Elevator control device and elevator control method

Abstract

To reduce a burden on a manager by eliminating the need to manage an autonomous moving body when an elevator is temporarily restored after the occurence of emergency.SOLUTION: This elevator control device for controlling an elevator which an autonomous moving body capable of autonomously moving to a car can board comprises: an autonomous moving body operation control unit that executes an autonomous moving body operation which is an operation of the car in a state where the autonomous moving body is on board; an emergency operation control unit that executes an operation control which is a prescribed operation when emergency occurs when the occurrence of the emergency is detected; an automatic diagnosis operation control unit that executes an automatic diagnosis operation for diagnosing whether the elevator can normally operate due to the occurrence of the emergency in a state where the autonomous moving body is on board the car; and a temporary restoration operation control unit that executes a temporary restoration operation which is an operation for temporarily restoring the elevator when it is determined that the elevator can normally operate.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] An embodiment of the present invention relates to an elevator control device and an elevator control method. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, in elevator control systems, when an emergency such as an earthquake occurs, the elevator performs controlled operations such as landing at the nearest floor, and then performs automatic diagnostic operation to diagnose the elevator. If the diagnostic results are satisfactory, temporary recovery operation is initiated.

[0003] Furthermore, in recent elevator control systems, autonomous mobile objects such as robots are operated in elevator cars to perform various tasks and move to a destination floor. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 5787806 [Patent Document 2] Patent No. 7097533 [Patent Document 3] Patent No. 7099579 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] When such an autonomous mobile body is operated, if an emergency such as an earthquake occurs and the elevator starts a controlled operation to land, for example, at the nearest floor, the passenger in the car gets off the car after the car has landed at the nearest floor. However, the autonomous mobile body in the car must get off at a floor different from the original destination floor determined by the autonomous mobile body operation, and it becomes unclear how to operate the autonomous mobile body. For this reason, when a provisional recovery operation is performed after the automatic diagnosis operation, it becomes necessary to manage the operation of the autonomous mobile body, which increases the burden on the manager.

[0006] One of the objectives of this embodiment is to provide an elevator control device and an elevator control method that eliminate the need to manage autonomous moving objects when an elevator is temporarily restored after an emergency occurs, thereby reducing the burden on managers. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The elevator control device of the embodiment is an elevator control device that controls an elevator in which an autonomous moving body that can move autonomously can ride in the car, and includes an autonomous moving body operation control unit that executes autonomous moving body operation, which is the operation of the car with the autonomous moving body inside, a controlled operation control unit that executes controlled operation, which is a predetermined operation at the time of the occurrence of the emergency, when the occurrence of an emergency is detected, an automatic diagnostic operation control unit that executes automatic diagnostic operation to diagnose whether the elevator is able to operate normally due to the occurrence of the emergency, with the autonomous moving body inside the car, and a temporary recovery operation control unit that executes temporary recovery operation, which is an operation in which the elevator is temporarily restored, when the automatic diagnostic operation control unit determines that the elevator is able to operate normally. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of an overall configuration of an elevator control system according to an embodiment. [Diagram 2]FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of a control panel according to the embodiment. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of the robot management DB according to the embodiment. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of diagnosis items of the automatic diagnostic operation according to the embodiment. [Diagram 5] FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of the controller according to the embodiment. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of a server in the elevator cloud according to the embodiment. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of a server in a robot cloud according to an embodiment. [Figure 8] FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of the robot according to the embodiment. [Figure 9] FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a procedure of an elevator control process according to the embodiment. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the procedure (continuation) of the elevator control process according to the embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0009] Hereinafter, an embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. (Embodiment) Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of an elevator control system 1 according to this embodiment. As shown in Fig. 1, the elevator control system 1 according to this embodiment mainly includes control panels 100A, 100B provided for elevators 2A, 2B, controllers 150A, 150B provided for elevators 2A, 2B, a control room 160, a server 210 in an elevator cloud 200, a server 310 in a robot cloud 300, and a monitoring center 400.

[0010] In this embodiment, two elevators 2A, 2B are installed in a building 3 such as an office building or an apartment building. The elevators 2A, 2B each have a car 50A, 50B in the hoistway 20A, 20B. In addition, each hoistway 20A, 20B also has a hoist and a counterweight (not shown). The cars 50A, 50B and the counterweight are supported so as to be able to rise and fall on a pair of guide rails (not shown) erected in the hoistway 20A, 20B, respectively, and rise and fall via ropes.

[0011] In addition to the user 5A, robots 500A and 500B acting as autonomous moving bodies can also ride in the elevators 50A and 50B.

[0012] The cars 50A and 50B are provided with operation panels 4A and 4B, cameras 7A and 7B, and load sensors 8A and 8B. The operation panels 4A, 4B receive various operations from users and send various notifications to the car 50. The operation panels 4A, 4B are provided with push buttons, non-contact sensors, speakers, liquid crystal displays, and the like (none of which are shown) for specifying destination floors and opening and closing the doors of the cars 50A, 50B. The operation panels 4A, 4B are also connected to the control panels 100A, 100B by wire or wirelessly. When the users 5A, 5B press the destination floor push button or when a non-contact sensor detects the floor, a destination floor call is sent to the control panels 100A, 100B.

[0013] The cameras 7A and 7B capture images of the inside of the cars 50A and 50B, and transmit the captured images to the control panels 100A and 100B. The load sensors 8A, 8B are provided on the bottom of the elevator car 50A, 50B and detect the weight of the elevator car 50. When a user 5A or a robot 500A, 500B is in the elevator car 50A, 50B, the load sensors 8A, 8B detect the weight of the elevator car 50 itself, as well as the weight of the user 5A and the weight of the robot 500A, 500B. The load sensors 8A, 8B send the detected weights as detection signals to the control panels 100a, 100B. The load sensors 8A, 8B are an example of a weight detection unit.

[0014] Control panels 100A, 100B and controllers 150A, 150B are provided inside the elevator shafts 20A, 20B, respectively. The control panels 100A, 100B are connected wirelessly or by wire to operation panels 4A, 4B provided in the elevator cars 50A, 50B.

[0015] The control panels 100A and 100B control the operation of the cars 50A and 50B in the elevators 2A and 2B, respectively. The control panels 100A and 100B are connected to the controllers 150A, 150B and 500C, respectively, by wire or wirelessly.

[0016] Each of the controllers 150A, 150B is connected to a server 210 in the elevator cloud 200 via a network. The controllers 150A, 150B are intermediate devices having an interface function and a hub function for controlling communication between the control panels 100A, 100B and the server 210, and for intermediate various signals exchanged between the control panels 100A, 100B and the server 210. Details of the control panels 100A, 100B and the controllers 150A, 150B will be described later.

[0017] A manager of building 3 sits in control room 160 and gives various instructions to control panels 100A and 100B.

[0018] The server 210 in the elevator cloud 200 issues various control instructions for the cars 50A, 50B of the elevators 2A, 2B to the control panels 100A, 100B via the controllers 150A, 150B, and receives various requests and data from the control panels 100A, 100B via the controllers 150A, 150B. The server 210 in the elevator cloud 200 is connected to a monitoring center 400 (an in-house server) and a server 310 in the robot cloud 300 via a network.

[0019] An in-house server (not shown) is installed in the monitoring center 400. The in-house server is a server installed in an affiliated company of the elevator 11, and collects information required for maintenance management and remote monitoring of the elevator 2 from the elevators 2A and 2B. This allows a maintenance person to deal with the occurring malfunction by referring to the information required for maintenance management collected in the in-house server of the monitoring center 400 when a function or service is executed through the elevator cloud 200, and the in-house server of the monitoring center 400 can be accessed as necessary to refer to building and elevator information, or the maintenance person can obtain information required for elevator management.

[0020] The server 310 of the robot cloud 300 receives various requests and various data from the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200. The server 310 of the robot cloud 300 is connected to multiple robots 500A, 500B, and 500C in the building 3 via a network, and transmits various instructions to each of the multiple robots 500A, 500B, and 500C. The server 210 of the elevator cloud 200 and the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 will be described in detail later.

[0021] The number of elevators is not limited to two, and may be one, or three or more elevators may be provided in the building 3. Therefore, the number of elevator shafts 20A, 20B, cars 50A, 50B, control panels 100A, 100B, and controllers 150A, 150B also varies according to the number of elevators 2A, 2B. Here, when the two elevators 2A, 2B, the two elevator shafts 20A, 20B, the two cars 50A, 50B, the two control panels 100A, 100B, and the two controllers 150A, 150B are not distinguished from one another, they are referred to as the elevator 2, the elevator shaft 20, the car 50, the control panel 100, and the controller 150.

[0022] Next, the control board 100 will be described. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a functional configuration of the control panel 100 according to the embodiment. The control panel 100 is an example of an elevator control device. As shown in FIG. 2, the control board 100 mainly includes a control unit 120, a communication unit 102, and a storage unit 110.

[0023] 2, the control panel 100 is connected to a fire sensor 103, a seismometer 104, and a load sensor 8 by wire or wirelessly. The fire sensor 103 and the seismometer 104 are provided, for example, in the car 5 or in the elevators 20A and 20B. The load sensor 8 (8A, 8B) is provided in the car 50 as described above.

[0024] The fire sensor 103 detects the occurrence of a fire in the elevator 2 and sends a detection signal to the control unit 120. The seismometer 104 detects the occurrence of an earthquake and sends a detection signal to the control unit 120. Here, the detection signal indicating the occurrence of a fire is also called a fire control signal. Moreover, the detection signal indicating the occurrence of an earthquake is also called an earthquake control signal.

[0025] The communication unit 102 is made up of a communication device having a predetermined communication protocol, and performs communication processing between the control board 100 and the controller 150 . The storage unit 110 is a storage medium (i.e., a memory device) such as a ROM or a RAM. The storage unit 110 stores a robot management database 111 (hereinafter referred to as a "robot management DB 111"), an operation control program 112, a fire control program 113, an earthquake control program 114, a robot operation control program 115, an automatic diagnosis operation program 116, and a temporary recovery operation program 117. The memory unit 110 also stores the weight of the car 50 itself and the weight of the car 50 when the robot 500 is riding in the car 500.

[0026] The robot management DB 111 is a database for managing the robots 500 that use the elevator 2. The robot management DB 111 is a database that associates a robot ID, weight, and riding status. Here, the robot ID is information for identifying the robot 500. The weight is the weight of the robot 500 of the robot ID. The riding status is information indicating whether the robot 500 of the robot ID is currently riding in the car 50 or not.

[0027] Fig. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure of the robot management DB 111 according to the embodiment. The example in Fig. 3 shows that the robot 500 with the robot ID "A001" is riding in the car 50, and the weight of the robot 500 is "xx kg". Also, it shows that the robot 500 with the robot ID "A002" is not riding in the car 50 (for example, at the boarding area), and the weight is "yy kg".

[0028] Since the weight of the robot 500 is necessary for the judgment of the user judgment unit 127 during automatic diagnostic operation, the weight of the robot 500 is downloaded in advance from the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 via the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200 and the controller 150, or directly from the robot 500, and registered in the robot management DB 111. The control panel 100 may be configured to similarly download other information related to the robot 500 in addition to the weight of the robot 500, and register it in the robot management DB 111.

[0029] The robot 500 notifies the server 310 in the robot cloud 300 of its own status together with its robot ID at regular intervals or when the riding status changes, and then notifies the server 310 in the robot cloud 300, which receives the notification, of the robot ID and the current riding status to the server 210 in the elevator cloud 200 and the control panel 100 via the controller 150. The control unit 120 registers the robot ID and the current riding status in the record of the corresponding robot ID in the robot management DB 111.

[0030] Returning to Fig. 2, the operation control program 112 is a program that realizes the main functions required for operation control of the elevator 2. Here, the main functions include, for example, a function for driving and controlling the hoisting machine, a safety function for controlling the speed of the car 50, a function for controlling the opening and closing of the doors of the car 50, a function for controlling the lighting of the car 50, a function for registering hall calls and destination floor calls (also called car calls), and the like.

[0031] The robot operation control program 115 is a function that realizes robot operation control, that is, operation control of the elevator 2 when the robot 500 uses the elevator 2. Robot operation refers to a situation in which the elevator is operated with the robot 500 on board under either of the operating conditions of robot-only operation or non-robot-only operation. Robot-only operation is operation in which only the robot 500 is on board the car 50. Non-robot-only operation is operation in which the robot 500 and the user 5 are on board together in the car 50. The robot operation control program 115 is configured to be able to realize control of robot-only operation and control of non-robot-only operation.

[0032] The fire control program 113 is a program that realizes operation control of the elevator 2 in the event of a fire occurring as an emergency. Specifically, when a fire detection signal is received from the fire sensor 103 during robot operation in the emergency elevator 2, the fire control program 113 realizes operation control to stop robot operation and pull back the car 50 to a predetermined reference floor (mainly the first floor). Such operation control is called fire control operation.

[0033] The earthquake control program 114 is a program that realizes operation control of the elevator 2 in the event of an earthquake occurring as an emergency. Specifically, when the earthquake control program 114 receives a detection signal of an earthquake occurrence from the seismometer 104 while the robot is operating in the elevator 2, it realizes operation control that stops the robot operation and moves and stops the car 50 at the floor nearest to the floor on which the elevator is currently traveling. This type of operation control is called earthquake control operation.

[0034] The automatic diagnostic operation program 116 is a program for realizing an automatic diagnostic operation for diagnosing whether the elevator 2 can operate normally due to the occurrence of an emergency after a fire control operation or an earthquake control operation has been executed. The temporary recovery operation program 117 is a program for realizing a temporary recovery operation in which the elevator 2 is operated by performing a temporary recovery after the execution of an automatic diagnostic operation.

[0035] The control unit 120 is composed of a hardware processor (CPU). As shown in Fig. 2, the control unit 120 mainly includes an operation control unit 121, a robot operation control unit 122, a fire control operation control unit 123, an earthquake control operation control unit 124, an automatic diagnosis operation control unit 125, a temporary recovery operation control unit 126, and a user determination unit 127.

[0036] The control unit 120 reads out and executes each of the programs, namely, the operation control program 112, the robot operation control program 115, the fire control program 113, the earthquake control program 114, the automatic diagnosis operation program 116, and the temporary recovery operation program 117, from the memory unit 110, thereby generating an operation control unit 121, a robot operation control unit 122, a fire control operation control unit 123, an earthquake control operation control unit 124, an automatic diagnosis operation control unit 125, and a temporary recovery operation control unit 126 on the main memory.

[0037] The operation control unit 121 performs the main functions required for controlling the operation of the elevator 2, such as a function to drive and control the hoist, a safety function such as controlling the speed of the car 50, a function to control the opening and closing of the doors of the car 50, a function to control the lighting of the car 50, and a function to register hall calls and destination floor calls.

[0038] The robot operation control unit 122 executes a function to realize operation control of the elevator 2 when the robot 500 uses the elevator 2. Specifically, the robot operation control unit 122 executes control of robot-only operation in which only the robot 500 rides in the car 50 and operates the elevator 2, and control of non-robot-only operation in which the robot 500 and the user 5 can ride in the car 50 together and operate the elevator 2. The robot operation control unit 122 stores in the memory unit 110 whether the robot-only operation or non-robot-only operation has been executed.

[0039] In addition, elevators 2 dedicated to robot operation and elevators 2 not dedicated to robot operation may be installed together in the building 3.

[0040] When the fire control operation control unit 123 receives a fire detection signal from the fire sensor 103 during robot operation in the emergency elevator 2, it stops robot operation and controls the fire control operation to pull the car 50 back to a specified reference floor (mainly the first floor).

[0041] When the earthquake control operation control unit 124 receives an earthquake occurrence detection signal from the seismometer 104 while the robot is operating in the elevator 2, it performs earthquake control operation control to stop the robot operation and move the car 50 to the floor nearest to the floor on which the elevator is currently traveling and stop it there.

[0042] The user determination unit 127 determines whether or not a user 5 is present in the car 50. Specifically, the user determination unit 127 determines that a user 5 is present in the car 50 when the weight of the car 50 detected by the load sensor 8 minus the weight of the robot 500 is greater than the weight of the car 50 stored in the memory unit 110 (the weight of the car 50 itself).

[0043] In addition, the user determination unit 127 may be configured to acquire an image from the camera 7, or from a camera 506 (see FIG. 8) provided on the robot 500A, and analyze the acquired image to determine whether or not a user is present in the elevator 50.

[0044] After executing fire control operation or earthquake control operation, the automatic diagnosis operation control unit 125 controls automatic diagnosis operation to diagnose whether the elevator 2 can operate normally due to the occurrence of an emergency. In this embodiment, the automatic diagnosis operation control unit 125 performs automatic diagnosis operation with the robot 500 being placed inside the car 50 without removing it from the car 50.

[0045] That is, when the robot operation control unit 122 is executing a non-robot-exclusive operation and the user determination unit 127 determines that no user is present in the car 50, the automatic diagnosis operation control unit 125 starts executing an automatic diagnosis operation. When the robot operation control unit 122 is executing a non-robot-exclusive operation and the user determination unit 127 determines that no user is present in the car 50, the automatic diagnosis operation control unit 125 opens the door of the car 50 and outputs a message encouraging the user to get off from the speaker and liquid crystal display unit (neither of which are shown) of the operation panel 4. Then, when the user determination unit 127 determines that no user is present in the car 50, the automatic diagnosis operation control unit 125 starts executing an automatic diagnosis operation.

[0046] The automatic diagnosis operation control unit 125 immediately starts executing automatic diagnosis operation when the robot-only operation is being executed by the robot operation control unit 122. The automatic diagnosis operation control unit 125 executes both a robot riding diagnosis that is executed when the robot 500 is riding in the car 50 and a normal diagnosis that is executed regardless of whether the robot 500 is riding in the car 50 or not, as the automatic diagnosis operation.

[0047] The diagnosis when the robot is aboard is a diagnosis specific to a state in which the robot 500 is aboard the car 50. Here, the diagnosis when the robot is aboard is an example of a first diagnosis, and the normal diagnosis is an example of a second diagnosis.

[0048] Fig. 4 is a diagram showing an example of diagnostic items of the automatic diagnostic operation according to the embodiment. As shown in Fig. 4, the diagnostic items of the automatic operation diagnosis include the hoist brake, the opening and closing of the doors on each floor, the rated speed, the level difference between the floor and the landing, the speed detection on the intermediate floor, whether the speed or acceleration is occurring according to the speed pattern, the operation of the intercom in the car 50, the lighting, the load sensor, etc. Here, in the normal diagnosis, all items are targeted.

[0049] Meanwhile, the diagnostic items when the robot is boarded include the opening and closing of the doors on each floor, the level difference between the floor and the landing, the load sensor, etc., as shown in Fig. 4. The automatic diagnosis operation control unit 125 targets all of the diagnostic items of the normal diagnosis, but among them, the diagnostic items when the robot is boarded shown in Fig. 4 are diagnosed taking into account the weight of the robot 500 being boarded.

[0050] 2, when the automatic diagnosis operation control unit 125 determines that the elevator 2 can operate normally, the temporary recovery operation control unit 126 executes temporary recovery operation, which is an operation in which the elevator 2 is temporarily restored. That is, when the automatic diagnosis operation control unit 125 determines that the elevator 2 can operate normally, the temporary recovery operation control unit 126 executes temporary recovery operation to move the car 50 to the destination floor of the robot 500 that is determined in the robot operation.

[0051] Next, the controller 150 will be described. FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an example of a functional configuration of the controller 150 according to the embodiment.

[0052] 5, the controller 150 mainly includes a control unit 151, a communication unit 152, and a storage unit 155 as a general computer configuration. The control unit 151 is made up of a hardware processor (CPU) and controls the operation of the communication unit 152. The storage unit 155 is made up of a storage medium (i.e., a memory device) such as a ROM or a RAM, and temporarily stores the operation control program 112, the robot operation control program 115, the fire control program 113, the earthquake control program 114, the automatic diagnosis operation program 116, the temporary recovery operation program 117, and update programs for updating these programs, which are stored in the control panel 100.

[0053] The communication unit 152 is composed of a communication device having a predetermined communication protocol, and performs communication processing between the control panel 100 and the controller 40, and communication processing between the controller 150 and the server 210 in the elevator cloud 200. For example, when the communication unit 152 receives an operation signal transmitted from the control panel 100, it transmits the operation signal to the server 210 in the elevator cloud 200.

[0054] FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an example of a functional configuration of the server 210 in the elevator cloud 200 according to the embodiment. The server 210 mainly includes a control unit 211, a communication unit 212, and a storage unit 220 as a typical computer configuration.

[0055] The storage unit 220 is a storage medium (memory device) such as a ROM or a RAM. The storage unit 220 stores a traffic control program 222, a robot operation control program 225, a fire control program 223, an earthquake control program 224, an automatic diagnosis operation program 226, and a temporary recovery operation program 227.

[0056] The operation control program 222, the robot operation control program 225, the fire control program 223, the earthquake control program 224, the automatic diagnosis operation program 226, and the temporary recovery operation program 227 are update programs for each program stored in the memory unit 110 of the control panel 100. Note that, for each of the operation control program 222, the robot operation control program 225, the fire control program 223, the earthquake control program 224, the automatic diagnosis operation program 226, and the temporary recovery operation program 227, different programs may be prepared for each building 3 and elevator 2.

[0057] The communication unit 212 is composed of a communication device having a predetermined communication protocol, and performs communication processing between the server 210 and the controller 150, and communication processing between the server 210 and the server 310 in the robot cloud 300.

[0058] The control unit 211 is composed of a hardware processor (CPU). When the operation control program 222, the robot operation control program 225, the fire control program 223, the earthquake control program 224, the automatic diagnosis operation program 226, and the temporary recovery operation program 227 are updated, the control unit 211 transmits them to the control panel 100 via the controller 150. When the robot operation control program 225 is updated, the control unit 211 receives the updated robot operation control program 225 from the server 310 in the robot cloud 300 and stores it in the storage unit 220.

[0059] Next, the server 310 in the robot cloud 300 will be described. FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of a server 310 in the robot cloud 300 according to the embodiment. The server 310 mainly includes a control unit 311, a communication unit 312, and a storage unit 320 as a typical computer configuration.

[0060] The storage unit 320 is a storage medium (memory device) such as a ROM, a RAM, etc. The storage unit 320 stores a robot basic program 321 and a robot operation control program 325.

[0061] The robot basic program 321 is a program that defines the operation of the robot 500 in the elevator 2. For example, the robot basic program 321 defines processes such as cleaning and inspection of the elevator 2. In addition, in the robot basic program 321, a destination floor for the robot 500 to disembark is defined for each robot 500.

[0062] The robot operation control program 325 is a program to be transmitted to the server 210 in the elevator cloud 200 in response to the server 210 in the elevator cloud 200, and is stored as the robot operation control programs 115, 225 stored in the memory unit 110 of the control panel 100 described above and the memory unit 220 of the server 210 in the elevator cloud 200.

[0063] The communication unit 312 is composed of a communication device having a predetermined communication protocol, and performs communication processing between the server 310 and the server 210 in the elevator cloud 200, and communication processing between the server 310 and the robot 500.

[0064] The control unit 311 is composed of a hardware processor (CPU). The control unit 311 controls various elevator-related processes for the robot 500. In this embodiment, the control unit 311 transmits the robot operation control program 325 stored in the storage unit 320 to the server 210 in the elevator cloud 200 in response to a request from the server 210 in the elevator cloud 200. In addition, when the robot operation control program 325 is updated, the control unit 311 transmits an update program for the robot operation control program 325 to the server 210 in the elevator cloud 200.

[0065] In response to a request from the robot 500, the control unit 311 transmits the robot basic program 321 stored in the storage unit 320 to the robot 500. In addition, when the robot basic program 321 is updated, the control unit 311 transmits an update program for the robot basic program 321 to the robot 500.

[0066] Next, the robot 500 will be described. Fig. 8 is a block diagram showing an example of a functional configuration of a robot 500 according to an embodiment. As shown in Fig. 8, the robot 500 mainly includes a camera 506, various sensors 505, a control unit 501, a communication unit 502, a driving unit 503, and a storage unit 510.

[0067] The camera 506 captures images of the surroundings of the robot 500 and transmits the captured images to the server 310 of the robot cloud 300. The robot 500 may be configured to further transmit the captured images to the control panel 100.

[0068] The various sensors 505 include, for example, a human sensor, an acceleration sensor, a load sensor, and the like, but are not limited to these.

[0069] The storage unit 510 is a storage medium (memory device) such as a ROM or a RAM. A robot basic program 511 is stored in the storage unit 510. The robot basic program 511 is a program received from the server 310 in the robot cloud 300 and stored in the storage unit 510. The robot basic program 511 defines the operation in the elevator 2, similar to the robot basic program 321 in the server 310. The robot basic program 511 defines the destination floor for the robot 500 to disembark.

[0070] The communication unit 502 is composed of a communication device having a predetermined communication protocol, and performs communication processing between the robot 500 and the server 310 in the robot cloud 300 .

[0071] The driving unit 503 drives the robot 500 to move. The control unit 501 is composed of a hardware processor (CPU). During normal operation of the elevator 2, the control unit 501 reads and executes a robot basic program 511 from the storage unit 510, thereby executing various operations in the elevator 2.

[0072] The above configuration of the robot 500 is just an example, and the robot 500 may further include an audio output unit such as a speaker and an input unit such as a touch panel.

[0073] Next, an elevator control process performed by the control panel 100 of the elevator control system 1 of this embodiment configured as above will be described. 9 and 10 are flowcharts illustrating an example of a procedure of an elevator control process according to the embodiment.

[0074] It is assumed that the robot operation control unit 122 of the control panel 100 is executing the robot operation (S101). At this time, the elevator 2 is in operation. If the control unit 120 has not detected the occurrence of an earthquake, that is, if the control unit 120 has not received an earthquake control signal from the seismometer 104 (S102: No), the process returns to S101.

[0075] When the control unit 120 detects the occurrence of an earthquake, that is, when an earthquake control signal is received from the seismometer 104 (S102: Yes), the system transitions to earthquake control operation, and the earthquake control operation control unit 124 executes earthquake control operation (S103). As earthquake control operation, the earthquake control operation control unit 124 moves the car 50 to the nearest floor. Then, the earthquake control operation control unit 124 determines whether the car 50 has landed on the nearest floor (S104). When the car 50 has not landed on the nearest floor (S104: No), the earthquake control operation control unit 124 continues the movement of the car 50 to the nearest floor.

[0076] When the elevator car 50 has landed on the nearest floor (S104: Yes), the control unit 120 opens the door of the elevator car 50 (S105), and closes the door after a certain time has passed (S106). If there is a user in the elevator car 50 during this time, the user can get off. Here, since it is predetermined that the robot 500 in the elevator car 50 will get off at the destination floor, the robot 500 will not get off the elevator car 50 unless the nearest floor is the destination floor.

[0077] Next, the control unit 120 judges whether the robot operation before the earthquake control operation was a robot-only operation by referring to the memory unit 110 (S107). If the robot operation was not a robot-only operation (S107: No), that is, if the robot operation was a non-robot-only operation, there is a possibility that a user is in the car 50, so the user judgment unit 127 checks the presence of a user in the car 50 by analyzing the weight of the car 50 and the image captured by the camera 7 (S108).

[0078] Then, the user determination unit 127 determines the presence of a user (S109). If it is determined that a user is present in the car 50 (S109: Yes), the control unit 120 stops the movement of the robot 500 and turns off the various sensors 505 of the robot 500 (S110).

[0079] Specifically, the control unit 120 transmits a stop movement command and various sensor-off commands together with the robot ID of the robot to be stopped to the server 310 in the robot cloud 300 via the controller 150 and the server 210 in the elevator cloud 200. The server 310 in the robot cloud 300 receives these commands and transmits a stop movement command and various sensor-off commands to the robot 500 of the robot ID, i.e., the robot 500 in the car 50, and the robot 500 stops moving and turns off the various sensors 505.

[0080] Next, the control unit 120 opens the door of the car 50 (S111), and outputs an announcement such as "please get off" to the speaker and liquid crystal display unit of the operation panel 4 (S112). Then, the process returns to S108, and the process is repeated until there are no more users 5 in the car 50 in S109.

[0081] In S109, if the user 5 is no longer present in the car 50 (S109: No), the automatic diagnosis operation control unit 125 starts automatic diagnosis operation (S113). In addition, if the robot-only operation is selected in S107 (S107: Yes), since the user 5 is not present in the car 50, the automatic diagnosis operation control unit 125 immediately starts automatic diagnosis operation (S113).

[0082] When the diagnosis is completed, the automatic diagnosis operation control unit 125 checks the diagnosis result (S114). Then, the automatic diagnosis operation control unit 125 judges whether or not a temporary recovery operation can be started based on the diagnosis result (S115). For example, in the operation of the elevator 2 after an earthquake, if the number of diagnosis items is equal to or greater than a predetermined number, the automatic diagnosis operation control unit 125 judges that the elevator 2 is operating normally even after the occurrence of an earthquake.

[0083] When it is determined that the temporary recovery operation is possible (S115: Yes), the temporary recovery operation control unit 126 starts the temporary recovery operation (S116). This temporary recovery operation enables the car 50 to move to the destination floor of the robot 500 (S117). In other words, even after the earthquake occurs, the robot 500 executes the operation according to the robot basic operation program without receiving any new instructions, and disembarks when the car 50 lands on the destination floor of the robot 500.

[0084] If it is determined in S115 that the temporary recovery operation is not possible (S115: No), the control unit 120 stops the operation of the elevator 2 (S118).

[0085] When there are multiple elevators 2 in the building 3, the above-mentioned operation control and elevator control are performed in each elevator 2.

[0086] Thus, in this embodiment, the control panel 100 includes a robot operation control unit 122 that executes robot operation, which is the operation of the car 50 with the robot 500 inside, an earthquake control operation control unit 124 that executes earthquake control operation, which is a predetermined operation when an earthquake occurs, when an earthquake is detected, an automatic diagnosis operation control unit 125 that executes automatic diagnosis operation to diagnose whether the elevator 2 can operate normally due to the occurrence of an earthquake, with the robot 500 inside the car 50, and a temporary recovery operation control unit 126 that executes temporary recovery operation, which is an operation in which the elevator 2 is temporarily restored, when the automatic diagnosis operation control unit 125 determines that the elevator 2 can operate normally. Therefore, in this embodiment, even if an earthquake or the like occurs and an operation different from normal is performed, the robot 500 executes automatic diagnosis operation while remaining inside the car 50, and after the start of the temporary recovery operation, the robot 500 can move to a predetermined destination floor of the robot 500. Even if an emergency such as an earthquake occurs, new management of the robot 500 is not required, which reduces the burden on the manager.

[0087] Furthermore, in this embodiment, when the automatic diagnosis operation control unit 125 determines that the elevator 2 can operate normally, the temporary recovery operation control unit 126 of the control panel 100 executes a temporary recovery operation in which the elevator 2 is temporarily restored, and moves the car 50 to the destination floor of the robot 500 determined in the robot operation. Therefore, according to this embodiment, even if an emergency such as an earthquake occurs, new management of the robot 500 is not required, and the burden on the manager can be reduced.

[0088] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the control panel 100 includes a user determination unit 127 that determines whether or not a user is present in the car 50, the robot operation control unit 122 executes either robot-only operation or non-robot-only operation as the robot operation, and the automatic diagnosis operation control unit 125 starts execution of an automatic diagnosis operation when the user determination unit 127 determines that no user is present in the car 50 while non-robot-only operation is being executed. Therefore, according to this embodiment, automatic diagnosis can be executed when no user is present in the car 50, and therefore the diagnosis can be performed efficiently.

[0089] In this embodiment, when non-robot-exclusive operation is being performed, if the user determination unit 127 determines that a user is present in the car 50, the automatic diagnosis operation control unit 125 of the control panel 100 opens the door of the car 50 to encourage the user to disembark, and starts execution of automatic diagnosis operation when the user determination unit 127 determines that the user is no longer present in the car 50. Therefore, according to this embodiment, automatic diagnosis can be performed after more reliably ensuring that there is no user in the car 50, so that the diagnosis can be performed efficiently.

[0090] In addition, in this embodiment, the user determination unit 127 of the control panel 100 determines that a user is present in the car 50 when the weight of the car 50 detected by the load sensor 8 that detects the weight of the car 50 minus the weight of the robot 500 is greater than the weight of the car 500. Therefore, in this embodiment, the load sensor 8 can also be used to determine the presence or absence of a user in the car 50.

[0091] The user determination unit 127 determines whether or not a user is present in the car 50 based on an image captured by the camera 7 capturing an image of the inside of the car 50 or an image captured by the camera 506 provided on the robot 500. Therefore, according to this embodiment, it is possible to more accurately determine whether or not a user is present in the car 50.

[0092] When the robot-dedicated operation is being executed, the automatic diagnostic operation control unit 125 immediately starts the execution of the automatic diagnostic operation. Therefore, according to this embodiment, the automatic diagnostic operation can be started at an early stage.

[0093] The automatic diagnosis operation control unit 125 executes, as automatic diagnosis operations, both a robot riding diagnosis that is executed when the robot 500 is riding in the car 50, and a normal diagnosis that is executed regardless of whether the robot 500 is riding in the car 50. Therefore, according to this embodiment, accurate automatic diagnosis can be realized regardless of whether the robot 500 is riding in the car 50.

[0094] (Modification) There are various modifications to the above embodiment. Even when robot-only operation is being executed by the robot operation control unit 122, the automatic diagnosis operation control unit 125 and the user determination unit 127 may be configured to determine whether or not a user 5 is present in the car 50 by the user determination unit 127, and to start execution of automatic diagnosis operation when it is determined that no user is present. This makes it possible to more reliably determine that no user is present and execute automatic diagnosis even in the case of robot-only operation, which is based on the premise that no user is present in the car 50.

[0095] As an earthquake control operation, the earthquake control operation control unit 124 may be configured to instruct the robot 500 to disembark last when the elevator car 50 arrives at the nearest floor if the nearest floor is the destination floor of the robot 500 as determined in the robot operation. This further reduces the burden on the manager.

[0096] In this case, the earthquake control operation control unit 124 may be configured to instruct the robot 500 not to disembark even when the elevator 50 has arrived at the nearest floor if the seismic intensity of the earthquake that has occurred is equal to or greater than a predetermined seismic intensity (for example, equal to or greater than a depth of 6). This can improve safety in the case of a large earthquake.

[0097] Furthermore, even in the case of robot-only operation, the user determination unit 127 may be configured to check for users in the car using the camera 506 of the robot 500, etc. This makes it possible to more reliably determine that no user is present and execute automatic diagnosis.

[0098] In the case of non-robot-only operation, the automatic diagnostic operation control unit 125 may be configured to start automatic diagnostic operation based on the results of at least two of the load sensor 8 of the car, the camera 7 in the car 50, and the camera 506 of the robot 500.

[0099] The monitoring center 400 may be directly connected to the control panel 100. In this case, the automatic diagnosis operation and temporary recovery operation are performed according to instructions from the monitoring center 400, and the control panel 100 may be configured to transmit the diagnosis results to the monitoring center 400.

[0100] The same operation as described above can be performed even when multiple robots 500 are loaded in the car 50. In this case, when the load sensor 8 is used to determine the presence or absence of a user in the car 50, the user determination unit 127 may be configured to subtract the weight of the robots 500 loaded from the weight detected by the load sensor 8 to determine the presence or absence of a user.

[0101] If the robot 500 is unable to communicate with the server 310 in the robot cloud 300 after an earthquake, or if a communication delay occurs, the robot 500 may be configured to use the camera 506 of the robot 500 to determine the situation inside the car 50 and determine whether or not to move.

[0102] If communication between the robot 500 and the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 is interrupted, the system may be configured to not retry resuming communication, but to retry establishing communication between the robot 500 and the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 after a temporary recovery operation is started.

[0103] If there are multiple robots 500 in building 3 until temporary recovery operation begins, the robots 500 may be configured to share information between each other regarding the positions of the robots 500 and the operating status of each robot, such as the position of the elevator 50, whether or not automatic diagnosis has been performed, and whether or not temporary recovery operation has been performed.

[0104] After the start of the temporary recovery operation, when the robot 500 has completed moving to the destination floor and disembarked at the boarding area, the robot 500 may be configured to check with the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 whether it should continue to operate according to the instructions given before the earthquake occurred or if there are any changes.

[0105] For elevators 2 that do not have an automatic diagnostic operation function, the control panel 100 may be configured to stop the elevator 2 while the robot 500 is still inside the elevator 2.

[0106] The robot 500 itself may be configured to use its own speaker or monitor to make announcements or display text encouraging the user 5 in the car 50 to get off. In this case, the robot 500 can be configured to announce that it is safe for the user to move, such as "The robot has stopped and will not move."

[0107] In this embodiment, an earthquake is taken as an example of an emergency, but the emergency is not limited to this. For example, this embodiment can be applied to fires and other disasters as emergency situations.

[0108] Although some embodiments of the present invention have been described, these embodiments are presented as examples and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These novel embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, substitutions, and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. These embodiments and their modifications are included in the scope and spirit of the invention, and are included in the scope of the invention and its equivalents described in the claims. [Explanation of symbols]

[0109] 1...Elevator control system, 2, 2A, 2B...Elevator, 3...Building, 4, 4A, 4B...Operation panel, 5A...User, 7, 7A, 7B...Camera, 8, 8A, 8B...Load sensor, 20, 20A, 20B...Hoistway, 50, 50A, 50B...Car, 100, 100A, 100B...Control panel (elevator control device), 120, 151, 211, 311, 501...Control unit, 120, 152, 212, 312, 502...Communication unit, 103...Fire sensor, 104...Seismometer, 110, 155, 220, 320, 510...Memory unit, 111...Robot management DB, 112, 222...Operation control program, 113, 223...Fire control program, 114, 224...Ground Earthquake control program, 115, 225, 325...robot operation control program, 116, 226...automatic diagnosis operation program, 117, 227...temporary recovery operation program, 121...operation control unit, 122...robot operation control unit, 123...fire control operation control unit, 124...earthquake control operation control unit, 125...automatic diagnosis operation control unit, 126...temporary recovery operation control unit, 127...user judgment unit, 150, 150A, 150B...controller, 160...control room, 200...elevator cloud, 210...server, 300...robot cloud, 310...server, 321, 511...robot basic program, 500, 500A, 500B, 500C...robot, 503...drive unit.

Claims

1. An elevator control device that controls an elevator in which an autonomous moving object that can autonomously move to a car can ride, an autonomous moving body operation control unit that executes autonomous moving body operation, which is operation of the car with the autonomous moving body in a riding state; A control operation control unit that, when an occurrence of an emergency is detected, executes a control operation, which is a predetermined operation at the time of the occurrence of the emergency; an automatic diagnostic operation control unit that executes an automatic diagnostic operation to diagnose whether the elevator can operate normally due to the occurrence of the emergency while the autonomous moving body is in the elevator car; a temporary recovery operation control unit that executes a temporary recovery operation in which the elevator is temporarily restored when the automatic diagnosis operation control unit determines that the elevator can operate normally; An elevator control device comprising:

2. When the automatic diagnosis operation control unit determines that the elevator can operate normally, the temporary recovery operation control unit executes a temporary recovery operation, which is an operation in which the elevator is temporarily restored, and moves the car to a destination floor of the autonomous moving body determined in the autonomous moving body operation.

2. The elevator control device according to claim 1.

3. A user determination unit that determines whether the user is present in the elevator car, The autonomous mobile body operation control unit executes, as the autonomous mobile body operation, either an autonomous mobile body dedicated operation in which only the autonomous mobile body is placed in the car and the car is operated, or an autonomous mobile body non-dedicated operation in which, in addition to the autonomous mobile body, a user is placed in the car and the car is operated, the automatic diagnostic operation control unit starts execution of the automatic diagnostic operation when the autonomous mobile body non-exclusive operation is being executed by the autonomous mobile body operation control unit and when the user determination unit determines that the user is not present in the elevator.

2. The elevator control device according to claim 1.

4. When the autonomous mobile body non-exclusive operation is being executed by the autonomous mobile body operation control unit, if the user determination unit determines that the user is present in the elevator, the automatic diagnostic operation control unit opens the door of the elevator to prompt the user to get off, and if the user determination unit determines that the user is no longer present in the elevator, starts execution of the automatic diagnostic operation.

4. The elevator control device according to claim 3.

5. The user determination unit determines that the user is present in the car when a weight obtained by subtracting a weight of the autonomous moving body from a weight of the car detected by a weight detection unit that detects a weight of the car is greater than the weight of the car.

4. The elevator control device according to claim 3.

6. the user determination unit determines whether or not the user is present in the elevator based on an image acquired from a first imaging device that images the interior of the elevator or an image acquired from a second imaging device provided in the autonomous moving body; 4. The elevator control device according to claim 3.

7. the automatic diagnosis operation control unit immediately starts execution of the automatic diagnosis operation when the autonomous moving body dedicated operation is being executed by the autonomous moving body operation control unit; 4. The elevator control device according to claim 3.

8. The automatic diagnostic operation control unit causes the user determination unit to determine whether or not the user is present in the elevator even when the autonomous vehicle operation control unit is executing the autonomous vehicle dedicated operation, and starts execution of the automatic diagnostic operation when it is determined that the user is not present in the elevator.

4. The elevator control device according to claim 3.

9. The automatic diagnosis operation control unit executes, as the automatic diagnosis operation, both a first diagnosis that is executed when the autonomous moving body is riding in the car, and a second diagnosis that is executed regardless of whether the autonomous moving body is riding in the car.

2. The elevator control device according to claim 1.

10. The emergency is an earthquake; The controlled operation control unit, as the controlled operation, when the earthquake occurs, moves the elevator car to a floor closest to the floor on which the elevator car is currently traveling and opens a door of the elevator car.

2. The elevator control device according to claim 1.

11. The controlled operation control unit further performs, as the controlled operation, an instruction to cause the autonomous mobile body to disembark last when the car arrives at the nearest floor, in a case where the nearest floor is a destination floor of the autonomous mobile body determined in the autonomous mobile body operation. The elevator control device according to claim 10.

12. The control operation control unit further instructs the autonomous moving body not to disembark even when the elevator has arrived at the nearest floor when the seismic intensity of the earthquake that has occurred is equal to or greater than a predetermined seismic intensity. The elevator control device according to claim 11.

13. An elevator control method executed by an elevator control device that controls an elevator in which an autonomous moving body that can autonomously move to a car can ride, comprising: A step of performing autonomous moving body operation, which is operation of the car with the autonomous moving body in a riding state; When an occurrence of an emergency is detected, executing a controlled operation which is a predetermined operation at the time of the occurrence of the emergency; executing an automatic diagnostic operation to diagnose whether the elevator can operate normally due to the occurrence of the emergency while the autonomous moving body is in the elevator car; When it is determined that the elevator can operate normally, executing a temporary recovery operation in which the elevator is temporarily restored; An elevator control method comprising:

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