Automobile charging method, robot, control equipment, charging pile and charging system

Abstract

The invention provides an automobile charging method, a robot, control equipment, a charging pile and a charging system, and relates to the technical field of electric automobiles. The method is applied to an automobile charging system and comprises the steps that a control device monitors whether a charging parking space is idle or not, and when the charging parking space is idle, a parking instruction is sent to a to-be-charged automobile, and a charging instruction is sent to a robot; the robot determines charging position information of the to-be-charged vehicle, determines a motion path based on the charging position information, executes charging operation and ends charging operation through the charging pile based on the motion path, and sends a charging end instruction to the control equipment; and the control equipment determines a target parking space according to the charging ending instruction, and sends a parking-out instruction to the to-be-charged vehicle, so that the to-be-charged vehicle is driven into the target parking space. The charging operation is automatically executed through the robot, and the multiple parking spaces share one charging pile, so that the utilization rate of the charging piles is improved while the installation number of the charging piles is reduced.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of electric vehicles, and more specifically, to a vehicle charging method, a robot, a control device, a charging pile, and a charging system. Background Art

[0002] With the rapid growth of the new energy vehicle market, the demand for charging infrastructure is also increasing. At the same time, the advancement of intelligent technology enables vehicles to achieve functions such as automatic parking and automatic driving, further promoting the demand for efficient charging solutions.

[0003] The existing car charging method is to equip each parking space with a charging pile. This one-to-one charging mode can meet the user's needs for efficient charging. However, if the charging pile is unattended and the car is parked for a long time, especially if it still occupies the charging parking space after charging is completed, the charging pile will be idle, resulting in a waste of resources and reducing the utilization rate of the charging pile. Summary of the invention

[0004] The purpose of this application is to provide a car charging method, a robot, a control device, a charging pile and a charging system to address the deficiencies in the above-mentioned prior art, so as to solve the problem of low utilization rate of charging piles in the prior art.

[0005] To achieve the above purpose, the technical solution adopted in the embodiment of the present application is as follows:

[0006] In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a vehicle charging method, which is applied to a vehicle charging system, wherein the vehicle charging system includes a control device, a charging pile, and a robot, and the method includes:

[0007] The control device monitors whether the charging parking space is free, and when the charging parking space is free, sends a parking instruction to the vehicle to be charged parked in the parking space, so that the vehicle to be charged parks in the charging parking space, and the control device sends a charging instruction to the robot, wherein the charging pile is arranged at the location of the charging parking space;

[0008] The robot determines the charging position information of the vehicle to be charged, determines a motion path based on the charging position information, performs a charging operation based on the motion path and through the charging pile, terminates the charging operation based on the motion path, and sends a charging termination instruction to the control device;

[0009] The control device determines a target parking space according to the charging end instruction, and sends a parking exit instruction to the vehicle to be charged, so that the vehicle to be charged leaves the charging parking space and enters the target parking space.

[0010] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a robot, the robot being mounted on a movable vehicle, the robot being used to execute the method steps executed by the robot in any one of the vehicle charging methods described in the first aspect;

[0011] The robot is equipped with an information collection device, which is used to collect images of vehicles to be charged to determine charging position information of the vehicles to be charged.

[0012] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a control device, wherein the control device is used to execute the method steps executed by the control device in any one of the vehicle charging methods described in the first aspect;

[0013] The control device is equipped with a visual acquisition device, which is used to monitor whether a charging parking space is vacant and whether there is an vacant parking space among multiple parking spaces.

[0014] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a charging pile, which is arranged at a charging parking space, and is used to charge a vehicle to be charged.

[0015] In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a car charging system, which includes the robot described in the second aspect, the control device described in the third aspect, and the charging pile described in the fourth aspect, and the control device, the charging pile and the robot are communicatively connected.

[0016] According to the automobile charging method, robot, control device, charging pile and charging system of the embodiment of the present application, the control device monitors whether the charging parking space is free, and when the charging parking space is free, sends a parking instruction to the vehicle to be charged parked in the parking space, so that the vehicle to be charged is parked in the charging parking space, and sends a charging instruction to the robot, the robot determines the charging position information of the vehicle to be charged, determines the motion path based on the charging position information, performs the charging operation based on the motion path and through the charging pile, performs the end charging operation based on the motion path, and sends a charging end instruction to the control device, the control device determines the target parking space according to the charging end instruction, and sends a parking instruction to the vehicle to be charged, so that the vehicle to be charged leaves the charging parking space and enters the target parking space. According to the embodiment of the present application, it is not necessary to equip each parking space with a charging pile, and only the charging pile is installed at the location of the charging parking space. When the charging parking space is free, the control device responds quickly to perform dynamic scheduling, so that the vehicle to be charged automatically parks in the charging parking space, and automatically completes the charging operation through the robot, and controls the vehicle to be charged to automatically park out of the charging parking space after the charging of the vehicle to be charged is completed, so as to avoid the occupation of the charging parking space. In this way, by sharing one charging pile with multiple parking spaces, the number of charging piles installed is reduced while the utilization rate of the charging piles is improved. The charging operation is automatically performed by the robot during the entire charging process without human intervention, thereby improving the efficiency of the charging process. And after charging is completed, the control device is dynamically scheduled to reduce the idle time of the charging pile. Compared with the traditional one-to-one fixed charging pile charging method, the present application significantly improves the efficiency of the use of charging piles, reduces equipment investment, and improves user experience through automated operation. It quickly responds to the charging needs of vehicles through intelligent scheduling, avoiding the waste of resources caused by idle charging piles. In addition, the embodiments of the present application have higher flexibility, efficiency and economy, and can better meet the growing charging needs of new energy vehicles. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the drawings required for use in the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. It should be understood that the following drawings only show certain embodiments of the present application and therefore should not be regarded as limiting the scope. For ordinary technicians in this field, other related drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying creative work.

[0018] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the architecture of a vehicle charging system provided by an embodiment of the present application is shown;

[0019] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of a process of a vehicle charging method provided in an embodiment of the present application is shown;

[0020] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of a flow chart of a method for determining a vehicle to be charged provided in an embodiment of the present application is shown;

[0021] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of a parking space provided in an embodiment of the present application is shown;

[0022] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of a motion path determination method provided in an embodiment of the present application is shown;

[0023] Figure 6 A schematic diagram showing a flow chart of another vehicle charging method provided in an embodiment of the present application is shown;

[0024] Figure 7 A schematic diagram of the structure of a control device provided in an embodiment of the present application is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0025] To make the purpose, technical scheme and advantages of the embodiments of the present application clearer, the technical scheme in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application. It should be understood that the drawings in the present application only serve the purpose of explanation and description and are not used to limit the scope of protection of the present application. In addition, it should be understood that the schematic drawings are not drawn in real proportion. The flowchart used in this application shows the operations implemented according to some embodiments of the present application. It should be understood that the operations of the flowchart can be implemented out of sequence, and the steps without logical context can be reversed in order or implemented simultaneously. In addition, those skilled in the art can add one or more other operations to the flowchart under the guidance of the content of the present application, or remove one or more operations from the flowchart.

[0026] In addition, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present application, rather than all the embodiments. The components of the embodiments of the present application described and shown in the drawings here can be arranged and designed in various configurations. Therefore, the following detailed description of the embodiments of the present application provided in the drawings is not intended to limit the scope of the application claimed for protection, but merely represents the selected embodiments of the present application. Based on the embodiments of the present application, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without making creative work belong to the scope of protection of the present application.

[0027] In order to enable those skilled in the art to use the content of this application, the following implementation is given in combination with the specific application scenario "new energy vehicle charging mode". For those skilled in the art, the general principles defined here can be applied to other embodiments and application scenarios without departing from the spirit and scope of this application. Although this application is mainly described around the vehicle charging method, it should be understood that this is only an exemplary embodiment.

[0028] It should be noted that the term "comprising" will be used in the embodiments of the present application to indicate the existence of the features declared thereafter, but does not exclude the addition of other features.

[0029] This application realizes automatic charging of cars based on robots. Based on the principle that there is a one-to-many relationship between charging piles and parking spaces, the utilization rate of charging piles is significantly improved, and a single charging pile can charge multiple vehicles while the vehicles are parked. The charging mode provided by this application is particularly suitable for parking lots in office buildings, shopping malls, residential parking lots, etc. It can improve the charging efficiency while the vehicle is parked for a long time, thereby avoiding the problem of idle charging piles caused by the traditional charging mode where charging piles correspond one to one with parking spaces, resulting in a waste of charging pile resources.

[0030] Figure 1 The schematic diagram of the structure of a vehicle charging system provided by an embodiment of the present application is shown. Figure 1 As shown, the automobile charging system includes a control device, a charging pile and a robot, and the control device, the charging pile and the robot are connected in communication. Among them, the charging pile is set at the location of the charging parking space, and the charging pile is used to charge the vehicle to be charged. The control device can be a controller, and a visual acquisition device is installed on the control device. The visual acquisition device is, for example, a panoramic vision sensor. The installation position of the panoramic vision sensor is not limited, as long as it can cover the image of each parking space. Based on the panoramic vision sensor, the control device can monitor whether the charging parking space is idle and whether there are idle parking spaces in multiple parking spaces, so as to send parking instructions to the vehicle to be charged, control the vehicle to be charged to automatically park in the charging parking space for charging, and park out of the charging parking space after charging is completed, so as to avoid the occupation of the charging pile. In addition, when there are multiple vehicles parked in multiple parking spaces without charging piles, the control device can charge each vehicle in sequence by priority scheduling, that is, based on the charging strategy of one charging pile corresponding to multiple parking spaces to avoid the waste of charging pile resources.

[0031] Optionally, the present application uses a robot to realize automatic charging of the vehicle, and the entire charging process does not require human intervention. Specifically, the robot is equipped with an information collection device, such as a visual sensor. When the control device detects that a vehicle to be charged is parked in the charging parking space, a control instruction can be sent to the robot. The robot can collect the image of the vehicle to be charged based on the visual sensor, and perform coordinate positioning based on the image of the vehicle to be charged, determine the charging position information of the vehicle to be charged, and then perform path planning based on the charging position information of the vehicle to be charged, determine the robot's movement path, and automatically charge the vehicle to be charged through the charging pile according to the movement path.

[0032] Optionally, considering that the charging holes of different types of vehicles may be set on the left side of the vehicle or on the right side of the vehicle, the robot can be a mobile robot to adapt to the automatic charging of different types of vehicles. Among them, mobile robots can be divided into autonomous mobile robots and passive mobile robots. Autonomous mobile robots refer to robots that are movable by themselves, and passive mobile robots refer to robots that are carried by mobile devices such as carts to achieve robot movement. It should be noted that in addition to using mobile robots to solve the problem of different charging hole settings for different types of vehicles, the control device can determine whether the charging hole is on the left or right side of the vehicle by identifying the vehicle type before controlling the vehicle to be charged to park in the charging parking space, and then send a parking instruction to the vehicle to be charged while sending a parking method to the vehicle to be charged. The parking method is used to indicate whether the vehicle to be charged enters the charging parking space first with the front or the rear of the vehicle first, so as to ensure that the charging hole of the vehicle to be charged and the charging pile are on the same side.

[0033] Optionally, the vehicle to be charged has an automatic parking function and can automatically park in response to a parking command sent by a control device. It can either leave the current parking space and park in a charging space for charging, or leave the charging space and park in a target parking space after charging is completed.

[0034] Based on this, according to the automobile charging system provided by the embodiment of the present application, the control device dispatches the vehicles to automatically charge in sequence, and the charging operation is performed by the robot throughout the process, without manual intervention, thereby improving the efficiency of the charging process. In addition, charging piles are not set at the locations of multiple parking spaces, and charging piles are only set at the locations of charging parking spaces, that is, multiple parking spaces share one charging pile, reducing the number of charging piles installed and the idle time, thereby improving the utilization rate of the charging piles.

[0035] The following is combined with the above Figure 1 The contents described in the illustrated automobile charging system provide a detailed description of the automobile charging method provided in the embodiment of the present application.

[0036] Figure 2 A flow chart of a vehicle charging method provided in an embodiment of the present application. As a possible implementation method, refer to Figure 2 As shown, the method specifically comprises the following steps:

[0037] S201, the control device monitors whether the charging parking space is vacant, and when the charging parking space is vacant, sends a parking instruction to the vehicle to be charged parked in the parking space, so that the vehicle to be charged parks in the charging parking space, and sends a charging instruction to the robot.

[0038] Optionally, the control device can obtain parking space status information through a panoramic vision sensor, that is, determine whether there are vehicles parked in the charging parking space and each parking space. Specifically, the panoramic vision sensor collects the image of the charging parking space, and uses image processing algorithms such as object detection and feature recognition to determine whether the charging parking space is idle. If the charging parking space is idle, the control device can send a parking instruction to the vehicle to be charged parked in the parking space, and the vehicle to be charged can automatically park out of the current parking space according to the parking instruction and automatically park in the charging parking space.

[0039] Optionally, the control device can monitor whether the vehicle to be charged has completed parking and parked in the charging parking space through a panoramic vision sensor. Once the control device detects that the vehicle to be charged is parked in the charging parking space, it can send a charging instruction to the robot so that the robot can automatically charge the vehicle to be charged through the charging pile.

[0040] S202, the robot determines the charging position information of the vehicle to be charged, determines the motion path based on the charging position information, performs the charging operation through the charging pile based on the motion path, ends the charging operation based on the motion path, and sends a charging end instruction to the control device.

[0041] Optionally, the robot is equipped with a visual sensor, which can capture images of vehicles to be charged, identify the location information of the charging port of the vehicle to be charged through image processing algorithms (such as edge detection, feature point matching, etc.), and convert the location information of the charging port from the image coordinate dimension to the robot reference coordinate system, so as to determine the charging position information of the vehicle to be charged. Furthermore, combined with the current posture information of the robot and the position of the charging port in the robot reference coordinate system, the path of the robot from the current position to the charging port of the vehicle to be charged is planned using a preset path planning strategy. During the path planning process, obstacle avoidance planning is performed simultaneously, that is, obstacles in the surrounding environment are considered to ensure the safety and accessibility of the motion path.

[0042] Optionally, the robot moves to the charging pile according to the motion path planned by the path plan to perform the charging operation. After charging is completed, the vehicle to be charged will feedback a charging completion signal to the robot. The robot responds to the charging completion signal fed back by the vehicle to be charged, performs the end charging operation based on the motion path, and sends a charging end instruction to the control device after the end charging operation is completed, so that the control device controls the vehicle to be charged to leave the charging parking space, so as to avoid occupying the charging parking space for a long time and causing the charging pile to be idle, thereby causing a waste of charging pile resources.

[0043] S203: The control device determines a target parking space according to the charging end instruction, and sends a parking exit instruction to the vehicle to be charged, so that the vehicle to be charged leaves the charging space and enters the target parking space.

[0044] Optionally, the control device receives the charging end instruction sent by the robot, captures images of each parking space based on the panoramic vision sensor installed on the control device, determines whether there is an empty parking space among the multiple parking spaces through image processing and recognition, and uses the empty parking space as the target parking space, and determines the location information of the target parking space. On this basis, a parking exit instruction is sent to the vehicle to be charged, and the parking exit instruction includes the location information of the target parking space. The vehicle to be charged responds to the parking exit instruction sent by the control device, and drives out of the charging space based on the location information of the target parking space included in the parking exit instruction, and drives into the target parking space.

[0045] Based on this, according to the automobile charging method provided by the embodiment of the present application, it is not necessary to equip each parking space with a charging pile. The charging pile is only installed at the location of the charging parking space. When the charging parking space is idle, the control device responds quickly to perform dynamic scheduling, so that the vehicle to be charged is automatically parked in the charging parking space, and the charging operation is automatically completed by the robot, and after the charging of the vehicle to be charged is completed, the vehicle to be charged is controlled to automatically park out of the charging parking space to avoid the occupation of the charging parking space. In this way, by sharing a charging pile by multiple parking spaces, the number of charging piles installed is reduced while the utilization rate of the charging pile is improved, and the charging operation is automatically performed by the robot during the entire charging process without manual intervention, thereby improving the efficiency of the charging process. And after charging is completed, the control device is dynamically scheduled to reduce the idle time of the charging pile. Compared with the traditional one-to-one fixed charging pile charging method, the present application significantly improves the use efficiency of the charging pile, reduces equipment investment, and improves user experience through automated operation. It quickly responds to the charging needs of the vehicle through intelligent scheduling, avoiding the waste of resources caused by the idle charging pile. In addition, the embodiment of the present application has higher flexibility, efficiency and economy, and can better meet the growing demand for charging of new energy vehicles.

[0046] Figure 3 The flowchart of a method for determining a vehicle to be charged provided by an embodiment of the present application is shown. As a possible implementation, the execution subject of the method is a control device, referring to Figure 3 As shown, the method specifically comprises the following steps:

[0047] S301. Obtain vehicle information of each vehicle parked in each parking space.

[0048] Optionally, the vehicle information includes at least one of the following indicators: the time when the vehicle enters the parking space, the user's scheduled charging time, the battery capacity, the remaining battery power, the vehicle type, the vehicle power, and the vehicle usage frequency. It should be noted that the vehicle information includes but is not limited to the above indicators.

[0049] Optionally, the vehicle to be charged has an on-board system that provides a user operation interface, and the user can input the scheduled charging time based on the user operation interface. The control device utilizes the communication connection with the vehicle to be charged to obtain the user's scheduled charging time, battery capacity, remaining battery power, vehicle power size, and vehicle usage frequency, and collects the time when the vehicle enters the parking space and the vehicle type based on the panoramic vision sensor installed on the control device.

[0050] S302: Determine the charging priority of each vehicle according to the vehicle information of each vehicle.

[0051] Optionally, the control device collects vehicle information of each vehicle, extracts index items related to charging priority from the vehicle information, assigns weights to each index item, performs weighted scoring according to the weights, obtains a comprehensive score for each vehicle, and then sorts each vehicle based on the comprehensive score to determine the charging priority of each vehicle.

[0052] Optionally, the above step S302 specifically includes: determining the score of each vehicle according to the preset allocation weight of each indicator item of each vehicle, the value of each indicator item and the preset scoring strategy; and determining the charging priority of each vehicle according to the score of each vehicle.

[0053] For example, refer to Figure 4 As shown, there are charging parking spaces with charging piles and multiple ordinary parking spaces and fixed parking spaces without charging piles, and a certain distance is reserved between each parking space to facilitate the movement of the robot when performing charging operations.

[0054] For example, taking the user's scheduled charging time, the time when the vehicle enters the parking space, the remaining battery power, the vehicle type, the vehicle power size, and the vehicle use frequency as indicators to determine the charging priority of each vehicle, if the user's scheduled charging time has a weight of 0.3, the vehicle's parking time has a weight of 0.1, the battery's remaining power has a weight of 0.3, the vehicle type has a weight of 0.1, the vehicle power size has a weight of 0.1, and the vehicle use frequency has a weight of 0.1, and according to the value of each indicator and the preset evaluation The index scores of each indicator obtained by the strategy are: the index score obtained by the user's scheduled charging time is 0.8, the index score obtained by the time the vehicle enters the parking space is 0.7, the index score obtained by the remaining battery power is 0.5, the index score obtained by the vehicle type is 0.9, the index score obtained by the vehicle power size is 0.6, and the index score obtained by the vehicle usage frequency is 0.6. The score of the vehicle is 0.8×0.3+0.7×0.1+0.5×0.3+0.9×0.1+0.6×0.1+0.6×0.1=0.67.

[0055] For example, in combination Figure 4 As shown, if Figure 4 Vehicle 1 is parked in ordinary parking space 1, vehicle 2 is parked in ordinary parking space 2, vehicle 3 is parked in ordinary parking space 3, vehicle 4 is parked in ordinary parking space 4, and vehicle 5 is parked in ordinary parking space 5. The scores of each vehicle are calculated in the above manner, and the charging priority of each vehicle is determined according to the score of each vehicle. For example, the score of vehicle 1 is 0.67, the score of vehicle 2 is 0.66, the score of vehicle 3 is 0.57, the score of vehicle 4 is 0.55, and the score of vehicle 5 is 0.47. Based on the principle that the higher the vehicle score, the greater the charging priority of the vehicle, the charging priority of each vehicle is determined as follows: vehicle 1> vehicle 2> vehicle 3> vehicle 4> vehicle 5.

[0056] S303. Determine the vehicle to be charged based on the charging priority of each vehicle.

[0057] For example, the charging priority of the above-mentioned vehicles is: vehicle 1> vehicle 2> vehicle 3> vehicle 4> vehicle 5. Based on the principle that the greater the charging priority of a vehicle, the higher the possibility that the vehicle is a vehicle to be charged, the above-mentioned vehicle 1 can be used as a vehicle to be charged. On this basis, the control device sends a parking instruction to the vehicle 1 parked in the ordinary parking space 1, so that the vehicle 1 leaves the ordinary parking space 1 and parks in the charging space. After charging is completed, the control device sends a parking instruction to the vehicle 1, so that the vehicle 1 parks out of the charging space and enters the target parking space. Thereafter, according to the charging priority of each vehicle, the control device can send a parking instruction to the vehicle 2 parked in the ordinary parking space 2 to automatically charge the vehicle 2.

[0058] It should be noted that, since the parking space where the vehicle is parked may change before and after charging, after the vehicle enters the target parking space, the owner of the vehicle may be informed of the location information of the target parking space where the vehicle is parked after charging.

[0059] Based on this, the vehicle information of each vehicle parked in the parking space is collected and weighted scoring is performed, and the charging priority of each vehicle is determined according to the score of each vehicle, so that the control device can realize intelligent scheduling according to the charging priority of each vehicle.

[0060] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of a motion path determination method provided by an embodiment of the present application is shown. As a possible implementation, the execution subject of the method is a robot, referring to Figure 5 As shown, the method specifically comprises the following steps:

[0061] S501. Collect an image of the vehicle to be charged based on an information collection device installed on the robot, perform image recognition on the image of the vehicle to be charged, and determine the image coordinates corresponding to the charging port of the vehicle to be charged.

[0062] Exemplarily, the information collection device may be a visual sensor or a camera or other shooting device. When the vehicle to be charged is parked in the charging parking space, the visual sensor installed on the robot is used to capture the image of the vehicle to be charged, and the image of the vehicle to be charged is preprocessed, including but not limited to graying, filtering, noise reduction, etc., and then the image processing algorithms such as edge detection and contour extraction are used to extract the features of the charging hole of the vehicle to be charged, and then the position of the charging hole of the vehicle to be charged is identified, and the image coordinates of the charging hole of the vehicle to be charged in the image of the vehicle to be charged are determined.

[0063] S502 . Perform coordinate transformation on the image coordinates corresponding to the charging hole to obtain the position coordinates of the charging hole in the robot reference coordinate system.

[0064] Exemplarily, a robot reference coordinate system is defined. The robot reference coordinate system can take the current position of the robot as the origin, and use a coordinate change algorithm (such as perspective change, affine transformation, etc.) to convert the image coordinates corresponding to the charging port into position coordinates in the robot reference system.

[0065] Furthermore, the obtained position coordinates of the charging hole in the robot reference coordinate system can be calibrated and marked to ensure the accuracy of the coordinate transformation.

[0066] S503: Determine the motion path by using a preset path optimization strategy based on the position information of the charging cover, the position information of the charging gun, and the position coordinates of the charging hole in the robot reference coordinate system.

[0067] Exemplarily, the robot obtains the position coordinates of the charging port in the robot reference coordinate system, as well as the position information of the charging gun and the charging cover. The position information of the charging gun refers to the position coordinates of the charging gun in the robot reference coordinate system, and the position information of the charging cover refers to the position information of the charging cover relative to the charging port. On this basis, combined with the position information of obstacles that the robot needs to avoid during movement, according to the preset path optimization strategy, combined with the position information of the charging port, charging gun, charging cover and obstacles, the optimal movement path is determined. Among them, the preset path optimization strategy is, for example, a path planning algorithm (Rapidly-exploring Random Tree, RRT).

[0068] Exemplarily, the RRT algorithm can take the position of the charging gun as the starting point and the position of the charging port as the end point, create a tree structure with the starting point as the root node, and randomly select a point in the workspace where the robot moves. The point is within the reachable range of the robot and does not compare with known obstacles. Then, the tree structure is expanded by iteratively searching for the nearest node until the distance between the new node and the end point is less than a preset threshold or the maximum number of iterations is reached. The tree structure is traversed in reverse from the end point to determine the path from the starting point to the end point.

[0069] Based on this, the robot's movement path is planned through a path planning algorithm to ensure that the robot can accurately reach the charging port of the vehicle to be charged from the position of the charging gun, so that the robot can complete the charging operation.

[0070] As a possible implementation, the above steps are based on the motion path and perform charging operations through the charging pile, including:

[0071] Move to the location of the charging cover of the vehicle to be charged according to the movement path; open the charging cover of the vehicle to be charged; move to the location of the charging pile according to the movement path, remove the charging gun from the charging pile, and perform the gun insertion operation to insert the charging gun into the charging hole of the vehicle to be charged to charge the vehicle to be charged.

[0072] Exemplarily, according to the motion path obtained by path planning, the robot is started to move to the position of the charging cover, and determines whether it has reached the charging cover position based on the visual sensor installed on the robot. The robot accurately opens the charging cover through the robotic arm, and continues to move to the position of the charging pile based on the motion path. The robotic arm accurately grasps the charging gun according to the position information of the charging gun, and after grasping the charging gun, moves to the position of the charging port of the vehicle to be charged, and then performs the gun insertion operation to insert the charging gun into the charging port, so that the charging pile starts charging the vehicle to be charged.

[0073] Optionally, the above steps terminate the charging operation based on the motion path, including: pulling out the charging gun from the charging port of the vehicle to be charged based on the motion path, putting the charging gun back into the charging pile, and closing the charging cover of the vehicle to be charged.

[0074] Exemplarily, after the vehicle to be charged has completed charging, the robot is started to move to the position of the charging port according to the motion path. The robotic arm accurately pulls out the charging gun based on the position information of the charging gun. The robot continues to move to the position of the charging pile, puts the charging gun back into the charging pile, and then moves to the position of the charging cover and accurately closes the charging cover, thereby ending the charging operation of the vehicle to be charged.

[0075] Based on this, the path planning robot is used to realize automatic charging of the vehicles to be charged. This process is based on robot movement and robotic arm control, without the need for human intervention, which significantly improves the charging efficiency of the vehicle.

[0076] As a possible implementation method, the above steps determine the target parking space according to the charging end instruction, including: determining whether there is an empty parking space among multiple parking spaces; if so, taking the empty parking space as the target parking space; otherwise, taking a preset fixed parking space as the target parking space.

[0077] For example, if the vehicle to be charged parked in the current charging parking space is fully charged, the control device can monitor the status information of each parking space based on the panoramic vision sensor, that is, whether each parking space is vacant. Figure 4 As shown, in the present application, multiple parking spaces without charging piles include at least one fixed parking space and multiple ordinary parking spaces. The fixed parking space is idle by default, that is, if there are vehicles parked in multiple ordinary parking spaces and there are vehicles being charged in the charging spaces, parking is no longer allowed in the fixed parking space, so as to ensure that the vehicles being charged in the charging spaces can use the fixed parking space as the target parking space after charging is completed, thereby avoiding invalid occupation of the charging spaces.

[0078] For example, if there are multiple vacant parking spaces among the multiple parking spaces, the multiple vacant parking spaces may be selected as candidate target parking spaces, and one vacant parking space may be selected from the candidate target parking spaces as the final target parking space. The selection criteria may be selected based on distance, for example, selecting the vacant parking space closest to the charging space, thereby shortening the vehicle parking time, thereby shortening the idle time of the charging pile and improving the utilization rate of the charging pile. In addition, the vacant parking space that is most convenient for entry and exit may also be selected as the target parking space.

[0079] Based on this, by real-time monitoring of the status of parking spaces, the control device can dynamically allocate free parking spaces according to the actual occupancy of the current parking spaces to avoid waste of resources. When there are multiple free parking spaces, the most suitable parking space can be selected as the target parking space. When all parking spaces are occupied, the preset fixed parking spaces can be used as a reliable backup plan to ensure that there is always a place to park the vehicle. In this way, the utilization efficiency of parking spaces can be improved while responding to changes in parking space demand and flexibly allocating free parking spaces.

[0080] Figure 6 FIG. 1 is a flow chart of another method for charging a vehicle provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 6As shown, when the panoramic vision sensor installed on the control device determines that there is a vehicle to be charged parked in the charging parking space, it sends a charging instruction to the robot. The visual sensor installed on the robot will locate the charging position information of the vehicle to be charged. The robot converts the charging position information into coordinates and performs path planning. The robot's mechanical arm first opens the charging cover, executes the motion instruction to perform joint / Cartesian motion to remove the charging gun from the charging pile, and inserts the charging gun into the charging hole of the vehicle to be charged. When the vehicle to be charged is charged, the vehicle to be charged feeds back a signal that charging is completed to the robot. The robot unplugs the charging gun and returns it to the charging pile, covers the charging cover, and feeds back a signal that the car can leave to the control device. The control device can determine the location information of the target parking space that the vehicle to be charged needs to enter according to the current parking space availability through the priority scheduling algorithm, so as to control the vehicle to be charged to enter the target parking space through the automatic driving and automatic parking system, and feed back a signal to the control device after parking is completed, so as to achieve the flow of the entire process. This cycle repeats itself. When there are multiple vehicles parked in a parking space, the charging mode provided by this application can be used to automatically charge the vehicles in an unmanned state, thereby improving the utilization efficiency of the charging piles and avoiding the waste of resources caused by multiple charging piles.

[0081] The present application provides a charging mode that uses a robot to complete car charging. By using the car's automatic parking system, the car can be parked at a designated charging position, and signal communication is performed with the robot, so that the robot uses a visual sensor to complete the autonomous charging action. When there are multiple cars parked in a parking space, the control device can use a scheduling algorithm to send signals between the charging pile, the robot, and the vehicle to be charged, complete the charging process of moving the car to the charging space, the robot completing the charging plug-in operation, and finally parking the charged car in the target parking space. In this way, when no one is watching, the control device schedules multiple cars based on priority to perform autonomous parking and charging within a specific time period, and cooperates with the robot to complete the automatic plug-in and unplugging of the charging gun to complete the final charging service. Based on this, according to the embodiment of the present application, the utilization efficiency of the charging pile is significantly improved, and the problem of excessive waste of charging piles caused by vehicles being parked in charging spaces for a long time is avoided.

[0082] The embodiment of the present application provides a robot, which is mounted on a movable vehicle, and is used to perform the method steps performed by the robot in any of the above-mentioned vehicle charging methods;

[0083] An information collection device is installed on the robot, and the information collection device is used to collect images of the vehicle to be charged to determine the charging position information of the vehicle to be charged.

[0084] The present application embodiment provides a control device, such as Figure 7As shown, it is a schematic diagram of the structure of the control device 700 provided in the embodiment of the present application, including: a processor 701, a memory 702, and optionally, a bus 703. The memory 702 stores machine-readable instructions executable by the processor 701. When the control device 700 is running, the processor 701 communicates with the memory 702 through the bus 703. When the machine-readable instructions are executed by the processor 701, the method steps executed by the control device in any of the above-mentioned vehicle charging methods are executed;

[0085] A visual acquisition device is installed on the control device, and the visual acquisition device is used to monitor whether the charging parking space is vacant and whether there is an vacant parking space among multiple parking spaces.

[0086] An embodiment of the present application provides a charging pile, which is arranged at a location where a charging parking space is located, and is used to charge a vehicle to be charged.

[0087] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored. When the computer program is executed by a processor, the steps in any of the above-described vehicle charging methods are executed.

[0088] Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that, for the convenience and simplicity of description, the specific working process of the system and device described above can refer to the corresponding process in the method embodiment, and will not be repeated in this application. In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, device and method can be implemented in other ways. The device embodiments described above are merely schematic. For example, the division of the modules is only a logical function division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation. For example, multiple modules or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be through some communication interfaces, indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or modules, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0089] In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application can be integrated into a processing unit, or each unit can exist physically separately, or two or more units can be integrated into one unit. If the function is implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present invention is essentially or part of the technical solution that contributes to the prior art or part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product, and the computer software product is stored in a storage medium, including several instructions for a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the method described in each embodiment of the present invention. The aforementioned storage medium includes: U disk, mobile hard disk, read-only memory (ROM, Read-Only Memory), random access memory (RAM, RandomAccess Memory), disk or optical disk and other media that can store program code.

[0090] The above are only specific implementation methods of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto. Any technician familiar with the technical field can easily think of changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in the present application, which should be covered by the protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A method for charging a car, characterized in that: Applied to a car charging system, the car charging system includes a control device, a charging pile and a robot, and the method includes: The control device monitors whether the charging parking space is free, and when the charging parking space is free, sends a parking instruction to the vehicle to be charged parked in the parking space, so that the vehicle to be charged parks in the charging parking space, and the control device sends a charging instruction to the robot, wherein the charging pile is arranged at the location of the charging parking space; The robot determines the charging position information of the vehicle to be charged, determines a motion path based on the charging position information, performs a charging operation based on the motion path and through the charging pile, terminates the charging operation based on the motion path, and sends a charging termination instruction to the control device; The control device determines a target parking space according to the charging end instruction, and sends a parking exit instruction to the vehicle to be charged, so that the vehicle to be charged leaves the charging parking space and enters the target parking space.

2. The vehicle charging method according to claim 1, characterized in that: Before sending a parking instruction to the vehicle to be charged parked in the parking space, the method further includes: Acquiring vehicle information of each vehicle parked in each of the parking spaces; Determining a charging priority of each of the vehicles according to the vehicle information of each of the vehicles; The vehicles to be charged are determined based on the charging priorities of the vehicles.

3. The vehicle charging method according to claim 2, characterized in that: The vehicle information includes at least one of the following indicators: the time when the vehicle enters the parking space, the user's scheduled charging time, the battery capacity, the remaining battery power, the vehicle type, the vehicle power, and the vehicle usage frequency; The step of determining the charging priority of each vehicle according to the vehicle information of each vehicle includes: Determining the score of each of the vehicles according to the preset allocation weights of each of the indicator items of each of the vehicles, the values ​​of each indicator item and the preset scoring strategy; The charging priority of each of the vehicles is determined according to the score of each of the vehicles.

4. The vehicle charging method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The determining the charging position information of the vehicle to be charged, and determining the movement path based on the charging position information, comprises: The information collection device installed on the robot collects an image of the vehicle to be charged, and performs image recognition on the image of the vehicle to be charged to determine the image coordinates corresponding to the charging hole of the vehicle to be charged; Performing coordinate transformation on the image coordinates corresponding to the charging hole to obtain the position coordinates of the charging hole in the robot reference coordinate system; The motion path is determined by utilizing a preset path optimization strategy based on the position information of the charging cover, the position information of the charging gun, and the position coordinates of the charging hole in the robot reference coordinate system.

5. The vehicle charging method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The performing a charging operation based on the motion path and through the charging pile includes: Moving along the motion path to the location of the charging cover of the vehicle to be charged; Opening the charging cover of the vehicle to be charged; Move to the location of the charging pile according to the movement path, remove the charging gun from the charging pile, and perform a gun insertion operation to insert the charging gun into the charging hole of the vehicle to be charged, so as to charge the vehicle to be charged.

6. The vehicle charging method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The performing of ending the charging operation based on the motion path includes: Based on the movement path, the charging gun is pulled out from the charging hole of the vehicle to be charged, the charging gun is put back into the charging pile, and the charging cover of the vehicle to be charged is closed.

7. The vehicle charging method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The step of determining a target parking space according to the charging end instruction includes: determining whether there is a vacant parking space among the plurality of parking spaces; If yes, taking the vacant parking space as the target parking space; Otherwise, a preset fixed parking space is used as the target parking space.

8. A robot, characterized in that: The robot is mounted on a movable vehicle, and the robot is used to perform the method steps performed by the robot in the vehicle charging method according to any one of claims 1 to 7; The robot is equipped with an information collection device, which is used to collect images of the vehicle to be charged to determine the charging position information of the vehicle to be charged.

9. A control device, characterized in that: The control device is used to execute the method steps executed by the control device in the vehicle charging method according to any one of claims 1 to 7; The control device is equipped with a visual acquisition device, which is used to monitor whether a charging parking space is vacant and whether there is an vacant parking space among multiple parking spaces.

10. A charging pile, characterized in that: The charging pile is arranged at the location of the charging parking space, and the charging pile is used to charge the vehicle to be charged.

11. A car charging system, characterized in that: The automobile charging system comprises the robot according to claim 8, the control device according to claim 9 and the charging pile according to claim 10, and the control device, the charging pile and the robot are communicatively connected with each other.

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