Elevator control device, elevator control system, and elevator control method

Abstract

To provide an elevator control device that is capable of determining early which of an elevator and an autonomous vehicle has a problem when an abnormality occurs and that improves operational efficiency of the elevator and an entire building in which the elevator is installed.SOLUTION: An elevator control device comprises: an autonomous vehicle operation control unit that executes autonomous vehicle operation for enabling operation of a car in a state in which an autonomous vehicle rides in the car; a movement determination unit that determines whether the autonomous vehicle on a landing place has moved within a first time that is shorter than the time from door opening to door closing, when the car lands at any floor and a door opens and also when the autonomous vehicle waiting for landing at a landing place of the floor is present during execution of autonomous vehicle operation; and an automatic diagnostic operation control unit that executes automatic diagnostic operation for diagnosing whether the elevator can operate normally, when the autonomous vehicle at the landing place does not move within the first time from the door opening. The autonomous vehicle operation control unit determines that the autonomous vehicle at the landing place is out of order when it is determined that the elevator can operate normally, thereby stopping autonomous vehicle operation.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical field]

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

[0002] In recent elevator control systems, autonomous mobile bodies such as robots are operated by having them ride in elevator cars to perform various tasks and move to a destination floor, etc. Here, if an abnormality occurs in the elevator itself, or the autonomous mobile body itself, or between the autonomous mobile body and an autonomous mobile body server that controls the autonomous mobile body, or between the autonomous mobile body server and an elevator server that controls the elevation and descent of the elevator, the autonomous mobile body will be unable to move to the destination floor using the elevator.

[0003] To solve such problems, a technique has been known in the past for closing the elevator car door, canceling the automatic guided vehicle-only operation mode, and entering a normal operation mode if the boarding of the automatic guided vehicle has not been completed within a predetermined set time after the elevator car door is opened (see, for example, Patent Document 1). Also, a technique has been known for determining the abnormality based on abnormality information of the autonomous moving body when an abnormality occurs in the autonomous moving body inside the car and the autonomous moving body is unable to operate, and for determining a recovery floor from which to recover the autonomous moving body based on the determined abnormality information (see, for example, Patent Document 2). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 5-286653 [Patent Document 2] Patent No. 6930637 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] However, such conventional technology waits a long time for an autonomous mobile object to enter the car before making a decision, which reduces the operational efficiency of the entire building. Also, it is unclear whether the cause of the abnormality is the elevator or the autonomous mobile object.

[0006] One of the objectives of the embodiments is to provide an elevator control device, elevator control system, and elevator control method that, when an abnormality occurs, can quickly determine whether the problem is with the elevator or the autonomous moving body, and can improve the operational efficiency of the elevator and the entire building in which the elevator is installed. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The elevator control device of the embodiment is an elevator control device in an elevator control system including an elevator control device that controls an elevator in which an autonomous mobile object capable of moving autonomously can ride in a car, the autonomous mobile object, an elevator server that is connected to the elevator control device via a network and controls the raising and lowering of the car, and an autonomous mobile object server that is connected to the autonomous mobile object and the elevator server via a network, the elevator control device including an autonomous mobile object operation control unit that executes autonomous mobile object operation capable of operating the car with the autonomous mobile object inside, and a control unit that controls the car to move in a direction perpendicular to the elevator direction while the autonomous mobile object operation is being executed. The elevator is equipped with: a movement determination unit that, when the autonomous moving body lands on a floor and opens its doors, and when there is an autonomous moving body waiting to board at a landing on the floor, determines whether or not the autonomous moving body at the landing has moved within a first time period that is shorter than the time from the door opening to the door closing; and an automatic diagnosis operation control unit that executes automatic diagnosis operation to diagnose whether or not the elevator is capable of operating normally if the autonomous moving body at the landing does not move within the first time period from the door opening, and when it is determined that the elevator is capable of operating normally, the autonomous moving body operation control unit determines that the autonomous moving body at the landing has malfunctioned and stops the operation of the autonomous moving body. [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 block diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of the controller according to the embodiment. [Diagram 5] FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of a server in the elevator cloud according to the embodiment. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of a server in a robot cloud according to the embodiment. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of the robot according to the embodiment. [Figure 8] FIG. 8 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of the flow of an elevator control process at the time of boarding according to the embodiment. [Figure 9] FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a procedure of an elevator control process at the time of boarding according to the embodiment. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the procedure (continuation) of the elevator control process at the time of boarding according to the embodiment. [Figure 11] FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of the flow of the elevator control process at the time of disembarking according to the embodiment. [Figure 12] FIG. 12 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the flow (continuation) of the elevator control process at the time of disembarking according to the embodiment. [Figure 13] FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a procedure of an elevator control process at the time of disembarking according to the embodiment. [Figure 14] FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the procedure (continuation) of the elevator control process at the time of disembarking according to the embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0009] 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 photograph the inside of the elevator cars 50A and 50B and transmit the captured images to the control panels 100A and 100B. When the doors of the elevator cars 50A and 50B are open at the platform, the cameras 7A and 7B are capable of capturing images of the platform and transmit the captured images to the control panels 100A and 100B.

[0014] The load sensors 8A, 8B are provided on the bottom of the elevator cars 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.

[0015] 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.

[0016] 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 and 150B, respectively, by wire or wirelessly.

[0017] 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.

[0018] The manager of building 3 sits in the control room 160 and issues various instructions to the control panels 100A and 100B. The manager of the control room 160 also receives various instructions by e-mail or the like from the control panels 100A and 100B via a PC or terminal device.

[0019] The server 210 in the elevator cloud 200 issues various control instructions to the control panels 100A, 100B via the controllers 150A, 150B for the cars 50A, 50B of the elevators 2A, 2B, 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.

[0020] 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 it is also possible to access the in-house server of the monitoring center 400 as necessary to refer to building and elevator information, or for the maintenance person to obtain information required for elevator management.

[0021] 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.

[0022] The number of elevators is not limited to two, and may be one, three or more 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 each other, they are referred to as elevator 2, elevator shaft 20, car 50, control panel 100, and controller 150. When the operation panels 4A, 4B, cameras 7A, 7B, and load sensors 8A, 8B are not distinguished from each other, they are referred to as operation panel 4, camera 7, and load sensor 8.

[0023] Next, the control panel 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. The control panel 100 has a typical computer configuration, and mainly includes a control unit 120, a communication unit 102, and a storage unit 110, as shown in FIG.

[0024] 2, the control panel 100 is connected by wire or wirelessly to a fire sensor 103, a seismometer 104, a load sensor 8, and a camera 7. The fire sensor 103 and the seismometer 104 are provided, for example, in the car 50 or in the elevators 20A and 20B. The load sensor 8 (8A, 8B) is provided in the car 50 as described above. The camera 7 is provided near the ceiling of the car 50 so as to be able to capture images of the inside of the car 50, and of the landing when the door of the car 50 is open.

[0025] 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.

[0026] 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 the "robot management DB 111"), a robot operation control program 112, a robot operation control program 115, and an automatic diagnosis operation program 116. 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 50.

[0027] 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.

[0028] 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".

[0029] Since the weight of the robot 500 may be necessary for the judgment of the movement judgment unit 127, 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.

[0030] 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.

[0031] 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.

[0032] 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.

[0033] The automatic diagnostic operation program 116 is a program for realizing an automatic diagnostic operation for diagnosing whether the elevator 2 can operate normally or not.

[0034] The control unit 120 is composed of a hardware processor (CPU) and mainly includes a travel control unit 121, a robot operation control unit 122, an automatic diagnosis operation control unit 125, and a movement determination unit 127, as shown in FIG.

[0035] The control unit 120 reads out and executes each of the operations control program 112, the robot operation control program 115, and the automatic diagnosis operation program 116 from the memory unit 110, thereby generating an operations control unit 121, a robot operation control unit 122, an automatic diagnosis operation control unit 125, and a movement judgment unit 127 on the main memory.

[0036] 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.

[0037] 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.

[0038] In addition, elevators 2 dedicated to robot operation and elevators 2 not dedicated to robot operation may be installed together in the building 3.

[0039] When the elevator car 50 lands on a floor and the door of the elevator car 50 opens during robot operation, either robot-only operation or robot-non-exclusive operation, and there is a robot 500 waiting to board at the platform of the floor, the movement determination unit 127 determines whether the robot 500 at the platform has moved within a first time period that is shorter than a predetermined set time period from when the door of the elevator car 50 opens to when the door closes.

[0040] Specifically, the movement determination unit 127 analyzes the image of the platform captured by the camera 7 to determine whether the robot 500 has moved, i.e., whether the robot 500 is about to board the car 50. Hereinafter, the opening of the door will be referred to as "door opening" and the closing of the door will be referred to as "door closing."

[0041] The movement determination unit 127 further determines whether the robot 500 in the car 50 has moved within a second time period shorter than the set time period when the car 50 carrying the robot 500 lands on a floor and the door opens during execution of either robot-exclusive operation or non-robot-exclusive operation.

[0042] Specifically, the movement determination unit 127 analyzes the captured image of the inside of the elevator 50 from the camera 7 and determines whether the robot 500 has moved, i.e., whether the robot 500 is about to disembark from the elevator 50.

[0043] Here, the set time can be set arbitrarily, for example, 3 minutes. The first time can be set arbitrarily as long as it is shorter than the set time, for example, 15 seconds. The second time can be set arbitrarily as long as it is shorter than the set time, for example, 5 seconds. The values ​​of the set time, the first time, and the second time are not limited to these. The set time, the first time, and the second time can be made variable by the control panel 100 or the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200.

[0044] The movement determination unit 127 may be configured to determine that the robot 500 has moved and gotten on the car 50 when the weight of the car 50 detected by the load sensor 8 has increased by the weight of the robot 500 stored in the memory unit 110. The movement determination unit 127 may be configured to determine that the robot 500 has moved and gotten off the car 50 when the weight of the car 50 detected by the load sensor 8 has decreased by the weight of the robot 500 stored in the memory unit 110.

[0045] In addition, the movement determination unit 127 may be configured to obtain successive still images or moving images as captured images from a camera 506 (see Figure 7) provided on the robot 500A, analyze the obtained captured images, and determine whether the robot 500 is moving to board the elevator 50 or whether it is moving to disembark from the elevator 50.

[0046] The automatic diagnostic operation control unit 125 controls automatic diagnostic operation to diagnose whether the elevator 2 can operate normally. The diagnostic items include diagnosis of the hoist brake, diagnosis of the opening and closing of the doors on each floor, diagnosis of the rated speed, diagnosis of the level difference between the floor and the landing, detection of speed on an intermediate floor, diagnosis of whether the speed or acceleration is occurring according to the speed pattern, diagnosis of the operation of the intercom in the car 50, diagnosis of the lighting, diagnosis of the load sensor 8, etc.

[0047] In this embodiment, the automatic diagnostic operation control unit 125 executes automatic diagnostic operation when the movement judgment unit 127 judges that the robot 500 at the landing does not move within a first time period from the door opening when the robot 500 boards the elevator car 50, and after the judgment, the elevator 2 has completed all services.

[0048] When the movement judgment unit 127 judges that the robot 500 in the car 50 does not move within a second time period from the door opening when the robot 500 dismounts from the car 50, the automatic diagnostic operation control unit 125 executes automatic diagnostic operation after the robot 500 is manually dismounted from the car 50 by the caretaker and the door is manually closed.

[0049] When the automatic diagnosis operation control unit 125 determines that the elevator 2 can operate normally at the time of boarding and disembarking, the robot operation control unit 122 determines that the robot 500 at the landing has broken down and cannot move, and stops the robot operation. On the other hand, when the automatic diagnosis operation control unit 125 determines that the elevator 2 cannot operate normally at the time of boarding and disembarking, the robot operation control unit 122 determines that the robot 500 has no abnormality.

[0050] Here, examples of malfunctions on the robot 500 side include damage to the robot 500 body caused by the robot 500 colliding with or rubbing against the platform or the door of the car 50 or its vicinity just before the robot 500 gets on or off the car 50. Other examples include damage caused by collisions between the side of the robot 500 body, various sensors 505, or the moving rollers of the robot 500.

[0051] On the other hand, a malfunction on the elevator 2 side may occur, for example, when there is no malfunction in the robot 500 itself, but the robot 500 collides with or rubs against the door of the car 50, causing a malfunction on the door side. Note that these are just examples of failures and are not limited to these.

[0052] The communication unit 102 is composed of a communication device having a predetermined communication protocol, and performs communication processing between the control panel 100 and the controller 150. In addition, the communication unit 102 transmits and receives various instructions and notifications to and from a mobile terminal or PC of the manager of the control room 160.

[0053] In this embodiment, when the movement determination unit 127 determines that the robot 500 does not move within a first time period from the door opening when the robot 500 gets into the car 50, the communication unit 102 transmits the robot ID of the robot 500 to the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 via the controller 150 and the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200, along with a message indicating that the robot 500 cannot get on. Specifically, the communication unit 102 transmits the robot ID and a message indicating that the robot 500 cannot get on to the controller 150. As a result, the message indicating that the robot 500 cannot get on is notified, along with the robot ID, from the controller 150 to the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200, and from the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200 to the server 310 of the robot cloud 300.

[0054] In this embodiment, when the robot 500 gets into the car 50, if the automatic diagnosis operation control unit 125 determines that the elevator 2 can operate normally, the communication unit 102 transmits an instruction to the manager of the control room 160 to notify the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 that the robot 500 is abnormal, together with the robot ID of the robot 500. As a result, the manager of the control room 160 sequentially notifies the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 that the robot 500 is abnormal, together with the robot ID.

[0055] In this embodiment, when the movement determination unit 127 determines that the robot 500 does not move within a second time period from the door opening when the robot 500 gets off the car 50, the communication unit 102 transmits the robot ID of the robot 500 to the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 via the controller 150 and the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200, along with a message that the robot 500 cannot operate the robot. Specifically, the communication unit 102 transmits the message that the robot 500 cannot operate the robot to the controller 150 together with the robot ID. As a result, the message that the robot 500 cannot operate the robot is notified, along with the robot ID, from the controller 150 to the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200, and from the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200 to the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 in that order.

[0056] In addition, when the robot 500 disembarks from the car 50, if the robot 500 in the car 50 does not move within a second time period from the door opening, the communication unit 102 transmits an instruction to the mobile terminal or PC of the manager in the control room 160 to manually disembark the robot 500.

[0057] In this embodiment, when the automatic diagnosis operation control unit 125 determines that the elevator 2 can operate normally when the robot 500 gets off the car 50, the communication unit 102 transmits an instruction to the manager of the control room 160 to notify the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 that the robot 500 is abnormal, together with the robot ID of the robot 500. As a result, the manager of the control room 160 notifies the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 that the robot 500 is abnormal, together with the robot ID.

[0058] Next, the controller 150 will be described. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an example of a functional configuration of the controller 150 according to the embodiment.

[0059] As shown in FIG. 4, the controller 150 mainly includes a control unit 151, a communication unit 152, and a storage unit 155 as a typical computer configuration.

[0060] The control unit 151 is composed of a hardware processor (CPU), and controls the operation of the communication unit 152 . The memory unit 155 is composed of a storage medium (i.e., a memory device) such as a ROM or RAM, and temporarily stores the operation control program 112, the robot operation control program 115, the automatic diagnostic operation program 116, and update programs for updating these programs, which are stored in the control panel 100.

[0061] 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.

[0062] In this embodiment, the communication unit 152 receives, from the control panel 100, information indicating that the robot 500 cannot be boarded, that the robot 500 cannot be operated, or that there is an abnormality in the robot 500, along with the robot ID. Then, when the communication unit 152 receives information indicating that the robot 500 cannot be boarded, that the robot 500 cannot be operated, or that there is an abnormality in the robot 500, it transmits the information indicating that the robot 500 cannot be boarded, that the robot 500 cannot be operated, or that there is an abnormality in the robot 500 together with the robot ID directly to the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200.

[0063] Next, the server 210 in the elevator cloud 200 will be described. 5 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.

[0064] The storage unit 220 is a storage medium (memory device) such as a ROM, a RAM, etc. The storage unit 220 stores a travel control program 222, a robot operation control program 225, and an automatic diagnosis operation program 226.

[0065] The operation control program 222, the robot operation control program 225, and the automatic diagnosis operation program 226 are update programs for each program stored in the storage unit 110 of the control panel 100. Note that, for each of the operation control program 222, the robot operation control program 225, and the automatic diagnosis operation program 226, different programs may be prepared for each building 3 and each elevator 2.

[0066] 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.

[0067] In this embodiment, the communication unit 212 receives from the controller 150, together with the robot ID, information indicating that the robot 500 cannot be boarded, that the robot 500 cannot be operated as a robot, or that there is an abnormality in the robot 500. Then, when the communication unit 212 receives information indicating that the robot 500 cannot be boarded, that the robot 500 cannot be operated as a robot, or that there is an abnormality in the robot 500, it transmits information indicating that the robot 500 cannot be boarded, that the robot 500 cannot be operated as a robot, or that there is an abnormality in the robot 500 together with the robot ID to the server 310 of the robot cloud 300.

[0068] The control unit 211 is composed of a hardware processor (CPU). When the operation control program 222, the robot operation control program 225, and the automatic diagnosis operation program 226 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.

[0069] Next, the server 310 in the robot cloud 300 will be described. FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an example of a functional configuration of a server 310 in a robot cloud 300 according to an embodiment. The server 310 mainly includes a control unit 311, a communication unit 312, and a storage unit 320 as a typical computer configuration.

[0070] 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.

[0071] 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.

[0072] 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.

[0073] 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.

[0074] In this embodiment, the communication unit 312 receives, together with the robot ID, from the server 210 in the elevator cloud 200, information that the robot 500 cannot board, information that the robot 500 cannot operate, and information that there is an abnormality in the robot 500. When the communication unit 312 receives information that the robot 500 cannot board from the server 210 in the elevator cloud 200, the communication unit 312 transmits an instruction to the robot 500 of the robot ID to wait at the platform. When the communication unit 312 receives information that the robot 500 cannot operate or information that there is an abnormality in the robot 500 from the server 210 in the elevator cloud 200, the communication unit 312 transmits an instruction to stop operation to the robot 500 of the robot ID.

[0075] 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.

[0076] 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.

[0077] Next, the robot 500 will be described. 7 is a block diagram showing an example of a functional configuration of a robot 500 according to an embodiment. As shown in FIG. 7, 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.

[0078] 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.

[0079] 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.

[0080] 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.

[0081] 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 . In this embodiment, the communication unit 502 may receive instructions to wait at a platform or to stop driving from the server 310 in the robot cloud 300.

[0082] 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.

[0083] In this embodiment, when the control unit 501 receives an instruction to wait at a platform or an instruction to stop operation via the communication unit 502, the control unit 501 stops operation by stopping the drive of the drive unit 503.

[0084] 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.

[0085] 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. First, the elevator control process at the time of boarding will be described. FIG. 8 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the flow of elevator control processing at the time of boarding by the elevator control system 1 according to the embodiment.

[0086] It is assumed that the elevator 2 is in operation (S101). It is also assumed that the control panel 100 is executing robot operation (S102). Here, the robot operation may be robot-dedicated operation or non-robot-dedicated operation.

[0087] Next, the control panel 100 starts the elevator control process at the time of boarding (S103). 9 and 10 are flowcharts showing an example of an elevator control process performed by the control panel 100 at the time of boarding according to the embodiment.

[0088] When the elevator car 50 arrives at any floor, the operation control unit 121 of the control panel 100 opens the door (S201). Then, the movement determination unit 127 of the control panel 100 starts detecting the movement of the robot 500 that is about to board the elevator at the platform (S202). The operation control unit 121 also starts measuring the door open time (S203). Then, the movement determination unit 127 determines whether a first time has elapsed since the door opened (S204). The movement determination unit 127 waits until the first time has elapsed (S204: No).

[0089] When the first time has elapsed since the door was opened (S204: Yes), the movement determination unit 127 determines whether the robot 500 at the platform is moving to board (S205). If it is determined that the robot 500 is moving (S205: Yes), the operation control unit 121 keeps the door open (S206).

[0090] Then, the movement determination unit 127 determines whether the movement of the robot 500 into the car 50 (i.e., boarding) is completed (S207). While the movement of the robot 500 into the car 50 is not yet completed (S207: No), the process returns to S206, and the door is kept open.

[0091] On the other hand, when the movement of the robot 500 into the car 50 is completed (S207: Yes), the operation control unit 121 closes the door (S208). Then, the operation control unit 121 moves the car 50 (S209), and then the process ends.

[0092] In S205, if the movement of the robot 500 at the platform is not detected (S205: No, S104), the operation control unit 121 closes the door (S210). Then, the robot operation control unit 122 stops the robot operation (S211, S105). Next, the communication unit 102 transmits a notification to the controller 150 that the robot 500 cannot board together with the robot ID of the robot 500 at the platform (S212, S106).

[0093] When the controller 150 receives a notification from the control panel 100 indicating that the robot 500 is not allowed to board along with the robot ID, the controller 150 transmits a notification indicating that the robot 500 is not allowed to board along with the robot ID to the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200 (S107).

[0094] When the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200 receives a notification from the controller 150 indicating that the robot 500 is not allowed to board along with the robot ID, the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200 transmits a notification indicating that the robot 500 is not allowed to board along with the robot ID to the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 (S108).

[0095] When the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 receives a notification from the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200 indicating that the robot 500 cannot board along with the robot ID, the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 transmits an instruction to the robot 500 of the robot ID to wait at the boarding area (S109). When the robot 500 at the platform receives an instruction to wait at the platform from the server 310 of the robot cloud 300, the robot 500 waits at the platform without moving (S110).

[0096] Next, in the control panel 100, in S213, the operation control unit 121 judges whether or not all operation services have ended (S213). If all operation services have not ended yet (S213: No), the operation control unit 121 continues the operation services (S214), and all operation services are awaited to end.

[0097] When all operation services have ended (S213: Yes), the automatic diagnosis operation control unit 125 executes an automatic diagnosis operation for automatically diagnosing the elevator 2 (S215, S111). When the automatic diagnosis is completed, the automatic diagnosis operation control unit 125 judges whether or not there is an abnormality in the elevator 2 as a result of the automatic diagnosis (S216). If it is judged that there is an abnormality in the elevator 2 (S216: Yes), the communication unit 102 transmits a notice of the occurrence of an abnormality in the elevator 2 to the maintenance center (S217). Here, an example of the maintenance center is the monitoring center 400, but is not limited to this.

[0098] Next, the operation control unit 121 moves the car 50 to a predetermined reference floor (mainly the first floor) (S218), and ends the operation service (S219). After that, the process ends.

[0099] On the other hand, if it is determined in S216 that there is no abnormality in the elevator 2 (S216: No), the control unit 120 determines that there is an abnormality in the robot 500 (S112). Therefore, the communication unit 102 transmits an instruction to the mobile terminal or PC of the manager in the control room 16 to notify the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 of the abnormality in the robot 500 together with the robot ID (S220, S113). The processing in the control panel 100 then ends.

[0100] When the administrator of the control room 160 receives a notification from the control panel 100 to the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 on a mobile terminal, PC, etc., the administrator sends a notification to the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 that the robot 500 with the robot ID is abnormal (S114).

[0101] When the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 receives a notification from the manager that the robot 500 of the robot ID is abnormal, it transmits an instruction to stop the robot operation to the robot 500 at the boarding point of the robot ID (S115). When the robot 500 receives the instruction to stop the robot operation from the server 310 of the robot cloud 300, it stops the robot operation (S116).

[0102] Next, the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 instructs the robot company to return the robot 500 of the robot ID (S117). The robot company that receives the instruction returns the robot 500 at the platform of the robot ID (S118). When the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 receives a notification from the robot company that the return is complete (S119), it transmits a return instruction to the robot 500 (S120). The robot 500 that receives the return instruction resumes robot operation (S121).

[0103] Next, the elevator control process when disembarking will be described. 11 and 12 are sequence diagrams showing an example of the flow of elevator control processing at the time of disembarking by the elevator control system 1 according to the embodiment.

[0104] It is assumed that the elevator 2 is in operation (S301). It is also assumed that the control panel 100 is executing robot operation (S302). Here, the robot operation may be robot-dedicated operation or non-robot-dedicated operation. Next, the control panel 100 starts the elevator control process at the time of disembarking (S303).

[0105] 13 and 14 are flowcharts showing an example of an elevator control process performed by the control panel 100 during disembarkation according to the embodiment. When the elevator car 50 arrives at any floor, the operation control unit 121 of the control panel 100 opens the door (S401). Then, the movement determination unit 127 of the control panel 100 starts detecting the movement of the robot 500 that is about to get off inside the elevator car 50 (S402). The operation control unit 121 also starts measuring the door open time (S403). The movement determination unit 127 determines whether or not a second time has elapsed since the door was opened (S404). The movement determination unit 127 waits until the second time has elapsed (S404: No).

[0106] When the second time has elapsed since the door was opened (S404: Yes), the movement determination unit 127 determines whether the robot 500 in the car 50 is moving to disembark (S405). If it is determined that the robot 500 is moving (S405: Yes), the operation control unit 121 keeps the door open (S406).

[0107] Then, the movement determination unit 127 determines whether the robot 500 has completed moving from the car 50 to the platform (i.e., disembarking) (S407). While the robot 500 has not yet completed moving from the car 50 (S407: No), the process returns to S406, and the door is kept open.

[0108] On the other hand, when the movement of the robot 500 from inside the car 50 is completed (S407: Yes), the operation control unit 121 closes the door (S408). Then, the operation control unit 121 moves the car 50 (S409), and then the process ends.

[0109] In S405, if the movement of the robot 500 at the platform is not detected (S405: No, S304), the operation control unit 121 closes the door (S410). Next, the communication unit 102 transmits a notification to the controller 150 that the robot 500 is not operable, together with the robot ID of the robot 500 in the car 50 (S411, S305).

[0110] When the controller 150 receives from the control panel 100 a notification that the robot 500 is inoperable together with the robot ID, the controller 150 transmits a notification that the robot 500 is inoperable together with the robot ID to the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200 (S306).

[0111] When the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200 receives a notification from the controller 150 that the robot 500 is inoperable together with the robot ID, the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200 transmits a notification that the robot 500 is inoperable together with the robot ID to the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 (S307).

[0112] When the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 receives a notification from the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200 indicating that the robot 500 is inoperable together with the robot ID, the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 transmits an instruction to stop operation to the robot 500 of the robot ID (S308). When the robot 500 in the car 50 receives an instruction to stop operation from the server 310 of the robot cloud 300, the robot 500 stops operation (S309).

[0113] Next, in the control panel 100, in S412, the robot operation control unit 122 stops the robot operation (S412, S310). Then, the operation control unit 112 judges whether or not all operation services have ended (S413). If all operation services have not ended yet (S413: No), the operation control unit 121 continues the operation services (S414), and all operation services are awaiting completion.

[0114] When all operation services are completed (S413: Yes), the operation control unit 121 prohibits the handling of new hall calls (S415). In other words, even if a new hall call is received, the operation control unit 121 ignores it. Then, the operation control unit 121 issues a movement instruction to the car 50 (S311) and moves the car to the reference floor (S416, S312).

[0115] Next, the communication unit 102 transmits an instruction to the mobile terminal or PC of the manager in the control room 16 to manually disembark the robot 500 in the elevator 50 together with the robot ID (S417, S313).

[0116] When the manager of the control room 160 receives the instruction, he / she goes to the car 50 of the robot 500 with the robot ID, manually opens the door (S314), and manually dismounts the robot 500 from the car 50 (S315). After that, the manager manually closes the door of the car 50 (S316).

[0117] In the control panel 100, the operation control unit 112 is in a state of waiting for confirmation of door closure (S418, S418: No). Then, when the door closure is confirmed (S418: Yes), the automatic diagnosis operation control unit 125 executes automatic diagnosis operation for automatically diagnosing the elevator 2 (S419, S317).

[0118] When the automatic diagnosis is completed, the automatic diagnosis operation control unit 125 judges whether or not there is an abnormality in the elevator 2 as a result of the automatic diagnosis (S420). If it is judged that there is an abnormality in the elevator 2 (S420: Yes), the communication unit 102 transmits a notice of the occurrence of an abnormality in the elevator 2 to the maintenance center (S421). Here, an example of the maintenance center is the monitoring center 400, but is not limited to this.

[0119] Next, the operation control unit 121 moves the elevator 50 to a predetermined reference floor (mainly the first floor) (S422), and ends the operation service (S423). After that, the process ends.

[0120] On the other hand, if it is determined in S420 that there is no abnormality in the elevator 2 (S420: No), the control unit 120 determines that there is an abnormality in the robot 500 (S318). Therefore, the communication unit 102 transmits an instruction to the mobile terminal or PC of the manager in the control room 16 to notify the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 of the abnormality in the robot 500 together with the robot ID (S424, S319). The processing in the control panel 100 then ends.

[0121] When the administrator of the control room 160 receives a notification from the control panel 100 to the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 on a mobile terminal, PC, etc., the administrator sends a notification to the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 that the robot 500 with the robot ID is abnormal (S320).

[0122] When the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 receives a notification from the manager that the robot 500 of the robot ID is abnormal, it transmits an instruction to stop the robot operation to the robot 500 at the boarding point of the robot ID (S321). When the robot 500 receives the instruction to stop the robot operation from the server 310 of the robot cloud 300, it stops the robot operation (S322).

[0123] Next, the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 instructs the robot company to return the robot 500 of the robot ID (S323). The robot company that receives the instruction returns the robot 500 at the platform of the robot ID (S324). When the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 receives a notification from the robot company that the return is complete (S325), it transmits a return instruction to the robot 500 (S326). The robot 500 that receives the return instruction resumes robot operation (S327).

[0124] Thus, in the present embodiment, in the elevator control system 1, the control panel 100 includes a robot operation control unit 122 that executes robot operation capable of operating the car 50 with the robot 500 aboard, a movement determination unit 127 that determines whether the robot 500 at the landing has moved within a first time that is shorter than a set time from door opening to door closing when the car 50 lands on any floor and opens its doors while the robot operation is being executed, and an automatic diagnosis operation control unit 125 that executes an automatic diagnosis operation to diagnose whether the elevator 2 can operate normally or not, when the robot 500 at the landing does not move within the first time from door opening. When it is determined that the elevator 2 can operate normally, the robot operation control unit 122 determines that the robot 500 at the landing is broken, and stops the operation of the robot 500.

[0125] For this reason, in this embodiment, when the robot 500 at the landing does not move within a first time that is shorter than the set time from door opening to door closing of the car 50 when the robot 500 at the landing gets on to the car 50 during robot operation, an automatic diagnosis of the elevator is performed to determine whether the cause of the non-movement is the elevator 2 side or the robot 500 side. Therefore, according to this embodiment, when an abnormality occurs, it can be determined early whether the problem is with the elevator 2 or the robot 500, and the operational efficiency of the elevator 2 and the entire building 3 in which the elevator 2 is installed can be improved.

[0126] In this embodiment, the control panel 100 includes a communication unit 102 that transmits to the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200 via the controller 150 a message indicating that the robot 500 cannot board when the robot 500 at the platform does not move within a first time period from the door opening. When the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200 receives a message indicating that the robot 500 cannot board from the control panel 100 via the controller 150, the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200 transmits a message indicating that the robot 500 cannot board to the server 310 of the robot cloud 300. When the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 receives a message indicating that the robot 500 cannot board from the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200, the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 transmits an instruction to the robot 500 at the platform to wait at the platform. When the robot 500 receives an instruction to wait at the platform from the server 310 of the robot cloud 300, the robot 500 stops operating and waits at the platform.

[0127] For this reason, in this embodiment, when the robot 500 at the platform does not move within a first time period from the door opening when the robot 500 gets into the car 50 at the platform during operation, the robot 500 is made to wait at the platform, taking into consideration the possibility that the cause of the abnormality lies on the robot 500 side. Therefore, according to this embodiment, when an abnormality occurs, erroneous determination of the cause of the abnormality can be prevented in advance.

[0128] Furthermore, in this embodiment, when it is determined that the elevator 2 can operate normally, the communication unit 102 of the control panel 100 transmits an instruction to the manager of the control room 160 to inform the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 that the robot 500 is abnormal. When the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 receives from the manager of the control room 160 that the robot 500 is abnormal, it transmits an instruction to the robot 500 at the landing to stop operation. When the robot 500 receives the instruction to stop operation from the server 310 of the robot cloud 300, it stops operation.

[0129] For this reason, in this embodiment, when the robot is operating and a passenger boards the car 50 of the robot 500 at the platform, if the automatic diagnosis of the elevator 2 determines that the elevator 2 can operate normally, it is determined that the cause of the abnormality is on the robot 500 side, and the operation of the robot 500 is stopped. Therefore, according to this embodiment, the cause of the abnormality can be determined early and accurately, and the operational efficiency of the elevator 2 and the entire building 3 in which the elevator 2 is installed can be improved.

[0130] In addition, in this embodiment, when the elevator car 50 carrying the robot 500 lands on any floor and opens its doors while the robot operation is being performed, the movement judgment unit 127 of the control panel 100 judges whether the robot 500 in the elevator car 50 has moved within a second time period that is shorter than the set time from door opening to door closing, and if the robot 500 in the elevator car 50 does not move within the second time period, the communication unit 102 transmits an instruction to the manager in the control room 160 to manually disembark the robot 500, and the automatic diagnostic operation control unit 125 executes automatic diagnostic operation after the robot 500 has disembarked, and if it is determined that the elevator 2 can operate normally, the robot operation control unit 122 determines that the robot 500 at the landing is malfunctioning and stops robot operation.

[0131] Therefore, in this embodiment, when the robot 500 in the car 50 does not move at the landing within a second time period that is shorter than the set time from door opening to door closing of the car 50 during robot operation, an automatic diagnosis of the elevator is performed to determine whether the cause of the non-movement is the elevator 2 side or the robot 500 side. Therefore, according to this embodiment, when an abnormality occurs, it can be determined early whether the problem is with the elevator 2 or the robot 500, and the operational efficiency of the elevator 2 and the entire building 3 in which the elevator 2 is installed can be improved.

[0132] In this embodiment, when the robot 500 in the car 50 does not move within a second time period from the door opening, the communication unit 102 of the control panel 100 transmits a message to the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200 via the controller 150 that the robot cannot be operated. When the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200 receives a message from the control panel 100 via the controller 150 that the robot cannot be operated, the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200 transmits a message to the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 that the robot cannot be operated. When the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 receives a message from the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200 that the robot cannot be operated, the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 transmits an instruction to stop operation to the robot 500 at the platform. When the robot 500 receives an instruction to stop operation from the server 310 of the robot cloud 300, it stops operation.

[0133] For this reason, in this embodiment, when the robot 500 in the car 50 gets off from the car 50 while the robot is operating, if the robot 500 at the landing does not move within a second time period from the door opening, the operation of the robot 500 is stopped in consideration of the possibility that the cause of the abnormality is on the robot 500 side. Therefore, according to this embodiment, when an abnormality occurs, erroneous determination of the cause of the abnormality can be prevented in advance.

[0134] Furthermore, in this embodiment, when it is determined that the elevator 2 can operate normally, the communication unit 102 of the control panel 100 transmits an instruction to the manager of the control room 160 to notify the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 that the robot 500 is abnormal. When the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 receives from the manager of the control room 160 that the robot 500 is abnormal, it transmits an instruction to the robot 500 in the car 50 to stop operation. When the robot 500 receives the instruction to stop operation from the server 310 of the robot cloud 300, it stops operation.

[0135] For this reason, in this embodiment, if automatic diagnosis of the elevator 2 determines that the elevator 2 can operate normally when the robot 500 in the car 50 gets off the car 50 during robot operation, it is determined that the cause of the abnormality is on the robot 500 side, and operation of the robot 500 is stopped. Therefore, according to this embodiment, the cause of the abnormality can be determined early and accurately, and the operational efficiency of the elevator 2 and the entire building 3 in which the elevator 2 is installed can be improved.

[0136] In this embodiment, when automatic diagnosis determines that the elevator 2 is normal, the control panel 100 sends an instruction to the manager of the control room 160 to notify the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 that there is an abnormality in the robot 500, and the manager of the control room 160 sends a message to the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 that there is an abnormality in the robot 500, but this is not limited to the above.

[0137] For example, when the automatic diagnosis determines that the elevator 2 is normal, the communication unit 102 of the control panel 100 can be configured to transmit to the controller 150 a message indicating that there is an abnormality in the robot 500, and the message can be transmitted from the controller 150 to the server of the elevator cloud 200 and then to the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 to inform the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 of the abnormality. In this case, it is possible to more reliably transmit to the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 that there is an abnormality in the robot 500.

[0138] In addition, when the robot is operating, if the camera 7 of the car 50 or the camera 506 of the robot 500 detects a user in the car 50 becoming agitated before the robot 509 boards the car 50, the control panel 100, the robot 500, the server 310 of the robot cloud 300, etc. can be configured to stop the robot 500 from boarding and return to normal operation from robot operation.

[0139] 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]

[0140] 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, 102, 152, 212, 312, 502...Communication unit, 103...Fire sensor, 104...Seismometer, 110, 155, 220, 320, 510...Memory unit, 111...Robot control unit logical DB, 112, 222...operation control program, 115, 225, 325...robot operation control program, 116, 226...automatic diagnosis operation program, 121...operation control unit, 122...robot operation control unit, 125...automatic diagnosis operation control unit, 127...movement 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 in an elevator control system including: an elevator in which an autonomous moving object capable of moving autonomously in a car can ride; the autonomous moving object; an elevator server connected to the elevator control device via a network and controlling the elevation and descent of the car; and an autonomous moving object server connected to the autonomous moving object and the elevator server via a network, an autonomous moving body operation control unit that executes autonomous moving body operation capable of operating the car with the autonomous moving body in a riding state; a movement determination unit that, when the car lands on any floor and opens a door while the autonomous moving body is operating, and there is an autonomous moving body waiting to board at a boarding platform at the floor, determines whether or not the autonomous moving body at the boarding platform has moved within a first time period that is shorter than the time period from the door opening to the door closing; an automatic diagnosis operation control unit that, when the autonomous moving body at the landing does not move within the first time period from the door opening, executes an automatic diagnosis operation to diagnose whether the elevator can operate normally, When it is determined that the elevator can operate normally, the autonomous moving body operation control unit determines that the autonomous moving body at the hall is malfunctioning and stops the autonomous moving body operation. Elevator control device.

2. a transmission unit that, when the autonomous moving body at the hall does not move within the first time period from the door opening, transmits to the autonomous moving body server via the elevator server a message indicating that the autonomous moving body is not allowed to board; The elevator control device of claim 1 further comprising:

3. The transmission unit further transmits, when it is determined that the elevator can operate normally, an instruction to a control room to notify the autonomous mobile body server that the autonomous mobile body is abnormal. The elevator control device according to claim 2.

4. The movement determination unit further determines whether or not the autonomous moving body in the car has moved within a second time period that is shorter than a time period from the door opening to the door closing when the car in which the autonomous moving body is riding lands on any floor and the door opens during the execution of the autonomous moving body operation, When the autonomous moving body in the elevator does not move within the second time period, the transmission unit transmits an instruction to a control room to manually disembark the autonomous moving body, the automatic diagnostic driving control unit executes the automatic diagnostic driving after the autonomous moving body gets off, When it is determined that the elevator can operate normally, the autonomous moving body operation control unit determines that the autonomous moving body at the hall is malfunctioning and stops the autonomous moving body operation.

4. The elevator control device according to claim 3.

5. The transmission unit further transmits, when the autonomous moving body in the elevator car does not move within the second time period from the door opening, to the autonomous moving body server via the elevator server, a message indicating that the autonomous moving body cannot be operated. The elevator control device of claim 4 further comprising:

6. The transmission unit further transmits, when it is determined that the elevator can operate normally, an instruction to the control room to notify the autonomous mobile body server that the autonomous mobile body is abnormal.

6. The elevator control device according to claim 5.

7. An elevator control system comprising: an elevator control device that controls an elevator in which an autonomous moving object capable of moving autonomously in a car can ride; the autonomous moving object; an elevator server that is connected to the elevator control device via a network and controls the elevation and descent of the car; and an autonomous moving object server that is connected to the autonomous moving object and the elevator server via a network, an autonomous moving body operation control unit that executes autonomous moving body operation capable of operating the car with the autonomous moving body in a riding state; a movement determination unit that, when the car lands on any floor and opens a door while the autonomous moving body is operating, and there is an autonomous moving body waiting to board at a boarding platform at the floor, determines whether or not the autonomous moving body at the boarding platform has moved within a first time period that is shorter than the time period from the door opening to the door closing; an automatic diagnosis operation control unit that, when the autonomous moving body at the landing does not move within the first time period from the door opening, executes an automatic diagnosis operation to diagnose whether the elevator can operate normally, When it is determined that the elevator can operate normally, the autonomous moving body operation control unit determines that the autonomous moving body at the hall is malfunctioning and stops the autonomous moving body operation. Elevator control system.

8. The elevator control device includes: a transmission unit that transmits to the elevator server a message indicating that the autonomous moving body is not allowed to board the elevator when the autonomous moving body at the elevator does not move within the first time period from the door opening, when the elevator server receives from the elevator control device a notification that the autonomous moving body cannot be boarded, the elevator server transmits a notification that the autonomous moving body cannot be boarded to the autonomous moving body server; When the autonomous mobile body server receives from the elevator server a notice that the autonomous mobile body cannot board, the autonomous mobile body server transmits an instruction to wait at the platform to the autonomous mobile body at the platform; When the autonomous moving body receives an instruction to wait at the platform from the autonomous moving body server, the autonomous moving body stops driving and waits at the platform.

8. The elevator control system of claim 7.

9. The transmission unit further transmits, when it is determined that the elevator can operate normally, an instruction to a control room to notify the autonomous mobile body server that the autonomous mobile body is abnormal; The autonomous mobile object server further transmits an instruction to stop operation to the autonomous mobile object at the boarding area when the autonomous mobile object server receives a notification from the control room that the autonomous mobile object is abnormal, The autonomous moving body further stops operation when the autonomous moving body receives the instruction to stop operation from the autonomous moving body server.

9. The elevator control system of claim 8.

10. The movement determination unit further determines whether or not the autonomous moving body in the car has moved within a second time period that is shorter than a time period from the door opening to the door closing when the car in which the autonomous moving body is riding lands on any floor and the door opens during the execution of the autonomous moving body operation, When the autonomous moving body in the elevator does not move within the second time period, the transmission unit transmits an instruction to a control room to manually disembark the autonomous moving body, the automatic diagnostic driving control unit executes the automatic diagnostic driving after the autonomous moving body gets off, When it is determined that the elevator can operate normally, the autonomous moving body operation control unit determines that the autonomous moving body at the hall is malfunctioning and stops the autonomous moving body operation.

10. The elevator control system of claim 9.

11. The transmission unit further transmits, to the elevator server, a message indicating that the autonomous moving body cannot be operated when the autonomous moving body in the elevator car does not move within the second time period from the door opening, the elevator server further transmits, when receiving from the elevator control device a notification that the autonomous moving body cannot be operated, a notification that the autonomous moving body cannot be operated to the autonomous moving body server; The autonomous mobile object server further transmits an instruction to stop operation to the autonomous mobile object at the hall when the autonomous mobile object server receives a notification from the elevator server that the autonomous mobile object cannot be operated, When the autonomous moving body receives the instruction to stop operation from the autonomous moving body server, the autonomous moving body stops operation.

11. The elevator control system of claim 10.

12. The transmission unit further transmits, when it is determined that the elevator can operate normally, an instruction to notify the autonomous mobile object server that the autonomous mobile object is abnormal to the control room; The autonomous mobile object server further transmits an instruction to stop operation to the autonomous mobile object at the boarding area when the autonomous mobile object server receives a notification from the control room that the autonomous mobile object is abnormal, the autonomous moving body further stops operation when the autonomous moving body receives the instruction to stop operation from the autonomous moving body server; 12. The elevator control system of claim 11.

13. An elevator control method executed in an elevator control system including: an elevator control device that controls an elevator in which an autonomous moving object capable of moving autonomously in a car can ride; the autonomous moving object; an elevator server that is connected to the elevator control device via a network and controls the elevation and descent of the car; and an autonomous moving object server that is connected to the autonomous moving object and the elevator server via a network, A step of executing an autonomous moving body operation capable of operating the car with the autonomous moving body in a riding state; When the car lands on any floor and opens a door during the autonomous moving body operation, and there is an autonomous moving body waiting to board at a boarding platform of the floor, determining whether or not the autonomous moving body at the boarding platform has moved within a first time period that is shorter than the time period from the door opening to the door closing; When the autonomous moving body at the landing does not move within the first time period from the door opening, executing an automatic diagnostic operation to diagnose whether the elevator can operate normally; When it is determined that the elevator can operate normally, determining that the autonomous moving body at the hall is malfunctioning and stopping the operation of the autonomous moving body; An elevator control method comprising:

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