User-Tracking Moving Body Control for Stable Front Positioning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing autonomous moving devices struggle to maintain responsiveness when following a user, as they often detect the user based on either the chest or leg position, leading to unnatural movements and inconsistent distance maintenance due to the natural gait dynamics of a person, where the leg moves ahead of the torso or vice versa.
Innovation Solution
A moving body equipped with user detection means to distinguish between the user's leg and torso, and movement control means to adjust its movement based on the detected information of both, allowing it to maintain an appropriate position in front of and follow the user effectively by controlling left-right and front-back directions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If user detection is conducted based on chest position only, then the moving device can track the user, but responsiveness becomes bad because the leg moves in advance and torso follows
Solution Approach 1:
The user detection system is segmented into multiple detection targets: the torso (chest) and the leg are detected separately and independently. This allows the system to process information from different body parts that move at different speeds during walking, with the leg providing early movement signals and the torso providing positional accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The detection information from both the torso and leg is merged in the movement control unit. By combining these two detection streams, the system achieves both responsiveness (from leg detection) and tracking accuracy (from torso detection), resolving the contradiction between speed and measurement precision.
2Speed
If detection is based only on the leg, then responsiveness improves, but the moving device makes unnatural movements and distance gets stuck or separates
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the detection function across two body parts: the leg for responsiveness and the torso for stable distance maintenance. This segmentation allows each detection target to fulfill its specific role without compromising the other.
Solution Approach 2:
By merging the detection results from the leg (for responsive movement initiation) and the torso (for stable distance and position maintenance), the system achieves both responsiveness and stable following behavior, preventing unnatural movements and distance instability.
3Device complexity
If the moving device follows only the chest position, then tracking is simple, but the distance between user and moving device becomes inconsistent
Solution Approach 1:
The detection system is segmented to monitor both the torso and leg positions separately. This additional segmentation, while increasing complexity slightly, provides the necessary information to maintain consistent distance by referencing both body parts.
Solution Approach 2:
The movement control unit merges information from both torso and leg detections to calculate and maintain a consistent following distance. This combination allows the system to compensate for the natural movement dynamics of walking, ensuring stable distance maintenance despite the increased detection complexity.
Data Source
Figure 1A~1B
Figure 2
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AI summary
[Problem] To provide a moving body capable of moving to an appropriate position with respect to a user, and tracking the user while in front of the user. [Solution] During movement control wherein a moving body (10) tracks a user (20) while in front of the user (20), a coordinate obtained from the torso of the user (20) is used as the X coordinate of the position of the user (20), and among the position of the body of the user (20) and the position of the feet of the user (20), the position which is closer to the moving body (10) is used as the Y coordinate. Thus, the moving body (10) is able to move to a target position in the left/right direction (the X coordinate) and the front/back direction (the Y coordinate) that is appropriate with respect to the user (20). Accordingly, the distance between the moving body (10) and the user (20) can be maintained appropriately, and movement control in front of the user (20) and that is not an impediment to the user (20) can be accomplished.