing thereon or accommodating therein the object.

7. The article transporting robot according to claim 6, wherein the condition recognizing means recognizes whether or not another article is stacked on the article to be transported.

8. The article transporting robot according to claim 6, wherein, depending on the condition of the article, the transportation method of the article and the transporting location change.

9. The article transporting robot according to claim 6, further comprising:

a holding device for holding the article, wherein

the article is transported while the article is being held by the holding device.

10. The article transporting robot according to claim 6, wherein

the article to be transported is a dish,

the article transporting robot functions as a robot that performs a work of clearing away the dish after meal, and

the transporting location and the transportation method change between a condition in which the dish is dirty and a condition in which the dish is clean.