Autonomous Mobile Robot Upper-Body Oscillation for Path Signaling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Autonomous traveling robots do not effectively indicate their intended path to a destination, particularly when the destination is diagonally positioned, leading to a lack of early recognition by customers or individuals at the destination.
Innovation Solution
The autonomous mobile body incorporates a traveling unit and a second unit with an oscillating mechanism. When turning to move towards a destination, the second unit performs oscillating motion in the same direction to bring it into an oscillating state, and then returns to a non-oscillating state before changing to straight movement, mimicking the human behavior of facing the destination.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If the autonomous traveling robot moves straight forward and then turns 90 degrees to reach a destination, then the robot can efficiently reach the destination, but the customer cannot recognize at an early stage that the robot is moving toward the customer
Solution Approach 1:
The robot performs preliminary oscillating motion of the upper body in the direction of the destination before completing the turn, similar to how a human employee preliminarily faces the customer. This allows the customer to recognize the robot's intent early in the movement sequence, before the robot actually completes its directional change.
Solution Approach 2:
The robot introduces dynamic oscillating motion of the upper body relative to the lower body during the turning process. This dynamic movement pattern makes the robot's motion more predictable and recognizable to customers, allowing them to anticipate the robot's destination earlier than with static or purely translational movement.
2Loss of information
If the autonomous traveling robot calculates and traces a traveling trajectory, then the robot can reach the destination efficiently, but the customer still cannot recognize the robot's intended path at an early stage
Solution Approach 1:
The robot preliminarily oscillates the upper body toward the destination before completing the full directional change, providing early visual information to the customer about the intended path without deviating from the calculated trajectory.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses visual signaling through oscillating motion patterns to communicate the robot's intent, analogous to using color changes for communication. The oscillating upper body creates a visible signal that conveys directional information to customers, making the robot's intended path more apparent.
Data Source
AI summary
An autonomous mobile body includes: a traveling unit including a drive wheel and a chassis and configured to move straight and turn and move in a left and right; a second unit disposed at an upper portion of the traveling unit and including a top plate and an oscillating mechanism for performing oscillating motion of moving around a vertical axis with reference to the traveling unit; and a control unit configured to, upon causing the autonomous mobile body to move to a destination, when the autonomous mobile body turns and moves in either a left direction or a right direction, execute control to cause the second unit to perform oscillating motion in the same direction to bring the second unit into an oscillating state, and to perform oscillating motion in an opposite direction before changing from turning movement to straight movement to cause the second unit to return from the oscillating state to a non-oscillating state.