Apparatus and method with traveling path planning

• US 8,903,160 B2
• Filed: 11/23/2010
• Issued: 12/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/05/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Jeong, Woo-Yeon, Park, Jun-Ho
• Primary Examiner(s): Park, Chan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Thomas, Mia M
• Application Number:
  US12/926,526
• Publication Number:
  US 20110194755A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,470 Days
• Field of Search: 382/153, 382181-199, 382/203, 382/209, 382/217, 382/264, 235/454, 700/258, 700/259, 901/1
• US Class Current: 382/153
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0219 ensuring the processing of the whole working surface
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0246 using a video camera in combination with image processing means
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0272 comprising means for registering the travel distance, e.g. revolutions of wheels measuring distance traversed on the ground by vehicles, e.g. using odometers G01C22/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10016 Video; Image sequence
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30252 Vehicle exterior; Vicinity of vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/73 using feature-based methods
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/77 using statistical methods
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/10 Terrestrial scenes scenes under surveillance with static cameras G06V20/52; scenes perceived from the exterior of a vehicle G06V20/56; scenes perceived from the interior of a vehicle G06V20/59
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/56 exterior to a vehicle by using sensors mounted on the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/58 Recognition of moving objects or obstacles, e.g. vehicles or pedestrians; Recognition of traffic objects, e.g. traffic signs, traffic lights or roads

Abstract

An apparatus and method of planning a traveling path of a mobile robot, the apparatus and method including a pattern extracting unit, a pattern direction extracting unit, and a path generating unit. The pattern extracting unit may extract at least one pattern from an image of a ceiling captured in a ceiling direction. The pattern direction extracting unit may extract a pattern direction of the image in the form of a line from the at least one extracted pattern. The path generating unit may generate a traveling path of the mobile robot based on the extracted pattern direction.

Claims

1. An apparatus planning a traveling path of a mobile robot, the apparatus comprising:

a pattern extracting unit to extract patterns from an image of a ceiling captured in a ceiling direction, wherein the extracted patterns correspond to structural or decorative features of the ceiling which are not artificial location marks having pre-stored location coordinates, and an extracted pattern is an extracted line, extracted circular object, and/or extracted quadrangle;

a pattern direction extracting unit to extract a pattern direction of the extracted patterns in the image by grouping the extracted patterns according to a determined same direction, when the extracted patterns are extracted lines, and according to a determined repetition direction, when the extracted patterns are determined same extracted circular objects or determined same quadrangles, so as to determine the pattern direction to be the determined same direction of the extracted lines or the determined repetition direction of the circular objects or quadrangles; and

a path generating unit to generate a traveling path of the mobile robot based on the extracted pattern direction.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the pattern direction of the image is a straight line.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein, when the at least one pattern includes a line and a plurality of lines are extracted, the pattern direction extracting unit disregards extracted lines, of the plurality of extracted lines, that are determined to not appear to be in a determined same plane as the ceiling, from consideration for the extraction of the pattern direction of the image, and extracts a direction from extracted lines, of the plurality of extracted lines, that are determined to appear to be in the determined same plane as the ceiling, as the pattern direction.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the pattern direction extracting unit determines an extracted line that extends to but does not pass over a predetermined optical center area to be a line that does not appear to be in the determined same plane as the ceiling.

5. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein, upon a determination that a plurality of extracted lines appear to be in the determined same plane as the ceiling, the pattern direction extracting unit respectively groups together extracted lines arranged in same directions and extracts a direction of a group including a greatest number of extracted lines as the pattern direction.

6. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the path generating unit generates a first traveling path using position information of the mobile robot, and adjusts the generated first traveling path by changing the direction of the first traveling path to be identical to the pattern direction when a direction of the first traveling path is determined to not be identical to the extracted pattern direction.

7. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the pattern direction extracting unit further extracts a perpendicular pattern direction which is perpendicular to the pattern direction, and the path generating unit uses at least one of the pattern direction and the perpendicular pattern direction to generate the traveling path.

8. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the path generating unit generates a zigzag path including a first traveling path in a first direction and a second traveling path in a second direction such that the first direction or the second direction is parallel to the extracted pattern direction and when the mobile robot moves along the zigzag path, the mobile robot moves along the first traveling path in the first direction until encountering an obstacle, changes direction and moves a predetermined distance relative to the obstacle, then changes direction to the second traveling direction which is opposite to the first traveling direction and moves in the second traveling direction until encountering another obstacle.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the pattern extracting unit extracts a plurality of repeated patterns from the ceiling image and the pattern direction extracting unit extracts a direction of a line extrapolated from the repeated patterns as the pattern direction.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the extracted repeated patterns are determined same extracted circular objects or determined same quadrangles, and are determined based upon the pattern extracting unit respectively extracting the same extracted circular objects or the same quadrangles using a feature point extraction algorithm based on analyzing the image for feature descriptors, the feature descriptors representing a particular local image.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the feature point extraction algorithm based on the particular local image is a scale-invariant feature transform scheme.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the path generating unit generates a first traveling path using position information of the mobile robot, and adjusts the generated first traveling path by changing the direction of the first traveling path to be identical to the pattern direction when a direction of the first traveling path is determined to not be identical to the extracted pattern direction.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the pattern direction extracting unit further extracts a perpendicular pattern direction which is perpendicular to the pattern direction, and the path generating unit uses at least one of the pattern direction and the perpendicular pattern direction to generate the traveling path.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the path generating unit generates a zigzag path including a first traveling path in a first direction and a second traveling path in a second direction such that the first direction or the second direction is parallel to the extracted pattern direction and when the mobile robot moves along the zigzag path, the mobile robot moves along the first traveling path in the first direction until encountering an obstacle, changes direction and moves a predetermined distance relative to the obstacle, then changes direction to the second traveling direction which is opposite to the first traveling direction and moves in the second traveling direction until encountering another obstacle.

15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the same extracted circular objects or same quadrangles are determined based upon the pattern extracting unit respectively extracting the same extracted circular objects or the same quadrangles using a feature point extraction algorithm based on analyzing the image for feature descriptors, the feature descriptors representing a particular local image.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the feature point extraction algorithm based on based on the particular local image is a scale-invariant feature transform scheme.

17. The apparatus of claim 1,

wherein the pattern direction extracting unit extracts the pattern direction of the image to be a direction of the plural extracted patterns that are determined to be in a determined same plane as the ceiling, and

wherein the pattern direction extracting includes determining lines, for the plural extracted patterns, that extend to but do not pass over a predetermined optical center area to represent extracted patterns that are not in the determined same plane as the ceiling.

18. A method planning a traveling path of a mobile robot, the method comprising:

extracting at least one pattern from an image of a ceiling captured in a ceiling direction;

extracting a pattern direction of the image in the form of a line from the at least one extracted pattern; and

generating a traveling path of the mobile robot based on the extracted pattern direction,

wherein, when the pattern is a line and a plurality of lines are extracted, the extracting of the pattern direction includes disregarding of extracted lines, of the plurality of extracted lines, that are determined to not appear to be in a determined same plane as the ceiling, from consideration for the extraction of the pattern direction of the image, and extracting a direction from extracted lines, of the plurality of extracted lines, that appear to be in the determined same plane as the ceiling, as the pattern direction.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the extracting of the pattern direction further includes determining an extracted line that extends to but does not pass over a predetermined optical center area to be a line that does not appear to be in the determined same plane as the ceiling.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein, upon a determination that a plurality of extracted lines appear to be in the determined same plane as the ceiling, the extracting of the pattern direction includes respectively grouping together extracted lines arranged in same directions and extracting a direction of a group including a greatest number of extracted lines as the pattern direction.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein the extracting of the pattern includes extracting a plurality of repeated patterns from the ceiling image and the extracting of the pattern direction includes extracting a direction of a line pattern extrapolated from the repeated patterns as the pattern direction.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the extracted repeated patterns are determined same extracted circular objects or determined same quadrangles, and are determined based upon the pattern extracting unit respectively extracting the same extracted circular objects and the same quadrangles using a feature point extraction algorithm based on analyzing the image for feature descriptors, the feature descriptors representing a particular local image.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the feature point extraction algorithm based on the particular local image is a scale-invariant feature transform scheme.

24. The method of claim 18, wherein the generating of the traveling path includes

estimating position information of the mobile robot and generating a first traveling path using the estimated position information,

determining whether a direction of the first traveling path is identical to the extracted pattern direction, and

adjusting the first traveling path by changing the direction of the first traveling path to be identical to the pattern direction when the determining indicates that the first traveling path is not identical to the extracted pattern direction.

25. The method of claim 18, wherein the extracting of the pattern direction further includes determining a perpendicular pattern direction perpendicular to the pattern direction and the generating of the traveling path further includes generating the traveling path using at least one of the pattern direction and the perpendicular pattern direction.

26. The method of claim 18, wherein the generating of the traveling path includes generating a zigzag path, which includes a first traveling path in a first direction and a second traveling path in a second direction, such that the first direction or the second direction is parallel to the extracted pattern direction and when the mobile robot moves along the zigzag path, the mobile robot moves along the first traveling path in the first direction until encountering an obstacle, changes direction and moves a predetermined distance relative to the obstacle, then changes direction to the second traveling direction which is opposite to the first traveling direction and moves in the second traveling direction until encountering another obstacle.

27. An apparatus planning a traveling path of a mobile robot, the apparatus comprising:

a pattern extracting unit to extract plural patterns from an image of a ceiling captured in a ceiling direction, each of the plural patterns being an extracted line;

a pattern direction extracting unit to extract a pattern direction of the image as a direction of one of the plural extracted lines determined to be in a determined same plane as the ceiling; and

a path generating unit to generate a traveling path of the mobile robot based on the extracted pattern direction,

wherein the pattern direction extracting unit determines lines, of the plural extracted lines, that extend to but do not pass over a predetermined optical center area to be extracted lines that are not in the determined same plane as the ceiling.

28. A method planning a traveling path of a mobile robot, the method comprising:

extracting plural patterns from an image of a ceiling captured in a ceiling direction, each of the plural patterns being an extracted line;

extracting a pattern direction of the image as a direction of one of the plural extracted lines determined to be in a determined same plane as the ceiling; and

generating a traveling path of the mobile robot based on the extracted pattern direction,

wherein the pattern direction extracting includes determining lines, of the plural extracted lines, that extend to but do not pass over a predetermined optical center area to be extracted lines that are not in the determined same plane as the ceiling.