Method, device, robot, and storage medium for constructing a map for a robot

Abstract

The embodiments of the present disclosure disclose a map construction method, device, robot, and storage medium for a robot. The map construction method for a robot includes: controlling a robot to travel toward a target point, the target point being a first search point in a search target area, the first search point being in an unsearched state; detecting search point information corresponding to a preset range in which the target point is located during the process of the robot traveling toward the target point; processing the target point according to the search point information; and collecting map construction data of the search target area based on the robot traveling to the target point, and updating the environmental space map of the robot.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] (CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS) This application claims priority to a Chinese patent application bearing application number 202210006545.8, filed on January 4, 2022, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

[0002] The present disclosure relates to the field of robotic map building, and in particular to a robotic map building method, apparatus, robot, and storage medium. [Background technology]

[0003] With the rapid development of robot technology and the changing needs of society, autonomous mobile robots have attracted more and more attention from the engineering and academic communities. In order for autonomous mobile robots to help people complete their daily life tasks autonomously in unstructured and non-deterministic environments, it is more important to build a map of the external environment displayed inside the robot for subsequent navigation when the robot is in an unknown environment. However, the traditional way for a robot to build a map is to control the movement of the robot manually or using a keyboard or joystick, which wastes time, effort, and materials when faced with a large and complex indoor environment. Therefore, it is of great significance for a robot to be separated from artificial control and realize autonomous exploration and map building, which on the one hand saves human and material resources, and on the other hand allows the robot to make real-time map building decisions based on its own sensing, collection and processing of environmental information, improving the autonomy and intelligence of the robot.

[0004] In the related art, LDS (Laser Distance Sensor) scanning is performed by a robot moving to different positions to complete map construction of the entire search target space. However, during the movement process, if map construction has already been completed within the reachable range of the target point, the robot may continue to move to the target point for map construction, which increases the execution time of the map construction process. For example, if the target point is selected according to the principle of distance priority, the problem of continuous short-distance movements within the same area will occur, and multiple movements will complete the scanning of different places in the same area separately, which increases the map construction time. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] In view of this, the embodiments of the present disclosure provide a robot map building method, apparatus, robot, and storage medium that can reduce the execution time of the robot map building process by optimizing the selection of target points. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] According to an embodiment of a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a map construction method for a robot, the map construction method comprising: Controlling the robot to travel toward a target point, the target point being a first search point in a search target area, the first search point being in an unsearched state; and controlling the robot to travel toward the target point. During the process of the robot moving toward the target point, detecting search point information corresponding to a preset range in which the target point is located; processing the target points according to search point information; and updating the environmental space map of the robot by collecting map building data of the area to be searched based on the robot traveling to the target point.

[0007] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, processing the target points according to the search point information specifically includes: The method includes retaining the target point based on the search point information indicating that the second search point exists within a predetermined range, and updating the target point to the second search point based on the search point information indicating that the second search point does not exist within the predetermined range and that the second search point exists outside the predetermined range, wherein the second search point is a first search point other than the target point.

[0008] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, a method for building a map of a robot includes: The method further includes controlling the robot to stop traveling based on the search point information indicating that the second search point does not exist within the search target area, and storing the environmental space map.

[0009] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, before controlling the robot to travel toward the target point, The method further includes obtaining an environmental space map, the environmental space map including a known area and / or a search target area, the known area corresponding to the map construction data; extracting a plurality of boundary points of the search target area that overlap with the known area; and determining the boundary points that are in an unsearched state as first search points.

[0010] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, a method for building a map of a robot includes: The method further includes, based on the fact that there are multiple first search points within the search target area, sequentially connecting the multiple first search points to obtain connecting lines, determining first distances between each of the first search points and a center point of the connecting lines, and determining the first search point corresponding to the smallest value of the first distances as the target point.

[0011] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, after collecting map building data of the search area, Further included is updating the target point to a visited state.

[0012] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, a method for building a map of a robot includes: The method further includes controlling the robot to travel along the outer edge of the obstacle to avoid the obstacle, based on the presence of an obstacle between the current position of the robot and the target point, during the process of the robot traveling toward the target point.

[0013] According to an embodiment of a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a robotic map construction device, the robotic map construction device comprising: A control module configured to control the robot to travel toward a target point, the target point being a first search point in a search target area, the first search point being in an unsearched state; and a detection module configured to detect search point information corresponding to the target point within a preset range in which the target point is located during the process of the robot traveling toward the target point; a processing module configured to process the target points according to the search point information; A map construction module configured to update an environmental space map of the robot by collecting map construction data of a search target area based on the robot traveling to a target point; Equipped with.

[0014] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the processing module is specifically configured to retain the target point based on the search point information being that a second search point exists within a predetermined range, and update the target point to a second search point based on the search point information being that the second search point does not exist within the predetermined range and the second search point exists outside the predetermined range, where the second search point is a first search point other than the target point.

[0015] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the control module is further configured to control the robot to stop traveling based on the search point information indicating that a second search point does not exist within the search target area, and the map construction device of the robot further includes a memory module configured to store the environmental space map.

[0016] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the map construction device of the robot further includes an acquisition module configured to acquire an environmental space map, the environmental space map including a known area and / or a search target area, the known area corresponding to the map construction data, an extraction module configured to extract a plurality of boundary points of the search target area that overlap with the known area, and a first determination module configured to determine a boundary point in an unexplored state as a first search point.

[0017] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the robot map construction device further includes a second determination module configured to sequentially connect the multiple first search points to obtain connecting lines based on the number of first search points in the search target area, determine first distances between each of the first search points and a center point of the connecting lines, and determine the first search point corresponding to the smallest value of the first distances as the target point. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the robotic map builder further comprises a state update module configured to update the target point to a explored state.

[0018] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the control module is further configured to control the robot to travel along the outer edge of the obstacle to avoid the obstacle based on the presence of the obstacle between the current position of the robot and the target point during the process of the robot traveling toward the target point.

[0019] According to an embodiment of a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a robot comprising a processor and a memory, the memory configured to store operation instructions, and the processor configured to implement the robot map construction method described in any one of the first aspects by invoking the operation instructions.

[0020] According to an embodiment of the fourth aspect of the present disclosure, a storage medium is provided having a computer program stored therein, which, when executed by a processor, realizes the robot map construction method described in any one of the first aspect above.

[0021] The robot map building method provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure can optimize the selection of the target point, thereby reducing the number of positions the robot moves to complete the map building of the area. Also, during the movement process, other search points around the target point can be monitored to prevent the situation where the map building data of the target point position is repeatedly collected. Therefore, the autonomous exploration and map building of the unknown scenario can be completed with fewer searches, higher search efficiency, and shorter search time.

[0022] In order to more clearly describe the embodiments of the present disclosure or the technical solutions in the prior art, the following briefly describes the accompanying drawings that need to be used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art. Obviously, the accompanying drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present disclosure, and those skilled in the art can obtain other drawings based on these accompanying drawings without creative labor. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0023] [Figure 1] Structural diagram 1 of a robot provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure [Diagram 2] Structural diagram 2 of the robot provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure [Diagram 3] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the flow of a map construction method for a robot provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 4] FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a robot map construction device provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Diagram 5] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the electronic structure of a robot provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0024] The following detailed description of the embodiments of the present disclosure is provided in the accompanying drawings, in which the same or similar reference numerals throughout the drawings indicate the same or similar elements or elements having the same or similar functions. The embodiments described below with reference to the accompanying drawings are illustrative and are used only for the purpose of interpreting the present disclosure, and are not to be construed as limiting the present disclosure.

[0025] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the singular forms "a," "one," "said," and "the" as used herein may include the plural, unless specifically stated otherwise. Furthermore, it will be understood that the term "comprising" as used in the specification of this disclosure means the presence of the features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and / or assemblies, but does not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, assemblies, and / or combinations thereof. It should be noted that when an element is "connected" or "coupled" to another element, it may be directly connected or coupled to the other element, or intermediate elements may be present. In addition, "connected" or "coupled" as used herein may include wireless or wireless close connections. As used herein, "and / or" includes all or any units and all combinations of one or more associated enumerated items.

[0026] Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, these exemplary embodiments can be implemented in various different forms and are not to be construed as being limited to the embodiments herein. It should be understood that these embodiments are used to make the disclosure of the present disclosure more thorough and complete and are provided to appropriately convey the ideas of these exemplary embodiments to those skilled in the art.

[0027] The embodiments of the present disclosure provide possible application scenarios, which include a robot, and Figures 1 and 2 are structural schematic diagrams of a robot according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the robot of the present disclosure may be a cleaning robot, a mopping robot, a vacuum cleaning robot, etc. For convenience of description, the present embodiment takes the cleaning robot as an example to describe the technical solution of the present disclosure.

[0028] The robot comprises a mobile platform 100, a sensing system 120, a man-machine interaction system 130, a drive system 140, a cleaning module 150, an energy system 160, and a control system 170.

[0029] The mobile platform 100 is configured to move automatically along a target direction on an operating surface, which is a surface to be cleaned by the robot. In some embodiments, the cleaning robot operates on a floor surface, which is referred to as the operating surface.

[0030] In some embodiments, the mobile platform 100 may be an autonomous mobile platform or a non-autonomous mobile platform. An autonomous mobile platform means that the mobile platform 100 itself can automatically and adaptively make operational decisions in response to unexpected environmental inputs, whereas a non-autonomous mobile platform itself cannot adaptively make operational decisions in response to unexpected environmental inputs, but can operate according to a predetermined program or certain logic. Correspondingly, when the mobile platform 100 is an autonomous mobile platform, the target direction may be determined autonomously by a robot, and when the mobile platform 100 is a non-autonomous mobile platform, the target direction may be set by a system or manually. When the mobile platform 100 is an autonomous mobile platform, the mobile platform 100 is composed of a front part 111 and a rear part 110.

[0031] The sensing system 120 includes a positioning device 121 located above the mobile platform 100, a buffer 122 located in the front portion 111 of the mobile platform 100, a cliff sensor 123 located at the bottom of the mobile platform, and other sensing devices such as ultrasonic sensors (not shown), infrared sensors (not shown), magnetometers (not shown), accelerometers (not shown), gyroscopes (not shown), and odometers (not shown), and provides various position information and moving status information of the equipment to the control system 170.

[0032] The positioning device 121 includes, but is not limited to, a camera and a laser distance measuring device. A laser distance measuring device (e.g., LDS) can measure events (or objects) within a measurement height range above the robot. The measurement height range may be set to, for example, a range of 8 to 10 cm above the robot.

[0033] To more clearly describe the robot's behavior, the following directions are defined, i.e., the robot can move on the floor surface by various combinations of movements about three mutually perpendicular axes defined by the mobile platform 100: the lateral axis x, the front-rear axis y, and the central vertical axis z. The forward driving direction along the front-rear axis y is denoted as "forward", and the rear driving direction along the front-rear axis y is denoted as "rear". The lateral axis x extends between the right and left wheels of the robot along an axis center substantially defined by the center point of the drive wheel assembly 141. Here, the robot can rotate around the x-axis. If the front part of the robot tilts upward and the rear part tilts downward, it is called "pitch up", and if the front part of the robot tilts downward and the rear part tilts upward, it is called "pitch down". Furthermore, the robot can rotate around the z-axis. In the forward direction of the robot, if the robot tilts to the right of the y-axis, it is called "turn right", and if the robot tilts to the left of the y-axis, it is called "turn left".

[0034] 2, cliff sensors 123 are provided at the bottom of the moving platform 100, in front and behind the drive wheel assembly 141, which can prevent the robot from falling when retreating and prevent damage to the robot. The above "front" refers to the same side as the robot's running direction, and the above "rear" refers to the opposite side to the robot's running direction.

[0035] Each assembly in the sensing system 120 may operate independently or in concert to more accurately achieve the intended function. The cliff sensor 123 and ultrasonic sensor identify the surface to be cleaned and determine the physical characteristics of the surface to be cleaned, including the surface material, cleaning degree, etc., which can be combined with a camera, laser distance measuring device, etc. for more accurate determination.

[0036] For example, an ultrasonic sensor may be used to determine whether the surface to be cleaned is carpeted, and if the ultrasonic sensor determines that the surface to be cleaned is carpeted, the control system 170 may control the robot to perform carpet mode cleaning.

[0037] A bumper 122 is provided at the front portion 111 of the mobile platform 100, and when the drive wheel assembly 141 propels the robot to travel on the floor surface during the cleaning process, the bumper 122 detects one or more events (or objects) in the robot's travel path via a sensor system, e.g., an infrared sensor, and the robot may respond to the event (or object) detected by the bumper 122, e.g., an obstacle, a wall, by controlling the drive wheel assembly 141 so that the robot responds to the event (or object), e.g., moves away from the obstacle, passes over the obstacle, etc.

[0038] In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the obstacle detection device of the robot includes a shock absorber 122, an infrared sensor, etc. The obstacle detection device may be used to detect whether a first obstacle exists between the current position of the robot and the target position of the robot to travel.

[0039] Here, the height of the first obstacle is smaller than the measurement height range of the robot.

[0040] The control system 170 is provided on a circuit board in the mobile platform 100 and includes an arithmetic processor, such as a central processing unit, an application processor, etc., that communicates with a non-transitory memory, such as a hard disk, a flash memory, a random access memory, etc., and the application processor receives the environmental information sensed by the multiple sensors from the sensing system 120, the obstacle information fed back from the laser ranging device, etc., and uses a positioning algorithm, such as Simultaneous Localization And Mapping (SLAM), to draw an instant map of the environment in which the robot is located, and autonomously determines a travel path based on the environmental information and the environmental map, and then controls the forward, backward, and / or steering operation of the drive system 140 according to the autonomously determined travel path. Furthermore, the control system 170 can determine whether to activate the cleaning module 150 to perform a cleaning operation based on the environmental information and the environmental map.

[0041] Specifically, the control system 170 combines distance information and speed information fed back from the buffer 122, cliff sensor 123, and sensing devices such as ultrasonic sensor, infrared sensor, magnetometer, accelerometer, gyroscope, odometer, etc. to comprehensively determine the current working state of the vacuum cleaner, such as crossing a threshold, riding on a carpet, located on a cliff, caught above or below, dust box full, lifted, etc., and gives specific next operation strategies according to different situations, so that the work of the robot can better meet the owner's requirements and achieve a better user experience. Furthermore, the control system can plan the most efficient and reasonable driving path and driving method according to the instant map information drawn by SLAM, which can greatly improve the cleaning efficiency of the robot.

[0042] In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the map construction device of the robot may include a control system 170. The map construction device of the robot is used to control the robot to run toward the target point, detect search point information within a preset range where the target point is located during the process of the robot running toward the target point, process the target point according to the search point information, and collect map construction data of the search target area based on the robot running to the target point, and update the environmental space map of the robot.

[0043] The drive system 140 can execute drive commands to steer the robot to run across the floor surface based on specific distance and angle information such as x, y and θ components. In order for the robot to move more stably on the floor surface or have higher movement ability, the robot may include one or more steering assemblies 142, which may be a driven wheel or a driving wheel, and its structural form may be a universal wheel, and the steering assembly 142 may be located in front of the driving wheel assembly 141.

[0044] The drive wheel assembly 141 is detachably connected to the mobile platform 100 for convenient removal and maintenance. The drive wheel is movably fixed to the mobile platform 100 of the robot, e.g., rotatably mounted, and may have an offset drop suspension that maintains contact and traction with the floor surface with a constant landing force by an elastic member such as a tension spring or compression spring, while the cleaning module 150 of the robot also contacts the surface to be cleaned with a constant pressure. The cleaning module 150 may include a dry cleaning module 151 and / or a wet cleaning module 180.

[0045] The energy system 160 includes rechargeable batteries such as nickel-metal hydride batteries and lithium batteries. The rechargeable batteries are connected to a charging control circuit, a battery pack charging temperature detection circuit, and a battery voltage drop monitoring circuit, and the charging control circuit, the battery pack charging temperature detection circuit, and the battery low voltage monitoring circuit are connected to a one-chip microcomputer control circuit. The host computer is connected to the charging pile for charging through the charging electrodes provided on the side or bottom of the main body. If dust adheres to the exposed charging electrodes, the plastic body around the electrodes will melt and deform due to the cumulative effect of electric charge during the charging process, and the electrodes themselves will deform and will not be able to continue charging normally.

[0046] The man-machine interaction system 130 includes keys on a host panel, which are available to the user for function selection. The man-machine interaction system 130 may further include a display screen and / or indicator lights and / or a speaker, which can display the current status or function options of the device to the user. The man-machine interaction system 130 may further include a mobile phone client program.

[0047] It should be noted that in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the robot map construction method described below is realized by a robot (such as a cleaning robot, a mopping robot, etc.), i.e., each step of the robot map construction method is performed by a robot, and in such a case, the robot map construction device may be disposed on the robot.

[0048] As shown in FIG. 3, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a map building method for a robot, which includes the following method steps.

[0049] In step S302, the robot is controlled to travel toward a target point.

[0050] Here, the target point is a first search point in the search target area, and the first search point is in an unsearched state, that is, the target point is a position in the search target area on the environmental space map where the robot has not collected map construction data, and the position where data collection has been performed can be avoided when selecting the target point, so that the robot can avoid unnecessary movements, effectively reduce the number of searches by the robot, and greatly shorten the map construction time. Note that, when the first search point corresponds to a coordinate, after the robot enters the map construction mode, the robot can navigate according to the coordinate position and move to the target point position to be further searched.

[0051] Furthermore, by using the boundary point of the area to be searched that overlaps with a known area on the environmental space map as the first search point, a larger area can be covered when scanning the map construction data, and local areas can be prevented from being overlooked during search, thereby achieving a better map construction effect.

[0052] More specifically, the number of the first search points may be one or more. The number of the first search points is related to the size of the unsearched area. When the number of the first search points is more than one, one of the first search points is selected and used as the target point.

[0053] In step S304, while the robot is moving toward the target point, search point information corresponding to a preset range in which the target point is located is detected.

[0054] Here, the preset range is set reasonably based on the scanning area of ​​the robot centered on the target point, and the scanning area is the range of map building data that the robot can collect at the target point, for example, the visible range of the robot imaging device.

[0055] In step S306, the target points are processed according to the search point information.

[0056] In this embodiment, considering that the robot can collect data of the entire scanning area, when the robot is located at two adjacent first search points to collect data, at least a part of the area may be scanned in an overlapping manner, which increases the map construction time and does not contribute to improving the map construction efficiency. Therefore, during the process of the robot traveling toward the target point, the search point information corresponding to the preset range is periodically detected according to a preset time interval, where the preset time interval is set according to the robot's traveling speed and the traveling environment, and the search point information is used to indicate whether the first search point other than the target point exists within the preset range, and whether the first search point other than the target point exists outside the preset range. After detecting the search point information, the target point is immediately changed using the search point information, thereby reducing the position where the robot moves to complete the map construction of the area and preventing the data of the scannable area of ​​the target point from being collected in an overlapping manner, and the autonomous exploration and map construction of the unknown scenario can be completed with fewer searches, higher search efficiency, and less search time.

[0057] In step S308, the environmental space map of the robot is updated by collecting map building data of the search target area based on the robot traveling to the target point.

[0058] In this embodiment, after the robot reaches the target point, the data collection device of the robot is activated to collect mapping data of the robot scannable area of ​​the target point location, and the mapping data is used to extend the construction of the environmental space map.

[0059] In the concrete implementation process, when the robot autonomously explores in an unknown environment, the robot moves and measures, and a map is constructed based on the SLAM (Simultaneous Localization And Mapping) algorithm to locate and measure the robot. More specifically, the laser data is collected first, the robot's posture is estimated based on the odometer data, and an environmental map is constructed. Then, the robot's posture is corrected based on the established map to construct an accurate map model. In addition, the environmental space map model may be a raster map. The raster map can directly obtain the occupancy state of the environment through the distance information of the sensor, providing detailed environmental feature data, which is suitable for spatial display of unstructured environments, and is an important basis for robot navigation and path planning. Each raster in the raster map has three states: idle, occupied, and unknown. Idle indicates that there is no obstacle in the raster, occupied indicates that there is an obstacle in the raster, and unknown indicates that the raster is not sensed by the robot, and belongs to the environment to be explored.

[0060] Furthermore, after collecting map building data for the searched area, the target point is updated to a searched state, so that the target point is excluded from the first search point and the problem of the point being selected multiple times when selecting the next point is avoided, which contributes to improving the point selection speed, prevents the robot from performing unnecessary work, and shortens the overall execution time of the map building process.

[0061] In some possible embodiments provided by the present disclosure, the step of processing the target point according to the search point information specifically includes the following steps:

[0062] In step S306-1, the target point is held based on the search point information indicating that the second search point exists within a preset range.

[0063] In step S306-2, the target point is updated to the second search point based on the search point information indicating that the second search point does not exist within a preset range and that the second search point exists outside the preset range.

[0064] Here, the second search point is a first search point other than the target point.

[0065] In this embodiment, when it is detected that the second search point exists within the preset range, that is, it indicates that the first search point where data collection has not been performed exists within the preset range, that is, it indicates that the robot has not scanned different positions in the same area, in this case, the target point can be maintained without being changed so that the robot continues to run along the set target point until it reaches the target point and completes data collection for the target point.

[0066] If it is detected that the second search point does not exist within the preset range, that is, it indicates that there is no unsearched point around the target point, which means that the robot may have already collected map construction data corresponding to the target point when it is located at another search point and searches for it. At this time, there is no need to move to the currently set target point, so the movement of the robot is stopped, the next new target point is searched, and the robot is controlled to run toward the new target point, in other words, the target point is updated according to the second search point outside the preset range, that is, the other first search point that has not been searched within the search target area, the destination of the data collection of the robot is immediately changed, and the robot can run toward the updated target point. This makes it possible to avoid continuous short distance movement within the same area, increase the map construction speed, and complete autonomous exploration and map construction of an unknown scenario with a smaller number of searches, higher search efficiency, and shorter search time, thereby improving the autonomy and intelligence of the map construction of the robot.

[0067] It should be understood that if it is determined that the second search point does not exist within the preset range, i.e., the surroundings of the currently set target point have been fully scanned, the robot does not need to perform data collection at that point again, and in this case, the target point is deemed to have been searched, and in order to avoid duplicate selection of subsequent points, the state of the target point before the update may first be changed to a searched state, i.e., the target point before the update may be excluded from the first search point, and then the target point may be updated.

[0068] In addition, during the process of controlling the robot to move toward the updated target point, the search point information of the preset range related to the updated target point may be re-detected. If the search point information indicates that the second search point is still not within the preset range and is outside the preset range, the target point is continuously updated until data collection is completed.

[0069] In some possible embodiments provided by the present disclosure, the robot map building method further includes the following steps:

[0070] In step S310, based on the search point information indicating that the second search point does not exist within the search target area, the robot is controlled to stop traveling.

[0071] In step S312, the environmental space map is stored.

[0072] In this embodiment, there is no second search point in the search target area, i.e., there is no second search point either within the preset range or outside the preset range, in other words, there is no unsearched first search point in the search target area. At this time, it is confirmed that the map construction is completed, and the robot is directly controlled to stop searching. At the same time, the final environmental space map is stored and prepared for later use. This avoids unnecessary operations during the robot's search process, saves search time, and improves the autonomous search efficiency.

[0073] The area inside the preset range and the area outside the preset range together constitute a search target area.

[0074] For example, when it is determined that the second search point does not exist within the preset range, the following three situations may occur: (1) There is no second search point outside the preset range, that is, there is no unsearched first search point in the unsearched area, in other words, the autonomous search of the environmental space map is completed, and the map construction is completed. At this time, control the robot to stop searching, store the constructed environmental space map, end the map construction mode, and output search completion information. (2) If there is only one second search point outside the preset range, the robot travels with the only second search point as a new target point, and after the robot completes map building data collection at the second search point, it determines that there are no unexplored points, and the robot stores the constructed environmental space map, ends the map building mode, and outputs search completion information. (3) When a plurality of second search points exist outside the preset range, the plurality of second search points are continuously selected according to a preset rule, an optimal second search point is selected to update the target point, and the robot travels according to the updated target point. Specifically, the preset rule is used to select one second search point from the plurality of second search points, and may be reasonably set according to the search needs. For example, the preset rule may be defined to select the second search point closest to the current position of the robot to reduce the travel time of the robot, or the preset rule may be defined to select the second search point closest to the current target point to avoid the robot from continuously traveling a short distance within the same area as much as possible, or the preset rule may be defined to indicate that an obstacle exists between the robot and the second search point. In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the preset rule is not specifically limited.

[0075] In some possible embodiments provided by the present disclosure, the method further includes the following steps before the step of controlling the robot to travel toward the target point.

[0076] In step S402, an environmental space map is obtained.

[0077] Here, the environmental space map includes a known area and / or a search target area, and the known area corresponds to map construction data. The environmental space map may be obtained by information transmission between a control terminal and a robot, may be created by the robot itself, or may be obtained from an internal memory of the robot.

[0078] Furthermore, when an environmental space map is obtained by transmitting information between a control terminal and a robot, if it is detected that the environmental space map is entirely a known area, there is no need to search, and at the same time, presentation information is transmitted to the control terminal to avoid erroneous transmission of the map.

[0079] In step S404, a plurality of boundary points of the search target region that overlaps with the known region are extracted.

[0080] For example, based on a frontier-based algorithm, the boundary points between the known area and the unsearched area in the local raster map are extracted through an image segmentation technique.

[0081] It should be noted that a boundary point is defined as a coordinate point on the border between open (known) and unknown (unknown) areas in the map, i.e., the border of an area not scanned by the laser radar.

[0082] Furthermore, when the robot performs exploration for the first time, the environmental space where the robot is located is the area to be searched, and the first data collection is performed with the robot's current position as the target point, forming an environmental space map in which the known area and the area to be searched coexist, and then continuing to construct the map of the area to be searched using the boundary algorithm.

[0083] In step S406, an unsearched boundary point is determined as a first search point.

[0084] In this embodiment, all the boundary points adjacent to the known area on the environmental space map that needs to be searched are first extracted, and the boundary point that has not been searched is selected from all the boundary points as the first search point through state identification. The robot is controlled to search the search target area from the optimal boundary point (target) and expand the raster map. Automatic point selection during the map construction process is realized, manual operation is not required, labor is saved, and the autonomous map construction purpose of the robot is achieved. Furthermore, when selecting the target point, the situation in which data of the same coordinates is collected multiple times can be avoided, and the map construction efficiency can be greatly improved.

[0085] In some possible embodiments provided by the present disclosure, the robot map building method further includes the following steps:

[0086] In step S502, based on the fact that there are a plurality of first search points in the search target region, the plurality of first search points are successively connected to obtain connection lines.

[0087] In step S504, a first distance between each of the first search points and the center point of the connecting line is determined.

[0088] In step S506, the first search point corresponding to the minimum value of the first distances is determined as the target point.

[0089] In this embodiment, when there are multiple first search points within the search target area, i.e., there are multiple boundary points that have not been searched, the multiple first search points are sequentially connected to form a connecting line, so as to cover a larger area during scanning and obtain a better map construction effect, a first distance between each first search point and the center point of the connecting line is calculated, and the first search point corresponding to the smallest value of the first distances is the first search point closest to the center point, and the first search point is searched as the target point.

[0090] As a specific example, when selecting a target point, all points in the map are checked sequentially, and after finding a first search point that satisfies the conditions (adjacent to a known area and not searched), the center of a line segment consisting of multiple first search points is selected as the target point as much as possible because the laser distance sensor radiates in a straight line and the shape of all boundary points is close to a straight line. If the target point is not found, all map construction is completed. When the robot moves toward the target point, it periodically checks whether there is an unchecked first search point around the target point, and if there is no such point, there is no need to move to the current target point, so it stops moving, searches for the next target point, and moves toward the new target point. If there is no valid target point, map construction of the area is completed. If there is such a point, it continues to move to the current target point, and after completing data collection of the current target point, it continues to search for the next target point. If the robot moves to a position with fewer points, map construction of the area can be completed, and the overall execution time of the map construction process can be shortened.

[0091] In some possible implementations provided by the present disclosure, the robot map building method further includes the following steps:

[0092] In step S602, while the robot is traveling toward the target point, based on the presence of an obstacle between the current position of the robot and the target point, the robot is controlled to travel along the outer edge of the obstacle to avoid the obstacle.

[0093] In this embodiment, if it is detected that there is an obstacle between the robot's current position and the target point while the robot is traveling, the robot is controlled to travel along the outer edge of the obstacle to bypass the obstacle and reach the target point, thereby preventing the robot from stopping due to the obstacle, improving the continuity of the robot's work and the operational efficiency of the robot.

[0094] Furthermore, controlling the robot to travel along the outer edge of the obstacle specifically includes controlling the robot to deflect by a preset angle and move forward in a direction away from the obstacle when a second distance between the current position of the robot and the obstacle is less than the distance threshold, and controlling the robot to deflect by a preset angle in the opposite direction and move closer to the first obstacle when a third distance between the current position of the robot and the obstacle after moving forward is greater than the distance threshold, where the preset angle is an angle at which the robot adjusts its traveling direction while traveling.

[0095] It should be noted that different detection methods may have different settings for the distance threshold.

[0096] As shown in FIG. 4 , according to an embodiment of the second aspect of the present disclosure, a robotic map construction device 700 is provided, which may include a control module 702, a detection module 704, a processing module 706, and a map construction module 708.

[0097] Here, the control module 702 is configured to control the robot to run toward the target point, which is a first search point in a search target area, and the first search point is in an unsearched state; the detection module 704 is configured to detect search point information within a preset range in which the target point is located during the process of the robot running toward the target point; the processing module 706 is configured to process the target point according to the search point information; and the map construction module 708 is configured to update the environmental space map of the robot by collecting map construction data of the search target area based on the robot running to the target point.

[0098] As an example, the processing module 706 is specifically configured to retain the target point based on the search point information being that a second search point exists within a predetermined range, and to update the target point to a second search point based on the search point information being that the second search point does not exist within the predetermined range and the second search point exists outside the predetermined range, where the second search point is a first search point other than the target point.

[0099] As an example, the control module 702 is further configured to control the robot to stop moving based on the search point information that the second search point does not exist within the search target area, and the robot map construction device 700 further includes a memory module (not shown) configured to store the environmental space map.

[0100] As an example, the robot map construction device 700 further includes an acquisition module (not shown) configured to acquire an environmental space map, the environmental space map including a known area and / or a search target area, the known area corresponding to the map construction data, an extraction module (not shown) configured to extract multiple boundary points of the search target area that overlap with the known area, and a first determination module (not shown) configured to determine a boundary point in an unexplored state as a first search point.

[0101] As an example, the robot map construction device 700 further includes a second determination module (not shown) configured to sequentially connect the multiple first search points to obtain connecting lines based on the number of first search points in the search target area, determine first distances between each of the first search points and the center points of the connecting lines, and determine the first search point corresponding to the smallest value of the first distances as the target point.

[0102] As an example, the robot map builder 700 further includes a state update module (not shown) configured to update the target points to a searched state.

[0103] As an example, the control module 702 is further configured to control the robot to travel along the outer edge of the obstacle to avoid the obstacle, based on the presence of an obstacle between the current position of the robot and the target point during the process of the robot traveling toward the target point.

[0104] According to an embodiment of a third aspect of the present disclosure, a robot is provided, comprising a processor and a memory, the memory storing computer program instructions executable by the processor, the computer program instructions, when executed by the processor, realizing the steps of the robot map construction method of any of the embodiments.

[0105] As shown in Fig. 5, the robot may include a processing unit 801 (e.g., a central processor, a graphic processor, etc.) capable of performing various suitable operations and processes according to programs stored in a read-only memory (ROM 802) or programs loaded from a storage device 808 into a random access memory (RAM 803). The RAM 803 further stores various programs and data necessary for the operation of the electronic robot. The processing unit 801, the ROM 802, and the RAM 803 are connected to each other via a bus 804. An input / output (I / O) interface is also connected to the bus 804.

[0106] Typically, input devices 806 such as a touch screen, touch pad, keyboard, mouse, camera, microphone, accelerometer, gyroscope, etc., output devices 807 such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), speaker, vibrator, etc., storage devices 808 such as a hard disk, etc., and communication devices 809 are connected to the I / O interface 805. The communication devices 809 allow the electronic robot to exchange data with other robots via wireless or wired communication. Although the electronic robot is illustrated with various devices in Figures 1 and 2, it should be understood that it is not necessary to implement or include all the devices illustrated. More or fewer devices may alternatively be implemented or included.

[0107] In particular, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the above process described with reference to the flowcharts may be implemented as a robot software program. For example, an embodiment of the present disclosure includes a robot software program product, which includes a computer program carried on a readable medium, the computer program including a program code for performing the method shown in Flowchart 4. In such an embodiment, the computer program may be downloaded and installed from a network via a communication device 809, or may be installed from a storage device 808, or may be installed from a ROM 802. When the computer program is executed by the processing device 801, it performs the above functions defined in the method of the embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0108] It should be noted that the readable medium described in this disclosure may be a computer readable signal medium, or a computer readable storage medium, or any combination of the above. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electric, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus or device, or any combination. More specific examples of the computer readable storage medium include, but are not limited to, an electrical connection with one or more wires, a portable computer disk, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM 803), a read-only memory (ROM 802), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM 802 or flash memory), optical fiber, a portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM 802), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the above.

[0109] According to an embodiment of the fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a storage medium having stored thereon computer program instructions which, when called and executed by a processor, perform the robot map construction method steps of any of the above embodiments.

[0110] In this disclosure, a storage medium may be any tangible medium that contains or stores a program, which may be used by or in combination with an instruction execution system, apparatus or device. In this disclosure, a computer-readable signal medium may include a data signal propagated in baseband or as part of a carrier carrying a computer-readable program code. Such propagated data signals include, but are not limited to, electromagnetic signals, optical signals, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. A computer-readable signal medium may be any readable medium other than a storage medium, which may transmit, propagate, or transmit a program that may be used by or in combination with an instruction execution system, apparatus or device. The program code contained in the readable medium may be transmitted by any suitable medium, including, but not limited to, wire, fiber optic cable, RF (radio frequency), etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

[0111] The readable medium may be included in the robot, or may exist independently without being incorporated in the robot.

[0112] Computer program code for carrying out the operations of the present disclosure can be written in one or more programming languages ​​or combinations thereof, including, but not limited to, object-oriented programming languages ​​such as Java, Small Talk, C++, conventional procedural programming languages ​​such as "c" or similar programming languages. The program code may run entirely on the user's computer, partially on the user's computer, as a separate software package, partially on the user's computer and partially on a remote computer, or entirely on a remote computer or server.

[0113] In the case of a remote computer, the remote computer may be connected to the user computer via any type of network, such as a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or may be connected to an external computer (e.g., an Internet connection via an Internet Service Provider).

[0114] The flowcharts and block diagrams in the accompanying drawings illustrate possible architectures, functions and operations of systems, methods and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. In this regard, each block in the flowcharts or block diagrams represents a module, program segment or part of code, which includes one or more executable instructions for implementing a specified logical function. It should be noted that in some alternative implementations, the functions shown in the blocks may occur in a different order than that shown in the accompanying drawings. For example, two connected blocks may actually be executed in parallel, or may be executed in reverse order depending on the related functions. It should also be noted that each block in the block diagrams and / or flowcharts, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and / or flowcharts may be realized by a dedicated system based on hardware for executing the specified functions or operations, or by a combination of dedicated hardware and computer instructions.

[0115] The above-described embodiment of the device is merely illustrative, and the units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated. The components shown as units may or may not be physical units, i.e., they may be located in one place or distributed among multiple network units. Some or all of the modules may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of the embodiment. Those skilled in the art can understand and implement it without creative labor.

[0116] Finally, the above embodiments are used to explain the technical solutions of the present disclosure, but are not intended to limit them. Although the present disclosure has been described in detail with reference to the above embodiments, those skilled in the art can still modify the technical solutions described in the above embodiments, or substitute some of the technical features thereof with equivalents, and it should be understood that these modifications and substitutions do not cause the essence of the corresponding technical solutions to depart from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. 1. A method for building a map for a robot, comprising: Controlling the robot to travel toward a target point, the target point being a first search point in a search target area, the first search point being in an unsearched state; and controlling the robot to travel toward the target point. Detecting search point information corresponding to a preset range in which the target point is located while the robot is moving toward the target point; processing the target points according to the search point information; updating an environmental space map of the robot by collecting map building data of the search target area based on the robot traveling to the target point; Including, A method for constructing a map for a robot, comprising:

2. Processing the target point according to the search point information specifically includes: storing the target point based on the search point information indicating that a second search point exists within the preset range; updating the target point to the second search point based on the fact that the second search point does not exist within the preset range and the second search point exists outside the preset range, The second search point is the first search point other than the target point.

2. The method for constructing a map for a robot according to claim 1 .

3. based on the fact that the second search point does not exist within the search target area, control is performed so as to stop the traveling of the robot; storing said environmental space map; Further comprising:

3. The method for constructing a map for a robot according to claim 2.

4. Before controlling the robot to travel toward a target point, obtaining the environmental space map, the environmental space map including a known area and / or a search target area, the known area corresponding to map building data; extracting a plurality of boundary points of the search target region that overlaps with the known region; determining an unsearched boundary point as the first search point; Further comprising:

2. The method for constructing a map for a robot according to claim 1 .

5. based on the fact that the number of the first search points is plural within the search target area, sequentially connecting the first search points to obtain a connection line; determining a first distance between each of the first search points and a center point of the connecting line; determining the first search point corresponding to a minimum value of the first distances as the target point; Further comprising:

2. The method for constructing a map for a robot according to claim 1 .

6. After collecting map building data for the searched area, and updating the target point to a searched state.

6. A method for constructing a map for a robot according to claim 1,

7. and controlling the robot to travel along an outer edge of the obstacle to avoid the obstacle, based on the presence of an obstacle between a current position of the robot and the target point during the process of the robot traveling toward the target point.

6. A method for constructing a map for a robot according to claim 1,

8. A robotic map construction device, comprising: a control module configured to control the robot to travel toward a target point, the target point being a first search point in a search target area, the first search point being in an unsearched state; a detection module configured to detect search point information corresponding to a preset range in which the target point is located during a process in which the robot travels toward the target point; a processing module configured to process the target points according to the search point information; a map construction module configured to update an environmental space map of the robot by collecting map construction data of the search target area based on the robot traveling to the target point; Equipped with A map construction device for a robot, comprising:

9. A robot, A processor and a memory, the memory is configured to store operating instructions; The processor performs the following operations by invoking the operation instructions: Controlling the robot to travel toward a target point, the target point being a first search point in a search target area, the first search point being in an unsearched state; detecting search point information corresponding to a preset range in which the target point is located while the robot is moving toward the target point; processing the target points according to the search point information; updating the environmental space map of the robot by collecting map building data of the search target area based on the robot traveling to the target point; A robot characterized by:

10. The processor further performs the following operations by invoking the operation instructions: storing the target point based on the search point information indicating that a second search point exists within the preset range; updating the target point to the second search point based on the fact that the second search point does not exist within the preset range and the second search point exists outside the preset range; The second search point is the first search point other than the target point.

10. The robot according to claim 9.

11. The processor further performs the following operations by invoking the operation instructions: based on the fact that the second search point does not exist within the search target area, control is performed so as to stop the traveling of the robot; storing said environmental space map; 11. The robot according to claim 10.

12. The processor further performs the following operations by invoking the operation instructions: obtaining the environmental space map, the environmental space map including a known region and / or a search target region, the known region corresponding to map building data; Extracting a plurality of boundary points of the search target region that overlap with the known region; determining an unsearched boundary point as the first search point; 10. The robot according to claim 9.

13. The processor further performs the following operations by invoking the operation instructions: based on the fact that the number of the first search points is plural within the search target area, a connection line is obtained by sequentially connecting the first search points; determining a first distance between each of the first search points and a center point of the connecting line; determining the first search point corresponding to the minimum value of the first distances as the target point; 10. The robot according to claim 9.

14. The processor further performs the following operations by invoking the operation instructions: updating the target point to a searched state; The robot according to any one of claims 9 to 13.

15. The processor further performs the following operations by invoking the operation instructions: During the process of the robot traveling toward the target point, based on the presence of an obstacle between a current position of the robot and the target point, controlling the robot to travel along an outer edge of the obstacle to avoid the obstacle. The robot according to any one of claims 9 to 13.

16. A computer program is stored, the computer program being executed by a processor to achieve the following operations: Controlling the robot to travel toward a target point, the target point being a first search point in a search target area, the first search point being in an unsearched state; detecting search point information corresponding to a preset range in which the target point is located while the robot is moving toward the target point; processing the target points according to the search point information; updating the environmental space map of the robot by collecting map building data of the search target area based on the robot traveling to the target point; A storage medium comprising:

17. The computer program, when executed by a processor, further realizes the following operations: storing the target point based on the search point information indicating that a second search point exists within the preset range; updating the target point to the second search point based on the fact that the second search point does not exist within the preset range and the second search point exists outside the preset range; The second search point is the first search point other than the target point.

17. The storage medium according to claim 16.

18. The computer program, when executed by a processor, further realizes the following operations: based on the fact that the second search point does not exist within the search target area, control is performed so as to stop the traveling of the robot; storing said environmental space map; 20. The storage medium according to claim 17,

19. The computer program, when executed by a processor, further realizes the following operations: obtaining the environmental space map, the environmental space map including a known region and / or a search target region, the known region corresponding to map building data; Extracting a plurality of boundary points of the search target region that overlap with the known region; determining an unsearched boundary point as the first search point; 17. The storage medium according to claim 16.

20. The computer program, when executed by a processor, further realizes the following operations: based on the fact that the number of the first search points is plural within the search target area, a connection line is obtained by sequentially connecting the first search points; determining a first distance between each of the first search points and a center point of the connecting line; determining the first search point corresponding to the minimum value of the first distances as the target point; 17. The storage medium according to claim 16.

21. The computer program, when executed by a processor, further realizes the following operations: updating the target point to a searched state; 21. The storage medium according to claim 16, wherein the storage medium is a storage medium for storing information on a recording medium.

22. The computer program, when executed by a processor, further realizes the following operations: During the process of the robot traveling toward the target point, based on the presence of an obstacle between a current position of the robot and the target point, controlling the robot to travel along an outer edge of the obstacle to avoid the obstacle.

21. The storage medium according to claim 16, wherein the storage medium is a storage medium for storing information on a recording medium.

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