Positioning aids on the robot charging station

Abstract

The utility model relates to the technical field of robot charging stations, and in particular to a positioning auxiliary structure on a robot charging station, wherein the positioning auxiliary structure is assembled on the surface of a robot charging station body, and the positioning auxiliary structure comprises an intermediate plate located in the middle, and cylinders located at two ends of the intermediate plate; the positioning auxiliary structure is an auxiliary positioning mechanism composed of two cylinders and an intermediate plate, and the positioning algorithm of the mobile robot is simple and has high precision, which has a promotion significance; the positioning auxiliary structure can be used not only for the robot charging station, but also for the auxiliary positioning between the mobile robot and other equipment.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The utility model relates to the technical field of robot charging stations, in particular to a positioning auxiliary structure on a robot charging station. Background Art

[0002] Generally, the charging principle of a mobile robot charging station is as follows: it mainly includes a charging docking mechanism, a charging control unit, and a charging power source. After the charging interface of the mobile robot is successfully docked with the charging docking mechanism of the charging station, the charging station control unit controls the charging power source to charge the battery inside the mobile robot.

[0003] In order to allow the mobile robot to accurately align with the charging docking mechanism of the charging station, the mobile robot needs to measure and calculate a more accurate relative posture when approaching the charging station. For this purpose, a variety of positioning assistance solutions have been proposed: some charging stations continuously send infrared information from multiple directions, and the mobile robot is equipped with an infrared receiving unit to receive these infrared information from multiple directions, and then determine whether the robot body is aligned with the charging station; some charging stations provide a positioning shape with rich geometric contours, which is suitable for mobile robots equipped with laser radars or cameras; some charging stations post large-size QR code patterns, which are suitable for mobile robots equipped with cameras. The present invention improves the solution of auxiliary positioning based on geometric contours. Utility Model Content

[0004] The utility model provides another new technical solution for auxiliary positioning by using geometric contours.

[0005] The positioning auxiliary structure on the robot charging station is assembled on the surface of the robot charging station body. The positioning auxiliary structure includes a middle plate located in the middle and cylinders located at two ends of the middle plate.

[0006] Furthermore, the two cylinders are of the same size and are symmetrically fixed at two ends of the middle plate, and the center lines of the two cylinders and the middle plate are located on the same plane.

[0007] Furthermore, a left cavity and a right cavity are respectively provided on the transition surface between the end of the middle flat plate and the two cylinders.

[0008] Furthermore, the middle height at which the positioning auxiliary structure is installed is consistent with the height of the single-line laser radar horizontal scanning surface of the external robot.

[0009] Furthermore, the angle values ​​of the laser radar scanning point results of the cylinder are taken, and the ray angle between the center of the cylinder and the center of the laser radar is obtained by averaging.

[0010] Furthermore, the laser radar scans multiple points of the middle plate and calculates a fitting straight line using the least squares method.

[0011] Furthermore, the two fitting rays between the centers of the two cylinders and the center of the lidar, and the fitting straight line of the middle plate, form a fitting triangle, which geometrically determines the relative positioning between the robot and the charging station.

[0012] The beneficial effects of the utility model are:

[0013] (1) The auxiliary positioning mechanism consists of two cylinders and an intermediate plate. The positioning algorithm of the mobile robot is simple and has high accuracy, which has promotion significance.

[0014] (2) This auxiliary positioning structure can not only be used for robot charging stations, but can also be used for auxiliary positioning between mobile robots and other equipment.

[0015] Additional aspects and advantages of the present invention will be given in part in the following description, and in part will become apparent from the following description, or will be learned through the practice of the present invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] Figure 1 It is a plan view of the geometric shape auxiliary positioning mechanism of the robot charging station in the prior art.

[0017] Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of a robot charging station with an auxiliary positioning mechanism according to the present utility model.

[0018] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the auxiliary positioning mechanism composed of two cylinders and a middle plate in Example 1.

[0019] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of measuring the angle between the centers of two cylinders in the laser radar coordinates in Example 1.

[0020] Figure 5 Schematic diagram of the straight line fitting of the middle plate in Example 1 at the laser radar coordinates.

[0021] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of a triangle consisting of two fitting rays and one fitting straight line in Example 1.

[0022] Figure 7 Schematic diagram of the deviation between the fitted center distance and the actual center distance in Example 1.

[0023] The reference numerals in the figures are: positioning auxiliary structure-2, robot charging station-1, middle plate-201, cylinder-202, left hole-203, right hole-204. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0024] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention are described clearly and completely below. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of them. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0025] The positioning auxiliary structure 2 used on the robot charging station 1 includes two cylinders 202 located at both ends and an intermediate plate 201 located in the middle. The middle height of the positioning auxiliary structure 2 is consistent with the height of the horizontal scanning surface of the single-line laser radar of the external robot. The two cylinders 202 are of the same size and are symmetrically fixed at both ends of the intermediate plate 201. The center lines of the two cylinders 202 and the intermediate plate 201 are located on the same plane, which is convenient for calculation. There is a hole between the two cylinders 202 and the intermediate plate 201 so that the laser radar is not affected by the intermediate plate 201 when scanning the two cylinders 202. In this way, the single-line laser radar horizontally scans the positioning auxiliary structure 2 to obtain the left cylinder 202, the left hole 203, the intermediate plate 201, the right hole 204, and the right cylinder 202. By fitting two rays of the centers of the left and right cylinders 202 and a straight line of the intermediate plate 201, the three straight lines form a triangle, and the relative posture of the robot relative to the positioning auxiliary structure 2 can be determined.

[0026] The specific embodiments of the present invention are further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings:

[0027] Embodiment 1:

[0028] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of the auxiliary positioning mechanism composed of two cylinders and the middle plate 201 in the first embodiment.

[0029] The positioning auxiliary structure 2 used on the robot charging station 1 includes two cylinders 202 at both ends and a middle plate 201 in the middle. The two cylinders 202 are of the same size and are symmetrically fixed at both ends of the middle plate 201. The center lines of the two cylinders 202 and the middle plate 201 are located on the same plane, which is convenient for calculation. There is a hole between the two cylinders 202 and the middle plate 201 so that the laser radar is not affected by the middle plate 201 when scanning the two cylinders 202.

[0030] Figure 4The diagram is a schematic diagram of the angle measurement of the centers of the two cylinders in the laser radar coordinates in the first embodiment. When the laser radar scans a cylinder 202, there will be multiple reflection measurement results with equal angle spacing, and each measurement result includes a scanning angle and a distance value. The present invention is mainly based on the scanning angles in the multiple reflection measurement results with equal angle spacing. The multiple scanning angle values ​​can fit a ray connecting the center of the laser radar and the center of the cylinder 202. The specific fitting algorithm can be determined according to practice. In this embodiment, the average value of multiple scanning angle values ​​is used as the angle of the ray connecting the center of the laser radar and the center of the cylinder 202. The process of calculating the ray angle is not based on the distance value in the reflection measurement result, so it is not strongly correlated with the distance measurement value of the laser radar, which can greatly reduce the requirements for the laser radar.

[0031] Figure 5 The figure is a schematic diagram of the straight line fitting of the middle plate 201 in the laser radar coordinates in the first embodiment. The middle plate 201 is located in the middle of the two cylinders 202. In practice, the signal reflection consistency of the laser radar is very good for the plate-like objects, so the adjacent measurements have good consistency. At the same time, the structure allows the middle plate 201 to have a larger length dimension, so that the laser radar has a larger number of measurement results for fitting the straight line of the middle plate 201. Both of these characteristics are conducive to the consistency between the straight line fitting the middle plate 201 and the actual middle plate 201. Specifically, in the fitting implementation algorithm, each measurement result includes a scanning angle and a distance value. For multiple measurement results, the least squares method can be used to fit a straight line. Furthermore, the least squares method can be used to fit a straight line for multiple measurement results first, and the fitted straight line is used as the standard to screen out some test results with larger deviation values, and then the least squares method is used to fit a straight line for the retained multiple measurement results as the final fitted straight line.

[0032] Figure 6 It is a schematic diagram of a triangle composed of two fitting rays and a fitting straight line in Example 1. The previous part of the example introduces how to obtain two rays by fitting the centers of the left and right cylinders 202, and a straight line by fitting the middle plate 201. These three straight lines form a triangle, the center of the robot's laser radar is a vertex of the triangle, and the intersection calculated by the fitting ray and the fitting straight line is used as the center point of the two cylinders. The triangle shape can determine the relative posture of the robot relative to the positioning auxiliary structure 2, which is a basic principle of geometry and will not be described again.

[0033] Furthermore, the actual distance between the center points of the two cylinders is known in advance. In practice, the distance between the center points of the two cylinders (L1) calculated by fitting will have a small deviation from the known distance (L2). Figure 7Schematic diagram of the deviation between the fitted center distance and the actual center distance in Example 1. This deviation value can be used to correct the vertical distance between the robot and the charging station by assuming that the straight line (solid line) of the actual center points of the two cylinders is parallel to the straight line (dashed line) of the center points of the two cylinders calculated by fitting.

[0034] like Figure 7 As shown, using geometry, the distance between two parallel sides and the vertex is proportional to the side length. Therefore, the perpendicular distance (H1) between the straight line (dashed line) of the two cylinder center points calculated by fitting and the center of the laser radar can be corrected to obtain the perpendicular distance H2 = L2*H1 / L1 between the straight line (solid line) of the actual center points of the two cylinders and the center of the laser radar.

[0035] The above is only a preferred embodiment of the utility model, and does not limit the utility model in any form. Although the utility model is disclosed as a preferred embodiment as above, it is not used to limit the utility model. Any technician familiar with this profession can make some changes or modifications to equivalent embodiments of equivalent changes by using the technical content disclosed above without departing from the scope of the technical solution of the utility model. However, any simple modification, equivalent change and modification made to the above embodiments according to the technology of the utility model, which does not depart from the content of the technical solution of the utility model, belongs to the scope of the technical solution of the utility model.

Claims

1. A positioning auxiliary structure (2) on a robot charging station (1), wherein the positioning auxiliary structure (2) is assembled on the surface of the robot charging station (1), and is characterized in that: The positioning auxiliary structure (2) comprises a middle plate (201) located in the middle, and cylinders (202) located at two ends of the middle plate (201).

2. The positioning auxiliary structure (2) on the robot charging station (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that: The two cylinders (202) are of the same size and are symmetrically fixed at two ends of the middle plate (201). The center lines of the two cylinders (202) and the middle plate (201) are located on the same plane.

3. The positioning auxiliary structure (2) on the robot charging station (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that: A left hollow (203) and a right hollow (204) are respectively provided on the transition surface between the end of the middle flat plate (201) and the two cylinders (202).

4. The positioning auxiliary structure (2) on the robot charging station (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that: The middle height at which the positioning auxiliary structure (2) is installed is consistent with the height of the single-line laser radar horizontal scanning surface of the external robot.

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