Autonomous mobile device

• US 8,676,429 B2
• Filed: 10/22/2010
• Issued: 03/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/02/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Murata Machinery Limited (Muratec)
• Original Assignee: Murata Machinery Limited (Muratec)
• Inventors: Nakano, Tsuyoshi, Tanaka, Shoji
• Primary Examiner(s): Cheung, Mary
• Assistant Examiner(s): BRUSHABER, FREDERICK M
• Application Number:
  US13/513,202
• Publication Number:
  US 20120239240A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,243 Days
• Field of Search: 701/25
• US Class Current: 701/25
• 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 1/024 in combination with a laser lasers per se H01S
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0274 using mapping information stored in a memory device navigation using map-matching G01C21/30

Abstract

An autonomous mobile device is capable of taking action that is suitable to execute a task in accordance with a given situation includes and executes a predetermined task upon autonomously moving to a destination. The autonomous mobile device includes a storage unit that stores an environment map, a laser range finder that acquires peripheral obstacle information, an unknown information identification unit that identifies unknown obstacle information from the peripheral obstacle information, an assessment information acquisition unit that acquires a plurality of types of assessment information including movement information, relative position information, and attribute information that are related to the unknown obstacle, when the unknown obstacle information is identified, and a scenario selection unit that selects, based on the assessment information, one action scenario among a plurality of action scenarios including an action scenario which is defined to execute the task and is other than an action scenario to cancel or continue the execution of the task.

Claims

1. An autonomous mobile device that executes a task upon autonomously moving to a destination, comprising:

a known information storage device that stores information on known obstacles;

a peripheral information acquisition device that acquires peripheral obstacle information;

an identification device that identifies information on an unknown obstacle that is different from the known obstacles stored in the known information storage device, from the peripheral obstacle information acquired by the peripheral information acquisition device;

an assessment information acquisition device that acquires assessment information related to the unknown obstacle when the information on the unknown obstacle is identified by the identification device;

a scenario storage device that stores a plurality of action scenarios including a first action scenario which is defined to execute the task and is other than a second action scenario to cancel or continue the execution of the task; and

a selection device that selects one action scenario among the plurality of action scenarios stored in the scenario storage device based on the assessment information acquired by the assessment information acquisition device;

wherein

the task is executed after the autonomous mobile device reaches a pre-registered via point on a travel path to the destination;

the assessment information acquisition device acquires a plurality of types of assessment information, and upon selecting the action scenario based on the plurality of types of assessment information acquired by the assessment information acquisition device, the selection device selects the action scenario based on comprehensive information obtained by computing using at least one type of assessment information for each of the plurality of action scenarios;

the assessment information acquisition device acquires, as the assessment information related to the unknown obstacle, at least two types of information from among;

movement information related to the movement of the unknown obstacle;

relative position information related to the relative position of the unknown obstacle relative to the autonomous mobile device; and

attribute information of a zone where the unknown obstacle exists; and

the relative position information is a score that is assigned to each of segments of the zone where the unknown obstacle exists based on the position of the autonomous mobile device.

2. The autonomous mobile device according to claim 1, wherein the scenario storage device stores the plurality of action scenarios for each of the plurality of tasks, and the selection device selects one action scenario from the plurality of action scenarios in accordance with the respective tasks.

3. The autonomous mobile device according to claim 1, wherein the known information storage device stores, as the information on the known obstacle, an environment map showing a zone of the known obstacle, and the identification device identifies the information on the unknown obstacle by comparing the peripheral obstacle information with the environment map.

4. The autonomous mobile device according to claim 1, wherein the assessment information acquisition device generates the movement information based on a history of the information on the unknown obstacle.

5. The autonomous mobile device according to claim 1, wherein the assessment information acquisition device generates the movement information for each sample of the information on the unknown obstacle.

6. The autonomous mobile device according to claim 1, wherein the assessment information acquisition device acquires the movement information, the relative position information, and the attribute information for each sample of the information on the unknown obstacle.

7. The autonomous mobile device according to claim 1, wherein the segments are separated by a plurality of straight lines extending radially from the position of the autonomous mobile device, and by a plurality of concentric circles about the position of the autonomous mobile device.

8. The autonomous mobile device according to claim 1 wherein the scores are assigned to the segments for each of the tasks.

9. The autonomous mobile device according to claim 1, wherein the segments to which the scores are assigned are within a range in which the peripheral obstacle information is capable of being acquired by the peripheral information acquisition device.

10. The autonomous mobile device according to claim 1, wherein the peripheral obstacle information is information on an obstacle existing above a travel surface of the autonomous mobile device.

11. The autonomous mobile device according to claim 1,

wherein the peripheral information acquisition device includes at least one of a laser range finder, a stereo camera, and an ultrasound sensor.

12. The autonomous mobile device according to claim 1,

wherein the task is boarding an elevator.

13. The autonomous mobile device according to claim 1, wherein the task is docking to a charging station.

14. The autonomous mobile device according to claim 1,

wherein the scenario storage device stores the plurality of action scenarios for each of the plurality of tasks, and the selection device selects one action scenario from the plurality of action scenarios in accordance with the respective tasks.

15. The autonomous mobile device according to claim 1, wherein the scenario storage device stores the plurality of action scenarios for each of the plurality of tasks, and the selection device selects one action scenario from the plurality of action scenarios in accordance with the respective tasks.

16. The autonomous mobile device according to claim 1, wherein the known information storage device stores, as the information on the known obstacle, an environment map showing a zone of the known obstacle, and the identification device identifies the information on the unknown obstacle by comparing the peripheral obstacle information with the environment map.

17. The autonomous mobile device according to claim 1, wherein the known information storage device stores, as the information on the known obstacle, an environment map showing a zone of the known obstacle, and the identification device identifies the information on the unknown obstacle by comparing the peripheral obstacle information with the environment map.