POLICY-BASED ROBOT MANAGING APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MANAGING A PLURALITY OF ROBOTS

• US 20110137459A1
• Filed: 10/27/2010
• Published: 06/09/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Inventors: KIM, Myung-Eun
• Granted Patent: US 8,755,937 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/248
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 3/004 Artificial life, i.e. computing arrangements simulating life

Abstract

The present invention relate to a policy-based robot managing apparatus and method for managing a plurality of robots, which generate a wide area policy for controlling cooperation between the plurality of robots connected by a network, compare the generated wide area policy with an existing wide area policy to check whether a conflict between the wide area policies occurs, convert the generated wide area policy into local policies applicable to the plurality of robots, and transmit the local policies to the corresponding robots, respectively. According to the embodiments of the present invention, since a policy-based management technique is introduced, it is possible to more efficiently control different kinds of robots having various forms through a wide area policy having a pseudo-code form even though a manager does not know previously set information of the individual network robots.

Claims

1. A policy-based robot managing apparatus for managing a plurality of robots, the apparatus comprising:

a policy generating unit configured to generate a wide area policy for controlling cooperation between the plurality of robots connected by a network;

a policy checking unit configured to compare the generated wide area policy with an existing wide area policy to check whether a conflict between the wide area policies occurs;

a policy converting unit configured to convert the generated wide area policy into local policies applicable to the plurality of robots; and

a communicating unit configured to transmit the local policies to the corresponding robots, respectively.

2. The policy-based robot managing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the policy converting unit checks profile information on robots to which the generated wide area policy will be applied, and converts the generated wide area policy into commands executable in the individual robots to generate the local policies corresponding to the individual robots.

3. The policy-based robot managing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein:

the profile information includes at least one of network set information on the plurality of robots and a list of commands on the corresponding robots.

4. The policy-based robot managing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the wide area policy is recorded in a pseudo-code form.

5. The policy-based robot managing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

when it is determined by the policy checking unit that a conflict between the generated wide area policy and the existing wide area policy occurs, the policy generating unit generates another new wide area policy.

6. The policy-based robot managing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a storage unit that includes

a robot profile storage unit configured to store profile information on the plurality of robots connected by the network, and

a wide area policy storage unit configured to store the wide area policy.

7. The policy-based robot managing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein:

when it is determined by the policy checking unit that no conflicts between the generated wide area policy and the existing wide area policy occur, the policy checking unit stores the generated wide area policy in the wide area policy storage unit.

8. The policy-based robot managing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the plurality of robots execute commands described in the local policies to operate according to the local policies.

9. A policy-based robot managing method for managing a plurality of robots, the method comprising:

generating a wide area policy for controlling cooperation between the plurality of robots connected by a network;

comparing the generated wide area policy with an existing wide area policy to check whether a conflict between the wide area policies occurs;

converting the generated wide area policy into local policies applicable to the plurality of robots; and

transmitting the local policies to the corresponding robots, respectively.

10. The policy-based robot managing method according to claim 9, wherein:

the converting includes

checking profile information on robots to which the generated wide area policy will be applied, and

converting the generated wide area policy into commands executable in the individual robots to generate the local policies corresponding to the individual robots.

11. The policy-based robot managing method according to claim 10, wherein:

the profile information includes at least one of network set information on the plurality of robots and a list of commands on the corresponding robots.

12. The policy-based robot managing method according to claim 9, wherein:

the wide area policy is recorded in a pseudo-code form.

13. The policy-based robot managing method according to claim 9, wherein:

when it is determined in the checking that a conflict between the generated wide area policy and the existing wide area policy occurs, in the generating, another new wide area policy is generated.

14. The policy-based robot managing method according to claim 9, further comprising:

when it is determined in the checking that no conflicts between the generated wide area policy and the existing wide area policy occur, storing the generated wide area policy in a wide area policy storage unit.

15. The policy-based robot managing method according to claim 9, further comprising:

executing commands described in the local policies in the plurality of robots such that the plurality of robots operate according to the local policies.

16. The policy-based robot managing method according to claim 9, further comprising:

receiving local policy execution results from the plurality of robots; and

managing the plurality of robots on the basis of the received local policy execution results.