KR102701767B1 - Robotic Linked Elevator Control System and Method - Google Patents

Abstract

A robot-linked elevator control system is disclosed. The present invention establishes and proposes a countermeasure for a failure mode that occurs during the boarding and disembarking stage when a robot uses an elevator for moving between floors in a building, particularly, a situation in which the robot's boarding or disembarking operation is initiated but a boarding or disembarking completion signal is not received, thereby enabling smooth operation of the elevator system without delay in passenger service even when a failure mode occurs, thereby enhancing the overall serviceability of an elevator system controlled in conjunction with a robot, and significantly improving operational efficiency.

Description

{Robotic Linked Elevator Control System and Method}

The present invention relates to a robot-linked elevator control system and method, and more specifically, to a robot-linked control technology for providing a service of moving between floors in a building using an elevator, by a robot, which establishes and presents a response measure for a situation in which a robot's boarding or disembarking operation is initiated but a boarding or disembarking completion signal is not received.

In various buildings constructed for residential, business, or commercial purposes, elevators are installed to facilitate smooth movement between floors for passengers entering and exiting the building.

Typically, an elevator is composed of an elevator car that moves along a vertical shaft formed inside a building, a mechanical part including a motor unit and a traction machine that generate power to raise and lower the elevator car, and a control unit that performs control related to the operation of the elevator.

Recently, as services provided by robots within buildings become more active, the need to use elevators to move robots between floors within buildings is increasing.

For example, many robots that perform tasks such as transporting objects, cleaning, and guiding customers while moving around in buildings have been developed and are being put into practical use. Currently, commercialized robots can move horizontally without difficulty in flat hallways or indoors, but when a robot wants to move to a different floor to perform tasks on multiple floors, a means of moving between floors is required.

Currently, elevators are considered the most desirable means of transporting robots between floors, and various linkage control technologies between robots and elevator systems are being developed to effectively move robots to their destination floors.

Meanwhile, in the past, in order to ensure human safety, robots and humans were controlled so that they would not ride in the same elevator, but recently, as the application of service robots in buildings has expanded, there have been many cases where robots and humans are required to ride in the same elevator.

This type of shared transportation system requires, above all, a strong need to prevent the convenience or service quality for passengers from deteriorating due to robot services. However, since robot services, which are increasingly having a positive impact on real life, cannot be completely excluded as a second priority, a harmonious linkage control technology is needed so that the quality of elevator services for both humans and robots can be improved.

The movement of a robot between floors in a building via an elevator is performed through a series of processes, from the robot calling the elevator, to the robot boarding the elevator that arrives at the starting floor, moving to the destination floor, and then getting off.

At this time, the robot's boarding/disembarking procedure is carried out in stages by exchanging signals between the elevator control unit that controls the operation of the elevator and the robot, and the specific procedures and processes are as follows.

When the robot calls an elevator remotely, the elevator control unit assigns a specific elevator car to the call and moves the assigned car to the departure floor.

When the assigned elevator arrives at the departure floor, the elevator control unit opens the door and sends a 'boarding permission' signal to the robot to notify that boarding is possible. The robot that has received the boarding permission signal can initiate a boarding motion by getting on the elevator car, and the robot that has initiated the boarding motion can continuously send a 'boarding in progress' signal to the elevator control unit until boarding is complete to notify that the boarding motion is in progress. When boarding of the elevator car is complete, the robot transmits a 'boarding complete' signal to the elevator control unit, and only when the boarding complete signal is received from the robot does the elevator control unit close the door and move the elevator car to the robot's destination floor.

The process of a robot getting off from an elevator car can be performed similarly. When an elevator car carrying a robot arrives at a destination floor, the elevator control unit opens the door and sends a 'get off' signal to the robot to notify that it is ready to get off. The robot that has received the get off signal can initiate an getting off operation from the elevator car, and the robot that has initiated the getting off operation can continuously send a 'get off' signal to the elevator control unit until the getting off is complete to notify that the getting off operation is in progress. When getting off from the elevator car is complete, the robot transmits a 'get off complete' signal to the elevator control unit, and only when the getting off complete signal is received from the robot, does the elevator control unit close the door and enable the elevator car to perform other services.

Meanwhile, when the above service procedure is performed step by step, there are cases where failure modes occur at each step. For example, failures may occur when the assigned elevator arrives at the departure floor but the robot is not on the platform, or when signals related to boarding/disembarking are not received from the robot. However, in the past, specific countermeasures for such failure modes were not established, and when a failure mode occurred, the elevator manager simply judged the situation and took appropriate measures.

In particular, in the past, when a 'boarding' or 'disembarking' signal was received to indicate that the robot was starting to board or disembark the elevator, the door close button (DCB: Door Close Button) of the elevator was disabled and the door was held open until a 'boarding complete' or 'disembarking complete' signal was received from the robot. However, if the door closing is continuously disabled (door opening is disabled) and the elevator car operation is stopped even when a failure occurs for some reason during the procedure related to the robot's boarding or disembarking, there is a problem that this causes a delay in service for passengers riding together or waiting on other floors, causing inconvenience thereto.

The present invention is proposed to solve the above problems, and the purpose of the present invention is to provide a robot-linked elevator control system that can prevent long-term delays in passenger service and significantly improve the overall serviceability and operational efficiency of an elevator system that is linked and controlled with a robot by establishing and presenting a specific response plan for a situation in which a failure mode occurs during a robot's elevator boarding/disembarking procedure, particularly a situation in which a robot's boarding or disembarking operation is initiated but a boarding or disembarking completion signal is not received.

The technical problems of the present invention are not limited to the technical problems mentioned above, and other technical problems not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the description below.

According to one aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object, a robot-linked elevator control system can be provided, comprising: an autonomous mobile body that moves autonomously within a building; and an elevator control unit that communicates with the autonomous mobile body and controls the operation of an elevator installed within the building and the elevator door when the autonomous mobile body gets on or off the elevator; and, when the autonomous mobile body uses the elevator to move between floors within the building, when a boarding signal indicating that boarding has been completed is not received from the autonomous mobile body after a boarding signal indicating that boarding has been initiated from the autonomous mobile body into the elevator; and when an disembarkation signal indicating that disembarkation has been completed is not received from the autonomous mobile body after a disembarkation signal indicating that disembarkation has been initiated from the elevator is received from the autonomous mobile body; in which case any one of the following failure modes occurs: the elevator control unit releases the invalidation of a door close button of the elevator after a predetermined period of time has elapsed since the boarding signal or the disembarkation signal is received.

The above elevator control unit can disable the door close button under the condition that the autonomous moving object is not detected within the door zone of the elevator.

The above elevator control unit may disable the door close button but may not automatically close the elevator door.

Meanwhile, according to another aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object, a robot-linked elevator control method including an autonomous mobile body that moves autonomously within a building and an elevator control unit that communicates with the autonomous mobile body and controls operation of an elevator installed within the building and an elevator door when the autonomous mobile body gets on or off the elevator, comprising: a step in which the autonomous mobile body, which has been permitted to get on from the elevator control unit, initiates a getting on operation in the assigned elevator and transmits a getting on signal to the elevator control unit while the getting on operation is in progress; a step in which the autonomous mobile body completes getting on the assigned elevator and transmits a getting on completion signal to the elevator control unit; a step in which the elevator control unit moves the assigned elevator in which the autonomous mobile body has completed getting on to the destination floor of the autonomous mobile body; a step in which the autonomous mobile body, which has been permitted to get off from the elevator control unit after the assigned elevator has arrived at the destination floor, initiates an getting off operation from the assigned elevator and transmits an getting off signal to the elevator control unit while the getting off operation is in progress; And a step of the autonomous vehicle completing disembarking from the assigned elevator and transmitting a disembarkation completion signal to the elevator control unit, wherein when a failure mode corresponding to any one of the following occurs: when the boarding completion signal is not received after the boarding signal is received from the autonomous vehicle; and when the disembarkation completion signal is not received after the disembarkation signal is received from the autonomous vehicle; a robot-linked elevator control method can be provided, characterized in that the elevator control unit releases the invalidation of the door close button of the elevator after a predetermined time has elapsed since the boarding signal or the disembarkation signal is received.

The above elevator control unit can disable the door close button under the condition that the autonomous moving object is not detected within the door zone of the elevator.

The above elevator control unit may disable the door close button but may not automatically close the elevator door.

The present invention establishes and proposes a specific response plan for a failure mode that occurs during the boarding/disembarking procedure of a robot while the robot uses an elevator to move between floors in a building, particularly a situation where the boarding or disembarking operation of the robot is initiated but a boarding or disembarking completion signal is not received, thereby enabling smooth operation of the elevator system without a long-term service delay even when a failure mode occurs, and significantly improving the overall serviceability and operational efficiency of the elevator system controlled in conjunction with the robot.

The effects of the present invention are not limited to the effects mentioned above, and other effects not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the description below.

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a robot-linked elevator control system according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a drawing showing a process in which an autonomous mobile device according to the present invention uses an elevator to move between floors in a building.

The purpose and technical configuration of the present invention and the detailed operation and effect thereof will be more clearly understood by the detailed description based on the drawings attached to the specification of the present invention.

The terminology used herein is only used to describe specific embodiments and is not intended to limit the present invention. For example, terms such as "consisting of" or "comprising" used herein should not be construed as necessarily including all of the various components or various steps described in the invention, but should be construed as not including some of the components or some of the steps, or may further include additional components or steps. In addition, the singular expression used herein includes the plural expression unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail by describing preferred embodiments of the present invention with reference to the attached drawings. The embodiments described below are provided so that those skilled in the art can easily understand the technical idea of the present invention, and should not be construed as limiting the present invention thereby, and it is obvious that the embodiments of the present invention can have various applications to those skilled in the art.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a robot-linked elevator control system according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a drawing showing a process in which an autonomous moving body according to the present invention uses an elevator to move between floors in a building.

Referring to FIG. 1, the robot-linked elevator control system according to the present invention includes an autonomous moving body (10) that moves autonomously within a building, and an elevator control unit (20) that controls the operation of an elevator installed within the building through communication with the autonomous moving body (10), thereby enabling linked control of the autonomous moving body (10) and the elevator.

In the present invention, the autonomous mobile device (10) collectively refers to all mobile devices, including robots, that can move autonomously within a building without human manipulation. For example, the autonomous mobile device (10) may be a service robot that performs tasks such as transporting items such as parcels, cleaning, and guiding customers, and may be linked to a robot management system (not shown) that controls and manages all robots moving within a building to provide necessary services to passengers within the building.

The autonomous vehicle (10) can communicate with the elevator control unit (20) that controls the operation of the elevator, and movement of the autonomous vehicle (10) between floors within the building can be implemented through interlocking control with the elevator control unit (20). The autonomous vehicle (10) can exchange signals related to elevator calling, destination floor registration, boarding and disembarking operations, etc. with the elevator control unit (20), and the contents thereof will be examined in more detail later.

Communication between the autonomous vehicle (10), the elevator control unit (20), and the robot management system can be implemented using wireless communication such as Bluetooth, WiFi, CAN, or WAN, or wired communication.

An autonomous vehicle (10) can recognize space within a building and move autonomously through a self-location estimation technique (SLAM: Simultaneous Localization And Mapping) based on information collected using Lidar, a short-range sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, and a camera.

In addition, the autonomous vehicle (10) can store information about the internal/external structure of the building and the location of the elevator within the building through its own database, and can obtain the optimal distance and movement path from the current location calculated in real time to the elevator using a self-location estimation technique using an internal algorithm.

The elevator control unit (20) controls the overall operation and behavior of the elevator, and can perform control to optimally allocate an elevator car for calls input from each floor in the building, including calls received by a passenger's button input, a remote call, or an autonomous vehicle (10), and to move the allocated elevator car to the floor where the call was input.

The elevator control unit (20) may be configured to include a call receiving unit (21) that receives and processes an elevator call signal generated by a passenger or an autonomous vehicle (10); an allocation unit (22) that determines and allocates an optimal elevator car among a plurality of elevator cars installed in a building in response to the received call signal; a boarding/disembarking control unit (23) that controls the boarding/disembarking operation of an autonomous vehicle (10) for an elevator car; and a driving control unit (24) that controls the driving of the elevator car.

The elevator control unit (20) can provide a service of allocating an optimal elevator car and moving the elevator car in response to a passenger's button input or remote call. However, since this can utilize existing known technology, the following description focuses on the control associated with the autonomous vehicle (10).

The call receiving unit (21) can receive an elevator boarding request from an autonomous vehicle (10). Information included in the elevator boarding request includes information on the departure floor, which is the floor where the autonomous vehicle (10) is currently located, and information on the destination floor to which the autonomous vehicle (10) is to move, and may further include information on the travel time required for the autonomous vehicle (10) to arrive at the platform, weight, volume, and purpose of elevator use.

When an elevator boarding request by an autonomous vehicle (10) is received, the allocation unit (22) can determine and allocate the most efficient elevator car through correlation analysis of the traffic volume within the building, multiple available elevator cars, and location information of the autonomous vehicle (10).

More specifically, the allocation unit (22) detects status information on the occupancy rate or remaining capacity of multiple elevator cars operating in the building, and extracts available elevator cars that can be boarded by the autonomous vehicle (10) based on information such as the weight and volume of the autonomous vehicle (10) included in the boarding request information received from the autonomous vehicle (10).

And, considering the locations of the extracted available elevator cars and the location of the autonomous vehicle (10), the optimal elevator car can be allocated. At this time, not only the information on the floor where the autonomous vehicle (10) requested to board, but also the information on the time required for the autonomous vehicle (10) to move from its current location to the platform can be considered together in selecting the optimal car.

In addition, instead of the autonomous vehicle (10) calculating its own location information, an autonomous vehicle location collection unit (not shown) may be separately provided to track the location of the autonomous vehicle (10) within a floor in real time based on a signal transmitted from the autonomous vehicle (10) and calculate the time required to move from the current location of the autonomous vehicle (10) to the platform.

The boarding and disembarking control unit (23) can manage and control the overall operations related to the boarding and disembarking of the assigned elevator car by an autonomous mobile device (10) that has requested to board the elevator.

For example, when the autonomous vehicle (10) is moving to a platform, it can send a 'moving' signal to the boarding/disembarking control unit (23) to inform that it is waiting at the platform, and when it has already arrived at the platform, it can send a 'waiting' signal. Then, the boarding/disembarking control unit (23) can determine whether the autonomous vehicle (10) can board the elevator based on the information sent from the autonomous vehicle (10), and if it is determined that it can, it can send a signal to the autonomous vehicle (10) to instruct it to board the corresponding elevator car.

In addition, with respect to the disembarkation operation of the autonomous vehicle (10), the boarding/disembarkation control unit (23) can instruct the autonomous vehicle (10) to disembark from the elevator car when it has arrived at the destination floor after completing boarding the elevator car.

In order to implement the boarding and disembarking motion of the autonomous vehicle (10) getting on and off the elevator car, the boarding and disembarking control unit (23) can be linked to the door control unit (25) that controls the opening and closing of the door of the elevator car stopped at the service floor and the door of the corresponding platform.

The driving control unit (24) controls the driving operation of raising and lowering an elevator car within a vertically formed elevator shaft within a building, and can perform control such as driving a hoisting machine motor to start driving the elevator car or driving a brake to stop the elevator car.

In addition, in this embodiment, the driving control unit (24) can control the operation of the elevator car by generating a command signal to move the assigned elevator car to the floor where the autonomous vehicle (10) is located in response to a boarding request of the autonomous vehicle (10) or by generating a command signal to move the elevator car in which the autonomous vehicle (10) is boarding to the destination floor of the autonomous vehicle (10).

Below, with reference to Fig. 2, the process of an autonomous vehicle (10) using an elevator to move between floors within a building will be examined sequentially according to a series of steps.

The autonomous vehicle (10) can remotely call an elevator car through wireless or wired communication with the elevator control unit (20). When movement between floors within a building is required, the autonomous vehicle (10) can transmit a 'boarding request' signal requesting the calling of an elevator car to the elevator control unit (20).

The call receiving unit (21) of the elevator control unit (20) receives a 'boarding request' signal from the autonomous vehicle (10), and the allocation unit (22) considers information included in the 'boarding request' signal and location information of available elevator cars in the building to allocate an optimal elevator car from among a plurality of available elevator cars. The allocation unit (22) can provide the allocated elevator car and corresponding platform information to the autonomous vehicle (10).

The autonomous vehicle (10) can receive platform information corresponding to the assigned elevator car and move to the corresponding platform, and can periodically report the movement status to the elevator control unit (20) while moving. In addition, when the autonomous vehicle (10) arrives at the corresponding platform, it can transmit a signal that it is waiting at the platform.

The elevator control unit (20) can detect whether the autonomous vehicle (10) has arrived at the platform corresponding to the assigned elevator car. Here, whether the autonomous vehicle (10) has arrived at the platform can be determined based on the location information acquired by the autonomous vehicle (10) through the self-location estimation technique as described above or the location information of the autonomous vehicle (10) collected by a separate autonomous vehicle location collection unit (not shown).

When an autonomous vehicle (10) is detected on a platform, the boarding/disembarking control unit (23) of the elevator control unit (20) can open the door of the elevator car assigned to the autonomous vehicle (10) and transmit a 'boarding permission' signal to the autonomous vehicle (10).

Meanwhile, in the case where the autonomous vehicle (10) arrives later than the elevator car, if the expected arrival time of the autonomous vehicle (10) is less than or equal to a predetermined set value, the elevator car and the platform door can be controlled to wait in an open state until the autonomous vehicle (10) arrives, and if the arrival of the autonomous vehicle (10) is delayed by more than a predetermined set time, a signal to cancel the current call can be transmitted to the autonomous vehicle (10). The autonomous vehicle (10) that receives the cancellation signal can re-call the elevator, and the elevator control unit (20) can perform control to re-allocate the optimal time for the re-call of the autonomous vehicle (10) and drive the elevator car to the service floor.

The autonomous vehicle (10) that receives the 'boarding permission' signal from the boarding/disembarking control unit (23) performs a boarding action of getting on the assigned elevator car. The autonomous vehicle (10) can continuously send a 'boarding' signal to the boarding/disembarking control unit (23) from the time the boarding action is started to the time it is completed, thereby notifying that the boarding action is being performed. The boarding/disembarking control unit (23) can control the door not to close while the autonomous vehicle (10) passes through the elevator entrance/exit by linking with the door control unit (25).

When boarding of an autonomous vehicle (10) in an elevator car is completed, the autonomous vehicle (10) can transmit a 'boarding completion' signal indicating that boarding is complete to the boarding/disembarkation control unit (23).

The elevator control unit (20) that receives the 'boarding completion' signal of the autonomous vehicle (10) can close the elevator door, automatically register the destination floor of the autonomous vehicle (10), and perform control to move the elevator car to the destination floor of the autonomous vehicle (10).

When the elevator car arrives at the destination floor of the autonomous vehicle (10), the elevator control unit (20) can open the elevator car and the landing door of the arrival floor (destination floor) and transmit an 'alighting permission' signal to the autonomous vehicle (10) to instruct the vehicle to alight through the boarding/disembarking control unit (23).

The autonomous vehicle (10) that receives the 'getting off permission' signal performs an getting off action from the elevator car. At this time, the autonomous vehicle (10) can continuously send a 'getting off' signal to the boarding/disembarking control unit (23) from the time the getting off action is started to the time it is completed to notify that the getting off action is being performed, and the boarding/disembarking control unit (23) can control the door not to close while the autonomous vehicle (10) passes through the elevator's entrance/exit through linkage with the door control unit (25).

When the autonomous vehicle (10) has completed disembarking from the elevator car, the autonomous vehicle (10) can transmit a 'disembarkation complete' signal indicating that disembarkation has been completed to the boarding/disembarkation control unit (23).

When the ‘getting off complete’ signal of the autonomous vehicle (10) is received, the elevator control unit (20) closes the elevator door and ends the inter-floor movement service for the autonomous vehicle (10).

Meanwhile, as described above, various problems may occur in relation to boarding and disembarking of the autonomous vehicle (10) during the process of performing the above series of processes. For example,

1) In the case where the platform standby status of the autonomous vehicle (10) is not recognized when the elevator car assigned by the call of the autonomous vehicle (10) arrives at the called floor, i.e., a request (call) to board the autonomous vehicle (10) has occurred and the elevator car assigned for the call has arrived at the departure floor, but a platform standby signal is not received from the autonomous vehicle (10);

2) In the case where boarding of the autonomous vehicle (10) does not start for a predetermined time after the elevator car assigned by the call of the autonomous vehicle (10) arrives at the called floor, i.e., a platform waiting signal is received from the autonomous vehicle (10) and the elevator control unit (20) transmits a boarding permission signal to the autonomous vehicle (10), but a boarding signal is not received from the autonomous vehicle (10);

3) In the case where it is recognized that an autonomous vehicle (10) is boarding the assigned elevator car, but the next step, boarding completion, has not been reached, i.e., a signal for boarding has been received from the autonomous vehicle (10), but a signal for boarding completion has not been received;

4) In the case where the elevator car in which the autonomous vehicle (10) has completed boarding has arrived at the destination floor, but the autonomous vehicle (10) has not started to disembark for a predetermined period of time, i.e., a boarding completion signal has been received from the autonomous vehicle (10) and after the elevator car carrying the autonomous vehicle (10) has arrived at the destination floor, the elevator control unit (20) transmits a disembarkation permission signal to the autonomous vehicle (10), but a disembarkation signal has not been received from the autonomous vehicle (10); and

5) A case where it is recognized that the autonomous vehicle (10) is getting off from the elevator car, but the next step, getting off, is not completed, i.e., a signal for getting off is received from the autonomous vehicle (10), but a signal for completing getting off is not received;

Among the failure modes occurring at each step as described above, cases 3) and 5) in particular are failure modes occurring after the autonomous vehicle (10) notifies the elevator car of boarding or disembarking, and thus may include a case where the autonomous vehicle (10) fails or falls while boarding or disembarking the elevator car and can no longer proceed with the boarding or disembarking operation. Accordingly, as there is a possibility that the autonomous vehicle (10) is located within the elevator door zone, a more active response plan needs to be devised.

However, even if a boarding completion signal or an alighting completion signal is not received from the autonomous vehicle (10), this does not immediately mean that the autonomous vehicle (10) is broken or has fallen over. It may be that the boarding completion or alighting completion state of the autonomous vehicle (10) is not recognized due to a communication problem between the autonomous vehicle (10) and the elevator control unit (20) during boarding/alighting of the autonomous vehicle (10).

Accordingly, the present invention aims to establish and propose specific countermeasures for failure modes in which a boarding or disembarkation completion signal is not received from an autonomous vehicle (10), including cases in which such failures occur due to simple communication problems as described above.

Meanwhile, in the response measures presented below, the response method may be set differently depending on whether the elevator used by the autonomous vehicle (10) is set to a 'passenger mode' in which both robots and humans can ride, or a 'robot-only mode' in which only robots can use it.

In addition, the robot-linked elevator control system according to the present invention can set the opening waiting time of the elevator door to a predetermined time value. Here, the 'opening waiting time of the elevator door' means the time for which the door waits in an open state. In other words, it can mean the time from the time when the door is completely opened to just before the closing is initiated, excluding the time required for the door to open or close.

In particular, the robot-linked elevator control system according to the present invention can be operated by setting the opening waiting time of the elevator door to two values, a 'general opening waiting time' for boarding and alighting of general passengers (human passengers) and a 'robot opening waiting time' for boarding and alighting of autonomous vehicles (robots), depending on the setting mode of the elevator.

The 'normal opening waiting time' is a typical setting value applied when opening and closing an elevator door when the use of an autonomous vehicle (10) is not scheduled. When the normal opening waiting time is applied, the elevator door can be switched to a closed state after maintaining the open state for only a short time (e.g., approximately 2 to 4 seconds) in a fully open state.

The 'robot opening waiting time' is a setting value applied when opening and closing the elevator door when an autonomous vehicle (10) gets on or off, and can be set to a longer time value (e.g., 40 seconds) than the general opening waiting time. The general opening waiting time and the robot opening waiting time are arbitrary setting values that can be changed depending on the elevator door entry and exit environment.

In addition, the 'elevator door' to which the general opening waiting time and the robot opening waiting time are applied above can be understood as a concept that includes both the elevator car door and the landing door, and the setting of the door opening time and the control of the opening and closing of the door can be performed by the door control unit (25) as described above.

Below, we will examine the control logic corresponding to the response method for the failure mode in which the ‘boarding complete’ or ‘disembarkation complete’ signal is not received from the autonomous vehicle, according to the elevator setting mode.

Ⅰ. If the boarding completion signal is not received

A. Operation in normal state

First, let's briefly look at the operation in the normal state in order to compare it with the response in the failure mode. When the boarding signal is received from the autonomous vehicle (10) and the boarding completion signal is received, it means that the autonomous vehicle (10) has successfully boarded the elevator car, so the elevator control unit (20) can close the elevator door and start the elevator car to the destination floor of the autonomous vehicle (10).

B. How to respond in the ride mode

When a signal is received during boarding of an autonomous vehicle (10), the elevator control unit (20) invalidates the door close button (DCB: Door Close Button) and keeps the elevator door open. However, if the elevator car is kept waiting until a boarding completion signal is received from the autonomous vehicle (10) despite a problem in boarding the autonomous vehicle (10) in this state, it may cause great inconvenience to other passengers.

Accordingly, the present invention disables the door close button if a boarding completion signal is not received from the autonomous vehicle (10) until a predetermined period of time (preferably a robot opening standby time) has elapsed after the boarding signal of the autonomous vehicle (10) is received, thereby allowing the door to be closed by a passenger's input of the door close button.

However, in this case, since the signal is received while the autonomous vehicle (10) is on board, there is a possibility that the autonomous vehicle (10) may be present within the elevator door zone, so the elevator door is not automatically closed even after a predetermined time or robot opening waiting time has elapsed. In other words, the door close button is disabled, but the elevator door is not automatically closed. This is to prevent damage to the autonomous vehicle (10) due to door closing when it is present within the elevator door zone.

The elevator doors do not close automatically, but the door close button is disabled, so other passengers using the elevator can check whether the door can be closed, and if so, they can operate the door close button to close the door and send the elevator car to another floor.

However, at this time, the door close button can be disabled only when it is determined that there is no autonomous moving object (10) in the elevator door zone using a surveillance device (e.g., a camera or object detection sensor) installed in the elevator door zone. If an autonomous moving object (10) is detected in the elevator door zone, the door close button is not disabled.

In addition, the elevator control unit (20) can disable the door close button of the elevator after a predetermined period of time has elapsed, and can also directly close the elevator door if the autonomous moving body (10) or any other object is not detected in the elevator door zone by the monitoring device. However, in this case, the elevator door zone must be in a clean state where not only the autonomous moving body (10) but also any other object is not detected.

C. How to respond in robot-only mode

Likewise, in the robot-only mode, when a signal is received while the autonomous vehicle (10) is on board, the elevator control unit (20) disables the door closing button and maintains the elevator door in the open state.

However, since the robot-only mode is a mode that is not used by other human passengers, the door can be kept open while the door close button is disabled even if a boarding completion signal from the autonomous vehicle (10) is not received until a specified period of time has elapsed.

In this case, if necessary, a failure of the autonomous vehicle (10) can be handled, and after the failure of the autonomous vehicle (10) is completed, the elevator control unit (20) can receive a specific command from the robot management system that manages the autonomous vehicle (10) to disable the door close button, close the elevator door, and start the elevator car to service another floor.

Ⅱ. If the disembarkation completion signal is not received

A. Operation in normal state

When the signal for disembarking from the autonomous vehicle (10) is received and the signal for completing disembarkation is received, it means that the autonomous vehicle (10) has successfully disembarked from the elevator car, so the elevator control unit (20) can close the elevator door and terminate the interfloor movement service of the autonomous vehicle (10).

B. How to respond in the ride mode

The response method in this case can be similar to the "case where the boarding completion signal is not received." When the disembarking signal of the autonomous vehicle (10) is received, the elevator control unit (20) invalidates the door close button and keeps the elevator door open. However, even in this case, since keeping the elevator car waiting until the disembarkation completion signal is received from the autonomous vehicle (10) may cause great inconvenience to other passengers, the present invention releases the invalidation of the door close button so that the door can be closed by passenger input if the disembarkation completion signal is not received until a predetermined period of time (preferably, the robot opening waiting time) has elapsed after the disembarkation signal of the autonomous vehicle (10) is received.

However, in this case, since the signal for the autonomous vehicle (10) to disembark has been received, there is a possibility that the autonomous vehicle (10) may be present within the elevator door zone, so the elevator door is not automatically closed even after a predetermined period of time or the robot opening waiting time has elapsed.

The elevator doors do not close automatically, but the door close button is disabled, so other passengers using the elevator can check whether the door can be closed, and if so, they can operate the door close button to close the door and send the elevator car to another floor.

However, at this time, the door close button can be disabled only when it is determined that there is no autonomous moving object (10) in the elevator door zone using a surveillance device (e.g., a camera or object detection sensor) installed in the elevator door zone. If an autonomous moving object (10) is detected in the elevator door zone, the door close button is not disabled.

In addition, the elevator control unit (20) can disable the door close button of the elevator after a predetermined period of time has elapsed, and can also directly close the elevator door if the autonomous moving body (10) or any other object is not detected in the elevator door zone by the monitoring device. However, in this case, the elevator door zone must be in a clean state where not only the autonomous moving body (10) but also any other object is not detected.

C. How to respond in robot-only mode

The response method in this case can also be similar to the case where the boarding completion signal is not received. Similarly, in the robot-only mode, when a signal for the autonomous vehicle (10) to disembark is received, the elevator control unit (20) disables the door closing button and maintains the elevator door in the open state.

However, since the robot-only mode is a mode that is not used by other human passengers, the door can be kept open while the door close button is disabled even if a signal for completion of disembarkation from the autonomous vehicle (10) is not received until a specified period of time has elapsed.

In this case, if necessary, a failure of the autonomous vehicle (10) can be handled, and after the failure of the autonomous vehicle (10) is completed, the elevator control unit (20) can receive a specific command from the robot management system that manages the autonomous vehicle (10) to disable the door close button, close the elevator door, and start the elevator car to service another floor.

The response methods for each setting mode of the elevator in the case where the ‘boarding complete’ or ‘disembarkation complete’ signal is not received from the autonomous vehicle (10) can be summarized as shown in [Table 1] below.

Settings mode Door Control DCB Control Win mode Wait for robot to open and hold open DCB invalidation during robot open waiting time
DCB invalidation is released when the robot opening waiting time elapses and no autonomous vehicle is detected within the elevator door zone. Robot-only mode Wait for robot to open and hold open Maintain DCB invalidation
DCB invalidation is only released by specific instructions from the robot management system.

As described above, the robot-linked elevator control system according to the present invention is characterized in that, when a failure occurs during the robot's boarding/disembarking procedure while the robot is using the elevator to move between floors in a building, and particularly when a situation occurs in which the robot's boarding or disembarking operation is initiated but a boarding or disembarking completion signal is not received, the system establishes a response procedure for controlling the elevator door and releasing the opening constraint (releasing the door close button invalidation) under predetermined conditions, thereby effectively preventing elevator service delays and enabling efficient operation.

The robot-linked elevator control system according to the present invention described above may be implemented as a server corresponding to a computer or program that processes signals received from an autonomous moving body (10) and an elevator control unit (20) and generates and outputs commands corresponding thereto. In addition, it may include a recording medium in which data is stored and recorded during the process, and examples of the recording medium include ROM, RAM, CD-ROM, magnetic tape, floppy disk, optical data storage device, etc.

The present invention is not limited to the described embodiments, and it is obvious to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Accordingly, such modifications or variations should fall within the scope of the claims of the present invention.

10: Autonomous Vehicles
20: Elevator Control Unit
21: Call receiver
22: Allocation Department
23: Boarding and disembarking control unit
24: Driving Control Unit
25: Door control unit

Claims (6)

Autonomous vehicles that move autonomously within a building; and
It includes an elevator control unit that communicates with the autonomous vehicle and controls the operation of an elevator installed in the building and the elevator door when the autonomous vehicle gets on and off the elevator.
An elevator control system, characterized in that when a failure mode corresponding to any one of the following occurs: when, when the autonomous vehicle uses the elevator to move between floors in the building, a boarding completion signal indicating that boarding has been completed is not received from the autonomous vehicle after a boarding signal indicating that boarding has begun from the autonomous vehicle is received; and when, when an disembarking completion signal indicating that disembarking from the elevator has been completed is not received from the autonomous vehicle after an disembarking signal indicating that disembarking from the elevator has been initiated from the autonomous vehicle is received; the elevator control unit releases the door close button of the elevator from being disabled after a predetermined period of time has elapsed since the boarding signal or the disembarking signal is received. In claim 1,
An elevator control system, characterized in that the elevator control unit disables the door close button under the condition that the autonomous moving object is not detected within the door zone of the elevator. In claim 2,
An elevator control system, characterized in that the elevator control unit disables the door close button but does not automatically close the elevator door. An elevator control method including an autonomous mobile device that moves autonomously within a building and an elevator control unit that communicates with the autonomous mobile device and controls the operation of an elevator installed within the building and the elevator door when the autonomous mobile device gets on and off the elevator.
A step of the autonomous vehicle, which has been granted permission to board from the elevator control unit, initiating a boarding operation in the assigned elevator, and transmitting a boarding signal to the elevator control unit while the boarding operation is in progress;
A step in which the autonomous vehicle completes boarding the assigned elevator and transmits a boarding completion signal to the elevator control unit;
A step in which the elevator control unit moves the assigned elevator, in which the autonomous vehicle has completed boarding, to the destination floor of the autonomous vehicle;
A step of the autonomous vehicle, which has been granted permission to disembark from the elevator control unit after the assigned elevator has arrived at the destination floor, initiating an disembarkation operation from the assigned elevator and transmitting an disembarkation signal to the elevator control unit while the disembarkation operation is in progress; and
Including a step of the autonomous vehicle completing disembarkation from the assigned elevator and transmitting a disembarkation completion signal to the elevator control unit;
An elevator control method, characterized in that when a failure mode corresponding to any one of the following occurs: when the boarding completion signal is not received after the boarding signal is received from the autonomous vehicle; and when the disembarkation completion signal is not received after the disembarkation signal is received from the autonomous vehicle; the elevator control unit releases the door close button of the elevator from being invalidated after a predetermined period of time has elapsed since the boarding signal or the disembarkation signal is received. In claim 4,
An elevator control method, characterized in that the elevator control unit disables the door close button under the condition that the autonomous moving object is not detected within the door zone of the elevator. In claim 5,
An elevator control method, characterized in that the elevator control unit disables the door close button but does not automatically close the elevator door.

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