阅读说明：本技术 一种多机器人交汇行走调度方法 (Multi-robot intersection walking scheduling method ) 是由 周江涛 袁智鹏 李�浩 于 2021-07-16 设计创作，主要内容包括：一种多机器人交汇行走调度方法,包括如下步骤：在机器人行走的高精度地图上,描绘出狭窄区域；当机器人A行走至管制区域前,向调度系统后台发送询问指令,调度系统后台判断管制区域内是否有其它机器人正在通行,根据该管制区域内无其它机器人、只有一台机器人、两台机器人及两台以上机器人正在通行的情况,并根据管制区域的类型、通道宽度、机器人的宽度、行走路径和行走方向,禁止或允许机器人A通过该管制区域。本发明通过对多机器人通过狭窄区域时的各种情况进行分类,针对可能出现的各种状况制定出合适的机器人行走方案,避免多机器人在狭窄区域交汇时卡死、堵塞情况的发生,在保证机器人安全行走的前提下进一步提高机器人的行走效率。(A multi-robot convergence walking scheduling method comprises the following steps: drawing a narrow area on a high-precision map of robot walking; before the robot A walks to a controlled area, an inquiry instruction is sent to a background of a dispatching system, the background of the dispatching system judges whether other robots pass through the controlled area, and the robot A is forbidden or allowed to pass through the controlled area according to the conditions that no other robot, only one robot, two robots and more than two robots pass through the controlled area and the type, the channel width, the walking path and the walking direction of the robot in the controlled area. According to the invention, various conditions when multiple robots pass through a narrow area are classified, and a proper robot walking scheme is made according to various possible conditions, so that the occurrence of jamming and blocking conditions when multiple robots meet in the narrow area is avoided, and the walking efficiency of the robots is further improved on the premise of ensuring the safe walking of the robots.)

1. A multi-robot intersection walking scheduling method is characterized by comprising the following steps:

s1, drawing a narrow area on a high-precision map of robot walking, defining the narrow area as a controlled area, dividing the controlled area into a straight-through controlled area and a cross controlled area according to the type of the controlled area, wherein the straight-through controlled area comprises a linear controlled area and a curved controlled area, the cross controlled area comprises a T-shaped controlled area, a cross controlled area and an island controlled area, and storing the information of each controlled area to a background of a dispatching system;

s2, before the robot A walks to the controlled area, an inquiry instruction is sent to the background of the dispatching system, and the background of the dispatching system judges whether other robots pass through the controlled area or not:

s2-1, if no other robot passes through the controlled area, the robot A sends a locking instruction to the background of the dispatching system, after the controlled area is locked, the robot A passes through the controlled area, and after the robot A passes through the controlled area, the robot A sends an unlocking instruction to the background of the dispatching system to unlock the controlled area; during the locking period, if other robots B request to pass through the regulated area, the background of the dispatching system prohibits or allows the robots B to pass through the regulated area according to the type of the regulated area, the width of a channel, the widths of the robots A and B and the walking direction;

s2-2, if only one other robot C in the controlled area is passing and the controlled area is in a state locked by the robot C, the background of the dispatching system prohibits or allows the robot A to pass through the controlled area according to the type of the controlled area, the width of a channel, the width and the walking direction of the robot A and the robot C;

s2-3, if two other robots pass through the controlled area and the controlled area is in a state locked by the two robots, the background of the dispatching system prohibits or allows the robot A to pass through the controlled area according to the type and the channel width of the controlled area, the width and the walking direction of the robot A and the two robots passing through the controlled area;

s2-4, if more than two other robots pass through the control area, the background of the dispatching system sends a no-pass instruction to the robot A and instructs the robot A to go to a temporary stop point to stop, and after the number of the passing robots is reduced to two or less, the method in the steps S2-1, S2-2 or S2-3 is selected to pass through the control area according to the number of the passing robots.

2. The method for dispatching multiple robots intersected walking of claim 1, wherein in step S2-2, the method for the dispatch system background to prohibit or allow robot a to pass through the regulated area according to the type of the regulated area, the aisle width, the width of robot a and robot C and the walking direction is as follows:

the background of the dispatching system judges whether the walking directions of the robot A and the robot C are consistent, if so, a passing instruction is sent to the robot A, and the robot A passes through the control area after following the robot C; if not, judging whether the controlled area is a straight-through controlled area or a cross controlled area:

if the robot is a straight-through type controlled area, the background of the dispatching system judges whether the controlled area meets the condition that the robot A and the robot C walk side by side without triggering a safe distance alarm, if so, the background of the dispatching system sends a passage permission instruction to the robot A and the robot C so that the robot A and the robot C respectively walk close to two sides of a channel while leaning against the two sides, if not, the background of the dispatching system sends a passage prohibition instruction to the robot A and instructs the robot A to go to a temporary stop point to stop, after the standby robot C completely passes through the controlled area and sends an unlocking instruction to the background of the dispatching system, the background of the dispatching system sends the passage permission instruction to the robot A, and the robot A locks and passes through the controlled area;

if the control area is a cross control area, judging whether the walking routes of the robot A and the robot C are crossed, overlapped or not crossed and not overlapped: if the robot A does not cross or overlap, the background of the scheduling system sends a passage-allowing instruction to the robot A, and the robot A normally passes through the control area according to the planned walking route; if the robot A is crossed, the background of the dispatching system sends a no-passing instruction to the robot A and instructs the robot A to go to a temporary stop point to stop, after the standby robot C completely passes through the control area and sends an unlocking instruction to the background of the dispatching system, the background of the dispatching system sends a passing-allowing instruction to the robot A again, and the robot A is locked and passes through the control area again; if the robot A and the robot C are overlapped, judging whether the width of the overlapped part meets the requirement that the robot A and the robot C walk side by side without triggering a safety distance alarm, if so, sending a passage permission instruction to the robot A by a scheduling system background, enabling the robot A and the robot C to walk close to two sides of a channel respectively at the overlapped part of the walking routes of the robot A and the robot C, if not, sending a passage prohibition instruction to the robot A by the scheduling system background, stopping the robot A to a temporary stopping point, and passing the robot A through a pipe control area after the standby robot C completely passes through the pipe control area;

the walking route of the robot in the controlled area refers to a route formed by the robot passing through the middle point of each channel of the controlled area; the walking routes are crossed, namely the two walking routes have a cross point on a high-precision map, and the robot can collide when walking according to the walking routes;

the walking routes are overlapped, namely the two walking routes have overlapped parts on the high-precision map, wherein the overlapped parts comprise partial overlapping and complete overlapping, and the overlapped parts can be in the same direction or reverse direction;

the walking routes are not crossed or overlapped, the two walking routes do not have any crossed or overlapped part on the high-precision map, and the two robots walk according to the walking routes without collision.

3. The method for dispatching multiple robots convergent walking according to claim 1, wherein in step S2-3, the method for the dispatch system background to prohibit or allow robot a to pass through the regulated area according to the type of the regulated area, the aisle width, the width of robot a and the width and walking direction of two robots passing through the regulated area is as follows:

s2-3-1, if the driving directions of the two robots in the control area are completely consistent, judging whether the robot A is consistent with the walking directions of the two robots, if so, the robot A follows the back of the two robots to pass through the control area; if not, judging whether the controlled area is a straight-through controlled area or a cross controlled area:

if the robot A and the robot A do not meet the requirement of walking side by side, the robot A and the two robots are enabled to walk side by side respectively, if not, the robot A is forbidden to pass through, the robot A is commanded to go to a temporary stop point to stop, and the robot A and the two robots which do not meet the requirement of walking side by side in the two robots are enabled to pass through the control area completely;

if the robot is a cross type control area, judging whether the walking routes of the robot A and the two robots are crossed, overlapped or not crossed or overlapped: if the two robots completely pass through the control area and send an unlocking instruction to the scheduling system background, the scheduling system background sends a passage permission instruction to the robot A, and the robot A passes through the control area; if the robot A does not cross or overlap, the background of the scheduling system sends a passage-allowing instruction to the robot A, and the robot A normally passes through the control area according to the planned walking route; if the robot A and the robot A do not meet the requirement of walking side by side, the robot A is judged to pass through a control area after the robot A and the robot A do not meet the requirement of walking side by side;

s2-3-2, if the driving directions of the two robots in the control area are not consistent, judging whether the control area is a straight-through control area or a cross control area:

if the robot A is a straight-through type controlled area, judging whether the controlled area meets the condition that the robot A and a robot in the two robots, which is opposite to the walking direction of the robot A, walk side by side without triggering a safety distance alarm, if so, the robot A walks along the side, and the side-by direction of the robot A is consistent with the side-by direction of the robot in the two robots, which is the same as the walking direction of the robot A; if not, commanding the robot A to go to the temporary stop point to stop, and after the robot in the two robots, which is opposite to the walking direction of the robot A, completely passes through the control area, passing through the control area;

if the robot A is in the crossed control area, the robot A is instructed to go to the temporary stop point to stop, and after one of the two robots completely passes through the control area, the robot A passes through the control area according to the walking state of the other robot.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the walking status of the other robot in step S2-3-2 includes walking direction and walking route, and the robot is set as robot D:

if the walking direction of the robot D is completely consistent with that of the robot A, the robot A follows the back of the robot D and passes through the control area;

if the walking direction of the robot D is inconsistent with the walking direction of the robot A, judging whether the walking routes of the robot A and the robot D are crossed or overlapped or not, and judging whether the walking routes of the robot A and the robot D are crossed or not: if the robot A does not cross or overlap, the background of the scheduling system sends a passage-allowing instruction to the robot A, and the robot A normally passes through the control area according to the planned walking route; if the standby robot D completely passes through the control area, the robot A passes through the control area again; if the robot A and the robot D are overlapped, whether the width of the overlapped part meets the requirements of walking of the robot A and the robot D side by side and does not trigger safety distance alarm is judged, if so, the dispatching system background sends a passing permission instruction to the robot A, the robot A and the robot D are enabled to walk close to two sides of a channel respectively at the overlapped part of the walking routes of the robot A and the robot D, if not, the dispatching system background sends a passing prohibition instruction to the robot A, the robot A stops at a temporary stopping point, and after the standby robot D completely passes through a control area, the robot A passes through the control area.

5. The method for dispatching multiple robots convergent walking according to claim 1, wherein during the locking in step S2-1, if other robot B requests to pass through the regulated area, the background of the dispatching system prohibits or allows robot B to pass through the regulated area according to the type of the regulated area, the aisle width, the width of robot a and robot B and the walking direction:

judging whether the walking directions of the robot B and the robot A are consistent, if so, sending a passing instruction to the robot B, and enabling the robot B to pass through the control area after following the robot A; if not, judging whether the controlled area is a straight-through controlled area or a cross controlled area:

if the control area is a straight-through control area, the background of the dispatching system judges whether the control area meets the condition that the robot A and the robot B walk side by side without triggering a safe distance alarm, if so, the background of the dispatching system sends a passage allowing instruction to the robot A and the robot B so that the robot A and the robot B respectively approach to two sides of a channel to walk side by side, if not, the background of the dispatching system sends a passage forbidding instruction to the robot B and instructs the robot B to go to a temporary stop point to stop, and after the standby robot A completely passes through the control area, the robot B passes through the control area again;

if the control area is a cross control area, judging whether the walking routes of the robot B and the robot A are crossed, overlapped or not crossed and not overlapped: if the robot B does not cross or overlap, the background of the scheduling system sends a passage-allowing instruction to the robot B, and the robot B normally passes through the control area according to the planned walking route; if the standby robot A completely passes through the control area, the robot B passes through the control area again; if the robot A and the robot B are overlapped, whether the width of the overlapped part meets the requirements of the robot A and the robot B walking side by side and the safety distance alarm is not triggered is judged, if so, a passing permission instruction is sent to the robot A and the robot B by a background of a dispatching system, the robot A and the robot B walk close to two sides of a channel respectively at the overlapped part of walking routes of the robot A and the robot B and walk close to the two sides of the channel, if not, a passing prohibition instruction is sent to the robot B by the background of the dispatching system, the robot B stops at a temporary stopping point, and after the standby robot A completely passes through a control area, the robot B passes through the control area.

6. The method for dispatching multiple robots to cross walk according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein when the robot travels to the temporary stop and stops, if the temporary stop has stopped the robot E, the robot E is arranged behind the robot E, the standby robot E passes through the controlled area, and after the number of the passing robots in the controlled area is reduced to two or less, the method in the step S2-1, S2-2 or S2-3 is selected to pass through the controlled area according to the number of the passing robots.

7. The method for dispatching the multi-robot intersected walking of any one of claims 2 to 5, wherein in the process that two robots respectively approach to two sides of a passage to walk close to each other, if one robot encounters a temporary obstacle, the robot stops temporarily without avoiding the obstacle, and an obstacle avoiding walking mode is started until the other robot completely passes through a control area.

8. The method for dispatching the multi-robot junction walking according to any one of claims 2 to 5, wherein the method for judging whether the controlled area meets the condition that two robots walk side by side without triggering the safety distance alarm comprises the following steps:

the two robots are respectively a robot M and a robot N, the minimum channel width of a control area is d, the width of the robot M is x1, the width of the robot N is x2, the safe distance of the robot M walking close to the side is y1, the safe distance of the robot N walking close to the side is y2, and the safe distance of the robot M walking side by side with the robot N is y 3;

when d is larger than x1+ x2+ y1+ y2+ y3, the control area is considered to be a double lane, the robot M and the robot N walk side by side and safety distance alarm is not triggered; if not, the condition is not satisfied.

9. The method for dispatching the multi-robot convergent walking according to claim 8, wherein the minimum passageway width d of the controlled area is calculated by: the distance between a straight line perpendicular to the driving direction in a certain channel in the control area and intersection points on two sides of the channel is the width of the channel at the certain position; the minimum value of the channel widths at each position in the control area is the minimum channel width d of the control area.

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of robot walking, in particular to a multi-robot intersection walking scheduling method.

Background

The situation such as intersection collision can not appear when a robot works in a working area, but when a plurality of robots work in cooperation in the same scene area, the situation that the robot is stuck by the robot can appear, especially when a narrow area exists in the working area, such as a narrow passage, an intersection and the like, when the robots intersect in the narrow area, two or more robots are stuck and cannot walk, the working efficiency of the robots is influenced, and therefore an effective solution needs to be made for the intersection situation of the robots in the narrow area to carry out effective scheduling.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to overcome the defects of the prior art and provide a multi-robot intersection walking scheduling method which is used in a narrow area, can ensure that multiple robots can safely walk to avoid being stuck and can effectively improve the walking efficiency.

The invention is realized by the following technical scheme:

a multi-robot convergence walking scheduling method comprises the following steps:

s1, drawing a narrow area on a high-precision map of robot walking, defining the narrow area as a control area, dividing the control area into a straight-through control area and a cross control area according to the type of the control area, wherein the straight-through control area comprises a linear control area and a bent control area, namely the area which can only pass through in a straight line, the cross control area comprises a T-shaped control area, a cross control area and an island control area, and storing information such as coordinate data, types, channel widths and the like of the control areas to a background of a scheduling system. The type of the controlled area needs to be surveyed in advance and stored in the background of the dispatching system, and a drawing tool can be used for drawing the narrow area.

S2, when the robot A moves to the controlled area (is about to reach the controlled area), sending an inquiry instruction to the background of the dispatching system, and judging whether other robots pass through in the controlled area by the background of the dispatching system:

s2-1, if no other robot passes through the controlled area, the robot A sends a locking instruction to the background of the dispatching system, after the controlled area is locked, the robot A passes through the controlled area, and after the robot A passes through the controlled area, the robot A sends an unlocking instruction to the background of the dispatching system to unlock the controlled area; during the locking period, if other robots B request to pass through the regulated area, the background of the dispatching system prohibits or allows the robots B to pass through the regulated area according to the type of the regulated area, the width of the passage, the widths of the robots A and B and the walking direction (which means the direction of the robots passing through the regulated area).

Before each robot passes through the control area, the control area needs to be locked, and after the robot passes through the control area, the control area needs to be unlocked.

S2-2, if only one other robot C in the controlled area is passing and the controlled area is in a state locked by the robot C, the background of the dispatching system prohibits or allows the robot A to pass through the controlled area according to the type of the controlled area, the width of the channel, the width and the walking direction of the robot A and the robot C.

S2-3, if two other robots are passing in the controlled area (the two robots are both walking and do not include the robot stopped at the temporary stop point), the controlled area is in a state locked by the two robots, the background of the dispatching system prohibits or allows the robot A to pass through the controlled area according to the type of the controlled area, the width of the channel, the width of the robot A and the width and the walking direction of the two robots passing through the controlled area;

s2-4, if more than two other robots pass through the control area, the background of the dispatching system sends a no-pass instruction to the robot A, and instructs the robot A to go to a temporary stop point (the temporary stop point can be set according to the peripheral situation of the control area in advance) for stopping, after the number of the passing robots is reduced to two or less than two, the method in the steps S2-1, S2-2 or S2-3 is selected according to the number of the passing robots to pass through the control area (if the number of the robots is 0, the step S2-1 is executed; if the number of the robots is 1, the step S2-2 is executed; if the number of the robots is 2, the step S2-3 is executed).

Further, in step S2-2, the method for the scheduling system background to prohibit or allow the robot a to pass through the regulated area according to the type of the regulated area, the channel width, the widths of the robot a and the robot C, and the walking direction is as follows:

the background of the dispatching system judges whether the walking directions of the robot A and the robot C are consistent (the walking directions are the same as the walking directions of the robot A and the robot C in the controlled area), wherein the walking directions can be judged through path planning diagrams of the robot A and the robot B or through the change conditions of displacement coordinates of the robot A and the robot B, if so, a passing instruction is sent to the robot A, and the robot A follows the robot C and then passes through the controlled area; if not, judging whether the controlled area is a straight-through controlled area or a cross controlled area:

if the control area is a straight-through control area (indicating that the walking directions of the robot A and the robot C are opposite), the background of the dispatching system judges whether the control area meets the condition that the robot A and the robot C walk side by side without triggering a safe distance alarm, if yes, the background of the dispatching system sends a passage permission instruction to the robot A and the robot C, so that the robot A and the robot C respectively approach to two sides of the passage to walk along the side (one robot approaches to one side, and can adopt uniform left-side driving or right-side driving), if not, the background of the dispatching system sends a passage prohibition instruction to the robot A, and instructs the robot A to go to a temporary stop point for stopping (the temporary stop point can be freely set), after the standby robot C completely passes through the control area and sends an unlocking instruction to the background of the dispatching system, the background of the dispatching system sends a passing permission instruction to the robot A, and the robot A locks the control area and then passes through the control area;

if the control area is a cross control area, judging whether the walking routes of the robot A and the robot C are crossed, overlapped or not crossed and not overlapped: if the robot A does not cross or overlap, the background of the scheduling system sends a passage-allowing instruction to the robot A, and the robot A normally passes through the control area according to the planned walking route; if the robot A is crossed, the background of the dispatching system sends a no-passing instruction to the robot A and instructs the robot A to go to a temporary stop point to stop, the standby robot C completely passes through the control area and sends an unlocking instruction to the background of the dispatching system, the background of the dispatching system sends a passing-allowing instruction to the robot A, and the robot A locks the control area and then passes through the control area; if the robot A and the robot C are overlapped, whether the width of the overlapped part meets the requirements of the robot A and the robot C walking side by side and the safety distance alarm is not triggered is judged, if so, the dispatching system background sends a passing permission instruction to the robot A, the robot A and the robot C walk close to the two sides of the channel respectively at the overlapped part of the walking routes of the robot A and the robot C, if not, the dispatching system background sends a passing prohibition instruction to the robot A, the robot A stops at a temporary stopping point, and after the standby robot C completely passes through the control area, the robot A passes through the control area.

For the case of crossing or overlapping walking routes, this can be defined as:

the walking route of the robot in the controlled area refers to a route formed by the robot passing through the middle point of each channel of the controlled area; the walking route of the robot is planned by the robot before executing the task, or is planned and issued by a background of a scheduling system when the task is reached.

The walking routes are crossed, namely two walking routes have a cross point on a high-precision map, generally two walking routes only have the cross point, are not parallel to each other and have no overlapped part, and the robot can collide when walking according to the walking routes;

the walking routes are overlapped, namely the two walking routes are overlapped on a high-precision map, the overlapping parts comprise partial overlapping and complete overlapping, generally the two walking routes are overlapped, the robot can collide at the overlapped part when walking according to the directions of the two walking routes, and the overlapped part can be in the same direction or reverse direction;

the walking routes are not crossed or overlapped, the two walking routes do not have any crossed or overlapped part on the high-precision map, and the two robots walk according to the walking routes without collision.

Further, in step S2-3, the method for the dispatch system background to prohibit or allow the robot a to pass through the regulated area according to the type of the regulated area, the channel width, the width and the walking direction of the robot a and the two robots passing through the regulated area is as follows:

s2-3-1, if the driving directions of the two robots in the control area are completely consistent, judging whether the robot A is consistent with the walking directions of the two robots, if so, the robot A follows the back of the two robots to pass through the control area; if not, judging whether the controlled area is a straight-through controlled area or a cross controlled area:

if the robot is a straight-through type controlled area (indicating that the walking directions of the robot A and the two robots are opposite), judging whether the controlled area meets the requirement that the robot A and any one of the two robots walk side by side without triggering a safety distance alarm (the robot A with larger width in the two robots can meet the requirement that the robot A and the robot with larger width can pass through the controlled area side by side, if so, sending an edge walking instruction to the robot A and the two robots to enable the robot A and the two robots to respectively walk edge by side (the edge directions of the two robots are the same, the edge directions of the robot A and the two robots are opposite), if not, forbidding the robot A to pass through, commanding the robot A to stop at a temporary stop point, and after the robot A in the two robots which does not meet the requirement that the robot A walks side by side completely passes through the controlled area (possibly one of the two robots, or two), and then pass through the pipe system area (each robot sends an unlocking instruction after passing through the pipe system area, and each robot sends a locking instruction when passing through the pipe system area);

if the robot is a cross type control area, judging whether the walking routes of the robot A and the two robots are crossed, overlapped or not crossed or overlapped: if the two robots completely pass through the control area and send an unlocking instruction to the scheduling system background, the scheduling system background sends a passage permission instruction to the robot A again, and the robot A locks and passes through the control area again; if the robot A does not cross or overlap, the background of the scheduling system sends a passage-allowing instruction to the robot A, and the robot A normally passes through the control area according to the planned walking route; if the robot A and the robot A do not meet the requirement of walking side by side, the robot A is judged to pass through a control area after the robot A and the robot A do not meet the requirement of walking side by side;

s2-3-2, if the driving directions of the two robots in the control area are not consistent, judging whether the control area is a straight-through control area or a cross control area:

if the robot A is a straight-through type controlled area (indicating that the walking direction of the robot A is opposite to that of one robot C in the two robots), judging whether the controlled area meets the condition that the robot A and the robot in the two robots, which is opposite to the walking direction of the robot A, walk side by side without triggering a safe distance alarm, if so, the robot A walks along the side, and the side walking direction of the robot A is consistent with that of the robot in the two robots, which is the same as the walking direction of the robot A; if not, commanding the robot A to go to the temporary stop point to stop, and after the robot in the two robots, which is opposite to the walking direction of the robot A, completely passes through the control area, passing through the control area;

if the robot A is in the crossed control area, the robot A is instructed to go to the temporary stop point to stop, and after one of the two robots completely passes through the control area, the robot A passes through the control area according to the walking state of the other robot.

Further, the walking state of the other robot in step S2-3-2 includes a walking direction and a walking route, and the robot is set as the robot D:

if the walking direction of the robot D is completely consistent with that of the robot A, the robot A follows the back of the robot D and passes through the control area;

if the walking direction of the robot D is inconsistent with the walking direction of the robot A, judging whether the walking routes of the robot A and the robot D are crossed or overlapped or not, and judging whether the walking routes of the robot A and the robot D are crossed or not: if the robot A does not cross or overlap, the background of the scheduling system sends a passage-allowing instruction to the robot A, and the robot A normally passes through the control area according to the planned walking route; if the standby robot D completely passes through the control area, the robot A passes through the control area again; if the robot A and the robot D are overlapped, whether the width of the route overlapping part meets the requirements that the robot A and the robot D walk side by side without triggering safety distance alarm is judged, if so, a passing permission instruction is sent to the robot A by a scheduling system background, the robot A and the robot D walk close to two sides of a channel respectively at the overlapping part of the walking routes of the robot A and the robot D and walk close to the two sides of the channel, if not, the passing prohibition instruction is sent to the robot A by the scheduling system background, the robot A stops at a temporary stopping point, and after the standby robot D completely passes through a control area, the robot A passes through the control area.

Further, during the locking in step S2-1, if another robot B requests to pass through the regulated area, the method for the dispatch system background to prohibit or allow the robot B to pass through the regulated area according to the type of the regulated area, the aisle width, the width of the robot a and the robot B, and the walking direction is as follows:

judging whether the walking directions of the robot B and the robot A are consistent, if so, sending a passing instruction to the robot B, and enabling the robot B to pass through the control area after following the robot A; if not, judging whether the controlled area is a straight-through controlled area or a cross controlled area:

if the robot B passes through the control area, the control area is judged to be a straight-through control area (the walking direction of the robot B is opposite to that of the robot A), the background of the dispatching system judges whether the control area meets the condition that the robot A and the robot B walk side by side without triggering a safe distance alarm, if so, the background of the dispatching system sends a passage permission instruction to the robot A and the robot B so that the robot A and the robot B respectively approach to two sides of a channel to walk side by side, if not, the background of the dispatching system sends a passage prohibition instruction to the robot B and instructs the robot B to go to a temporary stop point to stop, and after the standby robot A completely passes through the control area, the robot B passes through the control area again;

if the control area is a cross control area, judging whether the walking routes of the robot B and the robot A are crossed, overlapped or not crossed and not overlapped: if the robot B does not cross or overlap, the background of the scheduling system sends a passage-allowing instruction to the robot B, and the robot B normally passes through the control area according to the planned walking route; if the standby robot A completely passes through the control area, the robot B passes through the control area again; if the robot A and the robot B are overlapped, whether the width of the overlapped part of the routes meets the requirement that the robot A and the robot B walk side by side without triggering safety distance alarm is judged, if so, a passing permission instruction is sent to the robot A and the robot B by a background of a dispatching system, the robot A and the robot B walk close to two sides of a channel respectively at the overlapped part of the walking routes of the robot A and the robot B and walk close to the two sides of the channel, if not, the passing prohibition instruction is sent to the robot B by the background of the dispatching system, the robot B stops at a temporary stopping point, and after the standby robot A completely passes through a control area, the robot B passes through the control area.

Further, when the robot goes to the temporary stop point and stops, if the robot E has stopped at the temporary stop point, the robot is arranged behind the robot E, the standby robot E passes through the controlled area, and after the number of the passing robots in the controlled area is reduced to two or less, the method in the step S2-1, S2-2 or S2-3 is selected to pass through the controlled area according to the number of the passing robots.

Further, in the process that the two robots respectively approach to two sides of the channel to walk along the sides, if one robot encounters a temporary obstacle, the robot stops temporarily without avoiding the obstacle, and the obstacle avoiding walking mode is started until the other robot completely passes through the control area. If the robot A meets the temporary obstacle, the robot A stops temporarily, the robot B avoids the obstacle to walk after completely passing through the control area, the collision caused by narrow channels is avoided, similarly, if the robot B meets the temporary obstacle, the robot B stops walking similarly, and the robot A waits for the obstacle to be avoided after passing through.

Further, the method for judging whether the controlled area meets the condition that two robots walk side by side without triggering the safety distance alarm comprises the following steps:

the two robots are respectively a robot M and a robot N, the minimum channel width of a control area is d, the width of the robot M is x1, the width of the robot N is x2, the safe distance of the robot M walking close to the side is y1, the safe distance of the robot N walking close to the side is y2, and the safe distance of the robot M walking side by side with the robot N is y 3;

when d is larger than x1+ x2+ y1+ y2+ y3, the control area is considered to be a double lane, the robot M and the robot N walk side by side and safety distance alarm is not triggered; if not, the condition is not satisfied. The robots of different types have different sizes, different widths and different safe distances for walking beside, and the safe distances for walking side by side of the robots of different types are different and can be preset according to the specific types of the robots.

Further, the method for calculating the channel width at each position in the controlled area may specifically be: the distance between a straight line perpendicular to the driving direction in a certain channel and the intersection points of the two sides of the channel is the width of the channel; the minimum value of the channel widths at each position in the control area is the minimum channel width d of the control area. The minimum lane width of the regulated area must allow either type of single robot to pass through

The invention classifies and simulates various conditions when multiple robots pass through a narrow area, and a proper robot walking scheme is made according to various conditions which may occur, so that the occurrence of the conditions of jamming and blocking when the multiple robots are intersected in the narrow area is avoided, meanwhile, a waiting strategy is not taken, but comprehensive judgment is carried out according to the walking route, the walking direction, the type of the narrow area, the channel width and other conditions of each robot, and the walking efficiency of the robot is improved as much as possible on the premise of ensuring the safe walking of the robot; the types of the narrow areas are straight-through type and cross type, the narrow areas include basic narrow areas possibly causing jamming, all possible situations such as the same direction, the reverse direction, the cross and the overlapping are considered in the walking route and the walking direction of the robot, the robot objects are arranged to run as far as possible by judging whether the channel width meets the walking condition, the whole walking efficiency of the multiple robots is improved, the method is suitable for systems such as distribution of the multiple robots, and the cooperative work of the multiple robots in different scene areas is realized.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic flow chart of an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a flow-through controlled area according to an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 3 is another schematic diagram of a flow-through controlled area according to an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 4 is a schematic flow chart of the embodiment of the present invention when no other robot is passing through the controlled area.

Fig. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of the operation of the robot to stop at the temporary stop point according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 6 is an exemplary diagram of two walking routes having an overlap in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is another example of the embodiment of the present invention in which two walking paths overlap.

FIG. 8 is another example of the embodiment of the present invention in which two walking paths overlap.

FIG. 9 is another example of the embodiment of the present invention in which two walking paths overlap.

FIG. 10 is another example of the embodiment of the present invention in which two walking paths overlap.

FIG. 11 is another example of the embodiment of the present invention in which two walking paths overlap.

Fig. 12 is an exemplary diagram of a crossing of two walking routes in an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is another exemplary diagram of a crossing of two walking paths in an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 14 is an exemplary diagram of two walking routes that do not intersect and overlap in the embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 15 is a schematic flow chart of the embodiment of the present invention when only one other robot C is passing through the controlled area.

Fig. 16 is an exemplary diagram of the robot heading to the temporary stop point for stopping in the embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 17 is a schematic flow chart of the embodiment of the present invention when two other robots C are passing through the control area.

Fig. 18 is a schematic flow chart illustrating a case where two robots pass through the control area and the walking directions of the two robots are completely consistent according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 19 is a schematic flow chart illustrating a case where two robots pass through a controlled area and the walking directions of the two robots are not consistent according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 20 is an exemplary diagram of a case where two robots are passing through the controlled area and the walking directions are not consistent in the embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 21 is an exemplary diagram of a case where two robots run alongside and encounter a temporary obstacle in the embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 22 is a schematic diagram of the width of the passage and the safe walking distance of the robot in the embodiment of the invention.

Detailed Description

A multi-robot convergence walking scheduling method, as shown in FIG. 1, includes the following steps:

s1, drawing a narrow area on the high-precision map of the robot walking, and defining it as a controlled area.

The narrow area can be a road intersection, such as a T-shaped intersection, a crossroad, an island-around intersection and the like, and can also be a narrow area such as an automatic door, a building crossing, a narrow passageway and the like. The method divides a controlled area into a straight-through controlled area and a cross controlled area according to the type of the controlled area (narrow area), wherein the straight-through controlled area comprises a linear controlled area (as shown in figure 2) and a bending controlled area (as shown in figure 3), namely, the controlled area can only pass through in a straight line way, such as a linear channel and a bending nonlinear channel, and the cross controlled area comprises a T-shaped controlled area (as shown in figure 6, figure 8 and figure 10), a cross controlled area (as shown in figure 7, figure 9, figure 11 to figure 13), an island controlled area (as shown in figure 14) and the like, and the information of coordinate data, channel width, type and the like of each controlled area is stored in a background of a scheduling system; the types of the regulated areas, including the channel width of the regulated areas, and the like can be surveyed in advance and stored in the background of the dispatching system, and a drawing tool can be used for drawing the narrow areas.

S2, when the robot A moves to the controlled area (is about to reach the controlled area), sending an inquiry instruction to the background of the dispatching system, and judging whether other robots pass through in the controlled area by the background of the dispatching system:

s2-1, if no other robot passes through the controlled area, as shown in FIG. 4, the robot A sends a locking instruction to the background of the dispatching system, after the controlled area is locked, the robot A passes through the controlled area, and after the robot A passes through the controlled area, the robot A sends an unlocking instruction to the background of the dispatching system to unlock the controlled area; during the locking period, if other robots B request to pass through the regulated area, the background of the dispatching system prohibits or allows the robots B to pass through the regulated area according to the type of the regulated area, the width of the passage, the widths of the robots A and B and the walking direction (which means the direction of the robots passing through the regulated area).

Before each robot passes through the control area, the control area needs to be locked, and after the robot passes through the control area, the control area needs to be unlocked.

S2-2, if only one other robot C in the controlled area is passing and the controlled area is in a state locked by the robot C, the background of the dispatching system prohibits or allows the robot A to pass through the controlled area according to the type of the controlled area, the width of the channel, the width and the walking direction of the robot A and the robot C.

S2-3, if there are two other robots passing through the regulated area (here, two robots are both walking and do not include the robot parked at the temporary stop), and the regulated area is in a state locked by the two robots, the background of the dispatching system prohibits or allows the robot a to pass through the regulated area according to the type of the regulated area, the width of the passage, the width of the robot a and the width and the walking direction of the two robots passing through the regulated area.

S2-4, if more than two other robots pass through the control area, as shown in FIG. 1, the background of the dispatching system sends a no-pass instruction to the robot A, and instructs the robot A to go to a temporary stop point (the temporary stop point can be set according to the peripheral situation of the control area in advance) for stopping, after the number of the passing robots is reduced to be less than two or two, the method in the steps S2-1, S2-2 or S2-3 is selected to pass through the control area according to the number of the passing robots (if the number of the robots is 0, the step S2-1 is executed, if the number of the robots is 1, the step S2-2 is executed, and if the number of the robots is 2, the step S2-3 is executed).

As one embodiment, during the locking in step S2-1, if other robot B requests to pass through the regulated area, the method for the dispatch system background to prohibit or allow robot B to pass through the regulated area according to the type of the regulated area, the aisle width, the width of robot a and robot B, and the walking direction is (as shown in fig. 4):

judging whether the walking directions of the robot B and the robot A are consistent, if so, sending a passing instruction to the robot B, and enabling the robot B to pass through the control area after following the robot A; if not, judging whether the controlled area is a straight-through controlled area or a cross controlled area:

(1) if the robot A passes through the control area, the dispatching system background judges whether the control area meets the requirement that the robot A and the robot B walk side by side without triggering a safety distance alarm, if so, the dispatching system background sends a passage permission instruction to the robot A and the robot B so that the robot A and the robot B respectively walk close to two sides of a channel side by side, if not, the dispatching system background sends a passage prohibition instruction to the robot B and instructs the robot B to go to a temporary stop point for stopping, and after the standby robot A completely passes through the control area, the robot B passes through the control area again.

(2) If the control area is a cross-type control area, it is determined whether the traveling routes of the robot B and the robot a cross, overlap or neither cross nor overlap.

The crossing, overlapping, non-crossing and non-overlapping conditions of the walking routes can be defined as follows:

the walking route of the robot in the controlled area refers to a route formed by the robot passing through the middle point of each channel of the controlled area. The walking route of the robot is planned by the robot before executing the task, or is planned and issued by a background of a scheduling system when the task is reached.

The two walking routes are crossed, namely the two walking routes have a cross point on a high-precision map, generally, the two walking routes only have the cross point, are not parallel to each other and have no overlapped part, and the situation that two robots collide when walking according to the walking routes is adopted. As shown in the cross-shaped controlled areas in fig. 10 and 11, the travel routes may intersect in the island-and-loop controlled area in fig. 12. The walking routes are overlapped, namely the two walking routes have overlapped parts on a high-precision map, including partial overlapping and complete overlapping, generally the two walking routes have overlapped parts, the robot can collide at the overlapped parts, such as the situation that the walking routes shown in a T-shaped control area and a cross-shaped control area are partially overlapped as shown in fig. 6-9, the walking routes shown in the T-shaped control area and the cross-shaped control area are completely overlapped as shown in fig. 10 and 11, the walking routes in a ring-island control area can also be overlapped, and the overlapped parts can be in the same direction (such as fig. 6 and 8) or in the reverse direction (such as fig. 7, 9, 10 and 11). The condition that the walking routes are completely overlapped and in the same direction is the condition that the walking directions of the two robots are completely consistent, and the following strategy is adopted in the condition. The two walking routes do not intersect or overlap, and the two walking routes do not have any intersecting or overlapping part on the high-precision map, so that the two robots walk according to the walking routes without collision, such as the situation in an annular island type control area shown in fig. 14. And (4) judging according to the rule: if the robot B does not cross or overlap, the background of the scheduling system sends a passage-allowing instruction to the robot B, and the robot B normally passes through the control area according to the planned walking route; if the standby robot A completely passes through the control area, the robot B passes through the control area again; if the robot A and the robot B are overlapped, whether the width of the overlapped part of the routes meets the requirement that the robot A and the robot B walk side by side without triggering safety distance alarm is judged, if so, a passing permission instruction is sent to the robot A and the robot B by a background of a dispatching system, the robot A and the robot B walk close to two sides of a channel respectively at the overlapped part of the walking routes of the robot A and the robot B and walk close to the two sides of the channel, if not, the passing prohibition instruction is sent to the robot B by the background of the dispatching system, the robot B stops at a temporary stopping point, and after the standby robot A completely passes through a control area, the robot B passes through the control area. The side-by-side directions in which the robots travel while turning are based on the criterion that the robots do not collide with each other, and if the two travel routes shown in fig. 6 and 7 overlap, the two robots do not collide with each other if they respectively travel in the side-by-side directions shown in fig. 6 and 7, and may collide with each other if they respectively travel in the opposite side-by-side directions shown in fig. 6 and 7. The same collision avoidance approach is used in the following cases when walking alongside.

As one embodiment, the method for the dispatch system background in step S2-2 to prohibit or allow the robot a to pass through the regulated area according to the type of the regulated area, the width of the aisle, the widths of the robot a and the robot C, and the walking direction is as follows (see fig. 15):

the background of the dispatching system judges whether the walking directions of the robot A and the robot C (the directions when the robots pass through the control area, the same below) are consistent (the walking directions can be judged through path planning diagrams of the robot A and the robot B or through the change conditions of the displacement coordinates of the robot A and the robot B), if so, a passing instruction is sent to the robot A, and the robot A passes through the control area after following the robot C; if not, judging whether the controlled area is a straight-through controlled area or a cross controlled area:

(1) if the robot is a straight-through type controlled area (indicating that the walking directions of the robot A and the robot C are opposite), the background of the dispatching system judges whether the controlled area meets the condition that the robot A and the robot C walk side by side without triggering a safety distance alarm, if so, the background of the dispatching system sends a passage permission instruction to the robot A and the robot C, so that the robot A and the robot C respectively walk close to two sides of a channel side by side (one robot is close to one side and can adopt uniform left-side running or right-side running), if not, the background of the dispatching system sends a passage prohibition instruction to the robot A and directs the robot A to go to a temporary stopping point to stop (the temporary stopping point can be freely set), after the standby robot C completely passes through the controlled area and sends an unlocking instruction to the background of the dispatching system, the background of the dispatching system sends the passage permission instruction to the robot A again, and the robot A locks the control area and then passes through the control area.

(2) If the control area is a cross control area, judging whether the walking routes of the robot A and the robot C are crossed, overlapped or not crossed and not overlapped: if the robot A does not cross or overlap, the background of the scheduling system sends a passage-allowing instruction to the robot A, and the robot A normally passes through the control area according to the planned walking route; if the robot A is crossed, the background of the dispatching system sends a no-passing instruction to the robot A and instructs the robot A to go to a temporary stop point to stop, the standby robot C completely passes through the control area and sends an unlocking instruction to the background of the dispatching system, the background of the dispatching system sends a passing-allowing instruction to the robot A, and the robot A locks the control area and then passes through the control area; if the robot A and the robot C are overlapped, whether the width of the overlapped part of the routes meets the requirement that the robot A and the robot C walk side by side without triggering safety distance alarm is judged, if so, a passing permission instruction is sent to the robot A by the background of the dispatching system, the robot A and the robot C walk close to two sides of a channel respectively at the overlapped part of the walking routes of the robot A and the robot C and walk close to the two sides of the channel, if not, the passing prohibition instruction is sent to the robot A by the background of the dispatching system, the robot A stops at a temporary stop point, and after the standby robot C completely passes through a control area, the robot A passes through the control area.

As one embodiment, the method for the dispatch system backend in step S2-3 to prohibit or allow the robot a to pass through the regulated area according to the type of the regulated area, the aisle width, the width and the walking direction of the robot a and the two robots passing through the regulated area is as follows (as shown in fig. 17 to 19):

s2-3-1, if the driving directions of the two robots in the control area are completely consistent, judging whether the robot A is consistent with the walking directions of the two robots, if so, the robot A follows the back of the two robots to pass through the control area; if not, judging whether the controlled area is a straight-through controlled area or a cross controlled area:

(1) if the robot is a straight-through type controlled area (indicating that the walking directions of the robot A and the two robots are opposite), judging whether the controlled area meets the requirement that the robot A and any one of the two robots walk side by side without triggering a safety distance alarm (the robot A with larger width in the two robots can meet the requirement that the robot A and the robot with larger width can pass through the controlled area side by side, if so, sending an edge walking instruction to the robot A and the two robots to enable the robot A and the two robots to respectively walk edge by side (the edge directions of the two robots are the same, the edge directions of the robot A and the two robots are opposite), if not, forbidding the robot A to pass through, commanding the robot A to stop at a temporary stop point, and after the robot A in the two robots which does not meet the requirement that the robot A walks side by side completely passes through the controlled area (possibly one of the two robots, or two as well) and then pass through the control area (each robot sends an unlock command after passing, and each robot sends a lock command when passing).

(2) If the robot is a cross type control area, judging whether the walking routes of the robot A and the two robots are crossed, overlapped or not crossed or overlapped: if the two robots completely pass through the control area and send an unlocking instruction to the scheduling system background, the scheduling system background sends a passage permission instruction to the robot A again, and the robot A locks and passes through the control area again; if the robot A does not cross or overlap, the background of the scheduling system sends a passage-allowing instruction to the robot A, and the robot A normally passes through the control area according to the planned walking route; if the robot A and the robot A cannot walk side by side in the two robots, the robot A passes through a pipe control area after the robot A and the robot A cannot walk side by side in the two robots.

S2-3-2, if the driving directions of the two robots in the control area are not consistent, judging whether the control area is a straight-through control area or a cross control area:

(1) if the robot is a straight-through type controlled area (indicating that the walking direction of the robot A is opposite to that of one robot C in the two robots), judging whether the controlled area meets the condition that the robot A walks in parallel with the robot in the two robots in the direction opposite to that of the robot A without triggering a safe distance alarm (namely, if the walking direction of the robot A is opposite to that of one robot in the two robots, the condition that the robot A walks in parallel with the robot is met), if so, as shown in fig. 20, the robot A walks along the side, and the side-by direction of the robot A is consistent with that of the robots in the two robots in the direction same as that of the robot A (namely, the robot A and the robots which run in opposite directions respectively run along the side); if not, the robot A is instructed to go to the temporary stop point to stop, and when the robot in the two robots, which is opposite to the walking direction of the robot A, completely passes through the control area (namely, when the opposite-running robot passes through the control area in advance), the robot passes through the control area.

(2) If the robot A is in the crossed control area, the robot A is instructed to go to the temporary stop point to stop, and after one of the two robots completely passes through the control area, the robot A passes through the control area according to the walking state of the other robot.

As one embodiment, the walking state of the another robot in step S2-3-2(2) includes a walking direction and a walking route, and the robot is a robot D, as shown in fig. 19:

(1) if the walking direction of the robot D is completely consistent with the walking direction of the robot a, the robot a follows the back of the robot D to pass through the regulated area.

(2) If the walking direction of the robot D is inconsistent with the walking direction of the robot A, judging whether the walking routes of the robot A and the robot D are crossed or overlapped or not, and judging whether the walking routes of the robot A and the robot D are crossed or not: if the robot A does not cross or overlap, the background of the scheduling system sends a passage-allowing instruction to the robot A, and the robot A normally passes through the control area according to the planned walking route; if the standby robot D completely passes through the control area, the robot A passes through the control area again; if the robot A and the robot D are overlapped, whether the width of the route overlapping part meets the requirements that the robot A and the robot D walk side by side without triggering safety distance alarm is judged, if so, a passing permission instruction is sent to the robot A by a scheduling system background, the robot A and the robot D walk close to two sides of a channel respectively at the overlapping part of the walking routes of the robot A and the robot D and walk close to the two sides of the channel, if not, the passing prohibition instruction is sent to the robot A by the scheduling system background, the robot A stops at a temporary stopping point, and after the standby robot D completely passes through a control area, the robot A passes through the control area.

As one specific case, as shown in fig. 5, when the robot goes to the temporary stop point and stops, if the robot E has stopped at the temporary stop point, the robot is arranged behind the robot E, the standby robot E passes through the regulated area, and after the number of passing robots in the regulated area is reduced to two or less, the method in step S2-1, S2-2 or S2-3 is selected to pass through the regulated area according to the number of passing robots. The same strategy can be adopted when the robot needs to go to the temporary stopping point and stop, namely, if other robots stop at the temporary stopping point, the robot is arranged behind the other robots and sequentially passes through the control area according to the time sequence of reaching the temporary stopping point; when the temporary stopping points at the two ends of a certain control area stop organic robots, the temporary stopping points sequentially pass through the control area according to the time sequence of reaching the temporary stopping points or the time sequence of sending inquiry instructions to the background of the scheduling system.

As a specific situation, in the process that the two robots respectively approach to two sides of the passage to walk close to the passage, if one of the robots encounters a temporary obstacle, the robot stops temporarily, and does not avoid the obstacle temporarily, and the obstacle avoidance walking mode is started until the other robot completely passes through the control area. As shown in fig. 21, if the robot a encounters a temporary obstacle, the vehicle stops temporarily, and then avoids the obstacle to travel after the robot B completely passes through the control area, so as to avoid collision due to narrow passage.

As an embodiment, the method for determining whether the regulated area satisfies that two robots walk side by side without triggering a safety distance alarm is as follows (see fig. 22):

the two robots are respectively a robot M and a robot N, the minimum channel width of a control area is d, the width of the robot M is x1, the width of the robot N is x2, the safe distance of the robot M walking close to the side is y1, the safe distance of the robot N walking close to the side is y2, and the safe distance of the robot M walking side by side with the robot N is y 3. When d is larger than x1+ x2+ y1+ y2+ y3, the control area is considered to be a double lane, the robot M and the robot N walk side by side and safety distance alarm is not triggered; if not, the condition is not satisfied. The robots of different types have different sizes, different widths and different safe distances for walking beside, and the safe distances for walking side by side of the robots of different types are different and can be preset according to the specific types of the robots.

Further, the method for calculating the minimum channel width d of the regulated area may specifically be: the distance between a straight line perpendicular to the driving direction in a certain channel and the intersection points of the two sides of the channel is the width of the channel; the minimum value of the channel widths at each position in the control area is the minimum channel width d of the control area. In the present invention, the minimum channel width of the regulated area must allow passage of either type of single robot.

The method for calculating the channel width D at each position in the controlled area may specifically be: the distance between the straight line perpendicular to the driving direction in a certain channel and the intersection point of the two sides of the channel is the channel width D of the channel. As shown in fig. 22, the smallest value among the channel widths D1, D2, and D3 … … at the positions in the regulated area is the smallest channel width D of the regulated area. The channel width D of each position in the control area is measured in advance and stored in the background of the dispatching system, and can be obtained by detecting the surveying robot in advance, particularly the minimum channel width D data in the control area is an important basis for dispatching the multi-robot walking in the control area by the background of the dispatching system.

The above detailed description is specific to possible embodiments of the present invention, and the embodiments are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention, and all equivalent implementations or modifications that do not depart from the scope of the present invention are intended to be included within the scope of the present invention.