CN115248588A

CN115248588A - Self-moving equipment and motion control method thereof

Info

Publication number: CN115248588A
Application number: CN202110457244.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李东海; 杨德中
Original assignee: Nanjing Chervon Industry Co Ltd
Current assignee: Nanjing Chervon Industry Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-04-27
Filing date: 2021-04-27
Publication date: 2022-10-28

Abstract

The invention discloses a self-moving device and a motion control method thereof, wherein the device comprises a control module, a motion control module and a motion control module, wherein the control module controls the device to move in a set boundary; the boundary setting module is used for setting a boundary, and a virtual map covering the working area of the equipment is formed in the boundary; the map building module is used for marking a running completion area according to the moving path of the equipment on the virtual map and building an area map; the operation detection module is used for detecting whether the equipment meets a set boundary and/or an obstacle in the operation process; the control module is configured to judge whether the mobile equipment runs to a dead angle position, wherein the surrounding area of the dead angle position is a finished running area and/or a set boundary and/or the position of an obstacle; if yes, determining a target moving position according to the virtual map and the regional map; and the control equipment moves from the dead angle position to the target moving position along the shortest path. By adopting the self-moving equipment, both the mowing efficiency and the mowing coverage rate are considered.

Description

Self-moving equipment and motion control method thereof

Technical Field

The invention relates to an electric tool, in particular to self-moving equipment and a motion control method thereof.

Background

With the development of mobile robot technology, more and more robots have come into daily life of people in recent years, and intelligent mowing robots capable of automatically mowing, automatically recharging and automatically avoiding obstacles in user lawns are gradually popularized similarly to sweeping robots. The intelligent mowing robot can liberate users from heavy and boring household life such as cleaning and maintaining lawns and the like, and is more and more favored by the users. For an intelligent mowing robot, how to mow grass efficiently is the most important index for evaluating the mowing robot.

Currently, there are mainly two mowing modes of mowing robots on the market: the grass-mowing mode is a random mode, namely the mower starts from the current position, moves linearly to the boundary line, turns to a certain angle randomly, continues mowing until the boundary line is touched next time, turns to randomly again, and continues the process. The mowing mode takes longer time to achieve higher mowing coverage, and mowing efficiency is not high. The other is a mowing mode in which a fixed movement mode is set. The way of setting a fixed movement pattern works well for regular lawns, but for complex lawns where there are many obstacles the coverage is not ideal.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to overcome the defects in the prior art, the invention aims to provide the self-moving equipment which has both mowing efficiency and mowing coverage.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention adopts the following technical solutions:

an autonomous mobile device comprising: the control module is used for controlling the self-moving equipment to move in a set boundary; the boundary setting module is used for setting a boundary, and a virtual map covering the working area of the mobile device is formed in the boundary; the map building module is used for marking a running completion area according to a moving path of the self-moving equipment on the virtual map and building an area map; the operation detection module is used for detecting whether the self-moving equipment meets a set boundary and/or an obstacle in the operation process; the control module is configured to: judging whether the self-moving equipment runs to a dead angle position, wherein the surrounding area of the dead angle position is a running completion area and/or a set boundary and/or the position of an obstacle; if the self-moving equipment runs to the dead corner position, determining a target moving position according to the virtual map and the regional map; and controlling the self-moving equipment to move from the dead angle position to the target moving position along the shortest path.

Further, the control module is configured to: controlling the self-moving equipment to move at the current position according to a set operation direction; when the path in the set running direction is blocked, obtaining the current running direction of the self-moving equipment, and controlling the self-moving equipment to run according to a preset rotating direction corresponding to the current running direction; the path is blocked to be the boundary or the completion area or the obstacle in the set running direction corresponding to the current position.

Further, the control module is configured to: detecting a path condition of the self-moving device in a first direction of a current position; when the path in the first direction is blocked, detecting the path condition of the self-moving equipment in a second direction of the current position; and when the path in the second direction is blocked, acquiring the current running direction of the self-moving equipment, and controlling the self-moving equipment to run according to a preset rotating direction corresponding to the current running direction.

Further, the control module is configured to: when the current running direction is the first direction, controlling the self-moving equipment to run according to a first preset rotating direction; and when the current running direction is other than the first direction, controlling the self-moving equipment to run according to a second preset rotating direction.

Further, the control module includes: the storage unit is used for storing the virtual map and the regional map, the virtual map comprises feasible grids of all operable regions in a map grid, obstacle grids of obstacles and a boundary grid where a set boundary is located, and the regional map comprises historical grids of all operated regions; and the data processing unit is used for marking the history grids in the virtual map and generating a history track list corresponding to the history grids.

Further, the control module is configured to: when the self-moving equipment runs to a dead angle position, determining the target moving position in the history grid, wherein the target moving position is a map grid which corresponds to a feasible path in at least one direction and is closest to the dead angle position in the history grid; and controlling the self-moving equipment to move from the dead angle position to the target moving position along the shortest path.

A motion control method of an autonomous device, the autonomous device comprising: the control module is used for controlling the self-moving equipment to move in a set boundary; the boundary setting module is used for setting a boundary, and a virtual map covering the working area of the mobile device is formed in the boundary; the map building module is used for marking a running completion area according to a moving path of the self-moving equipment on the virtual map and building an area map; the operation detection module is used for detecting whether the self-moving equipment meets a set boundary and/or an obstacle in the operation process; the method comprises the following steps: judging whether the self-moving equipment runs to a dead angle position, wherein the surrounding area of the dead angle position is a running completion area and/or a set boundary and/or the position of an obstacle; if the self-moving equipment runs to a dead angle position, determining a target moving position according to the virtual map and the regional map; and controlling the self-moving equipment to move from the dead angle position to the target moving position along the shortest path.

Further, the method further comprises: controlling the self-moving equipment to move at the current position according to a set operation direction; when the path in the set running direction is blocked, obtaining the current running direction of the self-moving equipment, and controlling the self-moving equipment to run according to a preset rotating direction corresponding to the current running direction; the path is blocked to be the boundary or the completion area or the obstacle in the set running direction corresponding to the current position.

Further, the method further comprises: detecting a path condition of the self-moving device in a first direction of a current position; when the path in the first direction is blocked, detecting the path condition of the self-moving equipment in a second direction of the current position; and when the path in the second direction is blocked, acquiring the current running direction of the self-moving equipment, and controlling the self-moving equipment to run according to a preset rotating direction corresponding to the current running direction.

Further, the method further comprises: when the current running direction is the first direction, controlling the self-moving equipment to run according to a first preset rotating direction; and when the current running direction is other than the first direction, controlling the self-moving equipment to run according to a second preset rotating direction.

The invention has the advantages that: the self-moving equipment for adaptively adjusting the mowing path by using the map data as the environment priori knowledge is provided, the mowing path with low repeatability and high coverage rate can be planned, and meanwhile the mowing efficiency is ensured.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a self-moving device operating system;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a self-moving device;

FIG. 3 is a block circuit diagram of a self-moving device, as one embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a path plan, according to one embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating a path status determination according to an embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating a method for motion control of a mobile device, according to one embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating a method for motion control of a self-moving device, according to one embodiment;

fig. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a motion control method of a self-moving device according to an embodiment.

Detailed Description

The invention is described in detail below with reference to the figures and the embodiments. It is to be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the invention and are not limiting of the invention. It should be further noted that, for the convenience of description, only some of the structures related to the present invention are shown in the drawings, not all of the structures.

The self-moving device to which the technical solution of the present invention is applicable includes but is not limited to: self-cleaning devices, self-watering devices, self-snow-sweeper, etc. are suitable for unattended equipment, and other types of self-moving devices are within the scope of the present invention as long as the essence of the technical solution disclosed below can be adopted. The present application takes a self-propelled mower as an example. It will be appreciated that different functional attachments may be employed for different self-moving devices, with different functional attachments corresponding to different modes of action, and that in a self-propelled lawnmower, function Du Jian is a cutting blade for cutting vegetation.

Referring to fig. 1, a mowing system is shown including a defined boundary 100, a self-propelled mower 200, and a charging station 300. Where the charging station 300 is used to park a self-propelled lawn mower, particularly to supplement power when its power supply is insufficient, the charging station 300 is typically located on the set boundary 100 or within the set boundary 100. The boundary 100 is configured to define a working area 400 of the mower, and the boundary 100 is generally configured to be connected end-to-end to enclose the working area 400. The set boundary 100 may be a physical boundary or an electrical signal, for example, the set boundary may be a physical boundary such as a fence, a wall, or a virtual boundary signal such as an electromagnetic signal or an optical signal from a wire, a signal emitting device, or the like.

As shown in fig. 2 to 3, the self-propelled mower 200 includes at least a housing 201, a cutting blade 202 disposed below a mower main body, a driving wheel 203, a driving motor (not shown) that controls the driving wheel 203 to travel, a control module 10, a power supply device 20, a boundary setting module 30, and a map building module 40. It will be appreciated that the mower 200 also includes a cutting motor (not shown) that drives the cutting blade 202. The control module 10 controls the cutting blade 202 of the drive wheel 203 by controlling the drive motor and the cutting motor, respectively. The cutting blade is for cutting grass, the cutting blade having a cutting diameter D.

And a power supply device 20 for supplying power to the driving motor and the cutting motor, and supplying power voltages to the unit modules such as the control module, the boundary setting module, and the map building module. Optionally, the power supply device may be a dc power supply battery pack, or may be an ac mains supply, which is not limited herein.

The boundary setting module 30 is used for setting a boundary 100, and a virtual map covering the working area of the self-moving device is formed in the boundary. It can be understood that the set boundary 100 includes the work area 400 covered by the virtual map, and the virtual map in the embodiment of the present invention is a grid map; it should be understood that the set boundary 100 is essentially location data information. The set boundary 100 in the embodiment of the present invention is a closed figure, which may be an irregular closed figure or a regular closed figure.

In the present embodiment, the control module 10 controls the mower to move to cut grass within a range not exceeding the set boundary 100. Optionally, the lawn mower further comprises an information acquisition module 50. The control module 10 includes a storage unit 101. The information collecting module 50 is connected to the control module 10 and is configured to record real-time pose information, a moving path, and boundary position information of the lawn mower, where the boundary position information of the lawn mower refers to position information of the lawn mower moving to the set boundary 100, that is, information about a boundary position of the intelligent lawn mowing device moving to the set boundary, and the information collecting module 50 stores the collected moving path and boundary position information in the storage unit 101.

The map building module 40 may mark a completed area that has been run according to a moving path of the lawnmower on the virtual map during movement of the lawnmower and build an area map.

And the operation detection module 60 is used for detecting whether the self-moving device encounters a set boundary and/or an obstacle in the operation process. Alternatively, the operation detection module 60 may include a radar or a camera or other detection device.

The information acquisition module 50 in the embodiment of the present invention includes a boundary identification unit 501 and a positioning unit 502; the boundary identifying unit 501 is configured to identify the set boundary 100 and feed back the result, i.e. the current boundary position, to the control module 10. The positioning unit 502 acquires the position information of the mower on the set boundary and sends the position information to the storage unit 101; the positioning unit 502 also acquires real-time pose information of any position of the mower in the traveling process, sends and stores the real-time pose information to the storage unit 101, and obtains a moving path of the mower by analyzing and processing the real-time pose information; it is understood that the memory unit 101 is divided into different memory areas to store different data. The storage unit 101 may also store position information of obstacles within the operated area and an area map of the operated completion area.

In the embodiment of the present application, the control module 10 controls the operation of the lawn mower as follows:

specifically, the control module 10 can obtain the running direction of the mower 100, which can be the running direction or the direction about to run when the mower 100 is at the initial running position S shown in fig. 4.

In order to adjust the mowing path in the running process of the mower in an adaptive manner, the control module 10 adopts the following adaptive path planning mode to plan the mowing path:

in the embodiment of the present application, the control module 10 may detect a path condition in a set direction of the current position of the lawn mower 100 and then control the rotation direction or the running direction of the driving wheel 201 according to the path condition. The self-propelled mower 100 can be moved in any position in the same set direction. Optionally, one or more running directions can be set. When the plurality of running directions are set, a preset selection sequence is provided, that is, the control module 10 may sequentially use the plurality of running directions as the candidate running directions of the mower at the current position. In one embodiment, the travel direction is set to be north on the world coordinate system, that is, whether a north path is feasible or not is detected first regardless of the current position. In one embodiment, the travel directions are set to be north and south in the world coordinate system, that is, whether a north path is feasible or not is detected at first no matter where the current travel direction is, and whether a south path is feasible or not is detected when the north path is blocked.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the control module 10 may further include a data processing unit 102 and a control unit 103. As is known, the storage unit is used to store the virtual map and the area map, both being rasterized data. The virtual map comprises feasible grids of all operable areas in a map grid, obstacle grids of obstacles and a boundary grid where a set boundary is located, and the area map comprises historical grids of all operated areas. The data processing unit 102 may mark the history grid in the virtual map and generate a history track list corresponding to the history grid. The control module 10 can determine whether the mower is operated to the dead angle position according to the positioning result fed back by the positioning unit 502, the obstacle information stored in the storage unit 101 and the area map. It is understood that by blind spot location is meant that the area surrounding the location is a completed area of operation and/or a set boundary and/or an obstacle. As shown in fig. 4, when the mower is at position a, the periphery of a is the boundary and the operated area, respectively, and a is a dead-angle position. In the present application, the storage unit 101 further stores a history track list corresponding to the history grid. As can be appreciated, the historical track list contains information for all possible grids for completed mowing tasks.

Based on the information, the path condition can be understood to include a path feasible, namely that the adjacent grid in the set running direction on the map corresponding to the current position is a feasible grid of an unfinished mowing task, and a path blocked, namely that the adjacent grid is an infeasible grid, namely a boundary grid or an obstacle grid, or a running grid. As shown in fig. 5, the current position of the mower corresponds to the map grid 1, and the direction indicated by the arrow is the set running direction at the position, and the grid type of the grid 2 adjacent to the grid 1 determines the path state of the mower in the direction indicated by the arrow.

In one embodiment, the set direction of travel of the lawnmower at the current position includes a first direction and a second direction. That is, the control module 10 may detect whether the path in the second direction is blocked when detecting that the path in the first direction is blocked. And only when the paths in the two running directions to be selected are blocked, the current running direction of the mower is obtained. In one embodiment, the first direction is north and the second direction is south. On the basis of setting the two running directions to be selected, when the control module 10 detects that the route of the mower in the north direction of the current position is feasible, the control module directly controls the driving wheel to run towards the north; and when the path in the first direction is blocked, detecting the path condition in the south direction of the current position, controlling the driving wheel to move towards the south when the path in the south direction is feasible, and acquiring the current moving direction of the mower when the path in the south direction is blocked. Further, the control module 10 may control the driving wheel to operate according to a preset rotation direction corresponding to the current operation direction.

In one embodiment, if the lawn mower is in the initial position, the current running direction is the initially set running direction, and if the lawn mower is in any position in the actual running process, the current running direction is the current actual running direction of the lawn mower, that is, the running direction of the driving wheels. In one embodiment, the predetermined rotational direction does not include the set operating direction. In one embodiment, the different current running directions correspond to different preset rotating directions, for example, when the current running direction is north, the corresponding preset rotating direction is north east. Optionally, the preset rotation direction may be a plurality of directions, for example, when the current operation direction is north, the corresponding preset rotation direction is northeast, east, southeast, northwest, west, and southwest in turn, that is, when the control module 10 controls the driving wheel to rotate towards the northeast direction and is blocked, the above directions may be selected in turn to rotate.

In one embodiment, the current direction of travel of the lawnmower can be divided into the first direction described above and other directions other than the first direction. If the current running direction is the first direction, the control module 10 controls the mower to run according to a first preset rotating direction; if the current running direction is the other direction, the control module 10 controls the mower to run according to the second preset rotating direction. Optionally, the current running direction is a first direction, that is, north, and the first preset rotating direction for north is northeast, east, southeast, northwest, west, and southwest as described above. Optionally, when the current running direction is another direction, the second preset rotating direction may be southeast, east, northeast, southwest, west, and northwest. In an embodiment, the current running direction may be further subdivided, and the preset rotation directions corresponding to different current running directions may be subdivided, which is not limited herein.

In one embodiment, if all the paths in the preset rotation direction corresponding to the current running direction of the lawn mower 100 are blocked, that is, the lawn mower has entered into a dead zone for mowing, the map grids around the current position of the lawn mower are all infeasible grids. As shown in fig. 4, the grid marked with a mark a at the upper right corner of the grid map is surrounded by the boundary grid or the running grid, so that the mower performs a dead zone of mowing when running to the grid a. In this case, the control module 10 may search the historical track list for a target moving position corresponding to a feasible path in at least one direction, and control the driving motor to drive the driving wheel to move from the current dead angle position to the target moving position. Preferably, the target moving position is a map grid corresponding to a feasible path in at least one direction in the historical track list and closest to the dead angle position. In the grid map shown in fig. 4, the grid marked B is the target moving position. It will be appreciated that if the historical track list already contains all of the possible grids, mowing is complete.

The following describes the path planning coverage for mowing with the mower according to the present application with reference to fig. 4:

in fig. 4, the S position is the grid of the initial position, the E position is the final mowing end position, all grids labeled 1 in the figure are the historical tracks formed in one consecutive mowing path, and similarly, all grids labeled 2, labeled 3, labeled 4 and labeled 5 are the historical tracks formed in the second, third, fourth and fifth consecutive mowing paths. It will be appreciated that each of the run-time map grids is stored in a historical track list. When the initial position S is used as the current position, the route of the position in the set running direction to the north is feasible, and according to the self-adjustment mode of the running route described in the above embodiment, the mower can run from the position S to the position of the a grid, and is counted as the first adjustment position. At the first adjustment, the control module 10 searches the history track list, i.e. all grids marked with 1, and finds the grid B closest to the first adjustment a as the target moving position. The control module 10 then controls the mower to move from a to B in the shortest straight distance. And mowing in a path self-adaptive manner until a path with all grids covered as shown in fig. 4 is formed. It will be appreciated that the actual path of travel is a "bow" path when the mower is not entering the blind spot position. Of course, other efficient movement paths are within the scope of the present application.

In the embodiment of the application, by utilizing environment prior information such as a virtual map and combining a self-adaptive path adjusting mode, a high-efficiency, low-repeatability and high-coverage planned path is achieved in the mowing process of the mower.

A flow diagram for a motion control method for a self-moving device will be described with reference to fig. 6, the method comprising the steps of:

s101, whether a set boundary and/or an obstacle is met in the running process of the self-moving equipment is detected.

If not, the process proceeds to step S102, and if so, the process proceeds to step S103.

And S102, controlling the equipment to continuously run in the current running direction.

And S103, judging whether the mobile equipment runs to a dead angle position.

If not, the process proceeds to step S104, and if so, the process proceeds to step S105.

And S104, continuing to operate on the basis of the set operation direction or the preset rotation direction.

And S105, determining the target moving position according to the virtual map and the regional map.

And S106, controlling the self-moving equipment to move from the dead angle position to the target moving position along the shortest path.

Another flow chart for an autonomous mobile device motion control method is described below with reference to fig. 7, where the method includes the following steps:

s201, detecting the path condition of the mobile equipment in the set running direction of the current position, if the path is feasible, turning to S202, otherwise, turning to S203.

And S202, controlling the mobile equipment to operate according to the set operation direction.

S203, the current running direction of the mobile equipment is obtained.

And S204, detecting the path condition in the preset rotating direction corresponding to the current running direction, and if the path is feasible, turning to the step S105, otherwise, turning to the step S106.

And S205, controlling the self-moving equipment to operate according to a preset rotation direction.

S206, searching the target moving position in the historical track list, and controlling the self-moving equipment to move from the current position to the target moving position.

In one embodiment, the running directions to be selected include north and south, and the flow of the adaptive path planning method based on the environment prior information as shown in fig. 8 is as follows:

s301, detecting the path condition of the mobile equipment in the north direction of the current position, if the path is feasible, turning to the step S302, otherwise, turning to the step S303.

And S302, controlling the self-moving equipment to move in the north direction.

S303, detecting a route status of the mobile device in the south direction of the current location, if the route is feasible, then step S304 is performed, otherwise step S305 is performed.

And S304, controlling the self-moving equipment to move towards the south.

S305, obtaining the current running direction of the mobile equipment.

S306, judging whether the current running direction is the north direction, if so, turning to the step S307, otherwise, turning to the step S308.

And S307, controlling the self-moving equipment to operate according to a first preset rotating direction.

And S308, controlling the self-moving equipment to operate according to a second preset rotating direction.

And S309, judging whether all paths in the preset rotating direction are blocked, if so, turning to the step S310, otherwise, turning to the step S301.

S310, searching a target moving position in the historical track list, and controlling the self-moving equipment to move from the current position to the target moving position.

It is to be noted that the foregoing description is only exemplary of the invention and that the principles of the technology may be employed. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to the particular embodiments illustrated herein, but is capable of various obvious changes, rearrangements and substitutions as will now become apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention. Therefore, although the present invention has been described in greater detail by the above embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and may include other equivalent embodiments without departing from the spirit of the present invention, and the scope of the present invention is determined by the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. An autonomous mobile device comprising:

the control module is used for controlling the self-moving equipment to move in a set boundary;

the boundary setting module is used for setting a boundary, and a virtual map covering the working area of the mobile device is formed in the boundary;

the map building module is used for marking a running completion area according to a moving path of the self-moving equipment on the virtual map and building an area map;

the operation detection module is used for detecting whether the self-moving equipment meets a set boundary and/or an obstacle in the operation process;

the control module is configured to:

judging whether the self-moving equipment runs to a dead angle position, wherein the surrounding area of the dead angle position is a running completion area and/or a set boundary and/or the position of an obstacle;

if the self-moving equipment runs to a dead angle position, determining a target moving position according to the virtual map and the regional map;

and controlling the self-moving equipment to move from the dead angle position to the target moving position along the shortest path.

2. The self-moving device of claim 1,

the control module is configured to:

controlling the self-moving equipment to move at the current position according to a set operation direction;

when the path in the set running direction is blocked, obtaining the current running direction of the self-moving equipment, and controlling the self-moving equipment to run according to a preset rotating direction corresponding to the current running direction; the path is blocked to be the boundary or the completion area or the obstacle in the set running direction corresponding to the current position.

3. The self-moving device of claim 2,

the control module is configured to:

detecting a path condition of the self-moving device in a first direction of a current position;

when the path in the first direction is blocked, detecting the path condition of the self-moving equipment in a second direction of the current position;

and when the path in the second direction is blocked, acquiring the current running direction of the self-moving equipment, and controlling the self-moving equipment to run according to a preset rotating direction corresponding to the current running direction.

4. The self-moving device of claim 2,

the control module is configured to:

when the current running direction is the first direction, controlling the self-moving equipment to run according to a first preset rotating direction;

and when the current running direction is other than the first direction, controlling the self-moving equipment to run according to a second preset rotating direction.

5. The self-moving device of claim 1,

the control module includes:

the storage unit is used for storing the virtual map and the regional map, the virtual map comprises feasible grids of all operable regions in a map grid, obstacle grids of obstacles and a boundary grid where a set boundary is located, and the regional map comprises historical grids of all operated regions;

and the data processing unit is used for marking the historical grids in the virtual map and generating a historical track list corresponding to the historical grids.

6. The self-moving device of claim 5,

the control module is configured to:

when the self-moving equipment runs to a dead angle position, determining the target moving position in the history grid, wherein the target moving position is a map grid which corresponds to a feasible path in at least one direction and is closest to the dead angle position in the history grid;

7. A motion control method of an autonomous device, the autonomous device comprising: the control module is used for controlling the self-moving equipment to move in a set boundary; the boundary setting module is used for setting a boundary, and a virtual map covering the working area of the mobile device is formed in the boundary; the map building module is used for marking a running completion area according to a moving path of the self-moving equipment on the virtual map and building an area map; the operation detection module is used for detecting whether the self-moving equipment meets a set boundary and/or an obstacle in the operation process; the method comprises the following steps:

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising: