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

Abstract

To increase elevator operation efficiency by reducing failures occurring when an autonomous movable body uses an elevator.SOLUTION: This elevator control system comprises: an elevator control device that controls an elevator that enables boarding of an autonomous movable body that is autonomously movable and people in a plurality of cars; and a lift server that is connected to the elevator control device through a network and that controls lifting of the car. The system comprises an allocation unit that allocates, when a destination floor call for the autonomous movable body, which contains a departure floor and a destination floor designated by the autonomous movable body comes, a car other than a car not compatible with the autonomous movable body to the destination floor call for the autonomous movable body.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an elevator control system, an elevator control device, and an elevator control method. [Background technology]

[0002] Recent elevator control systems operate in conjunction with autonomous mobile objects, such as robots that perform various tasks such as delivery services, cleaning, and security, by having them board the elevator car and move to their destination floor (target floor). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 6687766 [Patent Document 2] Patent No. 7117743 [Patent Document 3] Patent No. 6991610 [Patent Document 4] Patent Publication No. 2021-050057 [Patent Document 5] Patent No. 7097533 [Patent Document 6] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2024-4557 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] However, in conventional elevator control systems that operate in conjunction with autonomous mobile bodies, there are elevator cars that are incompatible with autonomous mobile bodies, and when an autonomous mobile body is placed in such a car and operated, there is a high possibility that various malfunctions will occur.

[0005] For example, in the case of an elevator car designed to accommodate wheelchair users, there is a possibility that the autonomous moving body may come into contact with the handrail of the car, or that a mirror grounded on the wall may cause the autonomous moving body's sensor to malfunction.

[0006] Furthermore, for example, in the case of an emergency elevator car that is installed for the purpose of fire brigades carrying out firefighting and rescue operations in emergencies such as disasters, if the autonomous mobile body does not have the function to allow passengers to disembark from the car in the event of a fire, this will hinder firefighting operations.

[0007] Such a malfunction occurs when an autonomous mobile body uses the car of a wheelchair elevator or an emergency elevator, but does not occur when a human uses the car of a wheelchair elevator or an emergency elevator. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] An elevator control system according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises an elevator control device that controls an elevator capable of carrying autonomously moving bodies and people in a plurality of cars, and an elevator server that is connected to the elevator control device via a network and controls the raising and lowering of the cars.The system also comprises an allocation unit that, when there is a destination floor call for an autonomous moving body that includes a departure floor and destination floor specified by the autonomous moving body, assigns a car other than a car that is incompatible with the autonomous moving body to the destination floor call for the autonomous moving body. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the overall configuration of an elevator control system according to the first embodiment. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of a control panel according to the first embodiment. [Figure 3] FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of a server in the elevator cloud according to the first embodiment. [Figure 4]FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of a server in the robot cloud according to the first embodiment. [Figure 5] FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of the robot according to the first embodiment. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of the overall flow of the elevator control process according to the first embodiment. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an example of elevator allocation processing by the control panel according to the first embodiment. [Figure 8] FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of car allocation in the first embodiment. [Figure 9] FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of allocation of the elevator car 50 when there is no destination floor call for the robot in the first embodiment. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of the structure of the management DB according to the second embodiment. [Figure 11] FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating an example of elevator allocation processing by the control panel according to the second embodiment. [Figure 12] FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of a destination floor call for a robot according to the third embodiment. [Figure 13] FIG. 13 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of the overall flow of the elevator control process according to the third embodiment. [Figure 14] FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating an example of elevator allocation processing by the control panel according to the third embodiment. [Figure 15] FIG. 15 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the overall flow of elevator control processing according to the modified example. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0010] Hereinafter, embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0011] (First embodiment) Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of an elevator control system 1 according to the first embodiment. As shown in Fig. 1, the elevator control system 1 of this embodiment mainly includes control panels 100A and 100B provided for each of a plurality of elevators 2A and 2B, controllers 150A and 150B provided for each of the plurality of elevators 2A and 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.

[0012] In this embodiment, a plurality of elevators 2A and 2B are installed in a building 3 such as an office building or an apartment building. In the example of Fig. 1, only two elevators 2A and 2B are shown, but in reality, three or more elevators exist.

[0013] Elevators 2A, 2B each have a car 50A, 50B in their respective hoistways 20A, 20B. Additionally, each hoistway 20A, 20B also has a hoisting machine and a counterweight (not shown). The cars 50A, 50B and the counterweight are supported so as to be able to rise and fall freely on a pair of guide rails (not shown) erected in each of the hoistways 20A, 20B, and move up and down via ropes.

[0014] In addition to the user 5A, robots 500A and 500B as autonomous moving bodies can also ride in the cars 50A and 50B.

[0015] 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 issue various notifications to the elevator car 50. The operation panels 4A, 4B are provided with push buttons, non-contact sensors, speakers, LCD displays, etc. (none of which are shown) for specifying destination floors and opening and closing the doors of the elevator cars 50A, 50B. The operation panels 4A, 4B are also connected to the control panels 100A, 100B by wire or wirelessly. When users 5A, 5B press the destination floor push button or when a non-contact sensor detects the push button, a destination floor call is sent to the control panels 100A, 100B.

[0016] Here, the destination floor call is operation data that is performed by a user in the elevator car 50 to move the elevator car 50 to a desired destination floor. The destination floor call specifies a destination floor. Furthermore, in this embodiment, a destination floor call for the robot is transmitted from the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200 to the control panel 100 via the controller 150. The destination floor call for the robot is operation data in which the robot ID of the robot 500 that wishes to use the elevator 2, the departure floor, and the destination floor (also referred to as the target floor) are specified, and the car 50 is moved to the specified departure floor and directed from the departure floor to the specified destination floor.

[0017] A platform call is operation data that a platform user performs to make a car 50 heading in either the up or down direction arrive at the platform. The destination direction is specified in the platform call. The platform call may also include the floor from which the platform call was made (i.e., the departure floor).

[0018] Cameras 7A and 7B photograph the interiors of cars 50A and 50B and send the captured images to control panels 100A and 100B. When the doors of cars 50A and 50B are open at the platform, cameras 7A and 7B are capable of capturing images of the platform and send the captured images to control panels 100A and 100B.

[0019] The load sensors 8A and 8B are provided on the bottom of the cars 50A and 50B and detect the weight of the car 50. When a user 5A or a robot 500A or 500B is inside the car 50A or 50B, the load sensors 8A and 8B detect the weight of the car 50 itself, as well as the weight of the user 5A and the robot 500A or 500B. The load sensors 8A and 8B send the detected weights as detection signals to the control panels 100A and 100B.

[0020] Control panels 100A and 100B and controllers 150A and 150B are provided inside the elevator shafts 20A and 20B, respectively. The control panels 100A and 100B are connected wirelessly or by wire to operation panels 4A and 4B provided on the cars 50A and 50B.

[0021] 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. The control panels 100A and 100B will be described in detail later.

[0022] 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 intermediary devices that control communication between the control panels 100A, 100B and the server 210 and have an interface function and a hub function for intermediating various signals exchanged between the control panels 100A, 100B and the server 210. Each of the controllers 150A, 150B is configured as a computer that includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), ROM (Read Only Memory), RAM (Random Access Memory), etc.

[0023] The manager of building 3 is present in control room 160 and issues various instructions to control panels 100A and 100B. The manager of control room 160 also receives various instructions from control panels 100A and 100B by email or the like via a PC or terminal device.

[0024] The server 210 in the elevator cloud 200 issues various control instructions to the control panels 100A and 100B via the controllers 150A and 150B for the cars 50A and 50B of the elevators 2A and 2B, and receives various requests and data from the control panels 100A and 100B via the controllers 150A and 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.

[0025] 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 necessary for maintenance management and remote monitoring of the elevator 2 from the elevators 2A and 2B. This allows maintenance personnel to deal with the malfunction by referring to the information necessary for maintenance management collected in the in-house server of the monitoring center 400. Furthermore, when functions or services are executed through the elevator cloud 200, the in-house server of the monitoring center 400 can be accessed as needed to refer to building and elevator information, or the maintenance personnel can obtain information necessary for elevator management.

[0026] 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.

[0027] The number of elevators is not limited, and three or more elevators are installed in building 3. Therefore, the number of elevator shafts 20A, 20B, cars 50A, 50B, control panels 100A, 100B, and controllers 150A, 150B also varies depending on the number of elevators 2A, 2B. Here, when the multiple elevators 2A, 2B, the multiple elevator shafts 20A, 20B, the multiple cars 50A, 50B, the multiple control panels 100A, 100B, and the multiple controllers 150A, 150B are not distinguished from one another, 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 one another, they are referred to as operation panel 4, camera 7, and load sensor 8.

[0028] In this embodiment, at least a general elevator, an emergency elevator, and a wheelchair elevator are provided as the plurality of elevators 2. In this embodiment, at least a plurality of general elevators, one emergency elevator, and one wheelchair elevator are provided.

[0029] Here, an emergency elevator is an elevator installed for the purpose of firefighters carrying out firefighting and rescue operations in emergencies such as disasters. A wheelchair elevator is an elevator having a car 50 designed to accommodate wheelchair users. A general-purpose elevator is an elevator that does not have a special purpose such as an emergency elevator or a wheelchair elevator. In this embodiment, the car 50 of the emergency elevator and the car 50 of the wheelchair elevator are cars that are incompatible with robots.

[0030] 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 as shown in FIG. 2, mainly comprises a control unit 120, a communication unit 102, and a storage unit 110.

[0031] 2, the control panel 100 is connected to the load sensor 8 and the camera 7 by wire or wirelessly. As described above, the load sensor 8 (8A, 8B) is provided in the car 50. The camera 7 is provided near the ceiling of the car 50 so as to be able to capture images of the interior of the car 50 and, when the door of the car 50 is open, the landing.

[0032] The storage unit 110 is a storage medium (that is, a memory device) such as a ROM or RAM, etc. The storage unit 110 stores a management database 111 (hereinafter referred to as "management DB 111").

[0033] The management DB 111 is a database in which various data for using the elevator 2 is registered. For example, the management DB 111 registers the robot IDs of the robots 500 that can ride the elevator 2 controlled by the control panel 100. Here, the robot ID is information for identifying the robot 500.

[0034] The communication unit 102 is made up of a communication device having a predetermined communication protocol, and performs communication processing between the control panel 100 and the controller 150. That is, the communication unit 102 transmits and receives various data to and from other control panels 100 and the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200 via the controller 150. The communication unit 102 also transmits and receives various instructions and notifications to and from the mobile terminal, PC, etc. of the manager of the control room 160.

[0035] The control unit 120 is made up of a hardware processor (CPU) and mainly includes a normal operation control unit 121, a robot-linked operation control unit 122, and an allocation unit 125, as shown in FIG.

[0036] When the communication unit 102 receives a destination floor call for the robot from the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200, the allocation unit 125 cooperates with the control panels 100 of other elevators 2 to allocate the destination floor call for the robot with priority to cars other than cars that are incompatible with the robot 500.

[0037] A car that is incompatible with the robot 500 is a car that poses a safety or malfunction risk concern when the robot 500 is aboard or getting on or off, and in this embodiment, this is a car 50 of an emergency elevator and a car 50 of a wheelchair elevator. Therefore, cars other than cars that are incompatible with the robot 500 are cars that do not pose a safety or malfunction risk concern when the robot 500 is aboard or getting on or off, and in this embodiment, this is a car 50 of a general-use elevator. Note that, hereinafter, the car 50 may also be referred to as a "car number," which is the identification number of the car 50.

[0038] More specifically, when the allocation unit 125 receives a destination floor call for a robot, it allocates a car 50 preferentially from among a plurality of general elevator cars by group management control.

[0039] Here, group management control refers to control for allocating the car 5 closest to a departure floor such as a floor where a call for the car 50 is made. In this embodiment, the normal operation control unit 121 performs group management control in cooperation with the other control panels 100 by, for example, inquiring of the control panels 100 of other elevators 2 about the departure floor and the current position and elevation status of the car 5 and receiving the response.

[0040] Furthermore, when there is a hall call from a person, the allocation unit 125 cooperates with the control panels 100 of other elevators to allocate the hall call preferentially to cars that are incompatible with the robot.

[0041] The normal operation control unit 121 controls the normal operation. Normal operation is operation in which only people are on board the elevator 5, without any robots on board.

[0042] The robot interlocking operation control unit 122 controls the robot interlocking operation. Robot-linked driving is driving in which the robot 500 rides in the car 5. Robot-linked driving includes robot-only driving in which no person rides in the car 5, and non-robot-only driving in which a person can ride in the car 5. Robot-linked driving is sometimes referred to as robot driving.

[0043] Next, the server 210 in the elevator cloud 200 will be described. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of the server 210 in the elevator cloud 200 according to the embodiment. As shown in FIG. 3, the server 210 mainly includes a control unit 211, a communication unit 212, and a storage unit 220 as a general computer configuration.

[0044] The storage unit 220 is a storage medium (memory device) such as a ROM, a RAM, etc. The storage unit 220 stores various programs.

[0045] 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 of the control panel 100, and communication processing between the server 210 and the server 310 in the robot cloud 300.

[0046] In this embodiment, the communication unit 212 receives information including the robot ID, departure floor, and destination floor specified by the robot 500 from the server 310 of the robot cloud 300. In addition, the communication unit 212 transmits the destination floor call generated by the control unit 211 to the control panel 100.

[0047] The control unit 211 is composed of a hardware processor (CPU). When the communication unit 212 receives information including the robot ID, departure floor, and destination floor specified by the robot 500 from the server 310 of the robot cloud 300, the control unit 211 generates a destination floor call including the robot ID, departure floor, and destination floor.

[0048] Next, the server 310 in the robot cloud 300 will be described. FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of the server 310 in the robot cloud 300 according to the embodiment. As shown in FIG. 4, the server 310 mainly includes a control unit 311, a communication unit 312, and a storage unit 320, as a general computer configuration.

[0049] The storage unit 320 is a storage medium (memory device) such as a ROM, a RAM, etc. The storage unit 320 stores various programs.

[0050] The communication unit 312 is made up 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 .

[0051] In this embodiment, the communication unit 312 receives information from the robot 500, including the robot ID, departure floor, and destination floor specified by the robot 500, and transmits the information to the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200.

[0052] The control unit 311 is made up of a hardware processor (CPU) and controls various processes relating to the elevator of the robot 500.

[0053] Next, the robot 500 will be described. 5 is a block diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of a robot 500 according to an embodiment. As shown in FIG. 5, 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.

[0054] 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.

[0055] The various sensors 505 include, but are not limited to, a human sensor, an acceleration sensor, a load sensor, and the like.

[0056] The storage unit 510 is a storage medium (memory device) such as a ROM, a RAM, etc. The storage unit 510 stores various programs.

[0057] The communication unit 502 is made up 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 transmits information including the robot ID, the departure floor, and the destination floor to the server 310 in the robot cloud 300. The communication unit 502 also receives instructions to wait at a platform or to stop operation from the server 310 in the robot cloud 300.

[0058] The driving unit 503 drives the robot 500 to move. The control unit 501 is made up of a hardware processor (CPU). During normal operation of the elevator 2, the control unit 501 reads and executes various programs from the storage unit 510, thereby performing various operations in the elevator 2.

[0059] In this embodiment, when the robot gets into the car 5 of the elevator 2, the control unit 501 generates information including the robot ID, the departure floor, and the destination floor. In addition, the control unit 501 controls the driving of the driving unit 503 in response to an instruction from the server 310 in the robot cloud 300 to perform travel control.

[0060] The above configuration of the robot 500 is 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.

[0061] Next, an elevator control process performed by the elevator control system 1 of this embodiment configured as above will be described. FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of the overall flow of the elevator control process according to the first embodiment. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an example of elevator allocation processing by the control panel 100 according to the first embodiment.

[0062] 6 and 7, the communication unit 201 of the control panel 100 determines whether or not a hall call from a person (user) has been received (S101). When the communication unit 102 receives a hall call from a person (S101: Yes), the allocation unit 125 of the control panel 100 executes processing for allocating a car 50 to the received hall call in S104. Specifically, the allocation unit 125 allocates, to the received hall call from the person, a car closest to the floor from which the hall call was made, with priority to a car of the wheelchair elevator 2 (wheelchair car) or an emergency elevator 2 (emergency car), which are elevator cars that are incompatible with the robot 500 (S104). Then, the normal operation control unit 121 of the control panel 100 moves the allocated car 50 to the floor from which the hall call was made (departure floor).

[0063] If the communication unit 102 has not received a hall call from a person (S101: No), the communication unit 201 determines whether or not a destination floor call for the robot has been received from the server of the elevator cloud 200 via the controller 150 (S102). If the communication unit 102 has not received a destination floor call for the robot (S102: No), the process returns to S101.

[0064] Here, as shown in FIG. 6, when the robot 500 uses the elevator 2, the communication unit 502 of the robot 500 transmits information of its own robot ID, departure floor, and destination floor to the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 (S11).

[0065] In the server 310 of the robot cloud 300, when the communication unit 312 receives the information regarding the robot ID, the departure floor, and the destination floor from the robot 500, the communication unit 312 transmits the information to the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200 (S12).

[0066] In the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200, when the communication unit 212 receives information regarding the robot ID, the departure floor, and the destination floor from the server 310 of the robot cloud 300, the control unit 211 generates a destination floor call for the robot including the robot ID, the departure floor, and the destination floor (S13). Then, the communication unit 212 of the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200 transmits the destination floor call for the robot generated by the control unit 211 to the control panel 100 (S14).

[0067] In the control panel 100, when the communication unit 102 receives a destination floor call for the robot from the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200 via the controller 150 (S102: Yes), the allocation unit 125 executes processing for allocating a car 50 to the destination floor call for the robot (S15). That is, the allocation unit 125 performs group management control and preferentially allocates, to the received destination floor call for the robot, the car 50 (general car) of the general elevator 2 that is closest to the departure floor specified in the destination floor call for the robot (S103). Here, the car 50 (general car) of the general elevator 2 is a car 50 other than a car that is incompatible with the robot 500.

[0068] Fig. 8 is a diagram showing an example of allocation of the car 50 in the first embodiment. Fig. 8(a) shows the state of the car 50 when there is no destination floor call for the robot, and Fig. 8(b) shows the state of the conventional car 50 when there is a destination floor call for the robot. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of allocation of the elevator car 50 when there is no destination floor call for the robot in the first embodiment.

[0069] In the example of Figures 8 and 9, three general-use elevators, No. 1 to No. 3, are provided. In addition, one wheelchair elevator, No. 4, and one emergency elevator, No. 5, are provided.

[0070] As shown in FIG. 8(a), it is assumed that elevator cars 50 of Nos. 1 to 5 are distributed and waiting on floors 1 to 20. At this time, it is assumed that the control panel 100 receives a destination floor call for the robot from the robot 500 on the 15th floor. Note that, since the robot 500 on the 15th floor is getting on, the 15th floor is specified as the departure floor of the destination floor call for the robot.

[0071] In the conventional technology, as shown in FIG. 8(b), the closest car to the 15th floor, which is the departure floor of the robot 500, is the car 50 of the No. 4 wheelchair elevator waiting on the 15th floor, so the robot 500 is assigned the car 50 of the No. 4 wheelchair elevator.

[0072] However, the car 50 of the wheelchair elevator No. 4 is a car 50 that is incompatible with the robot 500. The car 50 of the emergency elevator No. 5 is also a car 50 that is incompatible with the robot 500. For this reason, in this embodiment, the allocation unit 125 does not allocate a car 50 that is incompatible with the robot 500, and instead, as shown in Figure 9, prioritizes allocating the car 50 of general-use elevator No. 3, which is closest to the 15th floor, from the cars 50 of general-use elevators No. 1 to No. 3.

[0073] 6 and 7, when the allocation process (S15) is completed, as shown in Fig. 6, the communication unit 102 of the control panel 100 sends a movement instruction to the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200 via the controller 150 to move the assigned car 50 to the location where the robot with the robot ID specified at the destination floor for the robot will arrive (S16). Then, the robot interlocking operation control unit 122 of the control panel 100 moves the assigned car 50 to the departure floor (S20).

[0074] In the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200, when the communication unit 212 receives the movement instruction for the robot 500 from the control panel 100, the communication unit 212 transmits the received movement instruction to the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 (S17).

[0075] In the server 310 of the robot cloud 300, when the communication unit 312 receives the movement instruction for the robot 500 from the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200, the communication unit 312 transmits the received movement instruction to the robot 500 (S18).

[0076] In the robot 500, when the communication unit 502 receives a movement instruction from the server 310 of the robot cloud 300, the control unit 501 instructs the driving unit 503 to move to the location where the car 50 specified in the movement instruction will arrive, and the robot 500 moves to the specified location (S19). Then, when the car 50 arrives at the location and the door opens, the robot 500 gets on the car 50 by being driven by the driving unit 503 (S21).

[0077] As described above, in the elevator control system 1 according to this embodiment, the control panel 100 includes a communication unit 102 capable of communicating with the control panels 100 of other elevators 2 and the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200, and an allocation unit 125 that, when the communication unit 102 receives a destination floor call for the robot 500 from the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200, which includes the departure floor and destination floor specified by the robot 500, cooperates with the control panels 100 of the other elevators 2 to preferentially allocate cars other than cars that are incompatible with the robot 500 to the destination floor call for the robot.

[0078] Therefore, according to this embodiment, when the robot 500 uses an elevator, it is preferentially assigned to a car other than a car that is incompatible with the robot 500. Therefore, according to this embodiment, it is possible to reduce the occurrence of problems when the robot 500 uses an elevator, thereby improving the operational efficiency of the elevator.

[0079] Furthermore, in the elevator control system 1 according to this embodiment, when a hall call is received from a person, the allocation unit 125 of the control panel 100 cooperates with the control panels 100 of other elevators 2 to preferentially allocate a car that is incompatible with the robot 500 to the hall call.

[0080] Therefore, according to this embodiment, when a person uses an elevator, a car that is incompatible with the robot 500 is preferentially assigned. Therefore, according to this embodiment, it is possible to reduce the occurrence of problems when the robot 500 uses an elevator, thereby improving the operational efficiency of the elevator.

[0081] In the elevator control system 1 according to this embodiment, the cars that are incompatible with the robot 500 include at least one of an emergency elevator car and a wheelchair elevator car.

[0082] For this reason, according to this embodiment, when the robot 500 uses an elevator, an emergency elevator car or a wheelchair elevator car, which are cars that are incompatible with the robot 500, is not assigned, and other cars 50 are preferentially assigned. Therefore, according to this embodiment, it is possible to reduce the occurrence of problems when the robot 500 uses an elevator, thereby improving the operational efficiency of the elevator.

[0083] (Second embodiment) In the first embodiment, emergency elevator cars 50 and wheelchair elevator cars 50 are used as cars 50 that are incompatible with the robot 500, and when there is a call for a destination floor for the robot, the emergency elevator cars 50 and wheelchair elevator cars 50 are fixedly removed and other general elevator cars 50 are preferentially assigned. In this second embodiment, a classification of whether the robot 500 cannot board, has difficulty boarding, or can board is set in advance for each elevator, and cars 50 are assigned with different priorities depending on calls from people at the boarding floor and calls for a destination floor for the robot.

[0084] The configuration of the elevator control system 1, the configuration of the control panel 100, the configuration of the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200, the configuration of the server 310 of the robot cloud 300, and the configuration of the robot 500 according to this embodiment are the same as those in the first embodiment. However, the functions of the control panel 100 according to this embodiment differ from those of the first embodiment in the following points.

[0085] In the management DB11 of the control panel 100 of this embodiment, for each elevator 50, a type, a corresponding type indicating the type to which the elevator 50 managed by the control panel 100 corresponds, a coefficient for personnel, and a coefficient for robots are associated.

[0086] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of the structure of the management DB 111 according to the second embodiment. As shown in FIG. 10, the management DB 111 according to this embodiment associates types, corresponding types indicating corresponding types, human coefficients, and robot coefficients.

[0087] The type is the type of car 50 controlled by the control panel 100, and in this embodiment, there are three types: A, B, and C. Type A indicates that the robot 500 cannot board, type B indicates that it is difficult for the robot 500 to board, and type C indicates that the robot 500 can board.

[0088] Examples of cases in which a type A robot 500 cannot board include a case in which the controller 150 is not installed in the elevator 2 and the car 50 cannot communicate with the server of the elevator cloud 200 or the server 310 of the robot cloud 300, a case in which the robot 500 cannot board due to the dimensions of the car 50, or a case in which the car 50 of the elevator 2 does not stop at the destination floor desired by the robot 500.

[0089] Furthermore, examples of situations where it is difficult for the B-type robot 500 to board include the car 50 of an emergency elevator or a wheelchair elevator. An example of a vehicle that the C-type robot 500 can ride in is the car 50 of a general elevator 2.

[0090] "Applicable type" is a field that indicates the type to which the elevator 50 managed by the control panel 100 corresponds. The human coefficient is a coefficient for the type of person calling at the platform. The human coefficient is an example of human priority. The human coefficient has a higher value in the order of type A (robot 500 cannot board), type B (robot 500 is difficult to board), and type C (robot 500 can board). In this embodiment, the human coefficient is set to 10 for type A, 5 for type B, and 0 for type C, as shown in FIG. 10. The human coefficient is an example of human priority.

[0091] The robot coefficient is a type coefficient for a destination floor call for a robot. The robot coefficient is an example of a priority for an autonomous moving body. The robot coefficient has a decreasing value in the order of type A (robot 500 cannot board), type B (robot 500 is difficult to board), and type C (robot 500 can board). In this embodiment, the robot coefficient is set to 0 for type A, 5 for type B, and 10 for type C, as shown in FIG. 10. The robot coefficient is an example of a priority for a robot. Here, examples of types A, B, and C are the same as the examples of the human coefficient.

[0092] In this embodiment, the values ​​of the human coefficients and the robot coefficients are determined in advance as described above, but they may also be determined by machine learning. In this case, the values ​​of the human coefficients and the robot coefficients may be configured to change dynamically depending on the results of the human coefficients and the robot coefficients.

[0093] When the communication unit 102 receives a destination floor call for the robot from the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200, the allocation unit 125, in cooperation with the control panel 100 of the other elevator 2, determines cars other than those that are incompatible with the robot 500 based on the robot coefficient and the waiting time that is the time it takes for the car 50 to move to the departure floor specified in the destination floor call for the robot, and preferentially allocates cars other than those that are incompatible with the determined robot 500 to the destination floor call for the robot.

[0094] Specifically, when the allocation unit 125 receives a destination floor call for the robot, it calculates an evaluation value which is the product of the coefficient for the robot and the waiting time, receives similar evaluation values ​​from other control panels 100 and compares them with each other, determines that the car 50 controlled by the control panel 100 with the highest evaluation value is a car that is compatible with the robot 500 (i.e., a car other than a car that is incompatible with the robot 500), and allocates this car 50 to the destination floor call for the robot on a priority basis.

[0095] Furthermore, when there is a human call for a platform, the allocation unit 125 cooperates with the control panel 100 of the other elevator 2 to determine which car is incompatible with the robot 500 based on the human coefficient and the waiting time, which is the time it takes for the car 50 to move to the departure floor where the platform call was made, and allocates the determined car 50 that is incompatible with the robot 500 to the human call for a platform with priority.

[0096] Specifically, when a human call to the platform is received, the allocation unit 125 calculates an evaluation value which is the product of the human coefficient and the waiting time, receives similar evaluation values ​​from other control panels 100 and compares them with each other, determines that the car 50 controlled by the control panel 100 with the highest evaluation value is a car that is incompatible with the robot 500, and allocates that car 50 to the human call to the platform.

[0097] Next, an elevator control process performed by the elevator control system 1 of this embodiment configured as above will be described. 11 is a flowchart showing an example of elevator allocation processing by the control panel 100 according to the second embodiment. The overall flow of the elevator control processing according to this embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment described with reference to FIG.

[0098] As shown in Fig. 11, the communication unit 201 of the control panel 100 determines whether or not a platform call has been received from a person (user) (S101). When the communication unit 102 receives a platform call from a person (S101: Yes), the allocation unit 125 of the control panel 100 calculates the waiting time of the car 50 that it controls (S204). Here, the allocation unit 125 calculates the waiting time, i.e., the time it takes for the car 50 to move from the current position to the departure floor, by dividing the distance from the current position of the car 50 to the departure floor by a predetermined average speed of the car 50.

[0099] Next, the allocation unit 125 calculates an evaluation value by multiplying the waiting time calculated in S204 by a user coefficient corresponding to its own type in the management DB 111 (S205). Next, the allocation unit 125 cooperates with the control panels 100 of the other elevators 2, and acquires all of the evaluation values ​​calculated by the other control panels 100 in the master control panel 100. Then, the allocation unit 125 of the master control panel 100 determines that the car 50 controlled by the control panel 100 that calculated the highest evaluation value among the acquired evaluation values ​​is a car that is incompatible with the robot 500, and allocates this car 50 to a hall call made by a person (S203). Then, the normal operation control unit 121 of the control panel 100 that controls the allocated car 50 moves the allocated car 50 to the floor (departure floor) where the hall call was made.

[0100] In S101, if the communication unit 102 has not received a hall call from a person (S101: No), the communication unit 201 determines whether or not a destination floor call for the robot has been received from the server of the elevator cloud 200 via the controller 150 (S102). If the communication unit 102 has not received a destination floor call for the robot (S102: No), the process returns to S101.

[0101] In the control panel 100, when the communication unit 102 receives a destination floor call for the robot from the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200 via the controller 150 (S102: Yes), the allocation unit 125 calculates the waiting time of the car 50 that it controls (S201). Here, as explained in S204, the allocation unit 125 calculates the waiting time, i.e., the time it takes for the car 50 to move from the current position to the departure floor, by dividing the distance from the current position of the car 50 to the departure floor by the predetermined average speed of the car 50.

[0102] Next, the allocation unit 125 calculates an evaluation value by multiplying the waiting time calculated in S201 by the robot coefficient corresponding to its own type in the management DB 111 (S202). Next, the allocation unit 125 cooperates with the control panels 100 of the other elevators 2, and acquires all of the evaluation values ​​calculated by the other control panels 100 in the master control panel 100. Then, the allocation unit 125 of the master control panel 100 determines that the car 50 controlled by the control panel 100 that calculated the highest evaluation value among the acquired evaluation values ​​is a car that is compatible with the robot 500 (i.e., a car other than a car that is incompatible with the robot 500), and allocates that car 50 to a destination floor call for the robot (S203). Then, the normal operation control unit 121 of the control panel 100 that controls the allocated car 50 moves the allocated car 50 to the floor (departure floor) where the hall call was made.

[0103] As described above, in the elevator control system 1 according to the present embodiment, the control panel 100 further includes a storage unit 110 that stores a management DB 111 in which, for each car 50, a type indicating whether the robot 500 is not allowed to board, whether it is difficult to board, or whether it is possible to board, a person coefficient indicating the priority of the type for a hall call made by a person, and a robot coefficient indicating the priority of the type for a destination floor call for an autonomous moving body are associated with each other, and the robot priority coefficient has a decreasing value in the order of not being allowed to board, being difficult to board, and being possible to board. When the communication unit 102 receives a destination floor call for the robot from the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200, the allocation unit 125, in cooperation with the control panel 100 of the other elevator 2, determines cars other than those that are incompatible with the robot 500 based on the robot coefficient and the waiting time, which is the time it takes for the car 50 to move to the departure floor specified in the destination floor call for the robot, and preferentially allocates cars other than those that are incompatible with the determined robot 500 to the destination floor call for the robot.

[0104] Therefore, according to this embodiment, when the robot 500 uses an elevator, the robot 500 is preferentially assigned to a car other than one that is incompatible with the robot 500, taking into consideration the priority, which is the robot coefficient, and the waiting time. Therefore, according to this embodiment, it is possible to reduce the occurrence of problems when the robot 500 uses an elevator, thereby improving the operational efficiency of the elevator.

[0105] Furthermore, in the elevator control system 1 according to this embodiment, the control panel 100 assigns a human coefficient in the order of increasing values ​​for the robot 500 being unable to board, difficult to board, and able to board, and the allocation unit 125 further works in cooperation with the control panels 100 of other elevators 2 when there is a human call to the platform, to determine which car is incompatible with the robot 500 based on the human coefficient and the waiting time, which is the time it takes for the car 50 to move to the departure floor where the platform call was made, and allocates the determined car that is incompatible with the robot 500 to the platform call by the person with priority.

[0106] Therefore, according to this embodiment, when a person uses the elevator, a car that is incompatible with the robot 500 is preferentially assigned, taking into account the priority, which is called a person coefficient, and the waiting time. Therefore, according to this embodiment, it is possible to reduce the occurrence of problems when the robot 500 uses the elevator, thereby improving the operational efficiency of the elevator.

[0107] In this embodiment, the cars 50 are classified into three types, A, B, and C, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the cars 50 may be configured to be classified into four or more types.

[0108] (Third embodiment) In the first and second embodiments, whether or not a car is incompatible with the robot 500 is determined in advance on the control panel 100 side or based on the priority set on the control panel 100 side. In this third embodiment, additional information is further acquired from the robot 500 side to determine whether or not a car is incompatible with the robot 500.

[0109] The configuration of the elevator control system 1, the configuration of the control panel 100, the configuration of the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200, the configuration of the server 310 of the robot cloud 300, and the configuration of the robot 500 in this embodiment are the same as those in the first and second embodiments. However, in the robot 500 according to this embodiment, when the elevator 2 is used, the communication unit 502 transmits additional information to the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 in addition to the robot ID, departure floor, and destination floor.

[0110] In addition, in the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 in this embodiment, when the communication unit 312 receives the robot ID, departure floor, destination floor, and additional information from the robot 500, it transmits the received robot ID, departure floor, destination floor, and additional information to the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200.

[0111] In addition, in the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200 in this embodiment, when the communication unit 212 receives the robot ID, departure floor, destination floor, and additional information from the server 3100 of the robot cloud 300, the control unit 211 generates a destination floor call for the robot from the received robot ID, departure floor, destination floor, and additional information.

[0112] FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of a destination floor call for a robot according to the third embodiment. As shown in Figure 12(a), the destination floor call for a robot in this embodiment includes the robot ID of the robot 500 that wishes to use the elevator 2, the departure floor, the destination floor, and additional information.

[0113] The additional information is information indicating factors for determining whether the car 50 is incompatible with the robot 500. FIG. 12(b) shows an example of the additional information. As shown in FIG. 12(b), examples of the additional information include the car number available for boarding, the external dimensions and weight of the robot 500, whether the robots 500 can board each other, whether the robots 500 can board with humans, the dispatch priority of the robot 500, the desired arrival time, and the purpose of the robot 500. Here, the car number available for boarding is information indicating whether the robot 500 that transmitted the additional information can board an emergency car (car number), a wheelchair car, a baggage car, or a panoramic car. In addition, the additional information may be configured to allow further specification of a robot contact point-linked car number provided with contact points for charging or communication with the robot 500, the design of the car 50 such as glass or mirrored walls, passenger waiting time, non-stop floor information, and the like. The additional information shown in FIG. 12(b) is an example and is not limited to this.

[0114] In this embodiment, the cars that are incompatible with the robot 500 include at least one of an emergency elevator car, a wheelchair elevator car, a baggage elevator car, and a panoramic elevator car.

[0115] In the control panel 100 of this embodiment, when the communication unit 103 receives a destination floor call for the robot from the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200, the allocation unit 125 cooperates with the control panels 100 of other elevators 2 to determine, based on additional information, which cars are incompatible with the robot 500, and preferentially allocates cars other than those determined to be incompatible with the robot 500 (i.e., cars that are compatible with the robot 500) to the destination floor call for the robot.

[0116] For example, the allocation unit 125 can refer to the boarding availability information in the additional information of the destination floor call for the robot, and can preferentially allocate to the destination floor call for the robot elevators 50 that are available for boarding and are emergency, wheelchair, luggage, or observation elevators (car numbers).

[0117] Furthermore, for example, the allocation unit 125 can refer to the external dimensions and weight of the robot 500 in the additional information of the destination floor call for the robot, and can preferentially allocate to the destination floor call for the robot cars 50 that are sufficiently larger than the external dimensions of the robot 500, or cars 50 whose weight, even when the robot 500 is riding in, does not exceed the maximum load weight.

[0118] Furthermore, for example, when the additional information for the destination floor call for the robot is whether the robots 500 can ride together or whether the robots 500 can ride together with a human, the allocation unit 125 can preferentially allocate a car 50 that is already occupied by another robot 500, a car 50 that is already occupied by a human, or an empty car 50 that is not occupied by a robot 500 or a human, to the destination floor call for the robot, rather than allocating the nearest car 50. When allocating an empty car 50 that is not occupied by a robot 500 or a human, the allocation unit 125 can be configured to preferentially allocate a car 50 that has no hall call or destination floor call first.

[0119] Furthermore, for example, the allocation unit 125 can allocate to the destination floor call for the robot, with priority given to additional information for the destination floor call for the robot, such as whether the robot 500 can ride with the robot, whether the robot can ride with a human, a car 50 that is already carrying another robot 500, a car 50 that is already carrying a human, or an empty car 50 that is not carrying either a robot 500 or a human.

[0120] Next, an elevator control process performed by the elevator control system 1 of this embodiment configured as above will be described. FIG. 13 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of the overall flow of the elevator control process according to the third embodiment. FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing an example of elevator allocation processing by the control panel 100 according to the third embodiment.

[0121] The communication unit 201 of the control panel 100 determines whether a platform call from a person (user) has been received, and if a platform call from a person has been received (S101: Yes), the allocation unit 125 of the control panel 100 allocates a car 50 to the received platform call (S204, S205, S203) in the same manner as in the second embodiment.

[0122] 14, when the communication unit 102 has not received a hall call from a person (S101: No), the communication unit 201 determines whether or not a destination floor call for the robot has been received from the server of the elevator cloud 200 via the controller 150 (S102). When the communication unit 102 has not received a destination floor call for the robot (S102: No), the process returns to S101.

[0123] Here, as shown in FIG. 13, in this embodiment, when the robot 500 uses the elevator 2, the communication unit 502 of the robot 500 transmits its own robot ID, information on the departure floor, the destination floor, and additional information to the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 (S41).

[0124] In the server 310 of the robot cloud 300, when the communication unit 312 receives the information regarding the robot ID, departure floor, destination floor, and additional information from the robot 500, it transmits the information to the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200 (S42).

[0125] In the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200, when the communication unit 212 receives the information on the robot ID, the departure floor, the destination floor, and the additional information from the server 310 of the robot cloud 300, the control unit 211 generates a destination floor call for the robot including the robot ID, the departure floor, the destination floor, and the additional information, as shown in Fig. 12 (S43). Then, the communication unit 212 of the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200 transmits the destination floor call for the robot generated by the control unit 211 to the control panel 100 (S14).

[0126] In the control panel 100, when the communication unit 102 receives a destination floor call for a robot from the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200 via the controller 150 (S102: Yes), the allocation unit 125 executes a process of allocating a car 50 to the destination floor call for the robot (S45). That is, the allocation unit 125 refers to the received additional information and, as described above, determines the type of car 50 (car number) based on the additional information (S301). Then, as in the second embodiment, the allocation unit 125 calculates the waiting time (S201), calculates an evaluation value using the determined type (S202), and allocates the car 50 (car number) with the highest evaluation value to the destination floor call for the robot (S203). The subsequent processes (S16 to S21) are the same as those in the first and second embodiments.

[0127] In this way, in the elevator control system 1 according to this embodiment, the destination floor call for the robot further includes additional information indicating factors for determining which cars are incompatible with the robot 500, and when the communication unit 102 receives a destination floor call for the robot from the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200, the allocation unit 125 of the control panel 100, in cooperation with the control panels 100 of other elevators 2, determines which cars are incompatible with the robot 500 based on the additional information, and preferentially allocates cars other than those determined to be incompatible with the robot 500 to the destination floor call for the robot.

[0128] Therefore, according to this embodiment, when the robot 500 uses an elevator, the content of the additional information indicating the determination factors of elevators that are incompatible with the robot 500 is taken into consideration, and elevators other than those that are incompatible with the robot 500 are preferentially assigned. Therefore, according to this embodiment, it is possible to reduce the occurrence of problems when the robot 500 uses an elevator, thereby improving the operational efficiency of the elevator.

[0129] Furthermore, in the elevator control system 1 according to this embodiment, the cars that are incompatible with the robot 500 include at least one of an emergency elevator car and a wheelchair elevator car, and the additional information includes either whether the robot 500 can ride in an emergency elevator car or whether the robot 500 can ride in a wheelchair elevator car.

[0130] Therefore, according to this embodiment, when the robot 500 uses an elevator, the additional information on whether the robot 500 can ride in an emergency elevator car or whether the robot 500 can ride in a wheelchair elevator car is taken into consideration, and a car other than a car that is incompatible with the robot 500 is preferentially assigned. Therefore, according to this embodiment, it is possible to reduce the occurrence of problems when the robot 500 uses an elevator, thereby improving the operational efficiency of the elevator.

[0131] In addition, in the elevator control system 1 according to this embodiment, the additional information includes at least one of the external dimensions and weight of the robot 500, whether the robots 500 can ride with each other, whether the robots 500 can ride with people, the dispatch priority of the robot 500, the desired arrival time of the robot 500, or the purpose of the robot 500.

[0132] For this reason, according to this embodiment, when the robot 500 uses an elevator, at least one of the external dimensions and weight of the robot 500, whether the robot 500 can ride with other robots 500, whether the robot 500 can ride with a person, the dispatch priority of the robot 500, the desired arrival time of the robot 500, and the purpose of the robot 500 is taken into consideration, and a car other than one that is incompatible with the robot 500 is preferentially assigned. Therefore, according to this embodiment, it is possible to reduce the occurrence of problems when the robot 500 uses an elevator, thereby improving the operational efficiency of the elevator.

[0133] In the third embodiment, when a destination floor call for a robot is received, the allocation unit 125 preferentially allocates cars other than cars that are incompatible with the robot 500 to the destination floor call for the robot based on the robot coefficient and the waiting time, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the allocation unit 125 may allocate a car 50 that is incompatible with the robot 500 to the destination floor call for the robot depending on the waiting time.

[0134] In the third embodiment, when a person makes a hall call, the allocation unit 125 preferentially allocates a car 50 that is incompatible with the robot 500 to the person's hall call based on the person coefficient and the waiting time, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, depending on the waiting time, the allocation unit 125 may allocate a car other than the car that is incompatible with the robot 500 to the person's hall call.

[0135] (Variation 1) Various modifications of the above first to third embodiments are possible. In the first to third embodiments, the allocation process by the allocation unit 125 is performed by the control panel 100 in cooperation with the control panels 100 of other elevators 2, but the present invention is not limited to this.

[0136] For example, the allocation unit 125 may be provided in the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200, and the allocation process may be executed by the server 210. In this case, the server 210 may be configured to transmit instructions to the control panel 100 of each elevator 2 according to the results of each process. An elevator control process by the elevator control system 1 according to this modified example will be described. FIG. 15 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the overall flow of elevator control processing according to the first modification.

[0137] In this variant 1, as in the first to third embodiments, the robot 500 using the elevator 2 transmits the robot ID, departure floor, destination floor (and additional information) to the server 310 of the robot cloud 300 (S11, S41), and further transmits it to the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200 (S12, S42).

[0138] When the communication unit 212 of the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200 receives the robot ID, departure floor, destination floor (and additional information), the control unit 211 generates a destination floor call for the robot from the robot ID, departure floor, destination floor (and additional information), as in the first to third embodiments (S13, S43).

[0139] Next, the allocation unit 125 provided in the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200 according to this modification executes allocation processing for a destination floor call for a robot (S31). Here, details of the allocation processing are the same as the allocation processing executed on the control panel 100 side in the first to third embodiments. Then, a dispatch instruction for the allocated car 50 is transmitted to the control panel 100 that controls the car 50 allocated by the allocation processing (S32).

[0140] In the control panel 100, when the communication unit 102 receives a dispatch instruction from the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200, the robot-linked operation control unit 122 moves the elevator 50 to the departure floor (S20). The subsequent processing is the same as in the first to third embodiments. According to this modification, the configuration and processing described above make it possible to simplify the processing on the control panel 100 side.

[0141] (Other variations) The allocation unit 125 may be configured to have the elevator 2 learn past usage data and allocate cars 50 based on the learning results. For example, if a baggage elevator transports baggage at a predetermined time, the allocation unit 125 may be configured to allocate cars 50 by giving priority to baggage transportation during the predetermined time and giving priority to the robot 500 at other times. This is because the interior of the baggage elevator car 50 is spacious, making it easy for the robot 500 to board.

[0142] A default setting may be configured for the additional information. For example, depending on the API (Application Programming Interface) between the server 210 of the elevator cloud 200 and the server 310 of the robot cloud 30, the robot 500 may not be able to send or receive information other than that specified by the API. In such a case, when the robot 500 uses the elevator 2, the dispatch priority of the emergency elevator and wheelchair elevator may be lowered by default.

[0143] The allocation unit 125 may be configured to determine the compatibility between the elevator 2 and the robot 500 based on past information on floor level adjustments. For example, since the car 50 of a car where floor level adjustments occur frequently is more likely to have steps than the cars 50 of other cars, the allocation unit 125 can be configured to allocate the car 50 of another car when robot coordinated operation is performed.

[0144] When a person and a robot 500 are waiting for the elevator car 50 on the same floor, the allocation unit 125 can be configured to be able to set whether to give priority to the person or the robot 500 depending on the property. For example, the allocation unit 125 can be configured to set priority to the person in a commercial facility and priority to the robot 500 in a backyard.

[0145] When multiple robots 500 call for destination floors for the robots, the allocation unit 125 may be configured to set priorities among the robots 500. For example, the allocation unit 125 can be configured to determine priorities such that a delivery robot 500 delivers before a cleaning robot 500 and allocates a car 50 to the robots.

[0146] In the above-described embodiment and modified examples, an emergency elevator car, a wheelchair elevator car, or the like is set as a car 50 that is incompatible with the robot 500, or in the third embodiment, a boarding availability car number is set in the additional information. When a destination floor call for a robot is received, the allocation unit 125 does not allocate an emergency elevator car or a wheelchair elevator car to the destination floor call for the robot, but this is not limited to this. For example, if it is absolutely necessary to allocate an emergency elevator car or a wheelchair elevator car to a destination floor call for a robot, the allocation unit 125 may be configured to exceptionally allocate the car 50 that is incompatible with the robot 500. This allows for flexible allocation of cars 50.

[0147] The elevator control program executed by the control panel 100 according to the above embodiment and the modified example is provided in a state that it is pre-installed in a ROM or the like.

[0148] The elevator control program executed by the control panel 100 according to the above embodiments and modifications may be configured to be provided by being recorded in an installable or executable file format on a computer-readable recording medium such as a CD-ROM, a flexible disk (FD), a CD-R, or a DVD (Digital Versatile Disk).

[0149] Furthermore, the elevator control program executed by the control panel 100 according to the above embodiment and modified example may be stored on a computer connected to a network such as the Internet and provided by being downloaded via the network.

[0150] Furthermore, the elevator control program executed by the control panel 100 according to the above embodiment and modifications may be configured to be provided or distributed via a network such as the Internet.

[0151] The elevator control program executed by the control panel 100 in the above-mentioned embodiment and modified example has a modular structure including each of the above-mentioned functional units (communication unit 102, normal operation control unit 121, robot-linked operation control unit 122, allocation unit 125), and in terms of actual hardware, the CPU reads and executes the elevator control program from the above-mentioned ROM, thereby loading each of the above-mentioned units onto the main memory device and generating each of the functional units onto the main memory device.

[0152] Although several 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 embodied 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 within the scope and spirit of the invention, and are also included in the scope of the invention and its equivalents as defined in the claims. [Explanation of symbols]

[0153] 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...Cab, 100, 100A, 100B...Control panel (elevator control device), 120, 211, 311, 501...Control unit, 102, 212, 312, 50 2...Communication unit, 110, 220, 320, 510...Memory unit, 111...Management DB, 121...Normal operation control unit, 122...Robot linked operation control unit, 125...Allocation unit, 150, 150A, 150B...Controller, 160...Control room, 200...Elevator cloud, 210...Server, 300...Robot cloud, 310...Server, 500, 500A, 500B, 500C...Robot, 503...Drive unit.

Claims

1. An elevator control system comprising: an elevator control device that controls an elevator in which autonomous moving bodies that can move autonomously in a plurality of cars and people can ride; and an elevator server that is connected to the elevator control device via a network and controls the elevation and descent of the cars; an allocation unit that, when there is a destination floor call for an autonomous mobile body including a departure floor and a destination floor specified by the autonomous mobile body, allocates a car other than a car that is incompatible with the autonomous mobile body to the destination floor call for the autonomous mobile body; An elevator control system comprising:

2. The allocation unit further allocates, when a hall call is received from the person, a car that is incompatible with the autonomous moving body to the hall call.

10. The elevator control system of claim 1.

3. The car incompatible with the autonomous moving body includes at least one of an emergency elevator car and a wheelchair elevator car.

3. The elevator control system of claim 2.

4. a storage unit that stores management information that associates, for each car, a type indicating whether boarding of the autonomous moving body is impossible, difficult, or possible, a person priority indicating a priority for the type for the hall call by the person, and an autonomous moving body priority indicating a priority for the type for a destination floor call for the autonomous moving body, The autonomous moving body priority has a decreasing value in the order of "unable to board," "difficult to board," and "possible to board," When there is a destination floor call for the autonomous mobile body, the allocation unit determines a car other than a car that is incompatible with the autonomous mobile body based on the priority for the autonomous mobile body and a waiting time that is the time it takes for the car to move to the departure floor specified in the destination floor call for the autonomous mobile body, and allocates the determined car other than a car that is incompatible with the autonomous mobile body to the destination floor call for the autonomous mobile body.

3. The elevator control system of claim 2.

5. The human priority has a value that is higher in the order of "unable to board," "difficult to board," and "possible to board" for the autonomous moving body, and The allocation unit further determines, when there is a platform call from the person, a platform car that is incompatible with the autonomous moving body based on the person priority and a waiting time that is the time it takes for the platform car to move to the departure floor where the platform call was made, and allocates the determined platform car that is incompatible with the autonomous moving body to the platform call from the person.

5. The elevator control system of claim 4.

6. The destination floor call for the autonomous moving body further includes additional information indicating a determination factor of a car that is incompatible with the autonomous moving body, When there is a destination floor call for the autonomous moving body, the allocation unit determines a car that is incompatible with the autonomous moving body based on the additional information, and allocates a car other than the car determined to be incompatible with the autonomous moving body to the destination floor call for the autonomous moving body.

3. The elevator control system of claim 2.

7. Further provided is a storage unit that stores management information that associates, for each car, a type indicating whether the autonomous moving body is not allowed to board, is difficult to board, or is allowed to board, with an autonomous moving body priority indicating a priority for the type for a destination floor call for the autonomous moving body, When there is a destination floor call for the autonomous moving body, the allocation unit determines an elevator that is incompatible with the autonomous moving body based on the additional information, the priority level, and a waiting time that is the time it takes for the elevator to move to the departure floor specified in the destination floor call for the autonomous moving body.

7. The elevator control system of claim 6.

8. The car incompatible with the autonomous moving body includes at least one of an emergency elevator car and a wheelchair elevator car, The additional information includes either whether the autonomous moving body can board a car of the emergency elevator or whether the autonomous moving body can board a car of a wheelchair elevator.

7. The elevator control system of claim 6.

9. The additional information includes at least one of the external dimensions and weight of the autonomous moving body, whether the autonomous moving bodies can ride with each other, whether the autonomous moving bodies can ride with people, the dispatch priority of the autonomous moving body, the desired arrival time of the autonomous moving body, or the purpose of the autonomous moving body.

7. The elevator control system of claim 6.

10. The elevator server includes: connected via a network to an autonomous mobile object server that controls the autonomous mobile object; a receiving unit that receives a destination floor call for the autonomous mobile body from the autonomous mobile body server; the allocation unit; a transmitting unit that transmits a dispatch instruction for the assigned car to the elevator control device; Equipped with the elevator control device, when receiving the dispatch instruction from the elevator server, dispatches the assigned car; An elevator control system according to any one of claims 1 to 9.

11. An elevator control device that controls an elevator that can accommodate autonomous moving bodies that can autonomously move to a plurality of cars and people, Another elevator control device, an elevator server connected to the elevator control device via a network and controlling the elevation and descent of the elevator car, and a communication unit capable of communication; an allocation unit that, when the communication unit receives from the elevator server a destination floor call for the autonomous moving body that includes a departure floor and a destination floor specified by the autonomous moving body, cooperates with the other elevator control devices to allocate a car other than a car that is incompatible with the autonomous moving body to the destination floor call for the autonomous moving body; An elevator control device comprising:

12. The allocation unit further allocates, when there is a hall call from the person, a car that is incompatible with the autonomous moving body to the hall call in cooperation with the other elevator control device. The elevator control device according to claim 11.

13. The car incompatible with the autonomous moving body includes at least one of an emergency elevator car and a wheelchair elevator car. The elevator control device of claim 12.

14. a storage unit that stores management information that associates, for each car, a type indicating whether boarding of the autonomous moving body is impossible, difficult, or possible, a person priority indicating a priority for the type for the hall call by the person, and an autonomous moving body priority indicating a priority for the type for a destination floor call for the autonomous moving body, The autonomous moving body priority has a decreasing value in the order of "unable to board," "difficult to board," and "possible to board," When the communication unit receives a destination floor call for the autonomous mobile body from the elevator server, the allocation unit, in cooperation with the other elevator control devices, determines a car other than a car that is incompatible with the autonomous mobile body based on the priority for the autonomous mobile body and a waiting time that is the time it takes for the car to move to the departure floor specified in the destination floor call for the autonomous mobile body, and allocates the determined car other than a car that is incompatible with the autonomous mobile body to the destination floor call for the autonomous mobile body. The elevator control device of claim 12.

15. The human priority has a value that is higher in the order of "unable to board," "difficult to board," and "possible to board" for the autonomous moving body, and The allocation unit further, when there is a hall call from the person, determines, in cooperation with the other elevator control devices, a car that is incompatible with the autonomous moving body based on the person priority and a waiting time that is the time it takes for the car to move to the departure floor where the hall call was made, and allocates the determined car that is incompatible with the autonomous moving body to the hall call from the person.

15. The elevator control device of claim 14.

16. The destination floor call for the autonomous moving body further includes additional information indicating a determination factor of a car that is incompatible with the autonomous moving body, When the communication unit receives a destination floor call for the autonomous moving body from the elevator server, the allocation unit, in cooperation with the other elevator control devices, determines a car that is incompatible with the autonomous moving body based on the additional information, and allocates a car other than the car determined to be incompatible with the autonomous moving body to the destination floor call for the autonomous moving body. The elevator control device of claim 12.

17. Further provided is a storage unit that stores management information that associates, for each car, a type indicating whether the autonomous moving body is not allowed to board, is difficult to board, or is allowed to board, with an autonomous moving body priority indicating a priority for the type for a destination floor call for the autonomous moving body, When there is a destination floor call for the autonomous moving body, the allocation unit determines an elevator that is incompatible with the autonomous moving body based on the additional information, the priority level, and a waiting time that is the time it takes for the elevator to move to the departure floor specified in the destination floor call for the autonomous moving body.

17. The elevator control device of claim 16.

18. The car incompatible with the autonomous moving body includes at least one of an emergency elevator car and a wheelchair elevator car, The additional information includes either whether the autonomous moving body can board a car of the emergency elevator or whether the autonomous moving body can board a car of a wheelchair elevator.

17. The elevator control device of claim 16.

19. The additional information includes at least one of the external dimensions and weight of the autonomous moving body, whether the autonomous moving bodies can ride with each other, whether the autonomous moving bodies can ride with people, the dispatch priority of the autonomous moving body, the desired arrival time of the autonomous moving body, or the purpose of the autonomous moving body.

17. The elevator control device of claim 16.

20. An elevator control method executed in an elevator control system including an elevator control device that controls an elevator in which autonomous moving bodies that can move autonomously in a plurality of cars and people can ride, and an elevator server that is connected to the elevator control device via a network and controls the elevation and descent of the cars, When there is a destination floor call for the autonomous mobile body including a departure floor and a destination floor specified by the autonomous mobile body, assigning a car other than a car incompatible with the autonomous mobile body to the destination floor call for the autonomous mobile body; An elevator control method comprising:

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