Visual control robot system

Abstract

The visual sense control robot system has robot 1 driven three-dimensionally by an instruction from controller 11, video cameras 2 for taking images of the all moving area of robot 1 from at least two directions, and control circuit 10 for giving the controller 11 an ordering signal to move robot 1 to the position of the visible target 3 as being taken image thereof by the video cameras 2.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to a robot system controlling a moving position by visual recognition.

[0002] Nowadays, a number of robot systems have been employed in industrial fields. In most of general purpose robot systems, pre-teaching assigns the operational positions of robot, which are stored in a control circuit. As the program goes on, the operational position is invoked, to which the robot is displaced.

[0003] In some other systems, the robot provided with a visual sensor is displaced to the direction and position of a target to be recognized by the sensor. Even if a robot is provided with plural sensors, however, the limited size of robot does not allow to set the sensors away enough from each other. This makes it difficult for the robot to recognize the correct three-dimensional position of the target. Such robot systems, which have not yet been universalized due to the restriction, still remain costly.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0004] The primary purpose of the present invention is to furnish a visual control robot system that allows for the operational control of robot by means of commercially available general purpose robots and general purpose visual recognition devices also commercially available.

[0005] To achieve the purpose, a visual sense control robot system of the present invention comprises a robot means for moving three-dimensionally, means for taking images all moving area of the robot, a visible target existing within the moving area of the robot, a control circuit having a function to recognize beforehand the moving area of the robot and another function to store in a memory the position of the visible target taken by said means for taking images as well as an ordering signal to move the robot to said position, and a drive control means for driving the robot by said ordering signal from the memory of the control circuit.

[0006] A visual control robot system of another aspect according to the present invention for attaining the purpose further comprises to the foregoing control robot system, a display means and an input means for instructing a coordinate on the display means connected to said control circuit further having a function to give said drive control means an ordering signal to move the robot to a position corresponding to the coordinate as instructed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007] FIG. 1 represents a block diagram showing the visual control robot system of the present invention.

[0008] FIG. 2 represents a flow chart of the operation by the control circuit of the visual control robot system.

DETAILED EXPLANATION OF THE INVENTION

[0009] The visual control robot system of the present invention has robot 1 that is three-dimensionally driven by the instruction from the controller 11, a video cameras 2 that are able to take images the all moving area of the robot 1 from two directions at least, a visible target 3 existing within the moving area of the robot 1, and a control circuit 10 that recognizes beforehand the moving area of the robot 1 and gives the controller 11 the ordering signal to displace the robot 1 to the position of the visible target 3 as photographed by the video camera 2.

[0010] In the visual control robot system to which the present invention applies, connected to the control circuit are the display means 12 and the input means 13 and/or 14 that indicates the coordinates of the display means 12. This system may have a function to give the controller 11 an ordering signal that displaces the robot 1 to the position corresponding to the coordinates indicated by the input means 13 and/or 14.

[0011] Referring now to the drawings, a specific embodiment of the visual control robot system applied the present invention, to which the scope thereof however is not to be limited, are described below:

[0012] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the visual control robot system applied the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, there are three video cameras 2x, 2y and 2z installed as visual field of all moving area of robot 1 from the three directions. Connected to the robot 1 is the controller 11, which is linked with the control circuit, that is CPU, 10 through the intermediary of the input/output, that is I/O, interface 15. The three units of video cameras 2x, 2y and 2z are linked with the control circuit 10 through the intermediary of an analog/digital converter, that is AND, 16. Connected to the control circuit 10 are a cathode-ray tube, that is CRT, display 12 as a display means and a keyboard 13 and a mouse 14 as input means. Provided in addition to these is a visible target 3 of which an image can be taken by video cameras 2x, 2y and 2z. The visible target 3 has a built-in battery and an infrared light emitting diode incorporated in its surface. Target 3 has an adhesive portion so that it may stick to the surface of an object.

[0013] The control circuit 10 has a function to recognize, as a moving range, the coordinates where the robot has been displaced to the maximal extent, and another function to recognize the position of the visible target 3 from the video signal of the target 3 as photographed by the video cameras 2x, 2y and 2z. Further, the control circuit 10 has a function to give the controller 11 an ordering signal that displaces the robot 1 to the position corresponding to the visible target 3 and another ordering signal that displaces the robot 1 to the position corresponding to the coordinates as indicated by the cathode ray tube display 12 by means of a keyboard 13 and mouse 14.

[0014] In this embodiment, the cathode ray tube display 12, keyboard 13 and mouse 14 have been loaded on a wheel chair.

[0015] The operation of the visual control robot system in the foregoing embodiment is described now referring to a flow chart in FIG. 2 as below:

[0016] The operation starts from Step 101, where control circuit 10 perceives all moving area of robot 1. With the infrared light emitting diode of visible target 3 kept on, the robot is made to hold the visible target 3 at a position within the moving area of the robot 1, that is, within the visual field area of the video cameras 2x, 2y and 2z. From the keyboard 13 or mouse 14, the coordinates of the moving area limit of the robot 1 are given to the control circuit 10, from which the ordering signal displaces the robot 1 to its moving area limit by way of the controller 11. The image of the visible target 3 is taken by the video cameras 2x, 2y and 2z, whose analog video signal is converted into digital signal by the analog/digital converter 16 to be read into the control circuit 10, where the total moving area of the robot 1 is recognized, and the coordinates and ordering signal stored in the memory area.

[0017] In Step 102, visible target 3 is held by the robot 1 at a given position A within the moving area and the image thereof is taken by the video cameras 2x, 2y and 2z with the position A computed and stored into the control circuit 10 as an initial position of the robot 1. In Step 103, the first position the robot 1 is to be displaced to is memorized in the control circuit 10. When to that effect the visible target 3 is put away from the robot 1 and installed at a position B within the moving area of the robot 1, for instance, on a wheel chair with a patient on (at position B which is not shown, Refer to the arrowed direction A B), the images of visible target 3 at the position B is taken by the video cameras 2x, 2y and 2z, whose video signal is read into the control circuit 10, and the position B of the visible target 3 is computed to be stored in the control circuit 10. Since the position B of the visible target 3 at that time differs from the initial position A of the robot 1, the control circuit 10 in Step 4 operates, from the memory of the storage device, the ordering signal that displaces the robot 1 to the position B of the visible target 3 and gives this signal to the controller 11 through the input/output interface 15. The robot 1, which receives a control signal from the controller 11, displaces to the position B of the visible target 3, namely to the wheel chair.

[0018] Upon arrival of the robot 1 at the wheel chair by Step 5, the patient on the chair point out another position C, where is a position of second purpose such as a drug shelf, displayed on the cathode-ray tube 12 by the keyboard 13 or mouse 14. Then the position enter into the control circuit 10 as an interrupt signal. In Step 106, the ordering signal is operated from the coordinates at C by means of the memory stored, and output at the controller 11 through the input/output interface 15. By the ordering signal from the controller 11, robot 1 moves to the position C, that is to the drug shelf, and then where the robot 1 grasps a drug, as an essential task thereof. When the patient releases the interrupt signal in the control circuit 10 from the keyboard 13 by Step 107, the position B of the visible target 3 as photographed by the video cameras 2x, 2y and 2z differs from the position C where the robot 1 holds the drug.

[0019] Since in Step 108, the control circuit 10 returns the robot 1 to the position B of the visible target 3, the ordering signal is computed by the memory from the coordinate B being photographed, and given to the controller 11 through the input/output interface 15. By the control signal of the controller 11, the robot 1 will carry the drug to the position B, that is, to the wheel chair.

[0020] Though three units of video cameras 2x, 2y and 2z are provided in this embodiment, two minimal cameras will suffice. If two video cameras are taking images from visible target 3, since a video camera can take a 2-dimension image under normal conditions, the three-dimensional position thereof can be analyzed. However, in some cases where the visible target 3 enters in a shadow of an object, the image thereof cannot often be taken a video camera if the system is provided only with two video cameras. It is therefore desirable that at least two video cameras out of three may take the visible target 3 at any position whatever the visible target 3 may be. Three video cameras at least are thus required.

[0021] As has been thus far described, an addition of a visual recognition equipment to a robot enables to control the moving function of the robot by means of the visual sense. The visual control robot system may thus be materialized at an extremely low cost. The visual sense control robot system according to the present invention may be used, for instance, in the care of patients.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A visual sense control robot system comprising a robot means for moving three-dimensionally, means for taking images all moving area of the robot, a visible target existing within the moving area of the robot, a control circuit having a function to recognize beforehand the moving area of the robot and another function to store in a memory the position of the visible target taken by said means for taking images as well as an ordering signal to move the robot to said position, and a drive control means for driving the robot by said ordering signal from the memory of the control circuit.

2. A visual sense control robot system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a display means and an input means for instructing a coordinate on the display means connected to said control circuit further having a function to give said drive control means an ordering signal to move the robot to a position corresponding to the coordinate as instructed.

3. The visual sense control robot system as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that said means for taking images are an infrared video camera and said visible target, which has an infrared light emitting diode and a battery, is able to bond to a surface of an object and.

4. The visual sense control robot system as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that said means for taking images are an infrared video camera and said visible target, which has an infrared light emitting diode and a battery, is able to bond to a surface of an object and.

5. The visual sense control robot system as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that said display means and input means are loaded on a wheel chair.