Electrical charging system, electrical charging controlling method, robot apparatus, electrical charging device, electrical charging controlling program and recording medium

• US 7,061,199 B2
• Filed: 04/14/2005
• Issued: 06/13/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Tsurumi, Shingo
• Primary Examiner(s): IP, SHIK LUEN PAUL
• Application Number:
  US11/108,047
• Publication Number:
  US 20050182517A1
• Time in Patent Office: 425 Days
• Field of Search: 318/587, 318/139, 318/568.12, 700/245, 700/145, 700/165, 180/167, 701 23- 25, 701/28, 701/50
• US Class Current: 318/568.12
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 19/005 using batteries, e.g. as a back-up power source
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 19/023 including video camera means
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0225 involving docking at a fixed facility, e.g. base station or loading bay parking aids B62D15/027
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0234 using optical markers or beacons optical beacons per se G01S1/70
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00 Circuit arrangements for charging or depolarising batteries or for supplying loads from batteries

Abstract

A robot apparatus 1 is to be electrically charged autonomously. An electrical charging device 100 is provided with two markers, namely a main marker 118 and a sub-marker 119, and the heights of the markers are pre-stored in the robot apparatus. When the robot apparatus 1 is to find the direction and the distance to the electrical charging device 100, a CCD camera 20 finds the direction vector of the marker from the photographed image. This direction vector is transformed into a position vector of a camera coordinate system {c} and further into a position vector of the robot coordinate system {b}. The coordinate in the height-wise direction in the robot coordinate system {b} is compared to the pre-stored height to find the distance between the markers and the robot apparatus and the direction of the robot apparatus.

Claims

1. An electrical charging system including a robot apparatus and an electrical charging device, said robot apparatus having built-in a power supply unit for driving and adapted for acting autonomously responsive to an inner state, said electrical charging device electrically charging said power supply unit, wherein

said electrical charging device includes at least one marker provided at a predetermined position;

said robot apparatus including imaging means for imaging a surrounding state and movement means to move said robot apparatus;

storage means having the information on the position of said marker pre-stored therein;

position vector calculating means for calculating the distance and the direction to said marker from the information on said marker position stored in said storage means and from an image including the marker position, photographed by said imaging means; and

operation controlling means for performing control for driving said movement means, causing movement of said robot apparatus towards said electrical charging device depending on the distance and the direction to said marker calculated by said position vector calculating means;

wherein said at least one marker comprises a main marker and a sub marker, the main marker is provided at an uppermost location of the electrical charging device and the sub marker is provided at a rear end of the electrical charging device.