KR101040176B1 - Positioning device and method of moving object using relative position - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for estimating a position of a moving object. The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for estimating a moving object accurately and easily using a relative coordinate based on a position unit that starts a space.

More specifically, the apparatus for moving a position of a moving object using the relative position of the present invention includes space information to which the moving target point of the moving object belongs, and the space to which the moving object belongs, from the information about the space in which the moving body includes at least one divided space. Moving position determining means for estimating the relative coordinates of the target point starting from the starting position unit, and if the moving object is adjacent within a predetermined radius of the position unit, the position unit is initialized to the origin, and the movement route to the target point is based on this. And relative coordinate estimating means for estimating a relative coordinate with respect to a moving point of the moving object from the moving amount and the moving direction data of the moving object.

Position Estimation, Relative Coordinate, RFID Tag, RFID Reader, Positioning Unit, Moving Object

Description

Apparatus and method for estimating moving object using relative position {APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR ESTIMATING POSITION USING THE RELATIVE LOCATING}

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for estimating the position of a moving object operating in any indoor environment.

In particular, the present invention provides a method of accurately and easily moving a moving object to a target point by using a relative coordinate based on a position unit that starts a space, similar to a method of recognizing a human position, rather than a method of measuring a general absolute coordinate. A device and method for position estimation are disclosed.

Indoor positioning methods of indoor moving objects such as existing mobile robots are generally calculated by triangulation method using radio wave strength measurement of Zigbee, Wi-Fi, UWB wireless communication, and RFID tags are installed on the floor at regular intervals. It is a method of measuring absolute position by receiving information transmitted from each tag.

Triangulation by measuring the radio wave strength of the radio signal, the error range generally reaches a few meters, the number of radio transmission and reception terminals need to be increased to improve this, which causes an increase in the installation cost of the overall system. In addition, there is a problem that the power loss of the mobile robot due to the continuous radio transmission and reception.

In addition, cell-based position measurement using the RFID tag embedded on the floor can obtain the position of the mobile robot with the minimum margin of error according to the interval, but it is necessary to embed numerous RFID tags on the floor at regular intervals. In addition, there is a problem in that the RFID reader in the mobile robot continuously operates and has a power loss.

In addition, the mapping method to the working environment in mobile robots has been studied in various ways, but it is simply to substitute absolute coordinates into the map data, and this method has various problems in terms of installation cost and working environment. It is necessary to study the location recognition method and the mapping method of the mobile robot.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and is not a method of measuring and using absolute coordinates, which is a conventional method, but instead of a target point and a moving object of an indoor environment in which a moving object operates based on a position unit that starts a divided space. A method and apparatus for estimating relative position are provided.

In addition, the present invention determines the movement route to the target point by using the position unit for dividing the indoor space by using the space value and the relative coordinate value, and the moving object moving through the movement amount constant of the mobile robot and the movement direction data of the gyroscope By estimating the relative position of the sensor, it is possible to provide a moving object that moves to a simple and accurate target point while reducing the amount of data to be processed, compared to a positioning device or method using absolute coordinates.

An apparatus for estimating a moving object using the relative position of the present invention for achieving the above object includes at least one divided space and the space information to which the moving target point of the moving object belongs from the information about the space in which the moving object operates, and the target point A moving position determining means for estimating a relative coordinate of a target point originating from the position unit starting the space to which the space belongs, and if the moving body is adjacent within a predetermined radius of the position unit starting the at least one divided space, the position unit is referred to as the origin point. And a relative coordinate estimating means for estimating a relative movement route to the target point based on this, and estimating a relative coordinate with respect to the moving point of the moving object from the moving amount and the moving direction data of the moving object.

In the present invention, the moving body is a device including a mobile robot, etc., and is defined as a device that can move from a predetermined position in a space to another position by a driving unit and a control unit controlling the same.

In the present invention, at least one divided space may be defined as a concept having a plurality of divided internal spaces as a space in a room where the moving object operates.

In the present invention, the position unit is a concept representing a position unit that can be used as a reference point of the relative coordinates may refer to the intermediate connection means for connecting the divided space and the space in the indoor environment in which the moving body moves. In other words, it means a medium means that one space ends and another space is started again, and as an embodiment, it may be defined to include a concept such as a door that distinguishes a plurality of predetermined divided spaces in the room.

Therefore, since the position estimating apparatus of the present invention estimates the relative position from the relative coordinate value using the position unit and the spatial value of the divided space, the characteristics and types of the position unit itself from the position unit defining the reference point or origin of the relative coordinate As well as information on the space, the space value for the space separated by the position unit, that is, information about any set number for the space and the like can be set. In addition, information about the space in which the moving object operates, space information to which the moving target point of the moving object belongs, and information about a position unit for starting the space to which the target point belongs, and the like may be set in advance.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the information on the space in which the moving object operates may be a space number of the divided space, a unique number of a location unit which starts the divided space, an absolute coordinate of the location unit, and the like. According to an embodiment of the present invention, some absolute coordinate values may be supplementally used in the relative position estimation of the position estimating apparatus, and the absolute coordinate values of the position unit may be measured from map data of an indoor environment in which a predetermined moving object is operated. have.

In the present invention, the relative coordinates may be three-dimensional coordinates or two-dimensional coordinates. That is, for example, three-dimensional coordinates such as the x-axis, y-axis, and z-axis may be used, or relative coordinates using two-dimensional coordinates of the x-axis and the y-axis. Preferably, since the moving body moves on the floor of the indoor space, the relative coordinates can be estimated using the two-dimensional coordinates.

In the present invention, the size of the unit value of the relative coordinate is set in advance by referring to the area of the moving space of the moving object and the movement amount data of the moving object. Since there is information on the area of the indoor space in which the moving object operates and the characteristic of the movement amount for each moving object, the size of a unit value corresponding to 1 in relative coordinates can be determined and set within a range of several cm to several m.

In the present invention, the moving route to which the moving object moves to the target point is determined from the information about the space number and the unique number of the position unit passing when moving from the current position of the moving object to the target point. For example, the path to the predetermined target point may be determined as space 1-> location unit 2-> space 2-> location unit 3.

Further, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the information on the space in which the moving object operates is set by itself in the main control device of the moving object, or is provided with an external server connected through a wireless communication module of the moving object and is set in the external server to Can be sent from the server as needed.

In the present invention, the position estimating apparatus of the movable body may move to the center of the position unit adjacent to the movable body in order to initialize the position unit based on the position unit to estimate the relative coordinates. A radius range in which communication with the mobile unit can be performed may be set in advance for each location unit. The communication between the mobile unit and the corresponding location unit within a predetermined radius of the location unit is attached to the location unit to transmit data. It may be an RFID communication between a RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tag and a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader included in the moving object to receive the data. However, the present invention is not necessarily limited thereto, and any known method of wireless communication may be applied.

The RFID reader included in the movable body may be operated when the movable body is adjacent within a predetermined radius of the position unit and the operation is stopped after receiving data from the RFID tag of the position unit.

The data received from the RFID tag of the location unit may be a unique number of the corresponding location unit, the type of the location unit, the absolute coordinates of the location unit, the space number of the space where the location unit starts, a code indicating the direction of the location unit of the moving object, and the like. have.

The unique number of the location unit is a series of numbers previously assigned to all the location units for starting the divided space, and the type of the location unit refers to information about a method of starting a space for each location unit or a method for entering and exiting a space. The location unit mainly refers to the doors connecting the spaces. These doors can be opened or closed in various ways such as sliding doors or opening doors depending on the access method, so that the moving object can properly pass through the doors.

The absolute coordinates of the position unit are stored as information of the absolute coordinates of the position unit among the absolute coordinates of the entire indoor space to be used for the initialization of the moving object or to be used for the correction of the estimation of the relative coordinates later. Further, the space number is a series of numbers assigned to the space divided by the position unit, and the direction code for the position unit of the movable body is such that the movable body can be located in the front, rear, left and right directions with respect to one position unit. The code to make it known.

The position estimating apparatus of the present invention determines whether the position of the moving object is abnormal compared to the absolute coordinate of the moving object measured at predetermined time intervals and the relative coordinate with respect to the moving point of the moving object estimated by the relative coordinate estimating means. The presence or absence determination means and the coordinate correcting means for estimating the relative coordinates inversely from the absolute coordinates when it is determined that the position of the moving object is abnormal may be further included.

According to the elapsed time when the moving object moves to the target point, the relative coordinates of the moving time can be estimated from the moving amount data and the moving direction data of the moving object. Coordinates can be measured. The absolute coordinates of the moving object measured at the predetermined time intervals may be measured by the main controller of the moving object or transmitted from an external server through the wireless communication module of the moving object. The relative coordinates and the absolute coordinates can be extracted and compared to determine whether there is an abnormal position of the moving body.

The coordinate correcting means determines that the position of the moving object is abnormal when the preset tolerance range is exceeded by comparing the absolute coordinate of the current moving object with the relative coordinate of the moving object estimated from the moving object. It is a means of recorrecting relative coordinates.

The method of correcting relative coordinates using the absolute coordinates is not limited to a specific method and can be applied from known techniques in the art. As an example, a method of calculating the absolute coordinate of the position unit of the space in which the current moving object is placed and subtracting it by the distance. When calculating the absolute coordinate and the estimated relative coordinate value of the position unit of the space in which the current moving object is placed as absolute coordinate, Calculate the distance corresponding to the position of the moving object from the difference and correct the coordinates of the moving object with the relative coordinates or another position unit from the position unit of the space in which the current moving body is placed based on the map data for the indoor space. There is a method to check and move and reset the relative coordinates to (0,0).

The method of estimating the position of the moving object of the present invention for achieving the above object comprises the steps of acquiring information about the space in which the moving object operates, including at least one divided space, spatial information to which the moving target point of the moving object belongs, and Estimating relative coordinates of a target point whose origin is the location unit that starts the space to which the target point belongs, receiving a data about an adjacent position unit by the moving object of the starting point, and initializing the coordinates of the position unit as origin; and Determining a movement route to the target point based on the origin, and estimating a relative coordinate with respect to the moving point of the moving object from the moving amount and the moving direction data of the moving object.

In the present invention, the initialization of the coordinates, characterized in that is performed after receiving the data for the position unit and moving the moving object to the center point of the position unit.

The center point of the location unit may be a center point of a location unit to which data transmitting means is attached or an intersection point between a vertical line passing through the center point and a bottom surface. In the position estimation method of the present invention, initializing the coordinates to (0,0) or (0,0,0) is based on this center point.

After the initialization step, a relative coordinate of the target point of the moving object may be formed around the reference point. The quadrant of the relative coordinates centered on the reference point may be viewed from above or set around the moving object.

In the initialization step of the coordinates in the present invention, after receiving the data for the position unit, the moving body may be added to move to the center point of the position unit.

That is, when receiving the information from the RFID tag attached to the location unit located in the near enough distance of the moving object to be included in the predetermined radius, the initial process of moving the moving object to the position of the center point of the location unit, and then reference the position unit This can be done.

At this time, moving the moving object to the center point of the position unit means that the moving body is placed on the extension line of the bottom of the space passing through the intersection of the vertical line passing through the center point of the location unit and the floor.

In addition, the method for estimating the position of the moving object of the present invention as a step for determining the position abnormality of the moving object, the step of measuring the absolute coordinates of the moving body at a predetermined time interval, and the relative coordinates relative to the moving point of the absolute coordinates and the moving object The method may further include determining whether the position of the moving object is abnormal, and inversely estimating the relative coordinate from the absolute coordinate when it is determined that the position of the moving object is abnormal.

According to the present invention, since the relative position of the moving object moving to the target point or the target point can be estimated using the relative coordinates of the spatial division concept based on the position unit that starts the divided space, the data to be compared and compared with the conventional absolute coordinate measurement. Can reduce the position error and reduce the position error can be more accurate.

In addition, the operation can be intermittently controlled when receiving the data of the position estimation device of the moving object has the effect of reducing the power consumption than the conventional position recognition device or method.

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for estimating an important position in an indoor working environment of a moving object, and a recognition method for accessing a location unit for starting a space.

In the present invention, the moving object is defined as a concept that includes a mobile device, such as a mobile robot, a cleaning robot that moves in a space of a room, or a mobile vehicle including a forklift truck and a load-carrying vehicle.

As an embodiment of the present invention, the moving system of the moving object including the location estimation device may further include an external server together with the moving object including the RFID tag and the location estimation device. In this case, the external server may exchange data such as location information of the mobile object through wireless communication with the mobile object.

The external server transmits the information on the indoor environment in which the mobile device operates, in particular the absolute coordinates of the location unit, or wirelessly measured by the selected time of the mobile mobile device through communication means for exchanging location information through communication with the mobile device. You can pass world coordinates. Of course, the data on the position information can be measured or calculated by the moving body as described above.

According to an embodiment, the measurement of the absolute coordinate value for inducing the external server or the moving object to correct the relative coordinate value or to initialize it at the correct point around the position unit may be measured by the map data for the indoor environment. .

That is, when the external server is configured, the external server stores data such as map data for a predetermined space, an absolute coordinate value corresponding to each position unit of the space, and the like through the data storage means. Various information about space and location unit can be stored separately. However, these stored values are absolute coordinates of the moving point of the position unit and the moving object by the set time compared to the absolute coordinate data measured for all the points, so that the processing capacity of the data can be significantly reduced and the capacity can be saved.

Specific embodiments of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings below.

1 is a block diagram of a system including a device for estimating a moving object using a relative position according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to Figure 1 in more detail with respect to the moving object and the mobile system including a position estimation apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, attached to the door corresponding to the position unit for starting the space to send the position information An RFID tag 105, a mobile body, and an external server 102 for exchanging information by wireless communication with the mobile body.

The movable body includes an RFID reader 103 included in the movable body to receive the information, a position estimating apparatus 101, a gyroscope 104 that measures and transmits movement direction data to the position estimating apparatus, and a driving of the movable body. And a main controller 100 that is responsible for the operation and control of the components, and a sensing device attached to the outside of the moving object and sensing the surroundings, or a camera 106 for photographing the surroundings.

The location estimator initializes the coordinates based on the center point of the door from the information when the RFID reader receives the location information of the door from the RFID tag attached to the door that initiates the divided space.

At this time, the center point may be a point where the vertical line passing through the center of the door and the bottom surface intersect, and the movable body may be moved on a line extending such an intersection point. The initialization process may be performed after the moving object is moved on a line corresponding to the center point of the location unit.

In addition, the distance between the position unit and the moving object for performing the initialization will be set already. If the predetermined distance is not satisfied, the moving object can move to a point where the set distance is satisfied by using a coordinate correction method using an absolute coordinate value. have. That is, the moving object can measure the absolute coordinate value for the position of the moving object intermittently by the wireless positioning method, and can obtain the absolute coordinate value for the corresponding position unit, so it can be moved to an appropriate position to perform the initialization process. Can be adjusted. In addition, the movable body may be moved to an appropriate position through various position correction methods of the movable body, and other coordinate correction methods are well known methods, and thus description thereof will be omitted.

The position estimating apparatus 101 initializes the position of the position unit and estimates the relative coordinates of the target point when the RFID reader 103 receives the information about the position unit, the absolute coordinates of the position unit located adjacent to the moving object, The relative coordinates corresponding to the target point are estimated based on the space values (space numbers) of the partition spaces that have already been obtained.

For example, when the position unit adjacent to the moving object is the position unit 1, the position of the position unit 1 is initialized to the origin after the moving body moves to the center point of the position unit 1.

The movement to the position unit 1 may use the absolute coordinate value of the position unit 1.

When the space value of the target point is determined, the position estimating apparatus extracts the position unit that starts this space and makes it the origin, and the relative coordinate value of the target unit of the space including the target point (where The origin as the center is the position of the initialized position unit 1).

If a plurality of location units and spaces are used to reach the target point, the movement route must be determined, and the relative position values for the next location unit must be estimated by initializing the corresponding location unit each time through the plurality of location units.

In the above example, if the target point is included in the space value 4 and the unique number of the position unit is 4, the relative coordinates with respect to the position unit 4 based on the initialized position unit 1 and the position unit 4 The relative coordinates of the target point (as origin) are estimated. If it is necessary to pass through the space values 1,2 and 3 to go to the position unit 4, the coordinate values of the position unit 2 and the position unit 3, which are the corresponding position units, are determined in the same manner as described above. Repeat.

Therefore, in addition to the data of the absolute coordinates of the position unit for correction and the positional position of the moving object to determine the positional error of the moving object, the relative coordinates are estimated and moved in series, thereby reducing the capacity of the processed data of the moving object. There is an advantage.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, map data of an indoor environment may be constructed in a moving object or an external server, and the space value of the indoor environment and the position, type, and direction of the location unit may be set to be used for position correction in comparison with the map data. have.

When the moving object moves to the target point, the set absolute time coordinates for the real-time moving position may be wirelessly measured or received through the external server 102. In addition, the relative coordinate values of the moving object moving in real time is calculated and estimated with respect to time from the moving amount data of the moving object transmitted from the main controller 100 and the moving direction data measured by the gyroscope 104.

The RFID tag 105 is preferably passive, and by using the passive RFID tag 105, the RFID tag 105 can be directly applied without the need for special manipulation or new design of the existing door.

The data stored in the RFID tag and transmitted to the moving object may include a unique code of the RFID tag, a code indicating the type of door, a code indicating the direction of the door, and the like. In addition, the unique code of the RFID tag may be matched with the doors in the map data of the indoor environment of the management program that is embedded in the external server 102 before the position of the mobile robot is initialized. In this matching process, if the type of door is estimated to be new, when the position initialization of the mobile robot is in progress, the form of inquiry and the operation method of the door are transmitted to the main controller through the communication module of the position estimating apparatus 101, and then the robot is inquired later. In addition, the new door information may be transmitted to an external server through a communication module to upgrade the contents of the map data. If the external server is not provided, the main controller or the server of the moving object may perform the process of matching the map data with the door for the indoor environment and upgrading the new door.

In the present invention, since the other components of the mobile body are not directly related to the technical spirit of the present invention, it is not shown in the drawings, and generally it should be seen that the components included in the known mobile body can be included. Description of other well-known components provided in the movable body will be omitted.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the position estimating apparatus 101 includes a communication module connected to a main controller of a moving object, a communication module connected to these external servers when provided with an external server, and a moving position determining means and relative coordinates. And an arithmetic processing unit including estimation means and the like. In constructing the position estimating device, the means for generating a moving route for the target point and the doors to be moved or their relative coordinates and relative coordinates for the position estimated when the moving object is moved is configured in the calculation processing unit of the position estimating device. Various embodiments may be possible, such as being included in the main controller of the moving object.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, components such as the position estimating apparatus 101 and the RFID reader 103 of the moving object may be controlled by the main controller 100.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the RFID reader 103 does not always operate in order to reduce power consumption, and is a predetermined distance through an external sensor such as an image camera 106 connected to the main controller 100. When it is determined that the robot has approached the door, the main controller 100 operates the RFID reader 103. At this time, the activated RFID reader 103 is stopped after receiving data from the RFID tag 105 of the door, thereby minimizing power consumption of the mobile robot.

After the relative coordinates are initialized, the mobile robot passes through the door and at the same time, the main controller 100 transmits the movement amount data to the position estimating apparatus 101 at a predetermined interval, and the position estimating apparatus 101 is connected to the gyroscope 107. The relative coordinates are estimated by using the direction data measured through the gyroscope interface unit (not shown) and the movement amount data transmitted. The movement amount data has unique values for each moving body of the mobile robot, and can be sufficiently estimated through interval time values and speed. If three minutes have elapsed since the passage of a specific door, relative coordinates of the current position of the mobile robot, which is the origin of the coordinates of the door, are estimated from the movement data and the movement direction data of the mobile robot. The real-time relative coordinate estimate of the moving mobile robot can be determined by comparing the absolute coordinates with the absolute coordinates through the wireless positioning with respect to the actual mobile robot.

According to an example, since the external server 102 may be further added, the estimated relative position may be transmitted to the external server 102 through the communication module of the main controller 100 and the location estimation device, respectively. At this time, the external server 102 compares the absolute coordinates and the relative coordinates of the mobile robot by measuring the wireless signal strength, and there is a difference over a certain range, that is, the current position when there is a difference outside the acceptable error range. Indicates that an abnormality has occurred in the estimator and transmits it.

The occurrence of abnormality in the position of the mobile robot may be caused by the failure of the moving body of the present invention, but may be generated by artificially displacing the moving body. If an abnormality occurs due to the change of the position of the moving object by an artificial method, the moving object is calculated by subtracting the distance of the door in the space to which the current moving object belongs from the map data of the indoor server acquired from the external server or the moving object. Relative coordinates can be re-corrected. Alternatively, the moving object is moved back to the door of the space to which the current moving object belongs based on the map data, and the relative coordinate is reset to (0,0) based on the position of the door and then moved. This method of position correction is only one embodiment and is not necessarily so. When the position correction for the current moving object is finished, the moving object moves toward the target point while estimating the relative coordinate along the moving route.

2 is an enlarged configuration diagram of an apparatus for estimating a position of a moving object using a relative position according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to this, as described above, the moving object includes a main controller, a position estimating device 101, an RFID reader 103, and a gyroscope and a gyroscope interface 1013. Of course, although not shown in the drawings, the moving body is provided with a moving means or a driving means capable of moving from point to point and has various components according to the work to be performed.

The main controller does not necessarily control only the position estimating device, but includes a means capable of performing control on all moving object components.

The internal configuration diagram of the position estimating apparatus 101 is composed of a communication module 1011 and an arithmetic processing unit 1012 connected to a main controller and an external server, respectively, and the arithmetic processing unit is a moving position determining means 201 and a relative coordinate estimating means. 202, abnormality determination means 203, and coordinate correction means 204 are included. The communication module 1011 of the location estimating apparatus may include at least one communication means capable of exchanging data with a main controller of a moving object or communication means capable of exchanging data with an external server.

These components are not limited and may be included in the main control unit instead of the operation processing unit to enable position movement through the relative position according to the present invention.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a method for estimating a position of a moving object using a relative position according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Information about a space in which the moving object operates in a room including the divided space is acquired in advance. These information may be stored in the moving body itself, but as described above, a separate external server may be stored and received.

The information may be modified or new information may be added through comparison with map data. In addition, the data included in the information includes space values for indoor spaces and location units for starting these spaces, such as unique numbers for doors, passing methods, types, and absolute coordinate values. The space information to which the moving target point of the moving object belongs can be obtained from the information, and the position unit which starts the space to which the target point belongs can be grasped. Therefore, the relative coordinates of the target point which makes it the origin are estimated. In other words, when the target point is in space 4, such as (X5, -Y3) in space 4, the relative coordinate value of the target point that makes the door of space 4 the origin (0,0) is estimated.

Next, when the moving object of the starting point receives the data for the adjacent position unit and initializes the coordinates with the corresponding position unit as the origin, the movement route to the target point is determined based on the origin, and the initializing the passing position unit to the origin is performed. The moving object moves while estimating the relative coordinate value of the position unit that is the moving target. That is, in the above example, if the moving object is initially initialized in the position unit 1, the moving object may pass through the spaces 1,2 and 3 to go to (X5, -Y3) of the space 4 and finally pass through the position unit 4 of the space 4.

While the position unit passing through these spaces is initialized to the origin, the position of the next position unit is read as a relative coordinate value, and the movement to the target point can be made simple and accurate.

In addition, the relative coordinates of the moving point of the moving object can be estimated in real time from the moving amount and the moving direction data of the moving object, and can be corrected to the wireless coordinated absolute coordinate value based on this.

This method will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. 3. In order to more clearly understand the location estimation method of the present invention will be described by way of example utilizing the indoor floor plan of FIG. Relative coordinates will be described as being limited to a two-dimensional coordinate plane.

For convenience, the number of the location unit that starts a predetermined space and the space number of the corresponding space coincide. First assume that the mobile robot is located near location unit 3, which is a location unit in space 3, 301, and assume that the target point is 304 at space 7.

Referring to FIG. 3, initialization of coordinates is first performed based on a specific position (SP1). In this case, the specific position may be a position of a door that starts a space, that is, a center point of the door. Thus, for example, the initialization of the moving object starts at the center point of the position unit 3.

For initialization, information such as a door number and type adjacent to the current position is received by the moving object (SP2). In some cases, if an external server is provided, this information may be received from the external server.

After the moving body moves to the center point of the adjacent position unit, a process of correcting the position is performed (SP3). In the case of the above example, since the current adjacent position unit of the movable body is 3, the movable body is moved to the position unit 3. If the absolute position value of the moving object measured by radio positioning is out of the set distance range or is out of the center point in comparison with the preset map data or the absolute coordinate value of the position unit 3, it is adjusted within the set range.

Then, once again, whether to proceed with the initialization process (SP4), if it is determined that the need for re-initialization proceeds to the next process. That is, the relative coordinate value based on the position unit of the space including the target point is estimated based on the information of the given target point, and the movement route from the currently initialized point to the target point is determined (SP5). The relative coordinate is estimated with respect to the positional information according to the determined movement route. For example, the route moving to the target point based on the initialized position unit 3 corresponds to the space 3-> the position unit 7-> the space 7, and the relative coordinates of the next position unit 7 based on the position unit 3 are the quadrants ( When observed from the drawing), it corresponds to (X6, -Y3). If the next position unit 7 is the origin, the target point is in the quadrant, which corresponds to (X1, -Y1.5). In this way, the relative coordinate is moved to the target point by reinitializing the relative coordinate whenever the position of the reference origin changes.

When the moving object passes through the door (SP6), the main controller in the moving object periodically calculates and transmits real-time moving amount data according to the movement of the moving object (SP7).

In addition, moving direction data of the moving object sensed from the gyroscope is also received, and relative coordinate values of the moving point of the moving object with time are estimated from the moving direction and the moving amount data (SP8). Preferably, the relative coordinate values according to the movement of the moving object are processed by the arithmetic processing unit of the position estimating device, and may be transmitted to an external server or a main control device in the moving object through the connection communication module.

On the other hand, if there is an absolute coordinate value measured wirelessly in accordance with the actual movement of the mobile from the external server, it is transmitted to the mobile through the wireless communication module. If no external server is provided, the actual absolute coordinates of the radio-located mobile body are obtained from the mobile body.

The absolute coordinate value is measured intermittently at predetermined time intervals.

The absolute coordinates of the moving object and the relative coordinates calculated by calculating the moving points of the moving object for each time are compared with each other to determine whether the moving object position is abnormal (SP9).

It is checked whether or not there is an abnormality in the current position of the moving object by comparing the estimated relative coordinate value with the absolute coordinate value obtained through the wireless position measurement from the actual moving object (SP10). If it is determined that there is an abnormality, it is inquired whether the abnormality is due to the failure of the moving body itself (SP13).

If it is not caused by the failure of the moving object, the process proceeds to step SP15 and an abnormal occurrence is notified to the main controller of the moving object. The main controller may inform or notify the outside by using components of known technologies included in the moving object. For example, a notification lamp or an alarm of an abnormality detection attached to the moving object may inform the outside of the failure of the moving object.

If it is not due to the failure of the moving object, go to step SP14 to correct the coordinates. If it is determined that the position is abnormal without a failure of the movable body, it can be assumed that the movable body is artificially moved. The correction of the coordinates is the same as described above, and thus will be omitted.

If it is determined that the current position of the moving object is intact or the relative coordinates of the actual moving position are corrected through the step SP14, it is inquired whether the current position corresponds to the coordinate of the destination (SP11).

If the relative coordinate with respect to the position of the destination set to reach the moving object and the estimated relative coordinates of the actual moving object match, the moving object has reached the target point and the operation according to the function of the moving object will be performed from this time (SP12). The operation may be a dust absorption or a cleaning operation such as a mop according to the function of the moving object, or may be a function of unloading or transporting an object, and may be a deodorization, deodorization operation, an alarm function, a remote control function, and the like through air filtering. .

4 is an indoor plan view for explaining a method of estimating a position of a moving body using a relative position according to an embodiment of the present invention.

At position 1 (301), the mobile robot is initialized to position (0,0) in space 3 and after passing through the door, the position at position 2 (302) becomes positions (X2, -Y2) in space 3. At this time, the position coordinate values, X2 and Y2, are the horizontal and vertical values respectively located in the quadrant in the two-dimensional space of the XY coordinate with the door center of position 1 as (0,0). One of the absolute values of the coordinates is set for convenience, and the actual distance corresponding to one unit of the absolute value may be arbitrarily set in advance by the space width of the environment in which the moving object operates.

In addition, the coordinate values are obtained because the X-axis and the Y-axis are determined based on the top view of the indoor space, and the X-axis and the Y-axis may be determined based on the mobile robot according to a predetermined setting.

If the position 2 refers to the mobile robot initialized in position 1, it corresponds to the moving quadrant and the coordinate value at this time will be (-X2, Y2).

Next, when the robot moves to reach position 3 (303), the robot is initialized to (0,0) in space 7 again. If the target point is space 5, the robot is initialized to (0,0) for space 5. Therefore, when there are several partitions, the number of partitions should also be entered as the relevant information for position estimation.

If moving to position 4 304 is the target, the relative coordinate value of the target point is similarly calculated to (X1, -Y1.5) of space 7 based on the initialized point in space 7. At this time, the absolute value is determined relative to the actual distance of the basic unit 1 of the preset absolute value. That is, an absolute value of 1 may indicate 1 cm or 20 cm relative to the total area of the space. It may be desirable to set the distance as small as possible so that the absolute value does not go down to a unit below the decimal point.

If the door in space 7 is assumed to be below space 7, the destination point in XY coordinate space will be specified as the relative coordinate value of the first or second quadrant.

The present invention has been described above in connection with specific embodiments of the present invention, but this is only an example and the present invention is not limited thereto. Those skilled in the art can change or modify the described embodiments without departing from the scope of the present invention, and such changes or modifications are within the scope of the present invention. In addition, each component described herein can be easily selected and replaced from a variety of elements known to those skilled in the art. Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that some of the components described herein can be omitted without degrading performance or adding components to improve performance. In addition, those skilled in the art may change the order of the method steps described herein according to the implementation environment or the equipment. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should be determined not by the embodiments described, but by the claims and their equivalents.

1 is a block diagram of a system including an apparatus for estimating a position of a moving object using a relative position according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is an enlarged configuration diagram of an apparatus for estimating a position of a moving object using a relative position according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a method for estimating a position of a moving object using a relative position according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is an indoor plan view for explaining a method for estimating the position of a moving object using a relative position according to an embodiment of the present invention.

{Description of major symbols in the drawing}

100: main controller 101: position estimation device

102: external server 103: RFID reader

104: gyroscope 105: RFID tag

106: camera 1011: communication module

1012: arithmetic processing unit 201: moving position determining means

202: relative coordinate estimating means 203: abnormality determining means

204: coordinate correction means 1013: gyroscope interface

Claims (14)

A movement including space information to which the moving target point of the moving object belongs, and relative coordinates of the target point starting from the position unit that starts the space to which the target point belongs; Positioning means; And If the moving object is adjacent within a predetermined radius of the location unit for starting the at least one divided space, the location unit is initialized to the origin, the moving route to the target point is determined based on the moving unit, and from the moving amount and moving direction data of the moving object. Relative coordinate estimating means for estimating a relative coordinate with respect to a moving point of the moving object; ≪ / RTI > Wherein the relative coordinates of the moving object position estimation device using a relative position, characterized in that the three-dimensional coordinates or two-dimensional coordinates. The method of claim 1, The information on the space in which the movable body operates is at least one of a space number of the divided space, a unique number of the location unit which starts the divided space, and an absolute coordinate of the location unit. Estimator. delete The method of claim 1, The size of the unit value of the relative coordinates is a device for estimating the position of the moving object using the relative position, characterized in that the preset in accordance with the area of the moving space of the moving object and the movement amount of the moving object. The method of claim 1, The moving route is a position estimating device of a moving object using a relative position, characterized in that the space number passing when moving from the current position of the moving object to the target point. The method of claim 1, The apparatus for estimating the position of the movable body using the relative position, wherein the information on the space in which the movable body operates is set in the main controller of the movable body or transmitted from an external server through the wireless communication module of the movable body. The method of claim 1, The communication between the mobile unit and the corresponding location unit within a predetermined radius of the location unit includes a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag attached to the location unit to transmit data, and included in the mobile unit to receive the data. An apparatus for estimating a moving object using relative position, characterized in that it is an RFID communication between a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader. The method of claim 7, wherein The data is a code indicating the unique number of the corresponding location unit, the type of the location unit, the absolute coordinates of the location unit, the space number of the space in which the location unit starts, and the direction of the location unit of the moving object. Positioning device for moving object using relative position. The method of claim 7, wherein The RFID reader included in the movable body is operated when the movable body is adjacent within a predetermined radius of the position unit, and the operation is stopped after receiving data from the RFID tag of the position unit. Device. The method of claim 1, The position estimation device, Abnormality determining means for determining whether the position of the moving object is abnormal in comparison with the absolute coordinate of the moving object measured at predetermined time intervals and the relative coordinate with respect to the moving point of the moving object estimated by the relative coordinate estimating means; And And a coordinate correcting means for estimating the relative coordinates inversely from the absolute coordinates when it is determined that the position of the movable body is abnormal. The apparatus for estimating the position of the movable body using the relative position further comprises. The method of claim 10, The absolute coordinates of the moving object measured at every predetermined time interval are measured by the main controller of the moving object, or received from an external server through the wireless communication module of the moving object position estimation device using the relative position. Acquiring information about a space in which the moving object operates, including at least one divided space; Estimating, from the information, the spatial information to which the moving target point of the moving object belongs and the relative coordinates of the target point starting from the position unit that starts the space to which the target point belongs; Receiving, by a moving object at a starting point, data about an adjacent position unit and initializing coordinates from the position unit as an origin; And Determining a movement route to a target point based on the origin, and estimating a relative coordinate with respect to the moving point of the moving object from the moving amount and the moving direction data of the moving object; Initialization of the coordinates, the position estimation method of the moving object using the relative position, characterized in that is performed after receiving the data for the position unit and moving the moving object to the center point of the position unit. delete The method of claim 12, Positioning method of the movable body, Measuring the absolute coordinates of the moving object at predetermined time intervals; Determining whether the position of the moving object is abnormal by comparing the absolute coordinate with a relative coordinate with respect to the moving point of the moving body; And If the position of the moving object is determined to be abnormal, further comprising the step of estimating the relative coordinates from the absolute coordinates in reverse.

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