Control device, control method, and recording medium

Abstract

This control device comprises: a communication unit that receives a movement plan representing a movement route of another robot; a setting unit that sets, from the received movement plan of the other robot and a movement plan of a host robot, a movement plan representing a route different from the movement route and extending along the movement route while maintaining a communicable distance with the other robot; and a control unit that controls movement of the host robot according to the set movement plan.

Description

Control device, control method, and recording medium

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of a control device, a control method, and a recording medium. Background Field

[0002] A system in which multiple robots work in cooperation is called a multi-agent system. In a multi-agent system, each robot determines its own behavior based on information observed by its own sensors and local communication with nearby robots.

[0003] In particular, in local communication between mobile robots, if the distance between the communicating robots exceeds a certain level, data transmission and reception becomes impossible, resulting in a communication interruption. For this reason, Patent Document 1 proposes a method for detecting communication interruptions between robots and moving the robots to restore communication. Non-Patent Document 1 also proposes a method for maintaining communication by quantifying the strength of communication across the entire multi-agent system and limiting the distance between robots to maintain this value above a certain level.

[0004] Patent Publication No. 2017-62768

[0005] Cai, D., Wu, S., & Deng, J. (2017). Distributed Global Connectivity Maintenance and Control of Multi-Robot Networks. IEEE Access, 5, 9398-9414.

[0006] However, because robots consume a certain amount of power each time they communicate or sense, there is a problem in that frequent communication or sensing consumes more power than infrequent communication or sensing. This is because, even when using the technologies described in Patent Document 1 and Non-Patent Document 1, communication between robots is still frequent. In view of the above-mentioned problems, one of the objects of the present invention is to provide a mechanism for maintaining communication between robots with a small number of communications. Means to solve the problem

[0007] A control device according to one aspect of the present invention is configured to include: a communication unit that receives a movement plan representing a movement path of another robot; a setting unit that sets, from the received movement plan of the other robot and its own robot, a movement plan representing a path different from the movement path of the other robot while maintaining a communication distance with the other robot; and a control unit that controls movement of the own robot in accordance with the set movement plan.A control method according to another aspect of the present invention is configured to receive a movement plan representing a movement path of another robot; from the received movement plan of the other robot and its own robot's movement plan, set a movement plan representing a path different from the movement path of the other robot while maintaining a communication distance with the other robot; and control movement of the own robot in accordance with the set movement plan. Furthermore, a computer-readable recording medium according to another aspect of the present invention is configured to record a program for causing a computer to perform the following processes: receiving a movement plan representing a movement route of another robot; setting a movement plan representing a route different from the movement route of the other robot, based on the received movement plan of the other robot and the movement plan of the robot itself, while maintaining a distance that allows communication with the other robot; and controlling the movement of the robot itself in accordance with the set movement plan.

[0008] According to the present invention, communication between robots can be maintained with a small number of communications.

[0009] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a reference waypoint sequence and a received waypoint sequence in an example of the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a waypoint sequence after execution of step 1 in an example of the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a waypoint sequence after execution of step 2 in an example of the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a system according to a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a diagram explaining an initial starting point and a child robot at that starting point in an example of the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 8 is a diagram explaining a second starting point and child robots at those starting points in an example of the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 9 is a diagram explaining a third starting point and child robots at those starting points in an example of the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the difference between a reference waypoint sequence and a waypoint sequence set in step 2 in an example of the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a waypoint sequence set in step 2 when a denser waypoint sequence representing the same route as in an example of the first embodiment of the present invention is input. FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of the initial processing of step 3 in an example of the third embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a waypoint sequence after the initial processing of step 3 in an example of the third embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram of the second processing of step 3 in an example of the second embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 1 is a diagram showing a sequence of waypoints set in step 3 in an example of a second embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of a control device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 3 is a diagram showing mathematical expressions used in an embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 4 is a block diagram of a control device according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

[0010] Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the following description, when there are multiple identical or similar elements, a common reference numeral may be used to describe each element without distinguishing between them, and a subnumber may be added to the common reference numeral to describe each element with distinction between them.

[0011] First Embodiment An example of the configuration of a system 1 according to a first embodiment is shown in Fig. 1. The system 1 includes two robots 2. Each robot 2 includes a control device 3.

[0012] 16, each control device 3 can be realized by a communication interface unit 101, an operation input unit 102 such as a keyboard or a mouse, a screen display unit 103 such as a liquid crystal display, a storage unit 104 such as a memory or a hard disk, an arithmetic processing unit 105 including one or more CPUs (Central Processing Units), and a program 110. The program 110 is loaded into the storage unit 104 from an external computer-readable storage medium when the control device 3 is started up, and controls the operation of the arithmetic processing unit 105, thereby realizing the reference waypoint storage unit 4, communication unit 5, waypoint setting unit 6, and movement control unit 7 shown in FIG.

[0013] The reference waypoint storage unit 4 stores a sequence of waypoints, which is information about the planned path of the robot 2. The sequence of waypoints is also called plan information. A waypoint refers to a location through which the robot must pass. A waypoint is also called a location. A waypoint is expressed as a pair of a position and a time. A waypoint requires the robot to arrive at a specified position at a specified time. In other words, waypoint (p, t) is a route that arrives at position p at time t.

[0014] Furthermore, as a more limited method of specifying a route using a sequence of waypoints, for example, a route between waypoints is specified assuming that the robot moves at a constant speed in a straight line. That is, a route between two waypoints ((p1, t1), (p2, t2)) is determined as shown in Equation 1 in FIG. 17. Here, the function P(t) in Equation 1 is a function that returns the position of the robot at an input time t. Because the position at each time is specified, the route can be expressed by the function P(t).

[0015] In this embodiment, a route is specified from a sequence of waypoints using this more limited route specification method. However, the robot does not necessarily have to move at a constant speed in a straight line. In that case, the function P(t) only needs to represent the position of the robot at time t, and is not limited to the form shown in Equation 1.

[0016] The reference waypoint storage unit 4 stores a route that has been planned in advance with only the convenience of the robot 2 in mind. In other words, this route does not take into consideration maintaining communication between the robots, and when multiple robots move according to the waypoint sequences stored in their own reference waypoint storage units 4, there is a risk that they may fall into a situation where communication between them is cut off.

[0017] The communication unit 5 transmits and receives waypoint sequences between the robot 2 and the other robot 2. The two robots 2 are divided into a robot that transmits the waypoint sequence and a robot that receives it. For the sake of convenience, let us assume that robot 2-1 is the robot that transmits the waypoint sequence and robot 2-2 is the robot that receives the waypoint sequence. In this case, the communication unit 5-1 of robot 2-1 transmits a waypoint sequence representing its own currently planned route, and the communication unit 5-2 of robot 2-2 receives a waypoint sequence representing the robot 2-1's currently planned route. Furthermore, the communication unit 5 can also exchange data for purposes other than waypoint sequences. For example, when using multiple robots to monitor an area, the robots may communicate with each other to determine whether there is anything suspicious.

[0018] The communication unit 5 communicates using radio waves, sound waves, etc., and a communication range is determined in advance for each of these communication methods. The communication range is the range within which communication is assumed possible, taking into account factors such as attenuation of radio waves and sound waves. When robots are outside each other's communication range, communication will not be successful and there is a risk of communication being cut off. In most cases, the communication range depends on the distance and is circular (spherical) with the robot at the center. However, the communication range may also be determined taking into account factors other than distance (for example, obstacles).

[0019] The waypoint setting unit 6 sets a waypoint sequence that takes into consideration maintaining communication as its own planned route, based on the waypoint sequence stored in its own reference waypoint memory unit 4 and the waypoint sequence of the other robot 2 received by the communication unit 5. For ease of explanation, the waypoint sequence stored in the reference waypoint memory unit 4 will be referred to as the reference waypoint sequence, and the waypoint sequence received by the communication unit 5 will be referred to as the received waypoint sequence. More specifically, the waypoint setting unit 6 sets as a waypoint sequence a sequence that is as close as possible to the waypoint sequence stored in its own reference waypoint memory unit 4, from among the waypoint sequences that represent a route in which the position of the robot that transmitted the waypoint sequence and its own position are always within each other's communication range.

[0020] The specific setup procedure is divided into the following two steps: Step 1: Align the time sequence of the received waypoint sequence with the time sequence of the reference waypoint sequence. Step 2: Map the waypoints at each time within each other's communication range.

[0021] Each step will be explained in detail. In step 1, the waypoint setting unit 6 checks the times of the waypoints included in the two waypoint sequences one by one, and if a time is included in only one sequence, it adds a waypoint corresponding to that time to the other sequence. The position of the added waypoint is determined according to Equation 1. That is, the waypoint corresponding to time t is (P(t), t). However, with the exception of the beginning and end of the waypoint sequence, the waypoint setting unit 6 sets the initial position for positions before the first time in the waypoint sequence, assuming that the robot was already at that position, and sets the final position for positions after the last time in the waypoint sequence, assuming that the robot will remain at that position from then on.

[0022] As a result of step 1, the two waypoint sequences always have corresponding waypoints at the same time.

[0023] In step 2, the waypoint setting unit 6 calculates a sequence of waypoints from the sequence of reference waypoints that can maintain communication with the sequence of received waypoints. Specifically, the waypoint setting unit 6 maps the reference waypoint at each time within the communication range of the sequence of received waypoints at the same time. Here, the communication range shared by multiple robots is assumed to be a circle (or sphere) with a radius R centered on each robot. Furthermore, if the reference waypoint at a certain time t is (p, t) and the received waypoint is (q, t), then the position P after mapping is mapping is expressed as Equation 2 shown in FIG.

[0024] When the distance between waypoints is greater than the communication range R, the position after mapping will be the position closest to p that is within communication range of q. If p is already within communication range of q, the mapping does not change the position.

[0025] A robot following a route represented by the sequence of waypoints after mapping and a robot following a route represented by the sequence of received waypoints are always within each other's communication range. This is true not only at the time of the mapped waypoints, but at all times. This is because when two robots move along routes represented by the two sequences of waypoints ((p,t), (p,t)) and ((q,t), (q,t)), the distance between the robots at time t (t≦t≦t) has an upper limit as shown in Equation 3 in FIG. 17.

[0026] Here, since the distances between all waypoints after mapping are less than or equal to R, equation 4 in FIG. 17 holds, and it can be seen that the robots are within each other's communication range at all times.

[0027] By performing steps 1 and 2, a sequence of waypoints representing the route along which the robots maintain communication with each other can be calculated.

[0028] Finally, when its own waypoint setting unit 6 has set a waypoint sequence, the movement control unit 7 controls the movement of its own robot so that it follows the route represented by the set waypoint sequence. Furthermore, when its own waypoint setting unit 6 has not set a waypoint sequence, the movement control unit 7 controls the movement of its own robot so that it follows the route represented by the reference waypoint sequence stored in its own reference waypoint memory unit 4. Possible movement mechanisms for the robot include, but are not limited to, wheeled movement mechanisms, crawler movement mechanisms, and legged movement mechanisms.

[0029] The processing flow of the system is shown in Figure 2. First, one of the two robots, robot 2-1, transmits the reference waypoint sequence stored in the reference waypoint memory unit 4-1 via the communication unit 5-1 (step S11). The other robot 2-2 receives the reference waypoint sequence via the communication unit 5-2 (step S21), and sets a waypoint sequence with which communication can be maintained based on the received waypoint sequence and the reference waypoint sequence via the waypoint setting unit 6-2 (step S22). Thereafter, each robot 2 moves via the movement control unit 7 according to the route represented by the current waypoint sequence. However, if there is a waypoint sequence set by the waypoint setting unit 6-1, that waypoint sequence becomes the current waypoint sequence; if there is not, the reference waypoint sequence becomes the current waypoint sequence. Therefore, in the example shown in Figure 2, robot 2-1 moves according to the reference waypoint sequence, and robot 2-2 moves according to the waypoint sequence set by the waypoint setting unit 6-2.

[0030] Robot 2-2 can maintain communication with robot 2-1, which sent the waypoint sequence, simply by moving along the route indicated by the waypoint sequence set by waypoint setting unit 6-2. With this method, there is no need for frequent communication or observation between the robots; after both robots have decided (planned) their routes, one of the robots simply needs to send the waypoint sequence once, making it possible to maintain communication while minimizing the number of communications.

[0031] <Example of First Embodiment> The processing of the first embodiment will be described in more detail using a specific example. As shown in Figure 3, the robots 2-1 and 2-2 store the following waypoint sequences in their reference waypoint storage units 4-1 and 4-2, respectively. (((0,0),0),((8,0),10)) (((0,2),0),((4,4),5),((8,2),10))

[0032] First, the robot 2-1 transmits a sequence of waypoints to the robot 2-2. The robot 2-2 receives the sequence of waypoints and sets a sequence of waypoints that allow communication with the robot 2-1 to be maintained in the waypoint setting unit 6-2.

[0033] First, in step 1, the waypoint setting unit 6-2 adds a waypoint corresponding to a time that is only in one of the columns. That is, it adds the waypoint corresponding to time 5, which is only in the received waypoint column, to the reference waypoint column. As a result of the processing in step 1, the two waypoint columns become as follows, as shown in FIG. 4: (((0,0),0),((4,0),5),((8,0),10)) (((0,2),0),((4,4),5),((8,2),10))

[0034] In step 2, the waypoint setting unit 6-2 maps each waypoint in the sequence of reference waypoints within the communication range of the received waypoint at the same time. If the communication range is a circle with a radius of 3 centered on the robot, the mapping result will be as follows, as shown in Figure 5. Here, the communication range is assumed to be 2D (circle), but it may also be 3D (sphere). (((0,0),0),((4,1),5),((8,0),10)) At time 0, the distance between (0,0) and (0,2) is less than 3, so the mapping does not change the position. The same is true for time 10. At time 5, the distance between (4,0) and (4,4) is 4, and position (4,0) is not within the communication range. Therefore, it is mapped to position (4,1), which is closest to position (4,0) within the communication range. Finally, (((0,0),0), ((4,1),5), ((8,0),10)) is set as the waypoint sequence for robot 2-2.

[0035] By having the movement control units 7-1 and 7-2 of the robot 2-1 and the robot 2-2 move along the routes indicated by the current waypoint sequences, the distance between the two robots always remains at or below 3, thereby maintaining communication.

[0036] Second Embodiment In the first embodiment, only the case of two robots has been described, but in the second embodiment, the case of maintaining communication between three or more robots will be described.

[0037] An example of the configuration of a system 1A according to the second embodiment is shown in Fig. 6. The internal configuration of each robot 2 is similar to that of the robot 2 in the first embodiment. Each robot 2 is provided with a control device 3 similar to that in the first embodiment. The processing and operations performed by the robot 2 described below are processing and operations performed by the control device provided in that robot 2.

[0038] In the second embodiment, the system 1A sets a unique tree structure for multiple robots 2. That is, each robot 2 has zero or more child robots, and each robot 2 has one or less parent robots, with only one robot 2 having no parent robot (having zero parent robots). Here, robot B has robot A as its parent robot only when, and only at, robot A has robot B as its child robot.

[0039] This tree structure shows the order in which multiple robots 2 set waypoint sequences to maintain communication. A robot that does not have a parent robot is called a root robot. Starting from the root robot, the waypoint sequence is set according to the following steps:

[0040] Step 1: The starting robot 2 transmits a waypoint sequence representing its current route to all of its child robots 2. Step 2: All child robots 2 that receive the waypoint sequence set a waypoint sequence that allows them to maintain communication with the starting robot 2 according to the procedure shown in the first embodiment. Step 3: After setting the waypoint sequence, if each child robot 2 has one or more child robots 2, it repeats steps 1 to 3 with itself as the starting point.

[0041] <Example of the second embodiment> The above processing will be explained using a simple specific example. First, as shown in Fig. 7, the root robot 2-1 is the starting point, represented by a star. Then, the two child robots 2-2 and 2-3 of the root robot 2-1, represented by circles, receive a sequence of waypoints from the root robot 2-1 and set a sequence of waypoints that will allow them to maintain communication with the root robot 2-1.

[0042] Next, as shown in Figure 8, the two child robots 2-2 and 2-3 mentioned earlier each act as a starting point and transmit a sequence of waypoints to the child robots 2-4 to 2-5 and 2-6 to 2-8, respectively. At this time, the sequence of waypoints transmitted is the sequence of waypoints previously set by each of the robots 2-2 and 2-3. Upon receiving the sequence of waypoints, the child robots 2-4 to 2-8 set their own sequence of waypoints from the received sequence of waypoints. These processes are carried out in parallel for each starting point and its child robot.

[0043] Finally, as shown in Figure 9, among the child robots 2-4 to 2-8 mentioned earlier, the robots 2-4, 2-6, and 2-7 that have their own child robots act as the starting point and transmit the waypoint sequence to their child robots 2-9 to 2-10, 2-11, and 2-12. The child robots 2-9 to 2-12 that receive the waypoint sequence set the waypoint sequence. Since these child robots 2-9 to 2-12 do not have their own child robots, no further steps are repeated.

[0044] Through the above procedure, all child robots can set a sequence of waypoints that allow them to maintain communication with their parent robot, and communication can be maintained across multiple robots as a whole.

[0045] <Third Embodiment> The configuration of the system according to the third embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment. The third embodiment differs from the first embodiment only in the processing by the waypoint setting unit 6. More specifically, the purpose is to set a better waypoint sequence by adding step 3 to the processing by the waypoint setting unit 6.

[0046] As will be described in more detail below, when setting the waypoint sequence in the first embodiment, when the route is represented by a sparse waypoint sequence, there is a tendency for the deviation between the waypoint sequence set to maintain communication and the original waypoint sequence to become larger. On the other hand, if the route is represented by a dense waypoint sequence, the deviation can be kept small, but there is a problem in that the number of waypoints to be communicated increases, which increases communication costs.

[0047] Therefore, in step 3, an ideal route is calculated from the route represented by the received waypoint sequence and the route represented by the reference waypoint sequence, and the deviation of the waypoint sequence is kept small by keeping the distance between this calculated ideal route and the route represented by the waypoint sequence to a certain value or less.

[0048] The route represented by the received waypoint sequence is called P A , the route represented by the reference waypoint sequence is P B , the route represented by the waypoint sequence set after step 2 is P B ' In this case, the path P A and can maintain communication with the robot moving according to the route P B The ideal path P closest to B '' is expressed by Equation 5 in FIG.

[0049] The threshold for the gap between routes is set as D. The smaller this threshold, the closer the waypoint sequence to the original route will be set, but the number of waypoints will increase. The threshold should be set appropriately, taking this trade-off into consideration.

[0050] The waypoint setting unit 6 performs the following process using the waypoint sequence set in step 2 as a comparison sequence.

[0051] Step 3: Compare the path represented by the comparison sequence with P B '' are compared for each time, and if a time t is found where the difference in distance is greater than D, the waypoint (P B ''(t), t) is added, and the added one is used as a new comparison string, and the process is repeated. If it is not found, the comparison string at that time is set as the waypoint string.

[0052] The route represented by the sequence of waypoints set in step 3 is the ideal route P B and the distance is less than or equal to D at any time, and the original route P B It is a sequence of waypoints close to the above.

[0053] According to the third embodiment, by appropriately setting the threshold, it is possible to set a sequence of waypoints that is closer to the original route and allows communication to be maintained while suppressing an increase in the number of waypoints that affects the amount of information communicated.

[0054] <Example of the Third Embodiment> The processing and effects of the third embodiment will be described using the same example as the example of the first embodiment. In this case, the difference between the waypoint sequence set in step 2 and the route represented by the original waypoint sequence is equal to the area of ​​the region surrounded by the dashed line in FIG. 10 . In other words, the difference is 4. Now, suppose the waypoint sequence after step 1 is given as follows: (((0,0),0),((2,0),2.5),((4,0),5),((6,0),7.5),((8,0),10)) (((0,2),0),((2,3),2.5),((4,4),5),((6,3),7.5),((8,2),10)) In this case, even though these waypoint sequences represent the same route as in FIG. 3 , the waypoint sequence set in step 2 will be as shown in FIG. 11 . (((0,0),0), ((2,0),2.5), ((4,1),5), ((6,0),7.5), ((8,0),10)) The difference between this waypoint sequence and the original waypoint sequence is 2, and it can be seen that the deviation of the set waypoint sequence is smaller when the original waypoint sequence is given more densely.

[0055] To solve the problem that the difference between the waypoint sequence set in step 2 and the reference waypoint sequence depends on the density of the waypoint sequence, step 3 compares the distance at each time between the ideal route and the waypoint sequence set in step 2. Here, the ideal route (Equation 5) matches the route expressed by the following waypoint sequence: ((0,0),0), ((2,0),2.5), ((4,1),5), ((6,0),7.5), ((8,0),10))

[0056] Assuming that the threshold value is D=0.4, the time when the distance between the comparison sequence and the ideal route first exceeds the threshold value is time 2 as shown in FIG. 12. Therefore, ((1.6, 0), 2) is added to the comparison sequence, and the added result becomes the new comparison sequence shown in FIG. 13.

[0057] The next time the distance between the new comparison sequence in FIG. 13 and the ideal path exceeds the threshold is time 7 as shown in FIG. 14, and therefore ((5.6, 0.2), 7) is added to the new comparison sequence.

[0058] The new comparison sequence (((0,0),0), ((1.6,0),2), ((4,1),5), ((5.6,0.2),7), ((8,0),10)) with the added waypoints shown in Figure 15 does not exceed the threshold distance from the ideal route at any time, so processing ends here. The final comparison sequence is set as the waypoint sequence. The set waypoint sequence has a smaller difference from the reference waypoint sequence than the waypoint sequence set up to step 2, and it can be seen that a better waypoint sequence was set by step 3. Furthermore, the number of waypoints has only increased by two, which has also helped to suppress increases in communication costs.

[0059] Fourth Embodiment Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described. In this embodiment, the outline of the present invention will be described.

[0060] 18 is a block diagram of the control device 200 according to this embodiment. Referring to FIG. 18, the control device 200 includes a communication unit 201, a setting unit 202, and a control unit 203.

[0061] The communication unit 201 is configured to receive a movement plan representing a movement route of another robot. The setting unit 202 is configured to set a movement plan representing a route different from the movement route of the other robot, while maintaining a communication distance with the other robot, based on the movement plan of the other robot received by the communication unit 201 and the movement plan of the robot itself. The control unit 203 is configured to control the movement of the robot itself in accordance with the movement plan set by the setting unit 202.

[0062] The control device 100 configured as described above operates as follows. First, the communication unit 201 receives a movement plan representing a movement route of another robot. Next, the setting unit 202 sets a movement plan representing a route different from the movement route of the other robot, based on the movement plan of the other robot received by the communication unit 201 and the movement plan of the robot itself, along the movement route while maintaining a communication distance with the other robot. Next, the control unit 203 controls the movement of the robot itself in accordance with the movement plan set by the setting unit 202. The communication unit 201 can be realized using the functions of the communication unit 5 according to the first embodiment. The setting unit 202 can be realized using the functions of the waypoint setting unit 6 according to the first embodiment. The control unit 203 can be realized using the functions of the movement control unit 7 according to the first embodiment. Therefore, the control device 200 can be realized using the functions of the control device 3 according to the first embodiment.

[0063] According to the control device 100 configured and operating as described above, communication between robots can be maintained with a small number of communications because communication is maintained at the movement planning stage.

[0064] Although the present invention has been described above with reference to the above-described embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments. Various modifications that can be understood by those skilled in the art can be made to the configuration and details of the present invention within the scope of the present invention. For example, instead of the CPU described above, the control device can use a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), a DSP (Digital Signal Processor), an MPU (Micro Processing Unit), an FPU (Floating Number Processing Unit), a PPU (Physics Processing Unit), a TPU (Tensor Processing Unit), a quantum processor, a microcontroller, or a combination thereof.

[0065] 1, 1A System 2, 2-1 to 2-12 Robot 3, 3-1, 3-2 Control device 4, 4-1, 4-2 Reference waypoint memory unit 5, 5-1, 5-2 Communication unit 6, 6-1, 6-2 Waypoint setting unit 7, 7-1, 7-2 Movement control unit

Claims

1. a communication unit for receiving a movement plan representing a movement route of another robot; a setting unit that sets a movement plan representing a route different from the movement route while maintaining a distance that allows communication with the other robot, based on the received movement plan of the other robot and the movement plan of its own robot; a control unit that controls the movement of the robot itself in accordance with the set movement plan; A control device having:

2. the movement plan includes a sequence of points that the robot must pass through in sequence; The control device according to claim 1 .

3. The point includes a position and a time. The control device according to claim 2 .

4. The setting unit adjusting the movement plans of the other robot and the robot itself to have points with the same time by adding points having the same time as points included in only one of the received movement plans of the other robot to the other movement plan; For each point at the same time included in both of the adjusted movement plans, correct the position of the point in the movement plan of the own robot so that the point included in the movement plan of the own robot falls within the communication range of the point in the movement plan of the received partner robot. The control device according to claim 3 .

5. The setting unit comparing the corrected movement plan of the own robot with the received movement plan of the other robot and an ideal movement plan that can maintain communication at each time; when the distance between the points in both movement plans at a certain time is greater than a predetermined threshold, adding a point including the time and the position of the robot in the ideal movement plan at the time to the modified own robot movement plan; The control device according to claim 4.

6. the communication unit receives a movement plan of the other robot from a robot that is a parent of the robot in a tree structure defined for a plurality of robots; The control device according to claim 1 .

7. the communication unit transmits the set movement plan to a robot that is a child of the robot in the tree structure. The control device according to claim 6.

8. A system including a plurality of control devices according to any one of claims 1 to 7, system.

9. A computer comprising: receiving a movement plan representing a movement path for another robot; Based on the received movement plans of the other robots and the movement plan of the robot itself, a movement plan is set that represents a route that is different from the movement route while maintaining a distance that allows communication with the other robots and that follows the movement route; Controlling the movement of the robot itself in accordance with the set movement plan. Control method.

10. On the computer, receiving a movement plan representing a movement path for another robot; A process of setting a movement plan representing a route different from the movement route along the movement route while maintaining a distance allowing communication with the other robot, based on the received movement plan of the other robot and the movement plan of the robot itself; A process of controlling the movement of the robot itself in accordance with the set movement plan; A program to perform the following.