KR20010044053A - apparatus for sensing traveling status of mobile robot - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A driving condition detecting system uses a stainless steel tape which is easy and inexpensive to install and move. CONSTITUTION: A detecting system comprises a passage guiding device and a driving condition detecting device. The passage guiding device comprises a stainless steel tape which is inexpensive and easy to install and move. The driving condition detecting device analyzes signal reflected back from the passage guiding device to detect the driving condition of a moving robot and comprises a sensor part(210), a sensor selector(230), a signal generator(220), a filter(250), an A/D converter(280) and a microcomputer(290). The signal generator(220) impresses signal with specific frequency component to the sensor part(210). The filter(250) abstracts the signal with specific frequency component from the signals received by the sensor part(210). The A/D converter(280) converts the signal abstracted by the filter(250) into digital signal. The microcomputer(290) analyzes the light interception status of each sensor input through the A/D converter(280) to detect the driving location of the moving robot and outputs the result.

Description

Apparatus for sensing traveling status of mobile robot}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a driving state sensing device of a mobile robot, and in particular, a traveling track is composed of stainless tape, which is inexpensive and easy to move, and determines whether an optical signal outputted to the traveling track is returned. The present invention relates to a driving state sensing apparatus of a moving robot, the sensing state of the moving robot.

In general, an industrial mobile robot used in a clean-room or the like performs an operation such as transferring an arbitrary object while moving along a pre-installed driving track by a given command.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a driving state sensing apparatus of a general mobile robot. Referring to FIG. 1, after the traveling line of the mobile robot is configured by a magnetic tape 30, the mobile robot ( 10 is attached to the lower end of the magnetic sensitive sensor 20, the magnetic sensitive sensor 20 by detecting the magnetic force generated from the magnetic tape 30, the mobile robot 10 is currently located on the running track. You can see the state.

FIG. 2 is an operation explanatory diagram of a conventional mobile robot driving state sensing device. In the conventional case, as shown in FIG. 2, the magnetic force emitted from the magnetic tape 30 by the magnetic sensitive sensor 20 attached to the mobile robot ( 35) is configured to detect the driving state of the mobile robot by detecting.

However, in order to detect the magnetic force in the magnetic sensitive sensor 20, since the magnetic tape 30 must have a magnetic force of a predetermined level or more, the magnetic tape 30 has a thickness of about 2 mm, and the magnetic tape 30 Since there is a risk of being easily broken when exposed to the outside, there is an inconvenience to be buried on the floor.

In addition, when the magnetic tape 30 is used for a long time, magnetic particles generated by breakage of the magnetic tape may cause derailment of the mobile robot.

Therefore, in the related art, a device using a color tape and a color sensor has been developed to prevent derailment of the mobile robot due to such magnetic particles. However, in the case of the color tape, the traveling track of the mobile robot is developed. Due to the frequent friction caused by the characteristics of the color is quickly erased, there is a disadvantage that the life is short and expensive.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for detecting a driving state of a mobile robot, which is easy to move and does not cause a magnetic particle problem by using an inexpensive stainless tape and an optical sensor in order to solve such problems of the prior art. .

Mobile robot driving state detection apparatus of the present invention for achieving the object of the present invention is provided on the driving path of the unmanned mobile robot path guidance means for providing a driving path to the unmanned mobile robot, and the predetermined frequency to the path guidance means After the transmission of the optical signal of the path guide means for analyzing the signal returned from the driving state sensing means for detecting the driving state of the mobile robot, in particular, the driving state detection means generates an optical signal A sensor unit including a plurality of sensors output to the path guide unit and receiving a reflected signal for the signal; and a sensor configured to apply a sensor selection signal to the sensor unit so as to sequentially select and operate the sensor unit A sensor selector to generate a signal having a specific frequency component A signal generator for applying to the sensor selected by the sensor, an amplifier for amplifying and outputting a signal received by the sensor selected by the sensor selector to a predetermined size, and filtering the signal output from the amplifier to filter the signal generator A filter unit for extracting only a signal of a frequency component generated by the signal, a full-wave rectifying unit for full-wave rectifying and converting the signal extracted by the filter unit into a DC component, and converting a signal of the DC component output from the full-wave rectifying unit into a digital signal A control unit for collecting a light receiving state for each sensor input through the A / D conversion unit and the A / D conversion unit, detecting a driving position state of the mobile robot, and outputting the detection result signal in a digital form; It is composed of D / A converter that converts digital sensing result signal that is output from to analog signal.

1 is a configuration diagram of a driving state detection apparatus of a general mobile robot;

2 is an operation explanatory diagram of a conventional mobile robot driving state detection device;

3 is a block diagram of a driving state detection apparatus of a mobile robot according to an embodiment of the present invention;

4 is an operation explanatory diagram of a driving state detection apparatus of a mobile robot according to an embodiment of the present invention;

5 is a block diagram of a sensor included in the driving state detection apparatus of a mobile robot according to an embodiment of the present invention,

6 is an internal block diagram of a driving state detection unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for main parts of drawing>

100: mobile robot 200: driving state detection unit

210: sensor unit 220: signal generator

230: sensor selector 240: amplifier

250: filter 260: full-wave rectifier circuit

270: A / D converter 280: D / A converter

290: microcomputer 300: driving route guide

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings, it will be described in detail the present invention through an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a block diagram of a driving state detection apparatus of a mobile robot according to an embodiment of the present invention, the driving state detection apparatus of the mobile robot according to an embodiment of the present invention is a driving path of the unmanned mobile robot 100; Is installed and provided to the driving path guide unit 300 for providing a driving route to the unmanned mobile robot, and attached to the lower end of the mobile robot 100 transmits an optical signal of a predetermined frequency to the driving path guide 300 The driving state guide unit 300 includes a driving state detecting unit 200 for detecting a driving state of the mobile robot by analyzing a signal reflected from the driving path guide unit 300.

Meanwhile, FIG. 4 is an operation explanatory diagram of a driving state detecting apparatus of a mobile robot according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 4, in the case of the driving state detecting apparatus of the mobile robot of the present invention, the driving state detecting unit is used. By installing a plurality of sensors 210 in the 200, the mobile robot receives a signal that is reflected back from the traveling path guide 300 attached to the floor, the optical signal generated by the sensor 210, The state of moving on the driving route guide unit 300 indicating the driving track may be determined. That is, when there is no signal received from the sensor 210, the mobile robot considers that it has derailed and generates an alarm.

In this case, the driving path guide part 300 is a material that reflects light, and is made of stainless tape that can be easily moved to the driving path of the unmanned mobile robot.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of a sensor included in a driving state detecting apparatus of a mobile robot according to an embodiment of the present invention, wherein the sensor 211 includes an infrared light emitting diode (LED) and a photo transistor (Photo Tr). It is configured in pairs, the infrared light emitting diode emits light to the travel path guide portion 300, and receives the light reflected from the travel path guide portion 300 by the photo transistor.

6 is an internal block diagram of a driving state detecting unit according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 6, the driving state detecting unit 200 constituting the mobile robot driving state detecting apparatus of the present invention may include a sensor unit. 210, signal generator 220, sensor selector 230, amplifier 240, filter 250, full-wave rectifier circuit 260, A / D converter 270, D / A converter 280 and microcomputer 290.

The sensor unit 210 includes a plurality of sensors 201 to 216 for generating an optical signal as shown in FIG. 5 and outputting the optical signal to the driving route guide unit 300 and receiving a reflected signal for the signal. In order to efficiently detect the driving state of the mobile robot, 16 sensors are used in the embodiment of FIG. 6.

At this time, the sensors 201 to 216 are sequentially selected and operated one by one in order to prevent interference between neighboring sensors and cause malfunctions, which are controlled by the sensor selector 230. That is, the sensor selector 230 outputs a selection signal to the sensor unit 210 under the control of the microcomputer 290 so that the sensors 211 to 216 are sequentially selected one by one.

Then, the selected sensor (211 of 216) emits infrared rays to the driving path guide unit 300 made of the stainless tape, and then determines the amount of infrared rays reflected back to detect.

The signal generator 220 generates a signal having a specific frequency component and applies it to a sensor selected by the sensor selector 230, which receives sunlight when the infrared rays reflected from the driving path guide unit 300 are received. When disturbances such as a light or a light are inhaled, it is to be able to extract only necessary infrared rays from such disturbances.

The amplifier 240 amplifies and outputs the signal received by the sensor selected by the sensor selector 230 to a predetermined size, and the filter 250 filters the signal output from the amplifier 240 to filter the signal generator. Only the signal of the frequency component generated at 220 is extracted. This is to prevent malfunction due to disturbance as mentioned above.

On the other hand, the full-wave rectifying circuit 260 is full-wave rectified by converting the signal extracted from the filter 250 to a DC component and output, and the A / D converter 270 is output from the full-wave rectifying circuit 260 The DC component signal is converted into a digital signal and output to the microcomputer 290.

Then, the microcomputer 290 compares the result value indicating the light receiving state for each sensor input through the A / D converter 270 with a preset reference value, determines whether the microcomputer 290 detects and stores the detected value, and then detects all the sensors. If it is determined whether it is or not, the result is output as an analog value (A) through the D / A converter 280 according to a certain formula, and the position value of the actually detected sensor is converted into a 16-bit digital value (B). Output

In this process, if there is no sensor detected, the mobile robot determines that it has left the track and outputs a derailment alarm to the host controller through a gate on output signal (D).

In addition, the microcomputer 290 periodically generates a specific value, which is a diagnostic signal, and outputs it to the D / A converter 280 to perform a self-diagnostic function, and then returns the value through the A / D converter 270. By reading the, the function of the most important parts of the A / D converter 270 and the D / A converter 280 is checked to send out an alarm signal in case of abnormality to prevent the malfunction of the mobile robot in advance.

(Equation 1) is a formula for calculating the analog output value (A) in the microcomputer (290).

Analog Output Value = ((∑ Detected Sensor Number) / (Number of Detected Sensors))-8.5

Referring to the form of outputting the result value with reference to (Equation 1), when only 7,8, 9, 10 sensor of the 16 sensors are detected by the apparatus of the present invention in (Equation 1) The analog output value is ((7 + 8 + 9 + 10) / 4) -8.5 = 0V. That is, it is determined that the stainless tape is located in the middle of the driving state detection unit (sensor module) of the present invention, and outputs '0V' as an analog output value. Meanwhile, only 6, 7, 8, and 9 bits are output as 'high' as the digital output value, and the rest are output as 'low'. That is, the digital output value is '0000001111000000'.

In this case, since there is a sensor detected, it is determined that the mobile robot is traveling on the traveling track and outputs a gate on output signal D as 'high', indicating that the mobile robot is not derailed.

On the other hand, the microcomputer 290 outputs a trigger signal (C), in order to prevent a reading error of the result of detecting the moving position of the mobile robot, which is a mobile robot at the time when the analog or digital output value changes When reading the driving position detection result of the analog or digital output value, that is, a reading error may occur, the output value is converted by keeping the trigger signal 'low' at the time when the output value changes. It is present.

In addition, when an abnormality is detected in the device of the present invention by the self-diagnosis function, the trigger signal C is kept in a low state, and the gate on signal D is low. By outputting the status, the mobile robot is derailed so that it can be repaired urgently.

As described above, the mobile robot driving condition detecting apparatus of the present invention does not need to be buried by using a general stainless tape, so it is very easy to move. That is, it is possible to immediately start operation after removing the attached stainless tape at the time of relocation, attaching the stainless tape to a desired position. In addition, the stainless tape is very economical because the cost is very low.

In addition, since it is not a magnetic sensitive method, it is possible to prevent the derailment of the mobile robot due to magnetic particle induction, and by periodically performing self-diagnosis of the main parts by the self-diagnosis function, detecting the mobile robot driving state due to a component error. The malfunction of the device can be prevented in advance.

In addition, only one sensor is selected and operated at the same time under the control of the microcomputer, thereby preventing malfunction due to interference between neighboring sensors, using a specific frequency as a signal source, and filtering the received signal by the frequency information. It can prevent malfunction by

Claims (8)

A route guidance means installed on the traveling route of the unmanned mobile robot and providing the traveling route to the unmanned mobile robot; After the transmission of the optical signal of a predetermined frequency to the path guide means, the driving state of the mobile robot characterized in that it comprises a driving state detection means for detecting the driving state of the mobile robot by analyzing the signal reflected back Health sensing device. The method of claim 1, wherein the route guidance means A material for reflecting light, wherein the driving state sensing apparatus of a mobile robot is configured in the form of a tape that is easy to move on the driving path of the unmanned mobile robot. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the route guidance means Traveling state sensing device of a mobile robot, characterized in that consisting of stainless tape. According to claim 1, wherein the driving state detection means A sensor unit including a plurality of sensors generating an optical signal and outputting the optical signal to the path guide means and receiving a reflected signal for the signal; A sensor selection unit which applies a sensor selection signal to the sensor unit and controls the sensors constituting the sensor unit to be sequentially selected and operated; A signal generator for generating a signal having a specific frequency component and applying the signal to the sensor selected by the sensor selector; An amplifier for amplifying and outputting a signal received by a sensor selected by the sensor selector to a predetermined size; A filter unit which filters only the signal output from the amplification unit and extracts only a signal having a frequency component generated by the signal generator; A full-wave rectifying unit for full-wave rectifying the signal extracted by the filter unit and converting the signal into a DC component; The A / D converter converting a signal of a DC component output from the full wave rectifier into a digital signal; A control unit for collecting a light receiving state for each sensor input through the A / D converter to detect a driving position state of the mobile robot, and outputting the detected signal in a digital form; And a D / A converter configured to convert a digital sensing result signal output from the controller into an analog signal and output the analog signal. The method of claim 4, wherein the sensor Infrared light emitting unit and light receiving unit are composed of a pair, Emits light to the path guide means by the light emitting unit; The driving state sensing apparatus of the mobile robot, characterized in that for receiving the light reflected by the path guide means by the light receiving unit. The method of claim 4, wherein the control unit And a light reception state for each sensor, and when the light reception result signal does not occur for all of the plurality of sensors, the mobile robot recognizes that it has traveled off the travel path and generates an alarm. The method of claim 4, wherein the control unit Periodically generate a diagnostic signal to be converted into an analog signal in the D / A converter, and converts the analog type diagnostic signal to a digital signal again in the A / D converter, and then the value is generated in the controller And a self-diagnostic operation state of the driving state detecting means in comparison with an initial diagnosis signal. The method of claim 4, wherein the control unit In order to prevent a reading error of the driving position detection result of the mobile robot, a trigger signal for not reading the detection result signal at the time when the detection result value is changed, the driving state detection apparatus of the mobile robot, characterized in that .