Cross-region control method, autonomous operation equipment and readable storage medium

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides a cross-region control method, autonomous operation equipment and a readable storage medium, and relates to the technical field of autonomous operation equipment. The cross-region control method comprises the following steps: in the process that autonomous operation equipment walks along the boundary of a current first working region, if a first cross-region marker is detected, determining whether cross-region needs to be carried out or not; and if it is determined that cross-region needs to be carried out, steering and straight moving are carried out according to a set mode until a second cross-region marker is detected, it is determined that the autonomous operation equipment moves to a second working region, and the first working region and the second working region are separated by a non-working region. In the invention, the cross-region markers are arranged in pairs between the adjacent working areas, and the cross-region markers arranged in pairs are equivalent to a virtual cross-region channel established between the adjacent working areas, so that the autonomous operation equipment can realize autonomous cross-region by means of the virtual cross-region channel.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of autonomous operation equipment, and in particular to a cross-zone control method, autonomous operation equipment and a readable storage medium. Background Art

[0002] Autonomous operation equipment is especially a robot that can autonomously move within a preset area and perform specific operations, such as a smart sweeper / vacuum cleaner that performs cleaning operations, or a smart mowing robot that performs mowing operations. Usually, such autonomous operation equipment is small in size and is integrated with a sensor device, a drive device, a battery, etc. It does not require manual control and can move and work within a specified area. In addition, when the battery power is insufficient, it can automatically return to the charging station, dock with the charging station and charge, and continue to move and work after charging is completed.

[0003] For existing intelligent lawn mower robots, the working area is a large lawn, and the boundary can be identified by a camera or constructed as a closed energized wire electrically connected to the boundary signal generating device of the intelligent lawn mower robot. When the intelligent lawn mower robot reaches the boundary, it generally adopts a random turn or a first retreat and then a random turn to allow the intelligent lawn mower robot to return to the boundary and continue mowing.

[0004] However, for lawns that are divided into multiple pieces by roads, existing intelligent lawn mowing robots cannot intelligently cross from one lawn to another to perform operations. Summary of the invention

[0005] The purpose of the present invention is to provide a cross-zone control method, autonomous operation equipment and readable storage medium, wherein cross-zone markers are arranged in pairs between adjacent working areas. The cross-zone markers arranged in pairs are equivalent to establishing a virtual cross-zone channel between adjacent working areas, so that the autonomous operation equipment can achieve autonomous cross-zone with the help of the virtual cross-zone channel.

[0006] To achieve the above-mentioned purpose, the present invention provides a cross-zone control method, which is applied to autonomous operating equipment; the method includes: when the autonomous operating equipment is walking along the boundary of the first working area currently located, if a first cross-zone marker is detected, determining whether it is necessary to cross the area; if it is determined that it is necessary to cross the area, turning and going straight according to the set method until a second cross-zone marker is detected to determine that the autonomous operating equipment has moved to the second working area, and the first working area and the second working area are separated by a non-working area.

[0007] The present invention also provides an autonomous operation device for executing the above-mentioned cross-zone control method.

[0008] The present invention also provides a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, on which processor-executable instructions are stored, and the executable instructions are configured to enable a processor of an autonomous operating device to execute the cross-zone control method as described above.

[0009] In one embodiment, the determination of whether cross-zone is required includes: judging whether the autonomous operation equipment has completed the cross-zone after detecting the first cross-zone marker during the current operation; if the autonomous operation equipment has not completed the cross-zone after detecting the first cross-zone marker during the current operation, determining that cross-zone is required; if the autonomous operation equipment has completed the cross-zone after detecting the first cross-zone marker during the current operation, determining that cross-zone is not required.

[0010] In one embodiment, the determining whether a cross-zone operation is required includes: judging whether the first cross-zone marker is the cross-zone marker with the highest priority among the cross-zone markers that are currently not crossed in the first working area; if the first cross-zone marker is the cross-zone marker with the highest priority among the cross-zone markers that are currently not crossed in the first working area, determining that a cross-zone operation is required; if the first cross-zone marker is not the cross-zone marker with the highest priority among the cross-zone markers that are currently not crossed in the first working area, determining that a cross-zone operation is not required.

[0011] In one embodiment, if the autonomous operating equipment is in a returning state, determining whether a cross-zone operation is required includes: determining whether a charging station is provided in the second working area corresponding to the second cross-zone marker paired with the first cross-zone marker; if a charging station is provided in the second working area, determining that a cross-zone operation is required; if no charging station is provided in the second working area, determining that a cross-zone operation is not required.

[0012] In one embodiment, when performing the operation for the first time, the autonomous operation equipment starts from the charging station and performs the following boundary recognition steps in the current working area: walk along the boundary of the current working area according to the set direction; if the third cross-area marker is detected for the first time, turn and go straight according to the set method until the fourth cross-area marker is detected and then enters the next working area, establishes a pairing relationship between the third cross-area marker and the fourth cross-area marker, and performs the boundary recognition step in the next working area; if it is not the first time that the fifth cross-area marker is detected, determine the boundary of the current working area, turn and go straight according to the set method until the sixth cross-area marker paired with the fifth cross-area marker is detected and then return to the previous working area, and perform the boundary recognition step in the previous working area; if the charging station is detected, determine the boundary of the working area where the charging station is located, and stop walking.

[0013] In one embodiment, the method also includes: based on the target working area, determining a walking path from the first working area to the target working area, the walking path including the working area passed from the first working area to the target working area; determining whether cross-area is required, including: judging whether the second working area corresponding to the second cross-area marker paired with the first cross-area marker is in the walking path; if the second working area is in the walking path, determining that cross-area is required; if the second working area is not in the walking path, determining that cross-area is not required.

[0014] In one embodiment, turning and going straight in a set manner includes: turning and going straight based on the acquired indication information of the first cross-zone marker.

[0015] In one embodiment, turning and going straight in a set manner includes: turning in a set direction at a preset angle and then going straight. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] Figure 1 is a specific flow chart of the cross-zone control method according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

[0017] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the arrangement of the working area S1, the working area S2 and the cross-area markers according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

[0018] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of the setting of the working area S3, the working area S4, the working area S5 and the cross-area markers according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

[0019] Figure 4 is a specific flow chart of the control method of the autonomous working equipment in the first embodiment of the present invention;

[0020] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of three detection areas obtained after the current image is divided by the longitudinal dividing line LK and the longitudinal dividing line RK according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

[0021] Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of five detection areas obtained after the current image is divided by the longitudinal dividing line LK, the longitudinal dividing line RK and the transverse dividing line FK according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

[0022] Figure 7 is a schematic diagram after the front detection area in the first embodiment of the present invention is selected as the area of ​​interest;

[0023] Figure 8is a schematic diagram of a front detection area according to the first embodiment of the present invention after being controlled along the edge as an area of ​​interest;

[0024] Fig. 9 FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the division of the CPU computing unit according to functions in the first embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0025] The following will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings to provide a clearer understanding of the purpose, features and advantages of the present invention. It should be understood that the embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention, but are only intended to illustrate the essential spirit of the technical solution of the present invention.

[0026] In the following description, certain specific details are set forth for the purpose of illustrating various disclosed embodiments to provide a thorough understanding of the various disclosed embodiments. However, those skilled in the relevant art will recognize that the embodiments may be practiced without one or more of these specific details. In other cases, well-known devices, structures, and techniques associated with the present application may not be shown or described in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the description of the embodiments.

[0027] Unless the context requires otherwise, throughout the specification and claims, the word "comprise" and variations such as "include" and "have" should be construed in an open, inclusive sense, ie, should be interpreted as "including, but not limited to."

[0028] References throughout the specification to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" indicate that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. Thus, the appearances of "in one embodiment" or "in an embodiment" in various places throughout the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any manner in one or more embodiments.

[0029] As used in this specification and the appended claims, the singular forms "a", "an", and "the" include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. It should be noted that the term "or" is generally employed in its sense including "or / and" unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

[0030] In the following description, in order to clearly show the structure and working mode of the present invention, many directional words will be used for description, but the words "front", "back", "left", "right", "outside", "inside", "outward", "inward", "up", "down", etc. should be understood as convenient terms and should not be understood as restrictive terms.

[0031] The first embodiment of the present invention relates to a cross-zone control method, which is applied to autonomous working equipment. The autonomous working equipment is a robot that can autonomously move within a preset working area surrounded by a boundary and perform specific operations, such as a typical intelligent sweeper / vacuum cleaner that performs cleaning operations, or an intelligent lawn mower that performs mowing operations. The preset working area surrounded by the above-mentioned boundary can be formed by pre-buried wires at the boundary in advance. The autonomous working equipment detects the inductance signal at the boundary wire through its own inductance sensor to identify the boundary line; or, the autonomous working equipment is equipped with a camera device (for example, a camera), and the autonomous working equipment can identify the boundary through the camera device when it is working for the first time, working for the first time after being initialized and reset, or when the user triggers the boundary recognition to obtain the preset working area surrounded by the boundary. In addition, a docking station for charging the autonomous working equipment is also configured on the boundary.

[0032] The specific process of the cross-zone control method of this embodiment is as follows Figure 1 As shown; it is mainly aimed at work scenarios where multiple working areas are separated by non-working areas. For example, each working area is a whole lawn area, and multiple lawn areas are separated by non-working areas. The boundary between the non-working area and the working area has features that can be recognized by the visual sensor, such as color difference. In this case, the non-working area can be the paved ground separating the lawns, bare land, and other areas that have obvious color differences from the lawn.

[0033] For adjacent work areas, if the autonomous operation equipment is required to perform cross-area work in these two work areas, cross-area markers need to be set on the boundaries of the two work areas respectively. The cross-area markers are set in pairs, and a virtual cross-area channel is formed between the two cross-area markers. For example, the virtual cross-area channel is set by selecting the closest part between the two work areas. Among them, the cross-area marker can be a signal transmitter, and the autonomous operation equipment is equipped with a signal receiver for receiving the mark signal sent by the signal transmitter to determine that the cross-area marker is detected. The mark signal indicates the relevant information of the cross-area marker for the autonomous operation equipment to determine which cross-area marker is detected. For example, the signal transmitter is an RFID tag and the signal receiver is an RFID reader. The RFID tag can be fixed below the ground by burying or directly fixed on the surface; or, the cross-area marker is a channel label with identification information that can be recognized by an image. The autonomous operation equipment can collect the identification information on the channel label through the camera device installed thereon to determine that the cross-area marker is detected and which cross-area marker the cross-area marker is.

[0034] by Figure 2For example, the working area S1 and the working area S2 are separated by the non-working area, a cross-area marker A1 is set on the boundary of the working area S1, a cross-area marker A2 is set on the boundary of the working area S2, and a charging station X1 is also set on the boundary of the working area S1. The cross-area marker A1 and the cross-area marker A2 are a pair of cross-area markers that have established a pairing relationship, and a virtual cross-area channel between the working area S1 and the working area S2 is formed between the cross-area marker A1 and the cross-area marker A2. It should be noted that Figure 2 In the figure, a straight virtual cross-zone channel is taken as an example, but it is not limited to this. A curved virtual cross-zone channel can also be set according to the road conditions of the non-working area between the working area S1 and the working area S2. The virtual cross-zone channel driving route of each cross-zone marker can be pre-set, or an intermediate cross-zone marker can be set in the non-working area to ensure that the autonomous operating equipment can accurately pass through the virtual cross-zone channel.

[0035] by Figure 3 For example, the working area S3, the working area S4 and the working area S5 are separated by the non-working area, a cross-area marker B1 is set on the boundary of the working area S3, a cross-area marker B2 is set on the boundary of the working area S4, a cross-area marker C1 is set on the boundary of the working area S3, a cross-area marker C2 is set on the boundary of the working area S3, and a charging station X1 is also set on the boundary of the working area S3, the cross-area marker B1 and the cross-area marker B2, the cross-area marker C1 and the cross-area marker C2 are a pair of cross-area markers with established pairing relationships, a virtual cross-area channel between the working area S3 and the working area S4 is formed between the cross-area marker B1 and the cross-area marker B2, and a virtual cross-area channel between the working area S3 and the working area S5 is formed between the cross-area marker C1 and the cross-area marker C2.

[0036] Step 101, when the autonomous operation device is walking along the boundary of the first working area, if a first cross-area marker is detected, it is determined whether it is necessary to cross the area. If yes, proceed to step 102; if no, directly end.

[0037] Step 102, turn and go straight according to the set method until the second cross-zone marker is detected to determine that the autonomous operating equipment has moved to the second working area, and the first working area and the second working area are separated by a non-working area.

[0038] Specifically, the autonomous operation equipment can first operate in the working area where it is located, for example, using a random steering mode. If a first cross-area marker is detected during the operation, the first working area where it is currently located can be determined based on the correspondence between the cross-area marker and the working area. Figure 2For example, if the autonomous operating equipment detects a cross-region marker A1 during the operation, it is determined that it is currently in the working area S1; if the autonomous operating equipment detects a cross-region marker A2 during the operation, it is determined that it is currently in the working area S2.

[0039] The autonomous operating equipment can trigger a cross-zone operation when it completes operations in the current area, enters the return mode due to insufficient power, or receives a cross-zone instruction, and searches for the boundary of the current first working area. For example, the autonomous operating equipment drives in one direction and determines whether it has reached the boundary through images captured by the camera device. After reaching the boundary, it turns so that it is nearly parallel to the boundary of the first working area, and then walks along the boundary of the first working area. The direction of walking along the boundary is pre-configured and can be clockwise or counterclockwise.

[0040] At least one cross-zone marker is set on the boundary of each working area. When the autonomous operating equipment is moving along the boundary, if it detects the first cross-zone marker, it will first determine whether it is necessary to cross the area. The autonomous operating equipment can determine whether it is necessary to cross the area based on the current working mode, the detected cross-zone marker and one or more of the target working areas indicated by the cross-zone instruction.

[0041] In one example, the autonomous operating equipment is currently in the regression mode. After detecting the first cross-zone marker, it can determine the current first working area based on the detected first cross-zone marker and the correspondence between the cross-zone marker and the working area, and determine whether there is a charging station in the first working area; if there is no charging station in the first working area, obtain the second cross-zone marker paired with the first cross-zone marker to determine whether there is a charging station in the second working area corresponding to the second cross-zone marker. If there is a charging station in the second working area, it is determined that cross-zone is required, and the equipment turns and goes straight according to the set method until the second cross-zone marker is detected and the equipment enters the second working area; if there is no charging station in the second working area, it is determined that cross-zone is not required. Figure 2 For example, assuming that the autonomous operating equipment is currently in the regression mode and is walking along the boundary of the working area S2, when it detects the cross-zone marker A2, it determines that there is a charging station in the working area S1 corresponding to the cross-zone marker A1 paired with the cross-zone marker A2, then the autonomous operating equipment determines that it needs to cross the zone.

[0042] In another example, the autonomous operating equipment is in normal operating mode. After detecting the first cross-zone marker, it is determined whether the autonomous operating equipment has completed the cross-zone after detecting the first cross-zone marker during this operation, that is, it is determined whether the autonomous operating equipment has entered the second working area corresponding to the second cross-zone marker paired with the first cross-zone marker after detecting the first cross-zone marker; if the autonomous operating equipment has crossed the first cross-zone marker and entered the second working area, it is determined that there is no need to cross the zone; if the autonomous operating equipment has not crossed the first cross-zone marker and entered the second working area, it is determined that there is a need to cross the zone, and the autonomous operating equipment turns and goes straight according to the set method until it detects the second cross-zone marker and enters the second working area. Figure 2 For example, assuming that the autonomous operating equipment completes charging in the charging station X1 and starts the current operation, after completing the operation in the working area S1, it needs to enter the next working area to continue the operation, triggering the cross-area operation, and the autonomous operating equipment detects the cross-area marker A1 while walking along the boundary of the working area S1. Since it has not crossed the cross-area marker A1 during this operation, that is, it has not entered the working area S2 through the virtual cross-area channel between the cross-area marker A1 and the cross-area marker A2, it needs to cross the area, turn and go straight according to the set method, and enter the working area S2 after detecting the cross-area marker A2, and then it can operate in the working area S2; after completing the operation in the working area S2, the autonomous operating equipment walks along the boundary of the working area S2, and when the cross-area marker A2 is detected, it is determined that it needs to cross the area, and the autonomous operating equipment crosses the cross-area marker A2 and returns to the working area S1; thus, the autonomous operating equipment can return to the initial working area S1.

[0043] In another example, the autonomous operation equipment is in normal operation mode. The priority order of each cross-zone marker is preset in the autonomous operation equipment. The priority of the cross-zone marker also represents the priority of the working area to which the cross-zone marker leads. Therefore, each working area can be operated in order of priority. After detecting the first cross-zone marker, the autonomous operation equipment determines whether the autonomous operation equipment has crossed the first cross-zone marker during the current operation. If the autonomous operation equipment has crossed the first cross-zone marker, it is determined that no cross-zone operation is required. If the first cross-zone marker has not been crossed, then all the current uncrossed cross-zone markers in the first working area are obtained, and then it is determined whether the first cross-zone marker is the cross-zone marker with the highest priority among all the current uncrossed cross-zone markers. If so, it is determined that cross-zone operation is required. If not, it is determined that cross-zone operation is not required. Figure 3For example, the priority of the cross-zone marker B1 on the boundary of the working area S3 is greater than the priority of the cross-zone marker C1. Assuming that the autonomous operation equipment completes charging in the charging station X1 and starts the current operation, it needs to enter the next working area to continue the operation after completing the operation in the working area S3, triggering the cross-zone operation. The autonomous operation equipment first detects the cross-zone marker C1 while walking counterclockwise along the boundary of the working area S3. The autonomous operation has not crossed the cross-zone marker C1, but there is a cross-zone marker B1 with a higher priority that has not been crossed, so it is determined that there is no need to cross the area; continue to walk counterclockwise until the cross-zone marker B1 is detected, determine that it is necessary to cross the area, turn and go straight according to the set method, and enter the working area S4 after detecting the cross-zone marker B2, and then you can work in the working area S4; the autonomous operation equipment in the working area After completing the work in domain S4, the autonomous operating equipment walks along the boundary of the working area S4. When the cross-area marker B2 is detected, it is determined that it is necessary to cross the area. The autonomous operating equipment crosses the cross-area marker B2 and returns to the working area S3. At this time, the autonomous operating equipment determines that there is still a cross-area marker C1 that has not been crossed, and continues to walk along the boundary until the cross-area marker C1 is detected. It turns and goes straight according to the set method until it enters the working area S5 after detecting the cross-area marker C2. Then it can work in the working area S5; after completing the work in the working area S5, the autonomous operating equipment walks along the boundary of the working area S5. When the cross-area marker C2 is detected, it is determined that it is necessary to cross the area. The autonomous operating equipment crosses the cross-area marker C2 and returns to the working area S3; at this point, the autonomous operating equipment has completed the work in all working areas, and the regression mode can be triggered at this time to walk along the boundary and return to the charging station for charging.

[0044] In another example, the autonomous operating equipment obtains the target working area from the cross-zone instruction sent by the user, or determines a target working area based on the current working mode. For example, if the autonomous operating equipment is currently in the return mode, the target working area is the working area where the charging station is located.

[0045] After obtaining the target working area, the autonomous operating equipment first determines a walking path from the first working area to the target working area based on the target working area. The walking path includes the working areas passed from the first working area to the target working area. The walking path can be the shortest path from the first working area to the target working area, or the path that passes through the most unoperated areas can be preferentially selected.

[0046] Determining whether a cross-zone operation is required includes: determining whether a second working area corresponding to a second cross-zone marker paired with a first cross-zone marker is in the walking path; if the second working area is in the walking path, determining that a cross-zone operation is required; if the second working area is not in the walking path, determining that a cross-zone operation is not required. That is, the autonomous operating equipment walks from the current first working area to the target working area according to the walking path.

[0047] In this embodiment, the autonomous operating device turns and goes straight according to the setting method, but is not limited to the following two methods:

[0048] Method 1: The cross-zone marker is directional, that is, each cross-zone marker has corresponding indication information, which at least indicates the specified angle that the autonomous operating equipment needs to rotate. The indication information can be pre-stored in the autonomous operating equipment, or it can be the information carried by the QR code of the cross-zone marker itself, or it can be the information carried in the signal sent by the cross-zone marker itself; when the autonomous operating equipment detects the first cross-zone marker, it can obtain the indication information corresponding to the first cross-zone marker, whereby the autonomous operating equipment first rotates to the specified angle corresponding to the indication information, and then goes straight until it detects the second cross-zone marker and enters the second working area.

[0049] Method 2: The cross-zone markers are not directional, and the autonomous operation equipment has preset the turning direction and angle required for cross-zone operation. Therefore, when the autonomous operation equipment detects the first cross-zone marker, it turns directly in the set direction at the preset angle and goes straight until it detects the second cross-zone marker and enters the second working area.

[0050] In this embodiment, when the autonomous operation equipment is placed in a new work scene, reset, or restarts work for the first time, it is necessary to identify the boundaries of all current work areas and cross-area markers on the work areas. The specific process is as follows:

[0051] When performing the operation for the first time, the autonomous operation equipment starts from the charging station and performs the following boundary recognition steps in the current working area: walk along the boundary of the current working area according to the set direction; if the third cross-area marker is detected for the first time, turn and go straight according to the set method until the fourth cross-area marker is detected and then enters the next working area, establishes a pairing relationship between the third cross-area marker and the fourth cross-area marker, and performs boundary recognition steps in the next working area; if it is not the first time that the fifth cross-area marker is detected, determine the boundary of the current working area, turn and go straight according to the set method until the sixth cross-area marker paired with the fifth cross-area marker is detected and then return to the previous working area, and perform boundary recognition steps in the previous working area; if a charging station is detected, determine the boundary of the working area where the charging station is located and stop walking. It should be noted that the example in which the autonomous operating equipment starts from the charging station is taken as the starting point, but it is not limited to this. It can also start from any position in any working area. If it is on the boundary, it can directly walk along the boundary to find a cross-region marker. If it is not on the boundary, it is necessary to find the boundary first, and then walk along the boundary to find a cross-region marker. The above-mentioned boundary recognition steps can be performed using the found cross-region marker as the starting point, which will not be repeated here.

[0052] by Figure 3 For example, the autonomous operating equipment starts from the charging station X1 on the boundary of the working area S3 and moves clockwise along the boundary. When the cross-area marker B1 is detected, the cross-area marker B1 is configured to be located in the working area S3, and the cross-area marker is performed; until the cross-area marker B2 is detected and the working area S4 is entered, the cross-area marker B2 is configured to be located in the working area S4, a pairing relationship between the cross-area marker B1 and the cross-area marker B2 is established, and the autonomous operating equipment moves clockwise along the boundary of the working area S4 until the cross-area marker B2 is detected again. At this time, the autonomous operating equipment has walked a circle along the boundary of the working area S4, and the closed path formed is the boundary of the working area S4. Then, the autonomous operating equipment crosses the area and returns to the previous working area, namely the working area S3. After the cross-area marker B1 is detected again, the equipment enters the working area S3, and continues to move clockwise along the boundary of the working area S3 from the cross-area marker B1.

[0053] When the cross-zone marker C1 is detected, the cross-zone marker C1 is configured to be located in the working area S3, and the cross-zone is performed; until the cross-zone marker C2 is detected and enters the working area S5, the cross-zone marker C2 is configured to be located in the working area S5, a pairing relationship between the cross-zone marker C1 and the cross-zone marker C2 is established, and the autonomous operation equipment walks clockwise along the boundary of the working area S5 until the cross-zone marker C2 is detected again. At this time, the autonomous operation equipment has walked a circle along the boundary of the working area S5, and the closed path formed is the boundary of the working area S5. Then, the cross-zone is returned to the previous working area, namely the working area S3. After the cross-zone marker C1 is detected again, the working area S3 is entered, and the cross-zone marker C1 continues to walk clockwise along the boundary of the working area S3 from the cross-zone marker C1 until the charging station X1 is detected. At this time, the autonomous operation equipment has walked a circle along the boundary of the working area S3, and the closed path formed is the boundary of the working area S3. The walking is ended, and the identification of the boundaries of all working areas and the cross-zone markers on the working areas is completed.

[0054] During the above-mentioned process of identifying the boundary of the working area, the autonomous operating equipment can complete the first trimming. If the expected working area is exceeded during the trimming process, the user actively sets boundary objects, such as setting fences, etc. If no errors occur during the trimming process (such as cross-zone errors, boundary recognition errors), the passing information input by the user can be received through the human-computer interaction interface.

[0055] In some embodiments, the autonomous working device may start walking along the boundary of the working area immediately after reaching the boundary, without returning to the charging station first, as long as the autonomous working device can form a closed path along the boundary. During the walking process along the boundary, the autonomous working device can detect passing the charging station through the camera.

[0056] The present embodiment provides a cross-zone control method, in which cross-zone markers are arranged in pairs between adjacent work areas. The cross-zone markers arranged in pairs are equivalent to establishing a virtual cross-zone channel between adjacent work areas, so that autonomous operating equipment can achieve autonomous cross-zone with the help of the virtual cross-zone channel; and the cross-zone markers can be repositioned at will, which is more convenient and flexible, and there is no additional work of digging and burying cables.

[0057] In the present application, during the process of the autonomous working equipment walking along the edge, the following autonomous working equipment control method can be adopted to control the walking direction of the autonomous working equipment, so that the autonomous working equipment can keep walking along the edge.

[0058] The control method of the autonomous operation equipment is applied to the central processing unit in the autonomous operation equipment. The autonomous operation equipment is equipped with a camera device, such as a camera. The central processing unit can communicate with the camera through a camera interface such as a MIPI interface or a CAMERA-USB interface. During the operation of the autonomous operation equipment, the camera device continuously acquires images, and the central processing unit obtains the acquired images from the camera device in real time. The specific process of the control method of the autonomous operation equipment is as follows: Figure 4 shown.

[0059] Step 201, when the autonomous working device is moving along the edge, an image in front of the autonomous working device is obtained, and a working area and a non-working area included in the image are determined.

[0060] Specifically, the autonomous operating equipment needs to walk along the edge when the battery is low, the current operation task is completed, the first operation is performed, the operation is carried out along the boundary, or cross-region operation is required. It can first move in one direction, and obtain the current image in front of it in real time, and continuously identify the image to determine whether it is close to the boundary of the working area. When the area of ​​the working area in the image is 0, it is determined that the autonomous operating equipment is close to the boundary of the working area, and then it brakes to stop and turns (for example, left or right) to walk along the edge. The direction of walking along the edge is related to the turning direction of the autonomous operating equipment, which can be clockwise or counterclockwise.

[0061] When walking along the edge, the autonomous operating equipment will also acquire the image in front of it in real time through the camera device, and perform the image processing in this embodiment for each captured image. Taking the current image as an example, the working area and non-working area contained therein are first identified; for example, when recognizing the lawn image, a lawn segmentation model based on a deep neural network (such as MaskRCNN) is run in the central processing unit computing unit, which inputs the acquired current image into the lawn segmentation model for processing, and outputs the lawn mask in the current image. The mask is where the lawn is located, and the part covered by the mask is the working area, and the part not covered by the mask is the non-lawn area, that is, the non-working area; however, it is not limited to this, the central processing unit computing unit can also distinguish between grass and non-grass, that is, the working area and the non-working area, by recognizing the color and texture in the current image; or the central processing unit computing unit can also perform semantic segmentation on the current image to distinguish between grass and non-grass, that is, the working area and the non-working area.

[0062] Step 202: Use at least one longitudinal dividing line to divide the image into at least two detection areas, and obtain the region of interest in the at least two detection areas, wherein the longitudinal dividing line is parallel to the length direction of the autonomous operating equipment body.

[0063] Specifically, the current image is segmented using at least one longitudinal segmentation line, and the current image is segmented into multiple detection areas, wherein the longitudinal segmentation line is parallel to the length direction of the autonomous operation device body, that is, the longitudinal segmentation line is parallel to the forward direction of the autonomous operation device. Figure 5 For example, the current image is divided by two longitudinal dividing lines (respectively recorded as longitudinal dividing line LK and longitudinal dividing line RK) to obtain three detection areas, which are respectively recorded as the left detection area, the front detection area and the right detection area.

[0064] In one example, the image can be divided into multiple detection areas using at least one longitudinal dividing line and at least one transverse dividing line at the same time. The transverse dividing line is perpendicular to the length direction of the autonomous operation equipment body, that is, the transverse dividing line is perpendicular to the forward direction of the autonomous operation equipment; that is, the current image is divided into multiple detection areas using a transverse dividing line and at least one longitudinal dividing line at the same time. Figure 6 For example, the current image is divided by two longitudinal dividing lines (respectively recorded as longitudinal dividing line LK and longitudinal dividing line RK) and one transverse dividing line FK to obtain five detection areas, which are respectively recorded as left front detection area, front detection area, right front detection area, left rear detection area and rear detection area. It should be noted that the number of transverse dividing lines can also be multiple.

[0065] The positions of the horizontal dividing lines and the vertical dividing lines on the image can be adjusted. For example, the horizontal dividing lines and the vertical dividing lines can be adjusted based on the size of the autonomous operation equipment, the installation position and angle of the camera device on the autonomous operation equipment, so that the sizes of different detection areas can be adjusted to achieve the effect of adjustable detection targets and detection priorities; for example, the distance of the vertical dividing line from the boundary can adjust the offset value of the autonomous operation equipment walking along the edge; Figure 5 and Figure 6 In the figure, the spacing between the longitudinal dividing line LK and the longitudinal dividing line RK can be set based on the width of the autonomous working equipment. For example, the actual distance represented by the spacing between the longitudinal dividing line LK and the longitudinal dividing line RK on the image is greater than or equal to the width of the autonomous working equipment. Therefore, the area between the longitudinal dividing line LK and the longitudinal dividing line RK is equivalent to the area where the autonomous working equipment is about to move.

[0066] Subsequently, a region of interest (ROI) is identified from the multiple detection areas, and each detection area can be used to implement different edge walking modes when used as the ROI, and the selected ROI can be one or more. The ROI can be manually configured by the current user, for example, directly set on the autonomous operation device (for example, by touch, button, or voice), and the current user selects the ROI through a mobile terminal connected to the autonomous operation device.

[0067] In one example, the current user configures the operating mode of the autonomous operating device, and the central processing unit selects the region of interest from multiple detection areas based on the current operating mode of the autonomous operating device.

[0068] by Figure 5 For example, if the current operation mode is cutting within the boundary or cutting outside the boundary, the left detection area or the right detection area is selected as the area of ​​interest based on the walking direction of the autonomous operation equipment; if the current operation mode is cutting on the boundary, the front detection area is selected as the area of ​​interest.

[0069] Specifically, if the current operation mode of the autonomous operation equipment is cutting within the boundary, when the walking direction of the autonomous operation equipment is clockwise, the left detection area is selected as the area of ​​interest; when the walking direction of the autonomous operation equipment is counterclockwise, the right detection area is selected as the area of ​​interest.

[0070] If the current operation mode of the autonomous operation equipment is cutting outside the boundary, when the walking direction of the autonomous operation equipment is clockwise, the right detection area is selected as the area of ​​interest; when the walking direction of the autonomous operation equipment is counterclockwise, the left detection area is selected as the area of ​​interest.

[0071] If the current operation mode of the autonomous operation equipment is cutting on the boundary, the front detection area is selected as the area of ​​interest.

[0072] by Figure 6 For example, if the current operation mode of the autonomous operating equipment is cutting within the boundary, when the walking direction of the autonomous operating equipment is clockwise, the left front detection area and / or the left rear detection area are selected as the area of ​​interest; when the walking direction of the autonomous operating equipment is counterclockwise, the right front detection area and / or the right rear detection area are selected as the area of ​​interest.

[0073] If the current operation mode of the autonomous operation equipment is out-of-boundary cutting, when the walking direction of the autonomous operation equipment is clockwise, the right front detection area and / or the right rear detection area are selected as the area of ​​interest; when the walking direction of the autonomous operation equipment is counterclockwise, the left front detection area and / or the left rear detection area are selected as the area of ​​interest.

[0074] If the current operation mode of the autonomous operation equipment is cutting on the boundary, the front detection area is selected as the area of ​​interest.

[0075] Step 203, based on the area ratio of the partial working area included in the area of ​​interest and the boundary fitting slope of the partial working area, the walking direction of the autonomous operating device is controlled so that the autonomous operating device walks along the boundary of the working area.

[0076] Specifically, after the area of ​​interest is selected from the multiple detection areas obtained by segmenting the current image, the partial working area contained in the area of ​​interest and the boundary of the partial working area can be obtained, where the partial working area refers to the working area contained in the area of ​​interest; it should be noted that in some cases, the area of ​​interest may not include the working area, or the area of ​​interest may be entirely the working area.

[0077] When walking along the edge, the autonomous operating equipment determines the boundary extension trend of the partial working area within the area of ​​interest based on the area ratio of the partial working area contained in the area of ​​interest, and then determines whether the working area is located on the left or right side of the walking direction based on the boundary fitting slope of the partial working area. The walking direction of the autonomous operating equipment is thereby adjusted so that the walking direction of the autonomous operating equipment is parallel to the boundary extension direction within the area of ​​interest, that is, the walking direction of the autonomous operating equipment is parallel to the boundary of the working area, thereby controlling the autonomous operating equipment to walk along the boundary of the working area.

[0078] In one example, the walking direction of the autonomous operating equipment is controlled based on the area ratio of the working area contained in the area of ​​interest and the boundary slope, including: obtaining the current error amount of the autonomous operating equipment based on the area ratio of the partial working area in the area of ​​interest and the boundary fitting slope; adjusting the walking direction of the autonomous operating equipment according to the current error amount of the autonomous operating equipment.

[0079] The calculation formula of the error is as follows:

[0080]

[0081] like Then d = 1;

[0082] like Then d = -1;

[0083] like Then d = 0;

[0084] Among them, error represents the error amount of the autonomous operation equipment, p represents the area ratio of the part of the working area included in the area of ​​interest, and k m k is the indicative value used to characterize the angle between the boundary fitting slope and the vertical median of the region of interest. s It is an indication value of the angle between the preset walking direction along the edge and the longitudinal perpendicular bisector of the region of interest, z1 represents the area of ​​the region on the first side of the longitudinal perpendicular bisector after the region of interest is divided by the longitudinal perpendicular bisector, z2 represents the area of ​​the region on the second side of the longitudinal perpendicular bisector after the region of interest is divided by the longitudinal perpendicular bisector, m1 represents the area of ​​the region on the first side of the fitting boundary of the partial working area in the region of interest, and m2 represents the area of ​​the region on the second side of the fitting boundary of the partial working area in the region of interest.

[0085] by Figure 6 For example, assume that the current operation mode of the autonomous operation device is cutting on the boundary, and select the front detection area as the area of ​​interest. Figure 7 The CPU computing unit first obtains the partial working area R( Figure 7 The area S1 of the shaded part in the image is the area of ​​the working area R, which refers to the working area of ​​the current image that falls within the region of interest. The area S r It can be calculated based on the position of the horizontal dividing line and the vertical dividing line in the image. Figure 6 For example, the area of ​​the front detection area as the area of ​​interest is one sixth of the area of ​​the current image; then calculate the area S1 of the above-mentioned partial working area R and the area S of the area of ​​interest r The ratio of the area of ​​the partial working area R to the area of ​​interest is obtained as p = S1 / S r .

[0086] Then, the boundary fitting slope k of the partial working area R is obtained. The specific method is as follows: firstly, the points at the boundary of the partial working area R in the region of interest are collected, the coordinates of each point on the boundary of the partial working area R are obtained, and then the coordinates of all points on the boundary are fitted by the least square method to obtain a straight line R 1 -R 1 , which is the fitting boundary of the partial working area R, and the straight line R of the fitting boundary is obtained 1 -R 1 The first-order linear equation f(x) = kx + b, from which we can get the straight line R 1 -R 1 The slope k of the vertical median line T of the region of interest can be understood as a line parallel to the Y axis of the image, and the straight line R with the slope k is obtained. 1 -R 1The angle α between the longitudinal midline T and the longitudinal midline T is converted into an indication value k that can characterize the angle. m Substitute and calculate. The indicated value is, for example, the radian value obtained by angle conversion. 1 degree is equal to π / 180 degrees. The radian value k obtained by the angle α conversion is m is (α*π) / 180, Figure 7 Center Line R 1 -R 1 If the angle between the vertical median line T and the vertical median line T is negative, the indicated value converted from the angle is also negative; k s The value of is related to the way the autonomous operating equipment walks along the edge. If the walking along the edge is parallel to the boundary, then k s = 0. If the autonomous operation equipment needs to have a certain fixed angle with the boundary when walking along the edge, k can be converted based on the fixed angle. s The value of k s is with k m The indicator value obtained by converting in the same way, for example, k m is a radian value, then k s Also convert to radians.

[0087] z1 and z2 represent the areas of two regions located on the first and second sides of the longitudinal perpendicular median after the region of interest is divided by the longitudinal perpendicular median; the first side and the second side are respectively the left and right sides of the longitudinal perpendicular median, which are specifically related to the walking direction of the autonomous operating equipment along the boundary. If the autonomous operating equipment walks clockwise along the boundary, the first side is the left side of the longitudinal perpendicular median, and the second side is the right side of the longitudinal perpendicular median; if the autonomous operating equipment walks counterclockwise along the boundary, the first side is the right side of the longitudinal perpendicular median, and the second side is the left side of the longitudinal perpendicular median.

[0088] m1 and m2 represent the areas of two regions on the first side and the second side of the boundary of the partial working area in the area of ​​interest. The first side and the second side are the left side and the right side of the boundary, respectively, which is specifically related to the walking direction of the autonomous operating equipment along the boundary. If the autonomous operating equipment walks clockwise along the boundary, the first side is the left side of the boundary and the second side is the right side of the boundary; if the autonomous operating equipment walks counterclockwise along the boundary, the first side is the right side of the boundary and the second side is the left side of the boundary.

[0089] exist Figure 7 In the figure, the autonomous operation equipment moves clockwise along the boundary. z1 represents the area on the left side of the longitudinal median line T after the region of interest is divided by the longitudinal median line T. z2 represents the area on the right side of the longitudinal median line T after the region of interest is divided by the longitudinal median line T. z1 and z2 are the area S of the region of interest. rm1 represents the area of ​​the area on the left side of the boundary of the partial working area in the region of interest, which is the area S1 of the partial working area R; m2 represents the area of ​​the area on the right side of the boundary of the partial working area in the region of interest, which is the non-working area in the region of interest ( Figure 7 The area of ​​the blank part in the middle, m2 = S r In another example, the straight line R that fits the boundary of the region of interest can also be calculated. 1 -R 1 The area of ​​the left region is taken as m1, and the straight line R of the fitting boundary in the region of interest is calculated. 1 -R 1 The area of ​​the right side is m2. Based on the above formula, the value of d can be obtained.

[0090] Based on the above process, p and k are calculated. m Substituting the values ​​of d into the error calculation formula, the current error can be calculated.

[0091] After calculating the current error, the control amount corresponding to the current error is obtained. For example, the PID algorithm is used to calculate the control amount corresponding to the current error, so that the error amount can be made smaller and smaller through the PID method. The above control amount is used to control the rotation speed of the left and right wheels of the autonomous working equipment. For example, for the rear-wheel drive autonomous working equipment, the speed of the left rear wheel and the right rear wheel is adjusted. By creating a speed difference between the left rear wheel and the right rear wheel, the walking direction of the autonomous working equipment is adjusted. Figure 7 If the calculated error is a negative value, the corresponding control amount is also a negative value.

[0092] The positive or negative value of the control amount is related to how the autonomous operating equipment turns, and the size of the control amount is related to the steering angle of the autonomous operating equipment; based on Figure 7 If the control amount corresponding to the calculated error is a negative value, the walking direction of the autonomous operation device needs to be adjusted to the left. At this time, the speed of the left rear wheel can be reduced and / or the speed of the right rear wheel can be increased, so that the autonomous operation device turns left by a certain angle. In this way, the area of ​​interest can be reached through continuous adjustment. Figure 8 The effect shown is that the walking direction of the autonomous working device basically coincides with the fitting boundary of the partial working area included in the area of ​​interest.

[0093] It should be noted that in this embodiment, only the area of ​​interest in an image is used as an example for explanation. In the process of the autonomous working equipment walking along the edge, the boundary of the working area in the area of ​​interest is also constantly changing. Each time the autonomous working equipment acquires an image, it will use the method of this embodiment to continuously adjust the walking direction so that the autonomous working equipment can always maintain a better walking effect along the edge.

[0094] In one example, when the autonomous operation equipment detects an obstacle in any detection area, it controls the autonomous operation equipment to avoid the obstacle. That is, the autonomous operation equipment will also perform obstacle detection for each detection area, and actively avoid the obstacle when there is an obstacle in a detection area, and continue to move along the boundary after completing the avoidance. Figure 6 For example, if the autonomous operating equipment detects an obstacle in the left front detection area, it will turn right at a set angle and walk a certain distance, then turn left and walk back to the boundary and continue walking along the boundary.

[0095] Further, Figure 6 Based on the CPU, the CPU computing unit can be divided into the following modules according to its function. Please refer to Fig. 9 , respectively:

[0096] 1. Visual processing module: execute steps 201 and 202 to realize image acquisition, identification of working area and non-working area in the image, and segmentation of the current image. The sub-images of each detection area obtained by segmentation are sent to the corresponding modules for visual detection.

[0097] 2. Front vision detection module: When the front detection area is used as the area of ​​interest, the control amount is output to the body control module to provide edge control when following the edge, and obstacle avoidance can also be performed in the front area;

[0098] 3. Left front visual detection module: When the left front detection area is used as the area of ​​interest, the control amount is output to the body control module to provide edge control when following the edge, and obstacle avoidance can also be performed in the left front area;

[0099] 4. Right front visual detection module: When the right front detection area is used as the area of ​​interest, the control amount is output to the body control module to provide edge control when following the edge, and obstacle avoidance can also be performed in the right front area;

[0100] 5. Left rear visual detection module: When the left rear detection area is used as the area of ​​interest, the control amount is output to the body control module to provide edge control when along the edge, and obstacle avoidance can also be performed in the left rear area;

[0101] 6.Right rear visual detection module: When the right rear detection area is used as the area of ​​interest, the control amount is output to the body control module to provide edge control when along the edge, and obstacle avoidance can also be performed in the right rear area;

[0102] 7. Body control module; adjusts the rotation speed of the left and right wheels based on the received control quantity to adjust the walking direction of the autonomous working equipment.

[0103] This embodiment realizes the vehicle body control when autonomous operation is moving along the edge, and can adjust the walking direction of the autonomous operation equipment in combination with the area ratio of the working area within the area of ​​interest and the boundary fitting slope, thereby being able to fully consider the boundary extension trend of the working area within the area of ​​interest and the orientation of the working area within the area of ​​interest, so as to more accurately adjust the walking direction of the vehicle body and enable the autonomous operation equipment to keep moving along the edge.

[0104] The second embodiment of the present invention relates to an autonomous operation device for executing the cross-zone control method in the first embodiment; the autonomous operation device can also execute Figure 4 A control method for autonomous operating equipment.

[0105] Autonomous working equipment is a robot that can autonomously move within a preset working area enclosed by a boundary and perform specific operations, such as a smart sweeper / vacuum cleaner that performs cleaning operations, or a smart lawn mower that performs mowing operations. The preset working area enclosed by the above-mentioned boundary can be formed by wires pre-buried at the boundary in advance. The autonomous working equipment detects the inductance signal at the boundary wire through its own inductance sensor to identify the boundary line; or, the autonomous working equipment is equipped with a camera device (such as a camera), and the autonomous working equipment can identify the boundary through the camera device when it is working for the first time, working for the first time after being initialized and reset, or when the user triggers boundary recognition to obtain the preset working area enclosed by the boundary. In addition, a docking station for charging the autonomous working equipment is also configured on the boundary.

[0106] A third embodiment of the present invention relates to a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having processor-executable instructions stored thereon, wherein the executable instructions are configured to enable a processor of an autonomous operating device to execute a control method as in the first embodiment.

[0107] Preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above in detail, but it should be understood that aspects of the embodiments can be modified, if necessary, to employ aspects, features and concepts of the various patents, applications and publications to provide further embodiments.

[0108] These and other changes can be made to the embodiments in light of the above detailed description.In general, in the claims, the terms used should not be considered limited to the specific embodiments disclosed in the specification and the claims, but should be construed to include all possible embodiments along with the full scope of equivalents to which these claims are entitled.

Claims

1. A cross-region control method, characterized in that: Applied to autonomous operating equipment; the method comprises: When the autonomous operating device is walking along the boundary of the first working area currently located, if a first cross-area marker is detected, determining whether it is necessary to cross the area; If it is determined that cross-zone operation is required, turn and go straight according to the set method until a second cross-zone marker is detected to determine that the autonomous operating equipment has moved to the second working area. The first working area and the second working area are separated by a non-working area.

2. The cross-zone control method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The determining whether cross-region operation is required includes: Determining whether the autonomous operation equipment has completed the cross-zone after detecting the first cross-zone marker during the current operation; If the autonomous operation equipment fails to complete the cross-zone after detecting the first cross-zone marker during the current operation, it is determined that the cross-zone operation needs to be performed; If the autonomous operation equipment has completed the cross-zone operation after detecting the first cross-zone marker during the current operation, it is determined that there is no need to cross the zone.

3. The cross-zone control method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The determining whether cross-region operation is required includes: Determining whether the first cross-zone marker is a cross-zone marker with the highest priority among the cross-zone markers that are currently not crossed in the first working area; If the first cross-zone marker is the cross-zone marker with the highest priority among the cross-zone markers that are currently not crossed in the first working area, it is determined that cross-zone operation is required; If the first cross-zone marker is not the cross-zone marker with the highest priority among the cross-zone markers that are currently not crossed in the first working area, it is determined that there is no need to cross zones.

4. The cross-zone control method according to claim 1, characterized in that: If the autonomous operation equipment is in a returning state, determining whether a cross-region operation is required includes: Determining whether a charging station is provided in a second working area corresponding to the second cross-zone marker paired with the first cross-zone marker; If a charging station is provided in the second working area, determining that cross-area operation is required; If no charging station is provided in the second working area, it is determined that there is no need to cross the area.

5. The cross-zone control method according to claim 1, characterized in that: When performing work for the first time, the autonomous working device starts from the charging station and performs the following boundary recognition steps in the current working area: Walking along the boundary of the current working area according to a set direction; If the third cross-region marker is detected for the first time, turn and go straight according to the set method until the fourth cross-region marker is detected and enter the next working area, establish a pairing relationship between the third cross-region marker and the fourth cross-region marker, and perform the boundary recognition step in the next working area; If it is not the first time that the fifth cross-region marker is detected, the boundary of the current working area is determined, and the vehicle turns and goes straight according to the set method until the sixth cross-region marker paired with the fifth cross-region marker is detected, and then the vehicle returns to the previous working area, and performs the boundary identification step in the previous working area; If the charging station is detected, the boundary of the working area where the charging station is located is determined and walking is stopped.

6. The cross-zone control method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The method further includes: determining a walking path from the first working area to the target working area based on the target working area, the walking path including the working area passed from the first working area to the target working area; The determining whether cross-region operation is required includes: Determining whether a second working area corresponding to the second cross-region marker paired with the first cross-region marker is within the walking path; If the second working area is in the walking path, it is determined that a cross-area operation is required; If the second working area is not in the walking path, it is determined that there is no need to cross the area.

7. The cross-zone control method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The turning and going straight according to the set method includes: turning and going straight based on the obtained indication information of the first cross-zone marker.

8. The cross-zone control method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The turning and going straight according to the set manner includes: turning towards a set direction by a preset angle and then going straight.

9. An autonomous operating device, characterized in that: Used to execute the cross-zone control method described in any one of claims 1 to 8.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium stores processor-executable instructions, and the executable instructions are configured to enable a processor of the autonomous operating device to execute the cross-zone control method as described in any one of claims 1 to 8.

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