Positioning system for automatic butt joint of fire-fighting robot and water hose

Abstract

The utility model discloses a positioning system for a fire-fighting robot to automatically butt a water hose. The positioning system comprises a robot body, and a main control board, a switch, a laser radar, a camera, a wheel type odometer, a positioning module and an IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) which are arranged on the robot body, a microprocessor is arranged on the main control board and is electrically connected with the wheel type odometer, the camera, the laser radar, the positioning module and the IMU through corresponding interfaces; the microprocessor is connected with a switch through a network port, and the microprocessor is also in communication connection with a background terminal through a communication module; the robot body is further provided with a water cannon used for spraying water. According to the utility model, on one hand, sensor data fusion is more efficient and accurate, and the overall performance of the system can be improved; on the other hand, the limitation of each sensor independently can be made up, and the accuracy of robot positioning and the stability and precision of the posture of the robot can be greatly improved, so that more effective path planning and navigation can be carried out.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The utility model relates to the technical field of robots, in particular to a positioning system for a fire-fighting robot to automatically connect with a water hose. Background Art

[0002] Most traditional firefighting robots are remote-controlled robots. Even though they can go anywhere automatically, they need to be connected to a hose to put out fires. The length of the hose is fixed and cannot be folded during use. Therefore, after the robot is fixed, the hose needs to be manually unfolded. Since the location of the fire is not fixed, the location where the robot is docked is also not fixed, so the length of each unfolding cannot be determined. Therefore, existing firefighting robots cannot achieve truly fully autonomous firefighting and still require human participation.

[0003] CN 116236731A discloses a crawler-type patrol fire-fighting integrated intelligent robot control system, including: a central processing unit and a robot body, and the control system is used according to the control instructions input by the user, the control instructions sent by the background system, the fire location information sent by the security and fire protection system, and / or the cooperation information of other fire-fighting robots. By accurately and in real time transmitting a large amount of data such as images, videos and background control instructions, the advantages of multi-machine linkage and coordinated operations are fully demonstrated, the initial sudden fire is dealt with as quickly as possible, and precious time is gained for the intervention of the subsequent fire-fighting system. The fire-fighting robot truly achieves intelligent and unmanned fire-fighting through intelligent navigation control, intelligent fire point positioning and water hose automatic docking system. The patent mainly focuses on how to realize the dispatch of the robot and the automatic docking with the water hose, and the navigation sensing system of the patent includes a laser radar module and an ultrasonic module. The laser radar detects surrounding obstacles to plan navigation for obstacle avoidance; the ultrasonic module detects surrounding obstacles to plan navigation for obstacle avoidance. However, this patent mainly relies on lidar modules and ultrasonic modules as the main means of perception. This singleness can easily lead to insufficient ability to perceive and handle obstacles in complex environments. Even though the patent has set up low-light imaging technology, it does not provide more dimensional sensor data for fusion to solve the problems of map accuracy and robot positioning accuracy. Utility Model Content

[0004] The utility model aims to overcome the above-mentioned deficiencies of the prior art and provide a positioning system for a fire-fighting robot to automatically dock with a water hose, which has a simple circuit and high positioning accuracy.

[0005] The technical solution of the utility model is: a positioning system for a fire-fighting robot to automatically connect to a water hose, comprising a robot body and a main control board, a switch, a laser radar, a camera, a wheel odometer, a positioning module and an IMU arranged on the robot body; a microprocessor is arranged on the main control board, and the microprocessor is electrically connected to the wheel odometer, the camera, the laser radar, the positioning module and the IMU via corresponding interfaces; the microprocessor is connected to the switch via a network port, and the microprocessor is also communicatively connected to a background terminal via a communication module; a water cannon for spraying water is also arranged on the robot body.

[0006] Furthermore, the main control board is connected to the switch via the network port; the laser radar is connected to the switch via the network port; the camera is connected to the main control board via the USB interface; the wheel odometer is connected to the main control board via the CAN interface; the positioning module is connected to the switch via the network port or the serial port, or the positioning module is connected to the main control board via the network port or the serial port; the IMU is connected to the main control board via the serial port.

[0007] Furthermore, the robot body includes a mobile chassis and the water tank arranged above the mobile chassis, the laser radar and water cannon are provided on one side of the water tank, the camera is provided on the top of the water tank, and the wheel odometer is provided on the wheels of the mobile chassis; the IMU, switch and main control board are provided in the cavity of the mobile chassis.

[0008] Alternatively, the robot body eliminates the water tank and includes a mobile chassis and a box arranged above the mobile chassis, one side of the box is provided with the laser radar and water cannon, the top of the box is provided with the camera, and the box is provided with the IMU, switch and main control board; the wheel odometer is provided on the wheels of the mobile chassis.

[0009] Furthermore, the positioning module and the antenna thereof are arranged on one side of the water tank, or when the water tank is removed, the positioning module and the antenna thereof are arranged on one side of the box body located above the mobile chassis.

[0010] Furthermore, the camera is installed on a gimbal and can be rotated 360° driven by the gimbal; the camera is a monocular camera or a binocular camera.

[0011] Furthermore, a first pair of interfaces is provided at the rear side of the water tank of the robot body or at the inlet of the water cannon, and a second pair of interfaces matching the first pair of interfaces is provided on the water hose at the water receiving station.

[0012] Furthermore, the background terminal is also connected to the water receiving station terminal for communication.

[0013] Furthermore, the communication module is a Wi-Fi module, a Bluetooth module or a 4G / 5G module; the antenna of the communication module and the antenna of the positioning module are arranged together.

[0014] Furthermore, the camera includes a visible light camera and a thermal imaging camera. The visible light camera is used for image and video monitoring; the thermal imaging camera is used for heat source detection and temperature monitoring.

[0015] The beneficial effects of the utility model are as follows: on the one hand, through the modular design of the hardware, that is, combining the control board with the switch and distributing the connections among the modules, the sensor data fusion is made more efficient and accurate, which helps to improve the overall performance of the system; and it reduces the burden and complexity of the main control board; on the other hand, by combining the five modules of lidar, camera, wheel odometer, positioning module and IMU, more dimensional data is provided, which can make up for the limitations of each sensor alone, and improve the map accuracy and robot positioning accuracy, as well as the stability and accuracy of the robot posture through multi-sensor fusion, so as to carry out more effective path planning and navigation. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the robot body of Embodiment 1 of the present utility model;

[0017] Figure 2 It is a circuit connection block diagram of the positioning system of Example 1 of the utility model.

[0018] Description of the accompanying drawings:

[0019] 1. Robot body; 2. LiDAR; 3. Camera; 4. Wheel odometer; 5. GPS module; 6. Mobile chassis; 7. Water tank; 8. Water cannon. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0020] Example 1

[0021] The present invention will be further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.

[0022] like Figure 1 and Figure 2 As shown: A positioning system for a fire-fighting robot to automatically connect to a water hose, comprising a robot body 1 and a main control board, a switch, a laser radar 2, a camera 3, a wheel odometer 4, a positioning module (preferably a GPS module 5) and an IMU (inertial measurement unit) arranged on the robot body 1; the main control board is provided with a microprocessor, and the microprocessor is electrically connected to the wheel odometer 4, the camera 3, the laser radar 2, the GPS module 5 and the IMU via corresponding interfaces; the microprocessor is connected to the switch via a network port, and the microprocessor also communicates with a background terminal via a communication module; the robot body is also provided with a water tank 7 and a water cannon 8 for spraying water.

[0023] In this embodiment, the microprocessor is connected to other modules and sensors through various interfaces provided on the main control board. Specifically, the main control board is connected to the switch via the network port, the laser radar 2 is connected to the switch via the network port, and the camera 3 is connected to the main control board via the USB interface; the wheel odometer 4 is connected to the main control board via the CAN interface, the GPS module 5 is connected to the switch via the network port, and the IMU is connected to the main control board via the serial port.

[0024] This embodiment can connect multiple devices together by setting up a switch so that they can communicate through the network. Among them, the laser radar 2 is connected to the switch through the network port, and the data detected by the laser radar can be transmitted to the microprocessor of the main control board through the switch; the camera 3 is directly connected to the main control board through the USB interface, and the captured image information can be directly transmitted to the microprocessor of the main control board for processing; the wheel speed data detected by the wheel odometer 4 is transmitted to the main control board through the CAN bus, and the mileage of the robot is calculated by the microprocessor; the GPS data detected by the GPS module 5 is transmitted to the microprocessor of the main control board through the switch; the attitude and acceleration data of the IMU are directly transmitted to the main control board through the serial port for fusion and processing. As the core processing unit, the main control board receives data from the laser radar and positioning module from the switch, and receives data from the camera, wheel odometer and IMU through its own interface. The modular design of this embodiment, on the one hand, enables each sensor and module to be connected to the system through a standard interface, making the system easy to expand and upgrade, and new sensors and devices can be easily added or replaced without having to redesign the entire system; on the other hand, the switch provides high-speed and low-latency data transmission to ensure that data between various network devices can be quickly transmitted, and the switch also supports parallel communication, multiple devices can send and receive data at the same time without interfering with each other; and the main control board, as the core processing unit, receives and integrates data from various sensors. This centralized processing method makes sensor data fusion more efficient and accurate, which helps to improve the overall performance of the system.

[0025] It can be understood that the above is a preferred connection method of this embodiment, and this embodiment can also adopt other connection methods, such as directly connecting the positioning module to the main control board through the serial port.

[0026] In this embodiment, the backend terminal is also connected to the water receiving station terminal for communication, and the water receiving station terminal sends information on whether the robot and the water hose are successfully docked to the backend terminal.

[0027] In this embodiment, the robot body 1 specifically includes a mobile chassis 6 and the water tank 7 arranged above the mobile chassis, the laser radar 2 and the water cannon 8 are arranged on one side of the water tank 7, the camera 3 is arranged on the top of the water tank 7, and the wheel odometer is arranged on the wheels of the mobile chassis 6; the IMU, the switch and the main control board are arranged in the box body of the mobile chassis 6, and the GPS module 5 and its antenna are arranged on the outside of the mobile chassis box or on the outside of the water tank.

[0028] In this embodiment, the communication module can be a Wi-Fi module, a Bluetooth module, a 4G / 5G module, etc. The communication module is arranged in the cavity of the mobile chassis, and is located on the same main control board as the microprocessor, or is arranged separately on the control board. The antenna of the communication module can be arranged together with the antenna of the positioning module.

[0029] In this embodiment, the mobile chassis 6 is designed as a six-wheel drive structure with strong load-bearing capacity and can carry a large amount of water and equipment; it has strong off-road capability and can adapt to complex road environments; it has automatic driving capability and can patrol autonomously in work scenes. Wheels are provided with wheel odometers 4. If the main purpose is short-distance travel and the road surface is flat, a wheel odometer can be set on only one of the wheels. For example, a wheel odometer is set on the driving wheel to obtain the travel distance of the wheel by monitoring the rotation speed of the wheel, thereby providing a short-distance movement estimate of the robot. If the robot is traveling on a turn or uneven surface, it is preferred to set wheel odometers on all wheels, so that the movement direction and speed of the robot can be determined by comparing the rotation data of each wheel, thereby coordinating and controlling the movement of the entire chassis.

[0030] In this embodiment, the laser radar 2 is used to provide high-precision distance measurement to generate a 3D point cloud map of the environment. The camera 3 is installed on the pan-tilt platform and can rotate 360° driven by the pan-tilt platform to achieve all-round inspection without blind spots. The camera 3 of this embodiment can use a monocular camera or a binocular camera. For example, this embodiment uses a binocular camera, including a visible light camera and a thermal imaging camera. The visible light camera is used for image and video monitoring; the thermal imaging camera is used for heat source detection and temperature monitoring. During the patrol process, the thermal imaging camera is used to detect whether the temperature is abnormal, and is processed by the microprocessor and sent to the background terminal for monitoring by the background personnel; the visible light camera is used to obtain color images of the surrounding environment, which can be continuous video streams or separate image frames; the microprocessor performs pre-processing operations on the raw image data received from the visible light camera to analyze whether it is a flame. Once it is a flame, an alarm is issued and the image is sent to the background terminal.

[0031] In this embodiment, the IMU is used to measure the acceleration and angular velocity (rotation rate) information of the robot. The microprocessor can estimate the posture of the robot by analyzing the data provided by the IMU. The GPS module is used to provide global position information, but the accuracy is affected by the environment. Therefore, the GPS module needs to be fused with other sensor data to provide a more accurate position.

[0032] In this embodiment, a first interface is provided at the rear side of the water tank of the robot body 1, and a second interface matching the first interface is provided on the water hose at the water receiving station. When the robot body moves to the water hose position, the first interface can be autonomously docked with the second interface of the water hose. Since the docking structure of the robot and the water hose is already an existing technology, the structure of the first interface and the second interface will not be described in detail here, as long as the two can be adapted and connected, such as being designed as a plug-in structure.

[0033] The working principle of this embodiment is:

[0034] Since there are water receiving stations near the areas that need to be monitored, each area will be bound to a corresponding water station. Once a fire is detected in one of the areas, the background terminal will automatically dispatch the firefighting robot closest to the area to go to the water receiving station bound to this area to dock the water hose. After docking, it will go to the docking point bound to the area, so that the length of the water hose can be determined, so that fully automatic fire extinguishing can be truly achieved. Specifically:

[0035] (1) During the driving process, the robot collects data through the laser radar 2, GPS module 5, camera 3, wheel odometer 4 and IMU. These sensors provide data about the position, distance, direction of objects around the robot, as well as its own acceleration and angular velocity, and transmit them to the microprocessor. The microprocessor preprocesses and filters the data collected by each sensor to remove noise and unnecessary information, calibrates and synchronizes the data, and then fuses the data and extracts relevant features. It extracts features such as edges and corners from the laser radar data; extracts visual features such as corners, edges or features extracted using deep learning from the camera image; associates the extracted feature points with the current position of the robot, and constructs a map in the global coordinate system. The established map data is stored in the database of the background terminal. After having the map, the robot uses the odometer of multi-sensor fusion (wheel odometer, IMU, GPS, camera) as a motion model to predict the new position that the robot may reach based on the odometer data. The laser radar is used as a distance measurement model to match the map, so as to adjust the position, thereby estimating the current position of the robot and moving it to the target position according to the command. Since the microprocessor is already a conventional technology for processing the data of each sensor, and the multi-sensor fusion technology is also an existing technology, it will not be described in detail here. It can be said that this embodiment can greatly improve the accuracy of the map and the accuracy of the robot positioning by utilizing the fusion capability of multi-sensor data.

[0036] (2) When the robot's microprocessor receives the dispatch instruction sent by the background terminal, the robot autonomously walks to the water receiving station closest to the fire extinguishing point according to the loaded map, automatically adjusts its posture, and automatically docks with the water hose at the water receiving station.

[0037] (3) When the water receiving station detects that the docking is successful, it notifies the backend terminal, which sends a command of the docking point to the robot. The robot walks in a straight line to the docking point, fully deploys the water hose, and aims the water cannon at the fire extinguishing point coordinates transmitted to the robot by the backend terminal. The robot is then notified that it is ready, and the backend terminal opens the water valve of the water receiving station to complete the final fire extinguishing.

[0038] It is understandable that the method of scheduling robots by the background terminal, map loading technology, and sensor data fusion technology are already existing technologies and are not within the scope of protection of the present utility model. The present utility model mainly protects the hardware structure of the robot itself.

[0039] Example 2

[0040] The difference from Example 1 is that the robot body of this embodiment eliminates the water tank and includes a mobile chassis and a box body arranged above the mobile chassis. The mobile chassis can be designed only as a structure of chassis plus wheels, and a box body is arranged on the top; a laser radar and a water cannon are provided on one side of the box body, a camera is provided on the top of the box body, and an IMU, a switch and a main control board are provided in the box body; a wheel odometer is provided on the wheels of the mobile chassis; a positioning module and its antenna are arranged on one side of the box body.

[0041] A first pair of interfaces is provided at the entrance of the water monitor, and a second pair of interfaces matching the first pair of interfaces is provided on the water hose at the water receiving station. When the water monitor is connected to the water hose, the water flow at the water receiving station is directly sprayed out through the water hose through the water monitor without passing through the water tank.

[0042] The other structures are the same as those in Example 1 and will not be described in detail here.

[0043] To sum up, on the one hand, this embodiment realizes the modular design of hardware, that is, combining the control board with the switch and distributing the connections between the modules, so that the sensor data fusion is more efficient and accurate, which helps to improve the overall performance of the system; and reduces the burden and complexity of the main control board. On the other hand, by combining the five modules of lidar, camera, wheel odometer, positioning module and IMU, more dimensional data is provided, which can make up for the limitations of each sensor alone, and improve the map accuracy and robot positioning accuracy, as well as the stability and accuracy of the robot posture through multi-sensor fusion, so as to carry out more effective path planning and navigation.

Claims

1. A positioning system for a fire-fighting robot to automatically connect to a water hose, characterized in that: It includes a robot body and a main control board, a switch, a laser radar, a camera, a wheel odometer, a positioning module and an IMU arranged on the robot body; the main control board is provided with a microprocessor, and the microprocessor is electrically connected to the wheel odometer, the camera, the laser radar, the positioning module and the IMU through corresponding interfaces; the microprocessor is connected to the switch through a network port, and the microprocessor is also communicated with the background terminal through a communication module; the robot body is also provided with a water cannon for spraying water.

2. According to claim 1, the fire-fighting robot automatic docking water hose positioning system is characterized in that: The main control board is connected to the switch via the network port; the laser radar is connected to the switch via the network port; the camera is connected to the main control board via the USB interface; the wheel odometer is connected to the main control board via the CAN interface; the positioning module is connected to the switch via the network port or the serial port, or the positioning module is connected to the main control board via the network port or the serial port; the IMU is connected to the main control board via the serial port.

3. According to claim 1, the fire-fighting robot automatic docking water hose positioning system is characterized in that: The robot body includes a mobile chassis and a water tank arranged above the mobile chassis, the laser radar and water cannon are arranged on one side of the water tank, the camera is arranged on the top of the water tank, and the wheel odometer is arranged on the wheels of the mobile chassis; the IMU, switch and main control board are arranged in the cavity of the mobile chassis.

4. According to claim 1, the fire-fighting robot automatic docking hose positioning system is characterized in that: The robot body eliminates the water tank and includes a mobile chassis and a box body arranged above the mobile chassis. The laser radar and water cannon are arranged on one side of the box body, the camera is arranged on the top of the box body, and the IMU, switch and main control board are arranged in the box body; the wheel odometer is arranged on the wheels of the mobile chassis.

5. The positioning system for automatically docking a fire-fighting robot with a water hose according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that: The positioning module and the antenna thereof are arranged on one side of the water tank, or when the water tank is removed, the positioning module and the antenna thereof are arranged on one side of the box body located above the mobile chassis.

6. The positioning system for automatically docking a fire-fighting robot with a water hose according to claim 1, characterized in that: The camera is installed on the pan-tilt platform and can be rotated 360° driven by the pan-tilt platform; the camera is a monocular camera or a binocular camera.

7. The positioning system for automatically docking a fire-fighting robot with a water hose according to claim 1, characterized in that: A first pair of interfaces is provided at the rear side of the water tank of the robot body or at the inlet of the water cannon, and a second pair of interfaces matching the first pair of interfaces is provided on the water hose at the water receiving station.

8. The positioning system for automatically docking a fire-fighting robot with a water hose according to claim 1, characterized in that: The backend terminal is also connected to the water receiving station terminal for communication.

9. The positioning system for automatically docking a fire-fighting robot with a water hose according to claim 4, characterized in that: The communication module is a Wi-Fi module, a Bluetooth module or a 4G / 5G module; the antenna of the communication module is arranged together with the antenna of the positioning module.

10. The positioning system for automatically docking a fire-fighting robot with a water hose according to claim 5, characterized in that: The cameras include a visible light camera and a thermal imaging camera. The visible light camera is used for image and video monitoring; the thermal imaging camera is used for heat source detection and temperature monitoring.

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