Method of controlling movement of robot, mobile robot, and computer program product

• US 7,554,282 B2
• Filed: 03/19/2007
• Issued: 06/30/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Nakamoto, Hideichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Leykin; Rita
• Application Number:
  US11/723,408
• Publication Number:
  US 20080079383A1
• Time in Patent Office: 834 Days
• Field of Search: 318/587, 701/1, 701/23, 701/25, 701/200, 701/202, 701/207, 116/DIG.43
• US Class Current: 318/587
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 5/00 Manipulators mounted on wheels or on carriages B25J1/00 takes precedence; programme-controlled manipulators B25J9/00 ; vehicle aspects B60, B62, e.g. remote-controlled steering for motor vehicles B62D1/24; control of position of vehicles G05D1/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/024 in combination with a laser lasers per se H01S
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0251 extracting 3D information from a plurality of images taken from different locations, e.g. stereo vision stereoscopic image analysis H04N13/00; depth recovery from images G06T7/593
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0255 using acoustic signals, e.g. ultra-sonic singals sonar systems designed for anti-collision purposes G01S15/93
• 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: G05D 1/0274 using mapping information stored in a memory device navigation using map-matching G01C21/30

Abstract

A method of controlling movement of a robot, the method includes detecting a target person to be followed, following detected target person, detecting an environment of a current position around the robot while following the detected target person, determining whether detected environment satisfies a predetermined target-point condition, specifying the current position as a target point, when the detected environment satisfies the predetermined target-point condition, and creating a path along which the robot travels including specified target point, based on the specified target point and a movable path for the robot stored in a movable path storing unit.

Claims

1. A method of controlling movement of a robot, the method comprising:

detecting a target person to be followed;

following detected target person;

detecting an environment of a current position around the robot while following the detected target person;

determining whether detected environment satisfies a predetermined target-point condition;

specifying the current position as a target point, when the detected environment satisfies the predetermined target-point condition; and

creating a path along which the robot travels including the target point, based on the target point and a movable path for the robot stored in a movable path storing unit.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein

the target-point condition is that the target person stops for a time equal to or longer than a first threshold value, and

the position is specified as the target point when the target person stops at the position for the time equal to or longer than the first threshold value.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein

the target-point condition is that a number of persons other than the target person detected is as many as a second threshold value or more, and

when the persons are detected from the environment around the robot at a position and the number of the persons detected is as many as the second threshold value or more, the position is specified as the target point.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein

the target-point condition is that a still object with a feature that discriminates the object from other areas is detected, and

when the still object with the feature is detected from the environment around the robot at a position, the position is specified as the target point.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein

the target-point condition is that a speech equal to or louder than a third threshold value is detected, and

when the speech equal to or louder than the third threshold value is detected from speeches around the robot at a position, the position is specified as the target point.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

registering the target point in a target-point storing unit;

determining whether a distance between the target point registered in the target-point storing unit and a newly target point is equal to or larger than a fourth threshold value; and

registering the newly target point in the target-point storing unit, when it is determined that the distance is equal to or larger than the fourth threshold value.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

registering the target point in a target-point storing unit;

determining whether a distance between the newly target point and the target point registered in the target-point storing unit is smaller than a fourth threshold value;

replacing the target point registered in the target-point storing unit with a target point having a position defined based on the target point registered in the target-point storing unit and a newly specified target point, when it is determined that the distance is smaller than the fourth threshold value.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

registering the target point in a target-point storing unit;

determining whether a distance between the target point registered in the target-point storing unit and a newly target point is equal to or smaller than a fifth threshold value;

determining that the newly target point is identical to the target point stored in the target-point registering unit, when it is determined that the distance is smaller than the fifth threshold value;

counting number of times the newly target point is determined to be identical to the target point registered in the storing unit;

ranking the target point based on the counted number of times; and

creating the path based on a rank of the target point.

9. The method according to claim 8, further comprising:

detecting an obstacle while the robot travels along created path; and

changing to another path that doesn'"'"'t pass through the obstacle based on the rank when the obstacle is detected.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

registering a path along which the robot follows the target person in the movable path storing unit as the movable path; and

creating the path based on the target point and the movable path registered in the movable path storing unit.

11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising:

determining whether a distance between the path along which the robot follows the target person and the movable path registered in the movable path storing unit is equal to or larger than a sixth threshold value; and

registering the path along which the robot follows the target person in the movable path storing unit as the movable path, when it is determined that the distance is equal to or larger than the sixth threshold value.

12. The method according to claim 10, further comprising:

determining whether a distance between the movable path registered in the path storing unit and the path along which the robot follows the target person is smaller than a sixth threshold value; and

replacing the movable path registered in the path storing unit with a movable path defined based on the movable path registered in the path storing unit and the path along which the robot follows the target person, when it is determined that the distance is smaller than the sixth threshold value.

13. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether a distance between the path along which the robot follows the target person and the movable path stored in the movable path storing unit is equal to or larger than a seventh threshold value;

determining that the path along which the robot follows the target person is identical to the movable path registered in the movable path storing unit, when it is determined that the distance is smaller than the seventh threshold value;

counting number of times the path along which the robot follows the target person is determined to be identical to the movable path registered in the path storing unit; and

ranking the movable path based on counted number of times; and

creating the path based on a rank of the movable path.

14. The method according to claim 1, further comprising creating a map including an area where the robot travels based on the detected environment.

15. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

shooting an image of a landmark from a position around the landmark as an environment image while the robot follows the target person; and

registering the image of the landmark with related to the position from which the image of the landmark is shot in a landmark-image storing unit.

16. The method according to claim 15, further comprising:

detecting an image identical to the image of the landmark registered in the landmark-image storing unit while the robot travels; and

correcting a position of the robot based on the image of the landmark.

17. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

shooting an image of the target point;

registering shot image of the target point with related to an action of the robot at the target point in a target-point-image storing unit;

specifying the action of the robot at the target point corresponding to the shot image of the target point; and

performing the specified action when the robot reaches the target point while traveling.

18. A mobile robot comprising:

a detecting unit that detects a target person to be followed;

a following-control unit that controls to follow the target person detected by the detecting unit;

an environment detecting unit that detects an environment of a current position around the robot while following the target person;

a target-point specifying unit that specifies a current position as a target point, when it is determined that detected environment satisfies a predetermined target-point condition;

a movable path storing unit that registers a movable path for the robot; and

a path creating unit that creates a path along which the robot travels including the target point, based on the movable path for the robot registered in the movable path storing unit and target point specified by the target-point specifying unit.

19. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program codes for controlling movement of a robot embodied in the medium that when executed causes a computer to execute:

detecting a target person to be followed;

following detected target person;

detecting an environment of a current position around the robot while following the detected target person;

determining whether detected environment satisfies a predetermined target-point condition;

specifying the current position as a target point, when the detected environment satisfies the predetermined target-point condition; and

creating a path along which the robot travels including the target point, based on the target point and a movable path for the robot stored in a movable path storing unit.