Self-propelled device and map building method thereof
Technical Field
The present invention relates to a self-propelled device and a map building method thereof, and more particularly, to a self-propelled device for performing a predetermined operation in a work space and a map building method thereof.
Background
With the change of science and technology, the traditional manual work of cleaning, routing inspection, carrying … and the like is gradually replaced by an automatic machine, and a self-propelled device is produced at the same time; in the known self-propelled device, a map of a working space is established by an optical sensor in cooperation with a Simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) technique, so as to facilitate a subsequent planning of a preset moving path by the map.
For example, because the body size and the working space of the household sweeping robot are relatively small, when the map is built, whether the household sweeping robot moves to cover the whole working space or not is not particularly considered, and whether the household sweeping robot collides with an obstacle or not is not particularly considered, so that a user (customer) can put a small-sized self-propelled device such as the household sweeping robot to randomly move in the working space to build the map.
However, since the size of the machine body and the working space of the commercial sweeping robot are relatively large, when a map is built, it is necessary to consider whether the commercial sweeping robot has moved to cover the whole working space, and also to consider whether the commercial sweeping robot can damage an obstacle, so that when a map is built by a large-scale self-propelled device such as a commercial sweeping robot, an engineer of a manufacturer of the self-propelled device usually carries an external computer into the working space, and the external computer controls the self-propelled device to move in the working space and builds the map by a map building system in the external computer.
Disclosure of Invention
When a large-scale self-propelled device is used for establishing a map, a user (a client) needs to ask an engineer (a manufacturer) to carry an external computer into a working space, the self-propelled device is controlled to move in the working space by matching the professional experience of the engineer (the manufacturer) with a map establishing system in the external computer so as to establish the map of the working space, and the self-propelled device is returned to the user (the client) for use after the map is established; therefore, each time the workspace is changed, the user (customer) needs to ask the engineer (manufacturer) to re-establish the map in the workspace, so the user (customer) will consume many waiting costs and the engineer (manufacturer) will consume many business trip costs, which is very inconvenient!
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a self-propelled device that facilitates map creation.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a map building method using a self-propelled device, which facilitates map building.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a device for performing the self-propelled device mapping method.
The self-propelled device according to the object of the invention comprises: a body movable in a working space; a map building unit arranged on the body; the map building unit is provided with a sensor and a display interface; the sensor can detect a characteristic of the workspace; the display interface displays the detected working space and the undetected working space of the sensor and the positions of the body in the detected working space and the undetected working space in different patterns.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for building a map by a self-propelled device, comprising: providing a working space; providing a self-propelled device, which is provided with a sensor and a display interface; the self-propelled device detects the characteristics of the working space in the working space by the sensor, and the display interface displays the working space detected by the sensor and the working space not detected by the sensor and the positions of the self-propelled device in the detected working space and the non-detected working space in different patterns; and controlling the self-propelled device to move towards the undetected working space in the working space according to the display of the display interface.
According to a further object of the invention, a self-propelled device comprises: a device for executing the map building method of the self-propelled device.
The self-propelled device and the map building method thereof of the embodiment of the invention have the advantages that the display interface on the self-propelled device can display map information in different patterns, so that a user can conveniently refer to the map information displayed by the display interface and control the self-propelled device to move towards the undetected working space in the working space beside the self-propelled device, thereby gradually building the map of the working space.
Drawings
Fig. 1 is a schematic view of a self-propelled device in an embodiment of the invention.
Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of the movement of the self-propelled device in the working space according to the embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a pattern displayed on the display interface of the self-propelled device at point B according to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of the pattern displayed on the display interface of the self-propelled device at point C according to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of the relative position relationship between the pattern displayed on the display interface and the body when the self-propelled device is at point B in the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of the relative position relationship between the pattern displayed on the display interface and the body when the self-propelled device is at point C in the embodiment of the present invention.
[ notation ] to show
Self-propelled device A1 body
A2 map building Unit A21 sensor
A22 processor A23 display interface
A3 drive Unit A31 front guide wheel
A33 driving wheel of A32 rear guide wheel
A41 dust suction mechanism of A4 cleaning unit
A42 brushing mechanism A43 imbibition mechanism
Point B of A5 control unit
C point F working surface
O obstacle S workspace
T1 first Pattern T2 second Pattern
T3 third Pattern T4 fourth Pattern
T5 fifth Pattern T6 sixth Pattern
Z wall
Detailed Description
Referring to fig. 1 and 2, the method for establishing a map by using a self-propelled device according to an embodiment of the present invention can be achieved by using a self-propelled device a that can automatically move for cleaning as shown in fig. 1; the mobile device a can move in the working space S as shown in fig. 2 to create a map of the working space S; the working space S is formed by surrounding walls Z on four sides and is internally provided with a barrier O; the self-propelled device A is provided with:
a body A1 movable within a working space S (e.g., point B to point C);
a map creation unit A2, installed on the body A1, for detecting the characteristics of the environment such as the obstacle O or the wall Z … encountered by the body A1 moving in the working space S, and recording the characteristics to create the map information of the working space S; the map building unit A2 is provided with a sensor A21, a processor A22 and a display interface A23; the sensor a21 can detect a characteristic of the workspace S; the processor a22 may process the features detected by the sensor a21 into map information; the display interface A23 can display the map information processed by the processor A22; wherein the sensor a21 is a light-induced radar (LIDAR) sensor and is disposed at the front side of the body a1, and can perform scanning detection (the scanning detection range is approximately fan-shaped) on the working space S at the front side of the body a 1; the display interface A23 is a touch screen and is disposed on the upper side of the main body A, and can display the positions of the working space S detected by the sensor A21 and the working space S not detected by the sensor A21 and the main body A1 relative to the detected working space S and the non-detected working space S or provide the option of the user to click the preset function by touch;
a driving unit A3 disposed at the bottom of the body A1 for driving the body A1 to move automatically on the working surface F of the working space S for forward, backward, and rotation …; the driving unit A3 is provided with a front guide wheel a31, a rear guide wheel a32 and two driving wheels a33, the front guide wheel a31 and the rear guide wheel a32 are respectively arranged at the front side and the rear side of the body a1, and the two driving wheels a33 are respectively arranged at two sides of the approximate middle of the body a 1;
a cleaning unit A4 disposed at the bottom of the body A1 for cleaning the working surface F when the body A1 moves; the cleaning unit A4 is provided with a dust absorption mechanism A41, a brushing mechanism A42 and a liquid absorption mechanism A43, the dust absorption mechanism A41 is arranged at the front side of the body A1, the liquid absorption mechanism A43 is arranged at the rear side of the body A1, and the brushing mechanism A42 is arranged between the dust absorption mechanism A41 and the liquid absorption mechanism A43;
a control unit A5, installed on the main body A1, for executing various data operations and controlling various functions of the self-propelled device A.
Referring to fig. 2, 3 and 4, when the self-propelled device a is at point B, the map information displayed by the display interface a23 is as shown in fig. 3; at point C, the map information displayed by the display interface A23 is as shown in FIG. 4; the display interface A23 displays the map information of the workspace S in a number of different patterns, which may include:
a first pattern T1 showing the detected workspace S in a first color (green);
a second pattern T2 showing the undetected workspace S in a second color (red);
a third pattern T3 for displaying the detected obstacle O portion in a third color (black);
a fourth pattern T4 showing the positions of the body a1 with respect to the detected working space S and the undetected working space S in a predetermined pattern (circle);
a fifth pattern T5 directed in a directional pattern (arrow) toward the nearest one of the patterns (second pattern T2) of the undetected work space S to the body a 1;
a sixth pattern T6 showing the detecting direction of the body a1 (i.e., the forward moving direction of the body a 1) in a pattern (fan shape) of detecting direction;
the color or shape of these patterns is provided for the user to recognize, but not limited to, and may be replaced by visual differences such as symbols, fill lines, and color shades ….
Referring to fig. 2, 3 and 4, although the moving directions of the self-propelled device a at the point B and the point C are different, the fourth pattern T4 is maintained at a predetermined position of the display interface a23 (at the center of the display interface a 23) in the display interface a23 by a predetermined size, and the sixth pattern T6 is maintained at a predetermined position of the display interface a23 (toward the front side of the body a 1) in the display interface a23 by a predetermined size; the display interface A23 can only display part of the map information in the preset range around the body A1, and the map information displayed by the display interface A23 changes along with the movement of the self-propelled device A; in other words, as shown in fig. 3, 4, 5 and 6, the first pattern T1, the second pattern T2, the third pattern T3 and the fifth pattern T5 can change the relative positions with respect to the display interface a23 and the body a1 according to the moving direction of the self-propelled device a, but the fourth pattern T4 and the sixth pattern T6 do not change the relative positions with respect to the display interface a23 and the body a1 according to the moving direction of the self-propelled device a.
In the implementation of the map building method of the self-propelled device of the embodiment of the invention, when the environment of the first unknown working space S or the original working space S of the self-propelled device A is changed, a user can directly build new map information by the self-propelled device A; the user controls the self-propelled device a to move in the working space S by remote control of a remote controller or manual pushing manner, so that the self-propelled device a scans and detects the characteristics of the working space S by the sensor a21 at the front side; and the display interface A23 displays the working space S detected by the sensor A21 and the non-detected working space S and the position of the self-propelled device A relative to the detected working space S and the non-detected working space S in different patterns;
when the user uses point B as the starting point of the map created by the self-propelled device a, the user can see that most of the second pattern T2 representing the undetected working space S is distributed at the rear side of the self-propelled device a after referring to the information displayed by the display interface a23 in fig. 3, so that the user controls the self-propelled device a to turn to the rear side to move toward the undetected working space S according to the information displayed by the display interface a 23; alternatively, the user directly refers to the suggested direction of the fifth pattern T5 in the display interface a23 to control the self-propelled device a to turn to the rear side to move toward the undetected working space S;
when the user controls the mobile apparatus a to move to point C, after referring to the information displayed on the display interface a23 in fig. 4, the user can see that most of the second pattern T2 representing the undetected working space S exists on the right side of the mobile apparatus a, so that the user controls the mobile apparatus a to turn to the right side to move toward the undetected working space S according to the information displayed on the display interface a 23; alternatively, the user directly refers to the suggested direction of the fifth pattern T5 in the display interface A23 to control the mobile device A to turn right to move toward the undetected working space S; and by analogy, gradually amplifying the detected working space S and gradually establishing a map of the working space S.
In the self-propelled device and the map building method thereof according to the embodiment of the present invention, the display interface a23 on the self-propelled device a can display map information in different patterns, so that a user can conveniently refer to the map information displayed by the display interface a23 and control the self-propelled device a to move towards the undetected working space S in the working space S at the side of the self-propelled device a, thereby gradually building a map of the working space S.
The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and the scope of the present invention should not be limited thereby, and all the simple equivalent changes and modifications made in the claims and the description of the present invention are within the scope of the present invention.