System for cooperation of multiple robots using dynamic behavior binding and method thereof

• US 8,295,978 B2
• Filed: 08/12/2009
• Issued: 10/23/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Inventors: Cho, Joonmyun, Kim, Hyoungsun
• Primary Examiner(s): Trammell, James
• Assistant Examiner(s): Alsomiri, Majdi
• Application Number:
  US12/539,724
• Publication Number:
  US 20100094459A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,168 Days
• Field of Search: 700/95, 700245-255, 901/1, 901/50, 395/90
• US Class Current: 700/248
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/39151 Use intention inference, observe behaviour of other robots for their intention
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/40475 In presence of moving obstacles, dynamic environment
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0291 Fleet control monitoring fleets in traffic control systems for road vehicles G08G1/127, G08G1/127
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 3/008 based on physical entities controlled by simulated intelligence so as to replicate intelligent life forms, e.g. based on robots replicating pets or humans in their appearance or behaviour

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system for cooperation of multiple mobile robots and a method thereof that allow the multiple mobile robots to cooperatively execute one complicated task. The system and method can use centralized control architecture, create robot cooperation application codes on the basis of conceptual behavior units without depending on actual physical robots, and dynamically bind behavior units used to create the robot cooperation application at the time of executing the robot cooperation application to actual functions of the robots, thereby actively adjusting to changes in a dynamical environment, such as a change in the types, the number, and the functions of robots for cooperation.

Claims

1. A system for cooperation of robots using dynamic behavior binding, comprising:

a behavior unit storage unit that stores conceptual behavior units of robots;

an application creating unit that creates a robot cooperation application using the behavior units stored in the behavior unit storage unit and creates an application specification for the robot cooperation application, wherein the application specification defines a mapping relationship between the behavior units and the robots that execute the behavior units; and

an application executing unit that analyzes the application specification to determine a robot combination for executing the robot cooperation application based on the mapping relationship defined in the application specification, and generates a behavior binding object on the basis of the robot combination, wherein the behavior binding object is responsible for binding between the behavior units and the robot functions that are needed to execute the robot cooperation application on the basis of information defined in the application specification and information of the available robots at the time of executing the robot cooperation application and the functional configurations of the available robots.

2. The system of claim 1,

wherein the behavior units are software objects that are generated on the basis of conceptual and common behaviors executed by the robots based on a network.

3. The system of claim 1,

wherein the application specification describes the minimum number of robots that are needed to execute the robot cooperation application.

4. The system of claim 1,

wherein the application specification defines interface types of robot functions that are bound to the behavior units.

5. The system of claim 1,

wherein the application specification is created in a form of an XML or a text file.

6. The system of claim 1,

wherein the application executing unit includes:

a robot searching unit that searches the available robots at the time of executing the robot cooperation application and the functional configurations of the available robots and selects the actual available robots in a range that satisfies an essential condition of the minimum number of robots described in the application specification.

7. The system of claim 1,

wherein the application executing unit includes:

an application specification analyzing unit that analyzes the application specification and calculates the optimal configuration that enables the robot cooperation among the actual available robots.

8. A computer system for performing a method for cooperation of robots using dynamic behavior binding, the method comprising:

storing conceptual behavior units of robots;

storing a robot cooperation application created using the stored behavior units;

storing an application specification for the robot cooperation application, wherein the application specification defines a mapping relationship between the behavior units and the robots that execute the behavior units; and

analyzing the application specification to determine a robot combination for executing the robot cooperation application based on the mapping relationship defined in the application specification, and generating a behavior binding object on the basis of the robot combination, wherein the behavior binding object is responsible for binding between the behavior units and the specific robot functions that are needed to execute the robot cooperation application on the basis of information defined in the application specification and information of the available robots at the time of executing the robot cooperation application and the functional configurations of the available robots.

9. The method of claim 8,

wherein the behavior units are software objects that are generated on the basis of conceptual and common behaviors executed by the robots based on a network.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

calling the corresponding robots using the generated behavior binding object, driving the corresponding robots, and allowing the corresponding robots to cooperatively execute a task according to the robot cooperation application.

11. The method of claim 8,

wherein the application specification describes the minimum number of robots that are needed to execute the robot cooperation application.

12. The method of claim 8,

wherein the application specification defines interface types of robot functions that are bound to the behavior units.

13. The method of claim 8,

wherein the application specification is created in a form of an XML or a text file.

14. The method of claim 8,

wherein the determining of the robot combination for executing the robot cooperation application includes:

searching the available robots at the time of executing the robot cooperation application and the functional configurations of the available robots and selecting the actual available robots in a range that satisfies an essential condition of the minimum number of robots described in the application specification.

15. The method of claim 8,

wherein the determining of the robot combination for executing the robot cooperation application includes:

calculating the optimal configuration that enables the robot cooperation among the actual available robots on the basis of the application specification.