Mobile apparatus, and control method thereof, control program and supervisory system therefor

• US 7,571,026 B2
• Filed: 12/18/2007
• Issued: 08/04/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Nakamura, Makoto, Kuroda, Mitsuhide, Sawada, Yasuhiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Black; Thomas G
• Assistant Examiner(s): Olsen; Lin B
• Application Number:
  US11/958,911
• Publication Number:
  US 20080154391A1
• Time in Patent Office: 595 Days
• Field of Search: 700/28, 700/30, 700/253
• US Class Current: 700/251
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 57/032 with alternately or sequentially lifted supporting base and legs; with alternately or sequentially lifted feet or skid B62D57/024 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0212 with means for defining a desired trajectory involving a plurality of land vehicles G05D1/0287
• 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 1/027 comprising intertial navigation means, e.g. azimuth detector inertial navigation G01C21/16; inertial navigation combined with non-inertial navigation instruments G01C21/165
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0278 using satellite positioning signals, e.g. GPS

Abstract

A mobile apparatus or the like capable of moving or acting by avoiding contact with an object, such as a person, while reducing the possibility of inducing a change of the behavior of the object. It is determined whether or not there is a first spatial element Q₁ that satisfies a contact condition that there is a possibility of contact with a reference spatial element Q₀ on a discriminant plane. The reference spatial element Q₀ and the first spatial element Q₁ represent current images of a robot 1 and an object x, respectively. When it is determined that there is a first spatial element Q₁ that satisfies the contact condition on the discriminant plane, a route that allows the reference spatial element Q₀ to move by avoiding contact with a second spatial element Q₂ is set as a new “first action plan element” on the discriminant plane.

Claims

1. A mobile apparatus that has a control system and autonomously moves according to a first action plan element configured to define a behavior of a positional change of the mobile apparatus under the control of the control system,

wherein said control system comprises:

a first processing section that recognizes a current image of said mobile apparatus, a current image of an autonomously movable object, and an intermittent or continuous future image of the object, which is determined according to a behavior of the object and has a larger size than the current image thereof, as a reference spatial element, a first spatial element, and a second spatial element having a larger size than the first spatial element on a discriminant plane which is a flat surface or a curved surface defined to two-dimensionally recognize a position, a shape and a size of the mobile apparatus in a real space thereof and a position, a shape and a size of the object in a real space thereof, respectively;

a second processing section that determines, based on the result of the recognition by the first processing section, whether or not there is a first spatial element that satisfies both a first contact condition that a movement cost which is defined to increase is a distance from the reference spatial element to the first spatial element on the discriminant plane increases is in a prescribed range or not higher than a predetermined rank and a second contact condition that there is an intersection or contact on the discriminant plane between the first spatial element and the reference spatial element moving along a route serving as the first action plan element, or the second contact condition only; and

a third processing section that sets a next route that allows the reference spatial element to avoid contact with the second spatial element on the discriminant plane as said first action plan element based on the result of the recognition by the first processing section on a condition that the second processing section determines that the first spatial element that satisfies both the first contact condition and the second contact condition, or the second contact condition only is present on the discriminant plane.

2. The mobile apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said first processing section recognizes the behavior of said object by some or all of a position, a velocity and an acceleration of said first spatial element on said discriminant plane and recognizes the first spatial element intermittently or continuously extended according to the result of the recognition as the second spatial element.

3. The mobile apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said first processing section recognizes the behavior of said object by the velocity of said first spatial element and the relative position and the relative velocity of said first spatial element with respect to said reference spatial element on said discriminant plane and recognizes the first spatial element intermittently or continuously extended according to the result of the recognition as said second spatial element.

4. The mobile apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said first processing section recognizes a region determined according to contour characteristics of said object extended according to contour characteristics of said mobile apparatus as said first spatial element on said discriminant plane.

5. The mobile apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said first processing section recognizes a Minkowski sum of two regions determined according to the contour characteristics of said mobile apparatus and said object as said first spatial element on the discriminant plane.

6. The mobile apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said second processing section determines whether or not there is the first spatial element that satisfies the first contact condition that the movement cost is in the prescribed range having a positive lower limit.

7. The mobile apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said third processing section sets, as said first action plan element, a condition that the rate of change of either or both of the direction and the magnitude of a velocity of said mobile apparatus is equal to or lower than a threshold value.

8. The mobile apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said third processing section sets, as said first action plan element, a condition that a higher priority is given to changing the magnitude of a velocity of said mobile apparatus than changing the direction thereof.

9. The mobile apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said control system controls operation of an on-board device installed in said mobile apparatus according to a second action plan element configured to define a behavior of the operation of the on-board device, and

said third processing section sets the actuation of the on-board device as the second action plan element so as to prepare an announcement of a moving direction of the mobile apparatus.

10. The mobile apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the mobile apparatus has a driving device for actuating a movable part corresponding to a part of a human body as said on-board device, and said third processing section sets the actuation of the on-board device as the second action plan element so as to prepare an announcement of a moving direction according to a motion of the movable part actuated by the driving device.

11. The mobile apparatus according to claim 9, wherein said mobile apparatus has a head as said movable part, and said third processing section sets an operation of turning a front of the head toward the movement direction of said mobile apparatus as said second action plan element.

12. A control system of a mobile apparatus that autonomously moves according to a first action plan element configured to define a behavior of a positional change of the mobile apparatus, comprising:

a first processing section that recognizes a current image of said mobile apparatus, a current image of an autonomously movable object, and an intermittent or continuous future image of the object, which is determined according to a behavior of the objet and has a larger size than the current image thereof, as a reference spatial element, a first spatial element, and a second spatial element having a larger size than the first spatial element on a discriminant plane which is a flat surface or a curved surface defined to two-dimensionally recognize a position, a shape and a size of the mobile apparatus in a real space thereof and a position, a shape and a size of the object in a real space thereof, respectively;

a second processing section that determines, based on the result of the recognition by the first processing section, whether or not there is a first spatial element that satisfies both a first contact condition that a movement cost which is defined to increase as a distance from the reference spatial element to the first spatial element on the discriminant plane increases is in a prescribed range or not higher than a predetermined rank and a second contact condition that there is an intersection or contact on the discriminant plane between the first spatial element and the reference spatial element moving along a route serving as the first action plan element, or the second contact condition only; and

a third processing section that sets a next route that allows the reference spatial element to avoid contact with the second spatial element on the discriminant plane as said first action plan element based on the result of the recognition by the first processing section on a condition that the second processing section determines that the first spatial element that satisfies both the first contact condition and the second contact condition, or the second contact condition only is present on the discriminant plane.

13. The control system according to claim 12, wherein a program makes a computer installed in the mobile apparatus function as said control system.

14. The control system according to claim 12, wherein a supervisory system, which supervises a mobile apparatus that autonomously moves according to a first action plan element configured to define a behavior of a positional change of the mobile apparatus, distributes or broadcasts at least a part of the program to said computer installed in said mobile apparatus.