Cooperative transfer robot system

Abstract

The present invention relates to a cooperative transfer robot system operated by means of physical coupling between at least two mobile robots, the system comprising a robot operation server, which communicates with each of the mobile robots and transmits a command for designating a leading robot and a sub-robot from among the coupled mobile robots. Here, each of the mobile robots can include an encoder for measuring the movement displacement of driving wheels. In addition, the mobile robot designated as the sub-robot calculates, by means of output value of the encoder, the movement displacement generated at the driving wheels of the sub-robot according to the movement of the leading robot, and estimates, on the basis of the calculated encoder output value, the external force generated at the sub-robot, and thus can control, on the basis of the estimated external force, the driving of the driving wheel such that the driving force and driving direction of the leading robot are followed.

Description

Collaborative transport robot system

[0001] The present invention relates to a mobile robot system using cooperative control technology.

[0002] Conventional logistics robot technology was primarily developed for automated warehouse management systems. These robots typically moved along fixed paths and used RFID or barcodes to identify products and track their locations.

[0003] These systems focus on automating logistics processes within warehouses, reducing labor costs and improving accuracy. However, these robots primarily operate in static environments and have limitations in complex or dynamic environments.

[0004] Technological advancements have enabled today's logistics robot systems to become much more advanced. Recently, artificial intelligence and machine learning have enabled robots to operate flexibly in dynamic environments. Consequently, within logistics centers, robots can autonomously plan routes, use sensors to sense their surroundings, and utilize AI to analyze situations in real time, enabling them to take optimal actions.

[0005] In addition, a method in which multiple logistics mobile robots collaborate or cooperate to transport various types of logistics, such as weight and volume, is being discussed recently.

[0006] Prior art related to this includes Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2023-0086379 (published on June 15, 2023).

[0007] The present invention is a collaborative transport robot system that operates according to the coupling between at least two mobile robots, and provides a collaborative transport robot system that enables cooperation between robots synchronized by coupling force even without transmitting and receiving synchronization control commands through mutual communication between a plurality of mobile robots that are synchronized and cooperatively operated to transport an object.

[0008] According to one aspect of the present invention, a collaborative transport robot system is provided that operates based on a physical coupling between at least two mobile robots, and includes a robot operation server that communicates with each of the mobile robots and transmits commands for designation to a leading robot and a sub-robot among the coupled mobile robots. At this time, each of the mobile robots may be equipped with an encoder that measures the displacement amount of a driving wheel. In addition, at this time, the mobile robot designated as the sub-robot calculates the displacement amount that occurs in the driving wheel of the sub-robot according to the movement of the leading robot by an output value of the encoder, and estimates an external force applied to the sub-robot based on the calculated encoder output value, thereby controlling the driving of the driving wheel to follow the driving force and driving direction of the leading robot based on the estimated external force.

[0009]

[0010] Here, the mobile robots are, respectively,

[0011] The method may further include an external force estimation unit that estimates an external force generated according to the movement of the reading robot by using the output value of the encoder measured when the wheel stationary state of the driving wheel changes to the wheel moving state in a state where no self-driving force is applied based on a pre-specified external force estimation model.

[0012]

[0013] Here, the external force estimation unit,

[0014] By including a disturbance observer that estimates disturbances acting on the robot system by comparing input and output values ​​based on a dynamic model of the robot system for the mobile robot, the characteristics of the disturbance are determined based on the physical characteristics of the input and output values, and by applying a cooperative control algorithm based on the disturbance observer, an external force according to the movement intention of the leading robot can be estimated without a separate force sensor.

[0015] According to the collaborative transport robot system according to an embodiment of the present invention, there is an effect in which cooperation between synchronized robots is possible even without transmitting and receiving synchronization control commands through mutual communication between a plurality of mobile robots that are synchronized and cooperatively operated for material transport.

[0016] Figure 1 is a drawing for explaining the collaborative transport robot system of the present invention.

[0017] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a robot implementation of a mobile robot applicable to the collaborative transport robot system of FIG. 1.

[0018] The present invention is susceptible to various modifications and embodiments. Specific embodiments are illustrated in the drawings and described in detail in the detailed description. However, this is not intended to limit the present invention to specific embodiments, but rather to encompass all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and technical scope of the present invention.

[0019] In describing the present invention, detailed descriptions of related known technologies will be omitted if they are deemed to unnecessarily obscure the gist of the present invention. Furthermore, numbers (e.g., "first," "second," etc.) used throughout the description of this specification are merely identifiers used to distinguish one component from another.

[0020] In addition, when a component is referred to as being "connected" or "connected" with another component throughout the specification, it should be understood that the component may be directly connected or directly connected to the other component, but may also be connected or connected via another component in between, unless specifically stated otherwise. In addition, when a part is said to "include" a component throughout the specification, this does not mean that other components are excluded, but rather that other components may be included, unless specifically stated otherwise. In addition, terms such as "part" and "module" described in the specification mean a unit that processes at least one function or operation, and this means that it can be implemented with one or more hardware or software, or a combination of hardware and software.

[0021]

[0022] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings.

[0023] Here, FIG. 1 is a drawing for explaining the collaborative transport robot system of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram for robot implementation of a mobile robot of one embodiment applicable to the collaborative transport robot system of FIG. 1.

[0024] Referring to FIG. 1, a collaborative transport robot system according to an embodiment of the present invention is a collaborative transport robot system that operates based on a combination of at least two mobile robots, and can be implemented by including a robot operation server (100) and a plurality of mobile robots (referring to 10-1 and 10-k of FIG. 1, hereinafter collectively referred to as drawing number 10) that are connected to the robot operation server (100) in communication therewith.

[0025] The mobile robot (10) is a robot with an autonomous driving function, and as shown in the drawing, a loading surface for loading logistics is formed on the upper surface.

[0026] In addition, the mobile robot (10) is designed so that one mobile robot can be coupled with another mobile robot to enable synchronized cooperative operation. At this time, the coupling between the mobile robots can be coupled by a physical bonding / fastening method, or various coupling methods such as coupling using electromagnets, electro-mechanical coupling, etc. can all be applied. In this specification, the coupling device or method between multiple mobile robots is not discussed as a technical core element of the present invention, and therefore, a detailed description of the structure / principle, etc. thereof will be omitted. However, in this embodiment, the description will be centered on a case where the coupling between the mobile robots is achieved by coupling using electromagnets.

[0027] In addition, the mobile robot (10) can be implemented by including a communication unit (11), a path generation unit (12), a collision avoidance unit (13), a driving control unit (14), a robot control unit (15), a wheel driving unit (16), a mecanum wheel (17), an encoder (18), an external force estimation unit (19), an electromagnet driving unit (20), etc., as shown in FIG. 2, in order to implement a function for cooperative driving.

[0028] In addition, the robot operation server (100) communicates with each of the mobile robots (10) and can transmit commands for designating a leading robot and a sub-robot among a plurality of mobile robots combined for cooperative operation.

[0029] Here, the "leading robot" refers to a robot among robots combined for collaborative operation that leads the movement for material transport. Furthermore, the "sub-robot" refers to a robot that follows the lead robot's movements and performs synchronized movements.

[0030]

[0031] In an embodiment of the present invention, the mobile robot (10) is provided with an encoder (18) that measures the displacement amount of the driving wheel (i.e., the mecanum wheel (17), so that when the logistics robot is designated as a sub-robot, the displacement amount generated in the driving wheel of the sub-robot according to the movement of the leading robot is calculated by the output value of the encoder (18), and the external force applied to the sub-robot is estimated based on the calculated encoder output value, so that the driving of the driving wheel (17) is controlled to follow the driving force and driving direction of the leading robot based on the estimated external force.

[0032] To this end, a mobile robot designated as a sub-robot may include an external force estimation unit (19) that estimates an external force generated according to the movement of the leading robot by using the output value of the encoder (18) measured when the wheel stop state of the driving wheel (17) changes to a wheel moving state in a state where no self-driving force is applied based on a pre-designated external force estimation model.

[0033] At this time, in the mobile robot designated as the sub-robot, the external force estimation unit (19) includes a disturbance observer that estimates a disturbance acting on the robot system by comparing input values ​​and output values ​​based on a dynamic model of the robot system for the mobile robot, so that the characteristics of the disturbance are determined according to the physical characteristics of the input values ​​and the output values, and by applying a cooperative control algorithm based on the disturbance observer, an external force according to the movement intention of the leading robot can be estimated without a separate force sensor.

[0034]

[0035] According to the present invention described above, a cooperative transport robot system capable of cooperation between synchronized robots can be implemented even without transmitting and receiving synchronization control commands through mutual communication between a plurality of mobile robots that are synchronized and cooperatively operated for material transport.

[0036] In this regard, according to the prior art, for collaborative operation or cooperative operation between robots, a method was adopted in which the leading robot continuously transmits information about its driving direction, driving speed, and driving force size to the sub-robot at specific time intervals through continuous communication between logistics robots that must be driven in synchronization, and the sub-robot performs driving control according to the driving information received from the leading robot.

[0037] However, according to these conventional technologies, if communication between robots is not smooth, a problem may arise in which the cooperative operation between robots is not precisely operated, whereas in the case of the present invention, even in a state where synchronization control commands are not transmitted and received through mutual communication between mobile robots, the operation control of the sub-robot can be performed independently through external force estimation on the sub-robot side, so there is an effect of being able to build a cooperative transport robot system that is not affected by the communication environment / state.

[0038]

[0039] Although the present invention has been described above with reference to embodiments thereof, it will be readily understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications and changes to the present invention can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as set forth in the claims below.

Claims

1. A collaborative transport robot system that operates based on physical coupling between at least two mobile robots, A robot operation server that performs communication with each of the above mobile robots and transmits instructions for designation to a leading robot and a sub-robot among the combined mobile robots; The above mobile robots each have an encoder that measures the displacement of the driving wheel, The mobile robot designated as the above sub-robot is, A collaborative transport robot system characterized in that the amount of displacement generated in the driving wheel of the sub-robot according to the movement of the leading robot is calculated by the output value of the encoder, and the external force applied to the sub-robot is estimated based on the calculated encoder output value, thereby controlling the driving of the driving wheel to follow the driving force and driving direction of the leading robot based on the estimated external force.

2. In paragraph 1, The above mobile robots are, respectively, A collaborative transport robot system, characterized in that it further includes an external force estimation unit that estimates an external force generated according to the movement of the leading robot by using the output value of the encoder measured when the wheel stationary state of the driving wheel changes to a wheel moving state in a state where no self-driving force is applied based on a pre-specified external force estimation model.

3. In paragraph 2, The above external force estimation unit, A collaborative transport robot system characterized in that it includes a disturbance observer that estimates a disturbance acting on the robot system by comparing input and output values ​​based on a dynamic model of the robot system for the mobile robot, so that the characteristics of the disturbance are determined according to the physical characteristics of the input and output values, and an external force according to the movement intention of the leading robot is estimated without a separate force sensor by applying a cooperative control algorithm based on the disturbance observer.

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