Robot management device, robot management method, and robot

Abstract

To alleviate prolongation of a riding time that may occur to a user when the user and a robot ride together in a car, without causing the car to perform useless movement as much as possible.SOLUTION: When a robot is moved between floors using an elevator, the robot management device can make, as an allocation request for a landing call for the robot, two allocation requests for a first landing call and a second landing call, the first landing call being a landing call for boarding of the robot and having a boarding floor of the robot as a departure floor and any floor located in a direction opposite to a forward direction toward a target floor of the robot with respect to the departure floor as a destination floor, the second landing call being a landing call for alighting of the robot, when the allocation request for the first landing call is made, the control device of the elevator allocates the landing call in response to the request, registers the destination floor indicated by the landing call as a car call, and then causes the control device to cancel the registration of the car call.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a control technique for moving a robot between floors using an elevator. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, robots have been increasingly used for various tasks in buildings (cleaning, monitoring, transportation, etc.) (see, for example, Patent Document 1). Accordingly, elevators are increasingly being used to move robots between floors in buildings, and there are an increasing number of cases where both users and robots use elevators. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 7380793 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] On the other hand, it takes longer for a robot to get on and off the elevator than for a user. Therefore, in an environment where both a user and a robot use the elevator, the following problems may arise.

[0005] If a robot boards a passenger at an intermediate floor while the passenger is being transported, or if a robot disembarks a passenger at an intermediate floor while the passenger is being transported, the passenger will be forced to wait in the car until the robot has boarded or disembarked. For this reason, when riding with a robot, the passenger may be forced to spend a longer time on the car until they arrive at their destination floor (disembarking floor).

[0006] Therefore, the object of the present invention is to mitigate the lengthening of the riding time that may occur for a user when the user and a robot ride in the same car, by minimizing unnecessary movement of the car as much as possible. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] A robot management device according to the present invention is a robot management device that, when a robot is moved between floors using an elevator, makes a hall call allocation request for the robot by transmitting the departure floor and destination floor required for the hall call allocation to the elevator control device, and has the following configuration (Aspect 1).The robot management device selectively makes two allocation requests: an allocation request for a normal hall call in which the boarding floor and destination floor of the robot are the departure floor and destination floor, respectively; a first hall call that is a hall call for boarding the robot, in which the boarding floor of the robot is the departure floor and the destination floor is any floor located in the opposite direction from the boarding floor of the robot to the destination floor; and a second hall call that is a hall call for disembarking the robot. When the robot management device makes an allocation request for the first hall call, the elevator control device allocates the hall call in response to the request, and after registering the destination floor indicated by the hall call as a car call, the robot management device causes the control device to cancel the registration of the car call.

[0008] According to the above-mentioned aspect 1, the car call corresponding to the first hall call is deleted, so that after the robot is allowed to board a car that arrives in the opposite direction in response to the first hall call, the car does not have to make unnecessary movements that may occur due to the response to the car call (such as stopping at a floor where no one is getting on or off, and moving to that floor).

[0009] The robot management device according to the above-mentioned aspect 1 may have the following configuration (aspect 2). When a car arrives at a floor and the arrival floor of the car matches one of the departure floors transmitted in the allocation request, the robot management device may treat the allocation request corresponding to the matching departure floor as a focus request, and may also treat the hall call assigned by the control device in response to the focus request as a focus call. Furthermore, the robot management device may instruct a robot to board the car at the arrival floor, and when the robot has boarded the car accordingly, determine (A) whether the destination floor transmitted when the focus request was made matches the robot's destination floor. Then, when the robot management device determines that there is no match in determination (A), it may issue a command to the control device to cancel the registration of the car call corresponding to the focus call when transmitting a boarding completion signal to the control device to notify the control device that the robot has boarded. On the other hand, if the robot management device determines that there is a "match" in judgment (A), when sending a boarding completion signal to the control device, it may give the control device an instruction to maintain the registration of the car call corresponding to the target call.

[0010] According to the above-mentioned aspect 2, by using the notification of the completion of boarding of the robot to the control device, it becomes possible to give to the control device an instruction regarding the handling of registered car calls for the robot.

[0011] The robot management device according to the above-mentioned aspect 2 may have the following configuration (aspect 3). Before instructing the robot to board a car at the above-mentioned arrival floor, the robot management device may make a determination (B) as to whether the departure floor transmitted when the attention request was made matches the floor on which the robot will board. If the determination (B) determines that the departure floor matches, the robot management device may then instruct the robot to board the car, and then make a determination (A) once the robot has completed boarding. On the other hand, if the determination (B) determines that the departure floor does not match, the robot management device may send a boarding completion signal as a dummy signal to the control device without instructing the robot to board the car, and may also issue a command to the control device to maintain the registration of the car call corresponding to the attention call.

[0012] According to the above aspect 3, if the robot management device determines that there is a "match" in judgment (B), it can determine that the elevator has arrived at the boarding floor in response to a normal hall call or a first hall call with the robot's boarding floor as the departure floor.

[0013] Furthermore, since the departure floor indicated by the second hall call is a different floor from the floor where the robot boards, if the robot control device determines "does not match" in decision (B), it can determine that the car has arrived at a different floor from the floor where the robot boards in response to the second hall call. In this case, since the car will arrive at the departure floor indicated by the second hall call with the robot already on board in response to the first hall call, the robot control device can determine that there is no need to board the car. Therefore, the robot control device sends a boarding completion signal to the control device as a dummy signal without instructing the robot to board the car. This makes it possible to continue elevator control without delay, with the robot remaining in the car.

[0014] On the other hand, since the destination floor indicated by the second hall call is the robot's destination floor, the robot management device can determine that the robot needs to disembark at that destination floor, and therefore that the car needs to stop at that floor. Therefore, the robot management device issues a command to the control device to cause the control device to maintain the registration of the car call corresponding to the target call (here, the second hall call). This makes it possible to move the car to the robot's destination floor.

[0015] The robot management device according to any one of the above aspects 1 to 3 may have the following configuration (aspect 4): When moving a robot between floors, if a hall call for a user has been assigned by the elevator control device, the robot management device may: (1) The forward direction of the robot must be the same as the user's destination direction; (2) The floor where the robot boards is located between the user's departure floor and the robot's destination floor; (3) The current position of the elevator car is on the destination floor side of the robot with respect to the boarding floor of the robot; and If the robot management device determines that all of the above conditions are "satisfied," it may make two allocation requests for the first and second hall calls to the control device.

[0016] When conditions (1) and (2) are met, if a normal hall call allocation request is made as an allocation request for a robot, after boarding the car, depending on the relative positions of the passenger's disembarking floor and the robot's boarding floor, a situation may arise in which the passenger must experience the robot boarding at a floor on the way to disembarkation. On the other hand, when condition (3) is met, the car will move further from the state in which condition (3) is met as it travels around the operating area, and will reach the robot's boarding floor (departure floor) in the reverse direction from the forward direction before reaching the departure floor of the passengers riding with it. Therefore, by making the allocation request for the first hall call at this timing, when the car is moving in the reverse direction before arriving at the robot's boarding floor in the forward direction, the robot can be boarded by the car traveling in the reverse direction, thereby enabling transportation in the reverse direction from the boarding floor. In other words, when a car moves in the opposite direction while traveling around the route, the robot can be efficiently placed on the car going in the opposite direction. This means that users will not have to experience a robot getting on while they are traveling in the car. As a result, it is possible to alleviate the need for users to spend longer on the car.

[0017] The robot management device according to the above aspect 4 may make an allocation request for a second hall call in which the departure floor is the same as the departure floor of the user used when it is determined that all of the above conditions are "satisfied," and the destination floor is the robot's destination floor (aspect 5).

[0018] According to the above-mentioned aspect 5, it is possible to prevent the elevator car from stopping at the departure floor (a floor where the robot does not need to board) transmitted in the allocation request for the second hall call from being a useless stop without passengers getting on or off.

[0019] A robot management method according to the present invention is a robot management method that, when a robot is moved between floors using an elevator, makes a hall call allocation request for the robot by transmitting the departure floor and destination floor required for the hall call allocation to the elevator control device, and has the following configuration (Aspect 6).The robot management method selectively makes two allocation requests: an allocation request for a normal hall call in which the boarding floor and destination floor of the robot are the departure floor and destination floor, respectively; a first hall call that is a hall call for boarding the robot, in which the boarding floor of the robot is the departure floor and the destination floor is any floor located in the opposite direction from the boarding floor of the robot to the destination floor; and a second hall call that is a hall call for disembarking the robot. When a request for allocation of the first hall call is made, the elevator control device allocates the hall call in response to the request, and after registering the destination floor indicated by the hall call as a car call, the control device is made to cancel the registration of the car call.

[0020] The robot according to the present invention, when moving between floors using an elevator, makes a hall call allocation request for itself by transmitting the departure floor and destination floor required for the hall call allocation to the elevator control device, and has the following configuration (Aspect 7). The robot selectively makes two allocation requests: an allocation request for a normal hall call whose departure floor and destination floor are the robot's own boarding floor and the robot's own destination floor, respectively; a first hall call, which is a hall call for the robot to board itself, whose departure floor is the robot's own boarding floor and whose destination floor is any floor located in the opposite direction from the departure floor toward the robot's destination floor; and a second hall call, which is a hall call for the robot to disembark itself. When the robot makes an allocation request for the first hall call, the elevator control device allocates the hall call in accordance with the request, and further registers the destination floor indicated by the hall call as a car call, and then causes the control device to cancel the registration of the car call.

[0021] According to the above-mentioned aspects 6 or 7, as in the above-mentioned aspect 1, the car call corresponding to the first hall call is deleted, so that the car does not have to make unnecessary movements that may occur due to responding to the car call (such as stopping at a floor where no one is getting on or off, and moving to that floor). [Effects of the Invention]

[0022] According to the present invention, when a user and a robot ride in a car together, the lengthening of the riding time that may occur for the user can be mitigated by minimizing unnecessary movement of the car. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0023] [Figure 1] 1 is a conceptual diagram showing the overall configuration of an elevator according to an embodiment. [Figure 2] 1A and 1B are conceptual diagrams illustrating examples of (A) device management data for the first operation unit, (B) device management data for the second operation unit, (C) hall call management data and car call management data for users, and (D) hall call management data and car call management data for robots, all of which are used in the embodiment. [Figure 3] 1A and 1B are conceptual diagrams illustrating examples of robot management data and assignment request management data used in an embodiment. [Figure 4] 10 is a flowchart showing allocation request processing executed in the embodiment. [Figure 5] 10 is a flowchart illustrating an allocation process executed in the embodiment. [Figure 6] 10 is a flowchart illustrating a response process executed in the embodiment. [Figure 7] 10 is a flowchart showing a first response process executed in the embodiment. [Figure 8] 10 is a flowchart showing a second response process executed in the embodiment. [Figure 9] 10 is a flowchart showing a third response process executed in the embodiment. [Figure 10]10 is a flowchart showing a part of the third response process. [Figure 11] 10 is a flowchart showing a boarding / alighting command process executed in the embodiment. [Figure 12] 10 is a flowchart showing a boarding command process (including a cancel command process) executed in the embodiment. [Figure 13] 10 is a flowchart showing a first door open extension process executed in the embodiment. [Figure 14] 10 is a flowchart showing a cancellation process executed in the embodiment. [Figure 15] 10 is a flowchart showing a dismount command process executed in the embodiment. [Figure 16] 10 is a flowchart showing a second door open extension process executed in the embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0024] [1] Implementation [1-1] Overall structure of the elevator FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing the overall configuration of an elevator according to an embodiment. In this embodiment, the elevator is equipped with one car G, which is used not only by passengers but also by a robot H that performs various tasks (cleaning, monitoring, transport, etc.) in the building where the elevator is installed. A first operating unit 1 is installed at the landing of each elevator floor, allowing the user to specify a destination direction Kc, and a second operating unit 2 is installed inside the car G, allowing the user to specify a destination floor Fd. In addition to these components, the elevator also includes an elevator control device 3 and a robot management device 4.

[0025] In this embodiment, in such an elevator, when a user and a robot H ride together in the car G, the lengthening of the riding time that may occur for the user can be alleviated by minimizing unnecessary movements of the car G. A control system that makes this possible is constructed by the elevator control device 3 and the robot management device 4. The configuration of each part will be specifically described below.

[0026] <1st operation section> On floors other than the terminal floor Fz, which is the top floor or the bottom floor, the first operation unit 1 includes a hall button (up button) for specifying an upward direction as the destination direction Kc, and a hall button (down button) for specifying a downward direction as the destination direction Kc. On the other hand, on the top floor, the first operation unit 1 includes only a hall button (down button) for specifying a downward direction, and on the bottom floor, it includes only a hall button (up button) for specifying an upward direction.

[0027] When a user operates the first operating unit 1 at a hall (by pressing the hall button) to specify their own destination direction Kc, the destination direction Kc is transmitted to the elevator control device 3. As a result, a request for allocation of a hall call X (hereinafter referred to as "hall call Xg") for the user is made to the elevator control device 3 (allocation request from the user). At this time, in order to make the elevator control device 3 recognize that the operated operating unit is the first operating unit 1, device information Pd1 for distinguishing the operated operating unit from other operating units, devices, etc. is also transmitted to the elevator control device 3.

[0028] <Second operation section> The second operation unit 2 includes a plurality of destination buttons, each of which corresponds to a plurality of floors to which the elevator of this embodiment can guide the user.

[0029] When a user operates the second operation unit 2 in the car G (by pressing any of the destination buttons) to specify their destination floor Fd, the destination floor Fd is transmitted to the elevator control device 3. As a result, a registration request for a car call Yg for the user (hereinafter referred to as "car call Yg") is made to the elevator control device 3 (registration request from the user). At this time, in order to make the elevator control device 3 recognize that the operated operation unit is the second operation unit 2, device information Pd2 for distinguishing the operation unit from other operation units and devices is also transmitted to the elevator control device 3.

[0030] <Elevator control device> The elevator control device 3 is a device that controls the operation of the car G. In this embodiment, when the elevator control device 3 receives an allocation request from a user at a hall, it allocates a hall call Xg for the user to the car G in response to the request (allocation process, see FIG. 5). Furthermore, when the elevator control device 3 receives a request from the robot management device 4 to allocate a hall call X for each robot H (hereinafter referred to as a "hall call Xh") as described below, it allocates the hall call Xh for the robot H to the car G in response to the request (allocation process, see FIG. 5). Furthermore, the elevator control device 3 appropriately causes the car G to execute a response operation to the hall calls X (response process, see FIGS. 6 to 10). Then, during the response process, the elevator control device 3 registers a car call Y for the user in response to a registration request from the user. Furthermore, during the response processing, the elevator control device 3 registers a car call Y (hereinafter referred to as "car call Yh") for the robot H, performs processing related to the boarding and alighting of the robot H (door open extension processing; see Figs. 13 and 16), and performs processing to cancel the registration of the car call Yh for the robot H as necessary (cancellation processing; see Fig. 14). Details of these processing will be described later.

[0031] In addition, in response to a request from the robot management device 4, the elevator control device 3 can return to the robot management device 4 the elevator information Pe that it currently has knowledge of (such as the operating status of the car G and the usage status of the elevator).

[0032] Specifically, the elevator control device 3 includes a storage unit 31 and a control unit 32 (see FIG. 1).

[0033] The storage unit 31 is a part configured with storage devices such as ROM and RAM, and stores information necessary for the control processing performed by the elevator control device 3. In this embodiment, the storage unit 31 stores device management data Dp, hall call management data Dx, and car call management data Dy as such information.

[0034] The device management data Dp includes device management data Dp1 for the first operation unit 1 and device management data Dp2 for the second operation unit 2. Here, the device management data Dp1 is a database for managing, for each first operation unit 1, a plurality of pieces of information related to that operation unit by linking them together. The device management data Dp2 is a database for managing, for each second operation unit 2, a plurality of pieces of information related to that operation unit by linking them together.

[0035] The hall call management data Dx includes hall call management data DxG for users and hall call management data DxH for the robot H. Furthermore, the car call management data Dy includes car call management data DyG for users and car call management data DyH for the robot H. Here, the hall call management data DxG and the car call management data DyG are data for managing information on hall calls Xg and car calls Yg for users, respectively. The hall call management data DxH and the car call management data DyH are data for managing information on hall calls Xh and car calls Yh for the robot H, respectively.

[0036] 2(A) is a conceptual diagram illustrating device management data Dp1 used in this embodiment for the first operating unit 1. In the device management data Dp1, for each first operating unit 1, device information Pd1 of that operating unit and the installation floor Fs are recorded in a mutually associated state.

[0037] As a result, when the elevator control device 3 receives device information Pd1 together with the destination direction Kc from any one of the first operation units 1, it becomes possible to identify the installation floor Fs of the first operation unit 1 (the operation unit that specified the destination direction Kc) from the device information Pd1. In this embodiment, the installation floor Fs of the first operation unit 1 is used as the departure floor Fc (boarding floor) of the user who specified the destination direction Kc by operating that operation unit.

[0038] 2(B) is a conceptual diagram illustrating the device management data Dp2 for the second operation unit 2 used in this embodiment. In the device management data Dp2, for each second operation unit 2, device information Pd2 of that operation unit and car information Pg of the car G in which that operation unit is installed are recorded in a mutually associated state. In this embodiment, since there is one car G, only one set of information about the second operation unit 2 installed in that car G is recorded in the device management data Dp2.

[0039] As a result, when the elevator control device 3 receives the device information Pd2 together with the destination floor Fd from the second operation unit 2, it becomes possible to identify the car G in which the second operation unit 2 is installed (the car G for which the destination floor Fd has been specified) from the device information Pd2. Therefore, when registering the destination floor Fd received from the second operation unit 2 as a car call Yg, the elevator control device 3 can identify the car G to which it should be registered.

[0040] FIG. 2(C) is a conceptual diagram illustrating the hall call management data DxG and car call management data DyG for users used in this embodiment.

[0041] In the hall call management data DxG (see the left diagram in Figure 2(C)), each elevator floor and each direction in which the car G can move from that floor are associated with an allocation status that indicates whether or not a hall call Xg with the pair of floors and directions as the departure floor Fc and destination direction Kc has been assigned to the car G (in other words, whether or not a user has pressed the hall button for that direction at that floor).The example in Figure 2(C) shows a case in which the allocation status for each direction from each floor is updated to "ON" when a hall call Xg with the pair of floors and directions as the departure floor Fc and destination direction Kc has been assigned, and is updated to "OFF" when the hall call Xg is deleted.

[0042] Furthermore, in the car call management data DyG (see the right diagram in Figure 2(C)), each elevator floor is associated with a registration status that indicates whether or not a car call Yg with that floor as the destination floor Fd has been registered for the car G (in other words, whether or not a user has pressed the destination button for that floor).The example in Figure 2(C) shows a case in which the registration status for each floor is updated to "ON" when a car call Yg with that floor as the destination floor Fd is registered, and is updated to "OFF" when that car call Yg is deleted.

[0043] FIG. 2(D) is a conceptual diagram illustrating hall call management data DxH and car call management data DyH for robot H used in this embodiment.

[0044] In the hall call management data DxH (see the left diagram in FIG. 2(D)), each time a hall call Xh is assigned to a robot H, the robot information Ph of that robot H and the departure floor Fc and destination floor Fd indicated by that hall call Xh are recorded in a mutually associated state. Then, when that hall call Xh has completed its role, the information of each hall call Xh is deleted from the hall call management data DxH (deletion of hall call Xh). Details of when a hall call Xh is deleted will be described later.

[0045] Furthermore, in the car call management data DyH (see the right diagram in FIG. 2(D)), each time a car call Yh for a robot H is registered, the robot information Ph for that robot H and the destination floor Fd indicated by that car call Yh are recorded in a mutually associated state. Then, when that car call Yh has completed its role, the information for each car call Yh is deleted from the car call management data DyH (deletion of car call Yh). Details of when a car call Yh is deleted will be described later.

[0046] The control unit 32 is responsible for executing the control processes (including assignment processes, response processes, door-open extension processes, and cancellation processes) performed by the elevator control device 3. Specifically, the control unit 32 is composed of a processing device such as a CPU or an MPU, and executes a control program installed in the elevator control device 3 to realize the execution of its own control processes in software. Note that, before being installed in the elevator control device 3, this control program may be stored in a readable state on a portable storage medium (e.g., a flash memory) or may be stored in a downloadable state on another server, etc. Furthermore, the control processes performed by the elevator control device 3 are not limited to being realized in software by executing a program, but may also be realized in hardware by a processing circuit built into the elevator control device 3.

[0047] <Robot management device> The robot management device 4 is a device that centrally manages the robots H used in the building where the elevator of this embodiment is installed.

[0048] When each robot H needs to move between floors, it transmits the destination floor Fy to the robot management device 4. At this time, the robot H also transmits robot information Ph to the robot management device 4 to identify itself from other robots H, so that the robot management device 4 can recognize which robot H has transmitted the destination floor Fy.

[0049] When the robot management device 4 receives the destination floor Fy and robot information Ph from any of the robots H, it performs control processing to move the robot H between floors. In this embodiment, in order to mitigate the prolongation of the riding time that may occur for a user when the user and the robot H ride together in the elevator car G by minimizing unnecessary movement of the elevator car G, the robot management device 4 performs processing to make this possible in cooperation with the elevator control device 3. Specifically, the robot management device 4 performs allocation request processing (see FIG. 4) and boarding / alighting command processing (see FIG. 11). The details of these processes will be described later.

[0050] Specifically, the robot management device 4 includes a storage unit 41 and a control unit 42 (see FIG. 1).

[0051] The storage unit 41 is a part configured with storage devices such as ROM and RAM, and stores information necessary for the control processing performed by the robot management device 4. In this embodiment, the storage unit 41 stores robot management data Dq and assignment request management data Dr as such information.

[0052] Here, the robot management data Dq is a database for managing, for each robot H, multiple pieces of information related to that robot H by linking them together. The allocation request management data Dr is data for managing information on allocation requests for the robot H.

[0053] 3(A) is a conceptual diagram illustrating the robot management data Dq used in this embodiment. In the robot management data Dq, for each robot H, the robot information Ph and boarding floor Fx of that robot H, and the destination of the robot H when it moves between floors are recorded in a mutually associated state. Here, the boarding floor Fx associated with each robot H is the floor on which that robot H is located, and is updated each time that robot H moves between floors. In addition, the destination associated with each robot H is the destination floor Fy transmitted by that robot H for moving between floors, and the destination floor Fy is erased when that robot H has finished disembarking at that floor.

[0054] As a result, when the robot management device 4 receives robot information Ph from any robot H together with the destination floor Fy, it becomes possible to identify the boarding floor Fx of that robot H from the robot information Ph. In this embodiment, the boarding floor Fx of that robot H is used as the departure floor Fc when that robot H moves between floors using an elevator car G. Furthermore, by referring to the movement destination associated with the robot information Ph of each robot H, if the destination floor Fy is recorded in the movement destination, the robot management device 4 can determine that the robot H is moving between floors and can also determine which floor the movement destination is, and on the other hand, if the destination floor Fy is not recorded in the movement destination, it can determine that the robot H is deployed at the boarding floor Fx.

[0055] 3(B) is a conceptual diagram illustrating the allocation request management data Dr used in this embodiment. In the allocation request management data Dr, each time an allocation request for a robot H is made to the elevator control device 3, the robot information Ph of that robot H and the information transmitted to the elevator control device 3 in the allocation request (in this embodiment, the departure floor Fc and the destination floor Fd) are recorded in a mutually associated state. Then, a set of information for each allocation request is collectively deleted from the allocation request management data Dr when all of the information has completed its role. Details of the timing at which the allocation request information is deleted will be described later.

[0056] The control unit 42 is a part that is responsible for executing the control processes (including allocation request processes and boarding / disembarking command processes) performed by the robot management device 4. Specifically, the control unit 42 is composed of processing devices such as a CPU and an MPU, and executes a control program installed in the robot management device 4 to realize the execution of its own control processes in software. Note that, before being installed in the robot management device 4, this control program may be stored in a readable state on a portable storage medium (for example, a flash memory, etc.), or may be stored in a downloadable state on another server, etc. Furthermore, the control processes performed by the robot management device 4 are not limited to being realized in software by executing a program, but may also be realized in hardware by a processing circuit built into the robot management device 4.

[0057] [1-2] Control process executed by elevator [1-2-1] Allocation request processing performed by the robot management device 4 is a flowchart showing the allocation request process executed in this embodiment. This allocation request process is started each time the robot management device 4 receives a destination floor Fy and robot information Ph from any robot H. Here, the robot H that transmitted this information (the robot H identified by the transmitted robot information Ph) will be referred to as the "target robot Hk." Furthermore, the information received by the robot management device 4 at that time (including the destination floor Fy and robot information Ph) will be collectively referred to as the "received information Pr1."

[0058] Then, the robot management device 4 uses the current elevator information Pe (such as the operating status of the car G and the user's usage status) to determine whether the target robot Hk and the user will ride in the car G together, and if so, whether it is possible to mitigate the prolongation of the riding time that may occur for the user, and then makes a request to the elevator control device 3 to allocate a hall call Xh according to the result of the determination. This will be explained in detail below.

[0059] When the allocation request process starts, the robot management device 4 uses the robot management data Dq (see FIG. 3(A)) to find robot information Ph recorded therein that matches the robot information Ph in the received information Pr1, and then extracts the boarding floor Fx associated with it (step S101). Furthermore, the robot management device 4 records the destination floor Fy in the received information Pr1 as the movement destination in the robot management data Dq, in association with the found robot information Ph. This records in the robot management data Dq that the target robot Hk is moving between floors toward the destination floor Fy. The example in FIG. 3(A) shows a case where a robot H, whose robot information Ph is "H-01," has transmitted the destination floor Fy, "eighth floor," as the movement destination in order to move between floors from the boarding floor Fx, "third floor."

[0060] Next, the robot management device 4 makes the following judgment using the current elevator information Pe (such as the operating status of the car G and the usage status of the user).

[0061] In this embodiment, the robot management device 4 constantly acquires elevator information Pe from the elevator control device 3. Specifically, the robot management device 4 constantly requests the elevator control device 3 to return the elevator information Pe at that time, and receives the elevator information Pe returned from the elevator control device 3 in response to the request. Therefore, based on the acquired elevator information Pe, the robot management device 4 can constantly grasp the current position Qt and movement direction Kg of the car G (including the arrival direction Kgd to the arrival floor Fg when the car G arrives at any floor, and the next departure direction Kgc from the arrival floor Fg), and can also grasp the allocation status of hall calls X to the car G and the registration status of car calls Y at that time.

[0062] Therefore, the robot management device 4 first determines whether or not a hall call Xg has been assigned to a user as the current allocation status of hall call X to car G based on the elevator information Pe (step S102). If the robot management device 4 determines "yes" in step S102, it can determine that there is a user who plans to board car G, and therefore determines that if the target robot Hk is allowed to board the car G at that time, the user may end up riding together with the target robot Hk.

[0063] In this case, the robot management device 4 determines whether all of the following conditions (1) to (3) are satisfied for the boarding floor Fx and destination floor Fy of the target robot Hk (the boarding floor Fx extracted in step S101 and the destination floor Fy in the received information Pr1) and the departure floor Fc and destination direction Kc indicated by the hall call Xg of the user who may be riding with the target robot Hk (step S103).

[0064] Condition (1): The forward direction Ks from the boarding floor Fx of the target robot Hk to the destination floor Fy of the target robot Hk is the same as the destination direction Kc of the user. Condition (2): The boarding floor Fx of the target robot Hk is between the user's departure floor Fc and the destination floor Fy of the target robot Hk. Condition (3): The current position Qt of the car G is on the destination floor Fy side of the target robot Hk relative to the boarding floor Fx of the target robot Hk.

[0065] If conditions (1) and (2) are satisfied and a normal hall call (hall call Xh with the boarding floor Fx and destination floor Fy of the target robot Hk as the departure floor Fc and destination floor Fd, respectively) is assigned as the hall call Xh for the target robot Hk, then after boarding the car G, depending on the relative positions of the user's disembarking floor and the boarding floor Fx of the target robot Hk, a situation may arise in which the user must experience the target robot Hk boarding at an intermediate floor before disembarking. If such a situation occurs, the user will be forced to wait in the car G until the target robot Hk has boarded at an intermediate floor, and the ride time until the user arrives at the destination floor Fd (disembarking floor) will be extended.

[0066] On the other hand, if condition (3) is also satisfied, the elevator G will move further from the state in which condition (3) is satisfied as it travels around the operating area, and will reach the boarding floor Fx of the target robot Hk in the opposite direction Kt to the forward direction Ks before reaching the departure floor Fc of the passengers riding with it.

[0067] Therefore, if the robot management device 4 determines in step S103 that all of the conditions (1) to (3) are "satisfied (Yes)", it makes the following two allocation requests to the elevator control device 3, which are different from the usual requests, as allocation requests for a hall call Xh for the target robot Hk (steps S110A and 110B), in order to mitigate the prolonged riding time that may occur for the user when the user and the target robot Hk ride together in the elevator car G by taking advantage of the opportunity for the elevator car G to reach the boarding floor Fx of the target robot Hk in the opposite direction Kt.

[0068] In the first allocation request, the robot management device 4 requests allocation of a boarding hall call Xh (first hall call) for the target robot Hk (step S110A). Specifically, the robot management device 4 requests allocation of the hall call Xh, in which the boarding floor Fx of the target robot Hk is the departure floor Fc and the destination floor Fd is an end floor Fz (an end floor Fz located opposite the destination floor Fy of the target robot Hk; hereinafter referred to as "end floor Fz1") located in the reverse direction Kt from the forward direction Ks with respect to the boarding floor Fx, by transmitting the information (departure floor Fc and destination floor Fd) together with the robot information Ph of the target robot Hk to the elevator control device 3. Then, the robot management device 4 records the information (robot information Ph, departure floor Fc, destination floor Fd) transmitted to the elevator control device 3 as allocation request information in the allocation request management data Dr in a mutually associated state (see FIG. 3(B)).

[0069] By making such a first allocation request (an allocation request for the first hall call) at this timing, when the car G is moving in the reverse direction Kt at a stage before the target robot Hk arrives in the forward direction Ks at the boarding floor Fx, the target robot Hk can be placed on the car G heading in the reverse direction Kt, thereby making it possible to transport the target robot Hk from the boarding floor Fx to the reverse direction Kt. In other words, when the car G moves in the reverse direction Kt while circulating within the operating area, the target robot Hk can be efficiently placed on the car G heading in the reverse direction Kt. This means that users will not have to experience the target robot Hk getting on while they are traveling in the car G. As a result, it is possible to alleviate the lengthening of users' riding times.

[0070] On the other hand, this allocation request is a request to have the target robot Hk board a car G heading in the opposite direction Kt at the boarding floor Fx. Therefore, at the destination floor Fd (= Fz1) transmitted in this request, there is no need for the target robot Hk to disembark from the car G. For this reason, if the destination floor Fd (= Fz1) is registered as a car call Yh and the car G responds to this car call Yh, there is a risk that the car G will make a useless movement, such as stopping at a floor where no one is getting on or off, and moving to that floor. Therefore, in this embodiment, as will be described in detail later, the registration of such a car call Yh is controlled to be canceled and deleted before the car G responds.

[0071] In the second allocation request, the robot management device 4 requests allocation of a hall call Xh (second hall call) for the target robot Hk to disembark (step S110B). Specifically, the robot management device 4 requests allocation of a hall call Xh having the same floor as the user's departure floor Fc used in the determination in step S103 (the user's departure floor Fc used when it was determined that all of conditions (1) to (3) are "satisfied (Yes)" in step S103) as the departure floor Fc and the target floor Fy of the target robot Hk as the destination floor Fd by transmitting this information (the departure floor Fc and the destination floor Fd) together with the robot information Ph of the target robot Hk to the elevator control device 3. Then, the robot management device 4 records the information (robot information Ph, departure floor Fc, and destination floor Fd) transmitted to the elevator control device 3 as allocation request information in the allocation request management data Dr in a mutually associated state (see FIG. 3(B)). Thereafter, the robot management device 4 ends the allocation request process.

[0072] By making such a second allocation request (allocation request for the second hall call), the target robot Hk can be allowed to board a car G heading in the opposite direction Kt at the boarding floor Fx, and then the car G can be moved to the target floor Fy (disembarking floor) of the target robot Hk in response to the second hall call.

[0073] On the other hand, this allocation request is a request to have the target robot Hk, who is on a car G heading in the reverse direction Kt, disembark at the destination floor Fy when the car G reverses its moving direction Kg and heads in the forward direction Ks. Therefore, at the departure floor Fc transmitted in this request, the target robot Hk is already on the car G, and the target robot Hk does not need to board (get on) the car G. For this reason, if the departure floor Fc is a floor where no users board or disembark, the car G will end up making an unnecessary stop at that floor. Therefore, the departure floor Fc transmitted in the second allocation request is the same floor as the floor where the user is confirmed to board (get on) the car G (in this embodiment, the departure floor Fc of the user used in the determination in step S103) so that the car G does not stop at that floor in vain. This prevents the car G from stopping at the departure floor Fc (a floor where the target robot Hk does not need to board) as a pointless stop without passengers getting on or off.

[0074] In this embodiment, the robot management device 4 performs steps S110A and S110B simultaneously (including the case where step S110B is performed almost immediately after step S110A at almost the same timing), thereby simultaneously making two allocation requests for the first and second hall calls to the elevator control device 3.

[0075] By making two allocation requests for the first and second hall calls simultaneously in this way, the elevator control device 3, which performs allocation processing (see FIG. 5) in response to these requests, is more likely to allocate the first and second hall calls so that these hall calls can be responded to in order while the car G makes one circuit of the operating area. Note that, if such allocation can be performed reliably, step S110B may be executed with a delay from step S110A (for example, after the response to the first hall call has started).

[0076] Regarding the above-mentioned conditions (1) to (3), if at least one of the conditions (1) and (2) is not satisfied, even if a normal hall call is assigned as the hall call Xh for the target robot Hk, the target robot Hk will not board the car G after the user boards the car G at the user's departure floor Fc until the user moves in the destination direction Kc and disembarks, and the user will not have to experience the target robot Hk boarding at an intermediate floor.

[0077] Furthermore, if a hall call Xg has not been made for a user at the time of the judgment in step S102, it means that there are no users who may be riding with the target robot Hk at that time. In this case, a normal hall call can be assigned as a hall call Xh for the target robot Hk without affecting the users in any way.

[0078] On the other hand, if condition (3) is not satisfied, the car G will reach the user's departure floor Fc in the forward direction Ks while traveling around the operating area before reaching the boarding floor Fx of the target robot Hk in the reverse direction Kt. In such a case, taking into consideration the transport efficiency of the elevator, it may be preferable to assign a normal hall call to the target robot Hk, even if the user ends up experiencing the boarding (boarding) of the target robot Hk at an intermediate floor.

[0079] Therefore, if the robot management device 4 determines in step S103 that at least one of the conditions is "not satisfied (No)," or if the robot management device 4 determines in step S102 that "not performed (No)," it sends a normal allocation request to the elevator control device 3 as an allocation request for a hall call Xh for the target robot Hk (step S120). Specifically, the robot management device 4 makes the allocation request for the hall call Xh, where the boarding floor Fx and destination floor Fy of the target robot Hk are the departure floor Fc and destination floor Fd, respectively, by transmitting the information (departure floor Fc and destination floor Fd) together with the robot information Ph of the target robot Hk to the elevator control device 3. Then, the robot management device 4 records the information (robot information Ph, departure floor Fc, destination floor Fd) transmitted to the elevator control device 3 as allocation request information in the allocation request management data Dr in a mutually associated state (see FIG. 3(B)). Thereafter, the robot management device 4 terminates the allocation request process.

[0080] [1-2-2] Allocation process performed by elevator control device Fig. 5 is a flowchart showing the allocation process executed in this embodiment. This allocation process is started when a request for allocation of a hall call X is made to the elevator control device 3 from a user (first operation unit 1) or the robot management device 4. In this embodiment, even if requests for allocation of the first and second hall calls for robot H (steps S110A and S110B in Fig. 4) are made simultaneously, the allocation process in Fig. 5 is executed for each of them individually.

[0081] Hereinafter, the information received by the elevator control device 3 for each allocation request will be collectively referred to as "received information Pr2." Specifically, if the allocation request is a request from a user (first operation unit 1) (a request to allocate a hall call Xg for the user), this received information Pr2 will be a set of information including the destination direction Kc and device information Pd1, and if the allocation request is a request from the robot management device 4 (a request to allocate a hall call Xh for the robot H), the received information Pr2 will be a set of information including the departure floor Fc, the destination floor Fd, and the robot information Ph.

[0082] When the allocation process begins, the elevator control device 3 determines whether the received allocation request is from a user (first operating unit 1) or a robot management device 4, by determining whether the device information Pd1 or the robot information Ph is included in the received information Pr2 (step S200).

[0083] If the elevator control device 3 determines in step S200 that the device information Pd1 is included, it can determine that the received allocation request is a request from the user (first operation unit 1). In this case, the elevator control device 3 first uses the device management data Dp1 to find the device information Pd1 recorded therein that matches the device information Pd1 in the received information Pr2, extracts the corresponding installation floor Fs, and sets the installation floor Fs as the user's departure floor Fc. Then, the elevator control device 3 combines the departure floor Fc and the destination direction Kc in the received information Pr2 into one hall call Xg and allocates the hall call Xg to the car G (step S201). Then, the elevator control device 3 reflects the information of the hall call Xg (departure floor Fc and destination direction Kc) in the hall call management data DxG (see the left diagram in Figure 2(C)). After that, the elevator control device 3 terminates the allocation process.

[0084] On the other hand, if the elevator control device 3 determines in step S200 that the "robot information Ph" is included, it can determine that the received allocation request is a request from the robot management device 4. In this case, the elevator control device 3 treats the departure floor Fc and destination floor Fd in the received information Pr2 as one hall call Xh and allocates the hall call Xh to the car G (step S202). Then, the elevator control device 3 records the information of the hall call Xh (the departure floor Fc and the destination floor Fd) in the hall call management data DxH in association with the robot information Ph in the received information Pr2 (see the left diagram in FIG. 2(D)). After that, the elevator control device 3 ends the allocation process.

[0085] [1-2-3] Response processing by elevator control device 6 is a flowchart showing the response process executed in this embodiment. This response process is started when the next stop floor of the car G is determined. The targets of the response in this process include, among the hall calls X and car calls Y that have been assigned and registered to the car G, hall calls X whose departure floor Fc matches the next stop floor and car calls Y whose destination floor Fd matches the next stop floor. In addition, the hall calls X and car calls Y that can be the targets of the response are not limited to the hall calls X and car calls Y of the user and robot H who are the targets of the judgment when it is judged that all of the conditions (1) to (3) are "satisfied (Yes)" in step S103 of the above-mentioned assignment request process (see FIG. 4), but also include hall calls X and car calls Y of other users and robots H.

[0086] When the response process is started, the elevator control device 3 determines what kind of calls are included in the response targets in the process (step S30X). Specifically, the elevator control device 3 determines whether the response targets include only hall calls X (either or both of a hall call Xg of a user and a hall call Xh of the robot H), only car calls Y (either or both of a car call Yg of a user and a car call Yh of the robot H), or both hall calls X and car calls Y.

[0087] Then, the elevator control device 3 executes a first response process if it determines in step S30X that there is "only hall call X," executes a second response process if it determines in step S30X that there is "only car call Y," and executes a third response process if it determines in step S30X that there is "both hall call X and car call Y." These processes will be specifically described below.

[0088] <First response process> 7 is a flowchart showing the first response process executed in this embodiment. In this first response process, the elevator control device 3 first determines whether the response targets include the hall call Xh of the robot H (step S300).

[0089] If the elevator control device 3 determines "not included (No)" in step S300, it can determine that the response target includes only the user's hall call Xg. In this case, the elevator control device 3 transmits a command to the car G to stop the car G at the departure floor Fc indicated by the hall call Xg (the user's departure floor Fc) in the same direction as the destination direction Kc indicated by the hall call Xg (step S301).

[0090] After step S301, the elevator control device 3 determines whether the car G has arrived at the departure floor Fc indicated by the hall call Xg (step S302). The elevator control device 3 also repeatedly executes step S302 until it can determine "arrived (Yes)" in step S302. If the elevator control device 3 determines "arrived (Yes)" in step S302, it can determine that the hall call Xg has completed its purpose, and therefore deletes the hall call Xg (step S303).

[0091] When the car G arrives at the departure floor Fc indicated by the hall call Xg, the user gets into the car G and then operates the second operation unit 2 in the car G (by pressing any of the destination buttons) to specify their destination floor Fd (registration request from the user). At this time, if the user's destination floor Fd has already been specified (if the destination button for specifying that floor has already been pressed), the user only gets into the car G.

[0092] Therefore, after step S303, the elevator control device 3 determines whether or not a new destination floor Fd has been specified by the second operating unit 2 in the car G (step S304).

[0093] If the elevator control device 3 determines "specified (Yes)" in step S304, it registers the specified destination floor Fd in the car G as a car call Yg for the user (step S305). Then, the elevator control device 3 reflects the information of the car call Yg (destination floor Fd) in the car call management data DyG (see the right diagram in Figure 2(C)). This enables the elevator control device 3 to stop the car G at the destination floor Fd specified by the user. Then, the elevator control device 3 ends the first response processing.

[0094] On the other hand, if the elevator control device 3 determines that "no designation has been made (No)" in step S304, it ends the first response process without performing step S305.

[0095] If the elevator control device 3 determines in step S300 that the hall call Xh of robot H is "included (Yes)" in the response targets, it executes a response to the hall call Xh (here, the robot H that is the target in this process will be referred to as the "target robot Hk"), and if the response targets also include a hall call Xg of a user, it also processes the hall call Xg of that user. Specifically, it is as follows.

[0096] The elevator control device 3 sends a command to the elevator G to stop the elevator G at the departure floor Fc (the departure floor Fc of the target robot Hk) indicated by the hall call Xh of the target robot Hk in the direction toward the destination floor Fd indicated by the hall call Xh (step S401).

[0097] After step S401, the elevator control device 3 determines whether the car G has arrived at the departure floor Fc indicated by the hall call Xh (step S402). Furthermore, the elevator control device 3 repeatedly executes step S402 until it can determine "arrived (Yes)" in step S402.

[0098] If the elevator control device 3 determines in step S402 that the target robot Hk has arrived (Yes), it registers the destination floor Fd indicated by the hall call Xh of the target robot Hk as a car call Yh in the car G (step S403). The elevator control device 3 then records the information on the car call Yh (destination floor Fd) in the car call management data DyH in association with the robot information Ph of the target robot Hk (see the right diagram in FIG. 2(D)). Furthermore, with the registration of the car call Yh in the car G, the hall call Xh has completed its role, and so the elevator control device 3 deletes the hall call Xh.

[0099] After step S403, the elevator control device 3 executes a process related to the boarding of the target robot Hk (first door open extension process; see FIG. 13) and a process for canceling the registration of the car call Yh for the target robot Hk as necessary (cancellation process; see FIG. 14). Details of these processes will be described later.

[0100] After executing the cancellation process, the elevator control device 3 determines whether the hall call Xg of the user is further included in the response targets (step S404). If the elevator control device 3 determines "included (Yes)" in step S404, it executes the processes of steps S303 to S305 (deleting the hall call Xg to registering the car call Yg) as the process for the hall call Xg. Thereafter, the elevator control device 3 ends the first response process. On the other hand, if the elevator control device 3 determines "not included (No)" in step S404, it ends the first response process without executing the processes of steps S303 to S305.

[0101] <Second response process> 8 is a flowchart showing the second response process executed in this embodiment. In this second response process, the elevator control device 3 first determines whether or not the response targets include the car call Yh of the robot H (step S310).

[0102] If the elevator control device 3 determines "not included (No)" in step S310, it can determine that only the user's car call Yg is included in the response targets. In this case, the elevator control device 3 transmits a command to the car G to stop the car G at the destination floor Fd indicated by the car call Yg (the user's destination floor Fd) (step S311).

[0103] After step S311, the elevator control device 3 determines whether the car G has arrived at the destination floor Fd indicated by the car call Yg (step S312). The elevator control device 3 also repeatedly executes step S312 until it can determine "arrived (Yes)" in step S312. If the elevator control device 3 determines "arrived (Yes)" in step S312, it can determine that the car call Yg has completed its role upon arrival, and therefore deletes the car call Yg (step S313). The elevator control device 3 then terminates the second response processing.

[0104] If the elevator control device 3 determines in step S310 that the car call Yh of the robot H is "included (Yes)" in the response targets, it responds to the car call Yh (here, the robot H that is the target in this process will be referred to as the "target robot Hk"), and if the response targets also include a car call Yg of a user, it also processes the car call Yg of that user. Specifically, it is as follows.

[0105] The elevator control device 3 transmits a command to the car G to stop the car G at the destination floor Fd indicated by the car call Yh of the target robot Hk (the destination floor Fd of the target robot Hk) (step S411).

[0106] After step S411, the elevator control device 3 determines whether the car G has arrived at the destination floor Fd indicated by the car call Yh (step S412). The elevator control device 3 also repeatedly executes step S412 until it can determine "arrived (Yes)" in step S412. If it determines "arrived (Yes)" in step S412, the elevator control device 3 executes processing related to the disembarking of the target robot Hk (second door open extension processing; see FIG. 16). The second door open extension processing will be described in detail later.

[0107] If the elevator control device 3 determines that it has received the disembarkation completion signal Sy during the second door opening extension processing (Figure 16), it can determine that the car call Yh of the target robot Hk has completed its role, so it returns to the processing of Figure 8 and deletes the car call Yh (step S413).

[0108] Thereafter, the elevator control device 3 determines whether or not the user's car call Yg is further included in the response targets (step S414). If the elevator control device 3 determines "included (Yes)" in step S414, it executes the processing of step S313 (deleting car call Yg) as the processing for that car call Yg. Thereafter, the elevator control device 3 ends the second response processing. On the other hand, if the elevator control device 3 determines "not included (No)" in step S414, it ends the second response processing without executing the processing of step S313.

[0109] <Third response process> 9 and 10 are flowcharts showing the third response process executed in this embodiment. In this third response process, the elevator control device 3 first determines whether the response targets include the hall call Xh of the robot H (step S320).

[0110] If the elevator control device 3 determines "not included (No)" in step S320, it can determine that the hall calls Xg of the user are included in the response targets as the hall calls X. In this case, the elevator control device 3 executes the same processes as steps S301 to S305 described in the first response process (steps S321 to S325).

[0111] On the other hand, if the elevator control device 3 determines that the information is included (Yes) in step S320, it proceeds to process Z in Figure 10 and executes the same processes as steps S401 to S403 described in the first response process (steps S421 to S423).

[0112] In this case, if the arrival floor Fg of the car G (here, the departure floor Fc indicated by the hall call Xh of the robot H to be responded to) is the boarding floor Fx of the robot H (here, this robot H will be referred to as the "target robot Hk"), and another robot H (hereinafter referred to as the "other robot Hm") is riding in the car G, and the arrival floor Fg also corresponds to the destination floor Fy of the other robot Hm, it is necessary to have the two robots H (the target robot Hk of the hall and the other robot Hm in the car G) board and disembark at the same arrival floor Fg. In this embodiment, in order to enable smooth boarding and disembarking of the two robots H even in such a case, the robots H are controlled so that the other robot Hm in the car G disembarks first, and then the target robot Hk of the hall boards (see the boarding and disembarking command processing (FIG. 11) described below).

[0113] Therefore, the elevator control device 3 first determines whether or not the response targets in this third response process further include a car call Yh of another robot Hm (step S424).

[0114] If the elevator control device 3 determines "included (Yes)" in step S424, it executes the second door open extension process (see FIG. 16) as the process for disembarking the other robot Hm. Then, if the elevator control device 3 determines that it has received the disembarkation completion signal Sy during the second door open extension process (FIG. 16), it can determine that the car call Yh of the other robot Hm has completed its role based on that determination, and therefore returns to the process of FIG. 10 and deletes the car call Yh (step S430).

[0115] After step S430, or if the elevator control device 3 determines that the target robot Hk is not included (No) in step S424, the elevator control device 3 then executes the first door opening extension process (see Figure 13) and the cancellation process (see Figure 14) as processing for the target robot Hk.

[0116] After executing the cancellation process, the elevator control device 3 determines whether the hall call Xg of the user is further included in the response targets (step S441 in FIG. 9). If the elevator control device 3 determines "included (Yes)" in step S441, it executes steps S323 to S325 (deleting the hall call Xg to registering the car call Yg) as the process for the hall call Xg. Thereafter, the elevator control device 3 proceeds to step S442. On the other hand, if the elevator control device 3 determines "not included (No)" in step S441, it proceeds to step S442 without executing the processes of steps S323 to S325.

[0117] In step S442, the elevator control device 3 determines whether or not a user's car call Yg is further included in the response targets. If the user's car call Yg is included in the response targets, the arrival of the car G will mark the end of the car call Yg's role. If the elevator control device 3 determines "included (Yes)" in step S442, it deletes the car call Yg that has completed its role (step S443). Thereafter, the elevator control device 3 ends the third response process. On the other hand, if the elevator control device 3 determines "not included (No)" in step S442, it ends the third response process without performing the process of step S443.

[0118] [1-2-4] Boarding and disembarking command processing performed by the robot management device (part 1) FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the boarding / alighting command process executed in this embodiment.

[0119] As described above, the robot management device 4 constantly acquires the elevator information Pe from the elevator control device 3. Therefore, when the car G arrives at any floor, the robot management device 4 can grasp this fact and can identify the floor number of the arrival floor Fg at that time, the arrival direction Kgd to the arrival floor Fg, and the next departure direction Kgc from the arrival floor Fg.

[0120] Then, when the robot management device 4 determines that the elevator G has arrived at a certain floor, it starts the boarding / disembarking command processing of Figure 11 to allow the robot H to board or disembark at the arrival floor Fg as necessary.

[0121] When the boarding / alighting command processing begins, the robot management device 4 first determines whether the arrival floor Fg of the elevator car G matches any of the destination floors Fd recorded in the allocation request management data Dr (see Figure 3(B)) (in other words, the destination floors Fd sent in the allocation request) in order to determine whether the stopping of the elevator car G at the arrival floor Fg is likely to be a stop in response to an elevator call Yh for the robot H (step S501).

[0122] If the robot management device 4 determines "match (Yes)" in step S501, it can determine that there is a possibility that the stopping of the car G at the arrival floor Fg corresponds to a stop in response to the car call Yh for the robot H. However, because this determination does not take into account the arrival direction Kgd at the arrival floor Fg, it cannot be determined from this determination alone that the stopping of the car G at the arrival floor Fg is a stop in response to the car call Yh for the robot H.

[0123] Therefore, the robot management device 4 executes a dismount command process (see FIG. 15) to further determine what kind of stop the car G will make at the arrival floor Fg, and performs processing necessary for the inter-floor movement of the robot H depending on the determination result. The dismount command process will be described in detail later. After that, the robot management device 4 returns to the process of FIG. 11 and proceeds to the next step S502.

[0124] If the robot management device 4 determines "no match" in step S501, it can determine that the stopping of car G at arrival floor Fg does not correspond to a stop in response to car call Yh for robot H. In this case, the robot management device 4 proceeds to step S502 without executing the disembarkation command processing (FIG. 15).

[0125] In step S502, the robot management device 4 determines whether the arrival floor Fg of the elevator G matches any of the departure floors Fc recorded in the allocation request management data Dr (see Figure 3(B)) (in other words, the departure floors Fc sent in the allocation request) in order to determine whether the stopping of the elevator G at the arrival floor Fg may be a stop in response to a hall call Xh for the robot H (step S502).

[0126] If the robot management device 4 determines "match (Yes)" in step S502, it can determine that there is a possibility that the stopping of the car G at the arrival floor Fg corresponds to a stop in response to the hall call Xh for the robot H. However, because this determination does not take into account the next departure direction Kgc from the arrival floor Fg, it cannot be determined from this determination alone that the stopping of the car G at the arrival floor Fg is a stop in response to the hall call Xg for the robot H.

[0127] Therefore, the robot management device 4 executes a boarding command process (see FIG. 12) to further make a determination to identify the type of stop of the car G at the arrival floor Fg, and performs processing necessary for the inter-floor movement of the robot H according to the determination result. The details of the boarding command process will be described later. Thereafter, the robot management device 4 returns to the process of FIG. 11 and ends the boarding / alighting command process.

[0128] If the robot management device 4 determines "no match" in step S502, it can determine that the stopping of the car G at the arrival floor Fg does not correspond to a stop in response to the hall call Xh for the robot H. In this case, the robot management device 4 ends the boarding / alighting command processing without executing the boarding command processing (FIG. 12).

[0129] In this way, by making it possible to execute the disembarking command process (see FIG. 15) before the boarding command process (see FIG. 12), when it becomes necessary to have two robots H board and disembark at the same stopping floor, it becomes possible to have the robot H in the car G disembark first, and then have the robot H at the landing board. Therefore, it becomes possible for the two robots H to board and disembark smoothly.

[0130] <Boarding command processing (including cancellation command processing)> FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the boarding command process executed in this embodiment. In this embodiment, in order to minimize unnecessary movement of the car G, this boarding command process includes a process (cancellation command process) that selectively commands the elevator control device 3 to cancel or maintain the registration of the car call Yh, as a process that enables this. A specific description will be given below. Here, among the assignment requests whose information is recorded in the assignment request management data Dr, an assignment request corresponding to the departure floor Fc that is determined to be "matched (Yes)" in step S502 of FIG. 11 will be referred to as a "first target request." Furthermore, a hall call Xh that is assigned by the elevator control device 3 in response to this first target request will be referred to as a "target call."

[0131] In the boarding command processing, the robot management device 4 first uses the information of the first target request (robot information Ph, departure floor Fc, and destination floor Fd) recorded in the allocation request management data Dr to identify the direction from the departure floor Fc to the destination floor Fd as the transport direction Kh for the robot H identified by the robot information Ph (here, this robot H will be referred to as the "target robot Hk") (step S601).

[0132] Next, the robot management device 4 determines whether the next departure direction Kgc of the elevator G from the arrival floor Fg matches the conveying direction Kh identified in step S601 (step S602) to determine whether the stopping of the elevator G at the arrival floor Fg is in response to a target call for the target robot Hk.

[0133] If the robot management device 4 determines that there is a match (Yes) in step S602, it can determine that the elevator G has stopped at the arrival floor Fg (here, the departure floor Fc of the target robot Hk) in the conveying direction Kh for the target robot Hk, and therefore it can be determined that the stopping of the elevator G at the arrival floor Fg is a stop in response to the target call for the target robot Hk.

[0134] On the other hand, if the robot management device 4 determines "no match" in step S602, it can determine that the stopping of the car G at the arrival floor Fg is not a stop in response to the target call for the target robot Hk. In this case, since there is no need to further process the target robot Hk related to boarding at the arrival floor Fg, the robot management device 4 ends the boarding command processing.

[0135] In this way, by the robot management device 4 making the two judgments of steps S502 and S602, the robot management device 4 itself can determine, without notification from the elevator control device 3, whether the stopping of the elevator car G at the arrival floor Fg is in response to a target call for the robot H (in this embodiment, either a normal hall call, a first hall call, or a second hall call).

[0136] On the other hand, in this embodiment, even if it can be determined that the car G has stopped at the arrival floor Fg in response to the target call, it does not necessarily mean that the target robot Hk needs to board at the arrival floor Fg. Specifically, this is as follows.

[0137] First, the case where the target robot Hk needs to board at the arrival floor Fg of the car G is when the target call is one that has been assigned to the car G in response to a normal assignment request (step S120 in FIG. 4) (normal hall call) or one that has been assigned to the car G in response to the first assignment request (step S110A in FIG. 4) from the robot management device 4 (first hall call). In these cases, the departure floor Fc indicated by the target call is the boarding floor Fx of the target robot Hk, and when the car G arrives at the arrival floor Fg, the target robot Hk has not yet boarded the car G and is waiting at the boarding floor Fx for a boarding command from the robot management device 4.

[0138] On the other hand, a case where it is not necessary to have the target robot Hk board at the arrival floor Fg of the car G is when the target call is one (second hall call) that has been assigned to the car G in response to the second assignment request from the robot management device 4 (step S110B in FIG. 4). In this case, the elevator control device 3 is in a state where, after completing the response process for the first hall call (in other words, after the target robot Hk boards the car G), it is further executing the response process for the second hall call. Therefore, when the car G arrives at the arrival floor Fg, the target robot Hk has already boarded the car G, and there is no need for the target robot Hk to board the car G from the hall.

[0139] Therefore, the robot management device 4 determines whether the departure floor Fc transmitted in the first focus request matches the boarding floor Fx of the target robot Hk (step S603), in order to determine whether the target robot Hk should board (get on) the car G. Specifically, the robot management device 4 uses the robot information Ph and departure floor Fc transmitted in the first focus request to determine whether the departure floor Fc matches the boarding floor Fx recorded in the robot management data Dq (see FIG. 3(A)) in association with the robot information Ph.

[0140] If the robot management device 4 determines "match (Yes)" in step S603, it can determine that the car G has arrived at the boarding floor Fx of the target robot Hk in response to a normal hall call or a first hall call with the boarding floor Fx of the target robot Hk as the departure floor Fc. In this case, the robot management device 4 can determine that the target robot Hk should board (get into) the arriving car G.

[0141] Therefore, the robot management device 4 transmits a door open extension signal Sz to the elevator control device 3 to request a door open extension necessary for the target robot Hk to board (step S611). At this time, the robot management device 4 includes the robot information Ph of the target robot Hk as additional information in the door open extension signal Sz so that the elevator control device 3 can recognize which robot H is the target robot Hk that requires a door open extension.

[0142] As a result, when the elevator control device 3 is performing response processing (see FIGS. 7 and 10) with the target call (here, a normal hall call or a first hall call) for the target robot Hk as the response target, and is performing the first door open extension processing (see FIG. 13), the elevator control device 3 will receive the door open extension signal Sz from the robot management device 4. In this way, the elevator control device 3 can be made to perform the door open extension necessary for the target robot Hk to board the car G, and can also be made to recognize that the boarding completion signal Sx will be transmitted from the robot management device 4 when the boarding of the target robot Hk is complete.

[0143] After step S611, the robot management device 4 commands the target robot Hk to get into the car G (step S612). As a result, the target robot Hk starts getting into the car G in response to the command from the robot management device 4, and when the getting on is completed, notifies the robot management device 4 of the completion of the getting on.

[0144] After step S612, the robot management device 4 determines whether or not the target robot Hk has completed boarding into the car G by determining whether or not it has received a boarding completion notification from the target robot Hk (step S613). The robot management device 4 also repeatedly executes step S613 until it can determine "Completed (Yes)" in step S613. If the robot management device 4 determines "Completed (Yes)" in step S613, it transmits a boarding completion signal Sx to the elevator control device 3 after performing the following processing to notify that the target robot Hk has completed boarding.

[0145] As described above, the target call to be responded to by the elevator control device 3 at this time is a normal hall call or a first hall call for the target robot Hk. Here, if the target to be responded to is a normal hall call, the destination floor Fd indicated by it is the target floor Fy of the target robot Hk, and the car G must be stopped at that floor to allow the target robot Hk to disembark. On the other hand, if the target to be responded to is a first hall call, the destination floor Fd indicated by it is an end floor Fz1 different from the target floor Fy of the target robot Hk, and there is no need to allow the target robot Hk to disembark at that floor, and therefore there is no need to move the car G to the end floor Fz1 for the target robot Hk.

[0146] Therefore, the robot management device 4 determines whether the first target request is an allocation request for a normal hall call or a first hall call, in order to determine whether it is necessary to stop the car G at the destination floor Fd indicated by the target call. Specifically, the robot management device 4 determines whether the destination floor Fd transmitted when the first target request was made matches the destination floor Fy of the target robot Hk (step S620). More specifically, the robot management device 4 uses the robot information Ph and destination floor Fd transmitted in the first target request to determine whether the destination floor Fd matches the destination floor Fy recorded in the robot management data Dq (see FIG. 3(A)) in association with the robot information Ph.

[0147] If the robot management device 4 determines "no match" in step S620, it can determine that the first target request was an allocation request for the first hall call, and therefore that there is no need to stop the car G at the destination floor Fd indicated by the target call. In this case, the robot management device 4 causes the elevator control device 3 to cancel the registration of the car call Yh corresponding to the target call beforehand, so that the car G does not respond to the car call Yh corresponding to the target call (step S621A).

[0148] Specifically, the boarding completion signal Sx is configured to be able to have, as additional information, cancellation command information Pf for issuing a command to the elevator control device 3 regarding the handling of the registered car call Yh (cancelling or maintaining the registration of that car call Yh), and robot information Ph (robot information Ph of the target robot Hk) for allowing the elevator control device 3 to recognize which robot H the command is for. Here, the cancellation command information Pf is flag information for making it possible to selectively transmit two commands, canceling or maintaining the registration of the car call Yh, to the elevator control device 3. In this embodiment, the cancellation command information Pf is set to "1" when the registration of the car call Yh is to be canceled, and is set to "0" when the registration of the car call Yh is to be maintained.

[0149] Such a boarding completion signal Sx can be used to notify the elevator control device 3 that the target robot Hk has completed boarding, thereby giving the elevator control device 3 instructions regarding how to handle the registered car call Yh for the target robot Hk.

[0150] Then, in step S621A, the robot management device 4 sets the cancellation command information Pf to "1" to issue a command to the elevator control device 3 to cancel the registration of the car call Yh, and then includes this information in the boarding completion signal Sx, and transmits the boarding completion signal Sx (Pf = 1) to the elevator control device 3. In this case, all information of the first focus request (robot information Ph, departure floor Fc, destination floor Fd) has completed its role (in other words, this information will no longer be used in the disembarkation command processing (FIG. 15)), so the robot management device 4 deletes the information of the first focus request from the allocation request management data Dr. Thereafter, the robot management device 4 terminates the boarding command processing.

[0151] On the other hand, if the robot management device 4 determines "match (Yes)" in step S620, it can determine that the first target request was an allocation request for a normal hall call, and therefore that it is necessary to stop the car G at the destination floor Fd indicated by the target call. In this case, the robot management device 4 causes the elevator control device 3 to maintain the registration of the car call Yh corresponding to the target call without canceling it, so that the car G can respond to the car call Yh corresponding to the target call (step S621B).

[0152] Specifically, in order to issue a command to maintain the registration of the car call Yh to the elevator control device 3, the robot management device 4 sets the cancellation command information Pf to "0," includes that information in the boarding completion signal Sx, and then transmits the boarding completion signal Sx (Pf=0) to the elevator control device 3. Thereafter, the robot management device 4 ends the boarding command processing.

[0153] If the robot management device 4 determines "no match" in step S603, it can determine that the car G has arrived at a different floor Fc (the boarding floor Fx of the user in this embodiment) in response to a second hall call specifying a departure floor Fc different from the boarding floor Fx of the target robot Hk. In this case, the car G will arrive at the departure floor Fc indicated by the second hall call with the target robot Hk already aboard, and the robot management device 4 can determine that there is no need for the target robot Hk to board (get on) the car G. On the other hand, because the destination floor Fd indicated by the second hall call is the destination floor Fy of the target robot Hk, the robot management device 4 can determine that the target robot Hk needs to disembark at the destination floor Fd and therefore needs to stop the car G at that floor.

[0154] In this case, the robot management device 4 sends a boarding completion signal Sx as a dummy signal to the elevator control device 3 without sending a door-open extension signal Sz to the elevator control device 3 or issuing a command to the target robot Hk to board the car G (step S621C). At this time, the robot management device 4 sets the cancellation command information Pf to "0" and includes this information in the boarding completion signal Sx in order to issue a command to the elevator control device 3 to maintain the registration of the car call Yh. Thereafter, the robot management device 4 ends the boarding command processing.

[0155] As a result, when the elevator control device 3 is performing response processing (see FIGS. 7 and 10) with the target call (here, the second hall call) for the target robot Hk as the response target, and is performing the first door open extension processing (see FIG. 13), it will receive the boarding completion signal Sx (Pf=0) without receiving the door open extension signal Sz from the robot management device 4. This processing allows the elevator control device 3 to proceed without stagnation while the target robot Hk remains in the car G, and thereafter it becomes possible to move the car G to the destination floor Fy of the target robot Hk.

[0156] [1-2-5] Door opening extension process performed by elevator control device (part 1) <First door open extension process> FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the first door open extension process executed in this embodiment.

[0157] In this embodiment, when the elevator control device 3 is performing the first door opening extension process within the response process (see Figures 7 and 10), the robot management device 4 sends the necessary signals (door opening extension signal Sz and boarding completion signal Sx) to the elevator control device 3 depending on the situation at that time (steps S611, S621A to S621C in Figure 12), and the elevator control device 3 receives these signals from the robot management device 4.

[0158] Therefore, when the elevator control device 3 starts the first door opening extension process, it first determines whether or not it has received a door opening extension signal Sz for the robot H that is the target of the process (here, this robot H will be referred to as the ``target robot Hk'') from the robot management device 4 (step S710).

[0159] If the elevator control device 3 determines that the signal has been received (Yes) in step S710, it can determine that the target robot Hk will board, and can further recognize that a boarding completion signal Sx will be sent from the robot management device 4 when the boarding is complete.

[0160] In this case, the elevator control device 3 starts extending the door opening time of the car G (step S711), and then determines whether or not a boarding completion signal Sx has been received from the robot management device 4 (step S712A). The elevator control device 3 also repeatedly executes step S712A until it can determine "received (Yes)" in step S712A. If the elevator control device 3 can determine "received (Yes)" in step S712A, it can determine that the boarding of the target robot Hk has been completed, and therefore ends the first door opening extension process and proceeds to cancellation process (see FIG. 14).

[0161] On the other hand, the robot management device 4 may transmit the boarding completion signal Sx as a dummy signal without instructing the target robot Hk to board the car G (step S621C in FIG. 12). In that case, the elevator control device 3 receives the boarding completion signal Sx from the robot management device 4 without receiving the door-opening extension signal Sz.

[0162] Therefore, in order to determine whether or not the boarding completion signal Sx has been received as a dummy signal from the robot management device 4, the elevator control device 3 determines whether or not the boarding completion signal Sx has been received from the robot management device 4 (step S712B) even if it determines "not received (No)" in step S710. Furthermore, the elevator control device 3 repeatedly executes steps S710 and S712B until it obtains either the determination that the door-open extension signal Sz has been "received (Yes)" in step S710 or the determination that the boarding completion signal Sx has been "received (Yes)" in step S712B.

[0163] If the elevator control device 3 determines "received (Yes)" in step S712B, it determines that the received boarding completion signal Sx is a dummy signal. In this case, the elevator control device 3 also ends the first door opening extension process and proceeds to the cancellation process (see FIG. 14).

[0164] When the target robot Hk boards the car G, some kind of trouble (such as a power system failure or insufficient battery power) may occur, and the target robot Hk may not be able to complete boarding the car G. Therefore, if the elevator control device 3 is unable to receive the boarding completion signal Sx (is unable to determine "received (Yes)" in step S712A or S712B) after a predetermined time has elapsed, it may delete the hall call Xh for the target robot Hk and proceed to step S404 in the processing of Figure 7, or to S441 in the processing of Figure 9.

[0165] [1-2-6] Cancellation process performed by elevator control device Fig. 14 is a flowchart showing the cancellation process executed in this embodiment. In the cancellation process, the elevator control device 3 determines whether a command to cancel or maintain has been received from the robot control device 4 regarding the registration of the car call Yh for the target robot Hk (here, the robot H identified by the robot information Ph, which is the additional information of the boarding completion signal Sx) by referring to the additional information (robot information Ph and cancellation command information Pf) of the boarding completion signal Sx received from the robot control device 4 during the first door opening extension process (Fig. 13). Specifically, the elevator control device 3 determines whether the value of the cancellation command information Pf, which is the additional information of the boarding completion signal Sx, is "1" or "0" (step S801).

[0166] If the elevator control device 3 determines in step S801 that the value of the cancel command information Pf is "1" (a "cancel" command has been received), it cancels the registration of the car call Yh for the target robot Hk performed in the immediately preceding step S403 (FIG. 7) or S423 (FIG. 10) (step S802A). Specifically, the elevator control device 3 deletes the information for that car call Yh from the car call management data DyH (deletes the car call Yh). Thereafter, the elevator control device 3 terminates the cancellation process.

[0167] On the other hand, if the elevator control device 3 determines in step S801 that the value of the cancellation command information Pf is "0" (a "maintain" command has been received), it maintains the registration of the car call Yh for the target robot Hk performed in the immediately preceding step S403 (FIG. 7) or S423 (FIG. 10) without canceling it (step S802B). Specifically, the elevator control device 3 ends the cancellation process without performing any processing on the registration of the car call Yh.

[0168] According to the above step S802A, the car call Yh corresponding to the first hall call is deleted, so after the target robot Hk is allowed to board the car G that arrived in the opposite direction Kt in response to the first hall call, the car G is not required to make unnecessary movements that may occur due to the response to the car call Yh (such as stopping at a floor where no one gets on or off, and moving to that floor). Therefore, when a user and robot H ride in the car G together, it is possible to mitigate the lengthening of the riding time that may occur for the user by preventing unnecessary movements of the car G as much as possible.

[0169] [1-2-7] Boarding and disembarking command processing performed by the robot management device (part 2) <Disembarkation command processing> Fig. 15 is a flowchart showing the disembarking command process executed in this embodiment. Here, among the allocation requests whose information is recorded in the allocation request management data Dr, an allocation request corresponding to the destination floor Fd that is determined to be "matched (Yes)" in step S501 of Fig. 11 will be referred to as a "second target request."

[0170] In the disembarkation command processing, the robot management device 4 first uses the information of the second target request (robot information Ph, departure floor Fc, and destination floor Fd) recorded in the allocation request management data Dr to identify the direction from the departure floor Fc to the destination floor Fd as the transport direction Kh for the robot H identified by the robot information Ph (here, this robot H will be referred to as the "target robot Hk") (step S901).

[0171] Next, the robot management device 4 determines whether the arrival direction Kgd of the elevator G at the arrival floor Fg matches the conveying direction Kh identified in step S901 (step S902) in order to determine whether the stopping of the elevator G at the arrival floor Fg is in response to an elevator call Yh for the target robot Hk.

[0172] If the robot management device 4 determines "match (Yes)" in step S902, it can determine that the car G has stopped at the arrival floor Fg (here, the destination floor Fd of the target robot Hk) in the conveying direction Kh for the target robot Hk, and therefore it can be determined that the stop of the car G at the arrival floor Fg is a stop in response to the car call Yh for the target robot Hk. In this case, the robot management device 4 can determine that the target robot Hk should disembark from the arriving car G.

[0173] On the other hand, if the robot management device 4 determines "no match" in step S902, it can determine that the stopping of the car G at the arrival floor Fg is not a stop in response to the car call Yh for the target robot Hk. In this case, since there is no need to further process the target robot Hk related to disembarking at the arrival floor Fg, the robot management device 4 ends the disembarking command processing.

[0174] In this way, by the robot management device 4 making the two judgments of steps S501 and S902, the robot management device 4 itself can determine, without notification from the elevator control device 3, whether the stopping of the elevator car G at the arrival floor Fg is a stop in response to a car call Yh for the robot H (in this embodiment, a car call Yh corresponding to a normal hall call, or a car call Yh corresponding to a second hall call).

[0175] If the robot management device 4 determines that there is a match (Yes) in step S902, it sends a door open extension signal Sz to the elevator control device 3 to request a door open extension necessary for the target robot Hk to disembark (step S911), in order to have the target robot Hk disembark from the car G. At this time, the robot management device 4 includes the robot information Ph of the target robot Hk as additional information in the door open extension signal Sz, in order to allow the elevator control device 3 to recognize which robot H is the target robot Hk that requires a door open extension.

[0176] As a result, when the elevator control device 3 is performing the response process (see FIGS. 8 and 10) with the car call Yh for the target robot Hk as the response target, and is performing the second door open extension process (see FIG. 16), it will receive the door open extension signal Sz from the robot management device 4. In this way, the elevator control device 3 can be made to perform the door open extension necessary for the target robot Hk to disembark from the car G, and can be made to recognize that the disembarkation completion signal Sy will be transmitted from the robot management device 4 when the target robot Hk has completed disembarking.

[0177] After step S911, the robot management device 4 commands the target robot Hk to dismount from the car G (step S912). As a result, the target robot Hk starts dismounting from the car G in response to the command from the robot management device 4, and when dismounting is completed, notifies the robot management device 4 of the dismounting completion.

[0178] After step S912, the robot management device 4 determines whether the target robot Hk has completed dismounting from the car G by determining whether it has received a notification of dismounting completion from the target robot Hk (step S913). The robot management device 4 also repeatedly executes step S913 until it can determine "Completed (Yes)" in step S913. If the robot management device 4 determines "Completed (Yes)" in step S913, it transmits a dismounting completion signal Sy to the elevator control device 3 to notify that the target robot Hk has completed dismounting (step S920). At this time, the robot management device 4 includes the robot information Ph of the target robot Hk as additional information in the dismounting completion signal Sy so that the elevator control device 3 can recognize which robot H is the target robot Hk that has completed dismounting.

[0179] Furthermore, the robot management device 4 updates the boarding floor Fx of the target robot Hk in the robot management data Dq with the destination floor (destination floor Fy) associated with the boarding floor Fx, and deletes the destination floor Fy recorded there from the destination (step S921). Also, the robot management device 4 deletes the information of the second target request (robot information Ph, departure floor Fc, destination floor Fd) whose role has been completed by the target robot Hk dismounting from the allocation request management data Dr (step S922). Thereafter, the robot management device 4 ends the dismount command processing.

[0180] [1-2-8] Door opening extension process performed by elevator control device (part 2) <Second door opening extension processing> FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing the second door open extension process executed in this embodiment.

[0181] In this embodiment, when the elevator control device 3 is performing the second door opening extension process within the response process (see Figures 8 and 10), the robot management device 4 sends the necessary signals (door opening extension signal Sz and disembarkation completion signal Sy) to the elevator control device 3 depending on the situation at that time (steps S911 and S920 in Figure 15), and the elevator control device 3 receives these signals from the robot management device 4.

[0182] Therefore, when the elevator control device 3 starts the second door-opening extension process, it first determines whether or not the door-opening extension signal Sz for the robot H that is the target of the process (here, this robot H will be referred to as the "target robot Hk") has been received from the robot management device 4 (step S720). Furthermore, the elevator control device 3 repeatedly executes step S720 until it can determine "received (Yes)" in step S720.

[0183] If the elevator control device 3 determines that the signal has been received (Yes) in step S720, it can determine that the target robot Hk will dismount, and further recognize that a dismount completion signal Sy will be sent from the robot management device 4 when the dismount is complete.

[0184] In this case, the elevator control device 3 starts extending the door opening of the car G (step S721), and then determines whether or not a disembarkation completion signal Sy has been received from the robot management device 4 (step S722). The elevator control device 3 also repeatedly executes step S722 until it can determine "received (Yes)" in step S722. If the elevator control device 3 can determine "received (Yes)" in step S722, it can determine that the disembarkation of the target robot Hk has been completed, and therefore ends the second door opening extension process.

[0185] [2] Variation [2-1] First modified example In the allocation request process of the above-described embodiment (see Figure 4), the robot management device 4 may make, as a first allocation request (step S110A), an allocation request for a hall call Xh in which the boarding floor Fx of the target robot Hk is the departure floor Fc and any floor (not limited to the terminal floor Fz1) located in the opposite direction Kt to the forward direction Ks from the boarding floor Fx is the destination floor Fd.

[0186] [2-2] Second variant In any of the above-described embodiments and modifications, the request for allocation of a hall call Xg for a user may be appropriately changed to one requested from a destination floor registration device installed on each floor by the user registering a destination floor Fd in the destination floor registration device. In this case, the destination floor registration device requests allocation of a hall call Xg for a user by transmitting the destination floor Fd registered by the user and its own device information Pd1 to the elevator control device 3.

[0187] When the elevator control device 3 receives an allocation request from a destination floor registration device, it determines in step S200 of Figure 5 that it is "device information Pd1", and then in the subsequent step S201, it sets the floor Fs where the destination floor registration device (the destination floor registration device identified by the received device information Pd1; see Figure 2(A)) is installed as the departure floor Fc, and then assigns the departure floor Fc and the received destination floor Fd (the destination floor Fd registered by the user in the destination floor registration device) to the elevator car G as one hall call Xg.

[0188] In this configuration, the condition (1) determined in step S103 is changed to a condition that the forward direction Ks from the boarding floor Fx of the target robot Hk to the destination floor Fy of the target robot Hk is the same as the direction from the user's departure floor Fc to the user's destination floor Fd. Also, the condition (2) determined in step S103 is changed to a condition that the boarding floor Fx of the robot H is between the user's departure floor Fc and the user's destination floor Fd.

[0189] Furthermore, when responding to a hall call Xg for a user in the first response processing of Fig. 7, the elevator control device 3 will register the destination floor Fd indicated by the hall call Xg (the user's destination floor Fd) as a car call Yg for the user in the car G in step S303, instead of executing steps S304 and S305. Then, the elevator control device 3 will delete the hall call Xg that has completed its purpose, and then terminate the first response processing. Furthermore, when responding to a hall call Xg for a user in the third response processing of Fig. 9, the elevator control device 3 will perform the same processing, instead of executing steps S324 and S325.

[0190] [2-3] Third variant In any of the above-described embodiments and modifications, each robot H may be modified as appropriate to execute the control processes (including allocation request processes and boarding / disembarking command processes) performed by the robot management device 4 on behalf of the robot management device 4. In this case, each robot H will communicate with the elevator control device 3 without going through the robot management device 4. This allows each robot H to use the elevator autonomously while cooperating with the elevator control device 3.

[0191] The above-described embodiments and modifications should be considered to be illustrative in all respects and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is defined not by the above-described embodiments and modifications, but by the claims. Furthermore, the scope of the present invention is intended to include all modifications that are equivalent to the scope of the claims and fall within the scope thereof.

[0192] From the above-described embodiments and modifications, the subject matter of the invention is not limited to the robot management device 4 or the robot H, but may also be extracted individually as part or all of the control processes (including the control methods corresponding to the control processes) and programs executed by the robot management device 4 or the robot H. Also, part or all of the above-described elevators may also be extracted as subject matter of the invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0193] 1 1st operation section 2 2nd operation section 3 Elevator control device 4. Robot Management Device G car H Robot X Platform call Y Cage call 31, 41 Storage section 32, 42 Control section Dp Equipment Management Data Dq Robot Management Data Dr. Allocation Request Management Data Dx Hall call management data Dy Cage call management data Fc Departure Floor Fd Destination floor Fg Arrival Floor Fs Installation floor Fx boarding floor Fy Destination Floor Fz end floor Hk Target Robot Hm Another Robot Kc destination direction Kg Moving direction Kh Conveying direction Ks forward Kt reverse direction Pe Elevator Information Pf Cancel command information Pg Basket Information Ph Robot Information Qt current position Sx ride completion signal Sy exit completion signal Sz Door open extension signal Xg, Xh hall call Yg, Yh cage call Dp1, Dp2 equipment management data DxG, DxH Hall call management data DyG, DyH car call management data Fz1 end floor Kgc Departure Direction Kgd Arrival Direction Pd1, Pd2 device information Pr1, Pr2 received information

Claims

1. a robot management device that, when using an elevator to move a robot between floors, requests the robot to allocate a hall call by transmitting a departure floor and a destination floor required for allocating the hall call to a control device of the elevator; The allocation request is: An allocation request for a normal hall call in which the boarding floor and destination floor of the robot are a departure floor and a destination floor, respectively; two allocation requests for a first hall call, which is a hall call for boarding the robot, and which has the boarding floor of the robot as a departure floor and any floor located in the opposite direction from the boarding floor to the forward direction of the robot toward the destination floor as a destination floor, and a second hall call, which is a hall call for disembarking the robot; Selectively perform When a request for allocation of the first hall call is made, the control device allocates the hall call in response to the request, and further, after registering the destination floor indicated by the hall call as a car call, the robot management device causes the control device to cancel the registration of the car call.

2. When a car arrives at any floor and the arrival floor of the car matches any of the departure floors transmitted in the allocation request, the allocation request corresponding to the matching departure floor is set as a target request, and the hall call assigned by the control device in response to the target request is set as a target call, Furthermore, the robot is instructed to board the elevator car at the arrival floor, and when the robot has completed boarding in response, a determination is made (A) as to whether or not the destination floor transmitted when the attention request was made matches the target floor of the robot; If it is determined in the judgment (A) that there is no match, when a boarding completion signal for notifying the completion of boarding of the robot is transmitted to the control device, a command is given to the control device to cancel the registration of the car call corresponding to the target call, 2. The robot management device according to claim 1, wherein when it is determined that there is a match in the judgment (A), when the boarding completion signal is transmitted to the control device, an instruction is given to the control device to maintain the registration of the car call corresponding to the target call.

3. Before instructing the robot to board the elevator car at the arrival floor, a determination is made (B) as to whether or not the departure floor transmitted when the attention request is made coincides with the boarding floor of the robot; If it is determined in the determination (B) that there is a match, the robot is instructed to get into the car, and then, when the robot has completed getting into the car, the determination (A) is made. A robot management device as described in claim 2, wherein if it is determined in the judgment (B) that there is no match, the boarding completion signal is sent to the control device as a dummy signal without instructing the robot to board the elevator car, and an instruction is given to the control device to maintain the registration of the elevator car call corresponding to the target call.

4. When the robot is moved between floors, if the control device has assigned a hall call to the user, the boarding floor and destination floor of the robot and the departure floor and destination direction indicated by the hall call of the user are determined as follows: (1) a condition that the forward direction of the robot is the same as the destination direction of the user; (2) A condition that the boarding floor of the robot is between the departure floor of the user and the destination floor of the robot; and (3) The current position of the elevator car is on the destination floor side of the robot with respect to the boarding floor of the robot; and Determine whether each of the following is satisfied, The robot management device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein when it is determined that all of the conditions are met, two allocation requests for the first and second hall calls are made to the control device.

5. 5. The robot management device according to claim 4, wherein the request for allocation for the second hall call is made with the same floor as the departure floor of the user used when it is determined that all of the conditions are satisfied as the departure floor, and with the destination floor being the destination floor of the robot.

6. a robot management method for performing, when a robot is moved between floors by using an elevator, a request for assigning a hall call to the robot, by transmitting a departure floor and a destination floor required for assigning the hall call to a control device of the elevator; The allocation request is: An allocation request for a normal hall call in which the boarding floor and destination floor of the robot are a departure floor and a destination floor, respectively; two allocation requests for a first hall call, which is a hall call for boarding the robot, and which has the boarding floor of the robot as a departure floor and any floor located in the opposite direction from the boarding floor to the forward direction of the robot toward the destination floor as a destination floor, and a second hall call, which is a hall call for disembarking the robot; Selectively perform the robot management method, when a request for allocation of the first hall call is made, the control device allocates the hall call in response to the request, and further, after registering the destination floor indicated by the hall call as a car call, causes the control device to cancel the registration of the car call.

7. When moving between floors using an elevator, the robot requests a hall call to be assigned to itself by transmitting the departure floor and destination floor required for the hall call assignment to a control device of the elevator, The allocation request is: An allocation request for a normal hall call with its own boarding floor and destination floor as the departure floor and destination floor, respectively; two allocation requests for a first hall call, which is a hall call for the passenger to board, and which has the passenger's boarding floor as the departure floor and any floor located in the opposite direction from the boarding floor as the destination floor, and a second hall call, which is a hall call for the passenger to disembark; Selectively perform When a request for allocation of the first hall call is made, the control device allocates the hall call in response to the request, and further, after registering the destination floor indicated by the hall call as a car call, the robot causes the control device to cancel the registration of the car call.

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