Automatic Door Coordination for Batch Mobile Robot Passage

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Solution Overview

Problem

Automatic doors in logistics handling scenarios using intelligent mobile robots often disrupt the fluency of robot travel, requiring manual operation or hardware-based sense detection, which increases labor and hardware costs and can lead to inefficiencies.

Innovation Solution

A logistics control system that includes a robot control apparatus capable of planning routes through automatic doors and generating door-opening requests when the robot approaches, allowing the device control apparatus to automatically open the door without manual intervention or additional hardware, thereby coordinating door control with robot travel and optimizing batch passing through.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If manual operation or hardware-based sense detection is used to control automatic doors, then the door can be opened for robot passage, but labor costs and hardware costs increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedoor opening reliabilityVSAvoidsystem complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The robot control apparatus autonomously generates door-opening requests based on its own travel route and position information, without requiring manual operation or additional hardware-based detection systems. The system serves itself by using its planned route data to automatically trigger door opening actions

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

Solution Approach 2:

The patent introduces a door control apparatus as an intermediary component that receives door-opening requests from the robot control apparatus and executes the door opening action. This mediator separates the robot's navigation system from the door control system, reducing complexity while maintaining reliability

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Reliability

If manual operation is used to open automatic doors, then the door can be opened, but labor costs increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedoor opening reliabilityVSAvoidautomation level

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSExtent of automation

Solution Approach 1:

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

Solution Approach 2:

The system uses feedback from the robot's position monitoring and route planning modules to automatically determine when and where to open doors, creating a closed-loop control system that eliminates manual intervention while maintaining reliability

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

3Productivity

If doors are opened frequently for individual robots, then each robot can pass through, but power consumption increases and efficiency decreases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improverobot passage efficiencyVSAvoiddoor power consumption

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSUse of energy by moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The patent merges multiple door-opening requests into a single coordinated action by having the door control apparatus receive and process requests from multiple robots, opening the door once to allow batch passage of multiple robots thereby reducing power consumption and improving efficiency

Inventive Principle:

Principle #5Merging (Combining)

Solution Approach 2:

The door control apparatus serves multiple functions: it receives door-opening requests from multiple different robots, coordinates their passage timing, and manages the door opening/closing cycle to accommodate batch passage, making the system universally applicable to multiple users without frequent operations

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

4Reliability

If the robot waits for manual door operation, then the door can be opened safely, but travel fluency is disrupted

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedoor opening safetyVSAvoidrobot travel speed

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSSpeed

Solution Approach 1:

The robot control apparatus generates door-opening requests in advance based on the planned travel route and current position, before the robot actually reaches the door. This preliminary action ensures the door is already opening or open when the robot arrives, maintaining travel fluency while ensuring safety through coordinated control

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentEP3985218B1Logistics control system, robot control apparatus, and automatic door control method

Publication Date: 2024.03.27 HANGZHOU HIKROBOT TECH CO LTD

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AI summary

A logistics control system, a robot control apparatus, an automatic door control method, and a route planning apparatus. Based on above embodiments, the robot control apparatus can plan a traveling route passing through an automatic door for an intelligent mobile robot, and generate, by monitoring a movement position of the intelligent mobile robot along the traveling route, a door-opening request when the movement position of the intelligent mobile robot reaches a traffic upstream section of the automatic door, the door-opening request being used for triggering a device control apparatus to control opening of a corresponding automatic door. The present disclosure enables the control of the automatic door to be coordinated and cooperated with the traveling of the intelligent mobile robot, without resorting to a manual operation, without aid of sense detection at the automatic door, and without sending a task command to the intelligent mobile robot. Moreover, the present disclosure can also support passing-through in batch of the intelligent mobile robots during a single open of the automatic door, so as to avoid frequent opening and closing of the automatic door.