Robot Door Opening Coordination to Prevent Swing-Back Blocking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Robots lack the natural ability to interact with doors, as they do not possess the knowledge or coordination to recognize and navigate through them effectively, which can impede their performance in environments where doors are present.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method executed by a robot's data processing hardware to identify doors, control the robotic manipulator to grasp door features, detect the direction of door opening, and exert forces to swing the door open while positioning legs or the manipulator to block the door from closing, allowing the robot to traverse through the doorway safely.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the robot uses a robotic manipulator to grasp and exert force on the door, then the door can be opened, but the robot body may be blocked by the swinging door
Solution Approach 1:
The robot performs preliminary actions by positioning its leg to block the door's swing path before the door can swing back toward the robot body. This preventive positioning occurs during the door opening process, ensuring the door cannot harm the robot while it completes the opening action.
Solution Approach 2:
The robot's leg acts as an intermediary element between the door and the robot body. By placing the leg in the door's swing path, it serves as a protective barrier that prevents the door from directly contacting and potentially harming the robot body during the opening operation.
2Reliability
If the robot positions a leg to block the door from closing, then the door remains open for traversal, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The robot merges the functions of the manipulator and leg into a coordinated system. The manipulator opens the door while the leg simultaneously positions itself to block the swing path, and both work together to maintain the door in an open state during traversal, reducing the need for separate complex mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts the positions and actions of the manipulator and leg based on the door's swing state and the robot's traversal progress. The leg maintains a blocking position only when needed during traversal, and the manipulator transitions from opening to holding actions, creating a flexible adaptive system rather than a rigid complex mechanism.
Data Source
AI summary
Data processing hardware of a robot performs operations to identify a door within an environment. A robotic manipulator of the robot grasps a feature of the door on a first side facing the robot. When the door opens in a first direction toward the robot, the robotic manipulator exerts a pull force to swing the door in the first direction, a leg of the robot moves to a position that blocks the door from swinging in the second direction, the robotic manipulator contacts the door on a second side opposite the first side, and the robotic manipulator exerts a door opening force on the second side as the robot traverses a doorway corresponding to the door. When the door opens in a second direction away from the robot, the robotic manipulator exerts the door opening force on the first side as the robot traverses the doorway.