Vehicle appraisal assisting robot and vehicle appraisal system using the robot

• US 7,617,161 B2
• Filed: 04/18/2005
• Issued: 11/10/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Waita, Hironori
• Primary Examiner(s): Rosen; Nicholas D
• Application Number:
  US11/107,827
• Publication Number:
  US 20050267633A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,667 Days
• Field of Search: 705/27, 705/500, 901/47, 700/245
• US Class Current: 705/500
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass

Abstract

A vehicle appraisal assisting robot (1) includes an information acquisition unit (12) for acquiring basic information required for appraisal of a client vehicle (7), an image taking unit (13) for taking an image of a portion of the vehicle required to evaluate a state of the vehicles, an action generator (17) for generating an action required for the image taking unit to take an image of the portion of the vehicle, a communication unit (15) for sending the basic information and the image information to an apparatus (2) on an appraiser side, which generates appraisal results information based on the information sent from the communication unit. The communication unit also receives the appraisal results information from the apparatus on the appraiser side, and an information output unit (15, 16) outputs the appraisal results information received by the communication unit to present the appraisal results information to the client.

Claims

1. A vehicle appraisal assisting robot, comprising:

an information acquisition unit for acquiring basic information required for appraisal of a vehicle from a client;

an image taking unit for taking an image of a portion of the vehicle required to evaluate a state of the vehicle;

an action generator for generating an action required for the image taking unit to take an appropriate image of the portion of the vehicle;

a communication unit for sending the information acquired by the information acquisition unit and the image information obtained by the image taking unit to an apparatus on an appraiser side, the apparatus on the appraiser side generating appraisal results information based on the information sent from the communication unit, wherein the communication unit also receives the appraisal results information from the apparatus on the appraiser side;

an information output unit for outputting the appraisal results information received by the communication unit to present the appraisal results information to the client;

a controller for executing an application program to control the information acquisition unit, image taking unit, action generator, communication unit and information output unit; and

a mobile robot comprising the information acquisition unit, the image taking unit, the action generator, the communication unit, the information output unit, and the controller,

wherein the apparatus on the appraiser side is configured to determine whether the information gathered by the mobile robot is adequate for appraisal so that the apparatus may generate an appraisal result when the information gathered by the mobile robot is adequate for appraisal, and to remote control the mobile robot to acquire any missing information when the information gathered by the mobile robot is not adequate for appraisal.

2. The vehicle appraisal assisting robot according to claim 1, wherein the robot consists of a domestic robot used at the client'"'"'s home.

3. The vehicle appraisal assisting robot according to claim 2, wherein the controller is adapted to receive commands from the apparatus on the appraiser side via the communication unit and execute them so that the robot can be remote controlled by the apparatus on the appraiser side.

4. The vehicle appraisal assisting robot according to claim 1, wherein the information output unit comprises an audio output unit for outputting an audio message representing the appraisal results information in a prescribed language.

5. The vehicle appraisal assisting robot according to claim 1, wherein the information output unit comprises a communication unit for sending the appraisal results information to an information terminal device of the client.

6. The vehicle appraisal assisting robot according to claim 1, wherein the basic information of the vehicle acquired by the information acquisition unit comprises a vehicle type, year of manufacture, and mileage.

7. The vehicle appraisal assisting robot according to claim 1, wherein the appraisal results information comprises a purchase price of the vehicle.

8. A vehicle appraisal system, comprising:

a vehicle appraisal assisting mobile robot for gathering information required for appraising a vehicle; and

an apparatus on an appraiser side having an appraisal database, wherein the apparatus on the appraiser side receives the information gathered by the robot and accesses the appraisal database by using the information received from the robot to generate appraisal results information, the appraisal results information being sent to the robot, wherein the mobile robot comprises

an information acquisition unit for acquiring basic information required for appraisal of the vehicle from a client,

an image taking unit for taking an image of a portion of the vehicle required to evaluate a state of the vehicle,

an action generator for generating an action required for the image taking unit to take an appropriate image of the portion of the vehicle,

a communication unit for sending the information acquired by the information acquisition unit and the image information obtained by the image taking unit to the apparatus on the appraiser side as the information gathered by the robot, the apparatus on the appraiser side generating the appraisal results information based on the information sent from the communication unit, wherein the communication unit also receives the appraisal results information from the apparatus on the appraiser side,

an information output unit for outputting the appraisal results information received by the communication unit to present the appraisal results information to the client, and

a controller for executing an application program to control the information acquisition unit, image taking unit, action generator, communication unit and information output unit, and

wherein the apparatus on the appraiser side is configured to determine whether the information gathered by the mobile robot is adequate for appraisal so that the apparatus may generate an appraisal result when the information gathered by the mobile robot is adequate for appraisal, and to remote control the mobile robot to acquire any missing information when the information gathered by the mobile robot is not adequate for appraisal.

9. The vehicle appraisal system according to claim 8, wherein the apparatus on the appraiser side also receives results of evaluation by an appraiser on the vehicle, and reflects the evaluation results by the appraiser on the appraisal results information.

10. The vehicle appraisal system according to claim 8, wherein the robot consists of a domestic robot.

11. A vehicle appraisal assisting robot, comprising:

an information acquisition means for acquiring basic information required for appraisal of a vehicle from a client;

an image taking means for taking an image of a portion of the vehicle required to evaluate a state of the vehicle;

an action generating means for generating an action required for the image taking means to take an appropriate image of the portion of the vehicle;

a communication means for sending the information acquired by the information acquisition unit and the image information obtained by the image taking unit to an apparatus on an appraiser side, the apparatus on the appraiser side generating appraisal results information based on the information sent from the communication unit, wherein the communication means also receives the appraisal results information from the apparatus on the appraiser side;

an information outputting means for outputting the appraisal results information received by the communication means to present the appraisal results information to the client;

a controlling means for executing an application program for controlling the information acquisition means, image taking means, action generator means, communication means and information output means; and

a mobile robot comprising the information acquisition means, the image taking means, the action generating means, the communication means, the information outputting means, and the controlling means,

wherein the apparatus on the appraiser side is configured to determine whether the information gathered by the mobile robot is adequate for appraisal so that the apparatus may generate an appraisal result when the information gathered by the mobile robot is adequate for appraisal, and to remote control the mobile robot to acquire any missing information when the information gathered by the mobile robot is not adequate for appraisal.

12. A vehicle appraisal system, comprising:

a vehicle appraising assisting mobile robot for gathering information required for appraising a vehicle; and

an apparatus on an appraiser side having an appraisal database, wherein the apparatus on the appraiser side receives the information gathered by the robot and accesses the appraisal database by using the information received from the robot to generate appraisal results information, the appraisal results information being sent to the robot, wherein the mobile robot comprises

an information acquisition means for acquiring basic information required for appraisal of the vehicle from a client,

an image taking means for taking an image of a portion of the vehicle required to evaluate a state of the vehicle,

an action generating means for generating an action required for the image taking means to take an appropriate image of the portion of the vehicle,

a communicating means for sending the information acquired by the information acquisition means and the image information obtained by the image taking means to an apparatus on the appraiser side as information gathered by the robot, the apparatus on the appraiser side generating the appraisal results information based on the information sent from the communicating means, wherein the communication means also receives the appraisal results information from the apparatus on the appraiser side,

an information output means for outputting the appraisal results information received by the communicating means to present the appraisal results information to the client, and

a controlling means for executing an application program for controlling the information acquisition means, image taking means, action generator means, communication means and information output means, and

wherein the apparatus on the appraiser side is configured to determine whether the information gathered by the mobile robot is adequate for appraisal so that the apparatus may generate an appraisal result when the information gathered by the mobile robot is adequate for appraisal, and to remote control the mobile robot to acquire any missing information when the information gathered by the mobile robot is not adequate for appraisal.