JP7285354B1 - traveling robot system - Google Patents

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to automatically stop an automatic guided vehicle when it is predicted that the automatic guided vehicle will interfere with an obstacle, and to allow surrounding workers to easily recognize the cause of the stop and the obstacle to be removed. To provide a traveling robot system capable of A traveling robot system determines whether an object detected by an object detection sensor is an obstacle arranged in a travelable area of an automatic guided vehicle (step S3), and places the object in the travelable area. If it is determined that the obstacle is an obstacle that has been detected, the planned passage area of the automatic guided vehicle along the planned travel route V is calculated (step S4), and the calculated planned passage area and the obstacle output from the object detection sensor are combined. Based on the position information of the object, it is predicted whether or not the automatic guided vehicle will interfere with the obstacle (step S5). An obstacle specifying action of pointing an object is executed (steps S7 and S8). [Selection drawing] Fig. 5

Description

The present invention relates to a traveling robot system including an automatic guided vehicle and a robot mounted on the automatic guided vehicle.

BACKGROUND ART Conventionally, as an example of the above-described traveling robot system, a traveling robot system disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-042148 (Patent Document 1 below) is known. This traveling robot system includes a storage unit storing an environment map, a travel route determination unit determining a planned travel route from the self-position on the environment map to a destination, and a planned travel route determined by the travel route determination unit. and an obstacle detection unit for detecting an obstacle. The travel control unit causes the automatic guided vehicle to travel along the avoidance route when the obstacle detection unit detects the obstacle. Then, while repeating obstacle detection and avoidance route search, the automatic guided vehicle travels to the destination while avoiding obstacles. On the other hand, when the travel control unit cannot find the avoidance route, the automatic guided vehicle stops near the obstacle.

In the traveling robot system disclosed in Patent Document 1, the automatic guided vehicle is configured to perform avoidance traveling to avoid obstacles. A system is also known for immediately stopping an automatic guided vehicle without searching for a route.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-042148

In the above-described conventional traveling robot system, when the automatic guided vehicle stops due to an obstacle, the worker can remove the obstacle to resume traveling of the automatic guided vehicle. However, for example, when there are multiple obstacles around the automatic guided vehicle, the operator cannot easily determine which obstacle is causing the automatic guided vehicle to stop. There is a problem that work cannot be performed efficiently.

In addition, in the conventional traveling robot system, when the automatic guided vehicle is stopped, the operator cannot determine whether the cause is due to the failure of the automatic guided vehicle or the presence of an obstacle. There is a problem that recovery work takes time.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and automatically stops the automatic guided vehicle when it is predicted that the automatic guided vehicle will interfere with an obstacle. It is an object of the present invention to provide a traveling robot system capable of making surrounding workers easily recognize obstacles to be reached.

A first invention comprises an automatic guided vehicle, a travel route determination unit that determines a planned travel route of the automatic guided vehicle, and the automatic guided vehicle travels along the planned travel route determined by the travel route determination unit. A traveling robot system comprising a traveling control unit, a robot mounted on the unmanned guided vehicle, and a robot control unit controlling the operation of the robot,
an object detection sensor mounted on the automatic guided vehicle for detecting an object existing within a predetermined range from the automatic guided vehicle and outputting position information capable of identifying the position of the object;
an obstacle detection unit that detects whether the object detected by the object detection sensor is an obstacle placed in a travelable area of the automatic guided vehicle;
a passage area calculation unit that calculates a planned passage area for the automatic guided vehicle along the planned travel route when the obstacle detection unit detects that the object is an obstacle;
Based on the planned passage area of the automatic guided vehicle calculated by the passage area calculation unit and the position information of the obstacle output from the object detection sensor, the automatic guided vehicle moves along the planned travel route. An interference prediction unit that predicts whether or not the vehicle will interfere with the obstacle if it continues to travel,
The traveling control unit is configured to stop the automatic guided vehicle before it interferes with the obstacle when the interference prediction unit predicts that the automatic guided vehicle and the obstacle will interfere,
The robot control unit is configured to cause the robot to perform an obstacle designation operation of pointing to the obstacle when the interference prediction unit predicts that the automatic guided vehicle and the obstacle will interfere with each other. It relates to a traveling robot system that is being developed.

According to the first invention, when an object within a predetermined range from the automatic guided vehicle is detected by the object detection sensor mounted on the automatic guided vehicle, the object is placed in the travelable area by the obstacle detection unit. If it is determined that there is an obstacle, the planned passage area along the planned travel route of the automatic guided vehicle is calculated by the passage area calculation unit. Based on the planned passage area of the automatic guided vehicle calculated by the passage area calculation unit and the position information of the obstacle output from the object detection sensor, it is determined whether the automatic guided vehicle will interfere with the obstacle. Predicted by the interference prediction unit. When the interference prediction unit predicts that the automatic guided vehicle will interfere with an obstacle, the automatic guided vehicle stops traveling under the control of the travel control unit, and the robot detects the obstacle under the control of the robot control unit. Execute the object designation operation. This obstacle specifying motion is a motion in which the robot points to an obstacle, and when the robot executes the obstacle specifying motion, workers in the surrounding area think that the cause of the stoppage of the automated guided vehicle is not the failure, but the obstacle. can be recognized, and an obstacle to be removed to restart the travel of the automatic guided vehicle can be easily specified.

Moreover, since the obstacle designation operation is performed by an existing robot mounted on an automatic guided vehicle, there is no need to separately provide a display monitor, speaker, or the like for announcing obstacles that cause interference. The whole can be configured inexpensively.

A second invention comprises an automatic guided vehicle, a travel route determination unit that determines a planned travel route of the automatic guided vehicle, and the automatic guided vehicle travels along the planned travel route determined by the travel route determination unit. A traveling robot system comprising a traveling control unit, a robot mounted on the unmanned guided vehicle, and a robot control unit controlling the operation of the robot,
an object detection sensor mounted on the automatic guided vehicle for detecting an object existing within a predetermined range from the automatic guided vehicle and outputting position information capable of identifying the position of the object;
an obstacle detection unit that detects whether the object detected by the object detection sensor is an obstacle placed in a travelable area of the automatic guided vehicle;
a passage area calculation unit that calculates a planned passage area for the automatic guided vehicle along the planned travel route when the obstacle detection unit detects that the object is an obstacle;
Based on the planned passage area of the automatic guided vehicle calculated by the passage area calculation unit and the position information of the obstacle output from the object detection sensor, the automatic guided vehicle moves along the planned travel route. an interference prediction unit that predicts whether or not the vehicle will interfere with the obstacle if it continues to travel;
When the interference prediction unit predicts that the automatic guided vehicle and the obstacle will interfere, the travel route determination unit determines whether or not there is an avoidance route that can avoid the interference, If it is determined that there is, it is configured to update the current planned travel route to the avoidance route,
The travel control unit is configured to stop the automatic guided vehicle before it interferes with the obstacle when the travel route determination unit determines that there is no avoidance route that can avoid the interference. ,
When the travel route determination unit determines that there is no avoidance route for avoiding the interference, the robot control unit indicates the obstacle predicted to cause the interference to the robot. The present invention relates to a traveling robot system configured to execute an obstacle designation operation shown in FIG.

According to the second invention, when the interference prediction unit predicts that the automatic guided vehicle will interfere with the obstacle, the travel route determination unit determines whether or not there is an avoidance route that can avoid the interference. If it is determined that an avoidance route exists, the current scheduled travel route is updated to the avoidance route, and the automatic guided vehicle travels along the updated avoidance route under the control of the travel control unit. On the other hand, if the travel route determination unit determines that there is no avoidance route for avoiding interference between the automatic guided vehicle and the obstacle, the current planned travel route is not updated. In this case, the automatic guided vehicle stops under the control of the travel control unit without avoiding running, and the robot, under the control of the robot control unit, is expected to interfere with the automatic guided vehicle. Executes an obstacle specifying action pointing to an object. Therefore, it is possible to obtain the same effects as those of the first invention.

In the third invention, the robot is a multi-joint robot that performs a predetermined task, and the obstacle specifying operation is predicted by the interference prediction unit to cause the tip of the robot on the working side to interfere with the automatic guided vehicle. The motion is to face an obstacle that is standing or to be positioned above the obstacle.

According to the third invention, when the automatic guided vehicle stops and the robot executes the obstacle designation operation, the worker sees the obstacle pointed by the tip of the robot on the working side, and the automatic guided vehicle The obstacle that caused the vehicle to stop can be easily recognized.

In a fourth aspect of the invention, the robot is an articulated robot, the robot is equipped with a camera equipped with an illumination device, and the obstacle designation operation is performed by illuminating the illumination light of the illumination device according to the interference prediction The robot is made to take a posture facing an obstacle that is expected to interfere with the automatic guided vehicle.

According to the fourth invention, when the automatic guided vehicle stops and the robot executes the obstacle designation operation, the operator can see the destination illuminated by the illumination light of the lighting device and determine the cause of the stop of the automatic guided vehicle. It is possible to easily recognize the obstacle that has become In addition, the entire system can be configured at low cost by using, for example, the lighting device of a camera used by the robot to recognize the object to be grasped, as the lighting device.

As described above, according to the traveling robot system of the present invention, it is determined whether or not an object detected by the object detection sensor is an obstacle placed in the travelable area of the automated guided vehicle. If it is determined that the obstacle is placed in the area, the planned passage area of the automatic guided vehicle along the planned travel route is calculated, and the calculated planned passage area and the obstacle output from the object detection sensor are compared. Based on the position information, predict whether or not the automatic guided vehicle will interfere with the obstacle if it continues to travel along the planned travel route, and stop the automatic guided vehicle if it is predicted that it will interfere. In addition, by causing the robot to perform an obstacle designation operation pointing to the obstacle, the automatic guided vehicle is automatically stopped before it interferes with the obstacle, and the cause of the stop and its removal are determined. It is possible to make surrounding workers easily recognize the obstacles to be handled.

1 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a schematic configuration and an operation example of a traveling robot system according to an embodiment; FIG. 1 is an external perspective view showing an automatic guided vehicle equipped with a robot; FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a control system; FIG. FIG. 11 is a plan view showing an obstacle designation operation by a robot; FIG. 12 is a side view of the robot as viewed from the left side of the vehicle, showing the robot's action of designating an obstacle; 4 is a flowchart showing an example of obstacle designation control; FIG. 4B is a view corresponding to FIG. 4B showing Modification 1; FIG. 4B is a view corresponding to FIG. 4A showing Modification 2; FIG. 4B is a view corresponding to FIG. 4B showing Modification 2; FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an operation example of a traveling robot system according to another embodiment;

<<Embodiment>>
FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a schematic configuration of a traveling robot system 1 according to an embodiment. This traveling robot system 1 includes an automatic guided vehicle 10 and a robot 20 mounted on the upper part of the automatic guided vehicle 10. As will be described later, the automatic guided vehicle 10 is expected to interfere with an obstacle 5. In such a case, the automatic guided vehicle 10 is stopped and the robot 20 is configured to perform an obstacle designating motion of pointing to the obstacle 5 .

The traveling robot system 1 performs wireless communication between an on-board controller 30 (see FIG. 3) housed in the carrier body 11 of the automatic guided vehicle 10 and the on-board controller 30 installed in the factory building. However, it further includes a host controller 40 that controls the automatic guided vehicle 10 and the robot 20 . The unmanned guided vehicle 10 passes through work positions P1 and P2 adjacent to the work stations 3a and 3b installed in the building under the control of the vehicle-mounted control device 30 that receives a command from the host control device 40. run. Each work station 3a, 3b is configured by, for example, a machine tool. When the automatic guided vehicle 10 stops at the work positions P1 and P2 of the work stations 3a and 3b under the control of the in-vehicle control device 30, the robot 20 performs work attachment/detachment work (an example of predetermined work). The work stations 3 and the obstacles 5 shown in FIG. 1 are merely examples, and their shapes, numbers and positions are not limited to those shown in FIG.

FIG. 2 is an external perspective view showing the automatic guided vehicle 10 on which the robot 20 is mounted. In the following description, unless otherwise specified, the front and rear sides mean the front and rear sides in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, and the left and right sides mean the left and right sides in the width direction of the vehicle. As shown in the figure, the automatic guided vehicle 10 has a rectangular parallelepiped main body 11 elongated in the vehicle front-rear direction. The transport vehicle main body 11 accommodates the vehicle-mounted control device 30 therein, and the robot 20 is mounted on the upper surface thereof. Four drive wheels 12 are attached to the four corners of the lower end of the transport vehicle body 11 . The four drive wheels 12 are independently rotationally driven by travel motors 13a (see FIG. 3) connected to respective axles. Each drive wheel 12 has a steering shaft (not shown) extending vertically, and is steerable about a vertical axis by a steering motor 13b connected to the steering shaft. The unmanned guided vehicle 10 can go straight, travel or turn by changing the steering angle of each drive wheel 12 with the steering motor 13b under the control of the vehicle-mounted control device 30 . In the following description, the drive motor 13a and the steering motor 13b are referred to as drive actuators 13 when not distinguished from each other.

A distance sensor 14 (an example of an object detection sensor) is attached to the front side surface of the transport vehicle body 11 . The distance sensor 14 is a sensor for measuring the distance to another object, and is configured by, for example, a LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) device. Here, examples of other objects include fixed installations such as machine tools installed in the building, obstacles 5 placed in the travelable area of the automatic guided vehicle 10 (area excluding fixed installations), and the like. is mentioned. The distance sensor 14 has a light emitting portion, and scans vertically and horizontally with laser light emitted from the light emitting portion to detect an object existing within a predetermined range in front of the automatic guided vehicle 10. Irradiate with laser light. The distance sensor 14 measures the time it takes for the laser light to be reflected by the object and returns, thereby measuring the distance to the light irradiation position on the surface of the object. It is output as distance data in association with angle information. This distance data corresponds to position information for specifying the position of the object, and is transmitted in real time to the host controller 40 via the in-vehicle controller 30 .

The robot 20 is mounted on the front end of the upper surface of the transport vehicle body 11 . A pallet 4 holding workpieces before and after machining is loaded behind the robot 20 on the upper surface of the transport vehicle body 11 . The robot 20 is a 6-axis articulated robot having a first arm 21, a second arm 22, a third arm 23, and six axes A1 to A6. A hand 24 is attached. The hand 24 has three gripping claws 24a that are slidable in the radial direction with respect to its central portion, and the three gripping claws 24a pinch and grip the workpiece from the outside in the radial direction.

A hand-mounted camera 25 (corresponding to a camera equipped with a lighting device) is attached to the upper part of the hand 24 for capturing an image of a workpiece to be gripped. The hand-mounted camera 25 has a camera body 25a and a ring light 25b (an example of a lighting device) attached coaxially to the optical axis of the camera body 25a. The ring light 25b is provided to ensure sufficient illuminance during imaging by the camera body 25a. The camera body 25a and the ring illumination 25b are controlled by a robot controller 31b, which will be described later. The hand-mounted camera 25 transmits image data captured by the camera body 25a to the robot control section 31b.

Next, a control system 100 that controls the traveling robot system 1 will be described with reference to FIG. This control system 100 includes the onboard control device 30 and a host control device 40 .

The in-vehicle control device 30 is a microcomputer having a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, etc. As shown in FIG.

The wireless communication unit 32 has a transmitting circuit, a receiving circuit, and a transmitting/receiving antenna, and receives commands from the CPU 31 to transmit/receive various signals and data to/from the host controller 40 by wireless communication. An example of this data is distance data of an object detected by the distance sensor 14, for example.

The CPU 31 is connected to the traveling actuator 13, the distance sensor 14, the robot 20, and the hand-mounted camera 25 so as to be able to send and receive signals. The CPU 31 functions as a travel control unit 31a and a robot control unit 31b by executing computer programs stored in a ROM or the like.

The travel control unit 31a controls the travel actuator 13 so that the automatic guided vehicle 10 travels along the planned travel route V calculated by the travel route determination unit 41b of the host controller 40, which will be described later.

The robot control unit 31b causes the robot 20 to perform a work motion or an obstacle designation motion. The work motion is a predetermined motion performed by the robot 20 on each work station 3, and includes, for example, work attachment/detachment work. In this example, the robot control unit 31b corrects the position of the hand 24 with respect to the work by correcting the working posture based on the image captured by the hand-mounted camera 25 when causing the robot 20 to perform the work motion. is configured to The obstacle specifying operation is an operation of pointing the obstacle 5 by the robot 20 when the obstacle 5 is the cause of the stop of the automatic guided vehicle 10 . Details of the obstacle designation operation will be described later.

The host controller 40 is a microcomputer having a CPU, ROM, RAM, etc., and has a CPU 41 , a wireless communication section 42 and a map data storage section 43 .

The wireless communication unit 42 has a transmitting circuit, a receiving circuit, and a transmitting/receiving antenna, and receives commands from the CPU 41 and transmits/receives various signals and data to/from the in-vehicle control device 30 by wireless communication.

The map data storage unit 43 is a functional unit that stores map data, and is composed of a storage medium such as a magnetic disk. The map data includes information on the travelable area of the automatic guided vehicle 10 inside the building. The travelable area is an area excluding fixed installations such as machine tools, and is an area in which the unmanned guided vehicle 10 can physically travel. In this example, this map data is automatically generated based on the distance data output from the distance sensor 14 . The method of generating the map data is not limited to this. For example, the map data may be generated manually by the operator operating a control panel (not shown) such as a touch panel provided on the automatic guided vehicle 10. .

The CPU 41 functions as a job generation section 41a, a travel route determination section 41b, an obstacle detection section 41c, a passage area calculation section 41d, and an interference prediction section 41e by executing computer programs stored in the ROM or the like.

The job generation unit 41a obtains the loading status of the articles to be conveyed on the automatic guided vehicle 10 and the status of the articles to be conveyed at each work station 3, and based on the obtained status, determines the movement start point and the movement of the automatic guided vehicle 10. Determine your destination.

The travel route determination unit 41b determines (calculates) a planned travel route V from the travel start point determined by the job generation unit 41a to the travel destination. The planned travel route V is determined so that the travel distance of the automatic guided vehicle 10 is the shortest within the travelable area defined by the map data. It should be noted that the condition is not limited to the shortest movement distance, and a condition such as the minimum power consumption may be employed, for example.

Based on the object distance data received from the vehicle-mounted control device 30 and the map data, the obstacle detection unit 41c determines whether the object is an obstacle 5 placed in the travelable area of the automatic guided vehicle 10. detect whether or not As described above, the travelable area is an area excluding fixed installation objects such as machine tools shown in the map data. does not detect as an obstacle 5 , but detects only an object placed in the travelable area as an obstacle 5 .

When the obstacle detection unit 41c detects the obstacle 5, the passage area calculation unit 41d calculates the planned passage area R of the automatic guided vehicle 10 along the planned travel route V determined by the travel route determination unit 41b. calculate. In this example, the passage area calculation unit 41d calculates an area through which the planar shape of the automatic guided vehicle 10 is expected to pass as the planned passage area R. FIG. Note that the planned passage area R may be a three-dimensional area in consideration of the three-dimensional shape of the automatic guided vehicle 10 .

The interference prediction unit 41e determines the automatic guided vehicle based on the planned passage area R of the automatic guided vehicle 10 calculated by the passage area calculation unit 41d and the distance data (position information) of the obstacle 5 output from the distance sensor 14. It is predicted whether or not the vehicle 10 will interfere with the obstacle 5 when it continues to travel along the planned travel route V. - 特許庁Specifically, the interference prediction unit 41 e identifies the coordinate position of the obstacle 5 on the map data based on the distance data of the obstacle 5 output from the distance sensor 14 . Then, the interference prediction unit 41e determines whether or not at least a part of the obstacle 5 overlaps the calculated passage area R in a plan view. It is predicted that the objects 5 will interfere with each other in the future, and if it is determined that they will not overlap, it is predicted that interference between the two will not occur. A result of prediction by the interference prediction unit 41 e is transmitted to the traveling control unit 31 a and the robot control unit 31 b of the onboard control device 30 via the wireless communication unit 42 .

When the interference prediction unit 41e predicts that the automatic guided vehicle 10 will interfere with the obstacle 5, the traveling control unit 31a stops driving the traveling motor 13a of the automatic guided vehicle 10 to stop the automatic guided vehicle 10. . The timing for stopping the automatic guided vehicle 10 is preferably, for example, when the distance between the automatic guided vehicle 10 and the obstacle 5 becomes equal to or less than a predetermined distance (for example, 1 m or less).

When the interference prediction unit 41e predicts that the automatic guided vehicle 10 will interfere with the obstacle 5, the robot control unit 31b causes the robot 20 to perform an obstacle designation operation.

The obstacle designating operation of this example is an operation of emitting illumination light from the ring light 25 b attached to the third arm 23 of the robot 20 toward the obstacle 5 . 4A and 4B show the motion postures of the robot 20 when executing the obstacle specifying motion. FIG. 4A is a plan view of the robot 20 viewed from above, and FIG. is a side view.

When causing the robot 20 to perform an obstacle designation operation, the robot control unit 31b first causes the robot 20 to take a predetermined forward leaning posture (for example, the posture shown in FIG. 2). The tilting angles of the arms 21 to 23 in this forward tilting posture are stored in a storage unit (not shown) by performing a teaching operation in advance. Then, the robot control unit 31b causes the robot 20 to rotate about the axis A1 and the third arm 23 about the axis A6 based on this forward tilting posture, thereby causing the hand-mounted camera 25 to rotate. The light irradiation direction of the ring illumination 25b thus formed is directed toward the obstacle 5 (see FIGS. 4A and 4B). In this example, the robot control unit 31b adjusts the rotation angles of the robot 20 about the axes A1 and A6 so that the optical axis of the ring illumination 25b (the central axis of the ring illumination 25b) passes through the center of gravity position G of the obstacle 5. decide. Here, the center-of-gravity position G of the obstacle 5 may be calculated based on the three-dimensional shape of the obstacle 5 estimated from the distance data detected by the distance sensor 14 . Further, instead of the center-of-gravity position G, the center position C of the side surface of the obstacle 5 on the automatic guided vehicle 10 side is calculated, and the axis A1 and the axis of the robot 20 are adjusted so that the optical axis of the ring illumination 25b passes through the center position C. A rotation angle around A6 may be determined.

Then, the robot control unit 31b causes the ring illumination 25b to emit illumination light toward the obstacle 5 while the optical axis of the ring illumination 25b is directed toward the center-of-gravity position G of the obstacle 5 . In this example, illumination light is continuously emitted toward the obstacle 5 from the ring illumination 25b. Incidentally, the emission mode of the illumination light is not limited to this, and for example, it may alternately repeat turning on and off (that is, blinking).

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing an example of obstacle designation control executed by cooperation between the host control device 40 and the vehicle-mounted control device 30. As shown in FIG.

In step S1, the travel route determination unit 41b determines (calculates) a planned travel route V from the movement start point of the automatic guided vehicle 10 to the movement destination. When determining the planned travel route V, for example, a genetic algorithm is used to generate a large number of route candidates, and the planned travel route V is calculated as the shortest route from among the many route candidates thus generated.

In step S2, the travel control unit 31a controls the travel actuator 13 to cause the automatic guided vehicle 10 to start traveling along the planned travel route V determined in step S1.

In step S3, it is determined whether or not the obstacle 5 has been detected by the obstacle detection section 41c. If the determination is NO, the process returns, and if the determination is YES, the process proceeds to step S4.

In step S4, the passage area calculator 41d calculates a planned passage area R of the automatic guided vehicle 10 along the planned travel route V calculated in step S1.

In step S5, the interference prediction unit 41e determines the distance of the automatic guided vehicle 10 based on the expected passage area R of the automatic guided vehicle 10 calculated in step S4 and the distance data of the obstacle 5 output from the distance sensor 14. predicts whether or not it will interfere with the obstacle 5 when it continues to travel along the planned travel route V. If this determination is NO, the process returns, and if it is YES, the process proceeds to step S6.

In step S6, the travel control unit 31a determines whether the distance between the automatic guided vehicle 10 and the obstacle 5 is a predetermined distance or less (for example, 1 m or less) based on the distance data of the obstacle 5 output from the distance sensor 14. It is determined whether or not, and if the determination is NO, the process returns, while if the determination is YES, the process proceeds to step S7.

In step S7, the travel control unit 31a stops driving the travel motor 13a so that the automatic guided vehicle 10 stops.

In step S8, the robot control unit 31b causes the robot 20 to execute the above-described obstacle designation operation, and then returns. In this example, the robot 20 starts executing the obstacle designation operation after the automatic guided vehicle 10 stops. Execution of the obstacle designation operation may be started.

An operation example of the traveling robot system 1 configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 1, the movement start point of the automatic guided vehicle 10 is the work position P1 set for the first work station 3a, and the movement destination is set for the second work station 3b. An example is shown at position P2. First, the travel route determination unit 41b calculates a planned travel route V from the work position P1, which is the movement start point, to the work position P2, which is the movement destination. 10 starts running along the planned running route V. When the obstacle detection unit 41c detects the obstacle 5 at the intermediate position P3 after the start of traveling, the passage area calculation unit 41d calculates the expected passage area R of the automatic guided vehicle 10, and then the interference prediction unit 41e , based on the planned passage area R calculated by the passage area calculation unit 41d and the distance data of the obstacle 5 output from the distance sensor 14, when the automatic guided vehicle 10 continues traveling along the planned traveling route V Whether or not to interfere with the obstacle 5 is predicted. In the example of FIG. 1, it is predicted that interference will occur, so the prediction result to that effect is transmitted from the interference prediction unit 41e to the in-vehicle control device 30. FIG. In the in-vehicle control device 30, upon receiving this prediction result, the travel control unit 31a stops the automatic guided vehicle 10, and the robot control unit 31b causes the robot 20 to perform an obstacle designation operation. As a result, the automatic guided vehicle 10 stops at the intermediate position P3 before it interferes with the obstacle 5, and the optical axis of the ring light 25b attached to the third arm 23 of the robot 20 is directed toward the obstacle 5. , illumination light is emitted toward the obstacle 5 from the ring illumination 25b. As a result, surrounding workers recognize that the obstacle 5 illuminated by the illumination light from the ring lighting 25b is the cause of the stop of the automatic guided vehicle 10, and take appropriate measures such as removing the obstacle 5. can teach.

As described above, in the present embodiment, when the automatic guided vehicle 10 is predicted to interfere with the obstacle 5, the automatic guided vehicle 10 is stopped and the robot 20 mounted on the automatic guided vehicle 10 is prevented from obstructing the obstacle 5. By executing the object specifying operation, interference between the automatic guided vehicle 10 and the obstacle 5 is avoided, and the obstacle 5 that caused the automatic guided vehicle 10 to stop can be easily recognized by surrounding workers. can be made In addition, the existing robot 20 mounted on the automatic guided vehicle 10 can be used to notify the surrounding workers of the obstacle 5 that caused the automatic guided vehicle 10 to stop. Therefore, it is possible to construct the entire system at a low cost.

In addition, in this embodiment, since the obstacle 5 that has caused the automatic guided vehicle 10 to stop is illuminated by the ring illumination 25b, the automatic guided vehicle 10 can It is possible to make surrounding workers more clearly recognize the obstacle 5 that caused the vehicle to stop. Moreover, since the ring illumination 25b is an illumination device attached to the hand-mounted camera 25, the entire system can be configured at a lower cost than when a dedicated illumination device is provided separately.

<<Modification 1>>
FIG. 6 shows Modification 1. FIG. In this modified example, the robot 20 designates an obstacle differently from the above-described embodiment. Except for this point, the hardware configuration and control processing are the same as those in the above-described embodiment, so a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

That is, in this modification, the robot 20 performs an obstacle designation operation by moving the hand 24 (corresponding to the working-side tip of the robot 20) attached to the tip of the third arm 23 of the robot 20 to face the obstacle 5. It is considered to be an action that causes

In this obstacle designation operation, it is preferable that the surface of the hand 24 on the gripping claw 24 a side faces the obstacle 5 . Moreover, in this obstacle designation operation, it is preferable to operate the robot 20 so that the axis of the third arm 23 passes through the position G of the center of gravity of the obstacle 5 . Instead of the center of gravity position G, the center position C of the side surface of the obstacle 5 closer to the automatic guided vehicle 10 may be employed.

According to this modified example, when the automatic guided vehicle 10 stops, if the robot 20 takes a posture in which the hand 24 attached to the third arm 23 faces the obstacle 5, the operator can By looking at the posture of the robot 20, it can be recognized at a glance that the obstacle 5 is the cause of the stoppage of the automatic guided vehicle 10.例文帳に追加In addition, unlike the above-described embodiment, it is not necessary to activate the ring light 25b when executing the obstacle designation operation, so energy saving can be improved.

<<Modification 2>>
7A and 7B show Modification 2. FIG. In this modified example, the robot 20 designates an obstacle differently from the first embodiment and the first modified example. Except for this point, the hardware configuration and control processing are the same as those in the above-described embodiment, so a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

That is, in this modification, the robot 20 moves the hand 24 attached to the tip of the third arm 23 of the robot 20 (corresponding to the tip on the working side of the robot 20 ) above the obstacle 5 . It is considered to be an operation to be positioned at. This obstacle designation operation is preferably performed so that a gap is secured between the hand 24 and the upper surface of the obstacle 5 . Moreover, it is preferable to perform this obstacle designation operation so that the hand 24 is positioned above the end of the obstacle 5 closer to the automatic guided vehicle 10 .

According to this modified example, if the robot 20 takes a posture such that the hand 24 is positioned above the obstacle 5 when the automatic guided vehicle 10 stops, the worker can change the posture of the robot 20. It can be recognized at a glance that the obstacle 5 is the cause of the stop of the automatic guided vehicle 10 . In particular, in the obstacle designation operation of this modified example, the hand 24 is positioned above the obstacle 5, so compared to the above-described embodiment and modified example 1, the automatic guided vehicle 10 stops. It is possible to more clearly indicate the obstacle 5 that is present. In addition, unlike the above-described embodiment, it is not necessary to activate the ring light 25b when executing the obstacle designation operation, so energy saving can be improved.

<<Other embodiments>>
In the above embodiment and each modified example, when the interference prediction unit 41e predicts that the automatic guided vehicle 10 will interfere with the obstacle 5, the automatic guided vehicle 10 is stopped without searching for an avoidance route. However, the present invention is not limited to this. When it is determined that a route exists, the current planned travel route V is updated to the avoidance route, and when it is determined that the avoidance route does not exist, the current planned travel route V is not updated. good. According to this, after the obstacle 5 is detected by the obstacle detection unit 41c, the automatic guided vehicle 10 stops only after the travel route determination unit 41b determines that there is no avoidance route for avoiding the obstacle 5. Accordingly, the robot 20 executes the obstacle designation operation under the control of the robot control section 31b.

According to such a traveling robot system 1, for example, as shown in FIG. In addition, the automatic guided vehicle 10 can travel between the two obstacles 5a and 5b. At this time, if the automatic guided vehicle 10 stops between the two obstacles 5a and 5b as indicated by the solid line in FIG. Therefore, there is a problem that surrounding workers cannot recognize whether or not the automatic guided vehicle 10 has stopped. On the other hand, in the traveling robot system 1 of the present invention, even if the automatic guided vehicle 10 stops between the two obstacles 5a and 5b, the robot 20 is prevented from obstructing under the control of the robot control section 31b. The obstacle 5 (obstacle 5a in the example of FIG. 8) that caused the automatic guided vehicle 10 to stop is indicated by executing the object designation operation. Therefore, surrounding workers can recognize at a glance that the automatic guided vehicle 10 has stopped due to the obstacle 5a pointed by the robot 20 .

In the above-described embodiment and each modified example, the automatic guided vehicle 10 is configured to autonomously travel without a track, but is not limited to this. For example, the automatic guided vehicle 10 may be configured to travel along a guide such as a magnetic tape or a light reflecting tape on a track.

In the above embodiment and each modified example, the control system 100 is composed of the upper control device 40 and the on-vehicle control device 30, but the control system 100 is not limited to this. It may be integrated into the device 30 , or conversely, each functional unit of the on-vehicle control device 30 may be integrated into the host control device 40 to remotely control the automatic guided vehicle 10 .

Although the hand 24 is attached to the tip of the third arm 23 of the robot 20 in the embodiment and each modified example, the hand 24 is not necessarily required. For example, if the work performed by the robot 20 is an air blow operation, an air blow device may be attached instead of the hand 24 . In this case, the air blow device corresponds to the tip of the robot 20 on the working side.

Although the distance sensor 14 is configured to scan the laser light in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction in the above embodiment and each modified example, it may be configured to scan only in the horizontal direction, for example. Even in this case, the planar position of the obstacle 5 can be specified based on the distance data output from the distance sensor 14. Therefore, based on the planar position of the obstacle 5, the robot 20 can It is possible to execute an action pointing to the object 5 (obstacle specifying action).

In the above-described embodiment and each modified example, the distance sensor 14 detects an object existing within a predetermined range on the front side of the automatic guided vehicle 10, but is not limited to this. An object existing within a predetermined range on the left side, right side, or rear side may be detected.

Although the object detection sensor is the distance sensor 14 in the above embodiment and each modified example, the object detection sensor is not limited to this, and may be, for example, an image sensor. In this case, the coordinate position and luminance value of each pixel output from the image sensor function as position information for specifying the position of the object.

Moreover, the present invention includes any combination of the above embodiments and modifications.

It should be noted that the above description of the embodiment is illustrative in all respects and is not restrictive. Modifications and modifications are possible for those skilled in the art. The scope of the invention is indicated by the claims rather than the above-described embodiments. Furthermore, the scope of the present invention includes modifications from the embodiments within the scope of claims and equivalents.

R planned passage area V planned travel route 1 traveling robot system 5 obstacle 5a obstacle 5b obstacle 10 unmanned guided vehicle 14 distance sensor (object detection sensor)
20 robot 24 hand (tip on the working side of the robot)
25 hand-worn camera (camera)
25b Ring lighting (lighting device)
31a travel control unit 31b robot control unit 41a job generation unit 41b travel route determination unit 41c obstacle detection unit 41d passage area calculation unit 41e interference prediction unit

Claims (4)

an unmanned guided vehicle, a travel route determination unit that determines a planned travel route of the automatic guided vehicle, a travel control unit that causes the unmanned guided vehicle to travel along the planned travel route determined by the travel route determination unit, and A traveling robot system comprising a robot mounted on an unmanned guided vehicle and a robot control unit for controlling the operation of the robot,
an object detection sensor mounted on the automatic guided vehicle for detecting an object existing within a predetermined range from the automatic guided vehicle and outputting position information capable of identifying the position of the object;
an obstacle detection unit that detects whether the object detected by the object detection sensor is an obstacle placed in a travelable area of the automatic guided vehicle;
a passage area calculation unit that calculates a planned passage area for the automatic guided vehicle along the planned travel route when the obstacle detection unit detects that the object is an obstacle;
Based on the planned passage area of the automatic guided vehicle calculated by the passage area calculation unit and the position information of the obstacle output from the object detection sensor, the automatic guided vehicle moves along the planned travel route. an interference prediction unit that predicts whether or not the vehicle will interfere with the obstacle if it continues to travel;
The traveling control unit is configured to stop the automatic guided vehicle before it interferes with the obstacle when the interference prediction unit predicts that the automatic guided vehicle and the obstacle will interfere,
The robot control unit is configured to cause the robot to perform an obstacle designation operation of pointing to the obstacle when the interference prediction unit predicts that the automatic guided vehicle and the obstacle will interfere with each other. has been
The robot is equipped with a lighting device,
In the obstacle specifying operation, the light emitted from the lighting device is projected onto an obstacle that is predicted to interfere with the automatic guided vehicle by the interference prediction unit, and the optical axis of the illumination light from the lighting device is directed to the obstacle. A running robot system, wherein the robot control unit controls the robot so as to pass through the center of gravity of an object or through the center of the side surface of the obstacle. an unmanned guided vehicle, a travel route determination unit that determines a planned travel route of the automatic guided vehicle, a travel control unit that causes the unmanned guided vehicle to travel along the planned travel route determined by the travel route determination unit, and A traveling robot system comprising a robot mounted on an unmanned guided vehicle and a robot control unit for controlling the operation of the robot,
an object detection sensor mounted on the automatic guided vehicle for detecting an object existing within a predetermined range from the automatic guided vehicle and outputting position information capable of identifying the position of the object;
an obstacle detection unit that detects whether the object detected by the object detection sensor is an obstacle placed in a travelable area of the automatic guided vehicle;
a passage area calculation unit that calculates a planned passage area for the automatic guided vehicle along the planned travel route when the obstacle detection unit detects that the object is an obstacle;
Based on the planned passage area of the automatic guided vehicle calculated by the passage area calculation unit and the position information of the obstacle output from the object detection sensor, the automatic guided vehicle moves along the planned travel route. an interference prediction unit that predicts whether or not the vehicle will interfere with the obstacle if it continues to travel;
When the interference prediction unit predicts that the automatic guided vehicle and the obstacle will interfere, the travel route determination unit determines whether or not there is an avoidance route that can avoid the interference, If it is determined that there is, it is configured to update the current planned travel route to the avoidance route,
The travel control unit is configured to stop the automatic guided vehicle before it interferes with the obstacle when the travel route determination unit determines that there is no avoidance route that can avoid the interference. ,
When the travel route determination unit determines that there is no avoidance route for avoiding the interference, the robot control unit indicates the obstacle predicted to cause the interference to the robot. It is configured to execute the obstacle designation operation shown,
The robot is equipped with a lighting device,
In the obstacle specifying operation, the light emitted from the lighting device is projected onto an obstacle that is predicted to interfere with the automatic guided vehicle by the interference prediction unit, and the optical axis of the illumination light from the lighting device is directed to the obstacle. A running robot system, wherein the robot control unit controls the robot so as to pass through the center of gravity of an object or through the center of the side surface of the obstacle. The robot is an articulated robot,
A camera is attached to the robot,
3. The traveling robot system according to claim 1, wherein said lighting device is also used as a lighting device attached to said camera in order to ensure illuminance at the time of imaging by said camera. an unmanned guided vehicle, a travel route determination unit that determines a planned travel route of the automatic guided vehicle, a travel control unit that causes the unmanned guided vehicle to travel along the planned travel route determined by the travel route determination unit, and A traveling robot system comprising a robot mounted on an unmanned guided vehicle and a robot control unit for controlling the operation of the robot,
an object detection sensor mounted on the automatic guided vehicle for detecting an object existing within a predetermined range from the automatic guided vehicle and outputting position information capable of identifying the position of the object;
an obstacle detection unit that detects whether the object detected by the object detection sensor is an obstacle placed in a travelable area of the automatic guided vehicle;
a passage area calculation unit that calculates a planned passage area for the automatic guided vehicle along the planned travel route when the obstacle detection unit detects that the object is an obstacle;
Based on the planned passage area of the automatic guided vehicle calculated by the passage area calculation unit and the position information of the obstacle output from the object detection sensor, the automatic guided vehicle moves along the planned travel route. an interference prediction unit that predicts whether or not the vehicle will interfere with the obstacle if it continues to travel;
The traveling control unit is configured to stop the automatic guided vehicle before it interferes with the obstacle when the interference prediction unit predicts that the automatic guided vehicle and the obstacle will interfere,
The robot control unit is configured to cause the robot to perform an obstacle designation operation of pointing to the obstacle when the interference prediction unit predicts that the automatic guided vehicle and the obstacle will interfere with each other. has been
The robot is an articulated robot having a hand,
In the obstacle specifying operation, the tip of the arm to which the hand of the robot is attached faces an obstacle predicted by the interference prediction unit to interfere with the automatic guided vehicle, and the axis of the arm faces the obstacle. or the robot control unit controls the robot so as to pass through the center of gravity of the obstacle or through the center of the side surface of the obstacle.

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