Autonomous Mobile Body Oscillation Before Obstacle Avoidance Turns
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing autonomous traveling robots struggle to effectively communicate their intention to change direction to humans in their path, making it difficult for humans to respond appropriately.
Innovation Solution
The autonomous mobile body incorporates an oscillating mechanism that performs oscillating motion before changing its traveling direction to avoid obstacles, allowing humans to recognize the intended direction change earlier.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the autonomous traveling robot changes traveling direction to avoid a person, then collision avoidance is achieved, but the person cannot recognize the direction change until it starts, making it difficult to respond
Solution Approach 1:
The robot performs a face direction change before changing the traveling direction. This preliminary action of changing the face direction allows the person to recognize the robot's intention to change direction in advance, before the actual movement occurs, thus solving the problem of late recognition while maintaining collision avoidance
2Loss of time
If the autonomous traveling robot changes traveling direction abruptly, then response time is reduced, but the person cannot predict or recognize the direction change
Solution Approach 1:
The robot changes face direction before changing traveling direction. This preliminary face direction change serves as a prediction signal to the person, allowing them to anticipate the upcoming direction change and respond appropriately, thus reducing unexpected reactions while maintaining efficient response time
Solution Approach 2:
The face direction change acts as an intermediary signal between the robot's decision to change direction and the actual movement. This intermediary action communicates the intention to the person, bridging the information gap and allowing the person to understand and respond to the robot's planned maneuver
Data Source
AI summary
An autonomous mobile body includes: a first unit including a drive wheel and a chassis and configured to move straight and turn and move left and right; a second unit disposed at an upper portion of the first unit and including a top plate and an oscillating mechanism for performing oscillating motion of moving around a vertical axis with reference to the first unit; an obstacle detection unit configured to detect a surrounding obstacle; and a control unit configured to, when the obstacle detection unit detects an obstacle in a traveling direction of the autonomous mobile body during movement of the autonomous mobile body, upon controlling the first unit to change the traveling direction of the autonomous mobile body to avoid the obstacle, control the second unit to perform oscillating motion before changing the traveling direction.