A drone hangar and a drone control method

Abstract

The embodiment of the present invention provides a drone hangar and a drone control method, which relates to the field of drone technology. The drone hangar includes: a mechanical arm, a visual module, a cabin body and a control module; the visual module is arranged on the mechanical arm, and there is an overlapping area between the visual module's field of view and the mechanical arm's grasping area; the cabin body includes a cabin bracket and one or more drone cabins arranged on the cabin bracket; the control module is connected to the visual module and the mechanical arm in communication, and is used to grasp the target drone to the outside of the cabin body when the target drone takes off; when the target drone returns, the target drone is placed in the target drone cabin based on the visual module and the mechanical arm. The present invention can visually identify the posture of the drone, actively grasp the drone through the mechanical arm for control, and does not rely on the landing accuracy of the drone, thereby improving the control efficiency and accuracy of the drone hangar for the drone and reducing the limitations of related applications.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of unmanned aerial vehicles, and in particular to an unmanned aerial vehicle hangar and a unmanned aerial vehicle control method. Background Art

[0002] With the development of drones and drone hangars, drones are being used more and more. Drones are widely used in power inspection, emergency rescue, environmental protection testing, agricultural applications, logistics distribution, fire rescue and public safety. Drone hangars can realize functions such as drone storage, charging and battery replacement, and can realize fully autonomous operation of drones.

[0003] At present, in the UAV recovery stage (i.e., recovering the UAV to the UAV hangar for storage), the UAV is landed in the hangar based on navigation positioning or UAV visual guidance, and after landing in the hangar, a scraper and other centering mechanisms are further used to recover the UAV. Among them, the centering mechanism is suitable for the recovery of UAVs that have landed precisely, and the centering mechanism needs to have high assembly and movement accuracy. The landing process takes a long time, the landing and recovery efficiency is low, and there are many uncertain factors; it can be seen that the efficiency and accuracy of the control of the UAV hangar for the recovery of UAVs in the relevant technology are not high, and the relevant applications have limitations. Summary of the invention

[0004] The purpose of the embodiment of the present invention is to provide a drone hangar and a drone control method. The present invention provides a new solution for drone hangar to control drones, which can visually identify the position of drones, actively grab drones through mechanical arms for control, and does not rely on the landing accuracy of drones, thereby improving the control efficiency and accuracy of drone hangars for drones and reducing the limitations of related applications. The specific technical solution is as follows:

[0005] In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a drone hangar, comprising: a mechanical arm, a vision module, a cabin body, and a control module;

[0006] The visual module is arranged on the robotic arm, and the field of view of the visual module and the grasping area of ​​the robotic arm overlap;

[0007] The cabin body includes a cabin bracket and one or more drone cabins arranged on the cabin bracket;

[0008] The control module is communicatively connected with the visual module and the robotic arm, and is used to determine the drone bay where the target drone is parked when the target drone takes off, and based on the drone bay where the target drone is parked, control the robotic arm to grab the target drone from the drone bay where the target drone is parked, and control the robotic arm to carry the target drone from inside the bay body to outside the bay body; when the target drone returns and is located in the overlapping area, the robotic arm is controlled to grab the target drone based on the target posture information of the target drone through posture recognition by the visual module, and carry the target drone from outside the bay body to inside the bay body, and control the robotic arm to place the target drone in the target drone bay.

[0009] Optionally, the control module is further used to identify the type of the target drone based on the visual module, and determine a target drone bay for placing the target drone according to the type of the target drone.

[0010] Optionally, the drone hangar further comprises a hangar shell, and the cabin body is located in a space formed by the hangar shell;

[0011] The cabin bracket is an arc bracket or a circular bracket.

[0012] Optionally, a plurality of drone bays are spaced apart on the bay support, and the plurality of drone bays are arranged around the robotic arm.

[0013] Optionally, the drone bay on the bay bracket corresponds to a charging component; the charging component corresponding to the drone bay is a wireless charging component or a wired charging component.

[0014] Optionally, the control module controls the mechanical arm to place the target drone in front of the target drone bay, and is further used to:

[0015] Performing photoelectric detection on a plurality of UAV bays arranged on the bay bracket to obtain photoelectric detection information;

[0016] Based on the photoelectric detection information, the drone bays that are currently in an idle state are identified, and a drone bay is selected from the drone bays that are in an idle state to obtain the target drone bay;

[0017] or,

[0018] According to the correspondence between drones and drone bays, the drone bay corresponding to the target drone is determined to obtain the target drone bay;

[0019] or,

[0020] Based on the visual module, a drone bay matching the type of the target drone is identified from each drone bay on the bay support to obtain the target drone bay.

[0021] Optionally, the control module controls the mechanical arm to grab the target UAV according to the target posture information obtained by the visual module through posture recognition of the target UAV, specifically:

[0022] Receiving target pose information in a visual module coordinate system obtained by performing pose recognition on the target UAV by the visual module, and converting the target pose information into coordinates in a world coordinate system to obtain designated pose information;

[0023] Based on the specified posture information, determining a target motion path and a target grasping point of the robotic arm for the target UAV;

[0024] The mechanical arm is controlled to move according to the target motion path, and to grasp the target UAV according to the target grasping point.

[0025] Optionally, the robotic arm comprises: a base, a first rotating shaft, a linear module and a robotic arm body;

[0026] The robot arm body is arranged on the linear module so as to be driven by the linear module to perform vertical movement;

[0027] The linear module is connected to the first rotating shaft and the first rotating shaft is arranged on the base, so that the first rotating shaft drives the robot arm body to rotate.

[0028] Optionally, the robot arm body includes: a first joint arm, a second rotating shaft, a second joint arm, a gripper rotating shaft and a gripper;

[0029] The first joint arm and the second joint arm are connected via the second rotating shaft, so that the second joint arm generates a rotational motion driven by the second rotating shaft;

[0030] The gripper and the designated end of the second joint arm are connected via the gripper shaft so that the gripper performs an opening and closing action driven by the gripper shaft, and the designated end is an end away from the first joint arm.

[0031] Optionally, the compartment body further comprises: a battery compartment provided in the compartment bracket for placing batteries; the placement orientation of the batteries in the battery compartment matches the installation orientation of the batteries of the target UAV placed in the target UAV compartment;

[0032] The control module is also used to control the robotic arm to grab the battery from the target drone and place the grabbed battery at a first designated position after the target drone is placed in the target drone bay, based on the first position information of the battery of the target drone identified by the visual module, and to control the robotic arm to grab the battery to be used from the battery bay and install the grabbed battery to be used on the target drone.

[0033] Optionally, the cabin body further includes: a pod cabin provided on the cabin bracket for placing a pod;

[0034] The control module is also used to control the robotic arm to grab the pod from the target drone and place the grabbed pod at a second designated position after the target drone is placed in the target drone bay, based on the second position information of the pod of the target drone obtained by the visual module for position identification, and to control the robotic arm to grab the pod to be used from the pod bay and install the grabbed pod to be used on the target drone.

[0035] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for controlling a drone, which is applied to a control module of the drone hangar, and the method includes:

[0036] When the target drone takes off, the drone bay where the target drone is parked is determined, and based on the drone bay where the target drone is parked, the mechanical arm of the drone hangar is controlled to grab the target drone from the drone bay where the target drone is parked in the drone hangar, and the mechanical arm is controlled to carry the target drone from the inside of the bay body to the outside of the bay body;

[0037] When the target UAV returns and is located in the overlapping area, the target posture information of the target UAV is received by the visual module of the UAV hangar for posture recognition. According to the target posture information, the robotic arm is controlled to grab the target UAV, and carry the target UAV from the outside of the cabin body to the inside of the cabin body, and the robotic arm is controlled to place the target UAV in the target UAV cabin.

[0038] Optionally, before controlling the robotic arm to place the target drone in a target drone bay, the method further includes: identifying a type of the target drone based on the visual module, and determining a target drone bay for placing the target drone according to the type of the target drone.

[0039] Optionally, the controlling the mechanical arm to place the target drone in front of the target drone bay, the method further includes:

[0040] Perform photoelectric detection on multiple UAV bays set on the bay bracket to obtain photoelectric detection information;

[0041] Based on the photoelectric detection information, the drone bays that are currently in an idle state are identified, and a drone bay is selected from the drone bays that are in an idle state to obtain the target drone bay;

[0042] or,

[0043] According to the correspondence between drones and drone bays, the drone bay corresponding to the target drone is determined to obtain the target drone bay;

[0044] or,

[0045] Based on the visual module, a drone bay matching the type of the target drone is identified from each drone bay on the bay support to obtain the target drone bay.

[0046] Optionally, controlling the mechanical arm to grab the target UAV according to the target posture information includes:

[0047] Convert the target pose information in the visual module coordinate system into coordinates in the world coordinate system to obtain the specified pose information;

[0048] Based on the specified posture information, determining a target motion path and a target grasping point of the robotic arm for the target UAV;

[0049] The mechanical arm is controlled to move according to the target motion path, and to grasp the target UAV according to the target grasping point.

[0050] Optionally, the method further comprises:

[0051] Receiving first position information of the battery of the target UAV identified by the visual module;

[0052] After the target UAV is placed in the target UAV bay, according to the first position information, the mechanical arm is controlled to grab a battery from the target UAV and place the grabbed battery in a first designated position;

[0053] The robot arm is controlled to grab the battery to be used from the battery compartment and install the grabbed battery to be used on the target UAV; wherein the battery compartment is set on the compartment bracket and is used to place the battery, and the placement orientation of the battery in the battery compartment matches the installation direction of the battery of the target UAV placed in the compartment of the target UAV.

[0054] Optionally, the method further comprises:

[0055] Receiving second position information of the pod of the target UAV identified by the visual module;

[0056] After the target UAV is placed in the target UAV bay, according to the second position information, the mechanical arm is controlled to grab a pod from the target UAV and place the grabbed pod in a second designated position;

[0057] The mechanical arm is controlled to grab the pod to be used from the pod compartment and install the grabbed pod to be used on the target UAV; wherein the pod compartment is arranged on a compartment bracket and is used to place the pod.

[0058] Beneficial effects of the embodiments of the present invention:

[0059] The drone hangar provided by the embodiment of the present invention includes a mechanical arm, a visual module, a cabin body and a control module, wherein the visual module is arranged on the mechanical arm; the cabin body includes a cabin bracket and one or more drone cabins arranged on the cabin bracket; a plurality of drone cabins are arranged at intervals on the cabin bracket, and the plurality of drone cabins are arranged around the mechanical arm; the control module is communicatively connected with the visual module and the mechanical arm, and when the target drone takes off, the control module determines the drone cabin where the target drone is parked, and based on the drone cabin where the target drone is parked, controls the mechanical arm to grab the target drone from the drone cabin where the target drone is parked, and controls the mechanical arm to carry the target drone from the inside of the cabin body to the outside of the cabin body to facilitate the take-off of the drone; when the target drone returns and is located in the overlapping area, the control module According to the target posture information of the target drone posture recognition by the visual module, the mechanical arm is controlled to grab the target drone, and the target drone is carried from the outside of the cabin body to the inside of the cabin body, and the mechanical arm is controlled to place the target drone in the target drone cabin to realize the recovery of the target drone; that is, in the present invention, when the drone returns, the posture of the drone can be visually recognized, the mechanical arm is controlled to grab the target drone, carry the target drone from the outside of the cabin body to the inside and place the target drone in the target drone cabin; when the drone takes off, the mechanical arm can be controlled to grab the target drone from the drone cabin where the target drone is docked and move from the inside of the cabin body to the outside of the cabin body; the control module can realize the control of the take-off and return recovery of the target drone based on the visual module and the mechanical arm. It can be seen that the present invention provides a new solution for drone hangar control of drones, which can visually recognize the posture of drones, actively grab drones through mechanical arms for control, and does not rely on the landing accuracy of drones, improve the control efficiency and accuracy of drone hangars for drones, and reduce the limitations of related applications.

[0060] Of course, it is not necessary to achieve all of the advantages described above at the same time to implement any product or method of the present invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0061] In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other embodiments can also be obtained based on these drawings.

[0062] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a drone hangar provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0063] Figure 2 Another schematic diagram of a drone hangar provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0064] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of a flow chart of a drone control method provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0065] Figure 4 Another schematic diagram of a flow chart of a drone control method provided by an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0066] The following will be combined with the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention to clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field based on the present invention belong to the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0067] In order to solve the problems in the prior art of drone recovery on the assembly and movement accuracy of the centering mechanism, as well as the dependence on the landing accuracy of the drone, an embodiment of the present invention provides a drone hangar and a drone control method, which can autonomously visually identify the position and posture of the drone, actively grasp the drone through a robotic arm for control, and is independent of the landing accuracy of the drone, thereby reducing the limitations of drone control.

[0068] Among them, an unmanned aerial vehicle hangar provided by an embodiment of the present invention may include:

[0069] Robotic arm, vision module, cabin body and control module;

[0070] The visual module is arranged on the robotic arm, and the field of view of the visual module and the grasping area of ​​the robotic arm overlap;

[0071] The cabin body includes a cabin bracket and one or more drone cabins arranged on the cabin bracket;

[0072] The control module is connected to the visual module and the mechanical arm in communication, and is used to determine the drone bay where the target drone is parked when the target drone takes off, and based on the drone bay where the target drone is parked, control the mechanical arm to grab the target drone from the drone bay where the target drone is parked, and control the mechanical arm to carry the target drone from the inside of the bay to the outside of the bay; when the target drone returns and is located in the overlapping area, according to the target posture information of the visual module for posture recognition of the target drone, control the mechanical arm to grab the target drone, and carry the target drone from the outside of the bay to the inside of the bay, and control the mechanical arm to place the target drone in the target drone bay. It can be seen that the present invention provides a new solution for drone hangar to control drones, which can visually identify the posture of drones, actively grab drones through mechanical arms for control, and does not rely on the landing accuracy of drones, thereby improving the control efficiency and accuracy of drone hangars for drones and reducing the limitations of related applications.

[0073] A drone hangar provided by an embodiment of the present invention is introduced below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0074] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of a drone hangar provided by the present invention. Figure 1 As shown, an embodiment of the present invention provides a drone hangar, comprising: a mechanical arm 200, a visual module 209, a cabin body 300 and a control module;

[0075] The visual module 209 is disposed on the robotic arm, and the field of view of the visual module 209 and the grasping area of ​​the robotic arm 200 overlap.

[0076] The cabin body 300 includes a cabin support 301 and one or more drone cabins 304 arranged on the cabin support 301; a plurality of drone cabins are arranged at intervals on the cabin support, and the plurality of drone cabins are arranged around the mechanical arm;

[0077] The control module is communicatively connected with the visual module 209 and the robotic arm 200, and is used to determine the drone bay where the target drone is parked when the target drone takes off, and based on the drone bay where the target drone is parked, control the robotic arm 200 to grab the target drone from the drone bay where the target drone is parked, and control the robotic arm 200 to carry the target drone from the inside of the bay body 300 to the outside of the bay body 300; when the target drone returns and is located in the overlapping area, the robotic arm 200 is controlled to grab the target drone based on the target posture information of the posture recognition of the target drone by the visual module 209, and to carry the target drone from the outside of the bay body 300 to the inside of the bay body 300, and control the robotic arm 200 to place the target drone in the target drone bay.

[0078] In an embodiment of the present invention, the drone hangar includes a mechanical arm, a visual module and a cabin body, the cabin body includes a cabin bracket and one or more drone cabins arranged on the cabin bracket, the number of drone cabins can be multiple, and the drone cabin can be a hole on the cabin bracket, or the drone cabin can be installed on the cabin bracket; and the cabin body can include multiple types of drone cabins, each type of drone cabin is used to store a type of drone, and the number of each type of drone cabin can be multiple, so as to improve the compatibility of the drone hangar for drone recovery. The visual module is arranged on the mechanical arm, and there is an overlapping area between the field of view of the visual module and the grasping range of the mechanical arm, and the drone can fly to the overlapping area for recovery; wherein, the overlapping area can include a ground area and an air area, and the drone can fly and land to the ground area for recovery, or the drone can fly to the air area for recovery; before recovery, the posture of the drone remains fixed. In addition, the visual module can be a device with a video acquisition function, such as a camera, a video camera, etc., which can perform posture recognition on the target drone to be recovered in the overlapping area to obtain the target posture information. Wherein, when the target drone returns, the target drone is a drone that can be located in the overlapping area and is to be recovered.

[0079] In an embodiment of the present application, when a drone is required to take off, the takeoff type of the drone can be obtained, that is, a target drone that needs to be designated for takeoff. Then, the drone placed on the drone bay is photographed by the visual module, or the mechanical arm is controlled to move in the moving area inside the bay body, so that the visual module photographs the drone placed on the drone bay. The bay picture taken by the visual module is obtained, and the type of the drone on the drone bay is identified based on the bay picture. The drone whose type of the identified drone matches the takeoff type of the drone is determined to be the target drone. The position of the target drone bay where the target drone is docked is obtained, and based on the position of the target drone bay where the target drone is docked, the mechanical arm is controlled to grab the target drone, so that the mechanical arm carries the target drone from the target drone bay to the designated position outside the bay body, and releases the grab of the target drone so that the target drone can fly.

[0080] In addition, in the present invention, a plurality of open drone bays can be provided on the side of the bay support close to the mechanical arm. When the mechanical arm grabs the drone and places it in the drone bay, the mechanical arm can place the drone along the direction of the vertical line of the drone bay. Alternatively, the opening of the drone bay is photographed by the visual module, and the vertex position of the opening is determined by the photographed opening image, and the position of the center point of the opening is determined based on the vertex position of the opening and the intersection point of the first diagonal line and the second diagonal line in the opening. The mechanical arm is controlled to move along the horizontal line of the center point so that the drone fits the arc part of the opening to place the drone in the drone bay. The drone hangar also has a control module, which can be a functional software, which is connected to the visual module and the mechanical arm in communication, and the control module can be set in the drone hangar, or in other devices connected to the drone hangar in communication; the visual module can upload the target posture information to the control module, and the control module controls the mechanical arm to grab the target drone according to the target posture information, and controls the mechanical arm to place the target drone in the drone bay.

[0081] It is understandable that before the drone is recovered, the drone can communicate with the control modules of multiple drone hangars. For example, the drone can send a recovery request signal to the control modules of multiple drone hangars to determine the drone hangar that is closest to the drone and can recover the drone (the drone bays contained therein are of a type that matches the model of the drone, and the drone bays that match the model of the drone are idle); the drone flies to the overlapping area of ​​the field of view of the visual module and the grasping area of ​​the robotic arm in the determined drone hangar based on the position fed back by the control module to recover the drone.

[0082] In the drone hangar provided by the present invention, a plurality of drone bays are arranged at intervals on the bay support, and the plurality of drone bays are arranged around the mechanical arm.

[0083] For example, in one implementation, Figure 1 As shown, in the drone hangar provided by the present invention, the bay bracket is an arc-shaped bracket, a plurality of drone bays are arranged at intervals on the bay bracket, and the mechanical arm is arranged at the center of the bay bracket. Figure 2 As shown, in the drone hangar provided by the present invention, the bay bracket may be a circular bracket, a plurality of drone bays are arranged at intervals on the bay bracket, and the mechanical arm is arranged at the center of the bay bracket.

[0084] It should be noted that, regardless of whether the bay bracket is a circular bracket or an arc-shaped bracket, a plurality of drone bays are arranged at intervals on the bay bracket, and a mechanical arm is arranged at the center of the bay bracket. Through the design of a circular or arc-shaped bay bracket, the space in the drone hangar can be reasonably utilized, and the mechanical arm is arranged at the center of the bay bracket, so that each drone bay on the circular or arc-shaped bay bracket is within the grasping area of ​​the mechanical arm, and the mechanical arm can grasp the drone and place the drone in any drone bay. Among them, a plurality of drone bays can be evenly spaced on the bay bracket, or a plurality of drone bays can be unevenly spaced, which is reasonable. Moreover, in specific applications, the shape of the bay bracket is not limited to arc or circle, and other shapes of brackets can be arranged according to actual needs, which is feasible. It should be emphasized that the bay bracket in the present invention can be any bay bracket surrounding the robotic arm, and the bay bracket can be in any form, for example: a triangular bracket, a rectangular bracket, a pentagonal bracket, a hexagonal bracket, a five-pointed star bracket, etc., and multiple drone bays can be evenly or unevenly spaced on the bay bracket, and the multiple drone bays are arranged around the robotic arm so that the multiple drone bays are within the grasping range of the robotic arm.

[0085] In addition, the drone hangar further comprises a hangar shell, and the cabin body is located in a space formed by the hangar shell;

[0086] The bay bracket is an arc-shaped bracket, and an opening is provided on one side of the hangar shell close to the mechanical arm, so that the mechanical arm extends from the side of the hangar shell with the opening to grab the target UAV;

[0087] or,

[0088] The bay bracket is a circular bracket, and an opening is provided on the upper side of the hangar shell, so that the mechanical arm can extend from the upper side of the hangar shell with the opening to grab the target UAV.

[0089] In an embodiment of the present invention, the UAV hangar may further include a hangar shell, and the cabin body is located in the space formed by the hangar shell; the hangar shell is used to protect the cabin body and the robotic arm; wherein the hangar shell can be any geometric shape, for example: a cube, a sphere, a cylinder, or a shape formed by combining multiple geometric bodies, and the present invention is not limited to this.

[0090] The present invention is exemplarily introduced with the hangar shell being in the shape of a cube; Figure 1 As shown, the drone hangar includes a hangar shell 100. When the bay bracket is an arc bracket, the size of the arc bracket can be the same as the size of the largest arc that can be contained in the space formed by the cube of the hangar shell 100. The mechanical arm is set at the center position of the arc bracket (this position can be the center position of the bottom side of the hangar shell), and the center position can be located on one side of the hangar shell; in order to facilitate the mechanical arm to grab the target drone, the hangar shell 100 is provided with an opening on one side near the mechanical arm, and the mechanical arm can extend from the side of the hangar shell with the opening to grab the target drone. In other implementations, such as Figure 2 As shown, the UAV hangar includes a hangar shell 100. When the cabin bracket is a circular bracket, the size of the circular bracket can be the same as the size of the largest circle that can be contained in the space formed by the cube of the hangar shell 100. The robotic arm is arranged at the center position of the circular bracket (this position can be the center position of the bottom side of the hangar shell), and the center position can be located at the center position of the hangar shell; in order to facilitate the robotic arm to grab the target UAV, an opening is provided on the upper side of the hangar shell, and the robotic arm can extend from the upper side of the hangar shell where the opening is provided to grab the target UAV.

[0091] In an embodiment of the present invention, when the bay bracket is an arc-shaped bracket, an opening is provided on a side of the hangar shell close to the robotic arm; when the bay bracket is a circular bracket, an opening is provided on the upper side of the hangar shell, so that the robotic arm can easily extend from the opening side and grab the target drone, thereby realizing automatic recovery of the drone.

[0092] In the present invention, the control module may also determine a drone bay where a target drone is to be placed, and the control module controls the mechanical arm to place the target drone in front of the target drone bay, and is also used to:

[0093] Performing photoelectric detection on a plurality of UAV bays arranged on the bay bracket to obtain photoelectric detection information;

[0094] Based on the photoelectric detection information, the drone bays that are currently in an idle state are identified, and a drone bay is selected from the drone bays that are in an idle state to obtain the target drone bay;

[0095] or,

[0096] According to the correspondence between drones and drone bays, the drone bay corresponding to the target drone is determined to obtain the target drone bay;

[0097] or,

[0098] Based on the visual module, a drone bay matching the type of the target drone is identified from each drone bay on the bay support to obtain a target drone bay. Before the control module controls the mechanical arm to place the target drone in the drone bay, a target drone bay for preventing the target drone can be determined first; it can be understood that before the target drone is placed in the target drone bay, the target drone bay is an idle drone bay. After determining the target drone bay, the control module can control the mechanical arm to place the target drone in the target drone bay.

[0099] When the control module determines the target drone bay, it can perform photoelectric detection on the multiple drone bays set on the bay bracket to obtain photoelectric detection information, which can be a photoelectric signal; and based on the photoelectric detection information, identify the drone bay that is currently idle, and select a drone bay from the idle drone bays to obtain the target drone bay; it should be noted that at this time, the default drone bays on the bay bracket are all drone bays adapted for the target drone. When there are multiple types of drone bays on the bay bracket, the control module can pre-record the type of each drone bay, and perform photoelectric detection on the drone bay of the type adapted for the target drone to determine the target drone bay. Among them, the so-called multiple types of drone bays can be understood as: one type of drone corresponds to one type of drone bay, and different types of drones correspond to different types of drone bays. For example: multiple drone models such as multi-rotor, compound wing, twin rotor and fixed wing, respectively correspond to drone bays matching the drone models. Drone bay A is used to store type a drone, and drone bay B is used to store type b drone. The multiple types of drone bays may include: rectangular hole, circular hole and other hole-type drone bays, or cubic bays or cylindrical bays with an open side installed on a bay bracket, etc.

[0100] In addition, the control module can also identify the type of the target drone based on the visual module, and based on the visual module, identify the type of each drone bay on the bay bracket and whether it is in an idle state, and identify the drone bay that matches the type of the target drone and is in an idle state, thereby determining the target drone bay for placing the target drone.

[0101] Specifically, the control module is further used to identify the type of the target drone based on the visual module, and determine a target drone bay for placing the target drone according to the type of the target drone;

[0102] The identifying the type of the target UAV based on the visual module includes:

[0103] Obtaining a drone image of the target drone in the overlapped area captured by the visual module, and obtaining a pixel block containing the target drone on the drone image;

[0104] Calculate the area of ​​the target drone based on the pixel block containing the target drone on the drone image; and obtain the actual size of the target drone based on the calculated area;

[0105] Determine a pixel outline of the target drone based on a pixel block containing the target drone on the drone image;

[0106] The type of the target UAV is determined according to the actual size and pixel outline of the target UAV.

[0107] Since different types of drones can be placed on the bay bracket of the present application, in order to determine the drone bay corresponding to different types of drones, the drone picture of the target drone when returning can be taken by the visual module, that is, the drone picture of the target drone when returning can be taken in the overlapping area, and the area of ​​the picture occupied by the drone is calculated by the pixel block containing the drone on the drone picture, so as to obtain the actual size of the drone, so as to determine whether the drone is a large drone, a medium drone or a small drone. Then, further, the geometric shape, overall shape category, etc. of the drone can be determined by the outline of the pixel block containing the target drone on the drone picture, so as to determine the type of the drone. Since different types of drones may have similar contour designs, but significant size differences, the present invention first classifies them according to the size and then identifies the type through the contour, which can effectively avoid misclassification in the contour identification stage. For example, two different models of four-rotor drones may have very similar shapes, but have large differences in size. Identifying the size first can accurately distinguish them. Of course, the correspondence between drones and drone slots can also be generated in advance, and each drone corresponds to a unique drone slot for placing the drone; the drone slot corresponding to the target drone can be determined based on the correspondence between drones and drone slots. At this time, the determined slot is an idle drone slot used to place the target drone, thereby determining the target drone slot.

[0108] It can be seen that the control module in the present invention can also determine the target drone bay for placing the target drone, thereby controlling the mechanical arm to accurately place the target drone in the target drone bay, thereby achieving accurate recovery of the target drone.

[0109] In order to facilitate the charging of the drone, in the drone hangar of the present invention, the drone bay on the bay bracket corresponds to a charging component; the charging component corresponding to the drone bay is a wireless charging component or a wired charging component. Wherein, whether it is a wired charging component or a wireless charging component, it can include different types of charging units. When the charging component is a wired charging component, the interface terminals in the charging unit in the wired charging component need to contact the corresponding terminals in the charging docking unit in the drone, for example, the two need to be plugged in to achieve electrical connection before charging. When the charging component is a wireless charging component, the charging unit in the wireless charging component only needs to be docked and charged with the charging docking unit set in the drone within a preset range, without the need for interface plugging.

[0110] In addition, the number of each charging unit of the same type can be one, two, or even more, and the present invention does not limit this. For example, when the number of charging units of the same type is one, the target drone matched with it can be charged with a single port, and when the number of charging units of the same type is two, the target drone matched with it can be charged with two ports to speed up the charging efficiency.

[0111] In one implementation, the drone hangar can also realize a battery replacement function, and the bay body further includes: a battery bay provided on the bay bracket for placing batteries; the placement orientation of the batteries in the battery bay matches the installation orientation of the batteries of the target drone placed in the target drone bay;

[0112] The control module is also used to control the robotic arm to grab the battery from the target drone and place the grabbed battery at a first designated position after the target drone is placed in the target drone bay, based on the first position information of the battery of the target drone identified by the visual module, and to control the robotic arm to grab the battery to be used from the battery bay and install the grabbed battery to be used on the target drone.

[0113] The cabin body may also include a battery cabin arranged on a cabin bracket. The battery cabin may be adjacent to the drone cabin, and the battery cabin may be installed on the cabin bracket. Moreover, the placement orientation of the batteries in the battery cabin matches the battery installation orientation of the target drone placed in the target drone cabin, so as to facilitate battery replacement of the target drone.

[0114] For example, Figure 1As shown, when the compartment bracket is arc-shaped, a battery compartment 302 for placing a battery 305 is provided on the compartment bracket; Figure 2 As shown, when the bay bracket is circular, the bay bracket is provided with a battery bay 302 for placing a battery 305. It can be understood that no matter what the form of the bay bracket is, the drone hangar can also include a battery bay for placing a battery.

[0115] In the present invention, based on the visual module and the mechanical arm, the automatic replacement of the battery can also be realized. After the target UAV is placed in the UAV compartment, the visual module can identify the position of the battery of the target UAV to obtain the first position information. The control module controls the mechanical arm to grab the battery from the target UAV according to the first position information, and places the grabbed battery in the first designated position, and controls the mechanical arm to grab the battery to be used from the battery compartment, and installs the grabbed battery to be used on the target UAV. When the mechanical arm is controlled to grab the battery from the target UAV according to the first position information, the movement path of the mechanical arm (the movement path can be the shortest path for the mechanical arm to move to the position represented by the first position information without collision) and the grasping point of the mechanical arm for the battery (the grasping point can be the buckle position of the battery) can be calculated according to the first position information. Thus, the mechanical arm can open the buckle and grab the battery.

[0116] It should be noted that the control module itself can record the location of the battery compartment, or identify the location of the battery compartment through the visual module, so that according to the location of the battery compartment, the robot arm can be controlled to grab the battery to be used from the battery compartment and install it on the target drone.

[0117] In addition, the so-called placement orientation of the batteries in the battery bay matches the battery installation orientation of the target UAV placed in the UAV bay, which can be understood as: the orientation of the positive and negative poles of the batteries in the battery bay is consistent with the orientation of the positive and negative poles of the batteries installed in the target UAV in the UAV bay, thereby improving the convenience of battery replacement for the target UAV.

[0118] Optionally, the battery compartments are multiple and have a charging function, and the multiple battery compartments include a first type of compartment where batteries are placed and a second type of compartment in an idle state;

[0119] The control module controls the mechanical arm to grab a battery from the target UAV and place the grabbed battery at a first designated position, specifically:

[0120] Controlling the robotic arm to grab a battery from the target UAV and place the grabbed battery in the second type of compartment for charging;

[0121] The control module controls the robot arm to grab the battery to be used from the battery compartment, specifically:

[0122] The robot arm is controlled to grab batteries to be used from the first type of compartment.

[0123] There may be multiple battery slots in a drone hangar, and each battery slot has a charging function and can store batteries in a heat-insulated manner. A wireless charging component and / or a charging interface (the charging interface may include charging interfaces for multiple types of batteries) may be provided in the battery slot to enable battery charging; the multiple battery slots include a first type of slot in which batteries are placed, and a second type of slot that is idle; the first type of slot may be a battery slot among the multiple battery slots for storing spare batteries for the drone (i.e., batteries to be used), or the first type of slot may be a battery slot for charging batteries captured from the drone.

[0124] When the control module controls the mechanical arm to grab the battery from the target UAV and place the grabbed battery in the first designated position, the first designated position can be a second-class compartment for charging; at this time, the grabbed battery is placed in the second-class compartment, and the compartment can be changed from an idle battery compartment to a first-class compartment with a battery. Also, when the control module grabs the battery to be used from the battery compartment, it grabs the spare battery that matches the battery model of the target UAV. The control module can first determine the first-class compartment that stores the spare battery that matches the battery model of the target UAV, and then control the mechanical arm to grab the battery to be used from the determined first-class compartment.

[0125] It should be noted that the battery compartments in the drone hangar can be filled with multiple types of batteries, one battery can be placed in one compartment, or multiple batteries of the same type can be placed in one compartment, and the present invention does not limit this. Therefore, when replacing the battery of the recovered target drone, various types of battery requirements can be adapted, thereby improving the compatibility of the drone hangar for battery replacement of the recovered drone.

[0126] Similarly, the drone hangar can also realize the pod replacement function, and the cabin body also includes: a pod cabin provided on the cabin bracket for placing the pod;

[0127] The control module is also used to control the robotic arm to grab the pod from the target drone and place the grabbed pod at a second designated position after the target drone is placed in the target drone bay, based on the second position information of the pod of the target drone obtained by the visual module for position identification, and to control the robotic arm to grab the pod to be used from the pod bay and install the grabbed pod to be used on the target drone.

[0128] For example, Figure 1 As shown, when the cabin bracket is arc-shaped, a cabin cabin 303 for placing a cabin 306 is provided on the cabin bracket; Figure 2 As shown, when the bay bracket is circular, the bay bracket is provided with a pod bay 303 for placing a pod 306. It can be understood that no matter what the form of the bay bracket is, the drone hangar can also include a pod bay for placing a pod.

[0129] In the present invention, based on the visual module and the mechanical arm, the automatic replacement of the pod can also be realized. After the target UAV is placed in the UAV bay, the visual module can identify the position of the pod of the target UAV to obtain the second position information. The control module controls the mechanical arm to grab the pod from the target UAV according to the second position information, and places the grabbed pod at the second designated position, and controls the mechanical arm to grab the pod to be used from the pod bay, and installs the grabbed pod to be used on the target UAV. When the mechanical arm is controlled to grab the pod from the target UAV according to the second position information, the motion path of the mechanical arm (the motion path can be the shortest path for the mechanical arm to move to the position represented by the second position information without collision) and the grabbing point of the mechanical arm for the pod (the grabbing point can be the buckle position of the pod) can be calculated first according to the second position information. Thus, the mechanical arm can open the buckle and grab the pod.

[0130] It should be noted that the control module itself can record the position of the pod bay, or identify the position of the pod bay through the visual module, so that according to the position of the pod bay, the mechanical arm can be controlled to grab the pod to be used from the pod bay and install it on the target UAV.

[0131] It should be emphasized that various types of pods can be placed in the pod bays in the drone hangar, one pod can be placed in one bay, or multiple pods of the same type can be placed in one bay, and the present invention does not limit this. Therefore, when replacing the pod of the recovered target drone, various types of pod requirements can be adapted, thereby improving the compatibility of the drone hangar for replacing the pod of the recovered drone.

[0132] Optionally, in one implementation, the control module controls the mechanical arm to grab the target UAV according to the target posture information obtained by the visual module through posture recognition of the target UAV, including:

[0133] Receiving target pose information in a visual module coordinate system obtained by performing pose recognition on the target UAV by the visual module, and converting the target pose information into coordinates in a world coordinate system to obtain designated pose information;

[0134] Based on the specified posture information, determining a target motion path and a target grasping point of the robotic arm for the target UAV;

[0135] The mechanical arm is controlled to move according to the target motion path, and to grasp the target UAV according to the target grasping point.

[0136] The control module can receive the target pose information belonging to the visual module coordinate system obtained by the visual module through pose recognition of the target UAV, and convert the target pose information into coordinates in the world coordinate system to obtain the specified pose information; then, based on the specified pose information, the target motion path and target grasping point of the robotic arm for the target UAV are determined, and the robotic arm is controlled to move according to the target motion path and grasp the target UAV according to the target grasping point.

[0137] Among them, the conversion relationship between the visual module coordinate system and the world coordinate system can be generated in advance, and the coordinates in the visual module and the corresponding coordinates in the world coordinate system can be calibrated by camera calibration to generate and store the conversion relationship between the visual module coordinate system and the world coordinate system. The target motion path is the shortest path for the manipulator to move from the default position to the target drone without collision, and the target grasping point can be a feature point on the target drone, which can be a feature point about the groove, or a pre-set default feature point for the grasping of the manipulator.

[0138] It should be emphasized that this embodiment is only one possible way to capture the target drone. Those skilled in the art are aware that other methods can also be used in other alternative ways to achieve motion path planning based on the target posture and capture of the target drone.

[0139] It should be noted that the way in which the robotic arm grabs the battery and the pod from the target drone, the way in which the robotic arm grabs the battery from the battery compartment, and the way in which the robotic arm grabs the pod from the pod compartment is similar to the way in which the robotic arm grabs the drone mentioned above, and will not be repeated here.

[0140] The drone hangar provided by the embodiment of the present invention includes a mechanical arm, a visual module, a cabin body and a control module, wherein the visual module is arranged on the mechanical arm; the cabin body includes a cabin bracket and one or more drone cabins arranged on the cabin bracket; a plurality of drone cabins are arranged at intervals on the cabin bracket, and the plurality of drone cabins are arranged around the mechanical arm; the control module is communicatively connected with the visual module and the mechanical arm, and when the target drone takes off, the control module determines the drone cabin where the target drone is parked, and based on the drone cabin where the target drone is parked, controls the mechanical arm to grab the target drone from the drone cabin where the target drone is parked, and controls the mechanical arm to carry the target drone from the inside of the cabin body to the outside of the cabin body to facilitate the take-off of the drone; when the target drone returns and is located in the overlapping area, the control module According to the target posture information of the target drone posture recognition by the visual module, the mechanical arm is controlled to grab the target drone, and the target drone is carried from the outside of the cabin body to the inside of the cabin body, and the mechanical arm is controlled to place the target drone in the target drone cabin to realize the recovery of the target drone; that is, in the present invention, when the drone returns, the posture of the drone can be visually recognized, the mechanical arm is controlled to grab the target drone, carry the target drone from the outside of the cabin body to the inside and place the target drone in the target drone cabin; when the drone takes off, the mechanical arm can be controlled to grab the target drone from the drone cabin where the target drone is docked and move from the inside of the cabin body to the outside of the cabin body; the control module can realize the control of the take-off and return recovery of the target drone based on the visual module and the mechanical arm. It can be seen that the present invention provides a new solution for drone hangar control of drones, which can visually recognize the posture of drones, actively grab drones through mechanical arms for control, and does not rely on the landing accuracy of drones, improve the control efficiency and accuracy of drone hangars for drones, and reduce the limitations of related applications.

[0141] Optionally, the robot arm in the present invention may include: a base, a first rotating shaft, a linear module and a robot arm body;

[0142] The robot arm body is arranged on the linear module so as to be driven by the linear module to perform vertical movement;

[0143] The linear module is connected to the first rotating shaft and the first rotating shaft is arranged on the base, so that the first rotating shaft drives the robot arm body to rotate.

[0144] Exemplarily, the robot arm body includes: a first joint arm, a second rotating shaft, a second joint arm, a gripper rotating shaft and a gripper;

[0145] The first joint arm and the second joint arm are connected via the second rotating shaft, so that the second joint arm generates a rotational motion driven by the second rotating shaft;

[0146] The gripper and the designated end of the second joint arm are connected via the gripper shaft so that the gripper performs an opening and closing action driven by the gripper shaft, and the designated end is an end away from the first joint arm.

[0147] like Figure 1 , Figure 2 As shown, the robot arm 200 includes: a base 201, a first rotating shaft 202, a linear module 203 and a robot arm body;

[0148] The robot arm body is disposed on the linear module 203 so as to move vertically driven by the linear module 203;

[0149] The linear module 203 is connected to the first rotating shaft 202 and the first rotating shaft 202 is disposed on the base 201 , so that the first rotating shaft 202 drives the robot body to rotate.

[0150] Optionally, the robot arm body includes: a first joint arm 204, a second rotating shaft 205, a second joint arm 206, a gripper rotating shaft 207 and a gripper 208;

[0151] The first joint arm 204 and the second joint arm 206 are connected via the second rotating shaft 205, so that the second joint arm 206 generates a rotational motion driven by the second rotating shaft 205;

[0152] The gripper 208 and a designated end of the second joint arm 206 are connected via the gripper shaft 207 , so that the gripper 208 is driven by the gripper shaft 207 to open and close, and the designated end is an end away from the first joint arm 204 .

[0153] The vision module 209 is disposed on the second articulated arm 206 via a vision module bracket 210 .

[0154] It can be seen that the drone hangar provided in the embodiment of the present invention mainly includes a hangar shell 100, a mechanical arm 200, and a cabin body 300;

[0155] The hangar shell 100 mainly plays a fixed supporting role. The mechanical arm 200 and the cabin body 300 are arranged on the hangar shell 100.

[0156] within the space formed.

[0157] The robot arm 200 is a main functional component. Relying on the visual module 209 installed on the robot arm, the position and posture of the drone can be accurately captured, and then fed back to the control module of the robot arm, driving the robot arm to complete the grasping and recovery of the drone. The robot arm 200 mainly includes a base 201, a first rotating shaft 202, a linear module 203, a first joint arm 204, a second rotating shaft 205, a second joint arm 206, a gripper rotating shaft 207, a gripper 208, a visual module 209, and a visual module bracket 210. The base 201 is fixed in the hangar shell 100, the first rotating shaft 202 can drive the entire robot arm (robot arm body) to rotate, the linear module 203 can drive the first joint arm 204 to move vertically, the second rotating shaft 205 can drive the second joint arm 206 to generate rotational motion, the gripper 208 realizes the opening and closing motion of the gripper through the gripper rotating shaft 207, and the visual module 209 is fixed on the second joint arm 206 through the visual module bracket 210.

[0158] The cabin body 300 mainly realizes the functions of drone storage, battery and pod replacement, battery charging and discharging, etc. Cabin bracket 301, battery cabin 302, pod cabin 303, drone cabin 304, battery 305, pod 306. The cabin bracket 301 is fixed in the cabin body 300, the battery cabin 302 is fixed on the lower side of the cabin bracket 301, and the placement direction of the battery 305 in the battery cabin 302 is consistent with the installation direction of the battery on the drone (that is, the placement direction of the battery in the battery cabin matches the installation direction of the battery of the target drone placed in the drone cabin), which is convenient for battery replacement. The battery cabin 302 can realize battery insulation storage and charging. The pod cabin 303 is fixed under the cabin bracket 301, which can realize pod storage and replacement.

[0159] The drone hangar provided by the embodiment of the present invention can have a hangar shell that can open a door on one side, for example: the top side, front side, rear side, left side or right side. When the top side door of the hangar shell is opened, the drone can fly to the top side of the drone hangar, where the field of view of the visual module and the gripping area of ​​the mechanical arm overlap (in this case, the air area) to achieve aerial recovery of the drone; when the front side, rear side, left side or right side door is opened, the drone can fly to the front side, rear side, left side or right side, where the field of view of the visual module and the gripping area of ​​the mechanical arm overlap (in this case, the ground area after landing) to achieve ground recovery of the drone. Of course, after the battery and pod are replaced, the drone in the drone hangar can also take off from the top side, front side, rear side, left side or right side of the drone hangar.

[0160] In addition, it should be emphasized that the fixedly connected components in the drone hangar are not limited to fixed connections, but can also be slidably connected, etc., and if fixed connections are adopted, the method of fixed connection is not limited (for example: snap connection, nut connection, welding, etc.), and they can be relatively fixed when the drone is recovered and the pod and battery are replaced. The present invention does not limit this.

[0161] Based on the above embodiments, the present invention further provides a drone control method, which is applied to the control module of the above drone hangar; Figure 3 As shown, the method includes:

[0162] S301: when the target drone takes off, determine the drone bay where the target drone is parked, and based on the drone bay where the target drone is parked, control the mechanical arm of the drone hangar to grab the target drone from the drone bay where the target drone is parked, and control the mechanical arm to carry the target drone from the inside of the bay body to the outside of the bay body;

[0163] S302: When the target UAV returns and is located in the overlapping area, the target posture information of the target UAV is received from the visual module of the UAV hangar for posture recognition, and according to the target posture information, the robotic arm is controlled to grab the target UAV, and carry the target UAV from the outside of the cabin body to the inside of the cabin body, and the robotic arm is controlled to place the target UAV in the target UAV cabin.

[0164] Optionally, before the controlling the mechanical arm to place the target drone in a target drone bay, the method further comprises: identifying the type of the target drone based on the visual module, and determining a target drone bay for placing the target drone according to the type of the target drone;

[0165] The identifying the type of the target UAV based on the visual module includes:

[0166] Obtaining a drone image of the target drone in the overlapped area captured by the visual module, and obtaining a pixel block containing the target drone on the drone image;

[0167] Calculate the area of ​​the target drone based on the pixel block containing the target drone on the drone image; and obtain the actual size of the target drone based on the calculated area;

[0168] Determine a pixel outline of the target drone based on a pixel block containing the target drone on the drone image;

[0169] The type of the target UAV is determined according to the actual size and pixel outline of the target UAV.

[0170] Optionally, the controlling the mechanical arm to place the target drone in front of the target drone bay, the method further includes:

[0171] Perform photoelectric detection on multiple UAV bays set on the bay bracket to obtain photoelectric detection information;

[0172] Based on the photoelectric detection information, the drone bays that are currently in an idle state are identified, and a drone bay is selected from the drone bays that are in an idle state to obtain the target drone bay;

[0173] or,

[0174] According to the correspondence between drones and drone bays, the drone bay corresponding to the target drone is determined to obtain the target drone bay;

[0175] or,

[0176] Based on the visual module, a drone bay matching the type of the target drone is identified from each drone bay on the bay support to obtain the target drone bay.

[0177] Optionally, controlling the mechanical arm to grab the target UAV according to the target posture information includes:

[0178] Convert the target pose information in the visual module coordinate system into coordinates in the world coordinate system to obtain the specified pose information;

[0179] Based on the specified posture information, determining a target motion path and a target grasping point of the robotic arm for the target UAV;

[0180] The mechanical arm is controlled to move according to the target motion path, and to grasp the target UAV according to the target grasping point.

[0181] Optionally, the method further comprises:

[0182] Receiving first position information of the battery of the target UAV identified by the visual module;

[0183] After the target UAV is placed in the target UAV bay, according to the first position information, the mechanical arm is controlled to grab a battery from the target UAV and place the grabbed battery in a first designated position;

[0184] The robot arm is controlled to grab the battery to be used from the battery compartment and install the grabbed battery to be used on the target UAV; wherein the battery compartment is set on the compartment bracket and is used to place the battery, and the placement orientation of the battery in the battery compartment matches the installation direction of the battery of the target UAV placed in the compartment of the target UAV.

[0185] Optionally, the method further comprises:

[0186] Receiving second position information of the pod of the target UAV identified by the visual module;

[0187] After the target UAV is placed in the target UAV bay, according to the second position information, the mechanical arm is controlled to grab a pod from the target UAV and place the grabbed pod in a second designated position;

[0188] The mechanical arm is controlled to grab the pod to be used from the pod compartment and install the grabbed pod to be used on the target UAV; wherein the pod compartment is arranged on a compartment bracket and is used to place the pod.

[0189] In the drone control method provided by the present invention, the control module of the drone hangar can interact with the visual module to obtain the target posture information of the target drone; thereby, according to the target posture information, the robotic arm is controlled to grab the target drone (for example: path planning and grasping point determination are performed to accurately grab the target drone); and the robotic arm is controlled to place the target drone in the drone bay of the bay body.

[0190] Of course, the control module can also determine the target drone bay for placing the target drone, for example: determine the target drone bay through photoelectric detection, or determine the target drone bay through the correspondence between the drone and the drone bay; the drone bay can also be identified through the visual module to determine the target drone bay. Among them, the control module can also identify the type of the target drone based on the visual module, and then determine the target drone bay for placing the target drone according to the type of the target drone; specifically, the actual size and pixel outline of the target drone can be calculated through the drone picture taken by the visual module to determine the type of the target drone.

[0191] When the control module controls the robotic arm to grasp the target UAV according to the target posture information, the target posture information belonging to the visual coordinate system can be converted into coordinates in the world coordinate system to obtain the specified posture information; and according to the converted specified posture information, the target motion path and the target grasping point are planned, so as to control the robotic arm to move according to the target path and grasp the target UAV according to the target grasping point, thereby realizing the accurate grasping of the target UAV.

[0192] The control module can also replace the battery and pod of the target drone in a similar manner.

[0193] The drone control method provided by the embodiment of the present invention is applied to the control module of the drone hangar. When the target drone takes off, the control module determines the drone bay where the target drone is parked. Based on the drone bay where the target drone is parked, the control module controls the mechanical arm to grab the target drone from the drone bay where the target drone is parked, and controls the mechanical arm to carry the target drone from the inside of the bay body to the outside of the bay body to facilitate the take-off of the drone. When the target drone returns and is located in the overlapping area, the control module controls the mechanical arm to grab the target drone based on the target posture information of the posture recognition of the target drone by the visual module, and carries the target drone from the outside of the bay body to the inside of the bay body, and controls the mechanical arm to place the target drone in the target drone bay to realize the recovery of the target drone. That is, in the present invention, when the drone returns, the posture of the drone can be visually identified, the mechanical arm can be controlled to grab the target drone, carry the target drone from the outside of the bay body to the inside, and place the target drone in the target drone bay. When the drone takes off, the mechanical arm can be controlled to grab the target drone from the drone bay where the target drone is parked and move from the inside of the bay body to the outside of the bay body. It can be seen that the present invention provides a new solution for a drone hangar to control drones, which can visually identify the position and posture of the drone, actively grasp the drone through a robotic arm for control, and is independent of the landing accuracy of the drone. It improves the control efficiency and accuracy of the drone hangar over the drone and reduces the limitations of related applications.

[0194] A drone control method provided by the present invention is introduced below in conjunction with another embodiment.

[0195] like Figure 4 As shown, a drone control method provided by the present invention may include the following steps:

[0196] S401: The visual module identifies the drone’s position and posture;

[0197] S402: The control module obtains the position and posture of the drone;

[0198] S403: The control module calculates the position and posture of the UAV in the world coordinate system;

[0199] S404: The control module calculates the motion parameters of each joint of the robotic arm;

[0200] S405: The control module plans the target motion path and target grasping point of the robot arm;

[0201] S406: The control module controls the robot arm to move according to the target motion path;

[0202] S407: The control module controls the robotic arm to grab the drone according to the target grabbing point;

[0203] S408: The control module controls the robotic arm to place the drone into the drone bay;

[0204] The present invention provides a method for controlling a drone. In the drone recovery stage (i.e., the target drone to be recovered is already in the overlapping area between the field of view of the visual module and the grasping area of ​​the mechanical arm), the visual module identifies the drone posture, the control module obtains the drone posture and performs calculations, and converts the drone posture from the visual module coordinate system to the world coordinate system (the base of the mechanical arm can be the reference of the world coordinate system). The control module calculates the motion parameters of each joint of the mechanical arm, and plans the target motion path and target grasping point of the mechanical arm. By driving each joint of the mechanical arm, the mechanical arm moves according to the target motion path, and drives the gripper to grasp the drone according to the target grasping point, and controls the mechanical arm to place the drone in the drone cabin. The control module can also unload the batteries and pods of the drone placed in the drone bay through the robotic arm and the vision module, and place the batteries and pods in an empty battery bay and an empty pod bay respectively; and, grab spare batteries and spare pods from the battery bay containing spare batteries and the pod bay containing spare pods (pods to be used) and install them on the drone, thereby realizing automatic replacement of batteries and pods.

[0205] It can be seen that the present invention can visually identify the position of the drone, actively grasp the drone through the mechanical arm to control it, and does not rely on the landing accuracy of the drone, thereby reducing the limitations of drone control. In addition, based on the control module, the mechanical arm and the visual module, the automatic replacement of the drone battery and pod is realized.

[0206] It should be noted that, in this article, relational terms such as first and second, etc. are only used to distinguish one entity or operation from another entity or operation, and do not necessarily require or imply any such actual relationship or order between these entities or operations. Moreover, the terms "include", "comprise" or any other variants thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, method, article or device including a series of elements includes not only those elements, but also other elements not explicitly listed, or also includes elements inherent to such process, method, article or device. In the absence of further restrictions, the elements defined by the sentence "comprise a ..." do not exclude the existence of other identical elements in the process, method, article or device including the elements.

[0207] Each embodiment in this specification is described in a related manner, and the same or similar parts between the embodiments can be referred to each other, and each embodiment focuses on the differences from other embodiments. In particular, for the method embodiment, since it is basically similar to the method embodiment, the description is relatively simple, and the relevant parts can be referred to the partial description of the method embodiment.

[0208] The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the protection scope of the present invention. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present invention are included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A drone hangar, characterized in that: include: Robotic arm, vision module, cabin body and control module; The visual module is arranged on the robotic arm, and the field of view of the visual module and the grasping area of ​​the robotic arm overlap; The cabin body comprises a cabin bracket and one or more types of drone cabins arranged on the cabin bracket, each type of drone cabin is used to store a type of drone; The control module is communicatively connected with the visual module and the mechanical arm, and is used to determine the drone bay where the target drone is parked when the target drone takes off, and based on the drone bay where the target drone is parked, control the mechanical arm to grab the target drone from the drone bay where the target drone is parked, and control the mechanical arm to carry the target drone from the inside of the bay body to the outside of the bay body; when the target drone returns and is located in the overlapping area, based on the visual module, identify the type of the target drone, determine the target drone bay for placing the target drone according to the type of the target drone, control the mechanical arm to grab the target drone according to the target posture information of the posture recognition of the target drone by the visual module, and carry the target drone from the outside of the bay body to the inside of the bay body, and control the The mechanical arm places the target drone in a target drone bay; wherein, one or more types of open drone bays are provided on a side of the bay support close to the mechanical arm, and the controlling the mechanical arm to place the target drone in the target drone bay includes: controlling the mechanical arm to move along a horizontal line of a center point of the opening of the target drone bay so that the target drone fits with the opening of the target drone bay to place the target drone in the target drone bay; a method for determining the position of the center point of the opening of the target drone bay includes: determining a vertex position of the opening of the target drone bay based on an image of the opening of the target drone bay taken by the visual module, and determining the position of the center point of the opening of the target drone bay based on the vertex position and an intersection point of a first diagonal line and a second diagonal line in the opening.

2. The drone hangar according to claim 1, characterized in that: The drone hangar further comprises a hangar shell, and the cabin body is located in a space formed by the hangar shell; The cabin bracket is an arc bracket or a circular bracket.

3. According to the drone hangar of claim 2, a plurality of drone bays are spaced apart on the bay bracket, and the plurality of drone bays are arranged around the robotic arm.

4. The drone hangar according to claim 1, characterized in that: The drone bay on the bay bracket has a charging component corresponding to it; the charging component corresponding to the drone bay is a wireless charging component or a wired charging component.

5. The drone hangar according to claim 1, characterized in that: The control module controls the mechanical arm to place the target UAV in front of the target UAV bay, and is also used to: Performing photoelectric detection on a plurality of UAV bays arranged on the bay bracket to obtain photoelectric detection information; Based on the photoelectric detection information, the drone bays that are currently in an idle state are identified, and a drone bay is selected from the drone bays that are in an idle state to obtain the target drone bay; or, According to the correspondence between drones and drone bays, the drone bay corresponding to the target drone is determined to obtain the target drone bay; or, Based on the visual module, a drone bay matching the type of the target drone is identified from each drone bay on the bay support to obtain the target drone bay.

6. The drone hangar according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: The control module controls the mechanical arm to grab the target UAV according to the target posture information of the target UAV performed by the visual module, specifically: Receiving target pose information in a visual module coordinate system obtained by performing pose recognition on the target UAV by the visual module, and converting the target pose information into coordinates in a world coordinate system to obtain designated pose information; Based on the specified posture information, determining a target motion path and a target grasping point of the robotic arm for the target UAV; The mechanical arm is controlled to move according to the target motion path, and to grasp the target UAV according to the target grasping point.

7. The drone hangar according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: The robotic arm comprises: a base, a first rotating shaft, a linear module and a robotic arm body; The robot arm body is arranged on the linear module so as to be driven by the linear module to perform vertical movement; The linear module is connected to the first rotating shaft and the first rotating shaft is arranged on the base, so that the first rotating shaft drives the robot arm body to rotate.

8. The drone hangar according to claim 6, characterized in that: The robot arm body comprises: a first joint arm, a second rotating shaft, a second joint arm, a gripper rotating shaft and a gripper; The first joint arm and the second joint arm are connected via the second rotating shaft, so that the second joint arm generates a rotational motion driven by the second rotating shaft; The gripper and the designated end of the second joint arm are connected via the gripper shaft so that the gripper performs an opening and closing action driven by the gripper shaft, and the designated end is an end away from the first joint arm.

9. The drone hangar according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: The compartment body further includes: a battery compartment provided in the compartment bracket for placing batteries; the placement orientation of the batteries in the battery compartment matches the installation orientation of the batteries of the target drone placed in the target drone compartment; The control module is also used to control the robotic arm to grab the battery from the target drone and place the grabbed battery at a first designated position after the target drone is placed in the target drone bay, based on the first position information of the battery of the target drone identified by the visual module, and to control the robotic arm to grab the battery to be used from the battery bay and install the grabbed battery to be used on the target drone.

10. The drone hangar according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: The cabin body also includes: a pod cabin provided on the cabin bracket for placing a pod; The control module is also used to control the robotic arm to grab the pod from the target drone and place the grabbed pod at a second designated position after the target drone is placed in the target drone bay, based on the second position information of the pod of the target drone obtained by the visual module for position identification, and to control the robotic arm to grab the pod to be used from the pod bay and install the grabbed pod to be used on the target drone.

11. A method for controlling a drone, characterized in that: The control module applied to the drone hangar of claim 1, the method comprising: When the target drone takes off, the drone bay where the target drone is parked is determined, and based on the drone bay where the target drone is parked, the mechanical arm of the drone hangar is controlled to grab the target drone from the drone bay where the target drone is parked in the drone hangar, and the mechanical arm is controlled to carry the target drone from the inside of the bay body to the outside of the bay body; When the target UAV returns and is located in the overlapping area, the type of the target UAV is identified based on the visual module, and the target UAV bay for placing the target UAV is determined according to the type of the target UAV, and the target posture information of the target UAV performed by the visual module of the UAV hangar is received, and according to the target posture information, the mechanical arm is controlled to grab the target UAV, and carry the target UAV from the outside of the bay body to the inside of the bay body, and the mechanical arm is controlled to place the target UAV in the target UAV bay; wherein, the control of the mechanical arm to place the target UAV The method for determining the position of the center point of the opening of the target drone bay comprises: controlling the mechanical arm to move along the horizontal line of the center point of the opening of the target drone bay so that the target drone fits with the opening of the target drone bay to place the target drone in the target drone bay; the method for determining the position of the center point of the opening of the target drone bay comprises: determining the vertex position of the opening of the target drone bay based on the image of the opening of the target drone bay taken by the visual module, and determining the position of the center point of the opening of the target drone bay based on the vertex position and the intersection point of the first diagonal line and the second diagonal line in the opening.

12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that The controlling the mechanical arm to place the target UAV in front of the target UAV bay, the method further comprises: Perform photoelectric detection on multiple UAV bays set on the bay bracket to obtain photoelectric detection information; Based on the photoelectric detection information, the drone bays that are currently in an idle state are identified, and a drone bay is selected from the drone bays that are in an idle state to obtain the target drone bay; or, According to the correspondence between drones and drone bays, the drone bay corresponding to the target drone is determined to obtain the target drone bay; or, Based on the visual module, a drone bay matching the type of the target drone is identified from each drone bay on the bay support to obtain the target drone bay.

13. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that The step of controlling the mechanical arm to grab the target UAV according to the target posture information includes: Convert the target pose information in the visual module coordinate system into coordinates in the world coordinate system to obtain the specified pose information; Based on the specified posture information, determining a target motion path and a target grasping point of the robotic arm for the target UAV; The mechanical arm is controlled to move according to the target motion path, and to grasp the target UAV according to the target grasping point.

14. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that The method further comprises: Receiving first position information of the battery of the target UAV identified by the visual module; After the target UAV is placed in the target UAV bay, according to the first position information, the mechanical arm is controlled to grab a battery from the target UAV and place the grabbed battery in a first designated position; The robot arm is controlled to grab the battery to be used from the battery compartment and install the grabbed battery to be used on the target UAV; wherein the battery compartment is set on the compartment bracket and is used to place the battery, and the placement orientation of the battery in the battery compartment matches the installation direction of the battery of the target UAV placed in the compartment of the target UAV.

15. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that The method further comprises: Receiving second position information of the pod of the target UAV identified by the visual module; After the target UAV is placed in the target UAV bay, according to the second position information, the mechanical arm is controlled to grab a pod from the target UAV and place the grabbed pod in a second designated position; The mechanical arm is controlled to grab the pod to be used from the pod compartment and install the grabbed pod to be used on the target UAV; wherein the pod compartment is arranged on a compartment bracket and is used to place the pod.

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