Moving apparatus for efficiently moving on floor with obstacle
First Claim
1. A moving apparatus for moving on a floor, covering an entire accessible surface of said floor, comprising:
- running control means for controlling the moving apparatus to run along running lanes in a zigzag fashion by repeatedly carrying out control including the steps of;
detecting presence of an obstacle while running in a Y direction, storing a Y coordinate of said detected obstacle, and upon detection of said obstacle, stopping running in said Y direction, moving by a prescribed pitch in an X direction perpendicular to said Y direction, and thereafter running in a direction opposite to said Y direction; and
recognizing means for recognizing, when the moving apparatus travels in a current running lane in the Y direction beyond the previously stored Y coordinate of the obstacle, presence of a remaining running region between the current running lane and said obstacle and not yet covered by the moving apparatus.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A moving robot first moves straight in a first forward path. When encountering an obstacle such as shelf, the robot makes a U-turn to move straight in a backward path located with a prescribed distance away from the first forward path. When encountering another obstacle, the robot again makes a U-turn to move straight in a second forward path extending in the same direction as that of the first forward path but located with a distance away from the backward path. When the robot exceeding the point of the U-turn in the first forward path is detected during running in the second forward path, presence of a region where the robot has not run yet is recognized, and running in that region is carried out thereafter.
288 Citations
27 Claims
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1. A moving apparatus for moving on a floor, covering an entire accessible surface of said floor, comprising:
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running control means for controlling the moving apparatus to run along running lanes in a zigzag fashion by repeatedly carrying out control including the steps of;
detecting presence of an obstacle while running in a Y direction, storing a Y coordinate of said detected obstacle, and upon detection of said obstacle, stopping running in said Y direction, moving by a prescribed pitch in an X direction perpendicular to said Y direction, and thereafter running in a direction opposite to said Y direction; and
recognizing means for recognizing, when the moving apparatus travels in a current running lane in the Y direction beyond the previously stored Y coordinate of the obstacle, presence of a remaining running region between the current running lane and said obstacle and not yet covered by the moving apparatus. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
remaining running region control means for controlling, when said recognizing means recognizes a remaining running region, the moving apparatus to run the recognized remaining running region.
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3. The moving apparatus as recited in claim 2, further comprising:
measuring means for measuring a width of the remaining running region recognized by said recognizing means.
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4. The moving apparatus as recited in claim 3, wherein
said remaining running region control means controls running in the remaining running region according to the width measured by said measuring means. -
5. The moving apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein
when said recognizing means recognizes presence of a remaining running region, running in the Y direction is continued, and when another obstacle to running is detected, running in the Y direction is stopped and running in the recognized remaining running region is carried out. -
6. The moving apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein
when said recognizing means recognizes presence of a remaining running region, running in the Y direction is continued, and after running a prescribed distance, said running in the Y direction is stopped to carry out running in the recognized remaining running region. -
7. The moving apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein
when said recognizing means recognizes a remaining running region, running in the Y direction is continued, and upon running beyond said obstacle, said running in the Y direction is stopped to carry out running in the recognized remaining running region.
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8. A moving apparatus for moving on a floor, covering an entire accessible surface of said floor, comprising:
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measuring means for measuring a distance up to a first obstacle existing in a first direction;
operation means for determining a predescribed pitch for the apparatus to move in the first direction according to the distance measured by said measuring means; and
running control means for controlling the moving apparatus to run along running lanes in a zigzag fashion, whereby the moving apparatus repeatedly, runs in one of a plurality of lanes in a second direction, moves the predescribed in the first direction perpendicular to said second direction, and thereafter runs in one of a plurality of lanes in a third direction, opposite to said second direction. storing a Y coordinate of the obstacle; and
upon running in a current one of the plurality of lanes in the Y direction beyond the Y coordinate of the obstacle, recognizing presence of a remaining running region between the current running lane and the obstacle not yet covered by the moving apparatus. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10)
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11. A method of moving a moving apparatus on a floor surface to cover an entire accessible area of the floor surface, said method comprising the steps of:
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running along running lanes in a zigzag fashion by beginning at a starting Y coordinates, and, repeatedly;
running along one of plurality of lanes in a Y direction until detecting an obstacle, moving by a predescribed pitch in an X direction perpendicular to the Y direction, and running in one of a plurality of lanes in a direction opposite to the Y direction until the starting Y coordinate is reached;
storing a Y coordinate of the obstacle; and
upon running in a current one of the plurality of lanes in the Y direction beyond the Y coordinate of the obstacle, recognizing presence of a remaining running region between the current running lane and the obstacle not yet covered by the moving apparatus. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
running said remaining running region.
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13. The method as recited in claim 12, further comprising the step of:
measuring a width of said remaining running region.
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14. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein
said step of running said remaining running region carries out running based on the measured width of said remaining running region. -
15. The method as recited in claim 11, further comprising the steps of:
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further running the current running lane after recognizing presence of said remaining running region until detecting a second obstacle; and
upon detecting the second obstacle, stopping running the current running lane to run said recognized remaining running region.
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16. The method as recited in claim 11, further comprising the steps of:
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further running the current running lane after recognizing presence of said remaining running region; and
after running a predescribed distance in the current running lane, stopping running the current running lane to run said recognized remaining running region.
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17. The method as recited in claim 11, further comprising the steps of:
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further running the current running lane after recognizing presence of said remaining running region;
detecting disappearance of said obstacle in a lateral direction;
after detecting disappearance of said obstacle, stopping running the current running lane to run said recognized remaining running region.
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18. The method as recited in claim 17, further comprising the step of:
recognizing presence of a region where the moving apparatus has not run yet in a place where said obstacle has disappeared.
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19. The method as recited in claim 18, further comprising the step of:
running said region where said moving apparatus has not run yet, after running said remaining running region.
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20. A method of moving a moving apparatus on a floor surface to cover an entire accessible area of the floor surface, said method comprising the steps of:
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measuring a distance up to an obstacle in an X direction;
determining a predescribed pitch for the apparatus to move in the X direction based on said measured distance; and
running along running lanes in a zigzag fashion by beginning at a starting coordinate in a Y direction, and, repeatedly;
running along one of plurality of lanes in the Y direction, moving by the predescribed pitch in the X direction perpendicular to the Y direction, and running in one of a plurality of lanes in a direction opposite to the Y direction until the starting coordinate in the Y direction is reached.- View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23)
recognizing a presence of a remaining region where said moving apparatus has not run yet while running in a lane along said obstacle; and
upon recognizing the presence of said remaining region stopping running in the lane along said obstacle to run said remaining region.
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23. The method as recited in claim 22, further comprising the step of, upon completing the running in the remaining region, returning to complete the running in the lane along said obstacle.
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24. A moving apparatus for moving on a floor, covering an entire accessible surface of said floor, comprising:
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measuring means for periodically measuring a distance up to an obstacle existing in a first direction;
operation means for determining a predescribed pitch for the apparatus to move in the first direction according to the distance measured by said measuring means, and for modifying the predescribed pitch according to a minimum value of the distance measured by said measuring means;
running control means for controlling the moving apparatus to run along running lanes in a zigzag fashion, whereby the moving apparatus repeatedly, runs in one of a plurality of lanes in a second direction, moves the predescribed pitch in the first direction perpendicular to said second direction, and thereafter runs in one of a plurality of lanes in a third direction, opposite to said second direction; and
recognizing means for recognizing, while running in a final lane along the obstacle corresponding to the minimum value of the distance measured by the measuring means, presence of a remaining running region between the final lane and a second obstacle and not yet covered by the moving apparatus. - View Dependent Claims (25)
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26. A method of moving a moving apparatus on a floor surface to cover an entire accessible area of the floor surface, said method comprising the steps of:
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periodically measuring a distance up to an obstacle in an X direction;
determining a predescribed pitch for the apparatus to move in X direction based on the measured distance;
modifying said predescribed pitch based on a minimum value of said measured distance;
running along running lanes in a zigzag fashion by beginning at a starting coordinate in a Y direction, and, repeatedly, running along one of plurality of lanes in the Y direction, moving by the predescribed pitch in the X direction perpendicular to the Y direction, and running in one of a plurality of lanes in a direction opposite to the Y direction until the starting Y coordinate is reached; and
while running in a final lane along the obstacle corresponding to the minimum value of the measured distance, recognizing presence of a region between the final lane and a second obstacle where the moving apparatus has not run yet. - View Dependent Claims (27)
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Specification