Autonomous moving robot and control method thereof

• US 9,207,674 B2
• Filed: 02/25/2015
• Issued: 12/08/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Takaoka, Yutaka
• Primary Examiner(s): Alharbi, Adam
• Application Number:
  US14/631,326
• Publication Number:
  US 20150253774A1
• Time in Patent Office: 286 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0088 characterized by the autonomous decision making process, e.g. artificial intelligence, predefined behaviours using knowledge based models G06N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/024 in combination with a laser lasers per se H01S
• 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

An autonomous moving robot includes: a distance sensor; an estimation unit configured to estimate a self position based on a distance measured by the distance sensor and map information; a normal line calculating unit configured to calculate a plane based on the distance and calculate the normal line of the plane; and a determination unit configured to calculate a histogram representing a distribution of normal line angles indicating a direction of the normal line and determines whether information of the distance sensor is insufficient based on the calculated histogram. The autonomous moving robot autonomously moves based on the self position estimated. At least one of a control process of changing a measurement direction of the distance sensor, a process of changing an estimation method of the self position, or a control process of taking a predetermined safety action is performed when the determination unit determines that the information is insufficient.

Claims

1. An autonomous moving robot comprising:

a distance sensor that measures a distance to an object;

an estimation unit configured to estimate a self position based on the distance measured by the distance sensor and map information indicating a movement environment of the autonomous moving robot;

a normal line calculating unit configured to calculate a plane based on the distance measured by the distance sensor and calculate the normal line of the plane; and

a determination unit configured to calculate a histogram representing a distribution of normal line angles indicating a direction of the normal line calculated by the normal line calculating unit and determine whether information of the distance sensor for estimating the self position is insufficient based on the calculated histogram,

wherein the autonomous moving robot autonomously moves based on the self position estimated by the estimation unit, and

wherein at least one of a control process of changing a measurement direction of the distance sensor, a process of changing an estimation method of the self position, or a control process of taking a predetermined safety action is performed when the determination unit determines that the information of the distance sensor is insufficient.

2. The autonomous moving robot according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit determines that the information of the distance sensor for estimating the self position is insufficient when a frequency peak of the normal line angles having an orthogonal relationship is not present in the calculated histogram, a plurality of frequency peaks of the normal line angles is not uniformly present in the calculated histogram, and the normal line angles are not uniformly distributed in the calculated histogram.

3. The autonomous moving robot according to claim 1, wherein the estimation unit calculates a plurality of estimated position candidates estimated to be the self position based on the distances measured by the distance sensor, estimates the position extracted from the calculated estimated position candidates to be the self position, and increases the number of estimated position candidates in the direction perpendicular to a peak normal line angle in the histogram when the determination unit determines that the information of the distance sensor is insufficient.

4. The autonomous moving robot according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the control process of changing the measurement direction of the distance sensor, the process of changing the estimation method of the self position, and the control process of taking the predetermined safety action is performed when a state in which the determination unit determines that the information of the distance sensor is insufficient is maintained for a predetermined amount of time or more.

5. The autonomous moving robot according to claim 1, further comprising:

a control unit configured to perform the control process of changing the measurement direction of the distance sensor so as to generate a frequency peak of the normal line angles having an orthogonal relationship in the histogram and a control process of taking a predetermined safety action of decelerating and stopping the autonomous moving robot or giving a warning.

6. The autonomous moving robot according to claim 1, further comprising:

a vehicle wheel that allows the autonomous moving robot to move;

a rotation detecting unit that detects rotation information of the vehicle wheel; and

an image acquiring unit that acquires image information around the autonomous moving robot,

wherein the estimation unit estimates the self position based on a first estimation method of estimating the self position using an odometry method based on the distance measured by the distance sensor and the map information and a second estimation method of estimating the self position using the odometry method based on at least one of the rotation information detected by the rotation detecting unit or the image infatuation acquired by the image acquiring unit, and sets a weighting of the second estimation method to be higher than that of the first estimation method when the determination unit determines that the information of the distance sensor is insufficient.

7. A control method of an autonomous moving robot including a distance sensor that measures a distance to an object and an estimation unit configured to estimate a self position based on the distance measured by the distance sensor and map information indicating a movement environment of the autonomous moving robot and autonomously moving based on the self position estimated by the estimation unit, the control method comprising:

calculating a plane based on the distance measured by the distance sensor and calculating a normal line of the plane;

calculating a histogram representing a distribution of normal line angles indicating a direction of the calculated normal line and determining whether information of the distance sensor for estimating the self position is insufficient based on the calculated histogram; and

performing at least one of a control process of changing a measurement direction of the distance sensor, a process of changing an estimation method of the self position, and a control process of taking a predetermined safety action when it is determined that the information of the distance sensor is insufficient.