Virtual environment platform

Abstract

The embodiments of the present application relate to the technical field of cluster robots, and in particular to a virtual environment platform. The virtual environment platform includes: a platform body; the surface of the platform body forms a walking plane for cluster robots to walk; the walking plane has a preset size; a color display unit; there are preset gaps between the color display units, which are evenly distributed on the walking plane; wherein the color display unit is configured to: present colors and grayscale levels corresponding to control instructions. The virtual environment platform can represent the corresponding virtual environment by presenting different colors and grayscale levels, thereby providing the required complex and dynamic virtual scenes for cluster robots to recognize.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of swarm robots, and in particular to a virtual environment platform for providing a virtual environment required for swarm robot research. [Background technology]

[0002] Swarm robots are inspired by the biological swarm phenomenon in nature. They aim to generate complex swarm behaviors through the local interactions of a large number of simple robots, and enable the system to have swarm intelligence to complete complex tasks. Swarm robot systems can enable multi-robot systems to efficiently complete complex tasks that a single robot cannot accomplish through self-organizing collaborative control.

[0003] In practical applications, the focus and key of the research is how to enable a system consisting of a large number of simple robots to exhibit complex, macroscopic cluster behaviors through local, simple interactions, and to have cluster intelligence that can complete complex tasks beyond individual capabilities.

[0004] At present, there are two main ways to study swarm robots: computer simulation and building physical scenes. Computer simulation refers to building a complex virtual environment on an electronic computing platform through simulation programs to verify and simulate the algorithm theory of machine clusters. Building physical scenes means building physical robots and physical scenes through complex physical or chemical sensors to explore and study the behavior of robots in actual scenes.

[0005] However, the virtual environment based on the simulation program cannot provide a real scene and it is difficult to meet the fidelity requirements in real-world applications. The construction of a physical scene requires a variety of complex sensors, which severely limits the development of robot cluster experiments. [Summary of the invention]

[0006] The embodiments of the present application aim to provide a virtual environment platform that can solve one or more defects existing in existing swarm robot research methods.

[0007] On the one hand, an embodiment of the present application provides a virtual environment platform. The virtual environment platform includes: a platform body; the surface of the platform body forms a walking plane for cluster robots to walk; the walking plane has a preset size; color display units; there are preset gaps between the color display units, which are evenly distributed on the walking plane; wherein the color display units are configured to: present colors and gray levels corresponding to control instructions.

[0008] Optionally, the platform body is composed of a plurality of LED unit boards; and the color display unit is a lamp bead in the LED unit board.

[0009] Optionally, the lamp bead is provided with a first light source that emits blue light, a second light source that emits green light, and a third light source that emits red light.

[0010] Optionally, each of the color display units is independently controlled so that different color display units do not affect each other.

[0011] Optionally, the virtual environment platform is implemented by a flexible display screen or a rigid display screen.

[0012] Optionally, the virtual environment platform further includes: a processing device for generating target image information; a data receiving device for receiving the target image information and decoding and transforming it into corresponding control instructions, so as to present corresponding colors and color depths with the color display unit.

[0013] Optionally, the pixels of the target image information correspond one-to-one to the color display units of the virtual environment platform.

[0014] Optionally, the processing device includes: a plurality of video processors; the video processors are communicatively connected to the data receiving device.

[0015] Optionally, the color display units are evenly distributed on the walking plane in an array.

[0016] Optionally, there is a first spacing between the color display units in two adjacent rows, and there is a second spacing between the color display units in two adjacent columns.

[0017] These three parameters can be easily changed in practical applications.

[0018] One of the advantages of the virtual environment platform of the embodiment of the present application is that the virtual environment platform can represent the corresponding virtual environment by presenting different colors and / or grayscales. Thus, it is possible to simulate complex and dynamic virtual scenes for cluster robots to recognize simply by presenting different combinations of rich colors and grayscales.

[0019] Another advantage of the virtual environment platform of the embodiment of the present application is that such a virtual environment platform can be easily realized based on LED unit boards, flexible screens or any other type of display devices that can present different colors. The entire cluster robot system can be widely used in laboratory research of cluster robots, education and training projects related to electronic robots and many other different occasions, and has good application prospects.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0020] One or more embodiments are exemplarily described by pictures in the corresponding drawings, and these exemplified descriptions do not constitute limitations on the embodiments. Elements with the same reference numerals in the drawings represent similar elements, and unless otherwise stated, the figures in the drawings do not constitute proportional limitations.

[0021] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of an interactive system between a cluster robot and a virtual environment platform according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0022] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of an indicator light group of a cluster robot provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0023] Figure 3 A functional block diagram of the interactive system between a cluster robot and a virtual environment platform provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0024] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of the structure of the virtual environment platform provided in the embodiment of the present application;

[0025] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of a virtual environment platform provided in an embodiment of the present application, showing a situation where color display units are arranged in an array;

[0026] Figure 6 This is a functional block diagram of the virtual environment platform provided in an embodiment of the present application. [Specific implementation method]

[0027] In order to facilitate the understanding of the present invention, the present invention is described in more detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments. It should be noted that when an element is described as "fixed to" another element, it can be directly on another element or there can be one or more centered elements therebetween. When an element is described as "connected" to another element, it can be directly connected to another element or there can be one or more centered elements therebetween. The orientation or positional relationship indicated by the terms "upper", "lower", "inner", "outer", "bottom" etc. used in this specification is based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the accompanying drawings, only for the convenience of describing the present invention and simplifying the description, rather than indicating or implying that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore cannot be understood as a limitation of the present invention. In addition, the terms "first", "second", "third", etc. are only used for descriptive purposes and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance.

[0028] Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used in this specification have the same meaning as those commonly understood by those skilled in the art of the present invention. The terms used in this specification and in the specification of the present invention are only for the purpose of describing specific embodiments and are not intended to limit the present invention. The term "and / or" used in this specification includes any and all combinations of one or more of the related listed items.

[0029] In addition, the technical features involved in different embodiments of the present invention described below can be combined with each other as long as they do not conflict with each other.

[0030] In the process of swarm robot research, how to present a variety of different virtual environments in the area where the swarm robot is active is an urgent problem that the virtual environment platform needs to solve. In the process of implementing this application, the applicant found that a large number of virtual environments can be formed by any combination of different colors and gray levels of colors. Such a virtual environment platform is simple to implement and has good application prospects.

[0031] To fully illustrate the virtual environment platform provided by the embodiment of the present application, the following Figure 1 The interactive system between the cluster robot and the virtual environment shown in the figure provides a detailed description of the application scenarios of the virtual environment platform. Figure 1 The interactive system may include: a virtual environment platform 10, a cluster robot 20, an image acquisition device 30 and a data processing device 40.

[0032] The virtual environment platform 10 is a device that forms different virtual environments by presenting a variety of color information, and can be formed by any suitable type of light emitting device, as long as it can present a sufficient amount of color information.

[0033] “Color information” refers to the color displayed by the virtual environment platform 10 as a whole. It can form rich and complex color information by using a variety of controllable parameters such as the type of displayed color, the position of displayed color, and the grayscale value of displayed color. The specific parameter types included in the color information can be determined by the specific implementation of the virtual environment platform 10.

[0034] In actual use, each color information may correspond to a specific virtual environment, so that the virtual environment platform 10 can provide a variety of different virtual environments.

[0035] The cluster robot 20 is a robot with color perception capability, which can be integrated with functional modules such as a moving mechanism for driving the robot to move on the virtual environment platform 10, a color sensor 23 for sensing the color information of the current position, and an indicator light group 21 for presenting different color combinations to meet actual use needs.

[0036] The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific implementation of the cluster robot 20. Those skilled in the art can choose to use a suitable implementation form or structural design according to the actual needs. It only needs to have basic mobility functions, be able to recognize color changes, and provide feedback on environmental transformation actions through specific color information.

[0037] In some embodiments, Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the indicator light group of the cluster robot 20 provided in the embodiment of the present application. Figure 2 The indicator light group may be composed of three LED lights (21a, 21b, 21c) for emitting red, green and blue respectively. Thus, the swarm robot 20 may present a specific color combination by selectively stimulating any one or more LED lights in the indicator light group.

[0038] Of course, those skilled in the art can also adjust the specific structure of the indicator light group according to the actual needs, and are not limited to Figure 2 For example, when a large number of color combinations are required, the number of indicator lights in the indicator light group can be increased to provide a richer color combination.

[0039] In other embodiments, please refer to Figure 2 The swarm robot 20 may also include an infrared LED lamp 22 for emitting infrared light. It is arranged in the middle of the three LED lamps of the indicator light group and can continuously emit infrared light to mark the position of the swarm robot 20 at this time.

[0040] Please continue reading Figure 1 The image acquisition device 30 is a camera or similar device used to shoot the virtual environment platform 10, thereby obtaining a color image containing color information (presented by the virtual environment platform 10) and color combination (presented by the cluster robot 20). The specific implementation of the image acquisition device 30 is not limited in the embodiment of the present application, and it can be set according to the needs of the actual situation, such as setting a camera bracket compatible with the virtual environment platform, selecting a specific model of camera or shooting parameters.

[0041] In some embodiments, the image acquisition device 30 may include an infrared camera 32 for acquiring infrared images in addition to a SLR camera 31 for acquiring color images of a specific resolution. The infrared camera cooperates with the cluster robot 20 equipped with an infrared LED light 22 to acquire infrared images at different times to help determine the location of the cluster robot 20.

[0042] Specifically, the infrared camera may be a camera equipped with a specific filter that allows only infrared light of a specific wavelength to pass through, for example, an infrared filter that allows only infrared light of a wavelength of 940 nm to pass through.

[0043] Please continue reading Figure 1 The data processing device 40 is an electronic computing platform for completing data processing and analysis. It serves as the control center of the entire interactive system. It receives the color image and / or infrared image provided by the image acquisition device 30, and after performing corresponding data processing and analysis, it outputs corresponding control instructions to control the color information presented by the virtual environment platform.

[0044] It should be noted that the electronic computing platform should be understood as a device that integrates multiple functions to meet actual usage needs, rather than being limited to a single structural device. For example, see Figure 3 , which may be composed of a host 41 mainly used for performing calculations and data processing and a screen controller 42 for controlling the virtual environment platform 10 .

[0045] In order to fully illustrate the actual operation process of the above virtual environment platform and cluster robots, the following Figure 3 The functional block diagram of the interactive system shown in Figure 1 The interactive system shown describes in detail how the cluster robots perceive the environment, actively transform the environment, and interact with the environment with low latency.

[0046] See also Figure 3 The environment represented by each color information (i.e., the correspondence between the two), and the environmental interaction mode marked by each color combination (i.e., the correspondence between the two) can be pre-set and recorded in a specific storage space (indicated by data 43 in the figure) in any suitable data form for host 41 to call.

[0047] On the one hand, when controlling the color information that needs to be presented by the virtual environment platform, the host 41 can read the correspondence between the color information preset in the data 43 and the environment represented, and determine the target color information corresponding to the environment currently required to be provided. Then, the screen controller 42 provides the virtual environment platform 10 with a control instruction to display the target color information, so that it presents the target color information.

[0048] Therefore, the cluster robot 20 can perceive the color information of the current position (such as the displayed color and the intensity of the displayed color) through the color sensor to achieve perception of the environment.

[0049] On the other hand, based on the received color image, the host 41 can determine the color combination presented by each cluster robot 20, and determine the environmental interaction mode marked by the current color combination by reading the environmental interaction mode marked by each color combination pre-set in the data 43.

[0050] The host 41 can analyze and determine the impact of the environment interaction mode on the environment, and update the color information accordingly by reading the correspondence between the color information preset in the data 43 and the represented environment. Finally, it can provide corresponding control instructions to the virtual environment platform 10 through the screen controller 42, so that it presents the updated color information.

[0051] Therefore, the cluster robot 20 can indirectly complete the active transformation of the environment in the form of light signals (ie, color combinations).

[0052] In a preferred embodiment, the host 41 can also obtain the position information of the cluster robot quickly and conveniently by means of infrared images taken by an infrared camera, which is conducive to achieving low latency in the interaction between the cluster robot and the environment.

[0053] According to the embodiment of the present application, Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the virtual environment platform provided in the embodiment of the present application. Figure 4 The virtual environment platform may include: a platform body 110 and a color display unit 120 .

[0054] The platform body 110 is a substantially plate-shaped planar component, and a walking plane S is formed on its surface for the cluster robot 20 to walk freely.

[0055] The walking plane has a preset size to meet the simulation needs of the swarm robot. Those skilled in the art can set the specific size of the walking plane according to the needs of the actual situation, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment.

[0056] The color display unit 120 is a display device that can emit multiple colors and grayscale levels. Each color display unit 120 is an independent display component, and a large number of color information is provided by arranging multiple color display units 120 in the virtual environment platform. These color display units 120 can be evenly distributed on the walking plane according to the preset gaps for the cluster robot 20 to identify.

[0057] The virtual environment platform of the embodiment of the present application can provide a rich number of virtual environments by presenting different colors and color grayscale levels to meet the research needs of swarm robots.

[0058] Such a virtual environment platform is easy to implement and can be widely used in various scenarios such as laboratory research on swarm robots, educational training programs related to electronic robots, etc., and has good application prospects.

[0059] In some embodiments, see Figure 5 The walking plane S may be substantially rectangular, with a preset width and length (eg, 4 meters). The color display units 120 are evenly distributed on the walking plane in the form of an array.

[0060] In other embodiments, the walking plane S can also be set to any other shape according to the actual needs, including but not limited to a circle, a polygon or other special shapes, and is not limited to Figure 5 The rectangle shown in .

[0061] Specifically, there is a first spacing between two adjacent rows of color display units arranged on the walking plane. There is a second spacing between two adjacent columns of color display units. In the embodiment of the present application, for the sake of distinction, the spacing between two adjacent rows of color display units is referred to as the first spacing, and the spacing between two adjacent columns of color display units is referred to as the second spacing.

[0062] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the "first" and "second" are only used to distinguish between row distances and column distances, and are not used to limit specific distances. According to actual needs, technicians can set appropriate first distances and second distances.

[0063] So that the color display units 120 have a suitable arrangement density (for example, the first interval and the second interval can both be set to 2.5 mm).

[0064] Preferably, the virtual environment platform 10 of the embodiment of the present application can be formed by splicing multiple LED unit boards.

[0065] These LED unit boards can be closely connected by any suitable type of fixed connection method such as bonding to form a larger virtual environment platform 10 that can meet actual use needs. Correspondingly, the lamp beads evenly distributed in the LED unit board serve as the color display unit 120.

[0066] Of course, those skilled in the art may also add structural components with other functions according to actual needs. For example, a continuous protective film layer may be laid on the top of the LED unit board to reduce the loss caused by the walking of the cluster robot.

[0067] One of the advantages of the embodiment of the present application is that the method of obtaining the virtual environment platform 20 by splicing LED unit panels is simple and easy to implement, and the cost required is low, which has good application prospects.

[0068] In other embodiments, in addition to being implemented by a hard display device such as an LED unit board, the virtual environment platform can also be implemented by a soft, deformable or foldable flexible screen. The virtual environment platform implemented based on the flexible screen can have the advantages of being easy to carry.

[0069] Of course, based on the inventive ideas provided in the embodiments of the present application, those skilled in the art may also choose to use any other suitable type of display screen capable of presenting color and / or grayscale changes.

[0070] All adjustments, replacements or changes made to the virtual environment platform provided by the embodiment of the present application based on the above-mentioned inventive idea of ​​using color information as a virtual environment shall fall within the protection scope of the present application.

[0071] In some embodiments, each lamp bead 110 is integrated with a first light source, a second light source and a third light source for respectively presenting blue, green and red. Thus, each lamp bead 120 can selectively emit one or more of red light, blue light or green light.

[0072] In a preferred embodiment, the lamp bead 120 can also independently display different colors at different gray levels. For example, the lamp bead 120 can independently present 256 gray levels of red, blue or green. Of course, the number of gray levels presented by the lamp bead 120 can also be modified or adjusted according to the needs of the actual situation.

[0073] One of the advantages of the embodiments of the present application is that it can provide a very rich amount of color information by changing the color displayed by each lamp bead and the color grayscale displayed by each lamp bead to correspond to different environments. For example, when each lamp bead can display 3 colors and 256 grayscale levels, 256 3 = 16777216 different kinds of color information are available for cluster robots to identify, ensuring the need to display the complexity of the environment when it is used as an environmental platform.

[0074] In some embodiments, each lamp bead 110 is independently controlled. "Independent control" means that the lamp beads 110 are connected in parallel, etc., so that the control of any lamp bead 110 is independent. In this way, a certain lamp bead will not be affected or interfered by the working state of other lamp beads.

[0075] One of the advantages of the embodiments of the present application is that even after the virtual environment platform has been used for a long time, when some lamp beads are inevitably damaged due to reasons such as light-emitting life and wear of the robot's walking mechanism, the virtual environment platform can still be used normally.

[0076] According to the embodiment of the present application, Figure 6 This is a functional block diagram of the virtual environment platform provided in the embodiment of the present application. Figure 6 In addition to the platform body formed by splicing LED unit panels, the virtual environment platform can also include: a processing device 130 and a data receiving device 140.

[0077] The processing device 130 is an electronic device independent of the LED unit board and used to generate target image information. "Target image information" refers to a collection of color information that needs to be presented by the virtual environment platform. In other words, the target image information records the specific color and specific color grayscale presented by each pixel, corresponding to a specific virtual environment.

[0078] It can be implemented by any suitable type of electronic computing equipment as long as it can meet the needs of experimental use.

[0079] The data receiving device 140 is an electronic device located on one side of the LED unit board and used to implement data decoding and conversion operations, such as a data receiving card. It can decode the received target image information and convert it into corresponding control instructions so that multiple color display units of the virtual environment platform can present the target image information.

[0080] In a preferred embodiment, the processing device may include two or more video processors 131 (in Figure 6 2 are taken as an example). These video processors can be controlled by the corresponding computer 132 to convert the environment information generated by the computer into corresponding target image information. The specific number of video processors 131 can be set according to the actual needs (such as the size of the virtual environment platform to be controlled and the number of lamp beads, etc.).

[0081] The video processor 131 may establish a communication connection with the data receiving device 140 via a network cable or other suitable data transmission methods, so as to transmit the target image information to the data receiving device 140 .

[0082] One of the advantages of the embodiments of the present application is that an appropriate number of video processors can better meet the needs of the virtual environment platform for real-time dynamic control of the target image information to be presented.

[0083] In some embodiments, the pixel points of the target image information may correspond to the color display units in a one-to-one relationship. In other words, the target image information may have the same resolution as the virtual environment platform.

[0084] Such a design can make each lamp bead in the virtual environment platform 10 correspond to a pixel point in the color image captured by the image acquisition device 30, so that the system can achieve pixel-level control of the environment platform.

[0085] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention, rather than to limit them. Under the concept of the present invention, the technical features in the above embodiments or different embodiments may also be combined, the steps may be implemented in any order, and there are many other changes in different aspects of the present invention as described above, which are not provided in detail for the sake of simplicity. Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the aforementioned embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that they may still modify the technical solutions described in the aforementioned embodiments, or make equivalent replacements for some of the technical features therein. However, these modifications or replacements do not deviate the essence of the corresponding technical solutions from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention.

Claims

1. A virtual environment platform, characterized in that: include: The platform body; the surface of the platform body forms a walking plane for the cluster robot to walk; the walking plane has a preset size; the cluster robot is a robot with color perception ability, and has an indicator light group for presenting different color combinations, and feedbacks the transformation action of the virtual environment by presenting the color combination; A plurality of color display units; there are preset gaps between the plurality of color display units, which are evenly distributed on the walking plane; the platform body is composed of a plurality of LED unit boards; the color display units are lamp beads in the LED unit boards; Each of the color display units is independently controlled and configured to: present a color and / or grayscale corresponding to a control instruction; a plurality of the color display units cooperate with each other to form a plurality of color information; the color information includes: the type of displayed color, the position of displayed color, and the grayscale value of displayed color; A processing device for generating target image information; A data receiving device, used for receiving the target image information, decoding and transforming it into a corresponding control instruction, and presenting the corresponding color and color depth with the color display unit; The virtual environment represented by each color information and the environment interaction mode represented by each color combination are recorded as data in the storage space for the processing device to call; The processing equipment is specifically used for: Reading the correspondence between the preset color information in the data and the environment represented, and determining the target color information corresponding to the environment currently required to be provided; A control instruction for displaying the target color information is provided so that the multiple color display units present the target color information, so that the cluster robot can perceive the environment by perceiving the color information of the current position.

2. The virtual environment platform according to claim 1, characterized in that: The lamp bead is provided with a first light source presenting blue, a second light source presenting green and a third light source presenting red.

3. The virtual environment platform according to claim 1, characterized in that: Each of the lamp beads is independently controlled so that different lamp beads will not affect each other.

4. The virtual environment platform according to claim 1, characterized in that: The virtual environment platform is implemented by a flexible display screen or a hard display screen.

5. The virtual environment platform according to claim 1, characterized in that: The pixels of the target image information correspond one-to-one to the color display units of the virtual environment platform.

6. The virtual environment platform according to claim 1, characterized in that: The processing equipment includes: a plurality of video processors; The video processor is communicatively connected to the data receiving device.

7. The virtual environment platform according to claim 1, characterized in that: The color display units are evenly distributed on the walking plane in an array form.

8. The virtual environment platform according to claim 7, characterized in that: There is a first spacing between two adjacent rows of color display units; there is a second spacing between two adjacent columns of color display units.

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