JPH02287709A - Generating method for travel map of moving robot system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate the misgeneration and misalteration of the travel map by judging whether or not there is defective information in an inputted edited map by a map compiler, translating the inputted edited map and generating the travel map when there is on defective map information, and only displaying the defective information when the incomplete information is found. CONSTITUTION:The map compiler is provided on a memory 1b of a control station and when map information from an operation part 1f to the control station is inputted to generate the travel map 1d to be stored in the control station and the storage means of respective moving robots according to an edited map generated in the form of map information, the map compiler judges whether or not there is defective map information in the edited map. When there is no defective map information, the edited map is translated to generate the travel map 1d, but when there is defective map information, the information is displayed. Consequently, the misgeneration and misalteration of the travel map are eliminated to preclude wrong control.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] "Industrial Application Field" The present invention relates to a mobile robot system consisting of a plurality of mobile robots and a control station that controls these mobile robots. Mobile robot y)□
The present invention relates to a method for creating a driving map stored in a vehicle.

``Prior art'' In recent years, with the development of FA (factory automation), various systems of this type have been developed and put into practical use.In this mobile robot system, the control station A destination and a work command to be performed at that destination are sent to the robot wirelessly or by wire.The mobile robot automatically travels to the designated location, and
Perform the task as instructed, and when the task is finished, stand by where you are and wait for the next instruction. Such a control station and each mobile robot store the same traveling map composed of a plurality of data tables. The control station monitors and controls the Nostem by taking into account this traveling map and the traveling position and operating state of each mobile robot. Each mobile robot executes a designated program loaded into it according to a command from a control station, reads necessary data from a travel map, and automatically travels based on the read data.

[Problem to be solved by the invention 1 By the way, in such a mobile robot system,
The creation and modification of the driving map is performed at the control station. this is,
An operator inputs or changes data into a data table that constitutes a travel map, and writes the results to a memory card (IC card). Then, the memory card on which the new traveling map has been written is set in each mobile robot in turn, and the data in the memory card is written into each map memory. However, in conventional systems, the data created or modified by the operator is used as the traveling map, so incorrect data may exist due to creation or modification errors. There were problems with giving driving instructions and causing the mobile robot to automatically travel in the wrong direction.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a traveling map creation method for a mobile robot I/system that can completely eliminate mistakes in creating and changing a traveling map and prevent erroneous control. It is an object.

``Means for Solving the Problems J'' This invention provides a map compiler in the memory of a control station, inputs map information to the control station from an operation section, and calculates the When creating a traveling map to be stored in the storage means of the control station and each mobile robot, the map compiler determines whether or not there is defective map information in the edited map, and there is no defective map information. In this case, the traveling map is created by translating the edited map, and if there is incomplete map information, that information is displayed.

[Operation] According to the present invention, the map compiler determines whether or not there is defective map information in the input edited map, and if there is no defective map information, the input edited map is translated. If there is incomplete map information, only the information tμ is displayed and no traveling map is created.

"Embodiments" Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the mobile robot no stem. In this figure, l is the control station,
2-1 to 2-10 are mobile robots, and the control station 1 and each mobile robot 2-1 to 210 are connected wirelessly. The mobile robots 2-1 to 2-10 are configured to move along a magnetic tape pasted (=1) on the floor of a predetermined travel path within the travel area. Nodes are set at appropriate intervals.This node is a general term for stopping points, branch points, work points, etc., and each node has an example identification number.Also,
The mobile robot 2 is equipped with a magnetic mark sensor that detects node marks placed on each notebook.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control station 1. In this figure, 1a is a CPU (central processing unit), 1b is a CPU
This is a program memory (ROM) that stores multiple programs used in the PUIa, and in addition to system monitoring and control programs, it also includes an editing map creation program that inputs map information, and a map compiler that converts the edited map into a driving map. is memorized. Ic is a collision table (ROM) in which data for preventing collisions between mobile robots is stored. 1d is a map memory,
It stores a driving map made up of multiple data tables. This data table includes a node connection table in which the coordinates of each node, node type, numbers of other nodes connected to the node, etc. are stored in the registered nodes, and scene information between nodes (from the driving route to There are scene tables that store information such as distance to a wall and wall length), running conditions between nodes, etc. 1e is CPU1a
This is a data storage memory (RAM) used in 1f is an operation section where various operations for Nostem monitoring and control are performed. 1g has a communication device, CPUIa
Data supplied from 20 (] ~ 300 MT
(It transmits on the carrier wave of Z, and also receives the data transmitted from Mobile-2!Hot 2 on the carrier wave.

Next, the mobile robot 2 will be explained. FIG. 3 is a block diagram that does not show the configuration of the mobile robot 2. In this figure, 2a is a CPU (central processing unit), and 2b is a program memory that stores programs used in the CPU 2a. (ROM), 2c is a data memory (RAM) for data storage, 2 (l is an operation unit, 2e is a communication device, 2f is a traveling map formed from the same data table as the map memory ld of the control station 1) 2g is the map memory where is stored. 2g is the travel control device, and the CP
The wheel drive motor and the steering link motor are controlled based on the travel data supplied from U2a, and the mobile robot travels to the destination. 2h is a control device that receives a work program number supplied from the CPU 2a, executes the work program with that number when the mobile robot arrives at its destination, and executes the work program that it has stored. The arm (not shown) is made to perform various tasks by reading out the data.

Next, an outline of the traveling maps stored in the map memory 1d and the map memory 2f of the control station 1 and the mobile robot 2 will be explained. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the configuration of the node connection table 4 among the plurality of data tables forming the travel map. In this figure, DN, ~D N
'r is the network information of the Nth registered node or work point, which is data 3, DN, and D.
N, tJ, a predetermined layout'' - are the node coordinates where the origin is set as the origin, and each node position is displayed as (X, Y) coordinates. DN3 is a node type, and represents, for example, a node on which the mobile robot I.2 can change direction, a node on which the mobile robot 2 starts automatic travel, and the like. DN and DN5 each display the (XY) coordinates of the work node point where the mobile robot 2 performs the work. l) N, -1 to ■) N1. l-4 is the connecting note number representing another note connected to the node I-1)
N7-'l is a non-number, and the connected node number @I) N, respectively.

It shows in which scene number storage area (see FIG. 5) scene information between nodes corresponding to D No. 1 to D No. 4 is stored.

Next, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the structure of the non table 5, which is composed of a plurality of scene information SD.

This scene information SD is the non-number DN7-1 in FIG.
~DN, -4 [1] This is the information of the scene number N in the specified storage area, and is mainly composed of data from DS to DS. In this figure, DS is the number of bytes used, and the capacity of this non-information SD is not expressed in bytes. The node number 3, DS, which does not represent the end point node, is the running posture, and the mobile robot 2, the start point node DS, and the end point node D.
Table 6 shows the posture when traveling 4 degrees between S:+ and S:+. DS,
t:J is the speed limit when traveling between Nohot 2 or its nodes. D.S. is the minimum wall spacing representing the narrowest running path width between nodes.

A method of creating a travel map with such a configuration will be explained with reference to FIG. 6. First, when the edited map creation program stored in the program memory 1b is executed, a layout showing the travel area of the mobile robot 2 is displayed in graphic ink on the CRT of the operation section If. And the fourth
Manually input each data of the ()-domain connection table 4 in the figure and the none table 5 of FIG.
Create an edit map. This edited map becomes a human file to the map compiler. Next, when this file (edited map) is specified as input and the map compiler stored in the program memory 1b is executed, step Sl in FIG.
Proceed to. In step S1, it is determined whether there is a node input in the edited map, and the result of this determination is rYEs.
In the case of J (proceed to the tertiary step S2. Step s2
Then, a pointer is assigned to the first registered node among the input nodes. Next, in step S3, it is determined whether any of the connected node numbers D N6-1-D N, -4 have been written for the node to which the pointer has been assigned, and the result of this determination is 1YES.
”, the process advances to the next step S4. In step S4, it is determined whether there is scene information SD of the driving route corresponding to the connected node number DN0+-DN6-4. If the determination result is YESJ, the process advances to the next step S5. , In step S5, it is determined whether there is an error or not for each scene information SD, and if the result of this determination is rYEsJ, the process advances to the next step S6.Then, in step S6, the pointer is advanced to the next node number. , the process returns to step Sl, and the above-described operations are repeated.On the other hand, if the determination result in step S1 is rNOj, the process advances to step S7.In step S7, it is determined whether or not there is error information for each input node. If the determination result is 1YES, the process advances to the next step S8. In step S8, the edited map is converted into a data format (driving map) that can be stored in the map memory 1d,
Each converted data is written into the designated storage area of the map memory 1d, and the creation of the traveling map is completed.

Step S3, Step S4 and Step S5
If the result of each determination in is rNOj, the process proceeds to step S9, step SIO, and step Sll, respectively.

Then, in step S9, the note number (isolated node) in the unconnected state is stored in the connection error node table, and in step SIO, the scene number in the uninput state is stored in the scene uninput error node table, and in step S11 Then, scene information with an input error is stored in the scene input error table, and the process proceeds to step S6.

By the way, if the above error information exists, that is, if the determination result in step S7 is rNOJ, the process proceeds to step SI2, and each of the connection error node table, scene non-input error node table, and scene input error node table described above is Displays error information about table contents.

The travel map (J) created as described above is written to the memory card (I:) as a new travel map in the memory card writing device (shown in the diagram) of the control station 1.

Then, this memory card is sequentially moved [lBot 2
-1 to 2-10, and rewrite each person's driving map.

Also, if you want to add restrictive conditions to the driving map, for example,
Speed limit D S for scenes with more than a given mileage distance
If you want to change all 5 to the maximum speed, search for a scene that matches this condition, and add a function to the map compiler that rewrites the speed limit D S 5 to the maximum speed in the searched scene. can be dealt with.

In the above embodiment, the mobile robot detects the magnetic tape on the floor and moves along the tape, but in this invention, the mobile robot moves while detecting the surrounding situation using an ultrasonic sensor. It can also be applied to Further, although the mobile robot in the above embodiment has an arm, the present invention can also be applied to a mobile robot (for transportation, etc.) that does not have an arm and simply moves automatically.

"Effects of the Invention" As explained above, according to the present invention, a map compiler determines whether or not there is defective map information in the input edited map, and if there is no defective map information, it is input. The edited map is translated to create a driving map, and if there is incomplete map information, only that information is displayed, eliminating any mistakes in creating or changing the driving map.
This has the effect of preventing erroneous control.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a control station in the same embodiment, FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a mobile robot in the same embodiment, and FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the configuration of a node connection table in the same embodiment. , FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the structure of a scene table in the same embodiment, and FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a traveling map creation method in the same embodiment. Control station, d map memory, mobile robot, 2 1' map memory, node connection table, non-table

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a mobile robot system consisting of a plurality of mobile robots and a control station that controls these mobile robots, a map compiler is provided in the memory of the control station, and map information is transmitted from an operation unit to the control station. When inputting a map information and creating a travel map to be stored in the storage means of the control station and each mobile robot based on the edited map formed from the map information, the map compiler may include a map that is incomplete in the edited map. It determines whether there is information or not, and if there is no incomplete map information, the edited map is translated to create the traveling map, and if there is incomplete map information, the information is displayed. A method for creating a traveling map in a mobile robot system, which is characterized by: