Guide Robot Path Projection for Pedestrian Collision Avoidance

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative Solutions
Generate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

Guide robots face issues such as unpredictable obstacle avoidance leading to collisions and inefficient path selection due to lack of visible movement direction, and sudden movements causing accidents with unaware individuals.

Innovation Solution

A guide robot equipped with a signal receiving unit, controller, and light emitting module that calibrates its moving region by determining region calibration parameters based on movement instructions, using light displays to visibly indicate its movement path and trend, thereby preventing collisions and improving navigation efficiency.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If the guide robot uses sensor-based obstacle avoidance, then it can automatically avoid obstacles, but it causes unpredictable avoidance direction leading to multiple mutual avoiding events and extended operation time

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveobstacle avoidance capabilityVSAvoidoperation time
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies preliminary action by displaying the robot's movement trajectory in advance through light emitting modules before the robot actually moves. This allows pedestrians to see the future path and avoid the robot proactively, preventing multiple mutual avoiding events. The trajectory display is configured ahead of time based on the navigation path, enabling pedestrians to take preventive action rather than reacting to sudden robot movements.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

2Productivity

If the guide robot moves suddenly from static state, then it can reach destination efficiently, but it causes collision with unaware pedestrians

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvemovement efficiencyVSAvoidcollision risk
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The patent displays the movement trajectory using light emitting modules before the robot begins moving. This preliminary visual warning allows pedestrians to become aware of the robot's intended motion and adjust their behavior accordingly, preventing collisions while maintaining efficient movement. The trajectory is calculated and displayed in advance based on navigation instructions.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent uses different light colors to indicate different movement states and trajectory information. The light emitting modules can display various colors to represent different aspects of the movement path, such as warning zones, safe zones, or different types of obstacles, providing intuitive visual information to pedestrians about the robot's intentions and helping them avoid collisions.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #32Color changes

3Object-affected harmful factors

If the guide robot displays movement trajectory in advance, then it prevents collisions and improves safety, but it requires additional light emitting modules and control complexity

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecollision riskVSAvoidsystem complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Object-affected harmful factorsVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent makes the light emitting modules serve multiple functions: they display the movement trajectory, indicate warning zones, show navigation status, and provide visual feedback about the robot's state. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate components and justifies the added complexity by consolidating multiple information delivery functions into a single system.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Solution Approach 2:

The light emitting modules act as an intermediary between the robot's navigation system and pedestrians. Instead of pedestrians directly observing robot movements or receiving complex sensor data, the light modules translate navigation information into intuitive visual displays that pedestrians can easily understand and react to, simplifying the interaction while improving safety.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Applied Scientific Principles

This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.

Function Achieved in This Case

The solution effectively prevents collisions between the guide robot and people by providing a visible movement trend, enhancing safety and operational efficiency by allowing individuals to accurately avoid the robot and ensuring the robot reaches its destination without circular movements.

Implementation Method 1

a light emitting module arranged on the shell... driving the light emitting module to carry out light display calibration in the pending moving region

Methodology Applied
Scientific EffectLight emission: Light Emitting Diode

Data Source

PatentEP3382489B1Tour guide robot and moving area calibration method, computer readable storage medium
Publication Date: 2023.05.10 PING AN TECH (SHENZHEN) CO LTD
  • EP3382489B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3382489B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP3382489B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

The disclosure discloses a method of calibrating a moving region of a guide robot. The method includes: detecting and receiving, by a signal receiving unit, a movement instruction, and sending the received movement instruction to a controller; determining, by the controller, region calibration parameters corresponding to the received movement instruction according to a predetermined mapping relation between the movement instruction and the region calibration parameters, wherein the region calibration parameters include a pending moving region of the guide robot, a light display parameter in the pending moving region, and a driving parameter corresponding to the pending moving region and the light display parameter; driving, by the controller, the light emitting module to carry out light display calibration in the pending moving region according to the determined region calibration parameters. The disclosure further provides the guide robot and a computer storage medium. The technical solution of the disclosure enables the guide robot to display a marked region to be passed and provide a visible movement trend prompt so as to avoid a phenomenon of collision or multiple times of avoiding between people and the robot.