Patent Application
20100010672
1. Field of the Invention
The subject matter disclosed generally relates to the field of mobile robots.
2. Background Information
There has been marketed a mobile robot introduced by InTouch Technologies, Inc., the assignee of this application, under the trademarks COMPANION, RP-6 and RP-7. The InTouch robot is controlled by a user at a remote station. The remote station may be a personal computer with a joystick that allows the user to remotely control the movement of the robot. Both the robot and remote station have cameras, monitors, speakers and microphones to allow for two-way video/audio communication. The robot camera provides video images to a screen at the remote station so that the user can view the robot's surroundings and move the robot accordingly.
The InTouch robot is wireless and thus must operate on battery power. The robot battery must be periodically recharged. This requires remotely moving the robot to an electrical outlet and then having someone at the robot site plug the robot into the outlet. There may be situations where the robot must be recharged but there is no one at the robot site to plug the robot into an electrical outlet.
A remote controlled robot system that includes a mobile robot with a robot camera and a battery plug module, and a remote control station that transmits commands to control the mobile robot. The system also includes a battery charging module that mates with the mobile robot battery plug module, and an alignment system that aligns the battery plug module with the battery charging module.
Disclosed is a remote controlled robot system that includes a mobile robot with a robot camera and a battery plug module, and a remote control station that transmits commands to control the mobile robot. The system also includes a battery charging module that mates with the mobile robot battery plug module, and an alignment system that aligns the battery plug module with the battery charging module. The battery modules may also be aligned with the aid of video images of the battery charging module provided to the remote station by a camera located within the battery plug module.
Referring to the drawings more particularly by reference numbers,
The remote control station 16 may include a computer 22 that has a monitor 24, a camera 26, a microphone 28 and a speaker 30. The computer 22 may also contain an input device 32 such as a joystick and/or a mouse and a keyboard 34. The control station 16 is typically located in a place that is remote from the robot 12. Although only one remote control station 16 is shown, the system 10 may include a plurality of remote stations. In general any number of robots 12 may be controlled by any number of remote stations 16 or other robots 12. For example, one remote station 16 may be coupled to a plurality of robots 12, or one robot 12 may be coupled to a plurality of remote stations 16, or a plurality of robots 12.
Each robot 12 includes a movement platform 36 that is attached to a robot housing 38. Also attached to the robot housing 36 is a pair of cameras 40 and 42, a monitor 44, a microphone(s) 46 and a speaker(s) 48. The microphone 46 and speaker 30 may create a stereophonic sound. The robot 12 may also have an antenna 50 that is wirelessly coupled to an antenna 52 of the base station 14. The robot monitor 44 and cameras 40 and 82 move together in two degrees of freedom including pan-and tilt directions. The system 10 allows a user at the remote control station 16 to move the robot 12 through operation of the input device 32. The robot cameras 40 and 42 are coupled to the remote monitor 24 so that a user at the remote station 16 can view the remote site. Likewise, the robot monitor 44 is coupled to the remote camera 26 so that the someone at the remote site can view the user. The microphones 28 and 46, and speakers 30 and 48, allow for audible communication between the patient and the user.
Camera 40 may provide a wide angle view. Conversely, camera 42 may contain a zoom lens to provide a narrow angle view. Camera 42 can capture a zoom image that is transmitted to the remote control station. Camera 40 can capture a non-zoom image that can be transmitted to the remote control station. Although two cameras are shown and described, it is to be understood that the robot may contain only one camera that has the capability to provide a zoom image and a non-zoom image.
The remote station computer 22 may operate Microsoft OS software and WINDOWS XP or other operating systems such as LINUX. The remote computer 22 may also operate a video driver, a camera driver, an audio driver and a joystick driver. The video images may be transmitted and received with compression software such as MPEG CODEC.
The speaker 48 is coupled to the bus 156 by a digital to analog converter 164. The microphone 46 is coupled to the bus 156 by an analog to digital converter 166. The high level controller 150 may also contain random access memory (RAM) device 168, a non-volatile RAM device 170 and a mass storage device 172 that are all coupled to the bus 156. The mass storage device 172 may contain files that can be accessed by the user at the remote control station 16. For example, the mass storage device 172 may contain a picture of a patient. The user, particularly a health care provider, can recall the old picture and make a side by side comparison on the monitor 24 with a present video image of the patient provided by the camera 40. The robot antennae 50 may be coupled to a wireless transceiver 174. By way of example, the transceiver 174 may transmit and receive information in accordance with IEEE 802.11b.
The controller 154 may operate with a LINUX OS operating system. The controller 154 may also operate MS WINDOWS along with video, camera and audio drivers for communication with the remote control station 16. Video information may be transceived using MPEG CODEC compression techniques. The software may allow the user to send e-mail to the patient and vice versa, or allow the patient to access the Internet. In general the high level controller 150 operates to control communication between the robot 12 and the remote control station 16.
The remote control station 16 may include a computer that is similar to the high level controller 150. The computer would have a processor, memory, I/O, software, firmware, etc. for generating, transmitting, receiving and processing information.
The high level controller 150 may be linked to the low level controller 152 by serial ports 176 and 178. The low level controller 152 includes a processor 180 that is coupled to a RAM device 182 and non-volatile RAM device 184 by a bus 186. Each robot 12 contains a plurality of motors 188 and motor encoders 190. The motors 188 can actuate the movement platform and move other parts of the robot such as the monitor and camera. The encoders 190 provide feedback information regarding the output of the motors 188. The motors 188 can be coupled to the bus 186 by a digital to analog converter 192 and a driver amplifier 194. The encoders 190 can be coupled to the bus 186 by a decoder 196. Each robot 12 also has a number of proximity sensors 198 (see also
The low level controller 152 runs software routines that mechanically actuate the robot 12. For example, the low level controller 152 provides instructions to actuate the movement platform to move the robot 12. The low level controller 152 may receive movement instructions from the high level controller 150. The movement instructions may be received as movement commands from the remote control station or another robot. Although two controllers are shown, it is to be understood that each robot 12 may have one controller, or more than two controllers, controlling the high and low level functions.
The system 10 may be the same or similar to a robotic system provided by the assignee InTouch-Health, Inc. of Santa Barbara, Calif. under the name RP-7. The system may also be the same or similar to the system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,925,357 issued to Wang et al. on Aug. 2, 2005, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
The various electrical devices of each robot 12 may be powered by a battery(ies) 204. The battery 204 may be recharged by a battery charger station 206. The low level controller 152 may include a battery control circuit 208 that senses the power level of the battery 204. The low level controller 152 can sense when the power falls below a threshold and then send a message to the high level controller 150.
The low level 152 and/or high level 150 controllers can operate a software routine to automatically dock the robot with the battery charger station 206.
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The charging module circuit 302 includes a relay 312 that can couple the receptacles 278 to a power supply 314. When the plug module is not mated with the charging module the relay 312 can couple the receptacles 278 to ground, to de-energize the module 252. When the short ground contact of the plug module is plugged into the corresponding receptacle, the relay 312 switches so that the receptacles 278 are coupled to the power supply 314 to energize the charging module 252 and charge the robot battery. The short ground contact insures that the modules are fully mated before the charging module is energized to improve the safety of the system.
Referring to
The DUI 350 may include a battery camera field 356 that displays a video image provided by the camera of the battery plug module 352. This field 356 may be used by the user to guide the robot plug into the charging module 352. The DUI 350 may have a graphical indicator 358 that provides an indication of when the robot battery needs to be recharged. A graphical icon 360 may be selected by the user to enable an automatic docking function of the robot.
While the robot is being operated a “BATTERY LOW PLEASE DOCK” 362 message may appear in field 352. The user can move the robot until it is in range with the battery charging module. When in range, an “IN RANGE” 364 message may appear in field 352. When in range the icon 360 can be enabled so that the user can select the automatic docking mode. The range of the robot relative to the charging station may be determined using a RFID tag in the charging station that emits a wireless signal that is detected by an RFID sensor in the robot. Determining whether the robot is in range may also be performed with a visual detection system. By way of example, the visual detection system may be a detection algorithm known as SIFT or a feature detection system provided by Evolution Robotics under the product designation ViPR.
In operation, the robot 12 is placed at a remote site such as a home or a facility where one or more patients are to be monitored and/or assisted. The facility may be a hospital or a residential care facility. By way of example, the robot 12 may be placed in a home where a health care provider may monitor and/or assist the patient. Likewise, a friend or family member may communicate with the patient. The cameras and monitors at both the robot and remote control stations allow for teleconferencing between the patient and the person at the remote station(s).
When the robot 12 is to be recharged the user can move the robot into proximity of the battery charging module. The user can use the image provided by the battery plug module camera to steer the robot so that the battery plug module mates with the battery charging module. The charging module may have a visual indicator that can be used to properly align the plug module with the charging module.
As another mode of operation, the robot may enter an automatic docking mode. The automatic docking mode may be selected by the user through the graphical icon of DUI. Referring to
After the robot is moved into a position parallel with the wall, the robot can be laterally aligned with the battery charging station. The IR emitters 268 of the battery plug module emit IR light that is reflected and detected by the plug module 250 IR detectors 270. When the IR emitters are aligned with the short pass filters 284 of the charging module 252, the IR is absorbed by the filters and not detected. The robot controller(s) can move the robot until the IR is no longer detected. The IR detectors 270 sense the IR emitted from the charging module emitters 282 to detect a lateral relationship between the module 250 and 252. The robot controller(s) moves the robot until the lateral relationship is detected. When the plug module is laterally located and parallel with the charging module the robot controller can move the robot so that the modules are mated. The modules can be decoupled by moving the robot away from the battery charging module, either through remote operation or automatically.
The robot 12 can be maneuvered throughout the remote site by manipulating the input device 32 at a remote station 16. The robot 10 may be controlled by a number of different users. To accommodate for this the robot may have an arbitration system. The arbitration system may be integrated into the operating system of the robot 12. For example, the arbitration technique may be embedded into the operating system of the high-level controller 150.
By way of example, the users may be divided into classes that include the robot itself, a local user, a caregiver, a doctor, a family member, or a service provider. The robot 12 may override input commands that conflict with robot operation. For example, if the robot runs into a wall, the system may ignore all additional commands to continue in the direction of the wall. A local user is a person who is physically present with the robot. The robot could have an input device that allows local operation. For example, the robot may incorporate a voice recognition system that receives and interprets audible commands.
A caregiver is someone who remotely monitors the patient. A doctor is a medical professional who can remotely control the robot and also access medical files contained in the robot memory. The family and service users remotely access the robot. The service user may service the system such as by upgrading software, or setting operational parameters.
The robot 12 may operate in one of two different modes; an exclusive mode, or a sharing mode. In the exclusive mode only one user has access control of the robot. The exclusive mode may have a priority assigned to each type of user. By way of example, the priority may be in order of local, doctor, caregiver, family and then service user. In the sharing mode two or more users may share access with the robot. For example, a caregiver may have access to the robot, the caregiver may then enter the sharing mode to allow a doctor to also access the robot. Both the caregiver and the doctor can conduct a simultaneous tele-conference with the patient.
The arbitration scheme may have one of four mechanisms; notification, timeouts, queue and call back. The notification mechanism may inform either a present user or a requesting user that another user has, or wants, access to the robot. The timeout mechanism gives certain types of users a prescribed amount of time to finish access to the robot. The queue mechanism is an orderly waiting list for access to the robot. The call back mechanism informs a user that the robot can be accessed. By way of example, a family user may receive an e-mail message that the robot is free for usage. Tables I and II, show how the mechanisms resolve access request from the various users.
The information transmitted between the station 16 and the robot 12 may be encrypted. Additionally, the user may have to enter a password to enter the system 10. A selected robot is then given an electronic key by the station 16. The robot 12 validates the key and returns another key to the station 16. The keys are used to encrypt information transmitted in the session.
The robot 12 and remote station 16 transmit commands through the broadband network 18. The commands can be generated by the user in a variety of ways. For example, commands to move the robot may be generated by moving the joystick 32 (see
Table IV provides a list of reporting commands that are generated by the robot and transmitted to the remote station through the network.
The processor 154 of the robot high level controller 150 may operate a program that determines whether the robot 12 has received a robot control command within a time interval. For example, if the robot 12 does not receive a control command within 2 seconds then the processor 154 provides instructions to the low level controller 150 to stop the robot 12. Although a software embodiment is described, it is to be understood that the control command monitoring feature could be implemented with hardware, or a combination of hardware and software. The hardware may include a timer that is reset each time a control command is received and generates, or terminates, a command or signal, to stop the robot.
The remote station computer 22 may monitor the receipt of video images provided by the robot camera. The computer 22 may generate and transmit a STOP command to the robot if the remote station does not receive or transmit an updated video image within a time interval. The STOP command causes the robot to stop. By way of example, the computer 22 may generate a STOP command if the remote control station does not receive a new video image within 2 seconds. Although a software embodiment is described, it is to be understood that the video image monitoring feature could be implemented with hardware, or a combination of hardware and software. The hardware may include a timer that is reset each time a new video image is received and generates, or terminates, a command or signal, to generate the robot STOP command.
While certain exemplary embodiments have been described and shown in the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that such embodiments are merely illustrative of and not restrictive on the broad invention, and that this invention not be limited to the specific constructions and arrangements shown and described, since various other modifications may occur to those ordinarily skilled in the art.
